A fun challenge from SOLOMON
FF: 9 DD: 9
I made heavy weather of trying to parse 8d and 9a until they both came to me after i had walked away from the crossword for a good few hours.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CHILD |
Youngster told off outside the front of Lidl (5)
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CHID ( told off ) outside L ( Lidl, first letter ) |
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| 4 | HIBERNATE |
Sleep badly in a berth by the back of barge (9)
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[ IN A BERTH ]* E ( bargE, last letter ) |
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| 9 | TREASURER |
Moneyman from Tadcaster turned out to receive half-hearted cheer (9)
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[ REASsURE ( cheer, half hearted i.e. without a central character ) ] in TR ( TadcasteR, turned out, i.e. without inner letters ) |
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| 10 | HET UP |
Agitated, the leader retreats on horseback (3,2)
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HET ( THE, with first letter moving to the last ) UP ( on horseback ) |
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| 11 | ECLIPSE |
Obscure short videos screened by telecoms company (7)
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CLIPS ( short videos ) in EE ( telecoms company ) |
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| 12 | LIBERTY |
Consecutive elements try struggling for freedom (7)
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LI BE ( consecutive elements, LIthium Beryllium, periodic table ) [ TRY ]* |
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| 13 | RAISE |
Hoist delivered beams (5)
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sounds like RAYS ( beams ) |
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| 15 | THRESHOLD |
Drunk bouncer’s rear end holds the door (9)
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[ R ( bounceR, last letter ) HOLDS THE ]* |
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| 18 | LIVERPOOL |
City’s organ donor register? (9)
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cryptic def; read as LIVER POOL |
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| 21 | RINGS |
People become engaged when they receive these calls (5)
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double def |
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| 22 | SUSPECT |
Dubious cult taking over America, quietly (7)
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SECT ( cult ) containing [ US ( america ) P ( quietly ) ] |
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| 24 | VENISON |
Maker of diagrams about one’s love for meat (7)
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VENN ( maker of diagrams ) around [ I'S ( one's ) O ( love ) ] |
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| 26 | ROBIN |
Examining wingless bird (5)
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pROBINg ( examining, wingless i.e. without end letters ) |
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| 27 | AERODROME |
Heads of Air Europa stick with capital city’s transport hub (9)
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AE ( Air Europa, starting letters ) ROD ( stick ) ROME ( capital city ) |
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| 28 | PRESIDENT |
Quiet lodger getting Hoover? (9)
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P ( quiet ) RESIDENT ( lodger ) ; herbert hoover |
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| 29 | SPLAY |
Spread out trifle with spades (5)
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S ( spades ) PLAY ( trifle ) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CATHEDRAL |
Something with a bell heard around the middle of Ely? (9)
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CAT ( something with a bell ) { [ HEARD ]* around L ( eLy, central letter ) } |
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| 2 | IDEAL |
Theoretical statement uttered by croupier? (5)
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cryptic def; read as I DEAL ( what a croupier might say ) |
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| 3 | DISAPPEAR |
Loudly insult a nobleman and leave (9)
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sounds like DIS A PEER ( insult a nobleman ) |
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| 4 | HARVEST |
The product of turning earth with the tops of spades — vegetables? (7)
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[ EARTH SV ( Spades, Vegetables, first letters of ]* |
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| 5 | BURGLAR |
One stealing food raised alarm when exposed (7)
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BURG ( reverse of GRUB – food ) LAR ( aLARm, exposed i.e. without end letters ) |
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| 6 | REHAB |
Upset bather’s last bit of dirt removed where one gets clean (5)
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reverse of BAtHER ( without T, dirT – last letter ) |
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| 7 | AFTERNOON |
Where Oscar goes with nothing on between lunch and dinner? (9)
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AFTER N ( where oscar goes, nato alphabet ) O ( nothing ) ON |
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| 8 | EMPTY |
Unknown film about politician put on for my relative to misidentify? (5)
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[ ET ( film ) around MP ( politician ) ] Y ( unknown ); cryptic def; if MisidentifY were to be empty, i.e. without inner letters, it would become MY. |
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| 14 | INVISIBLE |
Blinis I’ve ruined getting hidden out of sight (9)
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[ BLINIS IVE ]* |
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| 16 | SERENADES |
Among friends, tennis player does belt out love songs (9)
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SERENA ( tennis player ) DoES ( without O – out ) ; is among friends to imply being on a first name basis? |
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| 17 | DYSENTERY |
24 hours after being discharged, guard is given drugs for gastroenteritis (9)
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DY ( DaY, 24 hours, without inner letters ) [ SENTRY ( guard ) containing E ( drugs, Ecstasy ) ] |
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| 19 | OATCAKE |
Afghan perhaps the first to finish uncapped wine that goes with cheese (7)
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OATC ( COAT, afghan perhaps, with first letter moving to last ) sAKE ( wine, uncapped ) |
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| 20 | LEVERET |
Nancy’s the vet closing in on young animal (7)
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LE ( nancy's the, implying french ) [ VET around RE ( on ) ] |
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| 22 | SYRUP |
Your drink contains something sweet and sticky (5)
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YR ( your ) in SUP ( drink ) |
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| 23 | ENNUI |
Tiredness that is overwhelming cycling nun heading north (5)
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UNN ( nun, cycling i.e. first letter to the last ) in IE ( that is ), all reversed |
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| 25 | STOOL |
Virtuous man lifted toilet seat (5)
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ST ( virtuous man ) [ reverse of LOO ( toilet ) ] |
I think the whole of 4d needs to be underlined as definition: I took it to be an &lit?
