It’s the first time I’ve blogged a Commoner puzzle, although I think he has had a few published in the IoS before. I really enjoyed this one: there was some quite complicated wordplay, but it was all fairly clued, and in the tradition of the IoS puzzle, reasonably accessible.
When writing up the blog I noticed that there were no dds or cds, which is unusual. But then again, those that don’t like them will have been pleased.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
7 Sinning, stealing a piece of jewellery
EARRING
An insertion (‘stealing’) of A in ERRING.
9 Help to catch large bird, one with a small brain
AIRHEAD
Another insertion: of RHEA in AID.
10 Eat rich hash including fine vegetable
ARTICHOKE
And another of OK for ‘fine’ in (EAT RICH)* with ‘hash’ as the anagrind.
11 Very greatly regret flipping coins
EUROS
A reversal of SO RUE.
12 Mark Ronald’s sandwiches: Scandinavian bread
KRONA
Hidden in MarK RONAld’s. The KRONA is the Swedish currency; hence ‘Scandinavian bread’.
14 Turn to realist philosopher
ARISTOTLE
(TO REALIST)*
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
Hobbes was fond of his dram
And René Descartes was a drunken fart
I drink therefore I am
… as Monty Python had it.
15 Steal bundle of money back from airborne thief
JACKDAW
A charade of JACK and WAD reversed. JACK: ‘take something illicitly; steal’ (SOED). And a requirement for the obligatory Pierre bird link. The DAW bit comes from the common or dialect word for the bird; JACK, apparently, is there in the generic sense of ‘male’. Whence ‘jack of all trades’, ‘Jack Frost’ and ‘jackass’. They have a reputation for stealing things like 7 acrosses – hence ‘airborne thief’ – but this seems more myth than reality. The Jackdaw of Rheims is part of this folklore. He stole the Cardinal’s ring.
16 Dresses king in neckwear that goes with casual shirt
ATTIRES
A charade of R for ‘king’ in TIES for ‘neckwear’ preceded by A T for A ‘casual shirt’. That’d be a T-SHIRT, then.
18 Dense Democrat taking lead is not learned
HARD-WIRED
There’s some parsing to be done this morning. It’s HARD for ‘dense’ (which is not the same thing, as physicists will tell you) and D for ‘democrat’ with WIRE for ‘lead’ inserted. The solution brings to mind nature and nurture, with neonate Homo sapiens coming out HARD-WIRED to breathe, suckle, cry, poo and wee, but remaining pretty helpless for about 18 months. Or in the case of my kids, about 18 years, especially when it comes to tidying up after themselves, which they still haven’t learned.
20 A bird oddly appearing in my closet
AMBRY
New one on me, but clearly clued. A plus an insertion of BR for the odd letters of ‘bird’ in MY. AMBRY: ‘a recessed cupboard in the wall of a church near the altar’ (Collins).
22 Live and prosper without love
DWELL
D[O] WELL. Good clue.
23 Aliens kill that woman first with masses of cold water
ICE SHEETS
Commoner is asking you to put ICE for ‘kill’ before SHE for ‘that woman’ and ETS for ‘aliens’ or extra-terrestrials.
25 Ordaining a priest, not foxtrot dancing!
ROCKING
[F]ROCKING. If you’re an improving solver, then getting to grips with your phonetic alphabet is a good plan. F is FOXTROT.
26 Economist, a Keynsian, conceals error
MISTAKE
Hidden in EconoMIST A KEynsian.
Down
1 Observe Hoffman character becoming upset
REMARK
I’m not a movie buff, but I’ve enough interest in films to recognise that this refers to Kramer vs Kramer, which starred Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman and whose plot revolved around custody of their son. Brilliant film: watch it next time it comes up on TV. Can you believe he’s 76? I still have him in my head as the ‘Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs Robinson?’ young man in The Graduate.
Oh, it’s reversal of KRAMER, btw.
2 Move briskly in races to snatch gold up
TROT
An insertion of RO for a reversal of OR, ‘gold’ in TT for the Isle of Man motorcycle races which are probably most famous for their annual fatalities.
3 Fish Greek character starts to cook hazardously in fat
PILCHARD
A charade of PI for the Greek letter, and CH for the first letters of Cook Hazardously in LARD for ‘fat’.
4 Men going over e-books about the first person from Asia
ORIENT
It’s a bit convoluted, but perfectly fair. A charade of OR for ‘other ranks’ or ‘men’ over (since it’s a down clue) E and NT for New Testament or ‘books’ around I for ‘first person’. I was into Adam and Eve territory at first, but the Garden of Eden didn’t feature.
5 Matinee idol‘s hat brother modelled
HEART-THROB
(HAT BROTHER)*
6 Goodbyes regularly written by some heartless American character on an epic journey
ODYSSEUS
A bit more (fair) convolution: ODYS for the even letters (‘regularly’) of gOoDbYeS, SE for the outside letters (‘heartless’) of SomE, and US. The hero of Homer’s epic poem.
8 Stirring up a brawl during twilight wanting a change in the atmosphere
GLOBAL WARMING
Ditto. It’s (A BRAWL)* in GLO[A]MING for ‘twilight’ ‘Stirring up’ is the anagrind and ‘wanting’ in its sense of ‘lacking’ is the removal indicator. Roaming in the gloaming and all that.
9 Fantastic cinema drama about the Queen – it suggests all can gain fame and fortune
AMERICAN DREAM
(CINEMA DRAMA)* around ER for Elizabeth Regina. ‘Fantastic’ is the anagrind.
13 Happening Conservative embraced by old money, finally to become leader of England
OCCURRENCE
Again, there’s a bit going on here. It’s in insertion of C for ‘conservative’ in O CURRENC[Y] plus E for ‘leader of England’. Commoner’s asking you to replace the final letter of CURRENCY with E.
15 Zeus can perform lines
JOHN DORY
I learned something new today: Zeus is the genus of the fish John Dory. So it’s JOHN for ‘can’ or ‘toilet’, DO and RY for railway ‘lines’.
17 Train set’s broken case
TEA CHEST
A charade of TEACH and (SET)*
19 Boot that is at the bottom of a hole in the ground
WELLIE
A charade of WELL and IE for id est or ‘that is’.
21 Middle Eastern country imprisons good man’s lackeys
YES MEN
An insertion of S for ‘saint’ or ‘good man’ in YEMEN.
24 Overturn sack over spymaster in test
EXAM
A reversal of AXE followed by M for the fictitious spymaster in the James Bond books and films.
A fine puzzle from Commoner. I could handle some more like this.
Thanks Commoner and Pierre.
I particularly liked 9d, 4d, 3d, 8d, 6d, 24a and my favourites were 15d JOHN DORY , 1d REMARK & 22a DWELL (last in).
New word for me was AMBRY.
John Dory being St Pierre, Pierre.
Thanks, Conrad – I missed that when I was looking it up!
I didn’t know that Zeus is the genus that the JOHN DORY fish belongs to, and I either didn’t know or had forgotten AMBRY, but they were both gettable from the wordplay. An enjoyable puzzle.