The puzzle is available here.
Hi all. Raider is the brains behind the brilliant MyCrossword, so I had high hopes.
I wasn’t disappointed: it brought many more delighted smiles than puzzled frowns to my face. It has a 6a-based theme and I have some fond memories from a year spent living there, so I enjoyed the nostalgia trip too.
There were some very nice touches and I liked too many clues to single any out now, so will leave it to you to share your highlights below. Gert lush – thanks Raider!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
Across
6a Snipping custom thing for sale over in city (7)
BRISTOL
BRIS (snipping custom – a circumcision ceremony) + LOT (thing for sale) reversed (over)
7a & 10. Recall man with a dog modelled one time for 6A films (7,3,6)
WALLACE AND GROMIT
An anagram of (… modelled) RECALL MAN W (with) A DOG + I (one) + T (time)
9a Everyone can see that Carol’s on drugs (5)
USING
U (everyone can see that – Universal film certificate) + SING (carol)
10a See 7
11a Deadlines set in stone? (7)
EPITAPH
A cryptic definition of a grave inscription
13a Sweets from New York City’s outskirts (5)
CANDY
The outer letters (outskirts) of CitY are C AND Y
15a Popular song and dance by Motown regularly feature in 6A fiesta (3-3,7)
HOT-AIR BALLOON
HOT (popular) + AIR (song) + BALL (dance) + alternate letters of (… regularly) mOtOwN. The definition refers to the annual Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
18a One humped, climaxed and left (5)
CAMEL
CAME (climaxed) and L (left). Not a U certificate clue …
19a Mexican snack filled with beans occasionally and this sauce? (7)
TABASCO
TACO (Mexican snack) containing (filled with) regular letters of (… occasionally) BeAnS
22a Lamenting corrupt order (9)
ALIGNMENT
An anagram of (… corrupt) LAMENTING
23a International beef from the East, Osaka namely? (5)
NAOMI
I (international) and MOAN (beef) reversed (from the East, in an across entry). The tennis player Naomi Osaka
25a Foresee booze being knocked back in pints (7)
PREDICT
In reverse (being knocked back), CIDER (booze) in PT (pints)
26a Grumpy when missing out to some extent (2,5)
OF SORTS
[out] OF SORTS (grumpy) when missing OUT
Down
1d Picked up important little bird (4)
KIWI
Sounds like (picked up) KEY (important) plus WEE (little)
2d It’s a good mark? Confusingly, the opposite (6)
STIGMA
An anagram of (…. confusingly) IT’S A with G (good) and M (mark)
3d Pop diva wearing fake sable stands outside (9)
BLEACHERS
CHER (pop diva) inside (wearing) an anagram of (fake) SABLE
4d Gangster supports criminal circle of white-collar workers? (8)
CLERICAL
AL (gangster) goes below (supports) an anagram of (criminal) CIRCLE
5d Mourinho’s sacked after drawing in a friendly (10)
HARMONIOUS: MOURINHO‘S anagrammed (sacked) having inserted (after drawing in) A
6d 6A engineer‘s letter once held by British Library (6)
BRUNEL
RUNE (letter once) inside (held by) BL (British Library)
7d Broad‘s poor delivery (4)
WIDE
Two definitions, the second cricketing
8d Watch loses second and minute (5)
ENTRY
[s]ENTRY (watch) loses S (second)
12d Superhero charged with identity theft essentially in torturous case? (4,6)
IRON MAIDEN
IRON MAN (superhero) with the insertion of (charged with) ID (identity) and the middle letter of (… essentially) thEft
14d Trip into a plastered wall (9)
PARTITION
TRIP INTO A anagrammed (plastered)
16d Main computer network limited by storage space (8)
ATLANTIC
LAN (computer network) inside (limited by) ATTIC (storage space)
17d Thieves seen around trendy side of 6A (6)
ROBINS
ROBS (thieves) seen around IN (trendy). The nickname of Bristol City Football Club
18d Cocaine hit becomes vice (5)
CLAMP
C (cocaine) + LAMP (hit)
20d 6A artist edges closer to notoriety (6)
BANKSY
BANKS (edges) + the last letter of (closer to) notorietY
21d Twig circling river that’s big in 6A (4)
GERT
GET (twig) around (circling) R (river). Gert is a dialect word related to great, meaning great or very big. I was disappointed not to find it in Chambers, but Collins (the main reference dictionary for the Indy, I think) has it
24d Man-eater‘s so stuck up (4)
OGRE
ERGO (so) entered in reverse (stuck up)
Sadly, our esteemed compiler’s day job plus MyC commitments means we see less of his work than I would like. This was a tour de force and anyone might think that he hails from the South West. Or, at the very least, that he lives there … I don’t have quite local knowledge that I needed – ROBINS is dnk in the context – I so wanted it to be CLIFTON which is a trendy side of the town – albeit one with too many letters!
So much to like in this: limiting myself to a short(ish) list of favourites gives: CAMEL, TABASCO, NAOMI, OF SORTS, STIGMA, BRUNEL, IRON MAIDEN and BANKSY. GERT is a deffo DNK but was fairly clued and left me with a gert big smile at the end.
Thanks Raider and Kitty
Thank you for the lovely blog, Kitty – sounds like you were the perfect person to pick this one up.
One small thing, 8D should be…
Watch losing seconds, maybe a minute? (5)
It was a late change on my part that must have missed the cut-off.
Such a good puzzle. Couldn’t crack the SE corner and happily admit defeat.
