I did a double-take when I spotted that Crosophile had set today’s puzzle, since I have previously seen his (?) work on Wednesdays only.
I worked steadily through this one, finding that I was held up above all in the SE quadrant. I also found the wordplay in some of the longer clues hard to fathom, especially at 19D and 24, although I got there in the end, I think. I would be interested to hear if others parsed 28 as I did.
My favourite clues today were 13, for the ingenious use of “45 mins” in the wordplay, and 15, for its deceptive and smooth surface reading. I was unfamiliar with the term at 14.
*(…) indicates an anagram
| Across | ||||
| 9 | ROGAN JOSH | *(GROAN) + JOSH (=joke); “terrible” is anagram indicator | ||
| 10 | IRONY | Double definition; hard as in like the metal iron | ||
| 11 | NEGATED | GATE (=opening part) in NED (DEN=study; “retrospective” indicates reversal) | ||
| 12 | MAILLOT | MAIL (=the post) + LOT (=a great deal) | ||
| 13 | HOUSE | HOU<r> (=45 mins, i.e ¾ of an hour, so 3 letters out of 4) + S<tevenag>E (“outskirts of” means first and last letters only) | ||
| 15 | RESHUFFLE | *(FRESH FUEL); “chopped up” is anagram indicator; the “cabinet” refers to ministers not furniture! | ||
| 17 | BREAD | Homophone (“by report”) of “bred” (=raised) | ||
| 18 | INS | I (=one) + N S (=two partners, i.e. in bridge) | ||
| 19 | PUNCH | Triple definition; the wife-beater is Punch in Punch and Judy | ||
| 20 | UNSETTLES | <s>UNSET (=end of day; “heading off” means first letter dropped) + *(LEST); “barking”, i.e. mad is anagram indicator | ||
| 23 | IDLED | I (=first person, i.e. in grammar) + ’D (=had, as in I’d left) + LED (=had rest (of competitors) behind) | ||
| 25 | BIRDMAN | [R (=rook, i.e. in chess) in BID (=attempt)] + MAN (=second one, i.e. chess piece) | ||
| 27 | INSIGHT | *(THIS GIN); “with a twist” is anagram indicator | ||
| 29 | LAPSE | L (=Latin) + [S (=singular, i.e. in grammar) in APE (=primate)] | ||
| 30 | HUMILIATE | *(MILIEU + HAT); “milieu” is entry at 6; “to bits” is anagram indicator | ||
| Down | ||||
| 1 | BRANCH | B (=British) + RANCH (=farm) | ||
| 2 | AGOG | AGO (=previously) + G<um> (“piece of” here means first letter only) | ||
| 3 | KNOTWEED | KNOT (=maybe granny) + WEE (=little) + D<og> (“initially” means first letter only) | ||
| 4 | BORDER | Homophone (“we hear”) of “boarder” (=Potter at Hogwarts); a border is “an “edgy” place”, i.e. on the edge | ||
| 5 | CHEMISTS | CHE (=revolutionary, i.e. Che Guevara) + MISTS (=sprays of water drops) | ||
| 6 | MILIEU | I LIE (=paradoxical statement) in MU (=Cretan character, i.e. Greek letter) | ||
| 7 | BOIL | Double definition | ||
| 8 | EYETEETH | [YET (=still) + E E (=double energy, i.e. 2 x E=energy)] in *(THE); “running” is anagram indicator | ||
| 14 | UVEAS | U (=for all to see, i.e. of film classification) + (VASE); “shattered” is anagram indicator; the uvea is the posterior pigment-bearing layer of the iris of the eye | ||
| 16 | FINAL | A in [FI<re> (“half gone out” means half the letters are dropped) + N<eeds> L<ighting> (“in early stages” means first letters only)] | ||
| 17 | BLUEBELL | (with a) BLUE (=sad) + BELL (=ring) (to it) | ||
| 18 | IOLANTHE | *(IN A HOTEL); “playing” is anagram indicator | ||
| 19 | PLIMSOLL | LIM<p>S (=shows weakness; “with no head for politics” means letter “p” is dropped) in POLL (=head); the reference is to English MP Samuel Plimsoll, the instigator of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 | ||
| 21 | TIMBER | TI (IT; “flies up” indicates vertical reversal) + <e>MBER (=burning wood; “obscuring top of” means first letter dropped) | ||
| 22 | STIGMA | STIG (GITS=nasty people; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) + MA (=mum) | ||
| 24 | DOTTED | D – OTT (=too much) for I (=Crosophile, i.e. setter of this puzzle) – ED (=faded) | ||
| 26 | RIPE | <t>RIPE (=garbage); “when lid’s removed” means first letter dropped | ||
| 28 | GOAL | O (=love) in GAL (=girl); “head over heels” must mean that the wordplay is “love in girl” rather than “girl in love”; a goal is an “end”, objective | ||
Yes, I got 28 that way. There’s an obliquely indicated Nina explaining why Mr P turned as a ‘shipping legislator’ instead of his usual method of reference.
