It’s a Friday and the puzzle isn’t set by Phi.
There must be something about today that can be highlighted in a crossword…
… and there is! February 2nd is a day for going round in circles as highlighted by the four occurrences of GROUNDHOG DAY (celebrated on 2nd February in the United States and Canada), in the perimeter of the grid. Twin has given us four separate clues for GROUNDHOG DAY, which shows the skill of a setter. I have explained the meaning of the DAY in the detailed definition and wordplay table below. Once I got the second occurrence, the penny dropped and the rest of the perimeter filled in quickly and gave some useful crossing letters.
It took me a long time to work out the wordplay for CHARLESTON at 13 down, but I think I have got there in the end.
The Beatles song YESTERDAY is referenced in clues for the second time this week, although the first reference led to YESTERYEAR in the grid.
A good, fun crossword to end the working week. Thanks to Twin.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Young dog, hard at work when rodent emerges (9,3)
GROUNDHOG DAY (superstition says that if the GROUNDHOG [rodent] emerges and sees his shadow on this DAY, there will be 6 more weeks of winter) Anagram of (at work) YOUNG DOG HARD GROUNDHOG DAY* |
| 9 | Doctor hiding antique behind coat (4-5)
GOLD PLATE (a coating of GOLD applied to other metals) (GP [General Practitioner; doctor] containing [hiding] OLD [antique]) + LATE (behind [time]) G (OLD) P LATE |
| 10 | Weapon that a sergeant wields (5)
TASER (small gunlike device which fires electrified darts or barbs, used to immobilize or stun an attacker for example) TASER (hidden word in [wields] THAT A SERGEANT) – possible an &Lit clue as a police or military sergeant may well wield a TASER TASER |
| 11 | Tory’s struggling to eat English seafood (6)
OYSTER (seafood) Anagram of (struggling) TORY’S containing (to eat) E (English) OYST (E) R* |
| 12 | For the most part, full beam replaced with a torch (8)
FLAMBEAU (a flaming torch) Anagram of (replaced) FULL excluding the final letter [for the most part] L and BEAM and (with) A FLAMBEAU* |
| 14 | Anyone leaving A&E without left stocking? (5)
NYLON (stocking made of material of the same name) NYON (letters remaining in ANYONE when the letters A and E are excluded [leaving]) containing (without [outside]) L (left) NY (L) ON |
| 16 | Was gardener protecting daughter after nasty heat rash? (9)
HOTHEADED (impetuous; tending to act in a rash manner; rash) HOED (was a gardener) containing (protecting) (an anagram of [nasty] HEAT + D [daughter]) HO (THEA* D) ED |
| 18 | Where one feels superior, drugged by heroin (4,5)
HIGH HORSE (a position where one adopts a superior or pretentious attitude) HIGH (drugged) + HORSE (slang term for heroin) HIGH HORSE |
| 19 | Is mum giving permission? (3-2)
SAY-SO (authority; permission) SAYS O (says nothing; is mum) SAY S O |
| 20 | Collected articles penned by Greek journalist (8)
GATHERED (collected) (A [indefinite article] + THE [definite article] giving articles) contained in (penned by) (GR [Greek]) + ED [editor; journalist) G (A THE) R ED |
| 22 | Looked resentful in broadcast (6)
PEEKED (looked) PEEKED (sounds like [in broadcast]) PIQUED (resentful) PEEKED |
| 25 | Inner self revealed in revolutionary examination (5)
ANIMA (the soul, the innermost part of the personality; inner self) ANIMA (reversed [revolutionary] hidden word in [in] EXAMINATION) ANIMA< |
| 26 | Who might give ten percent a year to keep Republican in faraway town? (9)
TIPPERARY (reference the 1912 English music-hall song ‘It’s a long long way to TIPPERARY‘ used as a marching song by British soldiers in the First World War; faraway town) TIPPER (someone who may add an extra ten percent to the bill in recognition of good service) + ([A + Y [year]] containing [to keep] R [Republican]) TIPPER A (R) Y |
| 27 | Fat pig died in lively annual celebration (9,3)
GROUNDHOG DAY (in the United States and Canada, February 2nd, when, according to tradition, the groundhog emerges from hibernation; if it sees its shadow, it returns to its burrow for six weeks as a sunny day indicates a late spring, while a cloudy day would mean an early spring; annual celebration) (ROUND [plump; fat] + HOG [pig] + D [died]) contained in (in) GAY (lively) G (ROUND HOG D) AY |
| Down | |
