When I get the first clue attempted as quickly as I did 1D here I always wonder if this is the time for the fabled “done in one pass” solve – Alas, no.
In the end my solving performance was distinctly average with 13 in and 14 to go after the first pass (about 18 mins) and the whole thing done in just under the half-hour. I was held up by a few tough clues in the bottom right corner 18D, 24A and finally 20D.
Across | ||
---|---|---|
9 | NEXT WORLD | It could be hellish, Mars? (4,5) Double Def. Referencing both the place all us unrepentant sinners are heading, and the next planet along from the sun |
10 | PUPIL | Eye feature you’d expect to find in a school (5) Double Def. Referencing a part of the actual eyeball and an occasional attendee at an educational establishment |
11 | ALL EYES | Sally’s pissed, taking drugs apart, but very attentive (3,4) (SALLY + EE (drugs) )* AInd: pissed. |
12 | NURSING | Career over, confess “A job with crap pay!” (7) RUN< (career, over) SING (confess) |
13 | CURED | Balls trailing dog – much better! (5) CUR (dog) ED (Balls, Ref. the long suffering cook and dancer ( & ex-politician) wiki) |
15 | INSINCERE | Elected wrong Conservative before – hypocritical (9) IN (elected) SIN (wrong) C[onservative] ERE (before) |
16/23 | RESIGNATION SPEECH | Daft search engine tips about love, given by an unapologetic Boris (11,6) (SEARCH ENGINE TIPS + O (love))* AInd: daft. Talk about unrepentant, as I type this the bastard’s still there! |
21 | INTRINSIC | In print: ‘R’ in SICK-ROOM – essential (9) Hidden in prINT R IN SICk-room |
24 | GORSE | Bush‘s ex-vice president welcoming shit-head (5) S[hit] inside GORE (ex-VP) Bush as a plant. I was fooled, and thought of GORE several times before understanding the definition |
25 | REPULSE | Snub Mr Bean (not married, but accepting head from Edith)? (7) MR PULSE (bean) – M[arried] + E[dith] inside (accepting) |
26 | SUPPORT | Son sporting an erection, left to get a brace (7) S[on] UP (sporting an erection) PORT (left) |
28 | TALON | Tory leader, virtually unaccompanied, gets the crooked finger (5) T[ory] ALON[e] (unaccompanied, virtually) |
29 | CROSSFIRE | Being pissed off, dismiss lively exchange (9) CROSS (being pissed off) FIRE (dismiss) I like “lively” as part of the definition, not if I was in crossfire with live rounds of course |
Down | ||
1 | ENHANCE | Sex up hen bash by flexing cane (7) (HEN)* AInd: bash, (CANE)* AInd: flexing. First read & first solved though as I read it I thought HEN would become ENH after being “sexed up” before realising that was the def. |
2 | EXPLORER | Lax peer or eccentric, one going for a Burton? (8) (LAX PEER OR – A (one))* AInd: eccentric. The def. references Richard Burton the C19th Explorer (wiki) Edit: Definition underlining correction. |
4 | PRESSING | Critical hacks collectively against ‘trendy’ Grauniad leader (8) PRESS (hacks, collectively) IN (trendy) G[rauniad] |
5 | ADONIS | A party indiscretion, backing ‘pretty boy’ (6) A DO (a party) SIN< (indiscretion, backing) |
6 | UPBRINGING | Rearing and being sick? (10) Double Def. one of them notsomuch Upbringing as Bringing Up |
7 | SPLICE | Marry Ginger to get in line? (6) SPICE (Ginger, one of the Spice Girls) to accept L[ine] |
8 | ALIGNED | A victim of defamation blowing top in a row (7) [m]ALIGNED |
14 | DISCIPLINE | Swapping speed initially for cocaine, slip inside deviously, as whips do (10) (SLIP INSIDE -S[peed] +C[ocaine])* AInd: deviously. |
17 | ANCESTOR | From reduced circumstances to Republican, one who’s relatively ancient (8) Hidden in circumstANCES TO Republican |
18 | NARCOTIC | Rex involved with action about drug (8) (R[ex] + ACTION + C(about))* AInd: involved. |
19 | VIBRATO | Sex aid not right as means of instructing player (7) VIBRATO[r]. Vibrato is a musical term found on sheet music for various stringed (& other) instruments |
20 | SETTLER | Not a drifter liked by creditors (7) Double Def. Last one in |
22 | TIPPLE | The lead milk producer lacks name for drink (6) T[he] [n]IPPLE |
27/3 | PASS AWAY | Pop off and defile a street (4,4) PASS (defile) A WAY (a street) |
My son’s hound dog has gone and eaten a whole bag of scrabble tiles.
Now it is leaving little messages everywhere it goes
May I be so bold as to point out that ginger is a spice? So, the clue need have nothing to do with a fleeting girls’ band that spoiled (for me) pop history? Also, to ginger up is the same as to spice up?
