Tuesday fun from Crosophile.
An enjoyable puzzle today, and not too much of a 10a. I enjoyed the surface image of 15a and the very neat 16a and 30a.
About half-way through I spotted the three entries PAST ASH APES across the middle row, and realised that this was helpfully leading us towards a Tuesday theme, when read as PASTA SHAPES. This helped to confirm a few of the remaining entries, but then I spent some time researching just how many references there are here. For “researching” I really mean looking through this Wikipedia article, which has a bewildering list of more or less well-known pasta varieties, some with multiple names. The following entries are either translations of the Italian names or (rough) English descriptions of what the shapes look like:
- FEATHER = penne
- FURROWS = rigatoni or other “ridged” shapes
- RHOMBUS = rombi
- SHELL = conchiglie
- SHOELACE = stringozzi (or perhaps tagliatelle or others)
- SLEEVES = mezze maniche, “half sleeves” (or perhaps cannelloni)
- SPIRALS = fusilli
- TONGUE = linguine, “little tongues”
- TUBE = macaroni or others
- WHEEL = rotelle
There may be more that I’ve missed, but I’m already getting hungry! Thanks to Crosophile for the feast.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | UTOPIAN |
Out to break end off instrument in about the perfect place (7)
|
| Anagram (to break) of OUT, then PIAN[o] (instrument) with the end letter dropped off.
“About” in the sense of “relating to” utopia. |
||
| 10 | TOUGHIE |
Difficult puzzle is almost excessively huge one to crack (7)
|
| TO[o] (excessively) without the last letter (almost), then an anagram (to crack) of HUGE + I (one in Roman numerals). | ||
| 11 | RAGWEED |
Wild flower we planted in wild garden mostly (7)
|
| WE planted in an anagram (wild) of GARDE[n] (mostly = all but the last letter).
Flowering plant, native to the Americas but spreading elsewhere. Bad news for those with pollen allergies, it seems. |
||
| 12 | ENTREAT |
Send essentially nice surprise and pray (7)
|
| Middle letters (essentially) of [s]EN[d], then TREAT (a nice surprise). | ||
| 13 | WHEEL |
Go round with a rotter (5)
|
| W (abbreviation for with) + HEEL (a rotter = an ill-behaved person).
Wheel, as a verb = spin round or change direction. |
||
| 15 | SUGAR CANE |
Garden pest’s not left mysterious tropical grass (5,4)
|
| S[l]UG (garden pest) without the L (left), then ARCANE (mysterious). | ||
| 16 | PAST |
Father’s time perhaps? (4)
|
| PA’S (father’s) + T (abbreviation for time).
Clue-as-definition (&lit): the past could be seen as the time associated with an earlier generation. |
||
| 18 | ASH |
Absolute silence in tree (3)
|
| A (abbreviation for absolute, when referring to temperature using a scale that starts at absolute zero) + SH (sh! = silence! = an instruction to be quiet).
Genus of trees otherwise known as Fraxinus. |
||
| 19 | APES |
Copies recordings except for intro (4)
|
| [t]APES (recordings) without its introductory letter.
Ape, as a verb = to imitate or copy. |
||
| 22 | PROMENADE |
City invested in parking and recycled energy and walkway (9)
|
| ROME (city), inserted into P (sign for a parking area) + anagram (recycled) of AND, then E (abbreviation for energy). | ||
| 24 | SHELL |
This woman will throw explosive missile (5)
|
| SHE’LL (shorter form of “this woman will”).
Shell, as a verb = to fire or drop explosive missiles on a target. |
||
| 26 | RHOMBUS |
Lozenge medic’s taken in working hours (7)
|
| MB (abbreviation for a Bachelor of Medicine degree = doctor), taken into an anagram (working) of HOURS.
Lozenge = rhombus = the four-sided shape otherwise known as a diamond. |
||
| 27 | LATTICE |
Within the French garret, a grille (7)
|
| ATTIC (garret = room within a roof space) within LE (a form of “the” in French). | ||
| 29 | LYING IN |
Lecturer’s passive principle – strong liquor and staying abed (5,2)
|
| L (abbreviation for lecturer) + YIN (the passive principle in Chinese philosophy, as opposed to “yang” the active one) + GIN (strong liquor). | ||
| 30 | SUBSIDE |
Second eleven go down? (7)
|
| Second eleven = a sports team (for example in football or cricket) made up of lower-ranking players who don’t make it into the first team; hence they could be a SUB (substitute) SIDE (team). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FURROWS |
Hair’s orderly 3s and grooves (7)
|
| FUR (animal hair) + ROWS (orderly lines, with a reference to 3d LINE). | ||
| 2 | TONGUE |
Such as Esperanto is partly built on guesswork (6)
|
| Hidden answer (partly . . .) in [buil]T ON GUE[sswork].
Tongue = language. |
||
| 3 | LINE |
Cloth cut to reinforce the interior (4)
|
| LINE[n] (cloth) without the last letter (cut).
Line, as a verb = to add a layer to the interior of something. |
||
| 4 | ANODES |
A paean’s positive points (6)
|
| AN ODE’S = a paean’s = associated with a lyric poem.
Anode = the positive electrode in a battery or other electrical device. |
||
| 5 | STRENGTH |
Force German into Midlands river in quiet surroundings (8)
|
| G (abbreviation for German) in TRENT (River Trent, in the North Midlands of the UK), all surrounded by SH (which we’ve already seen to mean “quiet” in 18a). | ||
| 6 | CUT-THROATS |
Courts that shot murderers (3-7)
|
| Anagram (shot = damaged or destroyed) of COURTS THAT. | ||
| 7 | SHOELACE |
Holes in knots? Hole in one? One in holes perhaps (8)
|
| Anagram (in knots = tangled up) of HOLES, then ACE (golf slang for a hole in one). | ||
| 8 | FEATHER |
Plume of my aunt perhaps following exploit (7)
|
| HER (my aunt perhaps?) following FEAT (exploit). The rather vague first half is somewhat excused by the reference to la plume de ma tante (my aunt’s pen), a classic example used in French grammar lessons. | ||
| 14 | LITTERBUGS |
Collection of puppies maybe annoys rubbishy people (10)
|
| LITTER (a group of puppies, or other animals, all from the same birth) + BUGS (bug, as a verb = slang for annoy).
