Twin is one of the newer Independent setters. I think this is Twin’s third offering.
The wordplay in this puzzle was very clear, so I think I’ve got all the parsing right.
I liked the clue for BOW TIE with its Dickie Bird reference. I also liked the ‘tube fare’ definition for SAUSAGE.
Sometimes there is a bit of a theme on Thursday, but I can’t see anything here other than a few words in the clues and grid that vaguely encompass food (fish, tuna, bread, fruit, nuts, duck, rice, SAUSAGE, POLO, BANANA, HAZELNUT, PRESERVE and APPLE PIE)
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Sanctioned wretch provided with makeshift bomb (8) RATIFIED (sanctioned) RAT (wretch) + IF (provided) + IED (improvised explosive device; makeshift bomb) RAT IF IED |
| 5 |
Briefly coming back to tour a state (6) NEVADA (State of the United States of America) ADVENT (coming) excluding the final letter (briefly) T, reversed (back) containing (to tour) A NEV (A) DA< |
| 9 |
Chinese order of cooked fish, e.g. skinned tuna (4,4) FENG SHUI (The Chinese art of determining the most propitious design and placement [order] of a grave, building, room, etc, so that the maximum harmony is achieved between the flow of chi of the environment and that of the user, believed to bring good fortune; Chinese order) Anagram of (cooked) FISH EG and UN (letters remaining in TUNA when the outer letters T and A are removed [skinned]) FENG SHUI* |
| 10 |
Inside of gulag has tourists stunned (6) AGHAST (stupefied with horror; stunned) AGHAST (hidden word in [inside of] GULAG HAS TOURISTS) AGHAST |
| 12 |
Ladies perhaps hide, forgoing second chance (4-2) LOOK-IN (chance of doing anything effectively) LOO (Ladies toilet for instance) + SKIN (hide) excluding (forgoing) S (second) LOO K–IN |
| 13 |
Occasionally fond of an oddball (2,3,3) ON AND OFF (occasionally) Anagram of (oddball) FOND OF AN ON AND OFF* |
| 15 |
Tube fare – you’ve got nothing without it! (7) SAUSAGE (food item [fare] shaped like a tube) SAUSAGE (reference the phrase ‘not a [without] SAUSAGE meaning ‘nothing at all’) SAUSAGE |
| 16 |
Regret turning over continental bread (4) EURO (currency [bread] in many European [continental] countries) RUE (regret) reversed (turning) + O (over) EUR< O |
| 20 |
Look after river sport (4) POLO (a sport) PO ([Italian] river]) + LO (look) PO LO |
| 21 |
British fruit and nuts (7) BANANAS (crazy; nuts) B (British) + ANANAS (pineapple; fruit) B ANANAS |
| 25 |
Was waiter’s duck covered in low calorie wine? (8) LOITERED (lingered; waited; was a waiter) O (character representing zero; duck score in cricket) contained in (in) LITE (low calorie) + RED (a wine) L (O) ITE RED |
| 26 |
Dickie Bird initially backed English one and two (3,3) BOW TIE (a DICKIE [BOW] is a BOW TIE) B (first letter of [initially] BIRD) + (E [English] + I [Roman numeral for one] + TWO) all reversed (backed) B (OW T I E)< |
| 28 |
Course covering constant alongside unknown variable (6) PATCHY (irregular; variable) PATH (way) containing (covering) C (constant) + Y (letter frequently used to identify an unknown value in an equation) PAT (C) H Y |
| 29 |
Light brown mist swirling until one’s lost (8) HAZELNUT (light brown colour) HAZE (mist) + an anagram of (swirling) UNTIL excluding (lost) I (Roman numeral for one) HAZE LNUT* |
| 30 |
Lake taken in by extremely eager stranger (6) EERIER (stranger) ERIE (reference lake ERIE, one of the Great Lakes) contained in (taken in by) ER (outer letters [extremely] of EAGER) E (ERIE) R |
| 31 |
