I always enjoy Klingsor’s crosswords. Neat cluing and nothing too controversial. This one was on the easier side for him I think, since there have been times in the past when he has taken ages; but not this time thank goodness.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
Is there a Nina? Whether or not there is, the crossword can be solved straight, which is the main thing.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BOUNCER | Person needing some weight to kick one out of bar? (7) |
| bar with its a removed and replaced by ounce [= some weight] — &lit. | ||
| 5 | AROMA | Perfume a traveller picked up (5) |
| a “roamer”, but ‘picked up’ could have been left out, with the reference to a roma, a male gypsy, or to a Roma, a member of the gypsy community | ||
| 9 | CLIMB | Scale model’s first seen in college library (5) |
| m{odel} in (c lib) | ||
| 10 | ALSATIANS | Dogs barking diminished sanity alas (9) |
| (sanit{y} alas)* | ||
| 11 | ANTONYM | Friend of Caesar, J? The opposite (7) |
| Mark Antony, or Antony, M, was the opposite of a friend of Julius Caesar — another &lit. | ||
| 12 | ROUTINE | Pedestrian elected to block the way (7) |
| rout(in)e | ||
| 13 | CHESTERTON | Writer‘s not about to go back on box (10) |
| chest (not re)rev. | ||
| 15 | SNAG | Catch small badger (4) |
| s nag | ||
| 18 | YETI | Still one creature never actually seen (4) |
| yet 1 | ||
| 20 | OPERA BUFFA | Old theatre backed by American enthusiast wanting adult entertainment (5,5) |
| o (rep)rev. A buff A | ||
| 23 | VOUCHER | One bearing witness against the man in court nearly messed up (7) |
| v ouc(he)r, the oucr being (cour{t})* — voucher in the less usual sense of someone who vouches, rather than a ticket | ||
| 24 | SPONGER | Person cadging, ultimately? Could be (7) |
| (Person {cadgin}g)* — yet another &lit. — at this point I was planning a remark in the blog to the effect that Klingsor has included many &lits, but it seems there are now no more | ||
| 25 | ON THE MAKE | Eager for promotion, working with those people rankled periodically (2,3,4) |
| on them {r}a{n}k{l}e{d} | ||
| 26 | ALONG | Approval on getting stocks in company (5) |
| Hidden [stocks] in ApprovAL ON Getting | ||
| 27 | ANNOY | Bug in PA system? Time’s lost (5) |
| {t}annoy | ||
| 28 | ELEMENT | Maybe Al Capone’s close attendants should split rent (7) |
| {Capon}e le(men)t — Maybe aluminium | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BRISTLE | Bishop has at heart moral fibre to show resistance (7) |
| B {mo}r{al} istle [= fibre] | ||
| 2 | URBANITY | Sophistication of city type only half impresses one (8) |
| urban [= of city] 1 ty{pe} | ||
| 3 | CHARM | Spell check runs after a minute (5) |
| ch [= check (as in chess)] (a r) m | ||
| 4 | RESERVOIR | Knocked back port after early closing of book store (9) |
| reserv{e} (Rio)rev. | ||
| 5 | ARTFUL | Crafty Rex admitted to fault – that’s unusual (6) |
| R in (fault)* | ||
| 6 | OVATION | Hotel abandons new idea for reception (that’s good) (7) |
| {inn}ovation — hotel = inn | ||
| 7 | AISLE | Passage from revolutionary essayist about Society (5) |
| ai(s)le, the aile being (Elia)rev. — Elia = Lamb — hands up anyone who has ever read an essay by him; is his appearance limited to crosswords, where he appears quite often? | ||
| 8 | SCRATCHY | Grating in school yard in which pest’s caught hiding (8) |
| sc(rat c)h y — for the wordplay should there be an ‘is’ before ‘hiding’? Zoilists would say yes, but I’m not sure. | ||
| 14 | REPORTAGE | Left on time to follow touching news coverage (9) |
| re [= touching] (port age) | ||
| 16 | GLAD RAGS | Top Gear‘s blokeish type appearing in German papers (4,4) |
| G (lad) rags | ||
| 17 | ABROGATE | Silly old ratbag wrote at last to cancel (8) |
| (o ratbag)* {wrot}e | ||
| 19 | TAUNTON | Continue to jeer at West Country town (7) |
| taunt on | ||
| 21 | FIGWORT | Plant‘s fruit having endless value (7) |
| fig wort{h} | ||
| 22 | CHEESY | Showing poor taste, like Lancashire? (6) |
| 2 defs, one of them referring to Lancashire cheese | ||
| 23 | VIOLA | There you are, dropping round an instrument (5) |
| voila with the o dropping one place | ||
| 24 | SUEDE | Speaker’s inclined to get leather (5) |
| “swayed” | ||
*anagram
Yes, a bit less difficult than the usual Thursday puzzle but still challenging enough. I missed the ‘Elia’ bit of 7d – one to keep in mind for the future. Some v. good clues including those for OPERA BUFFA and GLAD RAGS, but the highlights for me were the ‘Maybe Al…’ def’n for 28a, and the clue for ANTONYM.
