Well, Hob puzzles seem to be a bit like buses for us – we waited for nearly a year and then two come along within a few weeks of each other.
As we have come to expect from Hob, there is a theme which features in lots of the entries and clues – many using 32ac as a definition, with 31d becoming the basis of a sub-theme. All good fun, although we were somewhat puzzled by the extra wordplay for 32ac itself and the use of 31d twice in the clue for 18d when there is an alternative cross reference. Perhaps we’re missing something?
Hob has managed to get 12 thematic entries (counting 27ac/7d and 25d/3d as one each) into the grid – quite an achievement!
We’ll be without internet access for most of the day so any errors or omissions will be dealt with this evening.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Like a drop of paint beginning to brighten foyer (6) | |
| BLOBBY | B (first letter or ‘beginning’ of ‘brighten’) LOBBY (foyer) | |
| 4 | Gives 32 to Anglicans wearing 31s (6) | |
| BRACES | CE (Church of England – Anglicans) in or ‘wearing’ BRAS (31s) | |
| 8 | Lolita’s settled in (3) | |
| LIT | Hidden in LoLITa | |
| 10 | Row with a city girl (7) | |
| TIFFANY | TIFF (row) A NY (New York – city) | |
| 11 | SOB fancy man, maybe missing child (7) | |
| WHIMPER | WHIM (fancy) PER |
|
| 12 | 31 reveals content? Excellent! (4) | |
| RARE | Hidden in, or ’content’ of bRA (31) REveals | |
| 13 | Weave name into football strip? (4) | |
| KNIT | N (name) in KIT (football strip) | |
| 14 | Dish from France? That’s right (3-2) | |
| FRY-UP | FR (France) YUP (‘that’s right’). We surmise that the ? is included as fry-ups don’t feature much in French cuisine. | |
| 16 | In C major, G string provides comforting 32 (6) | |
| SOLACE | This took a bit of parsing for us as non-musicians – in the C Major scale, G is SO (in sol-fa) + LACE (string). This was our penultimate clue. | |
| 19 | Orpheus playing as 32 (5,2) | |
| SHORE UP | An anagram of ORPHEUS – anagrind is ‘playing’ | |
| 22 | Give 32 to the new clairvoyant? (7) | |
| PROPHET | PROP (give 32 – support – to) + an anagram of THE – anagrind is ‘new’ | |
| 23 | Hostess in charge is hatless (6) | |
| GEISHA | Hidden in ‘chaGE IS HAtless | |
| 25 | Regularly scorned party’s set of beliefs (5) | |
| CREDO | Alternate or ‘regular’ letters of sCoRnEd + DO (party) | |
| 26 | Hard wood? Magnolia, for starters (4) | |
| FIRM | FIR (wood) M (first letter or ‘starter’ of ‘magnolia’) | |
| 27 | Sailor’s love for a Scotsman (4) | |
| JOCK | J |
|
| 30 | Given 32 by “great” dramatist (7) | |
| OSBORNE | BORNE (given 32 – ‘support’) after or ‘by’ OS (outsize, or ‘great’) | |
| 32 | Champion to drink wine – in a 6, perhaps (7) | |
| SUPPORT | SUP (drink) PORT (wine) – we’re not sure about the relevance of ‘in a cup’ here, especially when Hob doesn’t use 6 in 18d. Is 6 being used as a form of support? Any thoughts? | |
| 33 | Bottom of a vessel (3) | |
| ASS | A SS (vessel) | |
| 34 | Unused clothes: small or scanty (6) | |
| SPARSE | SPARE (unused) round or ‘clothing’ S (small) | |
| 35 | Ad-lib from note in key C, say (6) | |
| FREELY | FR (from) E (note in ‘kEy’) ELY (see, as in diocese – sounds like ‘C’). This was our LOI. We looked at all the possible words that could fit in and finally the penny dropped. | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | 32 shaved bum hair (8) | |
| BUTTRESS | BUT |
|
| 2 | Show topless chest (5) | |
| OFFER | ||
| 3 | See 25 | See 25 |
| 5 | 32 check on coppers? (9) | |
| REINFORCE | REIN (check) FORCE (coppers, as in Police Force) | |
| 6 | Key to winning a trophy (3) | |
| CUP | C (key) UP (winning) | |
| 7 | Bit of 31 that holds bits up (5) | |
| STRAP | Cryptic definition – PARTS (bits) reversed or ‘up’ | |
| 8/24 | Liberal society embraces new entry Sun writer (5,5) | |
| LYNNE TRUSS | L (Liberal) S (society) round or ‘embracing’ an anagram of ENTRY SUN – anagrind is ‘new’ | |
| 9 | Nervous speller in the outskirts of Tenby (7) | |
| TWITCHY | WITCH (‘speller’) in T |
|
| 15 | Some pity our set of solvers (5) | |
| YOURS | Hidden in or ‘some of’ pitY OUR Set | |
| 17 | Channel around front of Russian seaport (5) | |
| LARNE | LANE (channel) around R (first letter or ‘front’ of Russian) | |
| 18 | 31s do get reordered by some 31 stores (9) | |
