Sunday rolls round and it’s off to the pub with the dog for beer (me) & biscuits (dog)
The usual suspects all here & the rather cute pairing of 2d and 19a, thanks Everyman
Don’t even ask about the pronunciation, a crazy [FOOL HAD THE]* Is it a health food? Search me guv.
A & PPS a post, post script
Double definition
ME for Everyman reversed or flipped in DO – party
Double cum cryptic def
A section of concerT ORCHEStra
ENG(lish) inside BALI
INFER – conclude & NO!
Well I smiled at this one, she certainly wasn’t impressed by Samson’s tresses…
A doctored [HAD URGED TEST]*
Primary letter clue, present and correct
I – head of I(nfantry) & LIT – landed & AT from the clue all inside – breaching FACE – front. A tad more complex than usual from Everyman here
[Addendum a few days after publication, it’s become obvious that LIT for landed is a tad obscure, To light is to land, so landed = lit]
or MEET – run into – reversed
A little O(pen) inside [ASK HER OUT]* possibly
Well some beers don’t have hops so essential is debatable, although the beer I was drinking whilst solving definitely did.
Double definition
J(ack) inside a reckless [RATHER SOON]*
Well the weekend is generally considered as after FRI(day) ENDS
Well, hmm. OVERDU(e) is most of too late & B – bravo in the phonetic alphabet
PRE – before & start of S(upper) & UM from the clue & ABLY – very well
SHORTS – summer wear & a topless (t)IGHT – close fitting
[NICK CASTLED]* unwisely murder weapon in Cluedo (in the UK at least)
A rough GRITTINESS*
PROF & second letter of (h)I(gh) & TABLE from the clue
REGAN – Lear’s daughter in 2 x O – duck, zero
A part of painteD A DAIS Turquoise
Sounds like PARE to trim
Alternate letters of oFtEn TeA
I finally decided that 24ac had to be FACILITATE but couldn’t parse it – still not sure I get it.
Liked: OREGANO, INFERNO, DELILAH, CANDLESTICK (great surface), SHORT SIGHT
Thanks Everyman and flashling
Fiona@1. If I may be so bold as to offer this:
Is it the LIT meaning landed that’s the stumbling block, or how the parts go together?
Breaching is the containment indicator.
FAC – – – – – – E (front) containing I (head of infantry) LIT (landed) AT (in the clue) FAC I LIT AT E
Thank you flashling for your entertaining blog and for explaining the Cluedo reference in CANDLESTICK. I was nicely misdirected by castled, which I knew was from chess. Not being familiar either with chess or cluedo, I assumed CANDLESTICK was a chess term.
I’ve seen distressed in a cryptic somewhere cluing Samson.
I enjoyed Everyman’s chuckleworthy surfaces today. In addition to Fiona’s picks @1, I liked TROJAN HORSE, PRESUMABLY and OVERDUB.
[Very quiet today here. Possibly people still recovering from the Setters and Bloggers gettogether on Friday and Saturday, including ”our very own” blogger flashling? owwozzit? Would love to have been there.]
Possibly a little harder than usual, bit very enjoyable. O would echo Fiona and pdm’s picks and add FACILITATE. I lit on the LIT late.
Yes flashling, love a nice hoppy beer. I think we did have Cluedo in the games cupboard, but so long ago now that the candlestick was a shrug. Regan between ducks was neat, as was the grittiness stringiest conversion. Thanks both, now for today’s.
Typical Everyman crossword. Liked DELILAH (don’t recall having seen the ‘distressed’ trick before).
Regarding 1d, there are various definitions of ‘beer’; originally in Britain, ale was made without HOPS, and the idea of using hops for flavouring came from continental Europe (hops alse have a preservative effect). The hopped version was called beer, so hops were an ‘essential’ ingredient. But nowadays the meanings of the words have changed and some drinks without hops are called beer (eg ginger beer).
Thanks both.
Thanks for the blog, found this very enjoyable and I think the level of difficulty was right.
SOUTH KOREA was neat and a whole country , nothing but, for Jay’s list, plus STRINGIEST for the anagram list.
CANDLESTICK was a good anagram and I liked the Cluedo reference, TROJAN HORSE was clever.
