An extremely pleasant surprise to see Arachne again. 22ac my favourite of an excellent bunch. Happy New Year, all.
| Across | ||
| 9 | HUBBY |
Mate rounded Cape unnoticed (5)
=”Mate”. [c]HUBBY=”rounded”, minus C[ape]
|
| 10 | IDOLISERS |
They worship former Tory leader, full of lies or nonsense (9)
=”They worship”. IDS=”former Tory leader” Iain Duncan Smith, around (lies or)*
|
| 11 | METHOUGHT |
Had better drug previously, it seemed to Arachne (9)
=”it seemed to Arachne”. OUGHT=”Had better”, with METH=”drug” previous to it
|
| 12 | HALVE |
Split from husband, heading off to give birth in cowshed (5)
=”Split”. H[usband], plus [c]ALVE=”give birth in cowshed” with its head off.
|
| 13 | THALAMI |
Grey matter with a laminated cover (7)
=”Grey matter”, parts of the midbrain. Hidden in [wi]TH A LAMI[nated]
|
| 15 | SCUPPER |
Cold meal wrapped in foil (7)
=”foil”. C[old], wrapped into SUPPER=”meal”
|
| 17 | TRYST |
Date of road tax moving forward (5)
=”Date”. ST[reet]=”road”, with TRY=”tax” – as in ‘try/tax my patience’ – moved in front of it.
|
| 18 | TIC |
Mo’s audible nervous habit (3)
=”nervous habit”. Sounds like ‘tick’=”Mo[ment]”
|
| 20 | TOAST |
Perfectly embodies the ultimate in courageous soldier material (5)
=”soldier material”, to dip into eggs. TO A T=”Perfectly”, around [courageou]S
|
| 22 | PREMIER |
Do successors occupy country, having ousted last PM? (7)
=”PM”. RE and MI are the “successors” to “Do” in the sol-fa scale, occupying PER[u]=”country” having ousted its last letter
|
| 25 | LEEWARD |
Lure fish in a westerly direction and downwind (7)
=”downwind”. DRAW=”Lure” plus EEL=”fish”, both reversed (“in a westerly direction”)
|
| 26 | SHRUG |
Show indifference and keep quiet, when confronted with wig (5)
=”Show indifference”. SH=”keep quiet”, plus RUG=”wig”
|
| 27 | SABOTEURS |
People who undermine subordinates slyly, but noiselessly (9)
=”People who undermine”. (subor[din]ates)*, where the din is removed due to “noiselessly”
|
| 30 | ARGONAUTS |
They went in search of sheepskin, as bottled gas ran out (9)
=”They went in search of sheepskin” (the Golden Fleece.) Edit thanks to passerby and Eileen – this is (gas run out)*, with “bottled”=’failed/messed up’ as the anagrind.
|
| 31 | PIERS |
Chat show host walks on water (5)
=”Chat show host” Piers Morgan; also =”walks on water”, the seaside structures
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHUM |
Buddy and Charlie don’t know the words? (4)
=”Buddy”. C[harlie], plus HUM=something to do if you “don’t know the words”.
|
| 2 | OBITUARY |
Passing mention of sex in broken Yoruba (8)
=”Passing mention”. IT=”sex” in (Yoruba)*
|
| 3 | TYRO |
Rookie Conservative, upside down and back to front (4)
=”Rookie”. TORY=”Conservative” – first reversed (“upside down”), then with its back T put to the front
|
| 4 | LINGUIST |
Six ducks living on Scottish islands, one with more than one tongue (8)
=”one with more than one tongue”. vi=”Six” in Roman numerals, ducking out of LI[vi]NG, plus [North or South] UIST, the Scottish islands
|
| 5 | BOOTES |
Chemist stocks drug for stars (6)
=”stars”, a northern constellation. BOOTS=”Chemist”, stocking E=”drug”
|
| 6 | SILHOUETTE |
Shadowy figure trashing hotel suite (10)
=”Shadowy figure”. (hotel suite)*
|
| 7 | DEWLAP |
Friend tied knot round wattle (6)
=the wattle of a turkey. PAL=”friend” plus WED=”tied knot”, all reversed (“round”)
|
| 8 | ASHE |
American female tennis legend (4)
Arthur Ashe, a [male] American tennis legend. A[merican] plus SHE=”female”
|
| 13 | TOT UP |
Ram’s purpose, in sum (3,2)
=”sum”. A Ram lives TO TUP (have sex with) ewes.
|
| 14 | ASTRINGENT |
Styptic band inserted into a temporary splint (10)
=”Styptic”. RING=”band” inserted into A STENT=”temporary splint”.
|
| 16 | RATED |
Esteemed journalist is buried under grass (5)
=”Esteemed”. ED[itor]=”journalist”, buried under RAT=”grass”=an informant.
