A trademark challenge from GAFF.
FF: 9 DD: 9
Midway through the solve, I googled and confirmed that the 30th anniversary preamble possibly refers to Toy Story. There is one clue that I need to complete the parse for, but wont be able to get to my computer until much later. So putting the nearly-complete blog up, in the interest of time.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SORE HEAD |
Hangover from mixing rosé with some beer (4,4)
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[ ROSE ]* HEAD ( some beer ) |
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| 5 | POTATO |
Starts to pursue overseas trade agreement to optimise source of chips (6)
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starting letters of "..Pursue Overseas Trade Agreement To Optimize.." |
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| 9 | INFINITY |
Space for a pool (8)
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cryptic def; referring to the infinity pool |
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| 10 | BEYOND |
Further over there, covered with litter (6)
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YON ( over there ) in BED ( litter ) |
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| 12 | PIGGY BANK |
Pop outlaw into small park with stash (5,4)
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[ IGGY ( pop, referring to the singer ) BAN ( outlaw ) ] in PK ( park, small ) |
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| 13 | SPACE |
Bar room (5)
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double def |
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| 14 | ISLE |
Man maybe steeped in his lechery (4)
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hidden in "..hIS LEchery" |
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| 16 | DROPLET |
A little bit of rainfall allowed (7)
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DROP ( bit of rainfall ) LET ( allowed ) |
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| 19 | ADENOID |
One did a performance with tissue in nose (7)
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[ ONE DID A ]* |
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| 21 | ALTO |
Singer with slightly nasal tone (4)
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hidden in "..nasAL TOne" |
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| 24 | WOODY |
Tough court — extremely dry (5)
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WOO ( court ) DY ( DrY, extremely i.e. end letters ) |
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| 25 | LIGHT-YEAR |
King keeps the powerful leaderless from a distance (5-4)
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LEAR ( king ) containing mIGHTY ( powerful, leaderless i.e. without starting letter ) |
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| 27 | TRIVIA |
A question of trifles (6)
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&lit |
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| 28 | PLAYBILL |
Compete with US Money Programme (8)
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PLAY ( compete ) BILL ( us money ) |
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| 29 | RANGER |
Could be the lone conservation worker (6)
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cryptic ? refers to the lone ranger |
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| 30 | SCUDDING |
Sex initially left out of intimacy clouds activity (8)
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S ( Sex, initially ) CUDDlING ( intimacy, without L – left ) – never came across this word until now |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SKIMPY |
Inadequate villain covered by broadcaster (6)
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IMP ( villain ) in SKY ( broadcaster ) |
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| 2 | REFUGE |
Rubbish good for small shelter (6)
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REFUsE ( rubbish, with S – small, replaced by G – good ) |
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| 3 | HANDY |
Top drink’s available (5)
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sHANDY ( drink , topped i.e. without first letter ) |
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| 4 | ACTUATE |
Turn half a degree holder of spur (7)
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ACT ( turn ) gradUATE ( degree holder, half of ) |
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| 6 | OVERSHOOT |
Balls on fire go too far (9)
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BALLS ( over, cricket ) SHOOT ( fire ) |
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| 7 | ADORABLE |
Apt to follow fuss about right kind (8)
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ADO ( fuss ) R ( right ) ABLE ( apt ) |
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| 8 | ODDMENTS |
Not even women take half-wits’ left-overs (8)
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ODD MEN ( not even women ) TS ( wiTS, half of ) |
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| 11 | SKID |
Slide for small child (4)
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S ( small ) KID ( child ) |
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| 15 | STORYLINE |
Plot curve describing party at length (9)
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SINE ( curve ) containing [ TORY ( party ) L ( length ) ] |
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| 17 | TAP WATER |
Bath content to appoint party whips as their elected representatives in capitals (3,5)
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starting letters of "..To Appoint Party Whips As Their Elected Representatives.." |
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| 18 | DEVOTION |
Love giving powers to regions, ignoring centre (8)
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DEVOluTION ( giving powers to regions, without central letters ) ; i guessed the answer but the parse required some time with the dictionary |
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| 20 | DOLL |
Small figure but a lot of money (4)
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DOLLar ( money, a lot of ) |
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| 21 | ANGELIC |
Delightful sweet? (7)
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cryptic def? |
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| 22 | GEMINI |
Signed pair (6)
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cryptic def, referring to the gemini twins ( zodiac reference ) |
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| 23 | PROLOG |
States introduction for the record (6)
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PRO ( for ) LOG ( record ) |
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| 26 | TOYED |
Fox solvers taken in and amused (5)
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?? |
26 Tod = fox ,ye= solvers
I found this very difficult, but not in a good way.
I liked SPACE and ADENOID
I did not work out what anniversary the puzzle was celebrating, but in the end I did not really care. I am afraid I never felt on the same wavelength as the setter which means there were probably some nice clues that went over my head.
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs
Only completed about half. Looking at the above, there were many I should have got. Should’ve had more Vegemite on my toast this morning.
ANGELIC
Found this online:
Angel Delight is a popular, light, and creamy powdered dessert mix from the United Kingdom that is whisked with milk to create a mousse-like treat.
Tricky but got there without too much fuss but a bit of head scratching.
Some vg clues including potato, adenoid, tap water, devotion.
Toy story is a classic. Theme words I saw were:
(Mr) potato (head),
(to) infinity (and) beyond
Piggy bank
Space ranger
Woody
Lightyear
Doll
Thanks both!
I thought Magus did a better job of this in Wednesday’s Independent (and even managed to include TOYSTORY as a nina). Having so many identical solutions helped but I thought some of the clues were weak. I took TRIVIA as a (poor) cryptic definition and can’t see how it can work as an &lit. Was aware of Angel Delight but ANGELIC still seems very weak. Maybe I’m just missing something.
Also TOY(ed) STORY(line)
(h)ANDY
POTATO (sore)HEAD
I stumbled through this with a lot of parsing only after guessing the solution. If I had not spotted the theme early on, I am not sure I could have finished this solely from the clues.
21d I took as a double definition, but not a very satisfying one.
Ie. angelic=delightful=sweet.
I don’t see how you get the (IMO revolting) dessert out it.
I figured out the theme, but that did me no good at all, since the only thing I know about the movie is Buzz Lightyear. But it was a fairly decent and meaty solve nonetheless, though parsing was more of a challenge e.g. 9a, for which thanks . . . I need to Google to find out what that is.
Thanks to Gaff etc.
How strange to have two themed puzzles based on a not very significant anniversary! [Talk of anniversaries reminds me that I still miss FrankieG]
This took some work. I don’t get PROLOG – we seem to have two sets of wordplay (the first being “prologue” stated out loud) with no synonym?
I also don’t think ANGELIC quite works for the reasons already given.
Adders. States here refers to the US, where ‘prologue’ is spelt ‘prolog’. So ‘States introduction’ is definition not wordplay.