It is the last Wednesday of the month, so it must be Dac’s week off and time for a puzzle from Crosophile.
After last week’s struggle at the hands of Nimrod, I was looking for an easier ride this week, and Crosophile came up trumps. I was, however, put through my paces by a grid which seemed to split readily into four quadrants, with each needing to be solved in isolation.
The NW and SE quadrants proved to be the most stubborn, especially the latter. 23 and 30 were the last solutions to be slotted in. I may not have satisfactorily parsed 19, 25 and 1D, so any input would be welcome.
My clues of the day would have to be 5, for its smooth and deceptive surface, and the & lit. at 15.
*(…) indicates an anagram
| Across | ||||
| 1 | CYCLAMEN | [AM (=in the morning) in CYCLE (=ride bike)] + N (=new) | ||
| 5 | GENIUS | *(USING E); “for a change” is anagram indicator; the definition is “no dope”, i.e. not a fool | ||
| 9 | TENDRILS | TEN DRI<l>LS (=a number of boring bits); “left (=L) out” means the letter “l” is dropped; the climbers referred to in the definition are climbing plants, of course | ||
| 10 | DETAIL | DE-TAIL (=dock, i.e. remove tail from) | ||
| 12 | EDELWEISS | S (=Sweden, i.e. in IVR) in *(WEED LIES); “scattered” is anagram indicator; the definition is “alpine” as a noun, i.e. alpine plant | ||
| 13 | TRIBE | <dia>TRIBE (=bitter harangue); “after aid’s withdrawn” means when placed after reversal of the letters “aid” | ||
| 14 | ICES | <not>ICES (=boards); “not to take away” means the letters “not” are dropped | ||
| 16 | SCALENE | [A (=amateur) + L (=league)] in SCENE (=picture); a scalene triangle is one in which all sides are of unequal length, hence “having no sides for a match” | ||
| 19 | EVENING | Double definition: EVENING is “preparing, i.e. making, flat” AND “late party” | ||
| 21 | PUNY | PUN (=wordplay) + Y (=yes) | ||
| 24 | MUTED | T<rit>E (“superficially” means outer letters only) in MUD; the definition is “piano”, as an adjective, i.e. the musical instruction | ||
| 25 | FLAGSTONE | FLAGS’ TONE (=sound of bunting); flagstones are laid, and then lie (lay colloquially), at ground level | ||
| 27 | UPROAR | U<nited> + PRO (=professional) + AR<senal> (“two from” means first two letters only are used) | ||
| 28 | BERIBERI | Homophone (“picked up”) of “berry berry” (=fruit, in plural) | ||
| 29 | HOSTEL | HOST (=a crowd) + EL (=the Spanish, i.e. the Spanish word for the) | ||
| 30 | FORESTRY | FORES (=attention-seeking shouts, i.e. in golf) + TRY (=exasperate); the definition is “(exemplary) elder management”, i.e. management of elder trees, for example | ||
| Down | ||||
| 1 | CUTLET | The suffix –let might suggest a small chop | ||
| 2 | CANCEL | C<h>ANCEL (=area around altar, in church; “that’s not hard (=H)” means the letter “h” is dropped); the definition is “scrub”, as a verb | ||
| 3 | ARROW | <m>ARROW (=vegetable; “has no tip” means the top letter is dropped); an arrow, of course, has a tip | ||
| 4 | ECLAIRS | *(A SLICER); “for chopping up” is anagram indicator | ||
| 6 | EYESTRAIN | *(SEE IN TRAY); “in a mess” is anagram indicator | ||
| 7 | IMAGINED | *(<char>MING IDEA); “working” is anagram indicator; “to do without daily (=CHAR)” means the letters “char” are dropped from anagram | ||
| 8 | SOLDERED | SOLD<i>ERED (=joined the army); “not I” means the letter “i” is dropped | ||
| 11 | ASKS | <t>ASKS (=chores); “time (=T) off from” means the letter “t” is dropped | ||
| 15 | CHILDCARE | *(CRECH<e> + LAID); “out” is anagram indicator; & lit. | ||
| 17 | VERMOUTH | <ri>VER (“from middle to end of” means opening letters are dropped) + MOUTH (=estuary); the well-hidden definition is simply It., i.e. Italian vermouth, as in gin and it | ||
| 18 | LEOTARDS | LEO <T (=time) for P (=piano)> ARDS (=cats) | ||
| 20 | GIFT | Hidden (“somewhat”) in “willinG IF Tired” | ||
| 21 | PLACEBO | PLACE (=rank) + B.O. (=stink, i.e. body odour) | ||
| 22 | HONEST | HO (=small house, i.e. abbreviation) + NEST (=cosy refuge) | ||
| 23 | LEVITY | L <on + <evenin>g> EVITY (=lasting for ages); “when not on by end of evening” means the letters “on + g” are dropped | ||
| 26 | SPINE | S (=tip found on s<loe>, i.e. first letter only) + PINE (=wood); & lit. | ||
I’m just off for the day and incommunicado so I’ll thank you now, RatkojaRiku, for the fine blog. And your parsings all look good to me. Thanks
I’d agree with your parsings, too, RR.
In 26 ‘tip’ seems to be doing double duty – but the ? does flag it up.
Nothing too difficult but definitely not a write-in. Thanks, Crosophile and RR.
A pleasing, no-whistles-or-bells puzzle. I was having a chunter the other week about too many themed puzzles in the Indy, so this one did the business for me today. Short words sometimes have long clues, but the one for PUNY today didn’t, so that was my favourite this morning.
Thanks to Crosophile (who I assume is also Charybdis?) and to RatkojaRiku.
Thanks RatkojaRiku for your lovely blog. I usually complete the Guardian each day, while the Indy and Times very often beat me, or take a long time. Not today though, with this doable puzzle by Crosophile. I’ll stick up for the themes however, which can be a lot of fun!
We started off well on the western front although we couldn’t parse 19ac. Needed to come here to check things out and then Chambers as we’d not come across the late party before – they must take place after our bedtime.
We struggled then on the eastern front having only one connection between them.
Got there in the end with 30ac being the last one in.
Thanks Crosophile and RR.