Neo is today’s FT puzzle compiler.
My first four answers (EEL, ROC, OWL and BEAGLE) had me believing there was a theme. Adding RAYS later also indicated the possibility. It was an interesting solve as I had to look up BRISLING (another theme word, if we’re going with a theme). My LOI was STANCHION because I had convinced myself that “pole” = S (south) until the facepalm moment.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | EVAPORATE |
Girl to chatter idly about love and vanish (9)
|
| EVA (“girl”) + PRATE (“chatter idly”) about O (love, in tennis) | ||
| 10 | ETHER |
Volatile chemical bonds without shell (5)
|
| (t)ETHER(s) (“bonds” without shell) | ||
| 11 | GEARBOX |
Kiss with reclusive star ingesting ecstasy? It makes a change (7)
|
| (Greta) GARBO (“reclusive star”) ingesting E (ecstacy) with X (kiss) | ||
| 12 | MALARIA |
Musical nun sustaining note brings complaint (7)
|
| MARIA (the “musical nun” in The Sound of Music) sustaining LA (“note”) | ||
| 13 | EEL |
Fish skin showing no sign of phosphorus (3)
|
| (p)EEL (“skin” showing no sign of P (chemical symbol for phosphorus)) | ||
| 14 | STAR CHAMBER |
Old court to stiffen caution for motorists (4,7)
|
| STARCH (“to stiffen”) + AMBER (traffic light “caution for motorists”) | ||
| 17 | BALTI |
Maryland city where there’s no more curry? (5)
|
| BALTI(more) (“Maryland city” where there’s no MORE) | ||
| 18 | OWL |
One swoops near ground, moving left to right (3)
|
| LOW (“near ground”) moving its leftmost letter to the right becomes OW-L | ||
| 19 | PAGAN |
Nature god banking silver for his devotee? (5)
|
| PAN (“nature god”) banking Ag (chemical symbol for “silver”) | ||
| 21 | INDIGNATION |
One new insult with people causing resentment (11)
|
| I (one) + N (new) + DIG (“insult”) with NATION (“people”) | ||
| 23 | ROC |
Men from the east caught enormous bird (3)
|
| <=OR (other ranks. so “men”, from the east, i.e. right to left) + C (caught, in cricket) | ||
| 25 | LITURGY |
Unidentified illness keeps Italian in service (7)
|
| LURGY (“unidentified illness”) keeps It. (Italian) in | ||
| 27 | POTHERB |
Choking smoke beginning to burn Basil? (7)
|
| POTHER (“choking smoke”) + [beginning to] B(urn) | ||
| 28 | NASTY |
Any number stay drunk and abusive (5)
|
| N (any number) + *(stay) [anag:drunk] | ||
| 29 | STANCHION |
Pole ground contains where Henry’s buried (9)
|
| *(contains) [anag:ground) with H (Henry, the SI unit of inductance) buried | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BEAGLE |
Bravo! Keen-eyed bird sees dog (6)
|
| B (Bravo, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + EAGLE (“keen-eyed bird”) | ||
| 2 | PARALLEL |
Corresponding but never meeting (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | COMBUSTING |
Sculpture in future going up (10)
|
| BUST (“sculpture”) in COMING (“future”) | ||
| 4 | MANX |
Person unknown from a Crown Dependency (4)
|
| MAN (“person”) + X (unknown, in maths) | ||
| 5 | VERMICELLI |
Strangely evil crime pinching pound for food (10)
|
| *(evil crime) [anag:strangely] pinching L (pound) | ||
| 6 | BELL |
Buzz from live lines (4)
|
| BE (“live”) + LL (lines)
Buzz and bell are both terms for phone call, as in “give me a buzz” or “give me a bell”. |
||
| 7 | CHERUB |
Church leader out in Peru, bishop finds winged child (6)
|
| Ch (church) + [leader out in] (p)ERU + B (bishop, in chess notation) | ||
| 8 | TRIAL RUN |
Function after hearing test (5,3)
|
| RUN (“function”) after TRIAL (“hearing”) | ||
| 15 | APOCALYPSE |
Revelation in a curtailed ballad Poe’s penned (10)
|
| A + [curtailed] CALYPS(o) (“ballad”) penned by POE | ||
| 16 | ALPENSTOCK |
Staff writer’s time in a secure environment (10)
|
| PEN’S (“writer’s”) + T (time) in A + LOCK (“secure”) environment | ||
| 17 | BRISLING |
Swimmer appearing angry when losing time (8)
|
| BRIS(t)LING (“appearing angry” when losing T (time))
A brisling is a Norwegian sprat. |
||
| 20 | GARDENIA |
Bush in suitable place one assumed originally (8)
|
| GARDEN (“suitable place” for a bush) + I (one) + A(ssumed) [originally] | ||
| 22 | DETEST |
Temperature in river good man can’t stand (6)
|
| T (temperature) in (River) DEE + St. (saint, so “good man”) | ||
| 24 | CUBANS |
Copper bars – they’re surely found in Havana (6)
|
| Cu (chemical symbol for copper) + BANS (“bars”) | ||
| 26 | RAYS |
Fish in streams (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | PRAT |
It’s a fool that covers king in some butter (4)
|
| PAT (“some butter”) covering R (Rex, so “king”) |
You meant to write LOCK not STOCK in 16d.
