A relatively infrequent sighting of Bluebird in the Indy today.
We found this a bit of a mixed bag, with some write-ins and some rather trickier clues – but no less enjoyable for that.
There are crafty definitions at 13ac, 20ac, 27ac, 8d, 14d and 16d, and some great surfaces throughout. We hadn’t come across the definition of the answers at 20ac before, but it was clear enough from the wordplay and crossers, and checked out in Chambers. 27ac made us smile.
TAR (pitch) AN (article) round Z (unknown)
PI (Greek character) + an anagram (‘upset’) of RAZZIE
REG (one of the notorious Kray twins – Ronnie’s brother) round or ‘covering’ L (pound) I (one) + IOUS (debts)
G (gee) I’M (‘the setter’s’) ME (Bluebird – the setter)
Double definition
THE dinoSAUR (‘back half’ only) US (you and I)
EX (old) HILARy (‘woman’) missing the last letter or ‘scratching backside’ ATE (‘had’)
ON (about) CE (Christian Era – ‘the last 2000 years?’)
Hidden (‘part of’) in pyramID LEft
AGGREGATe (building material) missing the last letter or ‘a great deal of’ OR (gold) – a new word for us – on checking in Chambers, we realise that ‘business’ means ‘being busy’ – it is software enabling several web pages to be visible in a single window
An anagram (‘wrestling’) of MC STAYING
O (over) RATE (judge)
G (first letter or ‘start’ of gleefully) HOST (present) – a very creative definition – the ‘spreadsheet’ presumably being the covering that conceals a ghost’s identity
When surfing, a surfer would be OVER their BOARD
Whimsically, one could say that to cut hair (tress) is to DIS-TRESS
MET (fulfilled) HODdle missing the last three letters or ‘second half’
An anagram (‘dancing’) of GRANNIE, THE and T (first letter or ‘lead’ in twilight)
Double definition – the second referring to a 12-inch measuring device, sometimes made of plastic – now probably 30cm
Hidden (‘characters from’) in gANG IN A Lot
P (‘quietly played’) with INSECT (‘cricket, say’) outside + OR (other ranks – ‘some soldiers’)
Z Z (‘Zulus’ – Z in the phonetic alphabet) ‘surrounding’ a reversal (‘returning’) of GI (soldier) + AG (silver)
RE (on) MT (mountain) round (‘has’) BRAND (style) – we assume that ‘self-obsessed’ is included as Rembrandt painted more than 70 self-portraits
rACE (‘marathon?’) missing the first letter or ‘topless’
An anagram (‘tearing’) of STOP
An anagram (‘getting smashed’) of EE and HARD SPADE
HAL (Henry) F (first of ‘initial’ letter of Ford) MOONS (‘displays seat’) – we started trying to find out which parts of a bike these were before realising that it is a reference to the lunar cycle!
An anagram (‘confusion’) of HUGE RIOTS
E (last letter or ‘part’ of cavalcade) after GOOD (right) BY (alongside)
Double definition
CHE (Guevara – ‘revolutionary’) F (fellow)
A (area) WAS (used to be) H (hot)
GO (wee) D (first letter or ‘front’ of dressing-gown)
Left me a bit cold to be honest. Too many answers seemed just not quite right.
But all fitted and all parsed properly so maybe I was the problem 🙂
Thanks Bluebird and B&J
Upon further reflection – the two puns clues GHOST and RULER elicited a proper Paulian groan/chuckle from me and as Paul is my favourite setter then maybe my comment above is too harsh.
I agree with the commentary so far but it was a satisfying solve for me. GOODBYE (parsing), SPEARHEADED (surface) and TARZAN (nice to see ‘Z’ as ‘unknown’ for a change) my tops. Thanks B&J and Bluebird.
A topless marathon. “Nickers” to that!
Top faves: APRON, AGGREGATOR, GHOST, HALF-MOONS and GOD (wee or mammoth, He is supposed to be omnipresent).
AGGREGATOR
It’s a lucrative business model and of course, AGGREGATORs must be busy too!
For 18a the solution ON Common Era could just as easily have been RE Anno Domini, another way to “start a story”. But these days we leave Christ and Lord out of it.
Though GOD gets in at 27d
Thanks B & B&J
Like FrankieG (who just beat me by a minute!) I sent myself on the wrong track at 18A by entering READ, which works, at least to solvers of a certain age for whom it was always AD not CE. Likewise, at 2D a ruler was always made of wood when I was at school. Much enjoyed, so thanks Bluebird and B&J.
ONCE
CE is given as both Common Era as well as Christian Era in some dictionaries though Chambers has only Common Era.
(FrankieG@6 Christ is not totally out of it even if it is only Common Era as the reference point is still Christ’s supposed year of birth).
Strictly speaking, the ‘plastic foot?’ is termed ‘rule’.
Mark me down as another who originally entered READ at 19. Only when SPEARHEADED was obviously the correct answer at 14 did I check to see if CE was interchangeable with AD having not remembered seeing it before.
This was a real slow burn for me, and required a lot of crunching gears in my brain to eventually get to the end. I did consider giving in to the reveal button on occasion, but was glad I didn’t. An hour and a half out of my day suggests I probably should have done though!
Thanks to Bluebird and the ever reliable B&J.
Thanks both. I agree about the crafty definitions, and would cite THESAURUS as a favourite. I entered GHOST unsurely, mainly as the clue lacks the question mark I believe it deserves….unless the Scooby-Doo-esque floating white sheet is now established as paranormal fact.
Very late to comment today but wanted to note my appreciation of this puzzle. I enjoy Bluebird’s quirky definitions – though I did not spot that REMBRANDT was being referred to in 7d. GHOST made me laugh and THESAURUS too. MASTER is very clever and I admired the misdirection in SPEARHEADED.
Thanks Bluebird and B&J
Thanks Bluebird. I enjoyed this immensely with my top picks being EXHILARATE, ZIGZAG, REMBRANDT, CHEF, and GOD. Thanks B&J for the blog.
Thank you to Bert and Joyce for the great blog, and to all who’ve commented – it’s greatly appreciated.
This puzzle has a ghost theme which I wasn’t expecting to be identified. Featured throughout the grid are the 9 original members of the Wu Tang Clan – RZA (in TARZAN), GZA (in ZIGZAG), METHOD Man, GHOSTface Killer, Raekwon (AKA The CHEF), INSPECTOR Deck, ODB (in GOODBYE), MASTER Killer and U-GOD.
I guessed Thesaurus but don’t understand “saw is alongside gnome here”.
Could someone please expand on the explanation?
saw and gnome have the common meaning of ‘a proverb/a maxim’.
@Bluebird, thanks for coming along to reveal the hidden theme. I didn’t spot it, but like it a lot it in retrospect.
Greatly enjoyed the definition of THESAURUS and overall enjoyed the puzzle.
Not sure I understand the definition of GHOST – if it’s a reference to wearing a sheet as a ghost costume, then surely the *contents* of the sheet isn’t a ghost?
Thanks again to Bluebird and to Bertandjoyce for the blog.