Sorry I’m a little late in publishing this.
I thought we’d had a Raich offering relatively recently, but a quick check tells me we haven’t had one for around 15 months. In any case, there’s been a common feature in the themes of the last few Raichs – what about this one?
Previous themes “have been of a politico/historical nature”, so mc_rapper67’s post from October 1st 2011 tells me. This one is too.
That said, it took a little while to work out, what with some unpromising Zs appearing. Still, some of the clues were, if anything, towards the easier end of the EV spectrum, which helped the solve along. (I might be misremembering this as, being unable to find my original grid, I re-solved it just now. In any case, it’s not in any way a complaint.) I’ll sometimes (read ‘all the time’) use crossword solvers, but that was no help for the thematic material, as it turned out.
The PDM came all at once. 4 dn (the thematic unclued entry) is ODER-NEISSE LINE, which is the redrawn post(second world)war German-Polish border. The four clues without definitions are towns which are now on the Polish side of the line. They are clued as their prewar names but, the extra letters instruct us, we must ENTER POSTWAR NAMES.
Just a couple of little niggles:
The clue for 28ac should, I assume, read ‘Spin duo in unexpected separation (8)’.
In 12dn, ‘up’ appears to function as an anagram indicator which, for me, is stretching things a bit – but each to their own. See Raich’s response below.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
SEE = extra letter
BRESLAU = clued answer (prewar name)
WROCLAW = entered answer (postwar name)
Idlers=redundant word
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OPPOS | Mates work to get concession from the East (5) | mates: OP (work) to get <SOP (concession) [from the East] | |
| 6 | SEGO | Mongrels regularly come back for plant (4) | plant: <mOnGrElS [regularly; come back] |
|
| 10 | LEK | Blackcocks’ gathering Albanian money (3) | double definition: Blackcocks’ gathering/Albanian money |
|
| 13 | ROAD | Shoot over a course (4) | course: ROD (shoot) [over] A | |
| 14 | DYLAN | Number following itinerant lady singer (5) | singer: N (number) [following] [itinerant] LADY* | |
| E | 16 | BESEECH | Ask for old throne with wood surround (7) | ask for old: SEE (old throne) with BEECH (wood) [surround] |
| 17 | FERAL | Once deadly and wild (5) | double definition: once deadly/wild | |
| N | 19 | TRIZONE | Ritz? Unfortunately none here in Germany once (7) | &lit: RITZ* [unfortunately] NONE |
| 20 | EEL | Start to envy the Spanish swimmer (3) | swimmer: E (start to Envy) EL (the Spanish) | |
| T | 22 | SITHEN | Senegal collecting payment for church since a while back (6) | since a while back: SN (Senegal) [collecting] TITHE (payment for church) |
| E | 23 | ESSENCE | Tokay wine seen in El Salvador, Cuba and Spain (7) | Tokay wine: SEEN [in] ES (El Salvador) C (Cuba) and E (Spain) |
| 24 | CHILI | Child villain oddly rejected Mexican dish (5) | Mexican dish: CH (child) vIlLaIn [oddly rejected] | |
| 25 | DSO | Daughter provided animal (3) | animal: D (daughter) SO (provided) | |
| R | 26 | EIGHTEEN | Number (integer) he modified (8) | number: INTEGERHE* [modified] |
| P | 28 | DISUNION | Spin duo’s unexpected separation (8) [SEE EXPLANATION ABOVE] | separation: SPINDUOIN* [unexpected] |
| 31 | ERG | It measures work in desert area (3) | double definition: It measures work/desert area | |
| 33 | ERNST | Painter in Paris is inspiring our sailors (5) | painter: EST (in Paris is) [inspiring] RN (our sailors) | |
| O | 36 | FLOORER | Hard question following card game men brought to queen (7) | hard question: F (following) LOO (card game) OR (men) brought to ER (queen) |
| S | 37 | FADE UP | Gradually introduce crazes to European Union power (6, 2 words) | gradually introduce: FADS (crazes) to EU (European Union) P (Power) |
| 38 | SPA | Junk mail restricted in resort (3) | resort: SPA |
|
| WROCLAW | 39 | BRESLAU | Cultivate Belarus (7) | no definition: [cultivate] BELARUS* |
