Our Wednesday challenge this week comes from Tees.
There’s a fairly obvious theme scattered around, with some very apposite surfaces in the relevant clues: the sordid tale of 5d and 24a/18d. She alleged something similar to the surface of 1a; he denied it, but paid her a large sum to stop talking about it. However, this was during his Presidential election campaign, and he paid it by a circuitous route so that it didn’t show up in his campaign expenses. Hence the 19a curently against him for falsifying the accounts. He’s not yet a 12a, but our setter’s opinion on the matter may perhaps be indicated by 6a/3d. A few other clues seem vaguely related, but perhaps I’m reading too much into them.
As well as the thematic entries, I thought 26a, 2d and 20d were very neat. Thanks Tees for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PARAKEET |
American debauchee entertained by fit bird (8)
|
| A (abbreviation for American) + RAKE (debauchee), contained in (entertained by) PET (fit, as a noun = tantrum). | ||
| 6/3 | GUILTY AS SIN |
Absolutely responsible 24 saying lust ensnares one (6,2,3)
|
| Anagram (24 = reference to 24a STORMY) of SAYING LUST, containing (ensnaring) I (one in Roman numerals). | ||
| 9 | MOSS |
Rock cover Rolling Stones must do without? (4)
|
| Double definition, or perhaps a single cryptic definition: they’re both essentially the same meaning, but well hidden by a surface that suggests cover versions of songs rather than actual rocks. As in the proverb “a rolling stone gathers no moss”. | ||
| 10 | GLUTTONOUS |
Learner fills belly: to wit, having undue desire for food? (10)
|
| L (abbreviation for learner, as in L-plate) inserted into (fills) GUT (belly), then TO + NOUS (wit = common sense). | ||
| 11 | BAGNIO |
Reserve recalled nothing in disorderly house (6)
|
| BAG (reserve, as a verb = secure for oneself); then O (zero = nothing) + IN, reversed (recalled).
Originally a word for a bath-house, but it later came to mean a brothel. |
||
| 12 | PRISONER |
Lying around is Romeo’s captive (8)
|
| PRONE (lying face-down) around IS, then R (Romeo in the radio alphabet). | ||
| 13 | SOCIAL WORK |
Law crooks must break to accommodate one caring career? (6,4)
|
| Anagram (must break) of LAW CROOKS containing (to accommodate) I (one in Roman numerals). | ||
| 16 | HANG |
Crone saving knight put to death (4)
|
| HAG (crone = offensive term for an old woman), containing (saving) N (abbreviation for knight in chess notation). | ||
| 17 | ODIN |
Sculptor shows no resistance finding God (4)
|
| [r]ODIN (Auguste Rodin, French sculptor) without the R (scientific symbol for electrical resistance).
A Norse deity. |
||
| 19 | INDICTMENT |
I’m keeping court in order for accusation 5 must face (10)
|
| I’M containing (keeping) CT (abbreviation for court, especially in the name of a road or building on maps), all contained within INDENT (to order or requisition goods, especially from abroad).
A formal statement of a criminal charge, for example the one currently in force against 5d TRUMP. |
||
| 22 | ENTRANCE |
Charm one’s way in? (8)
|
| Double definition. To charm (as a verb, with the stress on the second syllable); or the way into a building. | ||
| 24/18 | STORMY DANIELS |
5’s porn star lady is monster when misused (6,7)
|
| Anagram (when misused) of LADY IS MONSTER.
An “adult film actress” whose claims relating to 5d TRUMP led to this puzzle’s theme. |
||
| 26 | BEING THERE |
Chance the gardener appears in this green bit he tidied? (5,5)
|
| Anagram (tidied = rearranged) of GREEN BIT HE.
1970s satirical novel, made into a film starring Peter Sellers as the gardener named Chance. |
||
| 27 | SOBS |
Cries from contemptible persons? (4)
|
| Double definition. Cries, as a verb = weeps; or the plural of an abbreviation for the derogatory phrase “son of a b****” = a person held in contempt by the speaker. | ||
| 28 | ASCEND |
Commercial featuring scene cut to scale (6)
|
| AD (abbreviation for advertisement = commercial) containing (featuring) SCEN[e] without its last letter (cut).
Scale, as a verb = ascend = climb. |
||
| 29 | TUNISIAN |
African beer barrel is taken by Scotsman (8)
|
| TUN (beer barrel) + IS + IAN (a man’s name commonly associated with Scotland). “Taken by” looks like an insertion indicator, but here it just means “put next to”. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | AVOCADO |
Chaos and trouble removing hard fruit (7)
|
| [h]AVOC + ADO (trouble, as in “much ado about nothing”), without the H (abbreviation for hard).
Botanically a fruit, though usually treated more like a salad vegetable. |
||
| 3 |
See 6 Across
|
|
| 4 | EGG ROLL |
Chinatown dish for example good to start (3,4)
|
| EG (e.g. = for example, from Latin exempli gratia) + G (abbreviation for good) + ROLL (as in “ready to roll” = start moving).
