A nice crossword from Hob today (what’s happening? no Dac: I wonder why), although I didn’t quite finish it, 24ac and 4dn defeating me. Oh well, I said, it’ll be all right when I do the blog since the answer will appear. It did, and it also showed me that I’d got 19dn wrong — in my opinion perfectly acceptably.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
This is based on 20A, FOXES, and a couple of famous Foxes (Edward, Samantha, although there are surely more: perhaps there are indeed more, hidden in the grid somewhere). In the unches down the left and the right you can read BASIL BRUSH, something that helped me to complete it (or at least to get as far as I did: it still didn’t enable me to get 24ac).
| Across | ||
| 6 | BYROADS | Narrow ways unknown in Norfolk area (7) |
| B(y)roads | ||
| 7 | DISTURB | Girl’s cologne knocked over? Bother! (7) |
| Di’s (brut)rev. | ||
| 9 | ATOM | Smallest bit of a cat, found in first half of dictionary? (4) |
| Two pieces of wordplay here: a cat = a tom; A to M is the first half of the dictionary | ||
| 10 | ALLOCATED | Dispensed cold tea, drunk by nearly everybody (9) |
| al{l} (cold tea)* | ||
| 12 | AVOID | Keen to eat duck? Duck it is then! (5) |
| av(0)id — the last three letters of the clue, unusually. act as a sort of link-word | ||
| 13 | IMPOSTOR | Quack doctor holding job in Iran (8) |
| I(M(post)O)r | ||
| 15 | SPAM | One of the 20A keeping quiet in Python sketch (4) |
| 20A being FOXES, one of them is a fox, or Sam{antha} Fox, erstwhile Page 3 girl | ||
| 16 | FLEET | Quick! Run away before trouble starts (5) |
| Flee t{rouble} | ||
| 17 | MENU | Some numbered houses where choice is offered (4) |
| Hidden in SoME NUmbered, the inclusion indicated by the verb ‘houses’ — nice that it isn’t, as so often, indicated by ‘some’ | ||
| 18 | ICE SHEET | Reserve page for feature on Antarctica? (3,5) |
| A sort of CD, with two meanings for ‘sheet’, also ice = reserve, sheet = page | ||
| 20 | FOXES | Those against us penning Times puzzles (5) |
| fo(x)es | ||
| 21 | SOLDIERLY | Veteran that is rated top in cunning, like a good fighter (9) |
| s(old ie r{ated})ly | ||
| 22 | DOCS | Party to Civil Service IT files? (4) |
| do CS | ||
| 24 | LAMELLA | Thin layer of honey eaten by Teletubby, say (7) |
| la(mel)la — “La-la” = Laa-laa | ||
| 25 | UNEARTH | Find United at new home for the 20A (7) |
| U n earth — foxes living in an earth | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CYST | Growth of Percy’s todger (4) |
| Hidden in PerCY’S Todger | ||
| 2 | BOOM BOOM | Males after booze, say, as joke ends? (4,4) |
| boo m boo m — boo repeated: “booze” = boo’s | ||
| 3 | EDWARD | Journalist keeps cutting of very small one of the 20A (6) |
| e(dwar{f})d — ref. Edward Fox | ||
| 4 | SINCIPUT | Wrong about current place for headpiece? (8) |
| sin c i put — I’d have got this if I’d ever heard of the word, which is the forepart of the skull | ||
| 5 | STATUS | Ranking data about university (6) |
| stat(u)s | ||
| 8/11 | RED LEICESTER | Regularly endure erectile dysfunction when eating a bit of Stilton cheese (3,9) |
| S{tilton} in (e{n}d{u}r{e} erectile)* | ||
| 12 | ASPIC | Aromatic substance briefly added to a jelly (5) |
| a spic{e} | ||
| 14 | OINKS | Love writer’s fluid approach to last of Miss Piggy’s comments (5) |
| 0 ink {Mis}s | ||
| 16 | FLEXIBLE | Accommodating mischief maker turning up at 11 before light entertainment starts (8) |
| (elf)rev. XI b{efore} l{ight} e{ntertainment} | ||
| 17 | MIXED BAG | Diverse assortment of GB athletes originally? (5,3) |
| GB a{athletes} is gba, which is an anagram [mixed] of bag | ||
| 19 | SILVER | Coins as part of wages (6) |
| part of ‘wages’ is ‘ag’, or Ag, the chemical symbol for silver — I had ‘solidi’ here, rather unconfidently thinking that s was part of wages, and s as in LSD, which didn’t help with 24ac | ||
| 20 | FLYING | Rushed fellow telling story (6) |
| f lying | ||
| 21 | SPA | First of Michael and Megan to be missing from 15 in Bath? (3) |
| Since 15 is SPAM, it’s spa{m} — presumably m is the first of Michael as well as being the first of Megan, although perhaps ‘or’ might have been kinder than ‘and’ | ||
| 23 | CITY | Team of tummy ticklers heading north (4) |
| Hidden reversed in tummY TICklers — for the second time in this crossword the inclusion indicator is merely the word ‘of’, something that always seems inadequate to me although no doubt it can be justified | ||
*anagram
A source of local pride in 11 down, prominently featuring Leicester (the Foxes)a City team flying to great things we hope.