Thanks to Klingsor and John
Thanks for the blog, John. I always enjoy Klingsor’s puzzles, too.
I agree with Wordplodder’s favourites. I wasn’t caught out by ELIA, although I’ve read none of the essays.
I also liked the &lits at 1 and 24ac but 11ac is not another – see here: http://bardweb.net/content/readings/caesar/index.html
Perhaps 18ac could replace it in John’s list?
Many thanks to Klingsor for the entertainment.
Easy-ish for Klingsor; the SE corner proved trickiest, till I realised the need to separate ‘Al’ from ‘Capone’ in 28ac, and that in 26ac the answer was hidden.
Don’t know if it was deliberate, but in 1dn a BRISTLE can be a fibre (think nylon bristles in a brush) – and in 2dn a city type could be an urbanite – only one letter different from URBANITY. It could have been misdirection but for me it actually helped to suggest the answers.
OPERA BUFFA was my clue of the day for its surface.
Thanks, Klingsor and John
Thanks to Klingsor and John.
Early start today so time for the Grauniad and Indy.
I liked the M. ANTONY, GLAD RAGS & ELEMENT.
Yes Eileen I’m sure you’re right. I ought to know the plot of Julius C properly, but it seems I was wrong. Azed has used the same idea at some point I remember so the ‘Antony M’ thing isn’t original; which doesn’t stop it from being a good idea.
Thanks Klingsor and John
This was my first Klingsor puzzle and I really enjoyed it this morning.
Eileen @2
18ac has a definition: ‘creature never actually seen’ and separate word play: ‘Still one’.
As both parts yield the solution I’d count it out as an &lit.
I’m no expert but I wondered if other solvers might like to see an &lit example
cited by CUSTOS of The Guardian many years ago:
I’m a leader of Mohammedans!(4) … IMAM
“One of the easiest of its kind,” he said. “This clue virtually solves itself.”
Yes, and it puts over the idea so succinctly, I think. Well it’s helped me!
On &lit…
(Is it only me but) was there not once a convention that an &lit announce itself with a ‘Yes, indeed!’ Or a ‘possibly’ or simply a ‘!’as in Mike’s example.
I remember feeling cheated when I first took on Aracuria: he sprayed &lits all over the place with never a by-your-leave, which I found rather American in its casual flaunting of Ximenesian tradition.
Thanks to John and to Klingsnor: the ‘moral fibre’ misdirection in BRISTLE is a thing of beauty.
On &lit:
(Is it only me but..) Was there not once a convention that an &lit announce itself with a ‘Yes!’ or a ‘possibly’ or simply a’!’ as in Mike’s example?
I remember feeling cheated when I first took on Aracuria; he sprayed &lits all over the place with never a by-your leave, which I found rather American in its flaunting of Ximenesian tradition
Thanks to John & Kliingsnor. The ‘moral fibre’ misdirection in BRISTLE is a thing of beauty.
(Sorry for the duplication. Trying this on a new device in prep for the digital switchover for which I may be too old & stupid)
Smashing puzzle and blog. Superb clues all over the place but BOUNCER and CHARM were my favourites.
Agreed, nice one.
The only one that’s &lit, I think, is 24 across. Not to belittle the others, because they were all good, and in fact better than the one that is! I say that because the ‘ultimately’ spoils the ‘whole clue definition’ for me, as a scrounger is ‘always’ and not ‘ultimately’ a ponce.
Great puzzle, many thanks Klingsor.
The confusepig that is &litdom.