So it’s Wire today
A couple of these have me stumped, there appears to be a minor cops & robbers theme. Any idea out there? Thanks Wire
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CAT-BURGLAR |
Crook damaged most of table and rug in vehicle (3-7)
|
| Most of [TABL(e) + RUG]* damaged all in CAR | ||
| 6 | SCAB |
Regressive way of paying someone, one crossing a line (4)
|
| Bank transfer BACS reversed | ||
| 10 | SYRIA |
First 365 days hosted by South American country (5)
|
| Y(ea)R I=one all in S(outh) A(merican) | ||
| 11 | MEASLIEST |
Counterfeit sale items most spotted (9)
|
| a counterfeit [SALE ITEMS]* | ||
| 12 | ENRICHED |
One child nursed by Nurse Ruby made better (8)
|
| EN – nurse & I CH(ild) in RED – ruby | ||
| 13 | MASAI |
Language degrees prior to ChatGPT? (5)
|
| MA’s & AI – artificial intelligence | ||
| 15 | TRUFFLE |
Shelf further back hides confection (7)
|
| Hidden reversed in shELF FURTher | ||
| 17 | NIGHTIE |
Garment extremely ineffective on naked men (7)
|
| (k)NIGHT(s) without the outer clothing or naked & extremes of I(neffectiv)E | ||
| 19 | PLACARD |
Public notice character east of mountain rotated (7)
|
| ALP reversed & CARD – character | ||
| 21 | MISTRAL |
Wind and spray facing artist by lake (7)
|
| MIST – spray & RA – artist & L(ake) | ||
| 22 | ALOOF |
Cold place to go in centre of Sleaford (5)
|
| LOO a place for going in middle of (sle)AF(ord) | ||
| 24 | SALESMAN |
Drinks on small ship, one that pitches (8)
|
| S(mall) & ALES – drink & MAN. I guess somehow MAN means ship but I can’t quite see that | ||
| 27 | HOLD OUT ON |
Keep info from aged Oscar in shed working (4,3,2)
|
| OLD – aged & O(scar) all in HUT – shed & ON – working | ||
| 28 | RAISE |
Rear beams in auditorium (5)
|
| Sounds like RAYS | ||
| 29 | RIPE |
Ready to eat selection of Kashmiri peppers (4)
|
| Hidden in kashmiRI PEppers | ||
| 30 | SPEED BUMPS |
4 and 16 sleeping? (5,5)
|
| SLEEPING POLICEMEN are speed bumps | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CUSP |
Vessels moving up Southern Point (4)
|
| S(outhern) moved up in CUPS | ||
| 2 | TARANTULA |
Cross about tirade over large adult arthropod (9)
|
| TAU – Greek letter represented in the past by an X or cross around RANT – tirade – & L(arge) & A(dult). However I’m concerned by the “over” which seems to suggest the clue works another way. | ||
| 3 | UMAMI |
Taste cut meat maid oddly cut (5)
|
| Alternate letters of cUt MeAt MaId | ||
| 4 | GUMSHOE |
Cop recalled self-satisfied male eating donut (7)
|
| I thought they were PIs rather an cops. SMUG reversed & O – donut shaped in HE | ||
| 5 | ABANDON |
Contractor perhaps also on leave (7)
|
| AB – a muscle hence contractor & AND – also & ON | ||
| 7 | CHESS |
Musical cabinets not keeping time (5)
|
| T(ime) removed from CHES(t)S | ||
| 8 | BOTTICELLI |
Painter of note on US phone in Program 1 (10)
|
| TI – musical note & CELL – mobile phone in the US – all in BOT – computer program & I | ||
| 9 | PLUMAGES |
A long period carrying fruit and feathers (8)
|
| PLUM – fruit & AGES | ||
| 14 | STEPFATHER |
New pater she finds tiresome at first? (10)
|
| A new [PATER SHE F(inds) T(iresome)]* | ||
| 16 | FLATFOOT |
Bobby still with fellow also going north (8)
|
| FLAT – still & F(ellow) & TOO – also reversed | ||
| 18 | TERRARIUM |
Ur art emir reconstructed for 2’s home? (9)
|
| A reconstructed [UR ART EMIR]* | ||
| 20 | DESKTOP |
Flower best put below daughter’s computer (7)
|
| D(aughter) & river – “flower” ESK & TOP – best | ||
| 21 | MELANGE |
Setter accompanying pianist on European mix (7)
|
| ME – the setter & (lang) LANG a pianist & E(uropean) | ||
| 23 | ORLOP |
Deck game held up with king on board (5)
|
| R – rex, king in POLO reversed | ||
| 25 | SCRUB |
Cancel final parts of endless sadistic massage (5)
|
| (endles)S (sadisti)C & RUB – massage | ||
| 26 | GEMS |
Harmful bugs essentially eroded rocks (4)
|
| Middle removed – eroded from GE(r)MS |
SALESMAN
Chambers (the mobile app)has this under man at 15
A ship, as in man-of-war
TARANTULA
I had the same parse. Can’t see any gap.
2d TARANTULA: “over” = “on top of”, in a down clue
Surely the “on” in 2d just means “on top of.” Also, I’m not sure what you mean by saying tau was “represented in the past by an X.” A capital tau is identical to a Roman T, and that shape is a tau cross. I think you’ve mixed it up with chi, which does look like a Roman X (which may also be a cross if you’re St. Andrew).
Parsed 24a SALESMAN as KVa@1, but with an !rish ship: Man O’War.
2d TARANTULA – Tau cross
I had exactly the same thought about GUMSHOE. I may be wrong, but I always thought PLUMAGE was a mass noun so no PLUMAGES. Happy to be corrected.
Like flashling and Hovis, I have always taken GUMSHOE as detective and I was surprised to find a plural for PLUMAGE. I suppose, if one was referring to the coats of a variety of different birds, plumages might make sense. TAU for cross I have encountered before but not MAN for ship; even Man-of/’o-war has always been spelled out when I have met it.
Likes today include MASAI, MISTRAL,TRUFFLE, ALOOF, ABANDON, DESKTOP and SCRUB.
Thanks Wire and flashling
Many birds have a summer and a winter plumage. Doesn’t that make them plumages?
Personally, I would say birds can have different plumage in summer and winter and different varieties of birds have different plumage. It’s certainly possible that you could also say ‘plumages’ in either case but I remain to be convinced.
Hovis @ 9
“The plumages of sparrows and goldfinches differ greatly”?
Thanks flashling and to all who have commented today. The RSPB (and Chambers) seem to be happy with ‘plumages’: e.g.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/snow-bunting
GUMSHOE in Chambers gives ‘detective or policeman’ (US) (hence use of ‘cop’).
Thanks Wire. If it’s ok with the RSPB it’s ok with me. Not sure Chambers has ‘gumshoe’ correct but you can’t argue with a setter using it. Maybe one of our US solvers can shed some light on this.
Thanks Wire for an enjoyable crossword. It’s not often that I solve a Wire/Leonidas puzzle without some speed bump but today it was smooth as silk. My favourites were NIGHTIE, CUSP, TARANTULA, GUMSHOE, and FLATFOOT. It’s my understanding that a GUMSHOE is simply a detective, private or on a police force. Cop, therefore, seems to be a valid defintion. Thanks flashling for the blog.