Phi is occupying the usual Friday slot, which wasn’t the case when it last fell to me to blog the Friday puzzle on the opening day of the Olympics.
I found this to be a pleasant, medium-difficulty puzzle, through which I made steady progress. I think that I am happy with my parsing at this stage. True to form, I have spotted no particular theme today.
My favourite clues today are 3, for its double wordplay and for making me smirk; 5A and 29, for the geographical references in the wordplay; and 18D, for surface reading.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | CHRONIC | Monarch working to get in style over a long time
[R (=monarch, i.e. rex=king) + ON (=working, of machine)] in CHIC (=style) |
| 05 | CONTEST | Competition set to take a different direction in Durham town
CONSETT (=Durham town), “set to take a different direction” means letters “set” are reversed |
| 06 | SOMNOLENT | Moon’s changing? Granted – feeling sleepy?
*(MOON’S) + LENT (=granted, provided); “changing” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | GARDA | A dull business redirected Irish police
A + DRAG (=dull business); “redirected” indicates reversal |
| 11 | OVID | Exiled poet? The sod all but returned
DIVO<t> (=sod, i.e. piece of turf; “all but” means last letter is dropped); “returned” indicates reversal; the reference is to the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD), who spent the last decade of life living in exile |
| 12 | ARCHBISHOP | Religious figure with work after major error?
ARCH (=major, e.g. enemy) + BISH (=error, blunder) + OP (=work, i.e. opus) |
| 14 | FUDGE | Fine to move, avoiding black stuff
F (=fine) + <b>UDGE (=to move; “avoiding black (=B, as in HB)” means letter “b” is dropped); fudge is stuff, nonsense, humbug, according to Chambers |
| 15 | LASSITUDE | Confused us with details in tiredness
*(US + DETAILS); “confused” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | CARPENTRY | Find fault with one in competition for building work
CARP (=find fault with, quibble) + ENTRY (=one in competition, i.e. to submit an entry) |
| 19 | LUTON | Continue to be lecherous … abandoning South English town
LU<s>T ON (=continue to be lecherous; “abandoning South (=S)” means letter “s” is dropped) |
| 21 | I GOT RHYTHM | Song that gets mighty Thor dancing
*(MIGHTY THOR); “dancing” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the 1930 song composed by George and Ira Gershwin |
| 24 | GROW | Increase threatening sound, scaring off Liberal
GROW<l> (=threatening sound; “scaring off Liberal (=L)” means letter “l” is dropped) |
| 26 | KLIMT | Artist giving tense exploit a going-over
T (=tense, in grammar) + MILK (=exploit, as verb); “giving .. a going-over” indicates reversal; the reference is to the Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) |
| 27 | CHEEKBONE | Impudence to steal part of skeleton
CHEEK (=impudence) + BONE (=to steal, nab, colloquially) |
| 28 | TIMIDLY | Institute backtracked without thought and without wanting to cause offence
TIM (MIT=institute, i.e. Massachusetts Institute of Technology) +IDLY (=without thought, as in sitting idly on the sofa) |
| 29 | ENTITLE | Name bird seen in central part of regatta venue
TIT (=bird) in <h>ENLE<y> (=regatta venue, i.e. on the Thames; “central part” means first and last letters are dropped) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | CAST OFF | Dismiss consequence of “exeunt omnes”?
After the instruction “exeunt omnes” in a play, (all the) cast (are) off (stage) |
| 02 | REMAINDER | Prompt to secure a rest
A in REMINDER (=prompt, e.g. to do a task); the remainder is what is left, the rest |
| 03 | NOOK | Endless sex – turned on, right? – in corner
NOOK<y> (=sex, slap and tickle; “endless” means last letter is dropped) OR NO (ON; “turned” indicates reversal) + OK (=right); this clue has a single definition and two sets of wordplay! |
| 04 | CHEVROLET | Car crashed in the clover
*(THE CLOVER); “crashed” is anagram indicator |
| 05 | CATCH | Pick up what hasn’t been dropped?
to catch is to pick up, acquire, e.g. a cold, virus; in cricket, say, catches may or may not be dropped |
| 06 | NEGLIGIBLE | Trivial information turned up, readable but with one misprint
NEG (GEN=information; “turned up” indicates vertical reversal) + LIGIBLE (LEGIBLE=readable; “with one misprint” refers to the first “e” being written as an “i”) |
| 07 | EARTH | Soil shortage, lacking depth
<d>EARTH (=shortage, deficiency; “lacking depth (=D, in physics)” means letter “d” is dropped) |
| 08 | TRAIPSE | Trail tours, catching a source of entertainment
[A in TRIPS (=tours, journeys)] + E<ntertainment> (“source of” means first letter only); to traipse is to drag, haul, hence “trail” |
| 13 | CELEBRATED | Famous, mostly preferred, on the rise? In the second rank
CELE (ELEC<t>=preferred, chosen; “mostly” indicates last letter is dropped; “on the rise” indicates vertical reversal) + B-RATED (=in the second rank) |
| 16 | SAY CHEESE | Preliminary to photography for one quark?