| 2 | Cooks topless – and burns (5)
RILLS (small brooks; streams; burns) GRILLS (cooks) excluding the first letter on this down entry (topless) G RILLS |
| 3 | Yet another hit: youngster displacing top two (9)
UMPTEENTH (latest of many; yet another) THUMP TEEN (hit youngster) with the top 2 letters of this down entry moved to the end (displacing top two) to form UMPTEENTH UMP TEENTH |
| 4 | Very late (4)
DEAD (absolutely; very, as in it’s ‘DEAD easy’) DEAD (late) double definition DEAD |
| 5 | Work permit breaking record, public note (4,6)
OPEN LETTER (letter addressed to one person but intended for public reading) OP (opus; work) + (LET [permit] contained in [breaking] ENTER [record (as a verb) in a spreadsheet for example]) OP EN (LET) TER |
| 6 | Information poster put up by corporation (5)
DATUM (a fact from which information may be inferred) AD (ADvertisement; poster) reversed (put up; down entry) + TUM (stomach; corporation) DA< TUM |
| 7 | Beatles song from Before Midnight? (9)
YESTERDAY (A Beatles song) YESTERDAY (the time before midnight is YESTERDAY) double definition YESTERDAY |
| 8 | Land ho! Welcome to Australia, the source of many fresh starts (9,3)
GROUNDHOG DAY (a situation in which events that have happened before happen again, in what seems to be exactly the same way; source of many fresh starts) GROUND (land) + HO + G’DAY (Australian form of the common greeting Good Day!) GROUND HO G DAY |
| 9 | Hound Dog adapted into American black and white movie (9,3)
GROUNDHOG DAY (reference the 1993 film of the same name starring Bill Murray [born 1950]) Anagram of (adapted) HOUND DOG contained in (into) GRAY (American term for GREY [a mixture of black and white]) GR (OUNDHOG D*) AY |
| 13 | Man now coming with cash to pole dance (10)
CHARLESTON (lively 20th century dance characterized by spasmodic kicking with the knees turned inwards) CHARLES (man’s name, but in particular it is the name of the current King of the United Kingdom, whose face now comes on newly minted or printed British coinage and banknotes, in place of Queen Elizabeth II; man now coming with cash) + TO + N (North [pole]) CHARLES TO N |
| 15 | One-time striker apparently losing weight without drug (9)
LIGHTNING (LIGHTNING never strikes twice we are told [apparently] – therefore a one-time striker) LIGHTENING (losing weight) excluding (without) E (ecstasy; drug) LIGHTNING |
| 17 | Festival gift perhaps wrapped around daisy, say (6,3)
EASTER EGG (festival gift, Easter being a religious festival) EG (for example) containing (wrapped around) (ASTER [a daisy-like flower] + EG [for example; say]) E (ASTER EG) G |
| 21 | Muse‘s Origin of Symmetry missing from a store after renovation (5)
ERATO (one of the Muses) Anagram of (after renovation) A STORE excluding (missing from) S (first letter of [origin of] SYMMETRY) ERATO* |
| 23 | Australian native and Asian native visiting a king from the south (5)
KOALA (an animal native to Australia) (LAO [native of LAOS, an Asian country] contained in [visiting] [A + K {king}]) all reversed (from the south; down entry) (K OAL A)< |
| 24 | Fish heart spurned by talk show host (4)
OPAH (the kingfish, a large sea-fish with laterally flattened body) OPRAH (reference OPRAH Winfrey [born 1954], American talk-show host) excluding (spurned) the central letter (heart) R OPAH |
Thanks Twin and duncanshiell!
GROUND HOG DAY HOGging the limelight! An all round celebration!
Also loved TIPPERARY, TASER and LIGHTNING.
Several lovely surfaces too!
Great fun. Fortunately, I was aware of the date – though I only spotted the bottom horizontal on my first pass through, at which point I had a few crossers for all the others and then everything revealed. Nice idea.
It always feels like a cop out to say all the clues were good so no faves – but, on re-reading the parses in the blog, there is barely a clue I would not nominate.
Thanks Twin and duncan
I have often thought the same answer could be included with two different clues, and here it is with four! Plus going round in a circle to boot! Excellent, so thanks Twin and Duncan.
CHARLESTON my top clue and I needed the blog to fully understand it. Very droll. Thanks Duncan. Felt slightly short-changed with GROUNDHOG DAY taking up so much of the grid. At the same time I appreciated the help. I liked HOTHEADED too. Thanks Twin.
