A good, honest cryptic work-out from Tyrus this week – no fancy themes or Ninas (that I could see, anyway), just a ‘Ronseal’ puzzle – does what it says on the tin…
Things proceeded fairly smoothly to start with – some long-ish phrases with HIT THE DECK, TOUR OF DUTY, THIN ON THE GROUND and KNOWS A THING OR TWO; some interesting work with shorter answers like ON TOW and UP TO. Also a couple of clever reversals – LEEK = KEEL ‘OVER’ and NO = ‘SWITCHED’ ON. And a little Cyclops-ean/Paul-esque risqué-ness at 20D with SHEATHE!
Then I hit a bit of a wall in the top right-hand corner – nearly ‘TIED’ myself in knots with TIDE, and then couldn’t explain my LOI (last one in): CRESTED, for love nor money. I was convinced the ‘student body’ had to be the NUS, or RAG, and couldn’t move beyond those. In fact I didn’t twig the parsing until I came to do the blog.
My personal favourite was probably the ‘Board finish’ at 7D for DOUBLE TOP, and I also enjoyed the double use of ‘check’ at 22D for VET+CH.
All in all this was an enjoyable puzzle, thank-you Tyrus – but maybe overall a little light for a Saturday prize outing?
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1A | ECHO | Henry’s feeding green parrot (4) | parrot (as in ‘repeat’) / ECO (green) around (fed by) H (Henry, SI unit of inductance) |
| 4A | HIT THE DECK | 21’s success at cards (3,3,4) | (reference to answer at) 21 (keel over) / HIT (success) + THE DECK (set of cards) |
| 9A | FRATERNISE | Get friendly with fellow’s bird in lift (10) | get friendly with / F (fellow) + RA_ISE (lift) around TERN (bird) |
| 10A | UREA | Lecture about producing waste (4) | waste / hidden word in ‘lectURE About’ |
| 11A | KNOWS A | /13. Is fairly shrewd at work (not showing up!) (5,1) | is fairly shrewd / anag (i.e. ‘up’) of AT WORK NOT SHOWING |
| 12A | OBSOLETE | Ex-pupil stole new drug – is no longer employed (8) | no longer employed / OB (old boy, ex-pupil) + SOLET (anag, i.e. new, of STOLE) + E (ecstasy, drug) |
| 13A | THING OR TWO | See 11 (5,2,3) | See 11 / See 11 |
| 16A | TIDE | Match drawn saved season (4) | season / TIE (match) around (saving) D (drawn) |
| 17A | UP TO | Put out? Nothing doing (2,2) | doing (something) / UP T (anag, i.e. out, of PUT) + O (nothing) |
| 19A | THE TEMPEST | Force half-back on trial to play (3,7) | (Shakespeare) play / THE TEM (‘The Met’, police force, half back) + PEST (troublesome person, trial) |
| 21A | KEEL OVER | Faint Welsh emblem? (4,4) | faint / LEEK – Welsh emblem = ‘KEEL’ OVER |
| 23A | GANDER | Look increasingly imposing once resistance’s quashed (6) | (a) look (at) / G(R)ANDER – increasingly imposing, without R (resistance ‘quashed’) |
| 25A | EIGG | Island that is backing Germans (4) | (Hebridean) island / EI (i.e., that is, backing) + GG (German, multiple) |
| 26A | TOUR OF DUTY | Out! Tory regularly found lying about combat service abroad (4,2,4) | combat service abroad / anag (i.e. lying about) of OUT TORY + F_U_D (regular letters of FOUND) |
| 27A | SWITCHED ON | Currently engaged? (No) (8,2) | currently engaged (as in electrical device, taking current) / NO = ON, ‘SWITCHED’ round |
| 28A | EVEN | Flat seventeen’s occupant (4) | flat / hidden word (occupant of) ‘sEVENteen’ |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 2D | CORINTH | The English going to my home city (7) | (Greek) city / COR (my, interjection) + IN (at home) + TH(E) – losing E – English ‘going’ |
| 3D | ON TOW | Getting pulled over won’t hurt (2,3) | getting pulled / O (over, in cricket) + N TOW (anag, i.e. hurt, of WON’T) |
| 4D | HEREABOUT | Learn of saying in these parts (9) | in these parts / homophone (i.e. ‘saying’) of HEAR ABOUT (learn of) |
| 5D | THIN ON THE GROUND | Low in numbers tonight, under strength at end – no worries (4,2,3,6) | low in numbers / anag (i.e. worries) of TONIGHT UNDER + H (last letter of strength) + NO |
| 6D | HEELS | Is inclined to ban wife from car (5) | is inclined (as in, is leaning) / (W)HEELS – car, losing W (wife ‘banned’) |
| 7D | DOUBLE TOP | Board finish – director off to pub with Leo (6,3) | Board finish (in darts) / D (director, of a company) + anag (i.e. off) of TO PUB + LEO |
| 8D | CRESTED | Reached high point of teaching: keeping student body away! (7) | Reached high point / CRE_ED (teaching) around (keeping) ST (StudenT with middle letters, or body, ‘away’) |
| 14D | NEON LIGHT | Illumination – one left blazing during darkness? (4,5) | Illumination / N_IGHT (darkness) around EON L (anag, i.e. blazing, of ONE + L – left) |
| 15D | OVERGROWN | Lush Roger now very drunk (9) | Lush / anag (i.e. drunk) of ROGER NOW + V (very) |
| 18D | PREVIEW | Not all VIPs were relaxing in trailer (7) | trailer (for film, TV programme) / anag (i.e. relaxing) of VIP (not all of VIPS) + WERE |
| 20D | SHEATHE | Female accommodating passion put condom on? (7) | put condom on / SH_E (female) around (accommodating) HEAT (passion) |
| 22D | VETCH | Checks climbing plant (5) | climbing plant / VET (check up on) + CH (check, again, this time in chess) |
| 24D | NUDGE | Dig uncovered bit of gold that’s buried (5) | dig / NUD_E (uncovered) around (burying) G (a bit of ‘G’old) |
Thanks for that. I couldn’t parse 8dn either (nor 19ac), and seeing your explanation I don’t think I ever would have worked that out. As usual, a week after doing this I can’t remember anything of the experience of solving this.
Definitely not the most difficult Tyrus puzzle ever, but still a good solve. I confess that I also entered THE TEMPEST, CRESTED and TIDE (my last two in) unparsed, so thanks for that. I agree that the clues for DOUBLE TOP and VETCH were excellent.
thanks mcr couldn’t parse crested but very pleasant puzzle tyrus.
Many thanks for the blog and comments.