|
| 19 | CALABASH |
A centre for research into breadfruit (8)
=”fruit”. A plus LAB=”centre for research”, both put into CASH=”bread”
|
| 21 | ABACUSES |
You can count on these four Swedes swearing out loud (8)
=”You can count on these”. Sounds like ‘ABBA cusses’=”four Swedes swearing”
|
| 23 | ENRAGE |
Ends of Rice, Brown and Garner? Time for anger (6)
|
| 24 | RISQUE |
Hit squire near the knuckle (6)
=”near the knuckle”. (squire)*
|
| 26 | SWAM |
Most of matchmaker’s meeting with male went smoothly (4)
=”went smoothly”. SWA[n] is a brand of match, or “matchmaker”, meeting M[ale]
|
| 28 | TOPE |
Booze off limits to birth control enthusiast (4)
=”Booze”, drink excessively. Marie [S]TOPE[s] is the “birth control enthusiast” [wiki]
|
| 29 | SO-SO |
Really big sizes are in the ascendant, OK? (2-2)
=”OK”. Two lots of O[ver]S[ized], reversed (“in the ascendant”)
|
Thanks manehi. I hope blogging didn’t spoil your carousing. Got the top right quickly, but failed bottom right, not knowing Piers. 22A was indeed excellent, now you tell me why. I liked ABACUSES too.
I took 30A ARGONAUTS to be an anagram of ‘gas ran out’ with ‘bottled’ (= drunk?) as the anagram indicator.
Many thanks for a great blog, manehi – you lucky man!
What joy to see Arachne back to welcome in the new year, at the top of her sparkling witty form – I loved the six ducks, the courageous soldier material, the swearing Swedes, the matchmaker and much, much more.
I read 30ac as passerby did, but with ‘bottle’ in the sense of ‘to bottle it’ – Chambers: ‘to fail to do or achieve something as a result of losing one’s nerve’.
It’s very good to see, too, that Arachne’s campaigning spirit is undiminished – 23dn is a superb clue.
Huge thanks, Arachne, and a huge ‘Welcome back’ – you’ve been very much missed. x
Thanks Arachne and manehi
Happy New Year to all, especially Arachne – what a joy to have you back. “Soldier material” for “toast” indeed! Too many other lovely ones to mention; these include two I needed explaining (TRYST and PREMIER, in fact).
You took the words out of my mouth, muffin! My stumbling-block was the parsing of 4d, so special thanks to manehi for that. Best wishes for 2015 to all.
What better New Year present than to see that name at the head of the crossword!
But is she back, or is this just the “Christmas Special”?
‘Soldier material’, ENRAGE and PREMIER (& many more) remind us what we have been missing all this time.
Thanks manehi and particularly Arachne for the perfect start to the year.
I second all of the positive comments about the return of one of our favourite setters – this was a lovely example of what we have been missing. Found it quite tough to finish, with one or two unparsed, but full of wit, invention and cunning misdirection. Last in was TOAST, too many favourites to list them.
Thanks to Arachne and manehi
Wonderful puzzle as always from Arachne. I was foiled by RISQUE, TOAST (tremendous clue) and PIERS (also good). Happy New Year to all.
My first Arachne crossword, and how I enjoyed it. Thank you Arachne.
Favourites were PREMIER, LEEWARD, ARGONAUTS, LINGUIST and TOAST! among many others.
I needed help with some of the parsing, IDOLISERS, PREMIER, and several more, thanks manehi.
I have always found the Golden Fleece fascinating. Iranian friends have told me how they put sheepskins weighed down on riverbeds to trap the gold dust in the water.
What a wonderful start to the New Year – turn on the computer and there’s Arachne back again!
Great puzzle, lots of favourites including the aforementioned ‘courageous soldier material’
Welcome back and thank you very much to Arachne. Thank you to manehi too.
Happy New Year to all.
Huge thanks manehi and Arachne. Indeed a pleasure to see you back. Many excellent, splendidly ingenious clues. Re 31a, METHOUGHT the LINGUIST’s part might be slightly in the cheek 😉
. . . and Happy New Year to all.
Fabulous! Welcome back to Arachne, many thanks to manehi for providing the parsing for quite a few, especially 4d. Happy New Year to all.
A New Year treat! Thanks Arachne and manehi. Now how about an alphabetical on Saturday?
Thanks Arachne and Manehi for a super puzzle. Happy New Year to everyone.
As other have said this was a superb crossword – doubt if it’ll be bettered anytime this year; a very high bar has indeed been set!
Marvellous clues throughout – loved “soldier material” and many (all?) others.
On reflection I’m thinking 10ac may be the best of all.
I wonder if Arachne had this in mind when she set it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXmQdi9pwDA
Rather a struggle in the NE I’m afraid; SCUPPER, TOAST, DEWLAP (this sense I didn’t know until after a google) all gave me problems. But I did like BOOTES (not one for the Americans, that) and ARGONAUTS was nice for me as I saw in the New Year in the Golden Fleece.
23d perhaps the most socially conscious clue of the year to come – that’s Trailman’s prediction for 2015.
Wonderful to see another Arachne puzzle; as ever, full of wit and charm – and the obligatory social comment or two.
