Neo is Friday's setter.
Our usual blogger is unavailable again this week, so I have volunteered to stand in again (sorry for the recent glut of Loonapick blogs). I found this quite tough although on reflection, I'm not sure why. All of the general knowledge was within my wheelhouse, so that's no excuse and there were no obscure words either. Myabe it's just been a long week and I'm not used to solving crosswords on a Friday afternoon after a week of work.
Anyway, apart from the parsing of LOADS, I think I got there.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GAMBOL |
Caper has loveless gang brought into prison (6)
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[loveless] M(o)B ("gang") brought into GAOL ("prison") |
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| 5 | SCHNAPPS |
How 21 may announce breaks for Holland gin? (8)
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SNAPS ("breaks") when announced by a boozer (the answer to "21"dn) may sound like SCHNAPPS |
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| 9 | REVOLVER |
Top Gun (8)
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Double definition, the first referring to a child's toy that revolves, a spinning TOP |
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| 10 | LARYNX |
A source of roar in wild feline? (6)
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A + [source of] R(oar) in LYNX ("wild feline") and &lit. |
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| 11 | TUNDRA |
Plain fish containing bones (6)
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TUNA ("fish") containing Dr. (doctor, aka "bones") |
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| 12 | DEADLOCK |
Lifeless hair — no resolution available here (8)
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DEAD ("lifeless") + LOCK ("hair") |
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| 14 | ACHILLES HEEL |
Vulnerability’s shivering in ocean around bank (8,4)
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CHILL ("shivering") in <=SEA ("ocean", around) + HEEL ("bank") |
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| 18 | DUCKING-STOOL |
Seat that punishes French duke, monarch’s minion (7-5)
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DUC ("French duke") + KINGS ("monarch's") + TOOL ("minion") |
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| 22 | VALLETTA |
Everyone for cessation in bitter feud in city (8)
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ALL ("everyone") for (i.e. instead of) END ("cessation") in V(end)DETTA ("bitter feud") becomes V(ALL)ETTA, the capital of Malta |
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| 25 | LOTION |
Calcium should be removed from spot preparation (6)
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Ca (calcium, on the periodic table) should be removed from LO(ca)TION ("spot") |
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| 26 | CANAAN |
Officer leaving Trudeau for one in Promised Land (6)
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DI (Detective Inspector, so "officer") leaving CANA(di)AN ("Trudeau, for one") |
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| 27 | PINT-SIZE |
Fashionable zip set in lines for pocket? (4-4)
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IN lines *(zip set) [anag:fashionable] |
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| 28 | MARSHALL |
Building after war — who advocated that? (8)
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HALL ("building") after MARS (God of "War") The Marshall Plan was another name for the Economic Recovery Act in 1948, an American act designed to rebuild the economy of Western Europe after the Second World War. |
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| 29 | TASERS |
Stares awkwardly? These are stunners! (6)
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*(stares) [anag:awkwardly] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | AVENUE |
Access in A&E beautiful woman almost blocks (6)
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VENU(s) ("beautiful woman", almost) blocks A & E |
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| 3 | BLOOD BANK |
Count supporting relatives: claret here in store? (5,4)
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BANK ("count") supporting BLOOD ("relatives") |
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| 4 | LEVIATHAN |
Patriarch and prophet beheaded sea-monster (9)
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LEVI ("patriarch") and (n)ATHAN ("prophet", beheaded) In the Book of Genesis, Levi was a son of Jacob and founder of the Tribe of Levi, while later in the Bible, Nathan was a prophet in the time of King David. |
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| 5 | STRUDEL |
Sweet and virtuous person with uncouth student (7)
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St. (saint, so "virtuous person") with RUDE ("uncouth") + L (learner driver, so (loosely) a "student") |
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| 6 | HILDA |
Mrs Ogden perhaps regularly thrilled American (5)
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[regularly] (t)H(r)I(l)L(e)D + A (American) For the non-Brits and the younger generation, Hilda Ogden was a much-loved character in the soap Coronation Street, played by Jean Alexander. |
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| 7 | APRIL |
Eliot’s cruellest month lands pair in trouble (5)
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Pr. (pair) in AIL ("trouble") "April is the cruellest month" is the first line of TS Eliot's epic poem The Waste Land. |
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| 8 | PINSCHER |
Princes out to consume hot dog (8)
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*(princes) [anag:out] to consume H (hot, on a tap) |
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| 13 | DIS |
Record cut in the infernal world (3)
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DIS(c) ("record", cut) |
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| 15 | EXOPLANET |
Syphilis rampant on the way in alien world (9)
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<=POX ("syphilis", rampant) on LANE ("way") in ET (extraterrestrial, so "alien") |
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| 16 | HALITOSIS |
Henry II welcoming to second son in stinking pants? (9)
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HAL ("Henry)+ II welcoming TO + S (second) + S (son), so HAL-I(TO-S)I-S |
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| 17 | RUTABAGA |
Swede in furrow by a secure area (8)
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RUT ("furrow") by A + BAG ("secure") + A (area) |
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| 19 | ICE |
Murder across the pond that is cold-hearted? (3)
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C (cold, on a tap) at the heart of i.e. ("that is") |
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| 20 | SCALPEL |
Opener in theatre succeeded, training in style (7)
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S (succeeded) + PE (physical exercise, so "training") in CALL ("style") |
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| 21 | BOOZER |
Touring Australia old South African drunkard … (6)
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BOER ("old South African") touring OZ ("Australia") |
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| 23 | LOADS |
… gets round in? (5)
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Not sure of parsing here? |
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| 24 | TONGA |
Country knight introduced to rustic goat (5)
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N (knight, in chess rotation) introduced to *(goat) [anag:rustic] |
Thanks Neo and Loonapick. I could not think of a plausible guess for 17dn so left it blank.
