An enjoyable and surprisingly challenging puzzle to mark – of course – today’s referendum on Scottish independence.
The numerous allusions to all things Scottish (plus a reference to the Union at 7dn.) meant that a lot of the answers went straight in – but parsing was, in many cases, a much less straightforward matter. A lovely mix of well-worked mechanisms, clever surfaces and innovative twists made this a treat. Thank-you, Gaff.
| Across | ||
| 1, 4 | ROBERT THE BRUCE | Lee maintains butcher murdered king (6,3,5) |
| Anagram of butcher within Robert E [Lee, Civil War general] | ||
| 10 | THISTLE | Plant in order of nobility (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | GURNING | Goods including pot in feature arrangement (7) |
| Urn [pot] in within g g [goods] | ||
| 12 | EDGY | Nervous of something new (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | OPALESCENT | Milky tea brewed with a little laxness on spec (10) |
| Anagram of tea l(axness) on spec | ||
| 15 | TARTAN | First-time architect rashly tries a new design (6) |
| Initial letters of Time Architect Rashly Tries A New | ||
| 16 | INSIPID | Popular fondue maybe is turning watery (7) |
| In [popular] reversal of dip [fondue, maybe] is | ||
| 20 | SPORRAN | Shirtless porn star’s posing pouch (7) |
| Anaram of porn star minus t [shirt] | ||
| 21 | WHISKY | Drink like meringue mixture? (6) |
| Double definition: meringue mixture is whisked, so might be “whisky” | ||
| 24 | TRAGIC PLAY | Without an alternative, pay girl actor to perform Macbeth, perhaps (6,4) |
| Anaram of pay girl actor minus or [alternative] | ||
| 26 | KILT | Skirt around the subject today (4) |
| Cryptic definition, I think – meaning that a kilt-wearing Scot is a British subject today (but might not be soon…) | ||
| 28 | AIRE GAP | A gripe about a boarding pass in Yorkshire (4,3) |
| A within anagram of a gripe | ||
| 29 | ELITIST | Superior titles I fancy (7) |
| Anagram of titles I | ||
| 30 | LOCH NESS | Reduce criticism of Spooner’s monstrous body (4,4) |
| Spoonerised form of knock less [reduce criticism] | ||
| 31 | HAGGIS | Man’s holding a horse’s filled stomach (6) |
| A GG [horse] within his [man’s] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RETREATS | Extremely respectable goodies get backs up (8) |
| R(espectabl)e treats [goodies] | ||
| 2 | BRINGER-UP | Raising the bar constrains substitute parent (7-2) |
| Ringer [substitute] within reversal of pub [bar] | ||
| 3 | RITE | Practice recitative regularly (4) |
| ‘Regular’ letters – i.e. every third – from RecItaTivE | ||
| 5, 23 | HIGHLAND GAMES | Gathering cyclones engulf country wildlife (8,5) |
| Land [country] game [wildlife] within highs [cyclones] | ||
| 6 | BURNS NIGHT | Hunt brings chaos to supper time (5,5) |
| Anagram of hunt brings | ||
| 7 | UNITE | Couple in uplifting duet in unison (5) |
| Hidden in revesal of duET IN Unison | ||
| 8 | EIGHTY | Score four, but reversal leads to heavy first loss (6) |
| (W)eighty [heavy] – I think the cumbersome “reversal” component indicates that “score four” should be reversed to give us the definition “four score” | ||
| 9 | NEEPS | Tatty complements on 6 (5) |
| Cryptic definition, alluding to the tradition of serving “neeps” (turnips) with “tatties” (potatoes) on Burns’ Night (see 6dn.) | ||
| 14 | CARRYINGON | Discreet couple may be managing (8,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | INSPIRING | Plain-speaking quartet I call motivational (9) |
| Insp [quarter – four letters – from plaIN-SPeaking] I ring [call] | ||
| 18 | BAGPIPES | Source of sound of injured pig being squeezed by black gorillas, maybe (8) |
| Anagram of pig within b [black] apes [gorillas, maybe] | ||
| 19 | CYSTITIS | The end of Her Excellency’s nipple is a wee bit painful (8) |
| (Her Excellen)cys tit [nipple] is | ||
| 22 | ST PAUL | Acts author changed on the road (2,4) |
| Cryptic definition, alluding to Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus | ||
| 23 | See 5 | |
| 25 | AURIC | Ear trimmed with gold (5) |
| Auric(le) [ear] | ||
| 27 | DIVA | Singer eager to be promoted (4) |
| Reversal of avid [eager] | ||
Thanks for a great blog, Ringo. I agree entirely with your summary: ‘enjoyable and surprisingly challenging’.
I made it harder for myself by entering ALASKA at 25ac [my husband would never forgive me for not spotting WHISKY straight off – but I found a cocktail called ALASKA]. That should never have happened, because I should have seen the BURNS NIGHT anagram immediately. That messed up 19d, too, where I had MASTITIS but couldn’t fully parse it.
When I did finally get it, I bridled at CYSTITIS being described as a ‘wee’ bit painful, having had it myself – and then the penny dropped and I really did laugh out loud!
I thought the surfaces throughout were lovely – I especially loved the definition of BAGPIPES 😉 . And ‘feature arrangement’ for GURNING was very nice, too.
The only quibble I have is 22dn. The Acts of the Apostles was not written by Paul: it’s a continuation of the Gospel of Luke. I can just about justify it by taking Paul as [an] author [of many of the epistles] who features prominently in Acts.
Otherwise, I thought this was an excellent puzzle – many thanks to Gaff.
Brilliant puzzle which I enjoyed enormously. The theme certainly helped in many clues but didn’t detract from the challenge too much. As mentioned, some of the surfaces were very finely crafted – 20a, 18d, 19d
Thanks to Gaff and Ringo
Good puzzle, but as well as St Paul not being Acts author, there is also the problem that 5,23 seems to require cyclones=highs, whereas in fact cyclones are lows (i.e. low pressure areas) and anticyclones are highs. Is there an explanation of the clue that excuses Gaff from this gaffe?
Thanks Gaff and Ringo.
A most enjoyable trip round Scotland (and Yorkshire) today.
I found the EIGHTY/GURNING crossing the most difficult part of the puzzle.
In a mainly Scottish-themed crossword, however, I have to say that the homophone
for LOCH NESS was perhaps a little inappropriate!
Thanks Gaff and Ringo
Very late to this one – only getting to it yesterday. Found it a lot of fun with both the Scottish theme and the quality of the clues in general.
MASTITIS was the first try at 19d, thinking that MA was a bit of a stretch for ‘Her Excellency’ – but eventually saw the clever end letters … and the right take on ‘wee’. 🙂
Did think that Lee for ROBERT was a bit ambiguous – only because there were numerous Robert Lee’s to choose from – and apart from the Amis writers, I thought that setters were usually very specific with named persons.
Not quite sure what mike’s problem with the LOCH NESS clue was about.