Litterbug = someone who drops rubbish instead of disposing of it properly. |
||
| 17 | APOLOGIA |
A sport (golf) – one amateur’s justification (8)
|
| A + POLO (a sport) + G (golf, in the radio alphabet) + I (one, in Roman numerals) + A (abbreviation for amateur as opposed to professional). | ||
| 18 | AMASSING |
Cross to miss a Christmas carol gathering (8)
|
| A + [x]MAS (Christmas) + CAROL (as a verb = sing), without the X (cross).
Gathering, as a verb = amassing = coming together in a large group. |
||
| 20 | SPIRALS |
Twists and turns for Soprano and the Italian with tears (7)
|
| S (abbreviation for soprano singing voice) + LA (a form of “the” in Italian) + RIPS (tears), all reversed (turns for . . .). | ||
| 21 | SLEEVES |
Record holders almost slaughtered some days before (7)
|
| SLE[w] (past tense of “slay” = slaughter) without the last letter (almost), then EVES (days before, as in Christmas Eve).
For those too young to remember, “record” used to mean a flat circular piece of plastic with a spiral groove, containing a representation of sound waves for mechanical reproduction of music. It was stored in a “sleeve” made of cardboard. |
||
| 23 | ENLIST |
Join up and pay attention when cycling? (6)
|
| LISTEN (pay attention), with the letters “cycling” round so that EN is at the start. | ||
| 25 | ELICIT |
Evoke the hidden parts of Kendal, say? (6)
|
| [f]ELICIT[y] (the actor Felicity Kendal, for example) – though I’m not sure that “all but the outer letters” of a name can really be described as “hidden”. | ||
| 28 | TUBE |
Underground food store of plant is reduced (4)
|
| TUBE[r] (a structure used by a plant to store nutrients, for example the potato) without its last letter (reduced).
Tube = Underground = short names for London’s underground railway system. |
Thanks for your well-researched intro, Quirister. Missed that theme altogether.
I well remember learning such useful French phrases as: La plume de ma tante est sur la table.
More useful than the phrases found in the infamous book English as she is wrote, perhaps most famously, the phrase to craunch the marmoset.
Gosh! Well done for spotting that Quirister, I had no idea. Despite looking for but not finding a theme, I really enjoyed this. I wasn’t sure about 16A PAST but bunged it in anyway – I’ve never really understood what an &lit is but suspected this was one of those. Thanks Crosophile and Quirister.
I forgot to look for the Tuesday theme , which is a shame because it was so well-executed. Thanks for the blog and puzzle.
We looked for the theme but couldn’t see it. But an enjoyable solve nevertheless. We liked PROMENADE, ANODE and FEATHER.
Thanks, Crosophile and Quirister.
Another one to miss the theme, despite knowing there was almost certainly going to be one for a Tuesday Indy puzzle. Very good spot to pick it up and thanks for doing the extensive research (meaning I’m sure you had to look at more than the one Wikipedia page to which you’ve given the link) required to identify all the thematic references.
I didn’t do this very good crossword justice. As well as missing the theme, I also couldn’t parse AMASSING (obvious now) and ELICIT (never would have got). One up to the setter.
Thanks to Crosophile and Quirister
Another to miss the theme (I miss the most obvious ones so would not have spotted this in a million years – well done, Quirister and anyone else who did). Failed to parse ELICIT, though it seems obvious now. I got tied up with seeing some of LAKE DISTRICT in ‘Kendal’ and ‘elicit’, but, of course, couldn’t make anything out of it and gave up.
Thanks Crosophile and Quirister.
Thanks both. Failed on matters similar to other commenters here….I even read the words PAST ASH APES to myself suspecting something might be going on, but still didn’t cotton on, and thought of Howard or Kenneth Kendal (both spelt differently) but not Felicity, but I dare say she’d argue those letters have been more contained than hidden through her Good Life
I wondered about the ‘hidden’ bit but I guess what’s on the inside is generally perceived as hidden so thought it OK.
Did anyone else have trouble printing this?
I got clues but no grid at all in Edge and clues with a grid but no black squares in Chrome!
Thanks to Croso[hile and Quirister
reddevil@8: No problems here printing in Firefox.
Thanks Quirister and Crosophile.
Very good puzzle. Didn’t get SLEEVES, or the theme.
Aunt in 8d was mysterious.
PROMENADE, AMASSING, STRENGTH made my list.
Couldn’t get SHOELACE and am grateful for the parsing of ELICIT.
I’m another who missed the theme completely. Clever stuff – chapeau.
allan_c @9 Firefox wouldn’t even load the play button for me – strange.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever completed one of these puzzles without hints (and only needed to look up the definition of “paean” for help) AND understood the wordplay for every clue along the way. Funnily enough, I feel like I was looking for words that were pasta shapes early on after getting SHELL, having missed the central row’s significance, and when I didn’t see any obvious ones immediately, I forgot about it completely! 7D is my new favorite, barely taking the win from the brilliant Bond-related one yesterday.
A great bit of detective work, Quirister, finding all those pasta shapes! It’s a while since I set this one but I think I had a very similar list that I worked from.
Thanks for the blog and all the nice comments. 🙂