Fun challenge from SOLOMON !
FF: 9 DD: 7
I have one clue that I am unable to fully parse.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MILK |
Dairy product delivered by Dutch airline travelling west across India (4)
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reverse of KLM ( dutch airline ) containing I ( india ) |
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| 3 | OSCAR WILDE |
Victorian playwright’s massive carriage reportedly out of control (5,5)
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OS ( massive, OverSize ) CAR ( carriage ) WILDE ( sounds like WILD, out of control ) |
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| 10 | GATECRASH |
Barge into audience by accident (9)
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GATE ( audience ) CRASH ( accident ) |
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| 11 | OUNCE |
Small piece of skinned cod Mum’s brother left unused (5)
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O ( cOd, skinned i.e. without end characters ) [ UNClE ( mum's brother, without L – left ) ] |
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| 12 | TRUMPET |
Proclaim the President in America and in France (7)
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TRUMP ( president, america ) ET ( and, french ) |
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| 13 | ONGOING |
One cuts, with seconds to go, two songs in progress (7)
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I ( one ) in sONGs sONGs [ two songs, without SS – seconds ] |
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| 14 | SHELL |
Oil company beginning to search somewhere underground? (5)
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S ( Search, first letter ) HELL ( somewhere underground ) |
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| 15 | CHINATOWN |
Friend at the west end of Northampton, perhaps for a movie (9)
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CHINA ( friend, cockney rhyme for MATE ) TOWN ( northampton, perhaps ) |
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| 17 | ELABORATE |
Ornate pants tear after old boy with beer does a back flip (9)
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OB ( old boy ) ELA ( reverse of ALE – beer ) [ TEAR ]* |
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| 19 | LOFTY |
Cuckoo to fly high (5)
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[ TO FLY ]* |
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| 21 | OVEREAT |
Gorge on food served late in the day after cycling (7)
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OVER ( on ) EAT ( food served late in the day = TEA, with the first letter moving to the last ) ; does anyone have a better parse? |
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| 23 | STOMACH |
Desire of kinky masochist is suppressed (7)
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[ MASOCHisT ( without the letters of IS ) ]* |
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| 25 | AGING |
Getting old silver in the back of Jag (5)
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AG ( silver ) IN G ( jaG, last letter ) |
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| 26 | SEA URCHIN |
Endlessly looking around you for spiny-skinned creature (3,6)
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SEARCHINg ( looking around, without last letter ) around U ( you ) |
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| 27 | RHAPSODIES |
Harps broken by Solomon during lyrical works/pieces (10)
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[ HARPS ]* [ I ( solomon ) in ODES ( lyrical works ) ] |
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| 28 | ARMY |
Soldiers hiding in farmyard (4)
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hidden in fARMYard |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MIGHT |
Force male boat crew to jettison leader (5)
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M ( male ) eIGHT ( boat crew, without first letter ) |
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| 2 | LETTUCE |
Following regular rejections, client with cute bum leaves (7)
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LET ( cLiEnT, alternate letters of ) [ CUTE ]* |
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| 4 | SHAFT |
Heads of security hurry towards the back passage (5)
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SH ( starting letters of "..Security Hurry.." ) AFT ( towards the back ) |
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| 5 | APHRODITE |
Abruptly, Ian Thorpe swims around Dutch Olympian (9)
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[ IAn ( abruptly i.e. without last letter ) THORPE ]* around D ( dutch ) |
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| 6 | WRONG |
Lead character in Rainbow wearing tight gown that’s inappropriate (5)
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R ( rainbow ) in [ GOWN ]* |
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| 7 | LENTIGO |
Freckles of setter disappear after 40 days of fasting (7)
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LENT ( 40 days of fasting ) I ( setter ) GO ( disappear ) |
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| 8 | EMERGENCY |
Naked men run into New York, getting caught, resulting in disaster (9)
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E ( mEn, naked i.e. without end letters ) MERGE ( run into ) [ C ( caught ) in NY ( New York ) ] |
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| 9 | ACAPULCO |
A top company detains extremists in uncivil Mexican city (8)
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A CAP ( top ) UL ( UnciviL, end letters of ) CO ( company ) |
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| 14 | STEGOSAUR |
Large reptile turns over egg and starts to search around under rocks (9)
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STEG ( turns = GETS, reversed ) O ( egg ) SAUR ( starting letters of "..Search Around Under Rocks" ) |
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| 15 | CHASTISED |
Dave’s partner is caught by Edward and punished (9)
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CHAS ( dave's partner, of the eponymous duo ) [ IS in TED ( edward ) ] |
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| 16 | ALL FOURS |
Hands and feet of each character (except John) close to Jesus (3,5)
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ALL ( each ) FOUR ( ? ) S ( jesuS, last letter of ) ; am missing a trick here |
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| 18 | AMERICA |
In the morning I see bats are gathered across the pond (7)
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AM ( in the morning ) { IC ( i see ) in [ ARE ]* } |
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| 20 | FEATHER |
Act with the woman getting a part in The Seagull? (7)
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FEAT ( act ) HER ( the woman ) |
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| 22 | EDGES |
Bushes forming boundaries, but not hard boundaries (5)
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hEDGES ( bushes forming boundaries, with H – hard ) |
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| 23 | SCALE |
Bass part’s range (5)
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double def, first referring to the fish |
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| 24 | HONEY |
Sweetie (humbug?) quietly binned (5)
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pHONEY ( humbug, without P – quietly ) |
I did not understand ALL FOURS either.
CHINATOWN is, I think CHINA (friend) TO (at the) W(est) (end of Northampto)N
I enjoyed this and am glad I’m not alone in not understanding all fours. Thx both in any case.
I parsed CHINATOWN as Turbolegs did: CHINA = friend, ‘to the west end of’ indicating position at the left of the solution, TOWN = Northampton perhaps’
I can’t see ‘at’ = ‘to’ – can you give me an example where they’re interchangeable?
Aah, OK, ‘pointing at / to’ works. I think either parsing works.
Thanks as ever to Turbolegs for the blog.
Within ALL FOURS my intention was that ‘character (except John)’ = F[lav]OUR = FOUR.
Interesting to see the alternative parse for CHINATOWN. I didn’t think of vanucci’s parse – maybe I should have – and can see the sense in it, although it leaves ‘perhaps’ without a function in the cryptic reading.
I loved SHELL and TRUMPET. EMERGENCY has a nice surface. All except ALL FOURS parsed and, having seen the answer @5, I now know I would never have parsed it. Chas n Dave needed some research
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Thanks Solomon for the Friday treat. I had many favourites including OSCAR WILDE, ELABORATE, LOFTY, STOMACH, APHRODITE, ACAPULCO, FEATHER, and SCALE. Like others I failed to parse ALL FOURS. Thanks Solomon for explaining it and thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
A lot of this went in easily but we struggled with ALL FOURS (got from crossing letters but unparsed) and STEGOSAUR where we can’t see that turns = gets.
Thanks, though, to Solomon and Turbolegs.
BA @ 8 “He turns / gets aggressive when he’s annoyed”?
SS @ 9 Ah, yes. Thanks for that.
Thanks Turbolegs, Simon S and Solomon for making full sense of this very enjoyable and creative puzzle, and the last above for bringing it to us of course, LETTUCE and ONGOING my favourites.
Very nice. I needed a second attempt to finish it, the left side done over morning coffee, the right side requiring a drop of whiskey in the evening to lubricate my brain. No MILK in the coffee, no HONEY in the whiskey. Thanks!