Always a pleasure to solve a Bluth crossword.
Despite not liking the spoonerism – it takes quite a lot for us to like them – there was a lot to enjoy, smile and puzzle over today.
Bert was also very pleased to be reminded of Dan Dare – strip cartoon in The Eagle. He followed the instructions back in 1962 and bound all the copies from 1960 – 1962. Each weekly edition cost 5d. They had a section called – Hobbies Corner and they explained the process. He still has them.
A reversal (‘about’) of CRACkS (jokes) without or ‘renouncing’ K (king) + ER (Queen)
PERU’S (South American country’s) ED (leading journalist)
C (Conservative) and an anagram (‘shocked’) of NUN and IS BORDELLO’S
An anagram (‘animated’) of DAN DARE around or ‘securing’ OM (Order of Merit – ‘award’)
Hidden (‘section seen’) in the meeting of BraziL ARGEntina
A reversal (‘backwards’) of PEES (goes)
An anagram (‘at sea’) of ARTISt (missing last letter or ‘almost’ and DIES. Thanks Hovis.
DEtOUR (circuitous route) with MEAN (intend) replacing ‘t’ (first letter of train)
A homophone (‘on the radio’) of SEEM (appear)
T (first letter or ‘starter’ of Ted) with MOOR (Heath) around the outside or ‘touring’
S (small) TICKS (marks) after or ‘on’ LIP (cheek)
An anagram (‘jumping’) of FIRST GEAR STOP + E S (last or ‘final’ letters of the and lights)
DI (detective) goSPELS (books) without or ‘relinquishing’ GO (advance). It had to be that from the definition. However, this was our LOI and if Bert hadn’t worked out the parsing, Joyce would still be puzzling over it.
SADDLE (cut as in a cut of meat) around or ‘covering’ W (wife). Another one where the definition went in but Joyce could not see the parsing – obviously not a good day today!
Alternate letters (‘regularly’) in ScOtCh In A gLaSs – parsed by Joyce – phew!
A reversal (‘revolutionary’) of DALLAs (Texas city) missing the last letter or ‘for the most part’ + REAM (paper)
COUP (overthrow) ON (towards)
Double definition
An anagram (‘up’) of I HeLP ORPHANS SeT IT without any of the Es (English)
RED (wine) ALE (beer) and R T (first or ‘initial’ letters of Rum Too)
SHE (that woman) ER (medical TV show)
SCENE (arena) ‘cycling’ in DD (first and last letters or ‘outskirts’ of Dortmund)
S (second) PAD (home) after KETCH (boat)
Bluth wants us to split up the name of Chicago’s airport here – LA CROSS (X) and E (last letter or ‘terminal’ to HarE)
DAD (old man) around or ‘hiding’ a reversal (‘in retirement’) of EG (say) and A M (million)
A spoonerism of SUSSED ME (savvy Bluth). We don’t like spoonerisms very much and this one was no exception – sorry Bluth.
STERN (inflexible) A (adult)
A neat construction here making up for the spoonerism. 7d is SHEER – moving all the letters one place further on in the alphabet or ‘one step to the right’ gives TIFFS
Small error in blog for 13a. It is an anagram of ARTISt + DIES. Loved the clever spot for SHEER & TIFFS and some great anagrams.
Excellent puzzle as always. Might be what you meant (apologies if it is) but I had LAX for LA’s airport and the last letter of Chicago’s O’Hare. Needed help with the parsing for DISPELS and like it a lot. Also like (from a smorgasbord of great clues) RUBBED SHOULDERS and GO-FASTER STRIPES which I had never met before. Thanks B&J for the blog and thanks Bluth for the entertainment.
Thanks for explaining DISPELS which I just entered from the def; thinking about it, I’m surprised we haven’t had GOSPELS for ‘books’ more often in the same way as OT and NT. Interesting to have a “split hidden” in LARGE after seeing another one somewhere else within the last week. Glad to hear you’ve kept your bound copies of The Eagle, Bert; they’re probably worth a mint now.
I really liked the ALL A DREAM including a reversal of DALLAS as part of the answer; one of the most preposterous storylines in the history of TV soaps.
Thanks to Bluth and B&J
Great stuff!
Liked MUST-SEE, DISPELS, ILLEGIBLE, DEMEANOUR especially.