PROFITABLE a bit clumsy , table in clue and answer.
Regarding quinoa, it’s a Spanish transliteration of a Quechua word that in modern spelling systems would be kinwa. So that should tell you how to pronounce it. High in protein, high in dietary fiber, low in taste–but I’m being mean; it’s fine if it’s used well.
Clue in the US has all the same elements as Cluedo in the UK, except the name. So yes, Prof. Plum in the conservatory with the candlestick.
Quite tough but mostly enjoyable.
Favourites: CANDLESTICK, OREGANO, DELILAH, TEEM.
Thanks, both.
I liked the OREGANO trick, and DELILAH, all though I’ve seen her linked to distressing in another clue.
Thank you to flashling and Everyman.
Thanks paddymelon @ 2. I get it now.
Roz@8 thanks for mentioning the countries list. Everyman is doing well on his world tour, 61 locations so far this year, fast closing in on last year’s total of 67 (I’m being generous in this count by including all geographic references – countries, cities, oceans and peoples)
Morning from York. A fine weekend thanks including a beer acquired specially with the name of the birthday boy’s own independent pseudonym Nimrod.
I looked at Delilah for a long time without success in parsing. Thanks for that. Good clue now it is explained to me.
Thanks Setter and Blogger
Like Matthew Newell, I asked myself Why, Why, Why Delilah but then the penny dropped. A good puzzle, accessible and fun. Thanks, both.
I liked the distressing trick for DELILAH, the wordplay for FACILITATE, the definition for OVERDUB, and the good anagram for CANDLESTICK.
Thanks Everyman and flashling.
Jay@13 I thought you were doing just countries and nothing but, like the Pierre bird link.
Roz@18, well, on a strict countries only “the whole country and nothing but the country” basis, also not counting repetitions (we had Albania 4 times last year and Eritrea and Iran have each popped up twice this year), then I count 41 last year and already 42 so far this year!
As someone who prefers food with taste (pace mrpenny@9), I especially liked the surface of 1a HEALTH FOOD. Other favourites were 13d STRINGIEST (great one-word anagram and good surface) and 4d FRIENDS (fun wordplay).
Thanks Everyman for the excellent puzzle, and flashling for the (hair of the dog?) blog.
Jay @19 it is still an impressive number even on the restricted list , about one a week this year.
Hi – can someone explain which meaning of “lit” equates to which meaning of “landed”? I can’t see the connection. Thanks.
Albert@22
In the sense below:
to light=to land/get down from a vehicle etc.,
Lit (past tense)
Albert Beale@22. I don’t have Chambers but from Collins online we have:
LIGHT
30. (esp of birds) to settle or land after flight
31. to get down from a horse, vehicle, etc
past tense LIT.
I think it might be archaic now.
As KVa said@23. Sorry, I had my response open for some time while entertained by today’s Cryptic. Should have refreshed.
paddymelon@25
No issues. In fact, one more person confirming what I said is good.
Sorry perhaps I should have expounded on lit being rare. I’ll try to remember to do that on future.
21 minutes. Didn’t parse BENGALI. LOI PRESUMABLY, ticks for DELILAH and FRIENDS.
That was lots of fun! Got all of it except FACILITATE and couldn’t work out how to use “don” the PROFITABLE. Felt odd to just use the whole word of “table”
Enjoyed the blog too, thanks!
Thanks everyone for the lit/landed explanation … I just about get it now. I’m usually old enough to get archaic references(!) – but this one passed me by.
Could not parse “facilitate” and the use of this word to mean “ease” escaped me.
I found a lot to dislike in this puzzle, but a lot to like too. “Delilah” was a real head-slapper when I finally saw it.
I think light for land may be more US than NZ. We might use alight but it’s a bit twee. – get off is more likely. To quote “He wasn’t too good at take offs but he could light in the palm of your hand so if you’re out in L A you should go by and see Disney land “
No issues, Fri ends was nice. Facilitate was rather laboured.
I had Facilitate but it took me a second go this morning to work out the parsing. Four different devices in one clue is unusual and challenging: envelope, first letter, two synonyms (front=face, landed=lit), and the misdirection of “at ease” being a military term. Very satisfying to solve.