A fun, beautiful puzzle from SOLOMON with several outstanding surfaces.
FF: 10 DD: 9, with a Pangram to boot.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BONNIE |
Pretty one wearing timeless headwear (6)
|
| I ( one ) in BONNEt ( headwear, without T – time ) | ||
| 4 | SMASHING |
Cry about Pulp breaking up (8)
|
| SING ( cry ) around MASH ( pulp )_ | ||
| 10 | LORD MAYOR |
My, my — hosts start to audition men for Dick Whittington? (4,5)
|
| LORD ( my ) [ MY containing A ( Audition, first letter ) ] OR ( men ) | ||
| 11 | DJINN |
DJ alongside bar getting spirits (5)
|
| DJ INN ( bar ) | ||
| 12 | SPANDEX |
Exhausted stand-up with old material (7)
|
| SP ( Stand-uP, exhausted i.e. without inner letters ) AND ( with ) EX ( old ) | ||
| 13 | OPEN-AIR |
Outdoor opera in Barking (4-3)
|
| [ OPERA IN ]* | ||
| 14 | PLAZA |
Square up, finally, with extreme characters in LA (5)
|
| P ( uP, last letter ) [ AZ ( extreme characters ) in LA ] | ||
| 15 | BLOBBIEST |
Most spotted black ties ruined by black pitch (9)
|
| B ( black ) LOB ( pitch ) B ( black ) [ TIES ]* | ||
| 17 | NUMBER TWO |
Second-in-command asleep beside Queen Elizabeth II? (6,3)
|
| NUMB ( asleep ) ER ( queen elizabeth ) TWO ( II ) | ||
| 19 | RAPID |
Quick, informal talk performed without introduction (5)
|
| tRAP ( informal talk, without starting letter ) dID ( performed, without starting letter ) | ||
| 21 | NITRATE |
Chemical that indicates the spread of lice? (7)
|
| cryptic def; read as NIT RATE ( ~ spread of lice ) | ||
| 23 | PLASTIC |
Petrochemical products and wine held by limited company (7)
|
| ASTI ( wine ) in PLC ( limited company ) | ||
| 25 | VOTER |
Left or right winger putting a cross into the box? (5)
|
| &lit; nice surface with the football connotation | ||
| 26 | FREQUENCY |
French queen upset about yankee’s ‘commonness’ (9)
|
| FR ( french ) [ QUEEN ]* C ( about ) Y ( yankee ) | ||
| 27 | SIDEWAYS |
Players swing end-to-end and left-to- right? (8)
|
| SIDE ( players ) [ WAYS ( swing = SWAY, end-to-end : the first S moving to the last ) | ||
| 28 | SAVAGE |
Slate and silver kept in store (6)
|
| AG ( silver ) in SAVE ( store ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BALLS |
DOS is rubbish (5)
|
| BALL ( DO, party, dance etc ) S | ||
| 2 | NIRVANA |
Group turning up in vehicle protected by gunners (7)
|
| NI ( reverse of IN ) [ VAN ( vehicle ) in RA ( gunners ) ] | ||
| 3 | IMMEDIATE |
I’m Solomon, the crossword setter infiltrating meeting that’s urgent (9)
|
| IM ME ( solomon ) [ I ( the crossword setter ) in DATE ( meeting ) ] | ||
| 5 | MARCO POLO |
Merchant’s stuff sent north atop old motor (5,4)
|
| MARC ( reverse of CRAM, staff ) O ( old ) POLO ( motor, car model ) | ||
| 6 | SEDGE |
Upset, say, Des and Iris? (5)
|
| reverse of EG ( say ) DES | ||
| 7 | IMITATE |
Copy what a tigged child says at the end of game (7)
|
| I’M IT ( what a tigged child says ) AT E ( gamE, last letter ) | ||
| 8 | GENERATED |
Disturbed teenager initially dreaded getting triggered (9)
|
| [ TEENAGER ]* D ( Dreaded, initially ) | ||
| 9 | LYNX |
Vera, last November, turned to kiss Cat (4)
|
| LYNn ( vera, referring to the iconic singer ) with the last N – november changing to X ( kiss ) | ||
| 14 | PENKNIVES |
Distribute seven pink implements among the Swiss Guard? (9)
|
| [ SEVEN PINK ]* | ||
| 15 | BUTTERFLY |
Old caterpillar that’s fat, loud and extremely lazy (9)
|
| BUTTER ( fat ) F ( loud ) LY ( LazY, end characters ) | ||
| 16 | BARRACUDA |
What’s chewed by some Hebridean sheep? A fish (9)
|
| BARRA ( island in the outer hebrides ) CUD ( what sheep chew ) A | ||
| 18 | MUTATED |
Genetically modified mongrel biting a journalist (7)
|
| [ MUTT ( mongrel ) containing A ] ED ( journalist ) | ||
| 20 | PETUNIA |
Woman’s plane, on vacation, is leaving African country (7)
|
| PE ( PlanE, on vacation i.e. without inner letters ) TUNisIA ( african country, without IS ) | ||
| 22 | ARROW |
Who killed Cock Robin? The first character quietly dispatched missile (5)
|
| spARROW ( who killed cock robin, without S – first character P – quietly ) | ||
| 23 | PHEW |
Hard chair’s put outside — that’s a relief (4)
|
| H ( hard ) in PEW ( chair ) | ||
| 24 | CLYDE |
Firth of 150 yards depth close to Ayrshire (5)
|
| CL ( 150, roman numerals ) Y ( yards ) D ( depth ) E ( ayrshirE, last letter ) |
I agree that this was fun and an excellent puzzle. But I thought it was only of medium difficulty. One quibble about 6d, is iris a SEDGE?
