Atrica provides our mental warm-up this morning.
As we’ve come to expect from this setter, one of the more tricky puzzles: there are a few unusual constructions (especially in 2d), non-obvious definitions (12a, 5d, 6d, 22d) and some unfamiliar termnology in 20d (though the wordplay made it guessable). But there are enough more straightforward clues to get a foothold. Favourites include the aforementioned sneaky definition in 5d, the smooth surface of 30a, and 13d’s amusing image of the boys in blue trying to start their squad car on a cold morning.
Because it’s Tuesday, I was looking for a theme, which wasn’t hard to spot (and which helped with a few solutions towards the end). It starts with 3d BEAR, and lots of related answers, which Atrica has managed to clue without reference to the theme in all cases except perhaps 15d. There are different species of bear (GRIZZLY, SPECTACLED, POLAR, and perhaps SUN from SUN[shades]; a few names of fictional bears (PADDINGTON, POOH and YOGI); TEDDY bear; and bearSKIN (fur hat). Perhaps we could also include TRADER in the context of a “bear market” or NUDE for the sound-alike “bare”, but I may be trying too hard. Thanks Atrica for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | UNTIE |
Loose answer escaping relative (5)
|
| [a]UNTIE (a relative) without the A (abbreviation for answer).
Loose, as a verb = set free. |
||
| 10 | HEARKENED |
Attended but here naked, embarrassingly (9)
|
| Anagram (embarrassingly) of HERE NAKED. | ||
| 11 | EYEBROW |
Something you might raise listening to intellectual in Hackney (7)
|
| Sound-alike (listening to . . .) of ‘IGHBROW, or “highbrow” (intellectual) in a London (Hackney) accent with the initial H dropped. | ||
| 12 | DENTIST |
Well-intentioned torturer in decadent Istanbul (7)
|
| Hidden answer (in . . .) from [deca]DENT IST[anbul].
Cryptic definition: a dentist has good intentions when working on your teeth, although you might regard it as torture. |
||
| 13 | PLEAT |
Petitions put forward ultimately fold (5)
|
| PLEA[s] (petitions), with the last letter (ultimately) advanced alphabetically from S to T (put forward). | ||
| 15 | SUNSHADES |
Uses hands to unfurl awnings? (9)
|
| Anagram (to unfurl) of USES HANDS.
I think the question-mark is required because an awning can be a shelter from rain as well as from sun. |
||
| 18 | LEAKAGE |
Emission from plant reported by chief lawyer before committee, finally (7)
|
| Sound-alike (reported) of LEEK (a plant), then AG (abbreviation for Attorney General = chief lawyer) + final letter of [committe]E. | ||
| 19 | TOUPEES |
Worked up to see rugs attached with adhesives (7)
|
| Anagram (worked) of UP TO SEE.
Rug = slang for a wig or hairpiece; toupee = a partial wig, usually attached with adhesive. |
||
| 21 | RETIGHTEN |
Screw again tethering criminal (9)
|
| Anagram (criminal) of TETHERING. | ||
| 23 | TEDDY |
Familiarly, ex-president‘s lacy undergarment (5)
|
| Double definition. Familiar name for former US president Theodore Roosevelt; or a woman’s one-piece bodysuit underwear, typically made of sheer or lacy fabric. | ||
| 24 | PLASTIC |
Artificial ending, boring film (7)
|
| LAST (as an adjective = ending), inserted into (boring) PIC (shortening of picture, as in “biopic” = a biographical film).
As in plastic flowers or plastic grass? Or more generally as derogatory slang for “a poor-quality imitation”. |
||
| 26 | GRIZZLY |
Grey and gruesome, reportedly (7)
|
| Sound-alike (reportedly) of GRISLY (gruesome).
Grizzly = a variant of grizzled = (of hair) grey with age. |
||
| 29 | OVERSLEEP |
What you might do after forgetting to set the alarm? Peel back blankets before starting late (9)
|
| [c]OVERS (blankets), without the first letter (starting late), before PEEL reversed (back). The word order is (deliberately) confusing, but we need to read it as “peel back, with blankets before it . . .”. | ||
| 30 | CLING |
Hold on, there’s no point in making an allegation (5)
|
| CL[aim]ING (making an allegation), without AIM (point = purpose). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NUDE |
Prod head of government to go, having nothing on (4)
|
| NUD[g]E (prod), without the first letter (head) of G[overnment]. | ||
| 2 | ET CETERA |
Occasionally restock fully and so forth (2,6)
|
| Alternate letters (occasionally) of [r]E[s]T[o]C[k] gives us ETC, which is an abbreviation for the “full” Latin phrase ET CETERA = and the others = and so forth. | ||
| 3/7 | BEAR IN MIND |
Remember Spooner’s horse having no good options? (4,2,4)
|
| Spoonerism for MARE (a female horse) IN BIND (in a bind = in an awkward situation, with no good options). | ||
| 4 | SHOW |
Criticise after loss of airline that hurts Chicago? (4)
|
| [ba]SH (slang for criticise harshly) without BA (abbreviation for British Airways = airline), then OW (that hurts!).