Good fun. STAR CHAMBER was my pick. Despite the above example, I can’t accept that a bell is a buzz. Does this mean that “call” & “ring” are also synonyms? But I suppose there interchangeable here in crossword land. I wasn’t aware of this second meaning of “apocalypse”. “Pother” & “balti” are new to my lexicon.
“They’re”, not “there”
Hovis @ 1 – I did indeed – will amend when I’m back at a PC
A couple of new senses for me here – POTHER for ‘Choking smoke’ and APOCALYPSE for ‘revelation’ – held me up for quite a time at the end. I don’t think a BRISLING is a deep sea fish, but it had to swim up from the depths for me to be able to bring it to mind.
Favourite was the amusing surface and unexpected def for GEARBOX.
Thanks to Neo and loonapick
I agree with Geoff: 14A was very clever,
I’d like a dollar for every time that I have seen a version of 1D!
Geoff, I think that bell/buzz/call/ring all fit into the comment “I’ll give you a xxxx when it’s ready”.
Re 15D: I am not sure that “apocalypse” is a synonym for “revelation” but rather one of the things revealed in the book of Revelations.
I knew “pother” as a “spot of bother” or a “fuss” but this meaning was new to me.
Geoff, re “Balti”, don;t you have any Indian/Pakistani/Nepalise restaurants in your area?
Ooops: “don;t” = “don’t”. “Nepalise” = “Nepalese”.
Revelation is good for Apocalypse in Chambers on two fronts.
Nho BRISLING but have invented BOI-t-LING BE which sort of works, and I eagerly await its discovery by marine biologists. Thanks all 🙂
I enjoyed this very much, helped by the fact that I did know the fish etc
Thanks very much to Neo and Loonapick
lady gewgaw @8, you’re right of course, 6d isn’t an &lit, but no one has suggested it is. Such is the definition (= such a person, per Chambers) referring to the previous description.
Crossed wires there F @11. See the Indy thread.
Peter @6, you’re trying to make me feel inadequate again. I just dug out the take-away menus from three of our local Indian restaurants, all owned and run by genuine Indians, and there’s nary a mention of balti.
I’m with WordPlodder on “BRISLING”. When I was a youth in the UK, they were a small sardine (about 20 to the can cf 5-6 sardines). The cans were labeled brisling. Thanks to Neo and to loonapick for solution and explanation 15 and 16 down.
Peter & Geoff. Balti is an Indian dish that originated in Britain and so, though widely used here, may well be unknown elsewhere.
Ah, thank you, Hovis!
Thanks Neo for a satisfying crossword. I particularly liked GEARBOX, STAR CHAMBER, and ALPENSTICK; I needed a word finder to solve APOCALYPSE and LITURGY, not being familiar with “calypso” as a ballad or “lurgy.” I knew BALTI from other crosswords so I had no problem with that clue. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Thanks loona and all commenters.
Btw Peter @ 6: yes! Embarrassing isn’t it, but I just love that split. And as for bEAGLE …
Love it…some new words I did not know about which make it tough but good to learn new thingS. Thanks!
Some great clues here. Shame it was spoilt by the poor clues of 16, 17, 23, & 29.
Albert@21: I quite liked the clues at 16 (nice construction, good surface), 17 (clever subtraction, nice surface), and 29 (good anagram plus inclusion), so I would have been interested in your comment, if only you had given any indication of why you thought these clues were poor.
Thanks Neo and loonapick for the fun.