The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hi everyone. Bluebird takes us into the bank holiday weekend with an enjoyable puzzle that I found a little gentler than I was expecting. It includes an extremely clever &lit at 16a, which is my hands-down (wings-down?) favourite. Leaving aside the fact that I’d let the ravens fly free, it’s a stunning clue. Thanks Bluebird!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | King taken in by Alcoholics Anonymous group (4) |
| ABBA — BB (King) inside (taken in by) AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) | |
| 3a | High seas seemed to be a source of oil (6,4) |
| SESAME SEED — An anagram of (high) SEAS SEEMED | |
| 10a | Gentle one moved by ‘blubber queen’ nickname (9) |
| SOBRIQUET — QUIET (gentle) with the I (one) moved next to (by) SOB (blubber) and R (queen) | |
| 11a | Sailors discovered new town (5) |
| CREWE — CREW (sailors) + nEw with outer letters removed (discovered …) | |
| 12a | Rename city in the grip of revolt (7) |
| RELABEL — LA (city) inside (in the grip of) REBEL (revolt) | |
| 13a | Does bum express pong escaping trousers? (7) |
| SPONGES — ExpresS PONG EScaping holds (trousers) the answer | |
| 14a | Sailor initially went for a number of knots (5) |
| SPEED — Sailor initially + PEED (went) | |
| 16a | Queen’s worker, perhaps removing hard part of raven’s wing (9) |
| BEEFEATER — BEE (queen’s worker, perhaps) plus, removing H (hard), FEAT[h]ER (part of raven’s wing). I love the double meaning of “queen’s worker” here, the definition referring to a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London, specifically the Ravenmaster | |
| 17a | Stylish sort of sailor/25D (9) |
| SARTORIAL — An anagram of (sort of) SAILOR/TAR (25D) | |
| 19a | Game of cards? (5) |
| JACKS — Two definitions | |
| 21a | Soothing ointment male put on one soft testicle after cycling (3,4) |
| LIP BALM — M (male) put next to (on) I (one), P (soft) and BALL (testicle) after cycling the letters round | |
| 22a | German who sang with pop star for Capital (7) |
| NICOSIA — NICO (German who sang) with SIA (pop star) | |
| 24a | Sailor that’s dead smooth (5) |
| DRAKE — D (dead) + RAKE (smooth) | |
| 25a | Plastic water bottles fit, and dishes, cutlery, etc. (9) |
| TABLEWARE — An anagram of (plastic) WATER surrounds (bottles) ABLE (fit) | |
| 26a | Comfortable existence of English setter, say, getting played with (4,6) |
| EASY STREET — E (English) + SETTER, SAY getting anagrammed (played with) | |
| 27a | What’s in the sea? Unopened maps from the East (4) |
| SALT — Missing the first letter (unopened) aLTAS (maps) going right to left (from the east) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | A bull with ornate balls is fascinating (7) |
| ABSORBS — A + BS (bull) + ORBS (ornate balls) | |
| 2d | Site of tower originally built north of Lincoln, Lincolnshire’s capital (5) |
| BABEL — The first letter of (originally) Built above (north of, in a down entry) ABE (Lincoln) + Lincolnshire’s capital | |
| 4d | Balance caps from bottles including Maraschino liqueur I spilled (11) |
| EQUILIBRIUM — An anagram of (… spilled) the initials of (caps from) Bottles Including Maraschino plus LIQUEUR I | |
| 5d | Key from a large Tesla (3) |
| ALT — A + L (large) + T (tesla, SI unit) | |
| 6d | Two characters from the heart of friendly, intimate circle (7) |
| ENCLOSE — Two letters from the middle of (two characters from the heart of) friENdly + CLOSE (intimate) | |
| 7d | Animated green flying alien I see (9) |
| ENERGETIC — GREEN anagrammed (flying) + ET (alien) + I + C (see) | |
| 8d | Furniture one puts clothes on (7) |
| DRESSER — A double definition | |
| 9d | Sailor’s transgressions (6) |
| SINBAD — The transgressions are SIN and BAD | |
| 13d | Charming head of Eton entering live quiz for pupils? (8,3) |
| SPELLING BEE — SPELLING (charming) + the first letter of (head of) Eton going into (entering) BE (live) | |
| 15d | Exciting opener with USA and their Ryder Cup opponents? (9) |
| EUROPEANS — An anagram of (exciting) OPENER with USA | |
| 17d | Spot vacant sweetshop where freemasons gather (7) |
| SPLODGE — Without inner letters (vacant) SweetshoP + LODGE (where freemasons gather) | |
| 18d | Wild asses crushed oranges (7) |
| ONAGERS — An anagram of (crushed) ORANGES | |
| 19d | He fell fetching water – wet top’s removed, and coat (6) |
| JACKET — JACK (he fell fetching water) + wET in which the first letter is taken off (top’s removed) | |
| 20d | Oldest, most virtuous woman repeatedly drinking beer (7) |
| STALEST — ST ST (most virtuous woman repeatedly) taking in (drinking) ALE (beer) | |
| 23d | Climb endlessly on a ladder-like structure (5) |
| SCALA — Without its last letter (… endlessly) SCALe (climb) on A | |
| 25d | Pitch from Hollywood A-lister starting late (3) |
| TAR — Taken from the second letter (… starting late) sTAR (Hollywood A-lister) | |
A few nautical references here: Sinbad, Crew(e), Jack, Speed (knots), Drake, Tar, Salt. Could possibly sneak in AB (AB<).