Oh, and Basil Brush finished his ‘jokes’ with 2 down.
Nice one Hob, and thanks John.
a very enjoyable puzzle from Hob, who may be a fan of 11,23; the foxes most in the news at the mo.
Like you, John, the Basil Brush (boom boom) Nina helped a bit, especially with LAMELLA.
I see SILVER (fox) but not Liam of that ilk (mercifully).
Thanks to S&B and spare a thought for the crossword ed. who is a Spurs fan
Also FLYING fox
And there’s a popular beat combo m’lud called Fleet Foxes
Enjoyable puzzle and blog. Thanks to both.
PS Anyone wanting their usual Wednesday Dac-fix can find him in today’s i.
Thanks Hob and John
Isn’t there also a RED fox?
Hob did apologise for the theme, but pointed out that one of the answers sounds like a Spurs player. It ain’t over till it’s over, but as my Dad was from Leicester I’ll not begrudge the Foxes the title.
Unfortunately Dac has had to cut down on setting recently because of serious health issues, but I’m sure everyone here will wish him a speedy recovery.
It was good to finally spot the theme which helped me get LAMELLA. Knew ‘occiput’ but hadn’t come across SINCIPUT which was solvable from the wordplay. My favourite was SILVER which was also LOI.
An enjoyable mid-week solve.
Thanks Hob and John
Eimi @6 please keep us posted. Dac must be aware of how much we value him, and must therefore know how deeply felt are our concerns for his well-being.
All good wishes to him.
Very best wishes to Dac
No need for Hob to apologise for the theme – it was a bit of fun. Couldn’t get SINCIPUT, but apart from that it went in steadily, helped by the theme once I’d spotted it.
Indeed, very best wishes to Dac for a speedy recovery. I don’t have a ‘favourite setter’; but if I did, it would be Dac.
[It’s not over till the fat lady sings, eimi, but I thought I heard her practising her scales mid-afternoon Sunday. When she’s finished the song of jubilation for the Foxes, she can slip into a minor key and intone a dirge to mark The Black Cats spending next season in the Championship …]
Best wishes for Dac
And thanks for great puzzle from Hob – I too found the nina helpful on 24.
The theme was certainly timely-I’d love to see them grab the title.
Good fun from Hob, and thanks John. Very best wishes to Dac.
LEICESTER CITY, FLYING FOXES, RED FOXES, FLEET FOXES, SILVER FOXES, Sam Fox, EDWARD Fox, UNearth, BOOM BOOM, Basil Brush… that’s what I call a MIXED BAG of a theme. Enjoyed it immensely. Thanks to all.
Nice one, not too challenging, although I went off on a wild goose chase for names of Leicester FC players. As for Michael and Megan in the clue to 21dn – they’re Foxes too. Silver Fox, incidentally was the name of a steam locomotive of the old LNER, one of the first A4s introduced in 1935 to haul the ‘Silver Jubilee’ service between London and Newcastle.
But back to the crossword: SILVER was my CoD
Thanks, Hob and John, and Best Wishes to Dac.
Thank you, bloggers, for your good wishes, much appreciated. I think I’m on the mend now and have resumed compiling, though slightly reduced – with Eimi’s agreement – to one puzzle a fortnight.
Thanks John for the blog – we completed the puzzle last night but were too tired to comment. We noticed the link with Leicester City and foxes but didn’t see Basil Brush.
Thanks Hob for the puzzle – most enjoyable.
Our best wishes to Dac – we really look forward to our regular Wednesday solve. Thanks for your comment.