23dn: I think this may be get = git = lad, so O in LADS & lit. I should add any better ideas most welcome.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
I think LOADS is the act of putting a round of ammunition into a gun.
We found this tough, too, and couldn’t parse 23dn; several parsings didn’t occur to us until later, such as 16dn (stinking pants, where pants = breaths). We liked TUNDRA, STRUDEL and SCALPEL.
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
23d LOADS, say, a 9a REVOLVER — [Edit – as Simon S says @2] with the surface being buy some drinks in a BOOZER
Further to 1, Chambers 2016 p 641 gives us get = “a child, brat (Scot derog)” directly, so it may be that.
23D … puts bullet in gun?
I found this tough and needed a word finder for RUTABAGA. Like Loonapick I struggled to parse LOADS but rounds would be a round of drinks and loaded is drunk.
Thanks to Loonapick for stepping into the breach for an excellent blog and Neo for the puzzle.
… Too slow editing. Meant “with the surface being some drinks being bought by a BOOZER” – Good use of ellipses in 21d… …23d.
Thanks for stepping in with the blog again , good puzzle, neat and clever clues throughout.
LOADS – I went with the gun idea but also a secondary slang meaning. Loaded up means drunk so the drunkard loads with another round.
EXOPLANET had a hint of double duty for alien ,
I think the reason this was tough was the number of subtraction clues and, for me, a lot of unknowns & remote references. I could not solve either MARSHALL or LOADS and had lots of questionable parsings. At least I remembered from a couple of puzzles ago that “to ice” is for the mob to kill.
I liked TASERS, GAMBOL, LEVIATH and REVOLVER
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Thanks Neo for an excellent crossword which I solved in bits and pieces accompanied by Scotch last evening and coffee this morning. My top picks were LARYNX (COTD), TUNDRA, STRUDEL, and RUTABAGA. I’ve never seen ‘rustic’ as an anagram indicator but I guess it can mean ‘rough’ in a sense. Thanks loonapick for the blog and picking up the ball on short notice.
I’ve only just seen that there’s a blog for this excellent puzzle – huge thanks to loonapick (no apologies necessary for the glut!) for an equally excellent blog, especially under the circumstances.
I parsed LOADS as Simon S @2 – really pleased to see a meaningful ellipsis.
I had more than a dozen ticks – I’ll just, reluctantly, single out 22ac VALLETTA, 26ac CANAAN (I love these clues), 4dn LEVIATHAN, 17dn RUTABAGA (which I think I met recently in a discussion on the Guardian re turnips / swedes) and 20dn SCALPEL .
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
I liked RUTABAGA and STRUDEL. I saw LOADS as a DD. Thanks to Neo and Loonapick.
Thanks Loon and all.
LOADS is a cryptic definition with the round referred to being a bullet. Prev answer BOOZER was first in the grid, which suggested the opportunity for a boozy pun in the next clue. Which actually I had thought of first, so I was cheating there.
Martyn popped in, and the number of subtraction clues is 5. Probably the replace-something-with-something-else ones are more of a challenge. For some people 😀
Many thanks
Neo
Thanks Neo for clarifying 23dn. I can stop trying to find a convincing way of making get (as a noun) into a definition for LAD, although I still think it is closer than some definitions that your fellow setters use.
I know we have had this discussion many times before, but I repeat the comment I made yesterday about one-part clues (relating to Gurney’s puzzle): If you do not get the setter’s one idea, you are stuck. At least today, my attempt to read it as an “& lit” clue led me to guess the right answer.
I usually find Neo’s puzzles extremely challenging but this one seemed easier than usual although I had never heard of RUTABAGA. I particularly liked CANAAN
I thought the puzzle was absolutely brilliant. My favorite clue was 16D(Halitosis). I also really liked 5A (Schnapps) and 22A (Valletta) even though I had never heard of the city. I took 23D as just a cryptic definition. Thanks to NEO and Loonapick!
Especially liked 28a MARSHALL, “Who advocated building after war? (8)”
Hard and Dnf with bottom left largely incomplete
Several words I’ve never heard of.
Did not enjoy
I agree with Moly
I thought 6 was [L + PAIR]*
I liked TASERS and DEADLOCK.