Definition by example: Chicago is a 1970s stage musical (show), based on a 1920s play. |
||
| 5 | PADDINGTON |
Quietly putting on a lot of weight? Stop! (10)
|
| P (p, in musical notation = abbreviation for Italian piano = quietly) + ADDING (putting on) + TON (a large weight, literally or as hyperbole).
Stop = a station on a railway line, in this case Paddington Station in London. |
||
| 6 | SKIN |
Runner supported by pole fell (4)
|
| SKI (runner = something that slides), before (above, in a down clue = supported by) N (abbreviation for the North Pole).
A slightly obscure definition, but included in both Collins and Chambers: fell = an animal skin. |
||
| 7 |
See 3
|
|
| 8 | EDIT |
Something repeatedly seen in Mediterranean expeditions? Correct (4)
|
| Hidden answer (something . . . seen in . . .), occurring twice (repeatedly), in [m]EDIT[erranean exp]EDIT[ions]. | ||
| 13 | POLAR |
De-ice law enforcement vehicle that doesn’t start in a cold region (5)
|
| POL[ice] (law enforcement) without ICE, then [c]AR (vehicle) without its starting letter. | ||
| 14 | TWANG |
Limits of taping to capture feeble sound from banjo (5)
|
| Outer letters (limits) of T[apin]G, containing (to capture) WAN (pale and unhealthy-looking = feeble). | ||
| 15 | SPECTACLED |
Display daughter with distinctive eye make-up (10)
|
| SPECTACLE (display, as a noun) + D (abbreviation for daughter).
I’m not sure about “make-up” in the definition: “spectacled” can describe an animal with markings around its eyes, but make-up doesn’t seem the right term. Or perhaps we need to think of spectacles (corrective glasses) “making up” for deficiencies in eyesight. |
||
| 16 | HAUNT |
Pursuers of the uneatable sandwiches are frequent (5)
|
| HUNT (as in Oscar Wilde’s description of foxhunters: “the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable”), containing (sandwiching) A (abbreviation for are = unit measure of area, more often expressed in hectares).
Frequent, as a verb = haunt = visit [a place] often. |
||
| 17 | SISSY |
Son is extremely soppy wimp (5)
|
| S (abbreviation for son) + IS + end letters (extremes) of S[opp]Y.
Wimp = sissy = derogatory term for someone lacking in courage or physical strength. |
||
| 20 | ENDOZOIC |
Goal of zoochoric organism is conveyance, primarily – inside a bird for example (8)
|
| END (goal = target), then first letters (primarily) of O[f] Z[oochoric] O[rganism] I[s] C[onveyance].
Extended definition: zoochoric and endozoic both refer to seeds (or other plant matter) consumed by an animal and then deposited somewhere else at the other end of its digestive process. |
||
| 22 | TRADER |
Perhaps shorter trains derail, losing their rear halves (6)
|
| TRA[ins] DER[ail] with the rear half of each word dropped.
Trader = someone who buys and sells on the stock exchange; short, as a verb = to sell stocks that are expected to fall in value, with the intention of making a profit by buying them back later at a lower price. |
||
| 24 | POOH |
Mail deliverer, I see, that stinks (4)
|
| PO (abbreviation for Post Office = mail delivery service) + OH (oh! = I see! = expression indicating understanding).
Pooh! = that stinks! = expression of disgust at an unpleasant smell. |
||
| 25 | TOSH |
Couples regularly found in toolshed? I don’t think so (4)
|
| Pairs of letters (coupled) taken at regular intervals from TO[ol]SH[ed].
Tosh! = I don’t think so! = expression meaning “that’s nonsense”. |
||
| 26 | GAPE |
Gorilla’s first primate to open trap (4)
|
| First letter of G[orilla] + APE (primate).
Trap = slang for mouth, as in “shut your trap!” = be quiet; gape = to open one’s mouth, especially in surprise. |
||
| 27 | ITCH |
Urge to suppress first sign of difficulty (4)
|
| [h]ITCH (difficulty, as in “it went without a hitch” = without any trouble), suppressing the first letter. | ||
| 28 | YOGI |
Maharishi possibly ascending at regular intervals in glory (4)
|
| Alternate letters (at regular intervals), reversed (ascending = upwards in a down clue), from I[n] G[l]O[r]Y.