SAY (=for one, for example) + CHEESE (=(soft) cheese); “say cheese” is said before a photo is taken, hence is a “preliminary to photography” |
| 17 | UTTERMOST | Extreme to attempt a filibuster, perhaps?
One attempting a filibuster would “utter most” in a debate, say; uttermost is utmost, hence “extreme” |
| 18 | CRICKET | Insect flying etc around stack of hay
RICK (=stack of hay) in *(ETC); “flying” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | NOWHERE | Last in exam? Currently woman’s first in exam
NOW (=currently) + HER (=woman’s) + E<xam> (“first in” means first letter only); someone who came “nowhere” was out of the running, such as coming “last in (an) exam” |
| 22 | OPIUM | Drug featured in musical item the writer’s set around university
OP. (=musical item, i.e. opus) + [U (=university) in I’M (=the writer’s, i.e. Phi’s)] |
| 23 | YUCKY | Unpleasant letters often asterisked among unknown characters
UCK (=letters often asterisked, i.e. to avoid printing an expletive, e.g. F***) in Y Y (=unknown characters, in algebra) |
| 25 | SKIT | Sketch second team’s colours
S (=second) + KIT (=team’s colours, in sport); a skit is a satirical sketch |
I liked KLIMT and YUCKY. I wait for FrankieG to identify any theme.
I wonder if anyone else fell into the same trap as me with CAST OUT instead of CAST OFF? Which meant I struggled to get FUDGE right at the end. Oh, and I managed to misinterpret the instructions and ended up with CONSETT as my solution – my bad. I liked UTTERMOST for the smile and I GOT RHYTHM for the surface. nho BONE as steal.
Thanks Phi and RR
Petert@1 — No idea on a theme, yet. Maybe Phi will drop in and throw us a BONE.
PostMark@2 — 5a CONTEST could just as easily be solved as CONSETT, with the definition at the other end, and it’s not resolved by the crossers.
I also had CAST OUT – and feel it’s a better interpretation of ‘dismiss’ than CAST OFF, to be honest!
[“Pay attention! Phileas Fogg authentic snacks, made in Medomsley Road, Consett” (1991)]
AP @4 I agree.
@Hovis @AP when working in theatre, “OFF” is the preferred term. You are either “ONSTAGE” or “OFFSTAGE”; you are never “OUT”.
Fabulous Phi as always. Thanks to him and RR
I agree with Oren – the second half of the clue resolves any potential ambiguity in the first half.
Enjoyable puzzle. No ideas theme-wise.
Thanks, Phi & RR
Thanks both. I also made steady progress, wherein parsing was a greater challenge than solving, for example SAY CHEESE as I did not know quark at all, and I see it now defined more broadly as a dairy product, and YUCKY which is clever now I see it, but the asterisked element was lost on me, perhaps as I tend not to use the asterisks!
Oren @7. You misunderstand me, most likely my fault. What I meant, and I imagine AP as well, is that to dismiss somebody or something is to cast him/her/it out more often than to cast off. The definition is ‘dismiss’. If you take the rest of the clue to mean you’re dismissing actors then fair enough but there is no need to read the clue that way.
I entered CONSETT as well. As it happens, my mother died there just as she was about to enter a theatre.
I made exactly the same mistakes as PM@2, and only discovered one of them when I couldn’t solve 14A. The usual excellent puzzle from Phi. Thanks to RR for the blog.
Never could find Medomsley Road whenever we were in Consett.
Very slender theme today, as much for construction as anything.
Top row is CH(RONIC CONT)EST
Further down CAR(PENTRY LU)TON
First column CAS(T OFF CRIC)KET
Further along CA(TCH SAY CHEE)SE
Might have got more in if I hadn’t insisted on them all beginning with C. No idea why now.
Only thing I know (think I know and I am not checking) about Consett. Is that Elddis caravans were/are made there – and the name is a proper crosswordy flip of the founder Mr Siddle.
I think the Answer has to be contest not Consett btw as Set is to be reversed in answer and only Consett has SET rather than TES. Clues which seemingly allow two answers bug me but I think this one can be read unambiguously
Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku
And extra ty to Phi for putting us out of misery re theme