A good excuse to sit in the heavy shade with a glass of something cool…
… if not on this occasion a damp towel around the brows. A welcome and undemanding puzzle with a few wry chuckles along the way. Thanks to Gumm. Stay cool, Britain.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ORGIES |
Sergio’s wild, wild parties (6)
|
| Anagram (‘wild’) of SERGIOS. | ||
| 4 | ABSENTEE |
Put in the post, boxed by a worker, perhaps one not at work? (8)
|
| A + B.EE (‘worker’) contain SENT. | ||
| 10 | CARPENTRY |
It’s the job of a craftsman to criticise appearance (9)
|
| CARP (‘to criticise’) + ENTRY (‘appearance’). | ||
| 11 | USE UP |
University organisation has no time to finish (3,2)
|
| U[niversity] + SEt-UP (‘organisation’) without T[ime]. | ||
| 12 | UTAH |
State bureau finally thanks hospital (4)
|
| Last of ‘bureaU’ + TA + H[ospital]. | ||
| 13 | SNAILS PACE |
As pelicans move – very slowly (6,4)
|
| Anagram (‘move’) of AS PELICANS. | ||
| 15 | SHRILLY |
Acutely unwise to retain personnel (7)
|
| S.ILLY contains H[uman] R[esources]. | ||
| 16 | ENRICH |
Regularly seen with high-calorie supplement (6)
|
| Alternate letters of ‘sEeN’ + RICH (‘high-calorie’). | ||
| 19 | SCOWLS |
Starts to see caged birds giving dirty looks (6)
|
| Firsts of S{ee} + C{aged} + OWLS (‘birds’). | ||
| 21 | SEATTLE |
Latte’s prepared, enjoyed originally here? (7)
|
| Anagram (‘prepared’) of LATTES, Seattle being the home of Starbucks &c. | ||
| 23 | LABORATORY |
Starmer’s lot not united – a Conservative finds room for investigation (10)
|
| LABOuR (‘Starmer’s lot’ without U[nited]) + A + TORY. | ||
| 25 | SCAN |
Have a quick look at small container (4)
|
| S[mall] + CAN. | ||
| 27 | WEIGH |
Consider value of soldier in cut back (5)
|
| GI (‘soldier’) in reversal of HEW. | ||
| 28 | HAIRSTYLE |
Bob, for example, exercising this early? (9)
|
| Anagram (‘exercising’) of THIS EARLY. | ||
| 29 | PIGSWILL |
Kitchen waste – who’s going to eat it? (8)
|
| I.e., ‘pigs will’. | ||
| 30 | PROMPT |
Instigate concert training (6)
|
| PROM (‘concert’) + PT (‘training’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | OF COURSE |
Definitely astray, ignoring one of two females (2,6)
|
| OFf COURSE, (‘astray’) without 1x F[emale]. | ||
| 2 | GERIATRIC |
Acquire wealth, almost adopting regressive attitude that’s ancient (9)
|
| GET RICh (‘acquire wealth’ without last) around reversal of AIR (‘attitude’). | ||
| 3 | EDEN |
Paradise discovered in neglected environment (4)
|
| Hidden in ‘neglectED ENvironment’. | ||
| 5 | BUY TIME |
Take issue, on reflection, and delay for something better (3,4)
|
| BUY (accept, ‘take’, as in, of E.g. a reason for sth, ‘I’ll take that’) + reversal of EMIT. | ||
| 6 | EQUESTRIAN |
Ask chap to move right along for horses (10)
|
| REQUEST IAN (‘ask chap’), the ‘R’ moving rightward (‘along’’) | ||
| 7 | THETA |
Greek character that’s rambling around centre of Crete (5)
|
| Anagram (‘rambling’) of THAT around centre letter of ‘crEte’. | ||
| 8 | ESPIED |
Saw psychic power that is source of disbelief (6)
|
| E[xtra] S[ensory] P[erception] + IE + 1st of ‘Disbelief’. | ||
| 9 | STINGY |
Mean, like a wasp? (6)
|
| I.e, ‘sting-y’. | ||
| 14 | FLOWER SHOW |
Spooner’s lavish course in Chelsea, for example (6,4)
|
| I.e. Spoonerism of ‘shower’ (to ‘lavish’ praise, gifts &c) & ‘flow’ (‘course’ of river &c). | ||
| 17 | CATACLYSM |
Awfully sly act in river becomes a disaster (9)
|
| Anagram (‘awfully’) of SLY ACT in River CAM. | ||
| 18 | REINVENT |
Make new version of brake release (8)
|
| REIN (‘brake’) + VENT (‘release’). | ||
| 20 | SATCHEL |
Bag fasteners swapping ends (7)
|
| {L}ATCHE{S}, ends reversed. | ||
| 21 | SORDID |
Having a weapon is said to be immoral (6)
|
| Homophone. If you bear arms, you’re ‘armed’. If you bear a sword, you may said to be ‘sworded’. | ||
| 22 | BLOW UP |
Inflate balloon, at first depressed, then happy (4,2)
|
| 1st of ‘Balloon’ + LOW (‘depressed’) + UP (‘happy’). | ||
| 24 | BEING |
Creature’s home secured by appeal (5)
|
| BE.G (‘appeal’) contains IN (‘home’). | ||
| 26 | USER |
Junkie’s guide – no heroin (4)
|
| UShER (‘guide’) without H[eroin]. |
A satisfying puzzle from Gumm with neat parsing throughout.