Yogi = someone who practices yoga, as in Hinduism and other traditions; maharishi = a revered Hindu teacher. |
Liked EYEBROW, OVERSLEEP, BEAR IN MIND, POLAR and GAPE.
Thanks Atrica nd Quirister.
DENTIST
Pulling out a tooth could be one of the torture methods. Does the setter refer to this?
SPECTACLED
make-up in the sense of character seems to work in the first case.
The second explanation is innovative. Looks plausible.
For 15d, I read make-up as “The manner in which something is made up, put together, or composed” (OED)
Enjoyed the spoonerism in 3/7, and the definition for 12a though sometimes I find it hard to believe dentists are well-intentioned…
Wondered whether ‘uneatable’ came from somewhere, and so it did, from the master epigramatist himself, ta for that Quirister, and ta Atrica.
Atrica set some new devices, for me, as a relative newbie.
13(ac), “put forward ultimately” , meaning the last letter advances from S to T, alphabetically.
18(ac), AG ( Attorney General).
29(ac) “blankets before starting late”: I got (C)overs , as in the word “starts late”, I didn’t twig why “OVERS” preceded “LEEP”.
Re: 6(d); OK, in some archaic thesaurus, perhaps SKIN = FELL, but this is the type of obscurity which slightly spoils a good puzzle. I’m interested to know if any solver posting, here, knew that synonym?
15(d), SPECTACLED, nice idea, doesn’t work as a clue.
I found so much to like, in this crossword, I feel bad about not liking a few bits.
Ms. Q has put me right on my mis-parsings ( thanks, as ever), and, it is a very well- constructed puzzle.
13(d), POLICE CAR to POLAR, is a lovely idea and surface.
Good stuff, Atrica
I took SPECTACLED as Chambers second definition “Having rings round the eyes”, which could work with either kind of makeup. I liked HAUNT for the Wilde reference. Was ENDOZOIC a reference to what bears do in the woods?
E.N.B. I know ‘fell’, which is somehow linked to ‘wolf’ in my memory. Tbh, I am very old and do sometimes recognise words and phrases others query, and regularly fail to recognise modern terms. Thanks Atrica and Quirister.
Favourites POLAR and TRADER and the very sly OVERSLEEP.
In answer to ENB @4, I’ve certainly nho skin = fell.
Thanks to Atrica and Quirister
Jen@6 Jayjay @7
Thanks both, for making me feel better.
I am an oldie, but nothing rings a bell.
To “skin” someone, sometimes means “to defeat them” so may be to “fell someone” , is similar, but that’s a long shot.
It would be nice, for the setter to put us out of our misery.
Ta, Ian B
This was fun! Managed not to get misled too often. I thought Paddington was the start of a theme, but as all I know about him his Peru n marmalade, it didn’t take me far and I soon forgot it, missing all the other bear-related inclusions. Some grand constructions, and clear word play meant successful solving n parsing, altho I needed the blog to see what had been suppressed from ITCH. ENDOZOIC reminded me of the way the apple made its way from Kazakhstan to the rest of the world, and appreciated the setter getting EDIT into, or out of, 2 words seamlessly. POLAR was equally pleasing…
Thanks Atrica n the usual excellent blog from Quirister
PADDINGTON was my LOI even though I’d spotted the theme early and Paddington turned up in a clue last week..
ENB, I remember back in the seventies when I was at Leeds University going out for a walk with some friends around north Leeds one Saturday night after the bar had closed and coming across a factory that proclaimed it was a fellmongers, which turns out to be a place where animal skins are prepared for the tanners, Chambers says it is Old English and German and derives from the Latin pellis.
Dormouse@10 I remember that place too!
Thanks all, and of course especially to Quirister. I very much appreciate the full derivation of “fell” for “skin” from Dormouse. ENB, I try to follow a rule when setting which is “would I be able to solve this clue myself”? In this particular case I must admit that it is a grey area. “Runner” in crosswords often = “ski” and pole is very common for N or S, and I was delighted when I spotted that skin = ski pole. I looked up “skin” and found “fell”, which of course clicks, although in the end I didn’t use the image of someone coming to grief on the slopes. I told myself that, yes, I was vaguely familiar with that use of the word “fell” but that might have been a piece of self-delusion. There’s another word in the puzzle that I couldn’t have defined beforehand (“endozoic”). When I am forced to use one of these I try to make the clue very clear (e.g.,, using an acrostic).