Keep quiet about aid (8) PRESERVE (keep) P (piano; quiet) + RE (with reference to; about) + SERVE (help; aid) P RE SERVE |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Rapidly turn firearm, increasing core volume? (6) RIFFLE (turn rapidly, e.g. the pages of a book) RIFLE (firearm) with an additional central letter (core) raising the volume F (forte; loud) to FF (fortissimo; louder) RI FF LE |
| 2 |
Tory’s beginning to irritate Speaker (6) TANNOY (sound-reproducing and amplifying system; speaker) T (first letter of [beginning to] TORY) + ANNOY (irritate) T ANNOY |
| 3 |
Last five crackers for Christmas, perhaps (8) FESTIVAL (Christmas is a religious FESTIVAL) Anagram of (crackers) LAST FIVE FESTIVAL* |
| 4 |
Regularly test music case (4) ETUI (small case for holding sewing articles) ETUI (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly] of TEST MUSIC) ETUI |
| 6 |
Motor missing centre, needing to be replaced (6) ENGINE (motor) Anagram of (to be replaced) NEEDING excluding (missing) the middle letter (centre) D ENGINE* |
| 7 |
Counterpart with hands? (8) ANALOGUE (something that represents a similar object, but in a different form. COUNTERPART can be defined in a similar way) ANALOGUE (a clock with hands is an ANALOGUE for a digital representation of the time of day) This clue could be an &Lit where the whole clue defines an ANALOGUE clock |
| 8 |
Almighty deed, changing cats for dogs – all tailless (3,2,3) ACT OF GOD (a deed [ACT] undertaken by the Almighty [GOD]) Anagram of (changing) CAT FO and DOG being CATS FOR DOGS excluding the final letter (tailless) of each ACT OF GOD* – it may be a coincidence that each word of the entry is an anagram of each of CAT, FO and DOG |
| 11 |
A horse/sheep mixup (7) ANAGRAM (mix up of letters) A + NAG (horse) + RAM (sheep) A NAG RAM |
| 14 |
Sorry criminal has identified missing head (7) ASHAMED (sorry) Anagram of (criminal) HAS + NAMED (identified) excluding the first letter (missing head) N ASH* AMED |
| 17 |
Endless petitions about record that’s typically American (5,3) APPLE PIE (expressing, containing, or typical of, traditionally-upheld and revered American values) APPLIES (petitions) excluding the final letter (endless) S containing (about) EP (Extended Play record) APPL (E P) IE |
| 18 |
Scattered rice lost in part of cathedral (8) CLOISTER (covered arcade forming part of a monastic or collegiate establishment, such as a cathedral) Anagram of (scattered) RICE LOST CLOISTER* |
| 19 |
Ordnance Survey spread out in Barnes & Noble (8) BARONESS (title of rank in the nobility) OS (Ordnance Survey) with each letter contained separately in (spread out in) BARNES BAR (O) NE (S) S |
| 22 |
Support for driver with trimmed wheel that’s funny (3-3) TEE-HEE (expressing merriment; that’s funny) TEE (support for a golf ball to be hit by a driver) + HEE (letters remaining in WHEEL when the outer letters W and L are removed [trimmed]) TEE–HEE |
| 23 |
I enjoy drugs and rock and roll, primarily (6) STONER (person who habitually takes drugs, especially cannabis) STONE (rock) + R (first letter of [primarily] ROLL) STONE R |
| 24 |
Article in French newspaper that is socialist (6) LEFTIE (someone left of centre politically; socialist) LE (French form of ‘the’ [definite article]) + FT (Financial Times; newspaper) + IE (id est; that is) LE FT IE |
| 27 |
Retreat from short Scottish landowner (4) LAIR (den or retreat) LAIRD (Scottish term for an estate landowner) excluding the final letter (short) D LAIR |
Very much enjoyed this. The clue for SAUSAGE was clever and I missed it, putting in an unparsed ‘passage’. Nearly resorted to a word fit for 7d, my loi, but just managed to get it.
