It looks like we have another new setter today, or at least a quick search of Fifteensquared doesn’t suggest otherwise. In which case, welcome Anglio.
I found this quite a challenge, and never quite felt that I’d manage to get on the setter’s wavelength. Quite a few were solved backwards, having guessed at an answer.
The top right corner had me completely beaten, with the crossing 6 across and 8 down causing particular trouble. I still have question marks next to a few other bits and bobs too.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CROSSBAR | Consumed by panic, Ross Barkley might hit it (8) |
| Hidden in [pani]C ROSS BAR[kley]. Hard to say exactly where the wordplay ends and the definition begins. They seem to overlap. | ||
| 6 | TRIFLE | Variety of pewter dish (6) |
| Two definitions, though I’ll admit the pewter one was new to me. | ||
| 9 | OPTION | Working across part of garden without a pick (6) |
| P[a]TIO in ON. | ||
| 10 | GLISSADE | Girl, gutted, feels down at the end of unfortunate dance step (8) |
| G[ir]L + IS SAD + [unfortunat]E. | ||
| 11 | COMMON OR GARDEN | Base with central sports ground tended to become familiar (6,2,6) |
| COMMON + [sp]OR[ts] + GARDEN. I though “ground tended” for GARDEN was nicely hidden. | ||
| 12 | NOON | Not at one – finishing earlier (4) |
| I think this is NO + ON[e], but I’m struggling to see a clear definition. | ||
| 13 | ILLUMINATE | In a minute I’ll find switch for light (10) |
| (A MINUTE ILL)*. | ||
| 15 | PSYCHOLOGY | Leading Axis spy travels to Switzerland – nothing’s on record in behavioural study (10) |
| SPY* + CH + O + LOG + Y, as in one of the axes on a graph. | ||
| 17 | EXAM | Full English sent back for assessment (4) |
| (MAX + E)<. | ||
| 18 | PLASTER OF PARIS | Independent amongst last papers for appraisal – this setter works for breaks (7,2,5) |
| I in (LAST PAPERS FOR)*. | ||
| 21 | FABULOUS | Barely credible sports chiefs’ endless lies start to unravel – so corrupt (8) |
| FA + BUL[l] + (U[nravel] + SO)*. | ||
| 22 | TAKE-UP | Accept flying is something that increases tension (4-2) |
| TAKE + UP, though I’ve no idea what the definition is referring to. | ||
| 23 | STREET | Somerset village hotel drawn from three stone houses (6) |
| T[h]REE in ST. | ||
| 24 | MINOR KEY | When playing, it’s sad seeing child getting shoved against locker (5,3) |
| MINOR + KEY, as in something that locks. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | RAPACIOUS | Greedy rancher’s final meeting with Native American – he’s ejected, being given vague promises of settlement (9) |
| [ranche]R + APAC[he] + IOUS. | ||
| 3 | SWIMMING COSTUME | Coe must wear this for the 1500 metres? (8,7) |
| Reverse anagram of COSTUME, with “swimming” as the anagrind, giving (COE MUST)*. | ||
| 4 | BANJO | Joan Baez’s first hit features bluegrass stalwart (5) |
| (JOAN B[aez])*. | ||
| 5 | RAG DOLL | Beginning to regret everyone handling mangy dog’s toy (3,4) |
| DOG* in (R[egret] + ALL). | ||
| 6 | THINGUMMY | Gadget comprising short flexible joint inside bay window (9) |
| I guess it’s HING[e] in TUMMY? I hadn’t heard of “bay window” and “tummy” sharing a meaning, but I can sort of believe it. | ||
| 7 | INSURANCE BROKER | One might oversee pay-out when bank’s in error – cue controversy (9,6) |
| (BANKS IN ERROR CUE)*. | ||
| 8 | LADLE | In the north, one’s appointed to transport lobby (5) |
| As far as I can tell, this is a cryptic definition. Whilst it isn’t in my dictionary, I assume “lobby” to be a nickname for “lobscouse”, the traditional Liverpudlian cuisine. If I’m right in my parsing, “transport lobby” is exceptionally nice. | ||
| 13 | IRONED OUT | Corrected – decreased even? (6,3) |
| IRONED + OUT, I guess. Can “out” mean “even”? | ||
| 14 | TRANSMUTE | First pair of trousers man’s torn on truck – change into something else (9) |
| TR[ousers] + MANS* + UTE. | ||
| 16 | OPOSSUM | After work, almost wrestling with large animal (7) |
| OP + OS + SUM[o]. | ||
| 19 | LEANT | Was misaligned, finding rear end of van parked in ditch (5) |
| [va]N in LEAT. Apparently “leat” is a dialect term for a trench bringing water to a millstream. | ||
| 20 | PUT-ON | Down the other way? It’s a trick (3-2) |
| NOT UP<. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations
Some ace clues, I thought – eg 24 and 3 – particularly if this is indeed a national debut. Agree with you on 8 down; I’ve heard it called lobbies, not lobby, but I reckon you’re right.
12 is possibly NO[T] at/to ON[E] with earlier doubling-up as a definition?
Re 6dn, bay window is indeed another term for a pot belly.
‘Even’ in 13dn perhaps just means flat – a re-emphasising of ‘decreased’ to enhance the surface (especially if you say it in the style of Snagglepuss!)
Thank you for the blog, and to Anglio.
22ac – as in taking up the slack on eg a rope.
Enjoyed this. Thanks to both.
And 8d – Lobby is Staffs equivalent of scouse
Count me as another who needed aids to get the 6ac/8dn crossers. I’d never heard of TRIFLE being a kind of pewter and without the final checker I was wondering if “trivet” might be one. As far as LADLE is concerned, that definition of “lobby” certainly borders on the obscure. It appears to be mostly used around the North Staffs/Stoke-on-Trent area, the dish is supposed to be very similar to “scouse”, and I’m assuming they both come from “lobscouse”. I did enjoy the puzzle though, particularly the Ross Barkley clue, and by coincidence he will be playing at Stoke today.
We crossed Geebs …….
Defeated me. A handful I couldn’t get and by midweek there seemed to be no point in going back to it.
I thought at first that this was going to be the end of a run of unusually difficult Saturday prize crosswords, but if anything it ended up as the hardest of the lot so far this year, for me. I didn’t get 8D, LADLE – my best guess being LODGE, which apparently shares a root with lobby, but, unsurprisingly, I couldn’t work out how the clue worked. I think I was satisfied with everything else in the end.
If Anglio is a new setter, then the slight unevenness may be a reflection of this. There were lots of really nice touches, I thought, but a few too many uncertainties.
To vary OPatrick’s comment @7, there were a few nice touches, but too many uncertainties and obscurities.
This was a puzzle of two halves for me. About half went in very quickly, then I came to a halt and struggled with the remainder, needing three more sessions to complete. I’m grateful for the explanations of 11A, 12A, 8D and 16D, whose parsing defeated me though I guessed the answers correctly, and thanks for drawing my attention to ‘lobscouse’ which I’d not heard of before. A very promising start by Anglio, so thanks to him/her and to SH for the blog.