Some tricky clues in this puzzle, including one that I was unable to parse fully. Thanks to Paul.
(This blog was written rather in haste, sp apologies in advance for any errors – I should be able to correct them later today.)
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | DAWDLER | Snail shell found in wood in valley alongside river (7) The “shell”of WooD in DALE + R |
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| 5 | SUNLESS | First in steeplechase, barring grey (7) S[teeplechase] + UNLESS (barring) |
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| 9 | PANDA | Five bedded in group, and assassin shoots lover? (5) Hidden in grouP AND Assassin. Pandas are lovers of bamboo shoots |
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| 10 | SOAP OPERA | Hence, a time for commercial music programme (4,5) SO A POP ERA |
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| 12 | EPIC | Pachyderm’s head found buried in ice: that’s woolly mammoth! (4) P[achyderm] in ICE* |
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| 14 | SIGNIFICANT OTHER | After initial, should I be able to add her partner? (11,5) SIGN (to initial) + IF I CAN + TO + HER |
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| 18 | ONLY CONNECT | Where link sought for chain on new cycle, not broken by friction ultimately (4,7) [frictio]N in (NEW CYCLE)*. Only Connect is a game show where contestants have to find links in a chain of clues |
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| 21 | MESH | Network where I must learn to keep my mouth shut! (4) For me to keep my mouth shut if for ME to SH! |
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| 22 | TIMBERLINE | Limit of growth capital invested in magazine (6,4) BERLIN in TIME (US magazine) |
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| 25 | TRONDHEIM | City in Europe’s mid-Northwest, mid-Northeast proving inaccurate? (9) It’s an anagram of MID NORTH E, and I suppose it’s in mid-NW Eirope |
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| 27 | LOTTERY WINNER | Fortune, for lucky fellow always at the end, one in the money? (7,6) I can see LOT = fortune, and the last letters of foR luckY felloW, but otherwise I’m stumped on this one |
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| 28 | EVENTER | Victory on back of horse, record for jockey (7) [hors]E + V + ENTER (to record) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 28 | EVENTER | Victory on back of horse, record for jockey (7) [hors]E + V + ENTER (to record) |
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| 1 | DEPUTY | Second assignment with upcoming exercise penned (6) Reverse of PE (exercise) in DUTY |
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| 3 | LEAF INSECT | Camouflaged creature, appendage on branch covered by something green (4,6) LEA (something green) + FIN (appendage) + SECT (branch) |
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| 4 | ROSIE THE RIVETER | One number I have in work schedule for hard-working poster girl (5,3,7) I + ETHER (the familiar numb-er) + I’VE in ROSTER. Rosie the Riveter featured on American propaganda posters in World War 2 |
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| 5 | SNAKEBITE | Poison to drink? Drunk’s a bit keen! (9) Anagram of (S A BIT KEEN), with the S lifted-and-separated |
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| 6 | NEON | Gas one’s lit under bottom of saucepan (4) [saucepa]N + ONE* – “lit”in the sense of drunk |
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| 7 | EXEMPLAR | Cross on temple discovered in possession of listener, ideal (8) X (cross) + [t]EMPL[e] in EAR (listener) |
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| 8 | SCARCITY | Famine in southern Detroit? (8) S[outh] + CAR CITY. Detroit is famous for car manufacture, giving its nickname Motown (Motor Town) |
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| 13 | WINTER ROSE | With minimum of warmth, plant grew – did it? (6,4) W[armth] + INTER (plant) + ROSE (grew) |
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| 15 | GENUINELY | Dope attending university in Cambridgeshire city, as a matter of fact (9) GEN (information, dope) + U + IN ELY (Cambs city) |
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| 16 | HOT METAL | Type left disheartened at home, sadly (3,5) Anagram of L[ef]T AT HOME |
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| 17 | FLESH OUT | Elaborate nude seemingly? (5,3) If you’re nude then your FLESH is OUT |
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| 19 | WITH-IT | In-jokes, murder (4,2) Another L&S – WIT (jokes) + HIT (murder) |
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| 20 | TERROR | Ending on foot, dropped brick brings frightful feeling? (6) [foo]T + ERROR (a dropped brick) |
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| 23 | BOMBE | Sweet, shell with new filling (5) BOMBE + the filling pf nEw |
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| 24 | IDLE | Resting, veteran comedy actor (4) Double definition, the actor being Eric Idle of Monty Python fame |
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27/2 is LOT (fortune) plus last letters of foR luckY felloW (“always at the end”) plus I (“one”) inside TENNER (“in the money”). The whole thing is an @lit.
Oh and 18a should be N[ew] (CYCLE NOT)* broken by [frictio]N. Another great Paul, and thanks Andrew for the blog!
Correction to my post @ #2: it is ON + new (CYCLE NOT)* broken by [frictio]N.