Lots of terrific clues but the clue for WALLACE AND GROMIT was such a literal instruction that it is hard to believe it works as a cryptic too. Outstanding!
I really enjoyed this, great puzzle. Thanks to Raider and Kitty for the usual excellent blog
Gert lush indeed! (A phrase I’m very familiar with thanks to friends from Bristol.) Found this hugely entertaining, thanks, Raider. Great theme, well executed. And thanks for the blog, Kitty.
Very good, with my highlights being SIGMA and the cricketing wordplay (in two senses) WIDE. Unsuccessfully racked my brain for the parsing of the BRIS bit of BRISTOL and GERT; not surprised that both had to go in with a shrug.
Thanks to Raider (good to see you back again) and to Kitty.
Thanks both. I demonstrated how fickle I am by mumbling vague obscenities until finally cracking the half-parsed BRISTOL whereafter I was at peace with a world I nonetheless barely knew. I only knew BLEACHERS as it is the name of a U.S. band my daughter picked for her first wedding song, and I suspect they are rarely spoken of anywhere in sight of the magnificent Clifton suspension bridge
I loved this. It was a oy to solve from start to finish and who would have thought you could have themed a puzzle around Bristol?
I’ve never heard of the circumcision ceremony before nor the West Country dialect word for big. What a lot of interesting things you learn when solving crosswords!
My only slight concern is that 3d is an American term.
I agree with Kitty that there are too many good clues to single any out for favouritism.
Many thanks to Raider and to Kitty.
Raider@2 Re 8D
Watch loses second and minute (5)
Watch losing seconds, maybe a minute? (5)
Yes, that would been a nicer clue.
A GERT fun puzzle especially CAMEL! 🙂
And GROMIT making his second appearance after last Saturday’s Guardian Prize.
https://downthetubes.net/gromit-reads-the-beagle/
Thanks Raider & Kitty
Don’t know much about Bristol or football so the parsing of ROBINS was a challenge as indeed were the ‘snipping custom’ and the ‘stands outside’ – every day’s a school day!
Still very enjoyable and my ticks went to USING, CAMEL, OF SORTS, KIWI, ATLANTIC & BANKSY.
Thanks to Raider for expanding my knowledge and to Miss Kitty for the beautifully illustrated review.
RD @8: ‘It was a oy to solve’ Are you guilty of an unindicated South-West-ism? Oggy, oggy, oggy … The puzzle has brought out your inner Bristolian 😉
Great stuff and congratulations on setting a Bristol themed puzzle with no rhyming slang. I love the illustrations, too. Thanks.
I laughed out loud at the CAMEL and GERT, when I finally twigged it. My West Country idiolect comes from a bit further south, so I know all about the HOT AIR BALLOON fiesta, as, if the wind were blowing right, we often saw them gert big things flying overhead.
Although I completed this, 100% according to the Indy app, I didn’t know the ROBINS (my l.o.i) to confirm the definition from the wordplay and the SE corner took as long to tease out as all the rest, although BANKSY went in on first read through, and gave me BRISTOL, I was slow to solve NAOMI, OF SORTS and OGRE.
Thank you to Kitty for the colourful blog and Raider for the entertaining puzzle.
PM @11. Mea culpa. I meant of course “an oy …” 😉
Excellent puzzle, witty, clever and cryptic, and with a West Country theme, what’s not to like.
My page is littered with ticks but I’ll mention EPITAPH, the very risqué CAMEL (great clue) and the clever OF SORTS, along with WIDE and my favourite ENTRY.
Many thanks to Raider and Kitty, liked your very tactful comment on 18a!
RD @14 That’s an-oy-ing.
Started with this puzzle today and somehow forgot the subtle theme
Thanks all.
Hovis @16: that is very good! Chapeau
Hovis @16. LOL 😀
Thanks kitty/Tom/Raider. Pity the Brissle theme was obvious immediately. More please.
Not knowing the ceremony, we took ages to get BRISTOL – it was the write-in BRUNEL which pointed us in the right direction, then the other themed entries began to fall into place. Favourite was WALLACE AND GROMIT – more cheese, anyone?
Thanks, Raider and Kitty.
Thanks Raider, that was great. Despite my ignorance of the theme I was able to solve and parse everything because the clueing was so expertly crafted. My top picks were HOT-AIR BALLOON, CAMEL, TABASCO (good surface), KIWI, BLEACHERS, and IRON MAIDEN. Thanks Kitty for the blog and the cat balloon photo.
Oi oi! Gurt lush puzzle, speaking as a proud Bristolian! NB alternative spelling, true Bristle. Really great puzzle, thanks Raider! And an equally great blog, cheers Kitty!
We are both Bristolians – we enjoyed the puzzle but wondered what others would make of a crossword based around our home city.
It’s a shame that RD didn’t miss an L off the end of the word rather than a letter at the beginning, as that would have fitted the Bristol theme superbly!
Thanks to S&B.
Well, who would have thought this puzzle would have unearthed quite a few of us with some connection to Bristol (including RD for his dialectical contribution!)
Sorry PostMark – we have to add a correction to our comment! Our brains had obviously switched off last night but Joyce realised as she was dropping off to sleep that there was an error. Bristolians ADD an L at the end of some words and do NOT miss them off!
Bert’s mother was called Barbaral – joke went on that she was an areal manager for a car firm and drove a Ford Sierral. Hope you get the ideal!
That’s how Bristol got an L at the end.