Vigo makes a rare appearance today
I enjoyed this challenge from Vigo. The clues seem deceptively simple but in the end it took me a while to crack the North West corner.
My last one in was GAS PIPE at 17 down.
The vocabulary needed for the entries covered words or phrases that I have used frequently -i.e. there was nothing that I considered obscure.
The grid is one that hints at the possibility of a phrase round the perimeter, but there isn’t one in this puzzle. The grid though contains a pangram with each letter of the alphabet used at least once. For a time I wondered if we were heading for a double pangram.
My favourite clues today were those for ZERO [8 across] where it took me a while to work out what the definition was, FOOTSTEP [2 down] for the allusion to car tyre treads and EVOKE for the road traffic allusions even in the definition.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
8
|
Skin and cook frozen duck (4)
|
Anagram of (cook) ROZE (the letters remaining when the outside letters [skin] F and N are removed [skinned] from FROZEN) ZERO* |
ZERO (in cricket a batsman who fails to score is said to be out for a DUCK)
|
|
9
|
Remove signs of age with special drug (5)
|
ERA (age) + S (special) + E (ecstasy; drug)
|
ERASE (remove signs of)
|
|
10
|
King’s comeback in Open (4)
|
RAJA (Indian prince or king) reversed (comeback) AJAR< |
AJAR ([partly]open)
|
|
11
|
Leave to copulate (4,2)
|
BE AT IT (have sexual intercourse; copulate)
|
BEAT IT (leave hastily or furtively))
|
|
12
|
Contrary agent rejected poet’s work (8)
|
REP (agent) reversed (rejected) + VERSE (element of a poet’s work) PER< VERSE |
PERVERSE (contrary)
|
|
13
|
Criticise article about temple (8)
|
PAN (criticise) + THE (definite article) + ON (with reference to; about)
|
PANTHEON (a temple of all the gods)
|
|
15
|
Goal in question dividing speculation (6)
|
ASK (question) contained in (dividing) BET (speculation) B (ASK) ET |
BASKET (goal scored in basketball)
|
|
17
|
Service provider to show surprise about good performance at last (3,4)
|
(GASP [show surprise] containing [about] PI [pious; good]) + E (last letter of [at last] (PERFORMANCE) GAS (PI) P E |
GAS PIPE (an object that allows a gas utility company to supply a service) |
|
19
|
Day First Lady cut advance (7)
|
D (day) + EVE (the first lady according to the Bible) + LOP (cut)
|
DEVELOP (advance)
|
|
22
|
Jellied eel covered in blubber and veg (6)
|
(Anagram of [jellied] EEL) contained in (covered in) CRY (blubber) C (ELE*) RY |
CELERY (a vegetable)
|
|
24
|
Downhearted daughter vomited (8)
|
D (daughter) + EJECTED (vomited)
|
DEJECTED (downhearted)
|
|
26
|
Girl next door narrowly avoided collision (4,4,)
|
NEAR (for example, next door) + MISS (girl)
|
NEAR MISS (descriptive of a collision narrowly avoided)
|
|
28
|
Tango with admirer, turn and rise up (6)
|
(T [Tango is the International Radio Communication codeword for the letter T ] + LOVER [admirer]) all reversed (turn) (REVOL T)< |
REVOLT (rise up)
|
|
30
|
Sailor with short lease (4)
|
W (with) + (RENT [lease] excluding the final letter [short])
|
WREN (a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service)
|
|
31
|
Organs somehow displaying true independence (5)
|
Anagram of (somehow displaying) TRUE + I (independence) UTER* I |
UTERI (plural of UTERUS [womb; organ of a female mammal])
|
|
32
|
Resting place of cat (black) (4)
|
TOM (male of various animals, especially a cat) + B (black, when describing the lead in a pencil)
|
TOMB (any place serving as a grave; [last] resting place)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Lake and nothing more (4)
|
MERE (only what is said and nothing more)
|
MERE (lake) double definition
|
|
2
|
Pays for outside of tyre to get soft tread (8)
|
FOOTS (pays for) + TE (first and last letters of [outside] TYRE) + P (piano; soft)
|
FOOTSTEP (tread)
|
|
3
|
Papa is the French for this kitchen utensil (6)
|
P (Papa is the International Radio Communication codeword for the letter P) + EST (French for ‘is’) + LE (one of the French forms of ‘the’)
|
PESTLE (instrument for pounding or grinding; kitchen utensil)
|
|
4
|
Unrestrained male takes gasping breath (7)
|
RAM (male [sheep]) + PANT (gasp for breath)
|
RAMPANT (unrestrained)
|
|
5
|
Bachelor of Engineering can be cultivated and not entirely unacceptable (8)
|
BE (Bachelor of Engineering) + ARABLE ([of land] fit for crop production; can be cultivated)
|
BEARABLE (can be endured; not entirely unacceptable)
|
|
6
|
Destitute people lacking acceptable ID (6)
|
PAUPERS (destitute people) excluding (lacking) U (acceptable)
