Rodriguez provides our Thursday challenge this week.
An enjoyable puzzle, with a few slightly trickier clues but nothing unreasonable. I liked the misdirection of “oases in desert” and “shooting star” (the latter perhaps slightly more obvious after all the recent Olympics coverage of less mainstream sports), and laughed at the pun of 20d, but my favourite was the appropriately mathematical 6d. Thanks Rodriguez for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | CUB REPORTER |
Youngster wanting good story book tucked into treat and drink (3,8)
|
| B (abbreviation for book), inserted into CURE (treat, as in treating a medical condition) + PORTER (a dark beer).
A young trainee newspaper reporter. |
||
| 9 | OHO |
Triumphant exclamation upright character ignored in US state (3)
|
| OH[i]O (US state) without I (an upright letter). | ||
| 10 | OVATE |
Nabokov – a tease, somewhat elliptical (5)
|
| Hidden answer (somewhat) in [nabok]OV A TE[ase].
Egg-shaped = roughly elliptical. |
||
| 11 | BAKSHEESH |
That lady cooks cakes, given hot tip (9)
|
| SHE (that lady) with BAKES (cooks, as a verb) around it (caking it), then H (abbreviation for hot).
Tip = money given as a thank-you. |
||
| 12 | STEEPLE |
Gently drilling metal base for tall structure (7)
|
| P (p, in musical notation = abbreviation for Italian piano = quietly or gently) inserted into STEEL (metal), then E (in mathematics, e = the base of natural logarithms). | ||
| 13 | RUM BABA |
Sweet Polish-American bagging business qualification (3,4)
|
| RUB (polish, as a verb) + A (abbreviation for American), containing (bagging) MBA (a Master in Business Administration postgraduate degree).
Sweet = dessert, in this case a cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup. |
||
| 14 | XIMENES |
Times setter’s seen cryptic crossword setter (7)
|
| X (times = mathematical symbol for multiplication) + I’M (setter’s = the setter of this crossword is) + anagram (cryptic) of SEEN.
Pseudonym used by the cryptic crossword setter Derrick Somerset Macnutt, also a writer on the “rules” of cryptic crosswords. |
||
| 16 | CORTEGE |
My acceleration due to gravity checked by device used when driving train (7)
|
| COR (cor! = my! = expressions of surprise), then G (g = symbol for the acceleration due to gravity) contained in (checked by) TEE (a device used to support a golf ball when a player is preparing to drive it).
Cortege = train = a procession. |
||
| 18 | MORTISE |
Bit of a joint model rolled inhaled by utopian writer (7)
|
| SIT (model = pose for an artist) reversed (rolled), contained in (inhaled by) MORE (writer Thomas More, who wrote the book Utopia).
Part of a mortise-and-tenon joint in woodworking. |
||
| 21 | AEDILES |
Old magistrates awfully idle, in the main, after retiring (7)
|
| Anagram (awfully) of IDLE, inserted into SEA (the main) reversed (after retiring).
Roman public officials with legal duties. |
||
| 23 | N’EST-CE PAS |
Supplier of eggs and mushrooms receiving a confirmation request from abroad (4-2,3)
|
| NEST (a container for eggs, though “supplier” seems a bit loose) + CEPS (a type of edible mushrooms), containing A.
French (from abroad) for “isn’t it?” = a request for someone to confirm what you’ve just said. |
||
| 24 | AKELA |
Leader of pack seen in two lakes side by side (5)
|
| Hidden answer (seen in . . .) in [l]AKE LA[ke] (two LAKEs side by side).
The leader of a wolf pack in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book; or a title (derived from the book) used for the leader of a Cub Scout pack. |
||
| 25 | N B A |
Prohibit cycling league in America (1,1,1)
|
| BAN (to prohibit), with the letters “cycling” around so that the N moves to the front.
Abbreviation for the National Basketball Association, the league for the professional game in North America. |
||
| 26 | TERPSICHORE |
Perhaps the creative force behind Tango and Sprite changed job (11)
|
| Anagram (changed) of SPRITE, then CHORE (a tedious job). For the surface, Tango and Sprite are brand names for soft drinks.
The Ancient Greek Muse responsible for dance, so perhaps inspiring tango dancing. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ABRADE |
Wear diamonds, entering a bank in Glasgow (6)
|
| D (abbreviation for diamonds in playing cards), inserted into A + BRAE (Scottish, so Glasgow, word for a hillside = bank). | ||
| 2 | PETER PAN |
Noble god, over time, displaying eternal youth (5,3)
|
| PEER (noble = aristocrat) + PAN (ancient Greek god), containing (over) T (abbreviation for time).
J M Barrie’s fictional “boy who never grows up”. |
||
| 3 | DOUBTERS |
People like Thomas Cook used to blather vacuously (8)
|
| Anagram (cook, as a verb, perhaps as in “cook the books” = to falsify records) of USED TO + B[lathe]R (vacuously = with inner letters “emptied” out).
“Doubting Thomas”: in the Gospel of John, Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples when the risen Christ appeared to them, and wouldn’t believe the news until he saw for himself. |
||
| 4 | STOKER |
One tends to fire small person smoking marijuana, say (6)
|
| S (abbreviation for small) + TOKER (a person who smokes drugs).