Also, can I complain that the drug in 18D is performing two functions- a letter for the solution and the solution itself? Is that allowed?
18D is OK. You were probably thinking the final “C” was indicated by “drug” but that “C” can come from “about” (Circa) and “about” does not have to be the Anagram Indicator, “involved” can do that.
I cannot agree with your opinion of the Spice Girls but will admit being misled too much by the surface reading for the clue for 7D
Well spoken (written), Winsor @1. Yes, ginger was a spice before those awful girls arrived on our tabletops!
Otoh, I agree with beermagnet about the parsing of 18dn.
11ac Writing “SALLY + EE” doesn’t really do justice to the deft cluemanship of “drugs apart”, indicating that the two E’s aren’t sequential.
2dn “one going” isn’t part of the def, but rather a deletion of the A in the fodder.
6dn “not so much Upbringing as Bringing Up”: hence the QM.
Re the hound dog: anagrammatic messages, presumably?
Thanks for the blog, a lot of good clues here and some tricky word play, a lot of subtraction.
RESIGNATION SPEECH has a great anagram, I agree with Tony @3 for ALL EYES, very neat with only Sally as the anagram taking the Es separately. A Paddington stare for EXPLORER for the indirect subtraction anagram.
Minor quibble for TIPPLE, nipples deliver milk they do not produce it.
Winsor@1
You mean as in Spice Up Your Life? (Slam it to the left if you’re having a good time, shake it to the right, la la…sorry, couldn’t resist)
I needed several swipes at this too but in contrast with our blogger, it was the NW corner which held me up ? specifically 2d, as I was determined to get an ‘ale’ in from Burton-on-Trent. It was my last one in with all the crossers finally giving the old brain a poke.
12a prompted a wry grin and I liked the ‘being sick’ part of 6d but 28a and 22d were probably favourites.
Thanks to Cyclops and Beermagnet.
Beermagnet….many thanks for the clarification. I had missed that about bit and I admit it was bothering me!!!!
Roz@4, re TIPPLE, isn’t it production as in ‘he produced a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket’? (Npi)
Winsor@6, I thought you were using “about” as the anagram indicator?
@beermagnet, to clarify, re 2dn, the definition is “a Burton?”.
2D underlining now corrected. Sorry. I was going to correct it then got side tracked.
I know “Going for a Burton” means something completely different which was the point of the wordplay.
We used to use the phrase when I was working in a particular place mid-80s because the lunchtime local served a decent pint of Burton which sometimes confused guests.
beermagnet@9: Burton Ale — I remember it well!
I still call it Bass out of defiance.
Tony@7 you have brought in a third party and turned it around. Would you call a pocket a handkerchief producer ?
The beer was Ind Coope when I was younger .
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. Like Tony @3 I appreciated ‘drugs apart’ in 2d.
6d, I marked as a fave and remember chuckling when I misguidedly considered whether wretching worked. Bringing up wretches in Dickensian style and homophone for retching. Anyway wrong number of letters and word doesn’t exist.
@Roz…indeed you are correct!!!! Burton Ale was an Ind Coope real ale regenerated in about 1975 or so? Bass had their own Draught brew which I recall was pretty toxic the following day (memories of the blind Irish skunk joke!). And then, of course, later came the Burton Bridge Brewery!!!!
@Winsor in the 70s as a child I just remember the name, lots of pubs had a sort of glass lantern by the door with Ind Coope (Burton) on it and a hand.
Diane @11 the Bass signs had a red triangle.
Yes, Roz, I remember it well.
Say Roz. Is that you with the letter at the bottom of Pedantry Corner in today’s issue?
Beermagnet@17 not guilty, I have not written for a while, unless it is really good in which case I will claim it. Not got our issue yet, we have the postal subscription but the post seems very dodgy at the moment.
Roz at #18 – it is very similar to your ‘minor quibble’ at #4…I bet Cyclops feels a right t1t ( ; + > )
Thank you mc @19 , maybe it just sticks out for some people.
I see you have won the Everyman this week. I have been lucky too since January, winning Azed and Everyman. I never fail to send off and I suspect the entry is lower than before the pandemic.
Do nipples produce (create) milk? No. Do nipples produce (bring forth) milk? Yes. Do experienced crossword setters know their way around the thesaurus? Evidently!
Bring forth – to give birth to or produce, same problem.
Re. Minor nipple about quibble (I might have had a tipple). Sorry Roz, I have to agree with John and Tony on this. I also thought of produce in the sense of deliver at solve time.
This morning I checked Chambers crossword dictionary which has ‘deliver’ under ‘produce’. I think Cyclops can sleep easy in his bed with a clear conscience.
Roz@20, re nipple: “maybe it just sticks out for some people” phnargh
Can someone explain how pass means defile in 27d? I can’t find a definition like that.
Been, it’s not a deed for pass you should be looking for:
Defile
Noun
1. a narrow pass or gorge, esp one between two mountains
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/defile
*Ben, it’s not a def for pass you should be looking for*