Wire provides our Thursday entertainment this week.
An enjoyable challenge with nothing too obscure (except perhaps 28a, but it was clearly clued and guessable). I liked 11a for the surface, 17d for the SURF ACE (beach dude), 26a for “half a curry”, and both 19a and 1d for the quirky definitions that were slightly less than they appeared to be. Thanks Wire for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BALDRIC |
Item of military dress worn mostly flush (7)
|
| BALD (as in bald patches in a lawn = worn) + RIC[h] (flush) without the last letter (mostly).
A diagonal belt over the shoulder, often to carry a weapon. |
||
| 5 | HOGWEED |
Monopolise department on small Scottish plant (7)
|
| HOG (slang for monopolise = appropriate selfishly) + D (abbreviation for department), around (on) WEE (Scottish dialect for small). | ||
| 9 | NOSEY |
Intrusive binary responses one sent back (5)
|
| NO + YES (binary responses), with the second reversed (sent back). | ||
| 10 | RED SETTER |
Irish pet maybe embarrassed me (3,6)
|
| RED (red-faced = blushing with embarrassment) + SETTER (me = Wire, the setter of this crossword).
A breed of dog with reddish hair, otherwise known as an Irish setter. |
||
| 11 | ATHENIANS |
Greeks struggling in heat since about noon (9)
|
| Anagram (struggling) of IN HEAT, then AS (since) around N (abbreviation for noon). | ||
| 12 | OILED |
Baffled fellow leaving worse for wear (5)
|
| [f]OILED (baffled = prevented) without the F (abbreviation for fellow).
Worse for wear = oiled = euphemisms for drunk. |
||
| 13 | RASH |
Outbreak is equally reckless (4)
|
| Double definition. A skin irritation; or foolhardy. | ||
| 15 | COLLIERY |
Sheep herder originally re-dug yonder pit (8)
|
| COLLIE (a breed of dog often used as a sheepdog) + first letters (originally) of R[e-dug] Y[onder].
Pit = colliery = coal mine. |
||
| 18 | START OUT |
Get going with best-performing ticket seller (5,3)
|
| STAR (best-performing) + TOUT (someone who sells tickets unofficially at inflated prices). | ||
| 19 | NASA |
Administration that launches 9 perhaps endlessly (4)
|
| NASA[l] (9 perhaps = reference to 9a NOSEY), without the last letter (endlessly).
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which launches space rockets. |
||
| 22 | MITRE |
Roughly trim back of ornate tile for bishop (5)
|
| Anagram (roughly) of TRIM + last letter (back) of [ornat]E.
Tile = slang for a hat; mitre = a ceremonial hat worn by a bishop. |
||
| 24 | MANICURES |
Very busy certainly with head-to-toe treatments (9)
|
| MANIC (slang for very busy), then SURE (certainly = an expression of assent) with the first letter moved to the end (head to toe). | ||
| 26 | VIN DU PAYS |
Local wine and half a curry university covers (3,2,4)
|
| VIND[aloo] (half a curry) + U (abbreviation for university) + PAYS (covers, as in “covers the costs”).
French term for wine typical of a specific region. |
||
| 27 | ABACI |
Sailor regularly at chic counters (5)
|
| AB (abbreviation for able-bodied seaman = sailor) + alternate letters (regularly) of A[t] C[h]I[c].
Plural of abacus = counting device. |
||
| 28 | ECHINUS |
Spiny thing moved inches across back of bayou (7)
|
| Anagram (moved) of INCHES around the last letter (back) of [bayo]U.
Scientific name for a sea urchin. |
||
| 29 | DITHERY |
Hesitant when switching articles in journal (7)
|
| DI[a]RY (journal), with A (indefinite article) switched for THE (definite article).
Dithery = indecisive = hesitant. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BONSAI |
Art of growing up among Asia’s nobility (6)
|
| Hidden answer (among . . .), reversed (up = upwards in a down clue), in [as]IAS NOB[ility].