Can’t help but admire a setter who can look at LIP BALM and come up with that clue. Wasn’t mad on the crossing JACKS & JACKET but that’s a minor quibble. No hope of parsing NICOSIA.
An accessible puzzle, but outstanding in terms of the surface readings, so many of which are lyrical, and yet economic and precise.
The best in the box, SOBRIQUET and BEEFEATER, were the very two that stumped the longest on parsing.
Is the latter an &lit? I confess, I’m never sure of the subtle difference ( cf semi &lit …or CAD ).
Wonderful work, by setter & blogger, thanks BB and Kitty
Agree with Hovis@1 re LIP BALM!
Ian@2, you are not alone. So many people struggle with this.
An &lit is a clue in which the whole clue is the wordplay; simultaneously the whole clue is the definition (albeit sometimes a bit elliptical or whimsical).
I’ve heard semi-&lit clues called (not by their fans!) as “failed &lits”. I do think some might fall into the category, but usually they are what I think of as &lits with dangling link words: a bit which would function as a link in a normal two part clue, but instead sticks out at the end. If that makes no sense, never mind, ignore me, it’s just how I think of them myself. The usual description is that it’s a clue where the whole clue is the definition, but only part of the clue is wordplay.
CAD (clue as definition) was coined to be self-explanatory and thus avoid jargon. If its meaning is not actually self-evident, though, it becomes yet another term to add to the confusion so I don’t tend to use it. I’d describe it as a catch-all term to cover any clue where the [whole] clue is the definition. This makes it a nice safe descriptor if you aren’t sure whether a clue is a full- or semi-&lit.
I’d heard of Sia so assumed Nico had to be a German singer, Google documents her interesting career but I thought it a little too niche to be commonly known.
Aside from the clue for LIP BALM, the surface for 1d was equally Paulesque.
Thanks both. Enjoyable in the main, with my main observation exactly along the lines of Gnomad@4 re NICOSIA which was only ever likely to be reverse-engineered – ‘German who sang’ is meagre fare, even before we factor in it is referencing a German many of us have not heard of (despite previous appearance(s) in the Indy)
Kitty@3
Thank you, so much, your excellent explanation, and the time and effort you’ve taken.
“To be sure”, as the Irish say, I was not questioning your brilliant blog, it’s my old brain that’s the culprit.
I will print out your reply, and read it often!
Ta again, IanB
I’ve always thought sailors were underrepresented in crossword clues so great to see the theme. Sarcasm aside it was a great puzzle. I enjoyed LIP BALM and the &lit of BEEFEATER.
Thanks Bluebird and Kitty
I got NICOSIA straight away as I have a fairly decent knowledge of both capital cities and musicians, so I’ve heard of both Nico (famous for her album with The Velvet Underground – the one with the banana cover designed by Andy Warhol) and Sia (‘Chandelier’ among other hits)
Unfortunately 9D tripped me up as I thought we were looking for a double definition. Seeing ‘transgressions’ made me assume the answer would be plural so I put the S in at the end, but then I couldn’t get 14A which is what I should’ve solved before but ‘peed’ for ‘went’ had escaped my brain, and thinking the def. was ‘knots’ made me justify my S. Oh well, you live and learn!
Thanks Kitty and Bluebird