And I agree with our blogger’s take on SERENA being on first name terms if amongst friends.
Super puzzle from Solomon as always.
Thanks both
Well I’m glad you managed to parse EMPTY, Turbolegs, because I tried very hard and failed. Well done. The wordplay for TREASURER also eluded me, along with a couple of others. But it was all quite enjoyable, although the telecom company was unknown this far away.
A good level of difficulty — a walk in the park after a disastrous experience with Enigmatist’s in the Guardian!
I agree that this was difficult so well done Turbolegs for the excellent blog. I certainly needed your help with the parsing. I took the definition of 1d to be Ely?
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs.
[GDU: whilst there are other possible candidates, ‘phone company’ in a UK puzzle is almost always either BT (British Telecom) or EE (Everything Everywhere – which is one of those real ‘brand-y’ creations, thankfully now replaced by just the initials)]
SM: I think CATHEDRAL is also an &lit – certainly &littish – and the QM is because Ely is only one of many possible examples.
Tricky stuff, but a very enjoyable solve. I read SERENADES as ‘does’ belting out love, with the definition being Just ‘songs’. I find ‘turned out’ to be a bit of a stretch for removing all the middle letters. I tried to make a Yorkshire ‘t+reassure work, but it didn’t.
I’m in the zone today! After the horrors of Wednesday I wrote this in almost straight through. Admittedly I only half understood Empty and Oatcake and the blog makes me feel unashamed. Loved Liberty, Venison, Disappear, Rehab, Afternoon, and Dysentry.
I could not make sense of OATCAKE, so thanks for that. It didn’t help that I don’t think “coat” when I think Afghan: in order, I think of people, blankets, and dogs. I don’t think the coats were ever big here.
I quite liked the sadly topical clue for SUSPECT.
James P @6
What you said, with the addition of Monday’s SLORMGORM which for some reason fell into the IO level of difficulty for me.
Quite an enjoyable puzzle.
HARVEST: Took it as an &lit (agree with PostMark@1).
CATHEDRAL: Looks like an attempted &lit.
A minor point:
HEARD around L=HEARD* +L
(Turbolegs meant the same thing?)
Thanks to the setter and the blogger.
Thanks Solomon for presenting the ideal mix of challenge & pure enjoyment for me. I ticked many clues including HET UP, LIBERTY, SUSPECT (good surface), ROBIN, HARVEST, AFTERNOON (COTD), and LEVERET (liked ‘Nancy’s the’). I failed with OATCAKE and couldn’t parse EMPTY or CATHEDRAL, the latter I thought might be a weak CD. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
I enjoyed the many lovely surfaces. It seemed heavy on charades which meant it was a slow solve for me.
Favourites include HIBERNATE, STOOL, and AERODROME
It was TREASURER that I could not parse and I did not see the relevance of “among friends” in SERENADES. Thanks for the parsing and I agree with the blog’s take on the latter.
Thanks Solomon nand Turbolegs
I got off to a bad start by assuming that the answer to 4 was a putative word “inbreathe” which slowed up progress for a considerable time. CATHEDRAL was my favourite. I had no difficulty with SYRUP, though I’m never happy with the rather tortured construction “X Y contains” when really what is meant is “Y X contains”. It strikes me as a bit artificial as no one would ever speak or write like that, at least without punctuation.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs, especially for explaining EMPTY and LEVERET. I didn’t get OATCAKE.
I@11 wrote that was challenged by many charades. That holds true, but rereading the blog I realized there are also a lot of deletion clues, another clue type I find very challenging.
I failed on 19 OATCAKE, which I should have got from the wordplay, although I don’t associate oatcakes with cheese. Now if the clue had been “…that goes with whisky”, I would have had no excuse.
There were several parsings that eluded me, so I am especially grateful to Turbolegs for the excellent blog. And thanks, Solomon for the fine puzzle.
Great fun, I managed to complete it without fully understanding EMPTY. Thanks for the explanation, never would have thought that out!
I was sure 10a was something to do with Putin backwards, as I tried to convince myself that I’d heard the phrase NIT UP. Luckily I got REHAB to save the day. Thanks.
Top class and a blog to match.