The puzzle is available here.
Hi everyone. Thanks to Knut, who manages to appear with three spellings today.
He also manages to include a reference to a joke about a CROSSWORD CLUE: OVERWORKED POSTMAN.
HOW MANY LETTERS? I hear you ask.
THOUSANDS!
Groan. But also grin. I wonder if the grid entries HOARY CHESTNUT are a reference to the old gag … but surely not SOW’s EAR!
Anyway, a nice extra smile on top of those produced by the clues.
Speaking of which, I particularly liked 12a with its great definition of POSTMAN, appreciated the smooth surface of 21a, MOREAU, and was amused by 2d’s OP-EDS – I didn’t think that was what Ed Sheeran should be prevented from doing!
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
1a This angry argument repelled Germany (9)
CROSSWORD
CROSS (angry) + ROW (argument) backwards (repelled) + D (Germany)
6a Collude, occasionally dropping hint (4)
CLUE
CoLlUdE missing regular letters (occasionally dropping)
9a Used too much elaboration, having fingers to the bone? (10)
OVERWORKED
Two definitions
10a Old King eaten by old English monster (4)
OGRE
GR (old king) inside (eaten by) O (old) and E (English)
12a According to Spooner, the majority of people criticise chap working with The Daily Mail (7)
POSTMAN
A Spoonerism of MOST PAN (the majority of people criticise)
15a What number, roughly … why moan? (3,4)
HOW MANY
An anagram of (roughly) WHY MOAN
16a 1A creators succeeded, becoming large property landlords (7)
LETTERS
[S]ETTERS (1A creators, 1A=CROSSWORD) with S (succeeded) becoming L (large)
18a Run into Auden, struggling poet (6)
NERUDA
R (run) goes into an anagram of (… struggling) AUDEN. Pablo Neruda
19a Rum? Just a little ‘un (3)
TOT
A double definition
21a Middle-of-the-road French water colourist (6)
MOREAU
MOR (middle-of-the-road) + EAU (French water). Gustave Moreau
22a Lid attachment secured in flash sale yesterday sent back (7)
EYELASH
The answer is contained within (secured in) flasH SALE YEsterday reversed (sent back)
24a Two notes? Barely sufficient counterpoint added to melody (7)
DESCANT
D E (two notes) + SCANT (barely sufficient)
25a Bandages cut initially from samples of cloth (7)
SWATHES
The first letter of (… initially) Cut is removed from SWAT[c]HES (samples of cloth)
27a Italian hothead Alighieri backed taking day off (4)
ETNA
[d]ANTE (Alighieri) reversed (backed) without (taking … off) D (day)
28a Blur, Pulp in rare work of genius (6,4)
PURPLE RAIN
Make an anagram of (blur) PULP IN RARE
31a The Apprentice: Sugar knows the beginners aren’t up to it! (4)
TASK
The Apprentice: Sugar Knows, initial letters (the beginners)
32a Drunken Sybarite downing whiskey will attest to its powers (5,2,2)
SWEAR BY IT
An anagram of (drunken) SYBARITE taking in (downing) W (whiskey)
Down
1d Vote to support Charlie – poor old Charlie (8)
CLODPOLL
POLL (vote) going underneath (to support) C (Charlie) and an anagram of (poor) OLD
2d Stop Ed Sheeran penning newspaper articles! (2-3)
OP-EDS
Here, stOP ED Sheeran is surrounding (penning) the answer
3d Very wide broadcast (3)
SOW
SO (very) + W (wide)
4d Advanced, gold-plated blade (3)
OAR
A (advanced) is coated with OR (gold), so is gold-plated
5d Members of stag party taking potentially lethal shots? (4,7)
DEER HUNTERS
A cryptic definition
7d Left American newspaper unfinished in NY airport (2,7)
LA GUARDIA
L (left) + A (American) + GUARDIAn (newspaper) without the last letter (unfinished). I’ve just found that it is actually LaGuardia Airport (without the space) but I’m glad the enumeration was as given