Small typo in the blog 5d: stuff not staff.
Thanks to both for the usual high standard .
Like SM not sure iris is a SEDGE, nor that PEW is a chair (rather a long bench)
Enjoyed the puzzle nonetheless
If someone says “Take a pew”, they mean take a chair, so I was fine with that, but I have to agree about SEDGE. IMMEDIATE, BARRACUDA and FREQUENCY my favourites.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
6dn: Chambers 2016 p 1412 has “sedge¹ n any species of Carex or other plant of the Cyperaceae … ; extended to iris and other plants”.
23dn: Further to Petert@3, Chambers p 1159 has pew n “a seat (inf)”.
Excellent puzzle. Lots of good clues with the icing on the cake being the pangram and the combination of the first across clue and the final down clue. I think the surface for 14a and for 2d is probably related (together sort of describes their end) plus perhaps 22d, missing the first letter, but I can’t see anything else.
Apart from that, my favourite was BLOBBIEST – great word.
Thanks to Turbolegs and Solomon
Sadly the wisdom of Solomon eluded me a bit on this one – that’s probably just me being Autistic and sometimes finding it hard to tune in to a Setter’s thinking.
There was still enough for me to have a worthwhile go though.
Thanks to Solomon and Turbolegs.
I had 19a, more simply, as RAP (informal talk) and ID (performed without start).
Thanks to Turbolegs and SOLOMON.
Thanks Solomon for a great set of clues with my favourites being FREQUENCY, OPEN-AIR, NUMBER TWO, and SPANDEX. I found the NW corner the most difficult and I couldn’t parse BALLS and LYNX. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Agree it was the trickiest ft puzzle of a gentle week but I wouldn’t say dd=9. Liked butterfly. Thanks both. Good puzzle and blog, as ever.
The upper left took as long for me as the rest of the puzzle put together, or at least it felt that way. I liked the fat, lazy caterpillar and the nit rate. (I’m no fan of insects, normally…)
We found this quite tricky but got there eventually. The NW quadrant was blank for ages but realising we needed only X and Z to complete a pangram helped us there.
We’re with hapdaniel at #7 about the parsing of RAPID: Chambers 2014 has ‘an informal talk …’ under rap but nothing of that nature under trap.
Thanks, Solomon and Turbolegs.
James P predicted a stinker today, but it turned out to be quite approachable for me (nowhere near a 9)
The surfaces were almost all great – my favourite sort of puzzle. I best liked SMASHING, BALLS, and BUTTERFLY and could have ticked many more. I am with Big Al and@11 and hapdaniel@7 on RAPID.
A couple of NHOs – I had no idea what a tigged child is, never mind what it says, and POLO is new to me as a car. It was disappointing to see woman as the definition for PETUNIA, and Vera Lynn – really? Even though I did not think much of the clue, I looked Vera up and she seems to have been quite an interesting person.
Thanks Solomon for a very enjoyable puzzle and thanks Turbolegs for the blog
Thanks to Pelham Barton@4 for citing Chambers as the definition for SEDGE. I fear that Chambers has little knowledge of horticulture,SEDGE is indeed a member of the genus cyperaceae whereas iris’s genus is iridaceae , two completely different families.
SM@13: Possibly people with a specialist interest in horticulture may wish to restrict the way that they use the word “sedge” amongst themselves, but, as a matter of principle, I do not accept that specialist interest groups have a right to restrict the way in which words are used among the population generally. While I do not claim that the teams of professional lexicographers who compile the various standard dictionaries are infallible, I will say that, if a definition appears in any one of them, then that is strong evidence that it reflects usage among the general population. As a matter of practical necessity, I believe that crossword setters have a right to regard any definition appearing in a standard dictionary as valid. I will keep on making this point as often as necessary.
Pelham Barton @14: Well said.
Thanks Pelham Barton@14.
I do not think that I was being over pedants to point out a pretty basic error when one plant is placed in the wrong genus. However, I reluctantly accept that different standards of accuracy apply in crossword land
Thanks Pelham Barton@14.
I do not think that I was being over pedantic to point out a pretty basic error when one plant is placed in the wrong genus. However, I reluctantly accept that different standards of accuracy apply in crossword land
PM’s comments #14 are fair enough, though I would take issue with the suggestion that the extended Chambers definition of “sedge” reflects usage among the population generally. The population generally surely think of sedge as something reedy. I suspect Chambers is basing its extended definition on usage by a very few people. It prompts me to wonder how many instances of a usage are required before that usage is justified in finding a place in the dictionary.
I found today’s puzzle extremely difficult.
Thanks as ever to Turbolegs for the blog and to those who have commented.
Quite an interesting back-and-forth regarding SEDGE. I find when solving it’s more satisfying if the definition clicks without needing a dictionary, so I try to use definitions that feel intuitively correct as well as being supported by the dictionary. However, this is more difficult to do within certain fields I know little about, e.g. gardening/plants. In such cases I have to put more faith in what the dictionary says. Perhaps I should’ve clued SIDLE instead.
In response to Martyn @12 and Solomon @19. I can recall playing TIG when I was very young ( 70 years ago) along with other simple pastimes such as marbles and conkers. Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Interesting that no one else has commented on the BONNIE and CLYDE mini-theme. Looking at it again, I think the surface of 14a is indeed thematic and is top notch.
Ken @ #20. Wasn’t it “TAG”?
I see Chambers lists both names, so I guess that’s OK