I saw the Nina, but only after completion, thanks Crosophile for the commute fun, GOAL a little convoluted but I worked it the same way. Thanks for the blog RR even if I didn’t need you today.
My favourites in this puzzle were 13a, 25a, 22d, 10a, 19a, 15a.
New words for me were UVEA, KNOTWEED & ‘poll’ = ‘head’.
I solved but could not parse 6d, 19d, 3d, 24d. And I still don’t understand the parsing of 24d apart from OTT = ‘too much / over the top.’
Thanks for the blog, RatkojaRiku.
Thanks, RR. I did need you today, for several that I couldn’t parse. A tough one, I found, but all sound – just a bit of a double-take, like you, to see this setter in the Thursday slot.
PUNCH is a very clever triple definition.
Nina? You’re asking the wrong person to spell it out, but somebody no doubt will later on today.
K’sD look SW corner to NE…
Hi Michelle. In 24dn, the definition is ‘sparsely laid out’; then Crosophile is asking you to put OTT instead of I (the setter) in DIED for ‘faded’. You have to read ‘that’s’ as ‘that has’.
Thanks flashling. Never in a million – indeed squillion – years would I have seen that.
There are a bunch of answers that fit with the diagonal.
Yes, I parsed 28d that way too. Nina-wise I’m with Kathryn’s Dad.
K’sDad@6
re 24d, thanks a lot – Never in a million – indeed squillion – years would I have seen that.
Needless to add, I did not see the oblique nina, but I finally see it now thanks to flashling@5.
We needed help with parsing 21d. We thought of TIME flying and B for front of burning hidden inside or ‘being obscured’ but just couldn’t work out where R came from or why ‘up’ was included! Thanks RR for sorting that one out for us.
We missed the nina so thanks also to Phi.
All in all a good workout from Crosophile so thanks to you too!
Can someone explain why the definition for 9ac is “dish of tomatoes”? Unless they changed the recipe there are no tomatoes in a Rogan Josh.
Hi HKColin
In flock wallpaper Indian restaurants, rogan josh is very heavy on tomatoes (and peppers).
Further to my last I just remembered that Kingsley Amis always ordered rogan josh (the unauthentic tomtoey kind). Martin Amis said his motto was “You can’t go wrong with a rogan”.
And there was me thinking a (Richard) Rogan Josh was a funny clue by Bannsider. I’ll get my coat.
We’ve just found the nina-related answers in the grid.
Well done Crosophile – an even better crossword than we thought!
Thanks for the blog, RatkojaRiku. And thanks for all the comments.
Re Rogan Josh, I relied on the definition in Chambers dictionary; “an Indian dish of curried meat in a tomato-based sauce.” Whether this is mistaken I’m afraid I couldn’t say.
Well done all those who spotted the nina of LAID IT ON THE LINE on the rising diagonal. Unless I’ve missed some myself [quite possible!] the list of -lines was house- bread- punch- branch- border- bluebell- plimsoll- timber- dotted- and goal-. [Glad you liked them, Bertandjoyce!]