An intriguing challenge from SOLOMON today.
FF: 9 DD: 9
Apologies for the late blog as I am on vacation at the moment ( taking in the sights of the wild animals at Lake Nakuru) . There are 2 clues that I haven't been able to parse satisfactorily but am in no doubt that other enlightened souls will share their wisdom in short order.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SALT |
Sailor ditching a map that’s back-to- front (4)
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reverse of aTLAS ( map, without A ) |
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| 3 | ABOVE BOARD |
Where chess is played fairly (5,5)
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cryptic def |
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| 10 | CIGARETTE |
Rolled paper letter a GI carefully carries west (9)
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hidden, reversed in ":.lETTER A GI Carefully.." |
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| 11 | BLING |
Get jewels by singing, not fighting (5)
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warBLING ( singing, without WAR – fighting ) |
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| 12 | NOTABLE |
That which distinguishes tennis from Ping-Pong is striking (7)
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cryptic def; read as NO TABLE ( what tennis doesnt have ) |
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| 13 | SILENCE |
Mum’s spoiled nieces left bored (7)
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L ( left ) in [ NIECES ]* |
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| 14 | CITY |
Intercourse probing ‘the limits of cinematography in Casablanca’? (4)
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IT ( intercourse ) in CY ( CinematographY, ends of ) |
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| 15 | INVISIBLE |
Prime policeman to escape unseen (9)
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INdiVISIBLE ( prime, without DI – policeman, Detective Inspector ) |
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| 19 | ORGANISED |
Tight orange Sainsbury’s top I’d put on (9)
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[ ORANGE S ( Sainsbury, first letter ) ID ]* |
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| 21 | CATS |
Musical groups moving around (4)
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[ ACTS ( groups? ) ]* |
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| 23 | SNOWMEN |
Different ways ladies promote love for flaky white guys (7)
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SN ( different ways, South North ) [ WoMEN ( ladies ) with O ( love ) moving to the front ) ] |
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| 26 | OVERLIE |
Go on to animate Oliver Postgate’s final feature (7)
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[ OLIVER ]* E ( postgatE, last letter ) |
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| 27 | OBESE |
Abnormally large gongs put on base (5)
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OBES ( gongs ) E ( base ) |
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| 28 | SPACESHIP |
Bar beginning to shake in long-distance vessel (9)
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SPACE ( bar ) S ( Shake, first letter ) HIP ( in ) |
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| 29 | HAIRSTYLES |
Rampant hysteria’s overcoming learner driver, generating looks (10)
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[ HYSTERIAS ]* containing L ( learner driver ) |
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| 30 | EMIR |
Old poem about Islamic ruler (4)
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reverse of RIME ( poem, old ) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SECOND |
Commanding officer charging forward and back (6)
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double def? i could use some help with the parsing here; went down the path of second in command but cant make the "charging forward" part |
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| 2 | LIGHTNING |
Unloading, remove the last of the bolts (9)
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LIGHTeNING ( unloading, without E – last letter of thE ) |
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| 4 | BATTERIES |
Protected animal attempts to eat environmentalist’s face and attacks (9)
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BAT ( protected animal ) [ TRIES ( attempts ) containing E ( Enviromentalist, first letter ) ] |
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| 5 | VIEWS |
Judgments reached by ill-treated wives (5)
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[ WIVES ]* |
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| 6 | BUBBLES |
Empty bureau, under which King Charles’ housemaid’s left Champagne? (7)
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BU ( BureaU, empty, without inner letters ) BB ( king, blues musician ) LES ( charLES, without CHAR – housemaid ) |
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| 7 | ALIEN |
I spent a morning in bed, which is unusual (5)