Hadn’t remembered the “preposterous storyline” of Bobby Ewing’s dream. Thanks WordPlodder@3
The SHEER/TIFFS trick is a Caesar cipher. Hi, Bluth – are you Saladin?
Thanks B & B&J
Another great puzzle from Bluth, with super anagrams – COLOURBLINDNESS and PHILANTHROPISTS (I loved the surfaces, too and there was another lovely one in DAMAGED) and clever constructions, such as DEMEANOUR (neat misdirection) and TIFFS, with its use of 7, SHEER, which I’d already enjoyed solving, because the clue reminded me of the old Yorkshire joke:
https://upjoke.com/yorkshire-jokes
I was with Joyce in being stuck on the parsing of DISPELS – I agree with WordPlodder re ‘gospels – and for ages I couldn’t even solve SWADDLE (my last one in): I couldn’t get beyond ‘swathe’, as the only word I could think of containing a W and meaning bandage.
I’m with you both re Spoonerisms (including this one. 😉 )
Many thanks to Bluth for a most enjoyable puzzle and B&J for an excellent blog.
Oops – ILLEGIBLE shouldn’t be there. A setter elsewhere was doing something similar with the Bible today. Blasphemy.
The usual parsing challenge from Bluth today although I did fail to work out how the answer to 1a was derived.
ALL A DREAM was my favourite.
Many thanks to Bluth for the fun. Thanks too to B&J for the review, particularly for explaining SCARCER.
Thanks, Bluth and Bert & Joyce. I’m another who struggled to work out what needed to be cut to get SPELS so appreciated the blog. Like Eileen, SWADDLE also caused me some head-scratching. All good fun though, and I also share Eileen’s view on the anagrams and clever constructions.
I’d tentatively suggest a different parsing of 25a as a covering (SADDLE) cut by wife (W): I think that fits the construction of the clue better.
Perversely, I quite like Spoonerisms, including this one. Eileen@5 Thanks for the joke- perhaps “Yorkshire exclamation” could replace ecstasy and electronic sometimes. I liked DEMEANOUR too, though I was puzzled why Meander didn’t fit, at first.
Thanks Bertandjoyce and Bluth.
Good one.
SOCIALS, TIFFS, SKETCH PAD and DISPELS make my list. Good anagrams, too.
SADDLE (covering) that W cut, is how I saw SWADDLE.
I thought this was at the tougher end of this setter’s spectrum, particularly on the parsing front but just as enjoyable as ever.
As usual, I liked several but I’ll highlight GO-FASTER STRIPES for the amusement factor, (though perhaps enhance should have been in inverted commas!) SKETCH PAD, TIFFS and LIPSTICKS.
Many thanks Bluth and B&J.
I normally like Spoonerisms but didn’t think today’s really cut the mustard.
Thanks Bluth for another top drawer crossword. My top picks were SEEP, DEMEANOUR, LIPSTICKS, RED ALERT, and ALL A DREAM. I failed to parse SCARCER and MOTOR so thanks B & J for explaining.
Brilliant puzzle. I won’t repeat what’s been said above but the SHEER/TIFFS mechanism and the DEMEANOUR wordplay were standout for me. I ended on DESCEND and put it in but could not explain it.
GO-FAST STRIPE is probably well-known to Bluth:
https://gofasterstripe.com/ have probably been angling for his back catalogue to put on their website!
There’s a “Live Solve” of this puzzle over here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XU2M5w8-Dw&t=1206s&ab_channel=CrackingTheCryptic
by Simon Anthony of “Cracking the Cryptic” channel
Interesting that Simon Anthony has gone with SADDLE being a cut of meat, rather than a covering that is cut by the W of wife, as both I and ilippu see it. On revisiting it, I still don’t see how Simon Anthony/bertandjoyce’s parsing works from a syntactical point of view.
Rog@16 – We read it as – covering wife is (a) cut.
Thanks Bertandjoyce – and thanks all.
Fwiw, I’m not really a fan of Spoonerisms either. While not being a particular fan, I think it’s good practice to try and use all of the available tools occasionally for the sake of variety. (I think this might be my second ever.)
My intended parsing for SWADDLE is as B&J have it here (and how Simon Anthony took it also) While I can see what others are getting at, I think ‘saddle’ wouldn’t be quite right as a synonym for cover. In the surface, the apostrophe S is possessive, and in the cryptic reading it’s IS.
Covering wife is cut.
I stand corrected! Thanks, Bertandjoyce, and of course Bluth.