A proper head-scratcher from GAFF today.
FF:7 DD:10
Preamble says it's an either-or situation. There is a mix of boating-related and world war ii-related clues. I am sure someone here will help enlighten.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1/21 | BARNES BRIDGE |
Bomb Wallis’ other half with game crossing (6,6)
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BARNES ( bomb wallis other half , barnes wallis invented the bouncing bomb ) BRIDGE ( game ) |
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| 4 | DEAD HEAT |
Waster had drug instead of black tie (4,4)
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DEAD bEAT ( waster, with H – heroin , drug, replacing B – black ) |
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| 10 | AIR COOL |
Blow to make chilling song trendy (3-4)
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AIR ( song ) COOL ( trendy ) |
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| 11 | CAPTCHA |
Party Leader caught in trap — a test for humanity (7)
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[ P ( Party, first letter ) in CATCH ( trap ) ] A; nice surface |
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| 12 | RATE |
Judge pace (4)
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double def |
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| 13 | DEMOISELLE |
Crane exhibition that is holding auction (10)
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DEMO ( exhibition ) [ SELL ( auction ) in IE ( that is, id eat ) ] |
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| 15 | CANINE |
Film containing an Afghan, maybe (6)
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CINE ( film ) containing AN |
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| 16 | CATCHY |
Head off irritating auditor’s first haunting (6)
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CA ( auditor, Chartered Accountant ) iTCHY ( irritating, without first letter ) |
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| 20 | CANVAS |
Ask opinion on reduced sail (6)
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CANVASs ( ask opinion on, reduced ) |
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| 21 |
See 1
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| 24 | CLEARWATER |
Alter a crew to make a real difference (10)
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[ ALTER A CREW ]*; &lit with reference to boating? |
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| 26 | BEND |
Bow at start of big finish (4)
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B ( Big, first letter ) END ( finish ) |
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| 28 | REGAINS |
Gets back controls restricting the state (7)
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REINS ( controls ) containing GA ( state ) |
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| 29/6 | HARRODS DEPOSITORY |
Where to find posh merchandise organised, or try roadside shop (7,10)
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[ OR TRY ROADSIDE SHOP ]* |
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| 30 | RETRYING |
Call about damaged tyre having another crack (8)
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[ TYRE ]* in RING ( call ) |
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| 31 | TWISTS |
Misrepresents taunts around Primary School (6)
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TWITS ( taunts ) about S ( School, primary i.e. first letter ) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 |
See 14
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| 2 | RURITANIA |
Hope country will indiscriminately ruin art with AI (9)
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[ RUIN ART AI ]* ; anthony hope, prisoner of zenda |
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| 3 | EYOT |
Island turned up in toy exhibition (4)
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hidden, reversed in "..TOY Exhibition" |
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| 5 | ENCROACH |
Sad missing rioting archdeacons invade (8)
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[ aRCHdEACONs ( without letters of SAD ) ]* |
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| 6 |
See 29 Across
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| 7 | EXCEL |
Lapsed religion has little light to shine (5)
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EX ( lapsed ) CE ( religion, Church of England ) L ( Light, little of ) |
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| 8 | THAMES |
Doctor has met runner (6)
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[ HAS MET ]* |
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| 9 | BLUES |
Police’s melancholy uniform music (5)
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quad def |
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| 14/1 | UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE |
Cute boy narrative is misplaced in long rivalry (10,4,4)
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[ CUTE BOY NARRATIVE ]* |
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| 17 | HEDGEHOGS |
Beach defences rolled up when danger looms (9)
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cryptic def; refers to the defense mechanisms in world war ii at beaches |
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| 18 | ASSASSIN |
Killer of animals at home (8)
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ASS ASS ( animals ) IN ( at home ) |
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| 19 | FEUDISTS |
Hands out reward rejected by antagonists (8)
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FISTS ( hands ) around reverse of DUE ( reward ) ; needed help with the solve |
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| 22 | SCORER |
Test maiden’s recorder (6)
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cryptic def; have a feeling that this can be improved upon |
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| 23 | DELHI |
Starts to discover every landowner had invaded Indian territory (5)
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starting letters of "..Discover Every Landowner Had Invaded .." |
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| 25 | EIGHT |
Number 27 (5)
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double def; refers to 27d which is CREW – solve here refers to crew of eight, boating term |
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| 27 | CREW |
Cut neck (4)
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double def |
The Boat Race is on Sunday.
Yes I twigged The Boat Race was the theme pretty early, and that makes 9D a quintuple definition once the respective colours are taken into account.
I found the LHS fairly easy, but the RHS had me scratching my head as Turbolegs said. Even so, this was fun, thanks to Gaff and Turbolegs.
The majority of clues the fit the Boat Race theme.