Thought TRONDHEIM might be something to do with mid NORTH (ORT) west (TRO) but then gave up
Rosie may be a lovely lady but we’ve never met, so DNF for me. Also, found the LOTTERY WINNER impossible to parse, but overall another fun challenge from my favourite setter. Thanks Paul and Andrew.
I thought TRONDHEIM might be an anagram (inaccurate) of the MIDdle letters of “northwestMIDNORTHEastproving” but it’s off by one.
Tough but very rewarding. Not heard of ROSIE THE RIVETER but recognised the poster straightaway on my post solve Google.
Parsed LOTTERY WINNER as per earlier comments but it was retrospective having solved it from just the LOT of fortune. I liked that clue but well done to anyone who solved it from the word play.
TRONDHEIM also retrospectively parsed.
SNAKEBITE brings back mixed memories of a rock club I used to go to in my younger years. They were always on offer so were the drink of choice but certainly went into the poison territory after a few pints.
Tough but very rewarding as usual with Paul.
Thanks Paul and Andrew
Proud to have finished this offering from Paul in spite of obscure British TV programmes and US poster ladies.
Also stumped by the parsing of LOTTERY WINNER but enjoyed TIMBER LINE and GENUINELY. Paul isn’t a favourite with me, more of an exercise in getting on a very different wavelength.
There appears to be a T missing from the parsing of SIGNIFICANT OTHER. Is it that ‘should I be able to’ is IF I CAN’T, so that TO can be added inside before HER? But then perhaps the clue should say ‘should I not be able to’. Tough puzzle though. I can vaguely picture Rosie, but the Lottery Winner has eluded me in more ways than one.
In 14a where does the second T come from? I can’t work it out! Hard puzzle, but great, and thanks for the excellent blog
Thanks Torus @10. I think you’ve got it!
Torus@10 and James G – In 14A the ‘add’ in the clue leads you to TOT.
Larry@13 So it does, well spotted Larry. That’s much better.
Thank you for the blog, Andrew – it helped clear up some matters.
10A was an unparsed guess: now that I know the parsing I can’t say I’m wild about it.
Since Trondheim is on the coast of Norway, I hardly think it’s in “mid” northwest. I’m still unsure what “five” is doing in 9A.
I really enjoyed SCARCITY and SNAKEBITE.
I actively disliked three other clues, but am aware of what happened to Roz when she made her disapproval clear, so I shall keep my powder dry.
Wellbeck @15 – Five consecutive letters (PANDA) and makes the surface more readable
Thank you, Andrew. An additional couple of things for when you return to tidy up. You have entered EVENTER as both the final Across answer and the first Down. Then, at 23d, in the parsing you have kept the E on BOMB (= shell), whereas, as your yourself point out, the E comes from ‘nEw’.
Thank you Crispy @16.
I’ve not come across that device before in a “hidden word” clue.
(I have to confess, I think it actually detracted from smoothness of the latter part of the clue.)
Thanks Paul and Andrew
Including the ‘s in the fodder for 5d is a bit sneaky; I must remember to look out for this trick.
Why is “veteran” needed in 24d?
Favourite PANDA – great surface.
14 was one of the first for me, just kept repeating partner, then an episode of OFAH came from nowhere, Del kept introducing his partner thus throughout… bingo!
muffin @19 veteran isn’t strictly necessary, but if included as part of the definition the clue is OK.
14 was one of the first for me, just kept repeating partner, then an episode of ‘OFAH’ came from nowhere, Del kept introducing his partner thus throughout… bingo!
Good crossword as usual from Paul. Some pretty clunky surfaces but that doesn’t bother me.
Which part of Europe TRONDHEIM is in depends on how you think about it – if you simply divide Europe into quadrants NE, SE, SW, NW then Trondheim is somewhere in the NW sector, and not very near its boundaries, so ‘mid-northwest’ seems OK to me.
My favourites include FLESH OUT, WITH IT, TIMBER LINE, PANDA.
Thanks Paul and Andrew.
Some very inventive and enjoyable cluing, so I think it’s a shame that so many of the surfaces are bonkers.
Favourite was PANDA.
DNF on PANDA, but now that I see it I’m kicking myself. The “Five” threw me. I had PENTA for a while but couldn’t make it work. I found this very tricky but it helped pass some insomniac hours. I thought SIGNIFICANT OTHER very clever. Thanks Paul and Andrew.
I don’t say this very often, but this was a Paul puzzle I did manage to complete, with last one in, EVENTER, making me think that I wouldn’t quite call a person on a horse in a three-day equestrian event a jockey, simply a rider.
However, I suppose I did perform a sneaky one by googling Rosie The Poster Girl, and up popped the, for me, nho before RIVETER flexing her muscles on that poster.
Some clever stuff as ever with this setter, with TERROR and FLESH OUT both making me smile…