A plain puzzle from Gemelo this week.
I don’t know if Gemelo is getting easier, or perhaps I’m just becoming accustomed to his style. This puzzle certainly took me less time than previous ones, although longer than a typical Azed. Having said that, there were quite a few clues that were difficult to parse and I need help with a few of them, particularly 9, 27 and 30 across and 21 down.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DIRECTOR’S CUT |
Unloved part of performance no longer having top or tail in this? (12, 2 words)
|
| DIRE (unloved) (a)CT (performance without top) OR SCUT (tail). I’m not wholly convinced by this as an & lit clue, but I suppose that it just about works. | ||
| 9 | ECARTE |
Graphic designer stripped, having lost second card game (6)
|
| I assume that this is (Rene) (D)e(s)carte(s), but why he should be described as a graphic designer eludes me. | ||
| 10 | MARCH |
Demonstrate what was moved from B Palace to H Park? (5)
|
| M ARCH: Marble Arch was originally situated in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, before being moved to Hyde Park Corner. | ||
| 12 | CASH |
Necessary country singer (4)
|
| Double definition (Johnny Cash is the singer). | ||
| 14 | EASY |
Go gently, reflecting so in Scotland Yard (4)
|
| SAE (Scottish for “so”, rev) Y(ard). | ||
| 16 | RUSH HOUR |
Czech play about quiet in Paris, or when most people are out (8, 2 words)
|
| SHH OU (French for “or”) all inside R.U.R. (the Czech play that introduced the term “robot” to the world). | ||
| 17 | MIRZA |
Prince of Zambia hugged by star (5)
|
| Z(ambia) inside MIRA (a star). | ||
| 18 | ELAPSE |
Pass the parcel finally before recess (6)
|
| Final letters of thE parceL, APSE (recess). | ||
| 20 | AREAWAY |
Don’t play at home in underground passage to Canada (7)
|
| If you don’t play at home you are away; this is defined in Chambers as a North American term, not specifically Canadian. | ||
| 24 | RUM SHOP |
Where demerara may be mostly crystallised in some beef (7, 2 words)
|
| SHO(t) inside RUMP (some beef). Chambers gives “crystallize” as the last of 13 intransitive meanings of the verb “to shoot”. | ||
| 25 | PIMENT |
What was once mulled over, to indicate gathering ships (6)
|
| MEN (ships, as in “men-of-war”) inside TIP (indicate, rev). | ||
| 27 | PROUL |
Pair leaving border would no longer steal (5)
|
| I can only parse this if “pair” does double duty: first to indicate PR, then to show that the border (outer letters) of wOULd are to be removed. | ||
| 28 | OVERTIME |
Joint verse brought back into Old English work after the usual period (8)
|
| MITRE (joint) V(erse) (all rev) inside O(ld) E(nglish). | ||
| 30 | ADAM |
American Indian bit old man before anyone else (4)
|
| I think that this parses as A(merican) DAM (old Indian coin, or bit). | ||
| 31 | MIEN |
Air kiss declined by dunghill (4)
|
| MI(x)EN (a dunghill). | ||
| 32 | NELIS |
Mum almost rejected pear (5)
|
| SILEN(t) (rev). | ||
| 33 | EVINCE |
Early adopter of Apple welcoming inclusive display (6)
|
| INC(lusive) inside EVE (early adopter of apple). | ||
| 34 | TRICK OR TREAT |
Wrong to hide strain regarding a tense autumn tradition (12, 3 words)
|
| RICK (strain) inside TORT (wrong), RE A T(ense). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DECIMAL POINT |
Mark 10.19 has impact on idle criminal (12, 2 words)
|
| *(IMPACT ON IDLE). Biblical references are usually shown with a colon, so the answer is arguably missing (presumably deliberately) from the clue as printed. | ||
| 2 | RASORES |
Birds previously wounded in head (7)
|
| SORE in RAS. | ||
| 3 | ERHU |
Fiddle Mother Hubbard’s stocking (4)
|
| Hidden. | ||
| 4 | TEGULAR |
Professional starting late, carrying tons of roofing material (7)
|
| (r)EGULAR (professional), under T(ons). | ||
| 5 | OBESE |
Stops dropping Middle English round? (5)
|
| OB(o)ES, E. Oboe can also refer to an organ stop. | ||
| 6 | SASHAY |
Trip while following southern dance (6)
|
| S(outhern) AS (while) HAY (dance). | ||
| 7 | CRY |
Report underground cell, missing the point (3)
|
| CRY(pt). | ||
| 8 | THE RED PLANET |
Where men supposedly originated and furthered plan, ethically taking part (12, 3 words)
|
