I wonder if I was alone in finding this tough.
In retrospect, the preamble wasn’t unnecessarily misleading. Nor at any time did I think the clueing unfair. Still, for me this EV was one heck of a struggle. There were precious few gifts (11ac being a notable exception), but I certainly wasn’t helped by my synapses declaring a ceasefire.
2 down is a good example. The clueing is faultless, but for the longest time I just couldn’t figure out what ‘nominally red’ might mean – embarrassingly, this was the case for some time even after having found the answer.
I made an early, educated guess at ‘Ford’, recognising that this probably referred to Gerald Ford. However, despite later filling in ‘Harrison’ (making the (tiny) leap to Harrison Ford=actor) and despite knowing all of the presidents, I failed to recognise the name of the 23rd president (Benjamin Harrison split Grover Cleveland’s terms as 22nd and 24th president).
In essence, the top right and bottom left should have been all that I needed. These unclued entries read TWO OF A KIND. The thematic answers were all just this – words composed of two fish, presidents, rivers, etc. The table below details their composition.
| Answer | Definition | Subsidiary Indication | Details |
| HUNT BALL | function in country | (1966) World Cup winner | (Roger) Hunt, (Alan) Ball |
| PLUMULE | shoot | tree | plum, ule |
| BEDS DOWN | retires | county | Bedfordshire (Beds), Down |
| HARRISON FORD | actor | president | (Benjamin) Harrison, (Gerald) Ford |
| AUDENSHAW | North West town | writer | (Wystan Hugh) Auden, (George Bernard) Shaw |
| TAILING | following | fish | tai, ling |
| CAMPO | plain | river | Cam, Po |
| MALIAN | African | boy | Mal, Ian |
| PIETA | religious picture | letter | pi, eta |
| WIGHTMAN | (tennis) cup of old (1923-89) | island | Wight, Man |
| SOFA | seat | note | so, fa |
As I say, nothing too (two, perhaps?) horrific. Even, dare I say it, straightforward. Except, like me, if you’re an idiot.
I’m not entirely sure of how to parse 8ac (dapo?), but I’m sure you kind people will furnish me with an explanation. I’m away until Sunday evening, but when I’m back I’ll add to/correct the post based on your contributions. Thank you to nmsindy. Thank you also to Lato, whom I sadly neglected in my self-pity, for a satisfying and well-constructed brain stretch.
XXX* = anagram
(xxx) = definition
{xxx} = (anagram/homophone/container) indicator
< = reversal
xxx = unused letter(s)
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | ARAR | Tree in the middle of Salisbury – not any longer (4) | tree: hARARe (the capital of Zimbabwe was formerly known as Salisbury) |
| 8 | DA CAPO | Finish penning a chapter and go back to the beginning (6, 2 words) | go back to the beginning: ins. {penning} of A CAP(itulus=Latin ‘chapter’) in DO |
| 9 | HOUDINI | Couple returning home stop greeting US showman (7) | US showman: ins. {stop} of <DUO (couple) {returning} + IN (home) in HI (greeting) |
| 10 | RUBY-RED | Pointless drive to Derby when off colour (7, hyphenated) | colour: RUn (drive) {pointless=without N(orth)} + DERBY* {off} |
| 11 | ALMOND | Old man munched fruit (6) | fruit: OLDMAN* {munched} |
| 13 | IMPUGNS | Opposes Isaiah keeping dog in Minnesota (7) | opposes: ins. {keeping} of PUG (dog) in MN (Minnesota) in IS (Isaiah) |
| 15 | PRIM | Penny’s on edge – it’s her first pregnancy (4) | first pregnancy (short for primagravida): P(enny) + RIM (edge) |
| 17 | ISSUE | Lies collectively not originally put into circulation (5) | put into circulation: tISSUE (lies collectively {not originally=lose first letter} |
| 19 | NOHOW | Drama – old woman out of sorts (5) | out of sorts: NOH (drama) + O (old) + W (woman) |
| 20 | OLEO | Print whole or in part (4) | print (oleograph): whOLEOr {in part} |