| CUPBOARDS | An anagram of BRAS (31s) DO – anagrind is ‘get reordered’ – after or ‘by’ CUP – ‘some’ or part of a bra (31) – we really aren’t too happy with this – a ‘cup’ isn’t ‘some bra’. Hob presumably used ’31’ again for the sake of the surface, but in our humble opinion, using 6d might have worked better. | |
| 20 | Drink drunk after beer? That’s not right at all (4,3) | |
| BEEF TEA | An anagram of AFTE |
|
| 21 | Twice 32 guy on ship (8) | |
| BACKSTAY | BACK and STAY can both be defined as ‘supports’ (32) | |
| 24 | See 8 | See 8 |
| 25/3 | Some 31s in need of repair following constant 32? (9) | |
| CROSSBEAM | An anagram of SOME BRAS (31s) – anagrind is ‘in need of repair’ following C (constant) | |
| 28 | Gas ring area (5) | |
| OZONE | O (ring) ZONE (area) | |
| 29 | Letters from address “Paris, Box 3” (4) | |
| SPAR | Hidden in, or ‘letters from’ ‘addresS PARis’ – with two alternative definitions | |
| 31 | 32 Scottish bank closing early (3) | |
| BRA | BRA |
|
Thanks for the blog, B and J.
I really enjoyed solving this, with lots of smiles along the way. I was a bit held up by CUPBOARDS and I share your puzzlement over that and 32ac but it certainly didn’t spoil the enjoyment.
I read 35ac slightly differently, as RE [note] in F [key] ELY but I think you’re probably right and it doesn’t make a deal of difference.
Favourite clues were 35ac and 20dn, I think, but it was all good.
Many thanks, as ever, to Hob, for the fun.
Thanks Eileen – Joyce parsed FREELY in the same way as you but Bert wrote the blog.
Struggled again today & agree with all of B&J’s thorough blog for which much thanks. Interestingly, the print version of the all-important 32 reads, in full, ‘Champion to drink wine (7)’ so perhaps Hob himself had second thoughts lost somewhere in transcription.
Thanks to him anyway for an, erm, challenging session…
Good, clean (or only ever so slightly naughty) fun once the gateway clue was in. I couldn’t really understand the ‘in a cup’ either. Maybe it’s there to mislead us into thinking of the noun ‘champion’ as one who is likely to drink wine from a cup (trophy) but it seems superfluous. (I’ve now just seen the post from Grant Baynham @3, so yes, it was superfluous). Some quite tricky clues including CUPBOARDS for which the anagram fodder wasn’t obvious and FREELY, my LOI.
Best of the day for me was FRY-UP. I can just imagine Paul Bocuse tucking into one every morning. Who knows, maybe he does?
Thanks to Hob and B & J.
I must admit I can’t quite see how it would work but I took the CUP reference in 32 to allude to champions maybe receiving a cup.
I got held up on 27ac; having read ‘love for a Scotsman’ as JO (as in ‘John Anderson my jo’ – Burns) I was then struggling to get the rest of the word – I thought the definition was ‘sailor’, maybe a proper name. Only when I got 21dn did I see it had to be JOCK and realised ‘Scotsman’ was the definition – a real facepalm moment! And another facepalm moment when the penny dropped for SOLACE.
A bit on the tough side, but raising a few smiles on the way.
Thanks, Hob and B&J
Agree partially with @1Eileen and @2 Bertandjoyce, though I passed it as F + RE (note in [any] key) + ELY.
Some very quirky and original clueing, most enjoyable. Normally find continual cross-referencing a bit tiresome, but not with this one. Great stuff.
Thanks to Hob and Bertandjoyce.
Also had JACKSTAY for 21D. Surely at least as (I thought more than) appropriate as BACKSTAY.
1) From the posts, do I take it that most if us are now doing this on-line and
2) Given the extreme rarity of misprints in Xwords, does the mistake in the digital version of 32ac signal the end of civilisation as we know it?
GX
One man’s ‘quirky and original’ is another man’s ‘can’t be arsed’. So to follow on from gwep at no 6, I did in fact find the cross-referencing tiresome, and gave up with a third of the clues to go because I’d run out of time and enthusiasm.
I got the gateway clue early doors, despite the slightly dodgy surface reading. But the theme didn’t engage me. Others seems to have enjoyed it, so fair play to Hob.
Late in the day I know but I still do the print version and so missed the 32ac conundrum. However it does occur to me that 31s do rely on 6s to provide their 32. Too much cross referencing perhaps? Or too much information?