| You don’t often come across a 12 letter hidden answer, so Gemelo should take a bow, although the definition seems a little fanciful: does anyone seriously suggest that humanity comes from Mars? This may in fact be a reference to the science fiction novel Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis. | ||
| 11 | COUSCOUS |
Family member leaving home with another dish (8)
|
| COUS(in), (leaving home), repeated (another). | ||
| 13 | DRAW IN |
Channel restricting women’s contract (6, 2 words)
|
| W(oman) inside DRAIN (channel). | ||
| 15 | TIRRIVEE |
Scotsman’s pet to appear without lead, cutting through restraint (8)
|
| (a)RRIVE inside TIE. | ||
| 19 | LAMPED |
Hit bound to be ignored by clubs (6)
|
| (c)LAMPED (bound). | ||
| 21 | YUMMIER |
Parents needing clothing to become younger and more attractive (7)
|
| Perhaps this parses as (m)UMMIE(s) (parents needing clothing), but it’s not clear to me how “to become younger” operates as a direction to take the first and last letters of “younger” and place them round the unclothed parent. | ||
| 22 | CHOPINE |
Composer with electronic platform (7)
|
| CHOPIN (composer) E(lectronic). It’s a kind of shoe. | ||
| 23 | HERDIC |
Woman’s hero returned carriage (6)
|
| HER (woman’s) CID (El Cid, Spanish hero, rev). | ||
| 26 | TIMBO |
This might finish cricket before accepting one’s bowled (5)
|
| I’M B(owled) inside TO. It’s an insecticide. | ||
| 29 | EMIR |
Independent head who originally signed The Beatles and Queen (4)
|
| EMI (company that signed The Beatles to its Parlophone label) R(egina). | ||
| 30 | ALI |
Clay’s alternative name almost settled (3)
|
| ALI(t) (settled). The boxer Cassius Clay took the name Muhammad Ali. |
I saw 27 as PR (pair)+[w]OUL[d] (leaving border)
21 I think it’s [m]UMMIE[s] as you say but Y[ounge]R is replacing its clothes.
In my first attempt at solving this puzzle I had filled a lot of the outside of the grid but there was a big empty part in the middle and I really thought I was going to need Chambers, but the next day I was surprised that I managed to fill the rest without it, even if I didn’t know what the full name of the M Arch was and I didn’t work out the wordplay in 1a until later. I also wasn’t sure about the definition in 1a because in my experience a “Director’s Cut” has things added in rather than taken out.
I think that Descartes being a graphic designer in 9a refers to his invention of Cartesian coordinates which are used for drawing graphs, and that the definition in 8d refers to Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.
I agree with Admin about 27a and 21d, except for the latter I would note that Chambers gives YR as a abbreviation for ‘younger’.
Thanks, bridgesong and Gemelo.
Wrt THE RED PLANET I think it refers to “Men come from Mars and women come from Venus’.
I saw PROUL and YUMMIER as Admin did @1 & @2 (and agree with Matthew @3 wrt YR for Younger being in the Big C.).
Thanks for the convincing explanation for Mars Jim Hackett @4. That one had puzzled me.
I was surprised, given that Gemelo compiles for the Church Times, that he repeated the false connection between Eve and an apple. It’s just “fruit” in the Hebrew.
For 1d (Dec. Pt) I took the definition as “Mark 10.19 has”. You may imagine a (which) between Mark and 10.
This one was worth it just for MARCH!!! Have we seen wordplay like this before?
Thanks, Ken, Matthew, Jim and Tim, for clearing up the various bits of parsing that had eluded me. I agree that “Men are from Mars” is clearly what is being referred to at 8dn, not my suggestion of a now forgotten sci-fi novel.
Tim C: I thought the clue for MARCH was in fact reminiscent of the sort of clue that Azed sometimes uses (I seem to remember one with T Hanks = thanks).
Incidentally, the (very brief ) slip for DINGLE-DANGLE has now been published by Azed: http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azed2771.pdf
Just when I thought I was getting the hang of these I was completely foxed by this one. Only managed about half.
Missed the beautiful simplicity of 1d and nho 1ac, leaving too many spaces. Loved most of what I got especially March.
bridgesong @7, I think we’re definitely seeing the end of an era (which I only just found a few years ago) with Jonathan’s words “I am increasingly prone to occasional lapsus calami” in his latest slip.