|
PAPERS documents for the purpose of one’s identification; ID)
|
|
7
|
Obstructs openings of basement air raid shelters (4)
|
BARS (first letters of [opening of] each of BASEMENT, AIR, RAID and SHELTERS)
|
BARS (obstructs)
|
|
14
|
A cereal said to blow your mind (5)
|
A + MAZE (sounds like [said] MAIZE [cereal grass])
|
AMAZE (overwhelm with astonishment or wonder; blow your mind)
|
|
16
|
Pull out and overtake wildly, missing road traffic accident (5)
|
Anagram of (wildly) OVERTAKE excluding (missing) RTA (road traffic accident) EVOKE* |
EVOKE (draw out or bring forth; pull out)
|
|
18
|
Vexation surrounding strangely shy figure (8)
|
PIQUE (feeling of vexation) containing (surrounding) (an anagram of [strangely] SHY) P (HYS*) IQUE |
PHYSIQUE (bodily type; build; figure)
|
| 20 | Dig up old wine by hollow tree (8) |
EX (former; old) + CAVA (sparkling white wine) + TE (letters remaining in TREE when the centre RE is removed [hollow]) |
EXCAVATE (dig up) |
|
21
|
Headless corpse on ship starts to enter yearlong journey (7)
|
(BODY [corpse] excluding the first letter [headless]) + SS ([steam]ship] + EY (first letters of [starts to] each of ENTER and YEARLONG)
|
ODYSSEY (long wandering; journey)
|
|
23
|
Task master ran disciplined section (6)
|
ERRAND (hidden word in [section] MASTER RAN DISCIPLINED)
|
ERRAND (task)
|
|
25
|
Annoying bloke in tight waistcoat (6)
|
JERK (annoying bloke) + IN
|
JERKIN (close-fitting waistcoat)
|
|
27
|
Repairing oddly deficient pocket (4)
|
Even letters only (oddly-deficient) 2, 4, 6 and 8 of REPAIRING
|
EARN (get; pocket)
|
|
29
|
Swelling fruit’s first to fall down (4)
|
PLUM (fruit) with the first letter P falling to the bottom [fall down {down clue}] LUMP |
LUMP (swelling)
|
Not sure about ‘rare’ – it’s her second nationally published crossword, the first one only arrived on 6 July.
I had the opposite problem to duncanshiell – 17A Gas Pipe was the first clue I was able to answer, having started at 1A. But it became easier from there, until with the magnificent 8A Zero (which should be in a compendium of great clues) I had completed all but the top right in double-quick time. From then on it was a real struggle. Clue after clue took ages of effort, but turned out sensible in the end. Until – oh, the shame of it! – I had spent 18 frustrating minutes staring at my last clue, 4D Rampant, without inspiration, and hit the button. I think the pattern .A.P.N. may have more possible answers than most, but Rampant didn’t come to mind.
I loved this, Vigo, thanks, despite giving in at the last. Very nice clues, especially the tasty frozen duck.
I agree that this was an enjoyable and well-constructed puzzle. A definite tip of the hat for the clue for ZERO, which I didn’t get until I saw MERE. I also struggled with the AJAR/PAPERS crossers, mostly because I always think of a RAJA as a prince rather than a king, although I’m happy that it can mean either.
Quite a challenge but everything was obvious once the grid was complete. Realising it was (likely to be) a pangram helped. Agree about ZERO – not just CoD but Clue of the Year!
Thanks, Vigo and Duncan
Thanks Vigo and Duncan, all very enjoyable. I was also looking for a double pangram, but finished up entirely content with just the one.
Thanks Vigo and Duncan. Very enjoyable puzzle.
ZERO was actually my first one in, very good clue. The second Vigo pangram in the Independent. She just can’t help going from A to Z.
Thanks Vigo and duncanshiell
My first Vigo, which I found both enjoyable and difficult. Have abbreviations for degree courses changed over the years? My first wife and her sister both studied engineering, and were B.Eng.
Thank you Duncan for the blog and to all who took the time to comment.
As far as degree abbreviations go BE is an abbreviation for Bachelor of Engineering and for Bachelor of Education so I guess that’s why we usually see BEng or BEd?
An enjoyable puzzle and we agree with all the comments about ZERO.
Our last one in was 4d – we were looking for an F in the answer having established that it was probably going to be a pangram until we noticed 2d.
Thanks Duncan and a special thanks to Vigo for the fun, especially BEAT IT.
Enjoyable and straightforward. Thanks to Vigo. Nothing to complain about with this puzzle (and the pangram was nice); but I am saddened that neither this paper’s crossword editor nor his counterpart over at the Custodian chose to offer up tougher fare. I have learnt to look forward to a challenging puzzle (or two!) on a Thursday so felt rather frustrated today. Thanks again Vigo, and to Duncan.