8d Waugh still lonely, empty inside (6)
EVELYN
EVEN (still) with the outer letters only of (… empty) LonelY inside
11d Industrial hand cleaner, fine and good, found in Devon/Cornwall region (8)
SWARFEGA
F (fine) and G (good) are found in SW AREA (Devon/Cornwall region)
13d A rich art patron, Miss West: cold, rational upbringing (8)
MAECENAS
MAE (Miss West) + C (cold) + the reversal of (… upbringing) SANE (rational). Gaius Maecenas
14d Russian mutt chewed flowers (11)
NASTURTIUMS
RUSSIAN MUTT anagrammed (chewed)
17d Twist and Shout beginning to sell loads (9)
THOUSANDS
Make an anagram of (twist) AND SHOUT + the first letter of (beginning to) Sell
20d Canute astride old command horse (8)
CHESTNUT
CNUT (Canute) around (astride) HEST (old command – as in behest)
23d A coming commercial opening (6)
ADVENT
AD (commercial) + VENT (opening)
26d Ancient 4 buried in the outskirts of Henley (5)
HOARY
OAR (4 – 4d) inside (buried in) the outer letters (outskirts) of HenleY
29d Constant energy food (3)
PIE
PI (constant) + E (energy)
30d Lug out of Le Havre regularly (3)
EAR
Alternate letters of (… regularly) lE hAvRe
Enjoyed your crossword Knut. PURPLE RAIN as a work of genius is alright by me. Liked ‘lid attachment’ for EYELASH too. Thanks.
Very enjoyable indeed, with clever and witty wordplay throughout.
CLODPOLL was new to me but easily obtainable from wordplay and checkers as was MOREAU.
I particularly appreciated POSTMAN, EYELASH, PURPLE RAIN, THOUSANDS (excellent fodder) and as a resident of said area SWARFEGA.
Many thanks to Knut and Kitty
Thanks, Knut and Kitty!
Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog. A very neatly written blog (as always).
Liked EYELASH, SWATHES, DEER HUNTERS and CHESTNUT.
SWATHES
C from SWATCHES=C to be removed from SWATCHES. I have seen ‘from’ used in this sense before. Though not sure of the grammatical correctness of this, the instructions seemed clear.
TOT
I was just thinking whether the def’s should be
1. Rum? just a little
2. a little’un
(with ‘a little’ doing some extra duty-more than what the words suggest).
A gentle start to the weekend and most enjoyable We finished unaided but did then google for MOREAU and MAECENAS to confirm what we’d worked out from the wordplay. We didn’t know ‘hest’ but CHESTNUT was obvious at 20dn.
Thanks, Knut and Kitty.
A very entertaining workout, and well spotted Kitty for the theme, I had no idea. I’m not sure about inclusion of the indefinite article ‘A’ at 13D and 23D: the clueing of Indie puzzles is usually very tight and every word should count; wouldn’t they have worked just as well without it? Otherwise one is trying to work out what part ‘A’ plays in the answer. Just a thought. Thanks anyway Knut and Kitty.
Three new bits of info for me in CLODPOLL, NERUDA & MAECENAS – bet I don’t remember them for next time! Not sure why PURPLE RAIN is a work of genius but each to their own.
Tops for me were POSTMAN, EYELASH, THOUSANDS & CHESTNUT.
Thanks to Knut and to Miss Kitty for the review.
Jane @6: I took Purple Rain to be the work of a genius.
Thanks all.
Thanks both. Delighted to see the POSTMAN CROSSWORD gag which I have used successfully quite often. Less delighted to meet NERUDA as his name looked better with the vowels in a different order, and MAECENAS which needed a thesaurus for the reversed ‘rational’
It’s certainly a Hoary Chestnut that joke.
Thanks, Knut, excellent as usual. I caught part of the joke but I thought it was CROSSWORD CLUE OVERWORKED: OGRE. That was enough to bring a smile. Thanks Kitty for the blog.