A good fun Gaffle this Friday. Thanks to Gaff for yet another twisted challenge, albeit on the easier side relative to some of his earlier work that I have encountered. Quite a few subtraction anagrams in this one. Progress was slow and steady with the SW corner holding me up in the homestretch. Parsing for 15ac continues to elude me.
FF: 10 DD : 8
| Across | ||
| 1 | TACKLE |
Kit Kat and eclair half chewed (6)
Anagram of KAT and ECL (half of ECLair) – A typical Gaffy clue to get the ball rolling. |
| 4 | CROSSING |
Birds without call – pelican, perhaps (8)
CROwS (birds, with-‘w” out) SING (call?) – My best attempt at parsing this if indeed the solution is correct. A pelican crossing is a type of a pedestrian crossing. |
| 10 | ENNOBLE |
Good turn the French honour (7)
BONNE (good) reversed (turn) followed by LE (‘the’ in French). I generally had the impression that ‘bon’ (by itself) was good but did learn that ‘bonne chance’ means good luck. |
| 11 | FORWARD |
Fresh conflict within car manufacturer (7)
WAR (conflict) in FORD (car manufacturer) |
| 12 | PREY |
Enquire about killer’s penultimate victim (4)
PRY (enquire) about E (killEr’s penultimate character) |
| 13 | HENRY MOORE |
Figures creator of Romney hero’s misguided (5,5)
Anagram of ROMNEY HERO – Known for his famous bronze sculptures. |
| 15 | SITOUT |
Endure substantial coverage of newspaper (3,3)
?? |
| 16 | DEFICIT |
Problem with economy not about to be rectified, sadly (7)
Anagram of reCTIFIED (not about i.e. without ‘re’) |
| 20 | EDIBLES |
Food that’s sacred, I bless contentedly (7)
Hidden in “..sacrED I BLESs..” |
| 21 | TSETSE |
Biting winger, nameless, sent off twice (6)
Anagram of SEnT SEnT (nameless – without ‘n’, twice) |
| 24 | OVERTAKING |
Open a card in passing (10)
OVERT (open) A KING (card, in a deck) |
| 26 | ORAL |
Really regularly put on nil-by- mouth (4)
RAL (ReAlLy, alternate characters) after O (nil) |
| 28 | IN TOUCH |
Up-to-date communicating (2,5)
Double definition |
| 29 | HOOKERS |
Providers of services to bodies of anglers? (7)
Cryptic clue – “bodies” could well be part of the clue! 🙂 |
| 30 | SHACKLED |
Bound to be influenced by poor accommodation (8)
LED (be influenced) after SHACK (poor accommodation) |
| 31 | CENTRE |
Extremely romantic teen’s broken heart (6)
Anagram of RC (extremely RomantiC) TEEN |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TRESPASS |
Spring lock on the outside for illegal entry (8)
TRESS (lock) outside SPA (spring) |
| 2 | CONVERTED |
Secret about name Edward changed (9)
[ COVERT (secret) about N (name) ] ED (edward) |
| 3 | LUBE |
Ebullient opening turn from Grease (4)
Hidden, reversed in EBULlient |
| 5 | REFEREES |
Jobseekers’ vouchers (8)
Cryptic def |
| 6 | SCRUMMIEST |
Most pleasurable crimes must corrupt (10)
Anagram of CRIMES MUST |
| 7 | IMAGO |
Fancy insect (5)
Double def – final stage of development of an insect |
| 8 | GADGET |
Achieve support for roaming device (6)
GET (achieve) under (support-ing) GAD (roaming) |
| 9 | RESET |
Put back rubber trees (5)
Anagram of TREES |
| 14 | DUMBSTRUCK |
Shocked mob first burst out in Aylesbury, maybe (10)
[ M (Mob, first) Anagram of BURST ] in DUCK (aylesbury, may be) |
| 17 | INTERCEPT |
Miserable without a certain pet bug (9)
Anagram of CERTaIN PET (without ‘a’) |
| 18 | DECK SHOE |
Crafty loafer flattens weed (4,4)
Charade of DECKS (flattens) HOE (weed) – I like the use of crafty to denote something associated with a sea-faring vessel. |
| 19 | DECLASSE |
Lowered pupils into river (8)
CLASS (pupils) in DEE (river) |
| 22 | MOBIUS |
Strip man of tips from overseas benefactors included in total raised (6)
OBI (tips ~ starting characters of “..Overseas Benefactors Included..”) in MUS (total = SUM, reversed) |
| 23 | ANKHS |
Egyptian charms a new king with his surroundings (5)
A N (new) K (king) HS (HiS surroundings, i.e. first and last letters) |
| 25 | EXTRA |
Maybe wide on top (5)
Double definition, first referring to the game of cricket. |
| 27 | CODE |
Instructions for runner to capture record finally (4)
COE (runner, Sebastian) capturing D (recorD finally) |
Re 15a
Endure – def
substantial – STOUT
coverage of – inserticator
newspaper – i, which is from the Independent stable.
Years ago I used to browse through British newspapers regularly in the British Council library here in Chennai. While I have seen Independent, I have not seen i.
The newspaper i is of recent origin, I think.
Could anyone say when it was started?
The British Council library in Chennai is unlikely to have it. Even years ago, they took off many newspaper titles from their list because of financial crunch.
The crossword in The Times might have been solved by an official!
And, of course, there are lots of rugby references today.
You haven’t missed much. The i is even more of a rag than the Indy has become. I only read any of them for the crosswords these days.66
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs.
10ac: I took “French” as applying to both “Good” and “the”. French adjectives inflect by both gender and number, so “good” in French can be any of BON, BONNE, BONS, or BONNES.
For 29ac, I had PRIESTS. As well as describing those who lead religious services, the name is also used for a small heavy implement used to kill a just- caught fish. I think the name came from an allusion to the last rites.
I was sure I had the right answer so that meant I could not get the SE corner.
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs
Was late to this and found it an enjoyable solve. Although I was on the lookout for a theme, I wasn’t able to spot what is now the obvious RUGBY one.
Had got my plural reading mixed up and had written in REFERRER instead of REFEREES in at 5d.
Was able to pick up all of the rest of the cleverly hidden cryptic components of the answers – including the i, which I remember seeing explained as a lift out magazine in the Independent.
Nearly laughed out loud on the train when HOOKERS finally dropped – gorgeous definition. Closely followed by the ‘crafty loafer’ definition at 18d.
Finally finished with the brilliantly disguised anagram of CERT[A]IN PET at 17d, in what was a very engaging challenge.
Thanks Turbolegs and Gaff.
Very enjoyable. I particularly liked the clues for TACKLE, CROSSING, REFEREES, and HOOKERS – but also can see the equally proper answer of PRIESTS for 29ac if one hadn’t spotted the rugby theme – which of course I missed too.
Doh!