My blogging slot seems to coincide often with Slormgorm’s FT appearances, and once again, I have enjoyed doing the write-up on one of these gems.
Nothing too terribly strenuous, and a number of genuinely funny surfaces.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SIGNPOST |
Some design posters for a director (8)
|
| Hidden in (some) [DE]SIGN POST[ERS] | ||
| 5 | SAVAGE |
Wild herb wrapped around a slice of veal (6)
|
| SAGE (herb) around (wrapped around) {A + first letter of (slice of) V[EAL}} | ||
| 10 | ASTORIA |
A short tale I start to author in a US port (7)
|
| A + STOR[Y] (tale) minus last letter (short) + I + first letter of (start to) A[UTHOR], specifically: Astoria, Oregon | ||
| 11 | ICELAND |
One estate surrounding church in the country (7)
|
| {I (one) + LAND (estate)} around (surrounding) CE (church) | ||
| 12 | PARISIANS |
French folk can be pains with airs, unfortunately (9)
|
| Anagram of (can be . . . unfortunately) {PAINS + AIRS} | ||
| 13 | STAIR |
One must punch famous person in Steps (5)
|
| I (one) inside (must punch) STAR (famous person), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 15 | DECAL |
Transfer contrary young man City snapped up (5)
|
| EC (City, i.e., the Eastern Central London postcode area) inside (snapped up [by]) LAD (young man) reversed (contrary) | ||
| 16 | FRESHMAN |
Novel Mantel half-completed as a student (8)
|
| FRESH (novel) + first half of (half-completed) MAN[TEL] | ||
| 19 | LISTLESS |
Limp? Do this to maintain erection! (8)
|
| Cryptically, if one were to LIST (i.e., lean over) LESS, one would be more likely to remain perpendicular, or “maintain erection.” | ||
| 20 | SWORE |
Having got in angry, wife turned the air blue (5)
|
| W (wife) inside (having got in) SORE (angry) | ||
| 21 | FIGHT |
Flower initially left out of window box (5)
|
| First letter of (initially) F[LOWER] + [L]IGHT (window) minus (out of) L (left) | ||
| 23 | DEPRESSED |
IBM’s finally admitted to Reds messing with Deep Blue (9)
|
| Last letter of (finally) [IBM’]S inside (admitted to) anagram of (messing with) {REDS + DEEP}, with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 25 | ACTRESS |
The lady of the house? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition, “house” here meaning “theatre” | ||
| 27 | CHINESE |
Language used in machine sequencing (7)
|
| Hidden in (used in) [MA]CHINE SE[QUENCING] | ||
| 28 | HATTER |
One making bowler hot? Cricketer with no top! (6)
|
| H (hot) + [B]ATTER (cricketer) minus first letter (with no top) | ||
| 29 | ONE-SIDED |
Do I need to change around son, being unfair? (3-5)
|
| Anagram of (to change) {DO I NEED} around S (son) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STAMPEDE |
Panic-stricken stock rush sedate PM orchestrated (8)
|
| Anagram of (orchestrated) SEDATE PM | ||
| 2 | GET CRACKING |
Two things up-against-it code-breakers must do? (3,8)
|
| Double/cryptic definition, in the first sense, they must get to work cracking the code, and in the second sense, they must do this job expeditiously | ||
| 3 | PORT SALUT |
Cheese left by you to be eaten by sailor (4,5)
|
| PORT (left, nautically) + {U (you) inside (to be eaten by) SALT (sailor)} | ||
| 4 | SHAMA |
Indian singer and bad actor appearing in South Africa (5)
|
| HAM (bad actor) inside (appearing in) SA (South Africa), referring to “an Indian songbird of the thrush family,” according to Chambers | ||
| 6 | AREAS |
Sections of songs one released for head of EMI (5)
|
| AR[I]AS (songs) minus (released) I (one) substituted with (for) first letter of (head of) E[MI] | ||
| 7 | A-HA |
I’ve found it’s always horribly awful at the front (1-2)
|
| First letters of (at the front [of]) A[LWAYS] H[ORRIBLY] A[WFUL]. Chambers lists this as unhyphenated. | ||
| 8 | ELDER |
Old person in ecstasy with hands around vacuous date (5)
|