Someone who maintains (tends to) a fire or furnace by shovelling coal into it, especially on a steam ship or steam train. |
||
| 5 | ARNHEM |
Area by border invaded by servicemen in WWII battle (6)
|
| A (abbreviation for area) + HEM (border of a garment), containing (invaded by) RN (abbreviation for Royal Navy = servicemen). | ||
| 6 | LOVELACE |
Zero added to fifty plus one for English mathematician (8)
|
| LOVE (zero in tennis scoring) + L (fifty in Roman numerals) + ACE (one in playing cards).
Countess Ada Lovelace, who (among other things) worked with Charles Babbage on his proposed devices that are now considered precursors of modern computers. |
||
| 7 | FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE |
Give me strength and energy to shelter in oases in desert (3,7,4)
|
| E (abbreviation for energy) inserted into (sheltering in) HAVENS (oases), all inside FORSAKE (desert, as a verb = abandon).
Give me strength! = for heaven’s sake! = expressions indicating frustration or annoyance. |
||
| 8 | CROSS-EXAMINING |
Without rumpy-pumpy, romancing is possibly a brief activity? (5-9)
|
| Anagram (possibly) of ROMANCING IS, around (without = outside) SEX (rumpy-pumpy).
Questioning a witness in court = an activity for a “brief” (slang for a barrister). |
||
| 15 | MARKSMAN |
Above isle, spots shooting star? (8)
|
| MARKS (spots, as a verb = notices) before (above, in a down clue) MAN (the Isle of Man).
Marksman = someone who is good at shooting at targets = a “star” at shooting. |
||
| 16 | CLASSIST |
E.g. Mary Beard gives away one First from Cambridge for discriminating type (8)
|
| CLASS[ic]IST (someone who studies Greek and Roman civilisation and literature, for example Dame Mary Beard), without (giving away) I (one in Roman numberals) + first letter of C[ambridge].
Someone who discriminates against others on the basis of their perceived social class. |
||
| 17 | RADIANCE |
Brilliant quality of artist, one inspired by art (8)
|
| RA (abbreviation for Royal Academician = artist), then I (one in Roman numerals) contained in (inspired by) DANCE (an art). | ||
| 19 | INCITE |
Encourage coitus, wearing nice pants (6)
|
| IT (sex = coitus), contained in (wearing) an anagram (pants = slang for unsatisfactory) of NICE. | ||
| 20 | EXPORT |
Product that’s often shipped from Ostia Antica or Canopus, say? (6)
|
| Ostia Antica and Canopus are ancient sites (in Italy and Egypt respectively) that were once ports: hence EX-PORTs. (Like the Monty Python ex-parrot.) | ||
| 22 | LIE LOW |
This person wears coat of Leatherette, sound like a cow hide (3,3)
|
| I (this person) contained in (wearing) the outer letters (coat) of L[eatherett]E, then LOW (to make the mooing sound of a cow). |
Phew! I found this pretty tough but it was very enjoyable.
The surface of 10a is a little odd and I don’t think “supplier of eggs” is a particularly valid description of a nest. Those apart, I had a lot of ticks with LOVELACE my favourite.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to Quirister.
A nest is somewhere you can get eggs from, so “supplier of eggs” doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to me.
I found this very tough and unlike some puzzles in which – once solved – all the problems melt away; in this puzzle I had lingering doubts. But the blog has cleared up all of them
Cross-examining and Lovelace (and nice to see mathematician being unqualified but cluing a woman)
Thanks Rodriguez and Quirister
Great start to the day.
Every frame a Rembrandt.
Thanks Quirister and Rodriguez.
So much to like!
What’s with 2-page .pdf print out – 1 page for grid and another for clues?
Very clumsy to use. Please go back to a single page format, **please**
Thanks both. Whilst I am a fan of this setter, this was too difficult in places for me. NEST CE PAS didn’t delay me, and doesn’t trigger my normal aversion to foreign language solutions, but I do agree ‘supplier’ of eggs for nest is at best a stretch. TERPSICHORE and AEDILES were too niche for my radar, as was LOVELACE unless we had been referring to Linda when she ran for president. Then we have BAKSHEESH which sat somewhere between zero and impossible, and it doesn’t even relate to Mary Beard who I thought might be a baker!
Despite having seen “cakes” for is around twice in a recent puzzle, I still didn’t remember it, so had a much more convoluted parsing of the woman being into “bakes”. Great puzzle and blog as always.
I don’t normally do the Indy puzzle, but I thought I’d give it a try today. Some clever stuff, like INCITE.
However I don’t think that treat=CURE: the treatment might be a failure.
Dr. WhatsOn@8: I do not normally do this puzzle either, but I do sometimes look in to see what is being said.
For treat=CURE, Collins 2023 p 492 gives several meanings of cure including 4 “to preserve (meat, fish, etc) by salting, smoking etc”, which would be good enough for me without 5 a “to treat or finish a substance by chemical or physical means”.
PB@9 Very interesting, but I don’t know if #5 quite works. It doesn’t allow treat alone (without those other words). #4 would say that curing is a kind of treatment, so that may well do the trick, although by that reasoning a million other things would qualify as treatment! But probably close enough for a crossword.
This was tough. DNF. Too many words, people etc, I didn’t know of.
Looked at this in retrospect after disliking today’s offering and this was a cracking puzzle which I hadn’t had time to look at when it was originally published.
NHO AEDILES but was a pretty good bet given the crossers, and PETER PAN was my LOI.
BAKSHEESH, CUB REPORTER, TERPSICHORE, AKELA, NESTCEPAS all terrific clues, amongst so many. Bravo, Rodriguez.