Ticked a fair number including SEATTLE (surface), LABORATORY (wordplay) and WEIGH, along with the amusing PIGSWILL and STINGY.
Last entry was 21d for which I needed all the crossers for the penny to drop. I will think of samurai and musketeers in a different light now.
Thanks to Gumm and Grant.
Like Diane, my last entry was SORDID: I’m still not entirely convinced of the definition.
I echo Diane’s favourites – I think ‘of’ is part of the definition in 27ac – and would like to add SHRILLY, HAIRSTYLE (clever anagram) and GERIATRIC.
Many thanks for the enjoyable diversion, Gumm and for a great blog, Grant – you stay cool, too. 😉
Eileen,
I did cock an eyebrow at first but it made me laugh and took my mind off the heat (the humid, tropical variety, that is). I liked your picks too!
To Eileen:
I did weigh ‘of’ and decided it worked either way – trans or intrans – so left ‘of’ to clarification of the wordplay.
Wouldn’t go to the gallows for it. But I did forget to reverse ‘GI’, which is a hanging offence.
An enjoyably friendly crossword for a very hot day – I did smile at SORDID
Thanks to both Gumm and Grant
Sorry to have quibbled, Grant – it’s too hot, isn’t it? (And too hot for me to have noticed the unreversed GI!)
Highlight for me was the ‘having a weapon’ = “sworded” homophone for SORDID – a real groan moment. The different parts of speech in surface v. answer for ‘lavish’ at 14d and ‘vent’ at 18d were also nice touches. Seems an innocuous clue, but USE UP was my last in and took a while to work out.
Grant, a minor point but I think you may not have accounted for that final E in SEATTLE, which I parsed as an anagram of ‘Latte’s’ + ‘enjoyed originally’ (=E).
Thanks to Gumm for number two and to Grant
I did manage to enter the correct answer for 21A without really understanding the parsing. I just couldn’t manage to equate “here” with the answer. Not being a coffee drinker and never having visited a Starbucks, I did not know the origin of the chain store, although I did visit Seattle on a business trip some years ago.
I have many regrets in life and one is not participating in one of 1A.
Thanks Grant and pleased I am not the only one raising an eyebrow over “sworded” – but in checking its non-existence in Collins online I did learn of the word “sord” for a flock of mallard – popular c 1750!
Agree that this was fun, I enjoyed 28a, 6d and 22d especially, thanks Gumm.
Thanks Gumm for an amusing crossword. I had many ticks including CARPENTRY, HAIRSTYLE, PIGSWILL, OF COURSE, EQUESTRIAN, ESPIED, and SATCHEL. My LOI was SORDID; I used a word fit to solve it and I thought it was the fly in an otherwise excellent ointment. Thanks Grant for the blog.
Hello all, and thanks to Grant for the blog
I swear I see SWORDED appear in the Chambers app – perhaps I was wrong, in which case, apologies.
Many thanks to all commentators, and do stay safe in these blazing times
GUMM
An enjoyable puzzle. Our only possible query was with SORDID, but it’s too hot to quibble.
Thanks, Gumm and Grant.
Very likeable. I like to make a list of iffy clues for each crossword, but for this one my list is empty. My only error was foolishly putting CARPENTER for 10a, and scratching my head as to why “enter” equalled “appearance”. Then for 5d I resorted to putting BAR TIME (it couldn’t be BAR LINE), and my head was scratched further. And I didn’t understand SORDID till I came here (d’oh!). But apart from these hurdles it was plain sailing.
Can’t remember my favourite, as it was too long ago. And I can’t blame the heat, he said as he rugged up for a particularly cold morning …