| E (ecstasy) + {L + R} (hands, i.e., left and right) around outside letters of (vacuous) D[AT]E | ||
| 9 | HIPSTERS |
Joint retired soprano rolled with southern jazz fans (8)
|
| HIP (joint) + {RET. (retired) + S (soprano)} both inverted (rolled) + S (southern) | ||
| 14 | AT A LOOSE END |
Having gone to pot, one ate loads with nothing on, perhaps (2,1,5,3)
|
| Anagram of (having gone to pot) ONE ATE LOADS, with “with nothing on” here meaning “with nothing to do” | ||
| 16 | FIENDISH |
Wicked pal with no right to get with one’s husband (8)
|
| F[R]IEND (pal) minus (with no) R (right) + I’S (one’s) + H (husband) | ||
| 17 | HYSTERICS |
Sadly, yes, Christ can cause a state of irrationality (9)
|
| Anagram of (sadly) YES CHRIST | ||
| 18 | WEEDHEAD |
According to Spooner, this man would marry one on the grass (8)
|
| Spoonerism of (according to Spooner) HE’D WED (this man would marry), referring to a user of cannabis. I do not see this word in Chambers, but both “weed” (in this sense) and “pothead” are listed. | ||
| 21 | FLASH |
Mo Farah’s first with the Spanish bunch at the rear (5)
|
| First [letter of] F[ARAH] + LAS (the [in] Spanish) + last letter of (at the rear) [BUNC]H | ||
| 22 | THERE |
Present that woman gets in outskirts of Trieste (5)
|
| HER (that woman) inside (gets in) outside letters of (outskirts of) T[RIEST]E | ||
| 24 | PECAN |
Nut quietly sitting on English throne (5)
|
| P (quietly) + E (English) + CAN (throne) | ||
| 26 | TET |
Offensive French head finally gets the boot (3)
|
| TÊT[E] (head [in] French) minus last letter (finally gets the boot), referring to the 1968 military campaign of the Vietnam War |
A lovely puzzle from Slormgorm with some very readable surfaces, like those for FLASH, DECAL (‘contrary youngster Man City ….’ would have been fun), FRESHMAN and, best of the lot, PARISIANS.
And I’m always glad when a clue mentioning cricket (28) doesn’t require in-depth knowledge of the game to solve.
27 was a better example of a hidden answer than 1a, though.
My LOI was the rather naughty LISTLESS (straight out of PRIVATE EYE, that one).
Thanks to Slormgorm and Cineraria for a blog that was spot on.
Another very enjoyable puzzle. Solvable clues, amusing, some obscurities (Astoria, shama) but very deducible. Liked Parisians, and listless got a smirk. Thanks both.
LOL, Slormgorm’s answer to 19A should be MISTRESS which also fits. Fun puzzle–thanks Stormgorm and Cinearia.
Lovely surfaces and a masterclass in cluing words the setter knows will be a bit obscure, such as the songbird. No harm in using them, most of us love learning them, but give us a fighting chance! I thought “Astoria” was spot-on as, despite having lived in Seattle and explored the Oregon coast I did not recall the town but once a few crossers were in along with the obvious bits of wordplay, the name “Astoria” came easily as it is also a famous hotel and a part of New York City. This whole thing felt like a gift from setter to solver to enjoy and untangle, where some puzzles feel more like the setter is there to cow you into submission.
Thank you Slormgorm and Cineraria.
What Diane@1 wrote. Good surfaces with a sense of humour are what I enjoy most. I add PECAN, HYSTERICS, and CHINESE to the list of likes.
I must admit I thought his cryptic definitions were a bit vague, but it is probably a wavelength thing
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
18dn weedhead meaning “a person who uses a lot of marijuana” is in Collins 2023 p 2251.
(Jay@3: Certainly MISTRESS would fit the grid at 19ac, but I hope you are not saying that it would fit the clue.)
Most enjoyable. LOI was WEEDHEAD which we finally worked out never having encounterd the word before – and the ‘user’ meaning passed us by; we just thought of weedheads as the heads of weeds (such as dandelions) in the lawn. We liked 21dn for ‘the Spanish’ not being the perennial ‘el’.
Thanks, Slormgorm and Cineraria.
