Bluth has provided our cruciverbal entertainment this Wednesday.
As always with Bluth puzzles, I found this to be very challenging and highly entertaining. I have struggled to parse a good few of the clues, especially the longer clues with particularly intricate wordplay. In the end, Bluth has had the last laugh on me, since I cannot tease out the wordplay at 19, despite coming back to the completed puzzle twice.
My favourite clues today are 1A, for the clever use of “Sally Bowles” in the wordplay; 4, for topicality, which justifies the clue length; 7, 11 and 26, all for smoothness of surface; and 21, for making me laugh out loud.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ELBOW GREASE | Sally Bowles missing start of stage musical – it’s hard work
*(BOWLE<s>) + GREASE (=musical); “missing start (=first letter) of stage” means letter “s” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “sally (=attack)” |
| 07 | DUE | Short song expected
DUE<t> (=song); “short” means last letter is dropped |
| 09 | LOCUM | Column about Norway’s unused substitute
*(COLUM<n>); “Norway’s (=N, in IVR) unused” means letter “n” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “about” |
| 10 | PUT-UP JOBS | Board, once Apple’s CEO reveals dishonest schemes
PUT UP (=board, accommodate) + JOBS (=once Apple’s CEO, i.e. Steve Jobs) |
| 11 | TAR | Pitch perfect opera singer by all conclusions
<perfec>T <oper>A <singe>R; “by all conclusions” means final letters only are used |
| 12 | LIFE OF RILEY | Regularly claim free offers – I’ll deny carefree existence
<c>L<a>I<m> F<r>E<e> O<f>F<e>R<s> I<l>L <d>E<n>Y; “regularly” means alternate letters only |
| 13 | BESIDES | What’s more in Belgium, Germany is in view on the way back
B (=Belgium, in IVR) + ESIDES ([D (=Germany, in IVR) + IS] in SEE (=view, examine); “on the way back” indicates reversal) |
| 14 | KOWTOWS | Pays court hearing to lower settlements if name is withheld
Homophone of “cow (=lower, i.e. animal that lows, moos)” + TOW<n>S (=settlements; “if name (=N) is withheld” means letter “n” is dropped); to pay court to is to woo, flatter, fawn, hence “kowtow” |
| 16 | ARSENAL | Club singer to cast after bum note
ARSE (=bum, backside) + N (=note) + AL<to> (=singer; “to cast” means letters “to” are dropped) |
| 18 | ATTACKS | Accountant discontented with announced percentage of income taken by government charges
A<ccountan>T (“dis-content-ed” means all middle letters are dropped) + homophone (“announced”) of “tax (=percentage of income taken by government)” |
| 19 | CAR BOOT SALE | American trunks are large to cover swimmer’s rear – most vendors here are out of gear
CAR BOOTS (=American trunks, i.e. in US English) + ALE (ARE; “large (=L, in sizes) to cover swimmer’s rear (=last letter)” means letter “l” replaces “r”); cryptically, at a car boot sale the cars are not being driven, hence are “out of gear” |
| 21 | ELM | Wood sprite requiring gender re-assignment
ELF (=sprite); “requiring gender re-assignment” means “F (=female)” becomes “M (=male)”! |
| 23 | INDEMNITY | Perhaps Hermes boxes might need initially to go on home insurance
IN ((at) home) + {[M<ight> N<eed> (“initially” means first letters only are used)] in DEITY (=perhaps Hermes)]} |
| 24 | SATIN | Modelled fashionable material
SAT (=modelled, posed) + IN (=fashionable, trendy) |
| 25 | GAY | Happy Lineker’s ignoring tip from Shearer
GA<r>Y (=Lineker, i.e. England footballer: “ignoring tip from Shearer” means last letter – “r” – is dropped) |
| 26 | NUMBERS GAME | Building began with summer house for example
*(BEGAN + SUMMER); “building” is anagram indicator; in army slang, house is bingo, especially when played for money, hence “numbers game” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ECLAT | Drug, uplifting white powder’s striking effect
E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) + CLAT (TALC=white powder; “uplifting” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 02 | BACKRESTS | Supports stern on ship carrying tons
BACK (=stern) + RE (=on, regarding) + [T (=tons) in SS (=ship, i.e. steamship)] |
| 03 | WIMBLEDON COMMON | New BMW I took for a ride – public park here?
*(BMW I) + LED ON (=took for a ride, misled) + COMMON (=public, shared); “new” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | RIP-OFFS | Finally sub-postmaster is taking on Post Office and head of Fujitsu following exploitative situations
[PO (=Post Office) + F<ujitsu> F (=following)] in [<sub-postmaste>R (“finally” means last letter only) + IS] |
| 05 | ARTWORK | Nighthawks – possibly a right pair – drink beer – bottoms up!
A + R (=right) + TWO (=pair) + RK (<drin>K <bee>R; “bottoms” means last letters only; “up” indicates vertical reversal); Nighthawks is a 1942 oil-on-canvas painting by the American artist Edward Hopper |
| 06 | EXPERT WITNESSES | Pundit to pause wanting answer – ultimately can these tennis balls inspire grass court specialists?
EXPERT (=pundit) + W<a>IT (=to pause; “wanting answer (=A)” means letter “a” is dropped) + <ca>N <thes>E <tenni>S <ball>S <inspire>E <gras>S (“ultimately” means last letters only) |
| 07 | DROOL | Judge say recalled locking up old slaver
O (=old, as in Old Testament) in DROL (LORD=judge say, of the Court of Session; “recalled” indicates reversal) |
| 08 | ESSAYISTS | Having seconds for every line, somehow I’ll yell at writers?