Thanks manehi, I needed your help with the six ducks.
Many great clues – I particularly liked TOAST, HALVE & LINGUIST.
Thanks manehi and Arachne and a happy new year to all
A quite superb puzzle well worth waiting for. Toast was my last one in – a wonderful clue. It took me quite a time to finish, but all very satisfying with an admirably light touch.
Great puzzle – real depth and class. A grand start to the new year.
An engrossing and witty solve. Thanks to the setter and the blogger. 11A was my COD for its rare form…”methinks” is far more common.
Quite superb
Many thanks Arachne & Manehi
Hello Arachne! Welcome back. Thanks for this brilliant and beautifully-set puzzle. HNY!
Great clueing, with a nice range of difficulty so the grid filled in slowly but steadily. Thanks all.
Arachne might be upwardly mobile but I have some doubt about 25A.
“westerley” is used to describe a wind that comes from west and goes to the east (i.e. conventionally left to right) not vice versa.
Mereorologists can be perverse. The meteorology in the Lakes certainly has been today.
Bob @25
You are quite correct about winds, but Arachne clearly says “in a westerly direction”, not “from a westerly direction”. I think that’s unambiguous.
Bob @25
This “westerly” device is frequently used – nothing to do with wind direction – simply means letters/words given by clue are to be read from “east to west” (i.e. from “right to left.)
Thanks all
Arachne, as always, a pleasure and as always I failed on two: 28down and 31 across
Thanks for the kind comments and for all the support and warm wishes over the last few months. Many thanks, too, to Hugh Stephenson for so sweetly suggesting the New Year’s Day slot to mark my new start.
Wishing everyone here a Happy – and Healthy! – New Year.
Late on parade today owing to a combination of bottling homebrew, War and Peace on R4 and my tablet playing silly buggers. Anyway, this was OK with the exception of TOAST which I simply couldn’t parse and had to guess- Thanks for sorting that out for me. Some good ones- ABACUSES and SWAM esp the latter.
Thanks Arachne.
Very glad to see you back, Arachne. Best wishes for a healthy (and productive!) New Year.
Superb puzzle.
I failed to parse the LING in LINGUIST but feel stupid not to have seen what was shouting at me! (The mark of a great setter 🙂 )
I was even more pleased to see that Arachne described this as her new start. (We’ve missed you.)
A happy (and healthy) new year to all.
Thanks to manehi and Arachne
Peter Asplnwall’s home brew seems to have got the better of him, he can’t spell his own name!
Thanks again Arachne, and a Happy, and Healthy, New Year to you.
Cracking this was a wonderful way to spend New year’s day. I’m afraid I could not get Bootes, even though I bought my favorite brush at a Boots when visiting your fair country many years back. To add to the chorus, I look forward to seeing this setter again. Thanks to manehi–even though I got many, the parsing of LINGUIST, PREMIER and RISQUÉ were needed–and, of course, Arachne.
Thank you Arachne and manehi
I failed to solve 22a, 31a, 2d, 28d and I needed help to parse quite a few – 4d, 10a, 11a, 27a, 20a, 9a, 26d.
New words fro me were BOOTES, DEWLAP, THALAMI.
My favourites were 1d, 2d, 19d.
A great way to start the year! However, we were totally stumped by 28d and 31ac. Joyce had a sneak look at the blog this morning and is ready to give Bert some hints! So thanks Manehi for the blog.
There were many clues which brought a smile to our faces – 20ac in particular.
We wish Arachne a very Happy New Year!
Although this is very late, I can’t help myself commenting on Arachne’s return in the (possibly vain?) hope that she may return for a sneaky peek…!
When I spied the setter’s name I was immediately reminded of the discerning nature of my knees – by their trembling. I saved my copy to enjoy at the weekend. I hoped that this means her health is improved and, now I’ve solved this really entertaining puzzle, have a suspicion that her general sense of wellbeing is at a high.
Sometimes, solving cryptics daily can become a little of a repetitive scientific exercise. Then one comes across one of Sarah’s crosswords and remembers why one is addicted. This is one such and reminds me of what I’ve missed – and why I’ve been pulsing long distance good vibes in her direction during last year. The opium addict is for ever failing in finding again her first sublime high. No such frustration for the Arachne lover!
With a big cyber hug…..
William
Thanks Arachne and manehi
I can’t believe that Arachne’s comeback puzzle stayed so long on my back pile – but like a great wine, it has only improved with the keeping. She certainly knows how to set a cracking puzzle – this was sublime from the start to the finish. I started it yesterday at lunch time and it carried through strongly until almost bedtime. Found her clues were not at all forthcoming – but then you would get a run on 3 or 4 and come to the next speed bump … and then some more.
Finished down in the SE corner as it sounds like many others with ABACUSES, the wonderful TOAST and PIERS (who I had to track down through Google, having never previously heard of him) as the last one in. Another who is glad to see you more healthy and knowing that you have set a lot of other puzzles since this one !!