The Japanese art of growing decorative miniature trees. |
||
| 2 | LOSE HEART |
Harass healers to despair (4,5)
|
| Anagram (harass . . .) of HEALERS TO. | ||
| 3 | RAYON |
Fabric drawers with sides having split (5)
|
| [c]RAYON[s] (tools for drawing = drawers?) with the outer letters having split (absconded).
Also called viscose: fabric made from cellulose. |
||
| 4 | CARPACCIO |
Find fault with account linked to satellite dish (9)
|
| CARP (find fault = complain) + ACC (abbreviation for account) + IO (a satellite of Jupiter).
A dish of meat or fish sliced very thinly and served raw. |
||
| 5 | HADES |
God cheated over empty eulogies (5)
|
| HAD (cheated, as in “you’ve been had”) before (over, in a down clue) E[ulogie]S (empty = inner letters removed).
Ancient Greek god of the dead. |
||
| 6/25 | GREGORIAN CHANT |
Order music (9,5)
|
| Cryptic definition: a form of unaccompanied vocal music associated with monks in religious orders. | ||
| 7 | EXTOL |
Praise former partner over large amount raised (5)
|
| EX (slang for a former partner), before (over, in a down clue) LOT (large amount) reversed (raised = upwards in a down clue). | ||
| 8 | DERIDE |
Mock the German papers on centre of shelf (6)
|
| DER (a form of “the” in German) + ID (abbreviation for identity documents = papers) + centre letter of [sh]E[lf]. | ||
| 14 | HARLEQUIN |
Clown discovered King and Queen at home (9)
|
| [c]HARLE[s] (King Charles III) with the outer letters removed (dis-covered) + QU (abbreviation for queen) + IN (at home). | ||
| 16 | LATINISED |
Lost in details written in Ovid’s language (9)
|
| Anagram (lost) of IN DETAILS. | ||
| 17 | RESURFACE |
Appear again outside of refuge with beach dude? (9)
|
| Outside letters of R[efug]E + SURF ACE (an expert surfer = beach dude). | ||
| 20 | B-MOVIE |
Mark in Jersey possibly missing new film (1-5)
|
| M (abbreviation for mark, as in the former German currency Deutsche Mark or DM) in BOVI[n]E (possibly a Jersey cow) without the N (new).
A low-budget film, originally shown as part of a double feature alongside a more popular or commercial film. |
||
| 21 | OSSIFY |
Often subjects set in first year initially get harder (6)
|
| First letters (initially) of O[ften] S[ubjects] S[et] I[n] F[irst] Y[ear].
To turn into bone, or (metaphorically) to become hard and inflexible. |
||
| 23 | TENCH |
Fish snare upset children (5)
|
| NET (snare) reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue) + CH (abbreviation for children). | ||
| 24 | MEANS |
Resources tight before middle of recession (5)
|
| MEAN (tight = miserly) before the middle letter of [rece]S[sion]. | ||
| 25 |
See 6
|
|
Very enjoyable. Found myself unabla to parse NASA so was glad of the help here. Feel a bit of an idiot now but that’s how it is sometimes.
HARLEQUIN was nicely clued, I thought.
Like our blogger, I found this a very smooth and enjoyable challenge, though it took me a while to parse VIN DU PAYS as I didn’t initially equate ‘covers’ with ‘pays’. The giant HOGWEED
can cause a RASH, but that hardly constitutes a theme! Thanks Wire and Quirister.
I liked this, including the appearance of our two canine friends and learnt that an ‘Irish’ and RED SETTER are the same dog. My way in, or so I thought, to the unknown ECHINUS was to think of another appealing (and ‘spiny’) animal, the echidna, only to find out that its name comes from the Greek for “viper” – very strange.
Last in, thanks to wordplay and crossers was the just heard of BALDRIC; one to try to remember as anything but a TV character.