| 22 | ROBI | Waste one cabbage (4) | cabbage (as in kohl-robi): ROB (waste) + I (one) |
| 23 | NITER | Moving north bury chemical substance around Boston (5) | chemical substance around Boston (US spelling of NITRE): INTER (bury), N(orth) moved |
| 25 | ASLAN | Bennett is accepted as literary lion (5) | literary lion: ins. {accepted} of S (is, as in ‘s) in ALAN (Bennett) |
| 27 | BAAL | God, flat has no number! (4) | god: BAnAL (flat) {no N(umber)) |
| 28 | HARLECH | Fly to city hospital somewhere in Wales (7) | somewhere in Wales: HARL ((fishing) fly) EC(ity) + H(ospital) |
| 29 | SNOOPY | Discover round corner Kelvin’s lost dog (6) | dog: ins. {round} of NOOk(corner) {K(elvin)’s lost} in SPY (discover) |
| 30 | MINARET | Live in brand-new tower (7) | tower: ins. of ARE (live) in MINT (brand-new) |
| 35 | FRASER | Boy’s brother Balkan native, not British (6) | boy: FRA (brother) + SERb (Balkan native) {not B(ritish) |
| 36 | ODEA | In trouble over Eastern places of entertainment (4) | places of entertainment (pl. of ODEON): ins. of E(astern) in <ADO (trouble) {over} |
| Down | |||
| 1 | URDU | Language teacher head sacked had to be arrested (4) | language: ins. {to be arrested} of D (had, as in ‘d) in gURU (teacher) {head sacked} |
| 2 | TROY | Boy, nominally Red, supports Tevez primarily and City (4) | city: RbOY {nominally red=change N(ame) for R(ed)} under {supports} T(evez) {primarily} |
| 3 | BOURGS | Top court practitioner’s touring university towns (6) | towns: ins. {touring} of U(niversity) in (Bjorn) BORG (top court practitioner) |
| 4 | LAID | Put down Australian wearing hat (4) | put down: ins. {wearing} of A(ustralian) in LID (hat) |
| 5 | OAR | Row about cutting soldiers (3) | row: ins. {cutting} of A(bout) in O(ther) R(anks) (soldiers) |
| 6 | OPT | Settle round port (3) | settle: O (round) + PT (port) |
| 12 | NIOBIC | Stamp around carrying bismuth and a type of acid (6) | a type of acid: ins. {carrying} of BI(smuth) in <COIN (stamp) {around} |
| 14 | DECLAIMED | Having failed medical, man made set speech (9) | made set speech: MEDICAL* {failed} + ED (man) |
| 16 | RHONE | About to eat sweetie in gutter (5) | gutter (Scots): ins. {to eat} of HON (sweetie) in RE (about) |
| 18 | UPS | Raises prince in country (3) | raises: ins. of P(rince) in US (country) |
| 21 | TRAPPED | Unable to escape from Thailand, got along well (7) | unable to escape: T(hailand) + RAPPED (got along well) |
| 24 | ELOPS | Picked up second rod for fish (5) | fish: <S(econd) + POLE (rod) {picked up} |
| 26 | ARNUTS | Plants at Balmoral all turn out special (6) | plants {at Balmoral=Scottish}: A(ll) + TURN* {out} + S(pecial) |
| 30 | MUTE | Silent corporation upset earl (4) | silent: <TUM (corporation) {upset} + E(arl) |
| 31 | ALOD | American lawman’s first to clean up estate (4) | estate: A(merican) + L(awman) {first} <DO (to clean) {up} |
| 32 | ENEW | Energy restored, plunge into water (4) | plunge into water (falconry): E(nergy) + NEW (restored) |
| 33 | IRK | Marginal reading in bible about to cause distress (3) | to cause distress: <K’RI (marginal reading in (the Hebrew) bible (intended as a substitute for the k’thibh)) |
| 34 | RAI | Endlessly attack N African music (3) | N African music: RAId (attack) {endlessly} |
I enjoyed this puzzle which, maybe I was lucky, I found a little easier than Lato puzzles in the past in EV and other places. I think DA CAPO is explained by CAP (chapter) in A DO. All v enjoyable.
Great stuff here,
had a lucky couple weeks with Lato appearing in the Listener also!
I thought the preamble was perfectly understandable. In fact I didn’t particularly need it until the unclued entries were ready for placing in.
Thanks for your blog. I agree that it was an enjoyable walk through, with a few dash’s needed!