It has been a while since I crossed swords (or words) with Brunel, so I was curious to know how this solving and blogging experience would turn out.
I found this to be at the challenging end of the Indy spectrum, and I have to confess that I needed to cheat to finish the puzzle – I just couldn’t see what was happening at 26A, and was blinded into thinking that the references were all to cricket, not to tennis or snooker. Once I revealed the answer, it seemed so obvious. I’ll be kicking myself for the rest of the week because of that.
Apart from that, I think that I have arrived at a set of correct answers which I have parsed to my satisfaction, albeit not without a good deal of head-scratching. The entry at 6, although it could be worked out from the wordplay, was new to me, as was the parasite at 14 and this use of “antic” at 19.
There was much that I enjoyed about this puzzle, so singling out favourites is not easy task: 2, for the misdirection around “humming”; 12, for smoothness of surface; 16, for making me smile; 21, for originality; and above all 24/27 for the reference to “tongue / sticking it out”, straddling the break between wordplay and definition.
I am very much looking forward to my next cruciverbal duel with Brunel already!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
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||
| 1 | HOARSE |
Rough man carries blades (6)
|
| OARS (=blades, for rowing) in HE (=man, i.e. male subject pronoun) | ||
| 5 | SHORTAGE |
Want footwear imprinted with right label (8)
|
| [R (=right) + TAG (=label)] in SHOE (=footwear); a want is a need, shortage | ||
| 9 | CONTESSA |
Aristo abroad has set no clear limits on returning (8)
|
| Hidden (“limits”) and reversed (“on returning”) in “hAS SET NO Clear”; a contessa is an Italian countess, hence “aristo abroad” | ||
| 10 | TAUNTS |
Family member housed in back street digs (6)
|
| AUNT (=family member) in TS (ST=street; “back” indicates reversal); digs are taunts, jibes at someone | ||
| 11 | MORE |
Sir Patrick, one hears? Rather, Sir Thomas (4)
|
| Homophone of “Moore (=Sir Patrick, i.e. the TV astronomer)”; the reference is to Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII and executed by the latter | ||
| 12 | CELLOPHANE |
Suspicious phone call about drug packaging, that’s clear (10)
|
| E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) in *(PHONE CALL); “suspicious” is anagram indicator; cellophane is transparent, hence “that’s clear” | ||
| 13 | ASTHMA |
Sickly Martha’s lacking resistance to condition (6)
|
| *(MA<r>THA’S); “lacking resistance (=R)” means letter “r” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “sickly” | ||
| 15 | WHITE-HOT |
Blazing with the oxygen injected at extreme temperature (5-3)
|
| O (=oxygen, i.e. chemical symbol) in *(WITH THE); “blazing” is anagram indicator | ||
| 18 | YAMMERED |
Rejection of novel by unknown ultimately unfair, journalist complained (8)
|
| Y (=unknown, in algebra) + AMME (EMMA=novel, by Jane Austen; “rejection of” indicates reversal) + <unfai>R (“ultimately” means last letter only) + ED. (=journalist, i.e. editor); to yammer is to whine, wail, hence “complain” | ||
| 22 | SLEWED |
Toboggan, impeded by damp, losing rear end, spun awkwardly (6)
|
| WE<t> (=damp; “losing rear end” means last letter is dropped) in SLED (=toboggan) | ||
| 24/27 | STAYING THE COURSE |
Yes, sir, Cath’s misbehaving with tongue, sticking it out (7,3,6)
|
| *(YES SIR CATH + TONGUE); “misbehaving” is anagram indicator | ||
| 26 | CUED |
Drove ball, umpire’s call abruptly being reversed (4)
|
| DEUC<e> (=umpire’s call, in tennis); “abruptly” means last letter is dropped; “being reversed” indicates reversal; to cue is to hit (“drive”) the ball, in snooker, billiards, etc | ||
| 27 |
See 24
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|
| 28 | INTIMATE |
Friendly hint (8)
|
| Double definition: as an adjective, intimate is friendly, closely acquainted with AND as a verb, to intimate is to hint at, imply, suggest | ||
| 29 | SHILLING |
Henry and Brunel will stop Carol and Bob once (8)
|
| [H (=Henry) + I’LL (=Brunel will, i.e. our setter)] in SING (=carol, as verb); colloquially, a bob was a shilling, hence “bob once” | ||
| 30 | RETORT |
Comeback by Red Queen, a cutting remark (6)
|
| TROT (=Red, i.e. Trotskyite) + ER (=Queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina); “comeback by” indicates reversal | ||
| DOWN
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||
| 2 | ODOROUS |
Humming birds long ago heading off across border into Peru, finally (7)
|
| [<borde>R <int>O <per>U] in <d>ODOS (=birds long ago, i.e. long since extinct; “heading off” means first letter is dropped); “finally” means last letters only are used | ||
| 3 | RETIE |