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?? plugged the solve but stuck trying to parse. LIE could mean to be in bed but didn't get much further than that |
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| 8 | DOGGEREL |
Ugly lines made by car lover with Tesla regularly driven out (8)
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DOGGER ( car lover ) EL ( tEsLa, alternate letters of ) ; i must have lead a sheltered life if what i learned about parsing the first part of the clue is correct; seems to be a british slang |
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| 9 | GRUBBY |
Dirty and slippery rugby ball initially held (6)
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[ RUGBY ]* containing B ( Ball, first letter of ) |
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| 16 | VIDEO GAME |
Disc inserted in new Megadrive after wrapper finally removed? (5,4)
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semi &lit? O ( disc ) in [ MEGADrIVE ( without R, wrappeR final letter ) ]* |
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| 17 | BETHLEHEM |
The end of Star Trek? (9)
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cryptic def; i loved the surface |
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| 18 | FORSOOTH |
Really loud soldiers shoot indiscriminately (8)
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F ( loud ) OR ( soliders ) [ SHOOT ]* |
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| 20 | NUMBERS |
Book groups (7)
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double def |
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| 21 | CLEVER |
Bright front of cabaret bar (6)
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C ( Cabaret, first letter ) LEVER ( bar ) |
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| 22 | PEPPER |
Piece of fruit aristocrat very gently inserted (6)
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PEER ( aristocrat ) containing PP ( very gently ) |
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| 24 | OBELI |
Some strobe-lit signs (5)
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hidden in "..strOBE LIt.." |
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| 25 | NASTY |
Name a place that’s filthy and unpleasant (5)
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N ( name ) A STY ( place thats filthy ) |
Had a chuckle at 8D
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
1dn is CO (commanding officer) in (charging) SEND (forward – as with an email)
7dn: A LIE IN (a morning in bed), omitting (spending) the second I.
1D: CO (commanding officer) inside (charging) SEND (forward, as a package)
7D: A + LIE IN (morning in bed) minus (spent) I
Crossed with PB@2
This seemed to have more obscurities and mystifying clues than yesterday’s puzzle.
NOTABLE was (good) groan worthy, and I also ticked SILENCE, NASTY, and BLING (interesting)
A curate’s egg for me.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs. Enjoy your holiday.
Parsed SECOND & ALIEN as others. I wondered whether CATS was to be ACTS with the C (around) moving.
Hovis@5: I like your parsing for 21ac CATS, which does not require taking it as an indirect anagram. It can be considered comparable to 23ac, moving the O in WOMEN.
It’s been a few years since I wrote,
Some verse here, at least not of note.
But gosh darn and bugger, I’ll
Admit that it’s doggerel
Though the word seems to stick in my throat.
But “ugly” now, really?
My verse is just silly.
It’s what the word means!
Don’t go to extremes.
It’s meant to amuse,
And only lightly abuse
Those poetry rules learned by rote.
Very nice, mrpenny. I agree and would not call your lines of ugly
Flaky white guys and the end of StarTrek: what’s not to like? Fab puzzle, full of wit.
Thanks both
I think the musical group is the cast which moving around gets cats
James P@10: An interesting idea, but I do not think it really fits the wording of the clue, especially the plural “groups”. I still prefer the suggestion from Hovis@5.
Thanks Solomon, that was most enjoyable. I first thought of ‘black hole’ as the end of a star’s trek but the enumeration was wrong; I needed multiple crossers before BETHLEHEM dawned on me. Other favourites included NOTABLE, SILENCE, SNOWMEN, SPACESHIP, BATTERIES (liked the surface), and ALIEN. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
COD BETHLEHEM. Glad to hear that this blogger is at Lake Nakuru, that’s here in Kenya, my childhood town.
Curate’s egg, and failed with Snowman where I had Showman (unparsed, I confess). I felt the excellent clues (e.g. Bethlehem, were out-weighed by impenetrable / unparseable.
this was a challenge for me but really impressive and fun and different. so kudos all around from me. thank you all
1D. Second is back, as in seconding somebody to be treasurer say. Commanding Office (CO) charging is within forward (Send)
I’m unable to find any polite words to describe my reaction to this crossword.
At first i found this quite doable but then got stuck at about 2/3 complete. Finishing various corners seemed v hard and it took me about a week or more coming back for one or two clues at a time but overall it was brilliant, very witty. I got all right answers without any cheating but could not fully explain BLING, ALIEN and SNOWMEN so thanks all for the help with that.