| 41 | RORIC | Part of Truro, rich and dewy (5) | dewy: [part of] truRORICh | |
| T | 42 | MEANDER | The German intended in the beginning to wander (7) | wander: DER (the German) MEANT (intended) [in the beginning] |
| 44 | MANIC | Very energetic guy in charge (5) | very energetic: MAN (guy) IC (in charge) | |
| 45 | IOTA | Greek character in US state getting tense as wife leaves (4) | Greek character: IOWA (US state) getting T (tense) as W (wife) leaves | |
| 46 | EER | Always close to the heart of Peru (3) | always: E (close to thE) ER (heart of pERu) | |
| 47 | MERE | In the country mark off pool (4) | double definition: in the country mark off/pool | |
| 48 | DATED | Old-fashioned parent welcomes tenor, European (5) | old-fashioned: DAD (parent) [welcomes] T (tenor) E (European) | |
| Down | ||||
| W | 2 | POETESS | Writer, extremely sensitive wept so awkwardly (7) | writer: SE(extremely SensitivE)WEPTSO* [awkwardly |
| 3 | PAS | Footnote about America’s action (3) | action: PS (footnote) [about] A (America) | |
| 4 | ODER-NEISSE LINE | Unclued (14, 2 words, hyphenated) | ||
| A | 5 | SDEIGNE | Scorn old ad, seeing broadcast (7) | scorn old: ADSEEING* [broadcast] |
| SZCZECIN | 6 | STETTIN | Restore original metal (8) | no definition: |
| 7 | ECHO | Imitate Earl, about to abandon unpleasant task (4) | imitate: E (earl) RE (about) [to abandon] CHO |
|
| GDANSK | 8 | DANZIG |
Taunt about Australia and New Zealand (6) | no definition: DIG (taunt) [about] A (Australia) and NZ (New Zealand) |
| R | 9 | ELEUTHEROMANIA | Great desire for freedom – end of oppressive foreign rule over the Balkan country (14) | great desire for freedom: E (end of oppressivE) [foreign] RULE* [over] THE ROMANIA (Balkan country) |
| N | 11 | ENAMEL | Glossy surface English celebrity brought to Netherlands (6) | glossy surface: E (English) NAME (celebrity) brought to NL (Netherlands) |
| KALININGRAD | 12 | KONIGSBERG | Keg emptied, sobering up (11) | no definition: K |
| A | 15 | ARCHIE | Gun finishes off Arab chief (6) | gun: [finishes off] ARA |
| M | 18 | NEEDLE-FURZE | Petty whin free men duel struggling to enthral Zambia (11, hyphenated) | petty whin: FREEMENDUEL* [struggling; to enthral] Z (Zambia) |
| 21 | REGIFT | Give what’s received bringing potential grief over time (6) | give what’s received: [potential] GRIEF* [over] T (time) | |
| E | 27 | HOLOCENE | CEO, Helen, peculiarly absorbs nothing about geological period (8) | geological period: CEOHELEN* [peculiarly; absorbs] O (nothing) |
| 29 | INDIRA | Run into country girl (6) | girl: R (run) [into] INDIA (country) | |
| S | 30 | NORLAND | Place for poet, sadly lorn, yellowish-brown in colour (7) | place for poet: [sadly] LORN* SAND (yellowish-brown in colour) |
| 32 | REPLETE | Needing no more energy after traveller cancelled service (7) | needing no more: E (energy) [after] REP (traveller) LET (cancelled service) | |
| 34 | RADOME | Protective covering gives advantage to US in capital (6) | protective covering: AD (advantage to US) in ROME (capital) | |
| 35 | SPRUCE | Neat conifer (6) | double definition: neat/conifer | |
| 40 | OMAR | Khayyám, say, in row about money (4) | Khayyám, say: OAR (row) about M (money) | |
| 43 | DOT | Marriage portion is a very small amount (3) | double definition: marriage portion/very small amount | |
Best to hold off with this blog, Mr Sting – the entry closing date is next Thursday 17th, at least on my copy…the EVs seem to have been given an extra week over Xmas and then left with it…
Many thanks, Mister Sting, for the excellent blog. In 12D “up” is meant as an anagram indicator (as you suggest). One of the meanings of ‘up’ given in Chambers is ‘in an excited state’. I think that justifies it.
Raich,
Ah! Of course! As in ‘uppers’. (Which, officer, I know nothing about at all. Wasn’t me.) The best I could do was ‘up’ as in ‘in the air’, which was why I felt it a stretch (although it’s probably where the other meaning comes from). As per my normal practice, I’ll ‘strikethrough’ my stupidity, but leave it for posterity.
Thanks for this, and the other puzzles.