Again join three notes together (5)
|
| RE + TI + E (=three notes, i.e. in music) | ||
| 4 | EASY CHAIR |
Taps into uncomplicated atmosphere that offers comfort (4,5)
|
| [C (=tap, i.e. cold) + H (=hot, i.e. tap)] in [EASY (=uncomplicated) + AIR (=atmosphere)] | ||
| 5 | SWALLOW |
Neck down covering for offspring of this? (7)
|
| Feathery down will cover the young of a swallow; to neck a drink is to swallow it, down it | ||
| 6 | OUTRO |
Bars to close, maybe, in unfashionable, half-demolished thoroughfare (5)
|
| OUT (=unfashionable) + RO<ad> (=thoroughfare; “half-demolished” means two of four letters are dropped); an out’ro is the concluding section of a song (hence “bars”, in music), TV programme, etc, as opposed to an intro | ||
| 7 | TOUGHIE |
Yuck! That is excessively short up top, generating something hard (7)
|
| TO<o> (=excessively; “short” means last letter is dropped) + UGH (=yuck!) + I.E. (=that is, id est) | ||
| 8 | GET INTO |
Come to like Don (3,4)
|
| Double definition: to get into an activity is to come to like it AND to don an item of clothing is to get into it | ||
| 14 | TOM |
Cat‘s backside cleared of parasite (3)
|
| <bot>TOM (=backside); “cleared of parasite (=bot, maggot of botfly)” means letters “bot” are dropped | ||
| 16 | INSPECTOR |
One investigating report of local ghost? (9)
|
| Homophone (“report”) of “local (=inn, tavern) + spectre (=ghost)”! | ||
| 17 | HEW |
Grant possibly rumoured to be cut (3)
|
| Homophone (“rumoured”) of HUGH (=Grant possibly, i.e. British actor) | ||
| 19 | ANTIOCH |
Fantastic, but dated, hotel encapsulates old classical city (7)
|
| O (=old, as in OT) in [ANTIC (=fantastic, grotesque; “but dated” indicates that this usage is archaic) + H (=hotel)] | ||
| 20 | MAYORAL |
Demo slashed by 40%, overlooked by county, concerning local bigwig (7)
|
| MAYO (=county, in Ireland) + RAL<ly> (=demo; “slashed by 40%” means two of five letters are dropped) | ||
| 21 | DOTTING |
Absorbing times doing what results in …? (7)
|
| T T (=times, i.e. 2 x T=time) in DOING; the process of dotting leads to … at the end of the clue! | ||
| 23 | EVENTER |
Horsewoman always accepts direction given by conservationists (7)
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| [E (=direction, i.e. east) + NT (=conservationists, i.e. National Trust)] in EVER (=always) | ||
| 25 | NAEVI |
Dave blowing top in tight spots (5)
|
| *(<d>AVE + IN); “blows top” means first letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “tight (=drunk)”; a naevus is a pigmented spot, a birthmark | ||
| 26 | COMET |
Cost nearly something astronomical (5)
|
| COME T<o> (=cost, amount to), “nearly” means last letter is dropped |
Thanks both. Certainly tough, but enjoyable- thank goodness that Emma clued as ‘novel’ has appeared before, otherwise YAMMERED may have been beyond me. Even in the apparently harmless (3 letters) TOM I had no idea how we were supposed to arrive at the answer.
Just a couple of observations. I wouldn’t class them as criticisms. I also failed to get CUED but whoever heard of a snooker player ‘driving’ a ball? Why not put “Hit ball …”? I also felt “Suspicious” was unnecessary at the beginning of 12a given that there is an E at the end of CELLOPHANE, so “about” can indicate the anagram.
Thanks RatkojaRiku and Brunel.
Yes, challenging it was.
5d, why ‘offspring’? – why not just ‘covering for this’?!
Needed parsing for 11a; The More you know, the Moore you don’t know!
Was lucky to see and parse CUED correctly.
Not one clue that stands out as fav, but the general quality is excellent.
More, please!
Thanks Brunel. This was tough in spots; I missed CUED and NAEVI and there were a few bits I couldn’t parse. Most of this, however, fell into place without much problem with my top picks being HOARSE, TAUNTS, YAMMERED, OUTRO, and EVENTER. Thanks RR for the blog.
Nice puzzle… …mostly. I liked the clue with Cath sticking out her tongue best for the entertaining surface. Defeated by CUED where the definition “DROVE” looks just wrong. HIT would have been much better, not least because it make a better surface… If a player is given out LBW and the UltraEdge shows the batter had actually hit it then the umpire would have to reverse his call to “Not out”.
Thanks both.
As others said, tough. Needed lots of help to drag me to the finish. En route enjoyed CELLOPHANE among several others.
Happy memories of this from the Bonzo Dog Band …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMqdwtd8TrQ
Took a while to get started, like a long time… finally kicked off in SW with MAYORAL n ANTIOCH (refreshing not to encounter Ur!)… things fell into place, in a clockwise direction, once a few crossers emerged, with LOI RETORT, altho I put RETURN in first, having temporarily mislaid TROT=RED, doh!
Good fun…
Thanks Brunel n RatkojaRiku