A solid challenge from NEO this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 9
One clue I could use some help with the parse.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1/25 | MORECAMBE AND WISE |
Act in America? At first we see Bond ordered to chase his boss! (9,3,4)
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[ AMERICA W ( We, first letter ) SEE BOND ]* after M ( bond's boss ) |
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| 10 | SKIPPER |
Sea captain succeeded with smoked herring (7)
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S ( succeeded ) KIPPER ( smoked herring ) |
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| 11 | INFERNO |
Conclude working after retirement is hell (7)
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INFER ( conclude ) NO ( reverse of ON, working ) |
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| 12 | IVANA |
Dutch to Donald she was — in four stories? (5)
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IV ( four ) ANA ( stories, didnt know this until after looking up chambers ) |
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| 13 | ATHENIAN |
Solon perhaps and a Scotsman around at that time (8)
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[ A IAN ( scotsman ) ] around THEN ( at that time ) |
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| 15 | CHAIN STORE |
Business with many outlets secures rent (5,5)
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CHAINS ( secures ) TORE ( rent ) |
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| 16 | AGON |
Struggle seen in Chicago neighbourhood (4)
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hidden in "..chicAGO Neighbourhood" ; didnt know this word and arrived at it from the clue deconstruction |
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| 18 | IRIS |
Something of a looker this particular Murdoch (4)
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cryptic def ( eye related ) ; referring to iris murdoch . |
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| 20 | VOLUPTUOUS |
Sensual book finished, issued in recession, brought to us (10)
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VOL ( book ) UP ( finished ) TUO ( reverse of OUT, issued ) US |
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| 22 | TUTELAGE |
Express disapproval — delay stops double English teaching (8)
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TUT ( express disapproval ) [ LAG ( delay ) in EE ( double english ) ] |
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| 24 | LATER |
Left worried by right eventually (5)
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L ( left ) ATE ( worried ) R ( right ) |
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| 26 | MOROCCO |
Hide from huge bird with two tails coming in low (7)
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[ ROC ( huge bird ) C ( repeat of tail of roC ) ] in MOO ( low ) |
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| 27 | IN A HOLE |
Needing help in Hanoi, sacked by the French (2,1,4)
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[ HANOI ]* LE ( the, french ) |
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| 28 | MISADVENTURE |
Approach into motorway indeed causes accident (12)
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ADVENT ( approach ) in [ MI ( motorway ) SURE ( indeed ) ] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OKINAWA |
Island all right to some extent that Yankee leaves (7)
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OK ( all right ) IN A WAy ( to some extent, without Y – yankee ) |
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| 3 | EXPLAINS |
One involved with old schemes makes things clear (8)
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I ( one ) in [ EX ( old ) PLANS ( schemes ) ] |
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| 4 | AWRY |
Crooked answer by grass on the radio (4)
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A ( answer ) WRY ( sounds like RYE, grass ) |
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| 5 | BOISTEROUS |
Transport rounding rocky rise — too rough (10)
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BUS ( transport ) around [ RISE TOO ]* |
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| 6 | ALFIE |
Ball of fire regularly shown in picture (5)
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bAlL oF fIrE ( alternate letters of ) |
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| 7 | DARLING |
Bold investing pound for Grace or Wendy? (7)
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L ( pound ) in DARING ( bold ) |
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| 8 | A STITCH IN TIME |
Make prompt repair like small person, home bird (1,6,2,4)
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AS ( like ) TITCH ( small person ) IN ( home ) TIME ( bird, prison ) |
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| 9 | DOWNING STREET |
Johnson’s lockdown revellers’ suitably- styled venue? (7,6)
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cryptic def? was toying with a split as DOWN IN G… but came up with nothing |
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| 14 | STRONGHOLD |
With beheadings, is it wrong? Judge comes to castle (10)
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iS iT wRONG ( with beheadings i.e. without first letters ) HOLD ( judge ) |
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| 17 | STALWART |
Robust law reforms — shock about that (8)
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START ( shock ) around [ LAW ]* |
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| 19 | INTERIM |
Fit and healthy being full of energy for acting (7)
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IN TRIM ( fit and healthy ) containing E ( energy ) |
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| 21 | OUTDOOR |
Having lost election, party men not in the House? (7)
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OUT ( having lost election ) DO ( party ) OR ( men ) |
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| 23 | LOCUS |
Somewhat leggy stripper almost in place? (5)
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LOCUSt ( somewhat leggy stripper, referring to how this insect strips crops ) ; the clue evoked a grin as i parsed it |
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| 25 |
See 1 Across
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9d – is it to do with downing drinks?