*(ISS YESS AT); “seconds (=S) for every line (=L)” means every occurrence of “l” becomes an “s” in anagram, indicated by “somehow” |
| 13 | BLANCHING | Turning pale when aunt oddly caught husband wearing flashy jewellery
[A<u>N<t> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) + C (=caught, on cricket scorecard) + H (=husband)] in BLING (=flashy jewellery) |
| 15 | ORCHESTRA | Cycle lights with rain in short – one needs a conductor
TORCHES (=lights; “cycle” means first letter moves to end of word) + RA<in> (“in short” means letters “in” are dropped) |
| 17 | LITHIUM | Blitz this dump – knocking all walls out as part of battery?
<b>LIT<z> <t>HI<s> <d>UM<p>; “knocking all walls” means all first and last letters are dropped |
| 18 | ANALYSE | Break down when dashing 16 yard run to escape
*(A<r>SENAL + Y (=yard)); “run (=R) to escape” means letter “r” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “when dashing” |
| 20 | RUDDY | Game day and case of dysentery is flushed
RU (=game, i.e. rugby union) + D (=day) + D<ysenter>Y (“case of” means first and last letters only); flushed is red, florid, ruddy |
| 22 | MINCE | Bluth’s eating cold cut
C (=cold, on tap) in MINE (=Bluth’s, i.e. the compiler’s) |
A puzzle set in Bluth’s unique style which was a good challenge and great fun to solve.
In 19a, the wordplay element is excellent but I think the connection between the definition and the answer is somewhat spurious. RR, the wordplay is CAR BOOTS + ARE with the R (swimmer’s rear) replaced by L(arge).
Although it’s a game involving numbers, I wouldn’t describe bingo as a NUMBERS GAME. This phrase has two meanings: (1) using statistics to mislead; and (2) an illegal lottery in the US.
My top picks are ELBOW GREASE, PUT-UP JOBS, ELM, RIP-OFFS and DROLL.
Many thanks to Bluth and to RR.
I also struggled to parse CAR BOOT SALE but got there in the end. I got too fixated on A = ‘are’ as a unit of area and L = ‘large’. I’m quite happy with bingo as a ‘numbers game’ – it’s a game and it involves numbers.
Describing bingo as a numbers game may be fine, but here we have numbers game defined as bingo, which it isn’t.
[Earworm for 12a: The Lightning Seeds’ The cLaIm FrEe OfFeRs I‘lL dEnY (1992)]
I parsed 19 the same way as RD – L (large) replacing (“covering”) the R (swimmer’s rear) in ARE – a very typical Bluth trick!
Fun puzzle. Thanks, Bluth & RR.
“Challenging and highly entertaining” is spot-on for me. Isn’t house just a definition by example, as indicated in the clue? Other numbers games are also available.
Thanks both. Whilst I can see both sides of the discussion regarding NUMBERS GAME I did ask myself whilst trying to justify the answer what the expression means, and the literal take (almost in a ‘Green car’ sense) applied here doesn’t fit my understanding – all partially irrelevant as I didn’t know bingo as ‘house’ and I had not considered ‘building’ as an anagrind….apart from that, I handled the clue quite well.
James @3. I might be talking through my hat, which is not unusual, but a definition by example is OK as long as it’s indicated, which is the case here by the use of “for example”.
My concern with this clue is that multi-word answers either need to appear in dictionaries or be a phrase in common use. Whimsical definitions like this one are fine if there is something like a question mark to show that it is less precise.
Rabbit Dave, I was agreeing with (the gist of) your point, though I think the way you put it confuses the issue.
You said ‘I wouldn’t describe bingo as a numbers game’, but you might do if you were writing a clue for BINGO. My problem with the clue, and yours too I think, is that NUMBERS GAME can’t be defined/described as bingo, because it isn’t bingo.
The clue is asking us to provide a whimsical definition of a word in the clue. It treats NUMBERS GAME as if it were equivalent to eg BALL GAME, ie a general term for a class of games, but as you point out it means something else.
I might just be having an off day but I didn’t find Bluth’s surfaces quite as lyrical as usual and felt slightly swamped by the long ones. LIFE OF RILEY, ELM and DROOL my podium today.
Thanks Bluth and RR
Thanks RR and thanks all.
There’s a missing word in the clue for Car Boot Sale. The definition is “most vendors here are out of gear”. Without the ‘here’ I don’t think the definition part of the clue works.
Dictionaries seem divided on ‘numbers game’ and the definition given in Chambers isn’t one I’d recognise as it’s normal usage. But it is at least an actual game of sorts. I opted for this interpretation of the words as I think it is a fair understanding – certainly as fair and with as much dictionary support as, say, ‘flower’ being used to define a thing that flows.
Thanks Bluth. I liked many of the clues including LIFE OF RILEY, ELM, ECLAT, BACKRESTS, and BLANCHING but I ended up revealing 1a, 3d, and 5d and there were many bits I couldn’t parse. Overall I didn’t enjoy this as much as other Bluth/Fed crosswords — too many of the surfaces seemed too contrived in my opinion. Thanks RR for the blog.
For 19A, once more I had a right answer pretty quick but a long and winding road to know why I was right.
I know that in American English, the ‘trunk’ is the boot of your car. Eventually got to replacing the swimmer’s rear (R) with large (L) in ‘are’: trunks = car boots + a(l)e. Figuring out why you are right is half of the challenge.
Thanks to Bluth @11 for pointing out the omission, and to Rabbit Dave @1 (and others) for supplying the parsing at 19.
5d ARTWORK: Nighthawks — Thanks B&RR