[Tatrasman: the same answer could be included with two different clues – you might be amused – last year, a colleague and I co-operated to clue the same themed grid of solutions on two successive days – Feb 1st and then Groundhog Day, the day after. Most solvers twigged – but not all!]
I solved 1a almost instantly, and being me, I thought oh no! an Americanism to start with. By the time I had finished this very enjoyable puzzle, I didn’t mind at all.
Many thanks to Twin, this was a lot of fun. Thanks too to Duncan.
In the film Groundhog Day(1993) YESTERDAY keeps repeating. Bill Murray as Phil, on the phone:
“Yeah, Sport, I know there’s a blizzard. When are the long-distance lines gonna be repaired? Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today! Hello?”
This fell out relatively easily for me, having quickly picked up 1a (a date theme, I see) and then 27a (oh very funny) on a sweep of the acrosses, then the downs likewise as I did them, for a second penny drop. Very nice, and so many excellent clues, but the bottom half started to show the strain, with ANIMA, KOALA, OPAH (LOI, a bit tough) and the dreaded ERATO all looking a bit like necessary evils. It’s just impressive that the top half felt so natural, given the fixed points.
Aside from the fine crossword, I find it apt that a silly tradition based around the cross-quarter day is now widely understood to be about repetition, all because of one film, thus adding a further layer to the already complicated history of the whole thing. (Apparently it’s a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition broadly derived from the old German Dachstag (Badger Day) on Candlemas, which in turn is based on folklore about climate patterns)
Thanks Twin and Duncan.
I struggled with the fish, which I’d never heard of and couldn’t bring Ms. Winfrey to mind until I had both crossers. Wogan, Parkinson, Corden, Morgan, Harty and Ross were of no use. Also had a wait to enter GOLD PLATE because I’d made 2 down ROILS not quite knowing what it actually meant apparently. Didn’t parse SAY SO which was written in without fully understanding why.
TIPPERARY held out for far too long for someone who was often sung the old music hall song as a little child.
Faves were GATHERED and HIGH HORSE. Although write ins both clues were smooth as silk.
Thanks to Twin for an excellent puzzle and Duncan for the thorough blog.
Further to Tatrasman and Postmark above – back in 2014, we blogged a puzzle by Donk (8498) in which he repeated clues but they each had a different answer. It was a masterpiece as far as we were concerned. We are not sure what Donk (or Rorschach his contemporary) is doing now but we do miss you!
Thanks Twin for an engaging puzzle but we did feel a bit short changed as we realised what was going on at the start so we solved 4 clues for the price of one.
Thanks Duncan.
(Apologies for not being able to provide a link to Donk’s puzzle – not sure what I was doing wrong. You will have to search for it.)
Here’s the link to Donk’s puzzle mentioned by Bartandjoyce
Donk’s puzzle
Once I had Groundhog Day and Yesterday, I wondered if a lot of other clues were going to be reminders of past clues. Imogen today has the same clue for two different answers. I now see why. Very enjoyable. Thanks.
I wondered if we might get the movie in different languages. Clueing
Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier would be a challenge.
Thanks Twin and Duncan.
Well that was fun. Once we worked out there were two groundhog days, it was immediately obvious there were four. I do know what people mean about feeling short changed, nevertheless, was a puzzle bursting with clever and gettable clues.
Thanks Twin and Duncan.
The four perimeter entries were my first four in – got 1a straight away and immediately had a hunch what the rest were going to be… well done Twin for coming up with four properly different clues for the same solution though, all very good in their own way. No disappointment here. Great fun. Thanks, Twin and Duncan.
Groundhog Day made an appearance in the concise crossword today too, which meant, as I had just completed the concise, it was in my head doing this one, so got the four fairly quickly. Good fun though.
Great fun. Always like a novel twist. Like widdersbel my first 4 in were all Groundhog day.
And now I have the clock radio alarm music from the film as an earworm. Tempted to set alarm for 0600 with Sonny and Cher to start tomorrow with a smile.
Thanks Setter and Blogger
Lovely puzzle. Beaten by the fish but really enjoyed everything else, including the humour and inventiveness of the clues for the perimeter.
Watched the film Groundhog Day(1993) again YESTERDAY, but didn’t get the obvious earworm. Instead I got this:
Pennsylvania Polka by Frankie Yankovic — I had to lift-and-separate myself from “Weird AL”.
Killer lines: Rita: “$339.88” | Phil: “Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster?” — Mrs. Lancaster: “I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen.”
Thanks T&d.