Too good for me. Beaten by RIFFLE (had ‘refill’ but didn’t like it) and bowled by the ‘spread out’ misdirection in the clue for BARONESS. Spent a lot of time googling Barnes and Noble. I enjoyed the uniqueness – SAUSAGE, TEE HEE, LOOK-IN. Top clues – ANALOGUE, LOITERED, or PATCHY and my personal favourite, STONER. TWIN’s nom-de-plume seems low key by comparison. Many thanks.
Loved ANALOGUE and RIFFLE.
Thanks, Twin and duncanshiell!
Same as Hovis @1 with a last in guess “passage” instead of SAUSAGE (which I see is followed, rather than preceded, by EURO in the grid). I found the SE hard going as well, with BOW TIE, HAZELNUT and the never heard of STONER all taking a while to work out. I was another fan of ANALOGUE.
Thanks to Twin for number three and to Duncan
I really enjoyed this with ANALOGUE my favourite closely followed by SAUSAGE.
Many thanks to Twin and to Duncan.
I am relieved to find I follow in the steps of two of our stalwarts in Hovis and WP with my unparsed passage for SAUSAGE. Very cleverly done. A nice puzzle, tightly and originally clued.
Favourites include FENG SHUI, BANANAS, LOITERED, BOW TIE, HAZELNUT, FESTIVAL, ANALOGUE, ASHAMED, BARONESS and TEE HEE.
Thanks Twin and duncan
Unable to find HAZELNUT in any dictionary as other than “noun – the fruit of the hazel tree” aka Filbert – but that’s a different setter.
The dictionaries say HAZEL is the colour, though L’Oréal would disagree. I consulted the Encycolorpedia:
https://encycolorpedia.com/search?q=hazelnut
Dulux, Valspar and Pantone agree with L’Oréal.
These dictionaries need to get with the program. 🙂
I liked BARONESS for the Barnes & Noble schtick. Also RIFFLE and SAUSAGE.
(End of commercial break)
A fun solve. Thanks T&d
First class. ACT OF GOD was pleasingly symmetrical as was ANAGRAM. Enjoyed it all
Thanks both
Welcome back, Twin, with an enjoyable puzzle. Ticks here went to FENG SHUI, SAUSAGE, TANNOY & ANAGRAM.
Thanks to him and to Duncan for the review.
The Tube fare at 15ac had us looking for a form of pasta such as macaroni at, first until we had the crossing letters and got SAUSAGE just in time to stop us putting in ‘passage’ – which just about parsed nas a double definition if one ignored the ‘nothing without it’ bit.
An enjoyable solve. As well as SAUSAGE we liked BOW TIE and ANALOGUE.
Thanks, Twin and Duncan.
I’m impressed, a puzzle full of very smart wordplay and clue construction, more from this setter would be very welcome.
I’ve ticked LOOK-IN, SAUSAGE, HAZELNUT, APPLE PIE and TEE-HEE but could have mentioned several more. Great stuff.
Many thanks TWIN and DS
I was another looking for pasta instead of SAUSAGE and then confused myself with two lots of it (SA) around U and not understanding why GE was nothing. Unlike Hovis I did need digital assistance for ANALOGUE. Thanks,both.
Thanks Twin. Even though I needed to use a word finder for NEVADA, HAZELNUT, and ANALOGUE I thoroughly enjoyed this and will add Twin to my “must attempt” list. There were many expertly crafted clues including my favourites LOOK-IN, LOITERED, ACT OF GOD, ANAGRAM, ASHAMED, and STONER. I was happy to solve SAUSAGE; I knew that it could mean nothing from Brian Eno’s song Backwater with the lyric, “ooh what to do, not a sausage to do.” Thanks Duncan for the blog.