DOWNING STREET
DOWNING in the drinking sense (referring to Partygate), I think.
Edit: Pluto@1 beat me to it.
9 is surely a reference to what Boris etc. were doing there.
Sorry – I type slowly.
A solid challenge indeed.
My only quibble is HOLD as a synonym for judge.
Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs .
Some weird synonyms — ana/stories, time/bird, hold/judge. Didn’t know titch — Collins says it’s British slang. Never heard of AGON. Never knew a morocco is a hide. So my lexicon has been expanded, albeit probably only briefly.
This was a pretty easy puzzle to solve apart from the words that I didn’t know. Like “ana”, “agon”, “morocco” as a type of hide; and “solon”.
I did like 9D and yes, I am sure that it refers to the street in which they were downing drinks. Wasn’t “Partygate” a great movie?
SM@4, GDU@5: “Hold” and “adjudicate” are direct synonyms in law.
I understood the Partygate reference, but did not see “downing” in the sense of “imbibing.” I guess that works, though.
My daughter, not a puzzle fan, helped me get TUTELAGE.
Thinking of Morecambe and Wise, I am reminded how very funny a good comedy duo can be, and considering the wit and ego involved, how very hard they must be to maintain successfully.
GDU@5
Bird is old slang for jail time.
A S I TIME and IVANA
From earlier discussions …
bird=TIME (prison).
‘bird lime’ is Cockney Rhyming Slang (CRS) for TIME.
Dutch=wife.
‘Duchess of fife’ is CRS for ‘wife’ and ‘Dutch house’ for ‘spouse’.
STRONGHOLD
judge=HOLD
Possibly in the sense of
‘The court held/judged that A was guilty.’
Someone will correct me if I am wrong.
Obviously the people who did not equate “time” and “bird” never watched “The Sweeney” – one of the best TV series ever made.
Tough in places but with the usual fun you expect from Neo
Thanks to him and Turbolegs
Movies: Apart from 6d ALFIE (Sir Michael Caine, 1966), there’s also 6d+7d ALFIE DARLING (Alan Price, 1975),
and 8d A STITCH IN TIME (Norman Wisom (sic), 1963).
Then there’s Road To 26a MOROCCO (Bob Hope & Bing Crosby, 1942), which EXPLAINS how ‘…like Webster’s Dictionary we’re Morocco-bound’.
And back to 6d for “Ball of Fire” (Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper, 1941) in which Coop plays a grammarian researching modern American slang.
Thanks N&T
PS, 1a/25d MORECAMBE AND WISE has ERIC in the clue, “… in AmERICa …”, and ERN is in 11a INFERNO.
Enjoyed the solve which required 1 letter reveal to peg Eric & Ern. A couple of unfamiliarities but otherwise fairly straightforward though far from easy.
Thanks to Neo & Turbolegs
I enjoyed this also, and agree with SM@4 that it was a solid challenge. There were plenty of interesting clues, the last few taking some time to fall.
My favourites were INTERIM, STRONGHOLD, LOCUS, OKINAWA and DOWNING STREET.
GK demands were moderate, with only a couple of NHOs, which is a plus.
Thanks Neo and Turbolegs
We found this a bit of a challenge in places – but nothing we couldn’t surmount. Last in was 1/25 after staring at it for ages. We liked the Partygate reference in 9dn, but favourites were VOLUPTUOUS and BOISTEROUS.
Thanks, Neo and Turbolegs.
Good solid stuff from Neo, top Friday challenge.
Yeah that street was definitely for downing the booze wasn’t it, and throwing up in the litter bins if the tales are true. What a shower, I’m so glad they’re gone. Liked that clue, and fave today M&W, where old Bond took me up the garden path a ways.
Really an enjoyable solve, especially since Enigmatist, who is the one setter whose puzzles I won’t do, unfortunately appeared in the Guardian.
Thanks for the blog, late to this because of the Enigmatist . Jay@19 we have only had two this year and this after a two year gap so plenty of other puzzles for you.
I agree with the views above , excellent set of neat and clever clues .
I was surprised to enjoy this becuase the first four passes were nil. But then I slowly got one or two by lateral thinking rather than straight up parsing and it started to fill in. I am not familiar with Morecambe and Wise, but for whatever reason, Morecambe came to me like a ghost and I felt relief!