Thanks to Wire and Quirister
Enjoyable. I liked the clue for DITHERY and CARPACCIO is new. Google says it was ‘invented’ by Giuseppe from Harry’s Bar in Venice in 1963. There’s always something to learn in a crossword. Thanks.
Thanks for a fine blog, Quirister. I agree with all of your preamble (loved the two ‘surfaces’ 😉 )
I also liked 6,25 GREGORIAN CHANT (love the music) 4dn CARPACCIO, for the satellite dish and, like PJ, 14dn HARLEQUIN< for the construction and surface.
Rather curiously, there's a word in one of the clues here that appears as an answer in Nutmeg's Guardian puzzle today (no spoilers). I knew it only from a song title but now I know what it is.
Many thanks to Wire for another very interesting and enjoyable puzzle.
Eileen @5: you have been most diplomatic and I hope I remain similarly so in commenting that there is another similarity between the two puzzles. Coincidence is a remarkable thing. Well, I suppose it is Groundhog Day!
Very enjoyable crossword: BALDRIC – a lovely charade, ATHENIANS with its neat story, MANICURES (how nice to see a departure from the usual Man I Cure parse), VIN DU PAYS with its highly apposite surface, two different sorts of hiddens with the beautifully clued BONSAI and then ‘dish’ almost unnoticed as the solution in CARPACCIO, OSSIFY as I love a well executed acrostic and finally TENCH for the surface.
Thanks Wire and Quirister
PostMark @6 – yes: I didn’t comment on the other coincidence, because the two were similar, as you say, but not identical.
I didn’t know today was Groundhog Day. 😉
Thanks both. Sought thesaurus help to get the ‘carp’ piece of the unknown CARPACCIO which then led me to BALDRIC which at best I knew vaguely if only for its sound-alike in Blackadder. Reference VIN DU PAYS I feel I know it better as vin de pays but would happily drink either or both
Not too difficult but enough of a challrnge to keep us on our toes. We did start to enter ‘echidna’ for 28ac but pulled up in time to realise it didn’t fit the anagram fodder and could only be ECHINUS – which we then checked in Chambers for good measure. 15ac had us fooled for a while as we thought we might be looking for a breed of sheep before crossing letters led us to COLLIERY. Lots to enjoy, with ATHENIANS, VIN DU PAYS, HARLEQUIN and B-MOVIE among our favourites.
Thanks, Wire and Quirister.
Eileen @7: Did you know today was Groundhog Day? 😉
PostMark and Eileen and another word that appeared in a recent Paul puzzle. Is ther something about today that would make repetition more likely?
Petert @11: … on which subject, I might stick my neck out and say that yesterday and today might have been an interesting couple of days to have done puzzles posted on MyCrossword – but that is a bit of a blatant plug
[Petert @11: Groundhog Day (1993)
A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day, and the day keeps repeating until he gets it right.
The above blurb describes the movie, Groundhog Day.]
Thanks Wire. I expected this to be much more difficult to complete so I rate this on the easy end of the Wire spectrum. I enjoyed it nonetheless with my favourites being GREGORIAN CHANT, DITHERING, and CARPACCIO. [Clues/solutions that repeat across setters must be more than coincidence. I imagine that computer software/programs have something to do with it.] Thanks Quirister for the blog.
After fifteen minutes I was despairing as I’d only got a couple and one of them I was unsure about. Then they started to fall into place and I really enjoyed it. Some really lovely word play and misdirections with things like small Scottish and satellite dish.
Getting 29 was a real “ahhh” moment and made me smile. LOI 16, cannot believe I didn’t spot it was an anagram until I was sure I had the answer and was trying to parse it!
Thanks Quirister and Wire. Helped a train journey whizz by!
Managed to stumble my way into thinking COLLIERY was ENHYDROS, an anagram of yonder and Sheep Herder’s first letters. Chambers said it was a pit of sorts as well! That meant I ground to a halt as nothing else would fit though.
Bit of a fail today but never mind.
Thanks to Wire and Quirister