As far as I can gather, this is an American variant of a spring roll, so probably found in a “Chinatown” district rather than actually in China; and despite the name it contains little or no egg. |
||
| 5 | TRUMP |
Orangeman perhaps having ultimately fat bottom (5)
|
| Last letter (ultimately) of [fa]T + RUMP (bottom).
The former US President with the famously orange-toned complexion. |
||
| 6 | GATWICK |
Fly from here as insect leaving northern Scots town (7)
|
| G[n]AT (insect), leaving out the N (abbreviation for northern), then WICK (a town in the far north of Scotland).
Airport in southern England, so a place one can fly from. |
||
| 7 | IAN BOTHAM |
Beefy hearts in Manitoba pickled (3,6)
|
| H (abbreviation for hearts, in card game notation) in an anagram (pickled = drunk) of MANITOBA.
The former England cricketer nicknamed “Beefy”. |
||
| 8 | TAUREAN |
Bully to beat when crossing a river? (7)
|
| TAN (as a verb = to beat), containing (crossing) A + URE (a river in North Yorkshire).
Taurean = characteristic of a bull, or of someone born under the star-sign of Taurus (the Bull). |
||
| 14 | IGNORANCE |
Lack of awareness in church sheltering good girl (9)
|
| IN + CE (abbreviation for Church of England), containing (sheltering) G (abbreviation for good) + NORA (a girl’s name). | ||
| 15 | ODD |
These characters in show are so exceptional (3)
|
| Reverse wordplay: the ODD-numbered letters of S[h]O[w] are SO. | ||
| 18 |
See 24 Across
|
|
| 19 | IGNITED |
Poster positioned without any sun at first caught light (7)
|
| [s]IGN (poster) + [s]ITED (positioned), with the initial S (abbreviation for sun) removed from both words (without any sun at first). | ||
| 20 | CISTERN |
Monk spies hidden tank (7)
|
| CISTER[cia]N (a member of a Catholic religious order = monk), with the CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency = spies) hidden. | ||
| 21 | NAMIBIA |
Strange mania grips one born in African land (7)
|
| Anagram (strange) of MANIA, containing (grips) I (one in Roman numerals) + B (abbreviation for born). | ||
| 23 | ELECT |
Chosen people rode away from terminal (5)
|
| ELECT[rode] (an electrical terminal) without RODE. | ||
| 25 | OASIS |
Disc without changes for Manc rockers once (5)
|
| O (a round shape = disc) + AS IS (without changes).
Manchester rock band featuring Liam and Noel Gallagher among others; they split in 2009 after a bust-up between the brothers, hence “once”. |
Beaten by lack of GK with BAGNIO and Chance the gardener (I think I saw half the movie once but had no idea of either his name or occupation). Both are good clues, though. My bad. Lots of very clever cluing as always with Tees: SOCIAL WORK for the anagram and TAUREAN for the def were my top two today.
Thanks Tees and Quirister
I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially 24,18. Fortunately I could recall the Sellers film and the nickname of the Brexiteer and Revitive user. My sheltered life means I hadn’t heard of BAGNIO. Oh hang on, didn’t he miss a penalty in the 1994 World Cup final?
Tricky in parts and very enjoyable. My toppie was Taurean. Last in and Iām one. I liked the clues for OASIS, SOBS, IGNITED and BAGNIO which is new to me. Some of the anagrams were not easily spotted until there were crossers. Enjoyed the references to Sellers and Botham. Thanks.
This was quite challenging in parts and great fun particularly with the references to the ex-POTUS.
We had a vague girl to find in 14d and I would have said that the acronym in 27a was a North American creation.
I had lots of ticks with my particular favourites being MOSS, BEING THERE, TAUREAN and CISTERN.
Many thanks to Tees and to Quirister.
I did manage to remember BAGNIO which I think has appeared elsewhere recently. ‘Manc rockers once’ was the most difficult one for me; shows how much I know, but I wasn’t even aware they’d broken up. Like Sofamore @3, I enjoyed spotting the IAN BOTHAM and BEING THERE references as well as the TRUMP (good def) theme.
Thanks to Tees and Quirister
I too found this both tricky and enjoyable
Many thanks to Tees and Quirister
Thanks both. I couldn’t parse CISTERN and needed assistance to fully solve BAGNIO which was an unknown and EGG ROLL which I did vaguely know.
PostMark@1 – BEING THERE is one of my favourite films, so my view is it’s a shame you did not watch it all, as the ending makes sense of all that has gone before
Needed our blogger’s help to parse the ‘roll’ part of 4d and also for the unknown film in 26a but managed the rest unaided. Certainly smiled at the theme!
Top three here were MOSS, ASCEND & CISTERN.
Thanks to Tees for the challenge and to Quirister for the review and parsing nudges.
Challenging, but a good dose of enjoyment at the expense of 5 and 18. CISTERN was our favourite.
Thanks, Tees and Quirister.
Thanks Quirister and all commenters.
Here’s to Trump being dressed in clothing that matches his make-up in the not too distant.
Hi, Tees @10
Orange is the new black. š
Solved EGG ROLL by dimly remembering this film from 1968:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_Six_You_Get_Eggroll