We found this quite a tricky solve and there are a couple of clues (2d and 29ac) which we hope others will be able to explain for us. As a keen baker, Joyce vaguely remembered the flour involved in 24ac. We liked the misdirection in 22ac. It took us quite a while to sort out!
We noticed that there was a possibility of a pangram although by the time we did, it didn’t really offer any further help with the solve!
| Across | ||
| 7 | Study love letter in moving train, and feel thrilled | |
| TREAD ON AIR | READ (study) O (letter used for love) in an anagram of TRAIN (anagrind is ‘moving’) | |
| 9 | Not one Scottish adult visits Tyneside | |
| NAE | A inside or ‘visiting’ NE (Tyneside) | |
| 10 | Stray bats sheltered inside colourful hollow rock | |
| CRYSTAL | An anagram of STRAY (anagrind is ‘bats’) inside or ‘sheltering in’ C |
|
| 11 | Whimsical and game bird briefly joins conservationists | |
| QUAINT | QUAI |
|
| 12 | Before this time, some follow one refugee westbound | |
| ERE NOW | Hidden and reversed or ‘westbound’ within the clue folloW ONE REfugee | |
| 14 | City hospital backed regulars involved in Nicky’s birth | |
| NASCENCY | EC (city) + SAN (hospital) all reversed or ‘backed’ N |
|
| 17 | One invents musical instrument we hear | |
| LIAR | Sounds like LYRE (musical instrument) | |
| 19 | Type of ink I wanted when communicating | |
| INDIA | This makes use of the fact that I in the Nato phonetic alphabet is INDIA and is commonly used when communicating by phone | |
| 20 | Madness played loud tracks on campus | |
| FURY | F (loud) + RY (tracks or railway) on U (campus as in university) | |
| 21 | Overpower, with Ray, academic unknowns consumed by beer | |
| BEDAZZLE | B ED (academic) + ZZ (unknowns as used in maths) inside or ‘consumed by ALE (beer) | |
| 22 | Section of cricket match’s ending with belligerent men in charge | |
| THORAX | H (end letter of match) + OR (belligerent men) in TAX (charge). It was another of those clues when Joyce was reminded that a particular word was derived from a Latin word. It was so gratifying recently when she came up with AORIST for tense and Bert had never heard of it. Thankfully Joyce has spent a while learning another language since leaving school – “It comes from the Greek you know!” | |
| 24 | Lay hands on chopped meat for this high-fibre bread? | |
| GRAHAM | GRA |
|
| 27 | Haggard leader of squadron maintains a military aircraft? | |
| RAIDERS | RIDER (as in Haggard) + S (leader of Squadron) around or ‘maintaining’ A | |
| 29 | Gents preserve big house? | |
| CAN | We’re not sure about this one. Is it a triple definition? CAN (gents as in toilet) CAN (preserve). We cannot make sense though of the big house. | |
| 30 | Removing monarchy last month leads to conflict around Norway | |
| DECROWNING | DEC (last month) + ROWING (conflict) around N (Norway) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Introductory cruise arranged during Test avoiding roundabout? | |
| PRECURSIVE | An anagram of CRUISE (anagrind is ‘arranged’) inside or ‘during’ PR |
|
| 2 | One principally getting much intercourse? | |
| GOAT | Another one that we need help on please. A goat can be defined as a lecher but what has that got to do with the rest of the clue? | |
| 3 | Actress’s tree-lined ground introduced by relative with wealth | |
| MARLENE DIETRICH | An anagram of TREE-LINED (anagrind is ‘ground’) introduced by MA (relative) + RICH (with wealth) | |
| 4 | Country’s level of intelligence restricts soldiers | |
| IRAQ | IQ (level of intelligence) around or ‘restricting’ RA (soldiers) | |
| 5 | If there’s civilisation, hostile forces arise | |
| IN CASE OF | INCA (civilisation) + FOES (hostile forces) reversed or ‘rising’ | |
| 6 | Fabric centres in Anjou? Bear north | |
| JEAN | Centres of AnJou and bEAr + N (north) | |
| 8 | Language used by Giggs facing last of media | |
| ARYAN | RYAN (as in Giggs) after or ‘facing’ A (last letter in mediA) | |
| 13 | Rush from holiday forgetting time zones | |
| WHIZZ | WHI |
|
| 15 | Mini car revolutionised transport | |
| SMART | TRAMS (transport) reversed or ‘revolutionised’ | |
| 16 | Coach girl, showing golf film from 1990s | |
| CARLAS SONG | CAR (coach) LASS (girl) ON (showing) G (golf) | |
| 18 | Attaining job of clergyman when pastor leaves | |
| REACHING | ||
| 23 | Canoe at sea here? | |
| OCEAN | A play on the fact that an anagram of CANOE (anagrind is ‘at sea’) is OCEAN | |
| 25 | Wasps gathering made an attack, passing over street. | |
| RUCK | ||
| 26 | Skirt’s new, replaced by daughter for another type | |
| MIDI | MI |
|
| 28 | Pin-up said cool words half-exposed | |
| IDOL | Half of each word or ‘half-exposed’ saID coOL | |
Thanks B&J and Scorpion.
