Guy at his best this morning.
This was a corker of a puzzle, with not a single quibble from me. Some of the definitions and indications were excellent, including "dog dirt", for CURMUD, "animal with a death's head" for MOTH, "towering city" for CHICAGO, "queen's diet" for CAT FOOD, "Jack called Jill, perhaps" for ABLE SEAWOMAN" and my favourite, "messy look" for RUMMAGE. If every day's a schoolday, I learned that Hagar the Horrible was an American creation (I'd always assumed it was British).
Thanks, Guy.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CURMUDGEONLY |
Dog dirt and nothing else keeps Georgia grumpy (12)
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CUR ("dog") + MUD ("dirt") and ONLY ("nothing else") keeps GE (international vehicle registration code for "Georgia") |
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| 8 | BATHTUB |
Hot relaxing place, reflected by bar and hotel bill (7)
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[reflected] <=(BUT ("bar") and H (hotel) + TAB ("bill")) |
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| 9 | AGELONG |
A little Bonjela gel on gums lasting forever (7)
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Hidden in [a little] "bonjelA GEL ON Gums" |
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| 11 | EXOTICA |
Weird stuff to do with ears in short test (7)
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OTIC ("to do with ears") in [short] EXA(m) ("test") |
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| 12 | PLATOON |
Head of the Academy showing Oscar- winning war film (7)
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PLATO ("head of the Academy") + ON ("showing") |
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| 13 | EIDER |
Seabirds pass over again to the west (5)
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<=(REDIE ("pass over again") to the west. i.e from right to left) |
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| 14 | DECORATOR |
Bother covering green with yellow? One might be asked to (9)
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DRAT ("bother") covering ECO- ("green") with OR ("yellow") |
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| 16 | WORD ORDER |
Bloody bar brawl about syntax? (4,5)
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<=(RED ("bloody") + ROD ("bar") + ROW ("brawl"), about) |
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| 19 | REBEL |
Dissident book covered with tape wound round and round (5)
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B (book) covered with REEL ("tape wound round and round") |
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| 21 | MAMMOTH |
Old lady marks animal with a death’s head — epic! (7)
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MA ("old lady") + M (marks) + MOTH ("animal with a death's head" (i.e the death's head hawkmoth)) |
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| 23 | USUALLY |
Applying customs, America beginning to upset friendly nation (7)
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US ("America") + [beginning to] U(pset) + ALLY ("friendly nation") |
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| 24 | NEARING |
Moving in range? (7)
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*(in range) [anag:moving] and &lit. |
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| 25 | CHICAGO |
Towering city with elegant past (7)
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CHIC ("elegant") + AGO ("past") |
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| 26 | WELTERWEIGHT |
Commentator’s right to stand by boxer (12)
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Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [commentator's] of WELL TO WAIT ("right to stand by") |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CAT FOOD |
Calcium cook often upped in queen’s diet? (3,4)
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Ca (chemical symbol for "calcium") + <=(DO ("cook") + OFT ("often"), upped) |
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| 2 | RITZIER |
More swanky citizenry relocated out of NYC, following Republican (7)
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*(itizer) [relocated] following R (Republican) where ITIZER is (C)ITIZE(n)R(y) out of (i.e. lacking) the letters NYC. |
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| 3 | UPBRAIDED |
Lectured at university in plaits (9)
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UP ("at university") + BRAIDED ("in plaits") |
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| 4 | GRASP |
Get hold of government file (5)
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G (Government) + RASP ("file") |
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| 5 | OPEN-AIR |
Prison entertained by love song outside (4-3)
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Pen (penitentiary, so "prison") entertained by O (love, in tennis) + AIR ("song") |
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| 6 | LOOKOUT |
Concern finding king asleep beneath throne (7)
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K (King) + OUT ("asleep") beneath LOO ("throne", colloquially) |
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| 7 | ABLE SEAWOMAN |
Jack called Jill, perhaps a male bone was broken (4,8)
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*(a male bone was) [anag:broken] |
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| 10 | GENERAL SYNOD |
Religious leaders tormented legendary Son (7,5)
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*(legendary son) [anag:tormented] |
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| 15 | CORPUSCLE |
Speck of blood, page with crumbs on — strange clues (9)
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P (page) with COR ("crumbs") on + *(clues) [anag:strange] |
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| 17 | RUMMAGE |
Messy look of strange wizard (7)
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RUM ("strange") + MAGE ("order") |
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| 18 | OLOGIST |
General expert starts on oranges — lots of pith (7)
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[starts on] O(ranges) + L(ots) + O(f) + GIST ("pith") |
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| 19 | ROUSING |
Spirited Romeo’s outside taking drugs (7)
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R(ome)O ['s outside] + USING ("taking drugs") |
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| 20 | BELFAST |
Provincial capital’s reported beauty unlikely to fade (7)
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Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reported] of BELLE ("beauty") + FAST ("unlikely to fade") |
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| 22 | HAGAR |
Viking in the papers I see twirling pike (5)
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<=AH ("I see", twirling) + GAR ("pike") Hagar the Horrible is a Viking in an eponymous cartoon strip featured in many American and British publications, |
I can’t agree with you more, Loonapick, including your favourites – especially the ‘messy look’. A really lovely puzzle.
