I have not blogged a Hamilton puzzle before. I filled the grid well enough but I am clearly not thinking on Hamiltons wavelength as there are several clues that I can’t quite come to grips with.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CANTERBURY TALES | Carey burnt inaccurate stories about a pilgrimage (10,5) |
| (CARY BURNT)* anagram=innacurate TALES (stories) – definition is ‘a pilgrimage’? I’m not convinced about the definition, seems to have something missing to me. Definition is ‘about a pilgrimage’ as the ‘The Canterbury Tales is about a pilgrimage’ | ||
| 9 | ERUDITE | Universal credit was halved before housing academic (7) |
| U (universal) creDIT (halved) in (housed by) ERE (before) – definition is ‘academic’, learned | ||
| 10 | TAPIOCA | A company one might knock back for food (7) |
| A CO (company) I PAT ( |
||
| 11 | COOMB | Valley where nothing is contributed to hunt (5) |
| O (nothing) in (contributing to) COMB (hunt) – a valley in the West Country | ||
| 12 | DEFECTORS | Deserters who forecasted losing a retrial (9) |
| FORCaSTED* anagram=retrial (re-tried) missing A | ||
| 13 | EXECRABLE | Hated administrator gains most of farmland (9) |
| EXEC (administrator) with (gains) aRABLE (farmland, most of the letters) | ||
| 15 | SATIN | Stayed home to get material (5) |
| SAT IN (stayed at home) | ||
| 16 | LEECH | Mutable echinoderm afflicted by parasite (5) |
| found in mtabLE ECHinoderm – ‘mutable echinoderm’ has caught (is afflicted by) a parasite (LEECH) | ||
| 18 | SESTERCES | Mysteries coming back to haunt opponents of old money (9) |
| SECRETS reversed (coming back) contains (haunts, is often around) S and E (opponents in bridge) – old Roman coins | ||
| 20 | FALSIFIES | Doctors provided breast enhancements to cover it! (9) |
| IF (provided) inside (is covered by) FALSIES (breast enhancements) – definition is ‘doctors’ | ||
| 23 | CHOIR | Singers about to go round the house (5) |
| CIR (circa, about) to go round HO (house) | ||
| 24 | MARSALA | Mother’s announced a Louisiana sweet wine (7) |
| MARS sounds like (admitted) ma’s (mother’s) A LA (Louisiana) | ||
| 25 | MAINTOP | Platform in the circus tent? (7) |
| I’m guessing that a ‘big top’ (circus tent) is a ‘main top’ – the definition is ‘platform’, at the top of the main mast on a sailing vessel. If I have this explanation correct then I don’t like it! | ||
| 26 | ELECTION ADDRESS | Are those for whom it is intended possibly considered least? (8,7) |
| (CONSIDERED LEAST)* anagram=possibly – I don’t understand the definition, I would have thought the voters were very high in politicians’ conciousness, during the election at least. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHERCHEZ LA FEMME | Actress, a foreign woman, and Hazel caught inside playing “Chase the Lady” (8,2,5) |
| CHER (actress) FEMME (a foreigh woman) containing (and … inside) an anagram (playing) of HAZEL and C (caught) | ||
| 2 | NEURONE | Not one European found in the cell (7) |
| NONE (not one) with EUR (European) found inside – a nerve cell | ||
| 3 | EDINBURGH | City reporter batting for town (9) |
| ED (editor, reporter) IN (batting, or batting for?) BURGH (town) – definition is ‘city’ | ||
| 4 | BREAD | Blumenthal began to study food (5) |
| B (beginning of Blumenthal) READ (to study) | ||
| 5 | RATIFIERS | Those who sanction arrest, maybe, if I am included (9) |
| ARREST* anagram=maybe containing (am included) IF I | ||
| 6 | TOPIC | Question of work in a short time (5) |
| OP (opus, work) in TICk (short time) | ||
| 7 | LOOKOUT | Spooner is surprised by oaf on guard (7) |
| Spoonerism of ‘something lout’, but I can’t figure out what – definition is ‘guard’. I suppose if you pronounce lookout as LUKE OUT then the Spoonerism would be ‘coo, lout’, but to me lookout is pronounced LUCK OUT. | ||
| 8 | STARS AND STRIPES | Flag up traders’ past sins (5,3,7) |
| (TRADER’S PAST SINS)* anagram=up | ||
| 14 | BASTINADO | Fortress partially in trouble; gets a beating (9) |
| BASTion (fortress, partly) IN ADO (trouble) – punsishment by beating the soles of the feet | ||
| 15 | STEPCHILD | One might come into new family surroundings (9) |
| cryptic definition – I can’t quite see the difference between the cryptic and literal readings here. | ||
| 17 | ENLARGE | Design general increase (7) |
| GENERAL* anagram=enlarge | ||
| 19 | CHORTLE | 23 without one let out a laugh! (7) |
| CHOiR (23 missing I=one) LET* anagram=out | ||
| 21 | INAPT | Lumpy paint is not fit for purpose (5) |
| PAINT* anagram=lumpy | ||
| 22 | SAMBA | Salvation Army leads graduate on a merry dance! (5) |
| SA (Salvation Army) in front of (leads) MB (graduate) on A – definition is ‘merry dance’, a Brazilian carnival dance | ||
*anagram
I didn’t share all PeeDee’s qualms: the Canterbury Tales were about a pilgrimage, for instance, and I think you might shout ‘ook’ if you’re surprised (Spooner’s ‘lookout’); however, ‘maintop’ does seem to stretch things a bit. Anyway, the puzzle was good fun, and based round a good grid. Thanks, Hamilton and PeeDee.
I’ve never heard anyone say “ook” as an expression of surprise – ‘eek’ yes, but not ‘ook’
I think it’s KOO (homophone of COO) LOUT for the Spoonerism.
Thanks PeeDee and Hornbeam
1a – I’m sorry to say that one word in the clue went missing between draft and submission, which was “…stories telling about… My apologies. As it is, “stories” is doing double duty, which wasn’t what I intended
25a – noted
26a – you may think so, but for a cynic like me who has lived through 15 different governments it is a perfectly apposite clue!
7d – I think the issue of regional pronunciation has been debated many times on these pages. “koo (or coo) lout” does it for me – I’ve never heard “look” pronounced as “luck” (as in duck?)
15d – I will accept that if I had my time again I would set this one differently
Hi Hamilton, I enjoyed the 3/4’s of the crossword I was able to do.I don’t know which region you come from , but to my ears “look” and “luck”are very close homophones.But I haven’t managed a spoonerism yet except by some other means.1a was prefectly doable.I didn’t understand 25a and had marquee.Any thanks !
Also many thanks to Peedee.
I meant to write many thanks !
Thanks for the reply Hamilton, and I forgot to say thank you for the crossword.
I just had a quick look in Chambers at the pronunciation they give for ‘look’. According to them it has a short vowel sound, the examples they give are ‘good’, ‘full’ or ‘would’. But like you say, regional variations differ. I was brought up in south Manchester, where duck and look would have been a good rhyme. I think the clue would work very well just down the road in Liverpool 😉
For 26a I knew what you were getting at, and I quite agree! The idea that politicians care only about votes makes it hard to read the clue as voters are the ‘least considered’ though.
Re 6d How does tic equate to short time?
I can only see tic(k) without the k but that would be a short short time.
Thanks to everyone
Correct ernie, the blog is fixed now. I think a tick, though short, is still an amount of time so ‘short time’ will do for TIC.
At the time of solving the puzzle I just assumed that TIC was a possible spelling of tick, in the sense of a short moment. Unfortunately the dictionaries no not back this up.