The 15×15 Spectator blogging schedule pits me against (shurely ‘with’, Ed) Fieldfare again…what kind of JAMMY are we after here – jammy as in lucky? jammy as in filled like a doughnut?…
The preamble states that:
“The unclued lights consist of three associations with each of the three syllables of 40 Across.”
So 40A is the key to success, but it seemed to hold out for quite a while, although it only had one unclued crosser…
I had a few possibles – HARANGUE, SOMBRE, SABLE – before I eventually took an educated guess at 40A being BLACK-CUR-RANT (jam).
And then things fell into place – three synonyms each for BLACK, CUR and RANT are unclued, with BOYCOTT as ‘black’, as in to ‘blackball’ someone from membership of a club, probably the last to fall…
My thanks to Fieldfare (aka Imogen/Vulcan?) for an enjoyable challenge. I learned a couple of things along the way – OLDUVAI Gorge; CYMA; AVERROISM – but they were all gettable from wordplay, and then check-able afterwards…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing |
||
| 10 | AMBULANCEMAN | Numb, injured with a manacle; his help on the way? (12)
anag, i.e. injured, of NUMB + A MANACLE |
||
| 11 | TASTE | Sample a nation, taking the south to heart (5)
( |
||
| 13 | SNUBBER | I rebuke nurse, failing to keep books (7)
SNU_ER (anag, i.e. failing, of NURSE) around (keeping) BB (books, abbrev) |
||
| 16 | LURK | Prowl around, Rector, during endless gospel (4)
LU_K( |
||
| 17 | HOGMANAY | Swineherd always gets a day to celebrate (8)
HOG MAN (a man who looks after hogs, so swineherd) + AY (always) |
||
| 21 | COERCION | Force to translate Cicero? No (8)
anag, i.e. to translate, of CICERO NO |
||
| 22 | RECURVE | Bend back always, turning to grab dog (7)
RE_VE (EVER, always, turning) around (grabbing) CUR (dog) |
||
| 26 | IKEA | One parrot may pick up sticks here? (4)
I (one) + KEA (NZ parrot) [one of the many Chambers definitions of ‘stick’ is (in plural) ‘pieces of furniture’] |
||
| 28 | ENDWISE | On purpose, learned to be upright (7)
END (purpose) + WISE (learned) |
||
| 30 | OCTETTES | One month Fieldfare nearly turned away pairs of quartets (8)
OCT (October, one month) + ETTES (sette( |
||
| 34 | AMPHORIC | With amplifier, silly choir like the sound of blowing into bottle (8)
AMP (amplifier) + HORIC (anag, i.e. silly, of CHOIR) |
||
| 35 | CYMA | March girl back to college for moulding (4)
AMY (Amy March, from Little Women) + C (college), all back = CYMA |
||
| 36 | HELIAC | In Chile, a shifting of the sun (6)
anag, i.e. shifting, of CHILE A |
||
| 38 | OLDUVAI | Ancient sort of light excellent in gorge (7)
OLD (ancient) + UV (ultraviolet, sort of light) + AI (A1, excellent) [Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania] |
||
| 39 | ABEAR | Once endure a clumsy churl (5)
A + BEAR (clumsy churl) |
||
| 41 | TSETSE | Poet initially doubled sleeping-sickness risk from this? (6)
TSE (initials of T S Eliot, poet), doubles to give TSETSE! |
||
| 42 | THE BENDS | Cause of this sickness is rising (3,5)
punning CD – if a scuba diver rises too quickly to the surface, they may get THE BENDS… |
||
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing |
||
| 1 | HATCHER | PM dismissing first person who devises a plot (7)
(Margaret) ( |
||
| 2 | AMAH | A thigh raised for nurse (4)
A + MAH (ham, thigh, raised) |
||
| 3 | AUTUMN | November is the last of it, in two senses (6)
double CD! N (November, phonetic alphabet) is the last letter of autumN; and November is the last month of the calendar Autumn, which spans September/October/November |
||
| 4 | GALANT | Madrigal, antique, conveying elegant style (6)
hidden word in, i.e. conveyed by, ‘magriGAL ANTique’ |
||
| 5 | UNGRACED | Deprived of gun, criminal sprinted (8)
UNG (anag, i.e. criminal, of GUN) + RACED (sprinted) |
||
| 6 | RENEGER | I renounce greener moves (7)
anag, i.e. moves, of GREENER |
||
| 8 | AVERROISM | Maintain one’s submitted to Rome mostly mediaeval theology (9)
AVER (maintain, state) + RO_M( [the doctrine of the Arab philosopher Averrhoes (1126-98)] |
||
| 9 | LARKING | Having fun hunting songbirds? (7)
double defn. – to LARK (about) can be to have fun; and to LARK can be to hunt larks, or songbirds |
||
| 12 | SAGACITY | Wisdom where lots of old people’s homes are? (8)
Saga is a brand associated with the over 50s (not old, from where I am standing!), so if they built a city, it might be a SAGA CITY…full of wise ‘older’ people! |
||
| 18 | FILIGREE | Payment to cover one girl working delicate tracery (8)
F_EE (payment) around (covering) I (one) + LIGR (anag, i.e. working, of GIRL) |
||
| 19 | AESCHYLUS | After one Scots school year start to loathe American dramatist (9)
AE (Scottish, a, one) + SCH (school) + Y (year) + L (start to Loathe) + US (American) |
||
| 23 | BESMIRCH | Soil from Epsom regularly put round tree? On the contrary (8)
B_IRCH (tree) put around ESM (regular letters from EpSoM), not the other way round |
||
| 27 | AT PEACE | How we are after war: dead! (2,5)
double defn – after a war, the combatants might be AT PEACE; and someone who is dead is often referred to as AT PEACE |
||
| 29 | ESCORTS | Old cars? Charlie’s taken by E-types (7)
E + S_ORTS (types) around (taking) C (Charlie, cocaine) |
||
| 31 | OPAQUE | Pop a question, a bit obscure (6)
hidden word in, i.e. a bit of, ‘pOP A QUEstion’ |
||
| 33 | VAULT | Spring very advanced last month (5)
V (very) + A (advanced) + ULT (last month, ultimo) |
||
| 37 | BAND | Players not allowed to speak (4)
homophone, i.e. to speak – BANNED (not allowed) can sound like BAND (players) |
||
Enjoyed this one. Many thanks for the detailed blog and the animation! I recall completing all the clues before landing on BLACKCURRANT and deciding on the included lights. ‘Sticks’ for furniture was new to me and I found OLDUVAI listed under the entry for ‘gorge’ in Bradfords, so I dare say it’s been clued before, though my cursory search didn’t find anything.
“aka Imogen/Vulcan?” – correct.
Thanks to Fieldfare and mc_rapper67.