Time once again to complain that TET is/was not an offensive. Tet is a holiday. The Tet Offensive was an offensive that began on Tet; the offensive was not named Tet, and you can’t use the word Tet alone to mean “offensive” or even “an offensive.” But I’ve made that complaint so often now that I should probably just give up.
mrpenny @8, while you are of course correct that TET is the holiday date on which the offensive began, I think it is fair to say that, for most westerners of a certain age, our only encounter with the word is as an adjective describing the military action. In the absence of the American anti-communist paranoia, we would not have heard of it. I think that renders Slormgorm’s clue satisfactory.
I agree with the general consensus that this was one of the funniest of cryptics. The definition of 12a PARISIANS is one for Eileen’s notebook, and there were at least a half-dozen more contained bits of biting satire: the eccentric English king at 24d PECAN; the source of religious mania at 17d HYSTERICS; the untrustworthy friend at 16d FIENDISH; the old man enjoying his ditzy date at 8d ELDER; etc.
Jay@3 and PB@6, I don’t think that a LISTLESS MISTRESS would be very effective at 19a.
Thanks Slormgorm for the smiles, and Cineraria for the synthesis.
All went well for me until i put in peeress as a lady of the house. Is that a thing in the UK upper house? And then i don’t know who Mo Farah is and thought i just didn’t know! The rest was great fun! Than you all
For a moment I had WILTLESS till I realized it wasn’t a word.
Anil@10: You do not need to know who Mo Farah is to solve the clue at 21dn. The definition is “Mo”, which is short for “moment” – see for example Collins 2023 p 1264, where the word is marked as informal and this meaning as chiefly Brit.
Cellomaniac @9: I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer about what I agree was a really fun crossword, but my objection to TET=offensive is grammatical, really. In the phrase “Tet Offensive,” “Tet” is not an adjective but an attributive–a noun yoked into service as an adjective. Once divorced from the word it modifies, an attributive goes back to being a plain old noun. So while “Tet Offensive” means “the major offensive of the Vietnam War that began on Tet”, “Tet” by itself is simply incapable of meaning that. As a noun rather than an attributive, it means “Vietnamese lunar new year.” Really, this is structurally the same complaint people have about all the setters who use “cathedral” to define ELY. Ely isn’t a cathedral; Ely Cathedral is a cathedral.
mrpenny@13, what I think I was trying to say, perhaps not that clearly, is that, to most westerners “Tet” does mean the offensive, at least as much as it means the holiday. In other words, it doesn’t need the word “offensive” to have that meaning – or at least the word “offensive” is implied.
I would say the same thing about Ely. While it is correct that Ely is the city, and the church is Ely Cathedral, most people equate the city to the cathedral, and so colloquially Ely can be taken to refer equally to the cathedral (unless the context requires otherwise).
This is one of those rare occasions where I disagree with you. I always find your comments informative, helpful and engaging.
26dn further to comments 8, 9, 13, 14: It seems to me that it would be possible and perfectly normal for Tet to be used as something like a metonym for the Tet offensive. Saying that it cannot carry such a meaning is denying the whole process by which language develops. Compare, for example, Fleet Street which is defined in Collins 2023 p 748 as “1 a street in central London in which many newspaper offices were formerly situated 2 British journalism or journalists collectively”. However, the use of Tet in that way does not appear to have gained sufficient traction in the language to be included in the latest print editions of either Chambers or Collins. On that basis, I feel that setters would be well advised to avoid that use.
Further to this discussion, and in particular, mrpenney@8, I think that that is akin to saying that Verdun was not a battle, but is (and can only be) a city in France. But I would accept “battle” as a clue for “VERDUN” any day. A bit indeterminate, but acceptable. In the US, speaking of the history of the Vietnam War, it would be commonplace to speak of something as occurring “during Tet,” meaning “during the Tet Offensive,” and not meaning “during the Lunar New Year festival.” In any event, for this puzzle, once I had worked out the wordplay, I knew exactly what Slormgorm was getting at.
Pelham Barton@6–no, just an attempt at humor, although one might argue that it almost fits the clue if you call it a cryptic definition. I’ve seen worse.
Celomaniac@9—is a listless mistress better than no mistress at all? A worthy question for the great philosophers.
Cellomaniac @14: thank you for the very kind words, and if one doesn’t disagree here from time to time, one is surely doing it wrong!
I really enjoyed this one, particularly PARISIANS and LISTLESS – who doesn’t love a bit of cheekiness in their daily puzzle?!