GOAT: G(etting) + OAT(s)
Thanks B and J.
Ihaven’t time yo do the puzzle today but I always like to read your blogs. 😉
I googled ‘big house’ and found the Urban Dictionary gives ‘prison’ as the first definition.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20Big%20House
Re THORAX: Neo in the FT had an equally nifty clue a couple of weeks ago: ‘Try to catch start of hockey or bit of cricket? (6)’
Thanks to Eileen and Muffyword. We will add your comments to the blog later today when we have a spare moment.
Difficult, but good. That is my assessment.
I liked the ‘Wasps gathering’ joke, though it is DBE and should have had a ‘maybe’.
Tricky but perfectly solvable; one of those crosswords where several of the answers were obvious from the definition and crossing letters but I only saw the parsing when I came to write them in – THORAX being a case in point, along with my CoD, RUCK.
Thanks, Scorpion and B&J
Rather difficult puzzle in which I failed to get ‘goat’.
Nice to see GRAHAM (24ac) in this crossword as tomorrow it is exactly a year ago that we had to say farewell to the beloved Araucaria.
Many thanks B&J.
Beyond me today, I’m afraid. GRAHAM in a daily cryptic? I don’t think so. THORAX – rather convoluted, although I did guess it. DECROWNING? If you must.
Either I am regressing in terms of my solving skills or the Indys are getting harder.
Thanks to B&J and to Scorpion.
Yet again I find myself exactly in the same camp as Kathryn’s Dad. Uncanny. Probably losing grey cells at the same rate !
I’m with hedgehoggy at 4 – where was the ‘for instance’ or ‘maybe’ in 25 down?
Cluing is a precise art and it just isn’t valid without in my opinion.
“Cluing is a precise art”?
Not sure whether many setters think that what they do is art.
But yes, clues should be precise, agree.
But does adding ‘for instance’, ‘maybe’ or a question mark at the end make a/the difference in 25d?
I mean, did it prevent you from finding the answer?
Good setters are always trying to mask their definitions wherever they can. It is something that’s probably the hardest part of writing a satisfactory clue.
In my opinion, “Wasps gathering” is a great way to define the solution of 25d. Not finding that enough and asking for a bit more than that only because of rules and conventions (not to be confused with precision!) is, for me, over the top.
I do understand what you mean, redddevil, but there’s also something like imagination in Crosswordland, something that doesn’t like these question marks.
For me adding the ‘for instance’ or ‘maybe’ changes the WASPS GATHERING from a definition (which it definitely isn’t) to an example of something (which it definitely is). That to me is precision, not rules and convention.
“Not sure whether many setters think that what they do is art.” – It may not be art but it is an art.
I do find your comment about imagination to be somewhat condescending. After all how would one solve any decent crossword without it.
I’m all for masking definitions in clues but would the addition of ‘maybe’ really have removed that mask?
Should also perhaps mention that my animosity towards the use of Wasps is not because I’m a Tigers fan and we’re playing them on Saturday. 🙂
We were quite happy with 25d. We solved it from the wordplay and it actually brought a smile and a chuckle when we checked the definition in Chambers.