Not quite sure what’s happening here. Phi, who is usually on Friday, was on Monday this week, which suggests that something significant was in the pipeline for Friday. But it doesn’t seem to be any special day, and I can’t see anything yet in today’s crossword. Perhaps when I’ve finished doing the blog I’ll have seen what it’s all about, but judging by my previous record for this sort of thing I doubt it.
Later: No, nothing, just rather a long list of things I don’t understand. Later, after the helpful comments below: Star Trek, about which I know little. I wasn’t the most suitable blogger for today.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | START — 2 defs |
| 4 | WRECK — (crew)* k |
| 9 | AQUARIANS — aqua (rains)* |
| 10 | B ONE S{tolen} — is ‘have’ OK rather than ‘has’? Possibly, not sure. |
| 11 | PL AT O{ctober} — good clue, def “one who created the Republic”, although should it not be “The Republic”? |
| 12 | ELUCIDATE — (a clue tied)* |
| 14 | CHECK OFF — an American cheque is a check, and ‘not on’ is ‘off’, but what is ‘for’ doing here apart from helping the surface? |
| 15 | SEX TET — ref the Tet Offensive |
| 17 | S(COT)TY — more usually ‘scottie’; I can’t find this spelling in anything but the Chambers Crossword Dictionary. |
| 19 | LOG BOOKS |
| 22 | L(ASHES)OUT |
| 25 | SPACE — s.p. ace — not fond of ‘with’ as a link-word, although I know it can be more or less justified |
| 27 | THRO’ A TIER |
| 28 | ENTER — en (ret)rev. |
| 29 | PRIZE — good clue — a US spelling of ‘jemmy’ is ‘jimmy’, and ‘prize’ = ‘prise’ |
| Down | |
| 1 | SAUSAGE DOGS — not sure about this — I think it’s ‘USA in sage, dogs’, but does sage = frank? and if it does somehow then how is the inclusion indicated? ‘From’ doesn’t seem much of an inclusion indicator. As pointed out below, it’s Frank(furter) |
| 2 | AIRLOCK — “‘air lock” |
| 3 | TRADE-OFF — (o f) in (farted)*, nice definition, not how one normally reads ‘compromising situation’ |
| 4 | WASH UP — 2 defs |
| 5 | EBB TIDE — CD |
| 6 | KEN — 2 defs |
| 7 | WARP — r in (paw)rev. |
| 8 | AS BEST O{f} S{tove} |
| 13 | ANTHOLOGISE — (theologian’s)* |
| 14 | CASHLESS — devious and clever here — 22, being ‘lashes out’, gives (lashes)* and this is wrapped by c{ase}s, and the ‘by’, which at first seems dodgy, is in fact I think part of the definition: ‘by plastic, perhaps’ |
| 16 | ROOT CROP — 2 defs |
| 18 | T(HE)REAT — but I can’t see this: how is ‘threat’ = ‘to stand’? Silly boy — of course it’s ‘treat’ not ‘threat’, and to treat is to stand (a round of drinks) |
| 20 | BA’S M AT 1 — confetti substitute |
| 21/23 | DOCTOR SPOCK — but why? |
| 24 | KIRK — 2 defs |
| 26 | AGE — being hidden in 1dn |
Hi John
Can’t help with 1d at the moment, but:
18a treat = stand as in ‘pay for’
21d/23a COPS (police) ROT (corruption) reversed (rising) in DOCK (accused, = ‘in dock’)
I’ve had to change my name since someone else has started calling himself Ian W (with a space) to “avoid confusion”(!)
Surely this is a Star Trek themed one.
1 & 4, 28 & 29, 10, 14, 17, 23ac & 24d.
“Warp”, “logbook”, “space” and “age” may be deliberate too?
And I think Frank(furter)s = American sausages
Well spotted IanN14! I missed it completely but the new film is released today with the original charatcters if a slightly younger cast.
I agree about Frank = sausage. Where’s Uhuru?
Yep, Star Trek it is, timed to coincide with the new film out today. I only spotted the theme once I’d got SCOTTY and, being no Trekkie, made heavy going of the SW corner by putting in MISTER SPOCK without bothering to check the wordplay. Otherwise good stuff from Math as usual.
Oh, AIRLOCK can probably be added to the more general thematic words.
Yes. And maybe “doctor” (McCoy)?
1A 4A and 28A/29A are theme homophones and BONES was the doctor character I think.
Can someone give an example of ‘enter’ meaning ‘return’ (28a) ? That one left me scratching my head.
Tks
Paul
Paul,
On a computer keyboard an “Enter” key = “Return” key.
Missed the theme completely, and having stupidly put “wrap” instead of “warp” for 7dn was totally lost on 9ac. Otherwise tough but satisfying; maybe if I’d been a Star Trek aficionado it would have been a little easier.
A spectacular miss from our blogger! And mine of course was not to post while this excellent puzzle was live – so busy of late, I’m afraid.
But I thought I should pop in to say well done to Math, and to say too that I appreciate the high number of topical puzzles The Independent provides, the St Georges Day one as a recent example, and the general level of effort that cseems to go into making these crosswords. It makes me feel good!
Please keep up the good work.