Hagar the Horrible takes me back! NEARING was such a neat &lit.
Thanks for another very absorbing puzzle, Guy.
Excellent puzzle by Guy! My favorites were ABLE SEAWOMAN and CAT FOOD, but seeing HAGAR was the cherry on top. Just out of college in 1975 I moved to Connecticut. A girl I met there was friends with Chris Browne, Dik’s son. I still have an original Hagar drawing that she got for me.
An enjoyable solve indeed. In 17d down the wizard is a “mage” of course. No idea what “order” is doing there!
Quite agree with above praise for Guy and loonapick. Small typo in parsing of 17d: MAGE( wizard).
Thanks to both.
All of the above. Very nice! 😉. 23a quite topical.
Thanks Guy and Loonapick. My favourite was the very neat spot for RED + ROD + ROW reversing to give WORD ORDER combined with a good surface.
13ac: ODE 2010 p 563 gives eider as plural as well as singular, so no problem there, but I think “pass over again” to REDIE is at best a hypothetical meaning, so the clue would perhaps benefit from a question mark at the end?
Lots of elegant stuff here, but every time the hometown of my adulthood, CHICAGO, gets called out here, that has to hit the favorites list. I also thought NEARING was as beautiful an &lit as one could hope for. I didn’t get the parsing of DECORATOR, so thanks for that.
Thanks Guy for a brilliant crossword with my favourites including BATHTUB, WORD ORDER, USUALLY, NEARING, CHICAGO, and LOOKOUT. I couldn’t parse DECORATER or WELTERWEIGHT; thanks loonapick for the help.
I thought this was a brilliant puzzle – thanks to Guy. USUALLY and ABLE SEAWOMAN were my favourites, but it was all great.
I wonder if 23a is a political reference to Canada?
Excellent puzzle with brilliant surfaces, especially the topical USUALLY.
Thanks to Guy and loonapick
[Humbug @10: Take your pick — Canada, Mexico, Britain, or much of the EU.]
Thanks for the blog, consistently clever clues , excellent puzzle . Like Humbug@10 I thought of Canada .
Why has the layout changed ?
Late to this.
I echo the praise of others. I had a lot of smiles and appreciated the variety. All my favourites have been mentioned. Thanks Guy
A couple of parsing were beyond me, so thank you loonapick for the explanations.
Very enjoyable. There only one I don’t understand is CAT FOOD. Why is that “queen’s diet”? Sounds more like BEE FOOD.
Steve@15 a breeding female cat is called a queen , giving birth is queening .
I have a question too. RUMMAGE was named as a favourite by a few people but I do not understand it. I was able to parse the clue, but I do not understand how RUMMAGE is equivalent to messy look. I am sure the answer is obvious to most and is also sitting in the dark recesses of my brain, but would someone explain it please?
Martyn: you’re having a look through something and making a mess of it. Hey–you’re rummaging through it!
Martyn@17 a RUMMAGE is a search that is not very well organised , tomorrow I might rummage through the airing cupboard trying to find something I want to wear , a messy look through things (loosely) although not a great definition for me .
Oh, “look” is used to mean “search”. Thank you!
Of the five I solved today, ie, the Graun, Indy, Times, the DT and the FT, I found this the hardest.