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs. Great fun.
Admirable restraint to avoid the rhyming slang. I found this very hard and needed a lot of help.
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs
Spotting the theme certainly helped.
I thought 24 should have been enumerated (5,5), as it certainly sound like two words in Boat Race commentary.
And I think there’s a little more to 17, as hedgehogs roll into a ball with their spines out when threatened.
Is the preamble a pun: “either oar,” i.e., could win the race? I am not familiar enough with this event for the theme words to mean anything much.
Thanks for the blog , the theme was done well and lots of clever clues , UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE a very neat anagram ( the blog needs to include IS ) .
SCORER I took to be someone who would record a maiden (over) bowled in a test ( cricket match ) . Maybe you are saying this already , I do not see anything else .
Yes, the UNIVERISTY BOAT RACE takes places on Sunday between the universities – both of them (to quote Sir Humphrey). It is on the THAMES with its various TWISTS, passing HARRODS DEPOSITORY and Chiswick EYOT, then BARNES BRIDGE where coxes often make their move on the BEND. If one CREW of EIGHT gets too close to the side of the other they are said to ENCROACH. Win or lose, the rowers and coxes will receive BLUES – prestigious varsity sporting awards. Let’s hope Oxford sustain a good enough RATE to enable them to EXCEL and win this year, even if it’s only by a CANVAS (the length of the deck of the bow, which was traditionally covered with canvas) and REGAINS bragging rights. Hopefully though it will be by CLEAR WATER – more than a boat’s length. There was only ever one DEAD HEAT, in 1877, but the umpire John Phelps was over 70 and blind in one eye and most agree Oxford pipped it. Allegedly the phrase “Honest John” was coined as a result. And they introduced finishing posts after that.
Not sure if you would call the crews FEUDISTS? It’s only rowing, after all.
DEAD HEAT and FEUDISTS: my faves.
Also liked UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.
CANVAS
Canvass is ‘ask opinion from’. Right?
(canvass voters/shareholders etc.,)
I am not sure if ‘Ask opinion on’ is okay.
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs.
CLEARWATER (as pointed out others CLEAR WATER)
Probably, it’s WP+def with
the def being ‘a real difference’ and the WP being the anagram as noted in the blog.
as pointed out by others*
KVa@9 CANVASs in the UK a term used mainly during elections , knocking on doors , asking opinion on voting intentions .
Lovely puzzle. We guessed the theme at once and took the ‘either-or situation’ as a reference to John Snagge’s famous remark when commentating on the boat race, “I can’t see who’s ahead, but it’s either Oxford or Cambridge!” May the best team win, but we’ll be rooting for the Dark Blues.
Thanks, Gaff and Turbolegs.
Well rowed Triple Jumper@8. I think you included all the BOAT RACE clues
I enjoyed the puzzle, but was completely thrown off schedule by it coming out 9 1/2 hours after the FT puzzle usually appears. Thanks Gaff for a nice challenge and Turbolegs for a great blog.
Horrible for this solver.
Way beyond my pay grade and didn’t enjoy it all
Gave up as about 50%
How is crew= cut, neck?
Crew cut (hairstyle) and crew neck (neck style on a jersey)
I had CROP = CUT & NECK which seemed to fit really well in isolation, not so much with anything else.. the theme helped not a jot, despite some interest back in the day.. I found it very tough in places..
Thanks GAFF n Turbolegs
Thanks admin, that was my only failure, I did an alphabet trawl and settled for DRAW
The only boat race I ever went to is the Head of the Charles. Go Harvard.
Test maiden’s recorder still seems weak: are we all missing something?
In response to Anil Shrivastava@21,see Letters in the FT of 12/13 April. Harvard and Yale have their’s on the Thames in New London, Connecticut.
I agree with Christopher @22. I just cannot parse this clue. I can see that the answer is an anagram of “maiden’ (srecor) der” but I cannot see what indicates this. I can accept that someone who “scores a test” could be a “recorder”, although I cannot see anything in the clue to indicate this. A “maiden” could refer to cricket – a subject that I know nothing about but, if it were a “maiden over”, the scorer would have nothing to do. Maiden could also refer to a virgin – again a subject that I barely (no pun intended) remember but I still cannot apply that to this clue.
I do hope than someone can shed some light on this clue.
Although the clue may be a little weak I think the idea is the scorer will record a bowler who bowls a maiden over( no runs scored) in a Test Match.
This took me absolutely ages. I lost interest in the boat race many years ago and the theme floated past unnoticed. I agree about the scorer. Thanks all.
I had 16a as citing (sounds like sighting) which made hedgehogs impossible to deduce. My wife and I are old enough to recognise a lot war-related vocab but neither of us knew beach defences were hedgehogs.