It is Friday and the compiling slot is occupied by Phi, as one might expect.
I found this one moderately difficult, in that I didn’t sail through it but nor did it give me hours of head-scratching. The main challenge for me was in interpreting some of the wordplay, and I would appreciate it if fellow solvers could fill in some of the gaps. For example, is “on” really an anagram indicator in 16? (Incidentally, 16 was unknown to me – thanks for plugging that gap in my general knowledge, Phi (and fellow Henderson!)) Can “c” stand for “concluded” in 5? Is a “cut” a “narrow road” in 4?
My favourite clue today was 3 for its self-parodying, cruciverbal reference. And, of course I have spotted no theme yet again, while others of you probably thought the theme jumped off the page at solvers 😉
I look forward to being enlightened during the course of the day.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | AFGHANS | Good hearts among Australian supporters for visitors from Asia?
[G (=good) + H (=hearts, in cards)] in [A (=Australian) + FANS (=supporters)] |
| 05 | TYPICAL | Usual limitations to treaty one concluded in China
T<reat>Y (“limitations” means first and last letters only) + {[I (=one) + C (=concluded)] in PAL (=China, in rhyming slang)} |
| 09 | BYE BYE BLACKBIRD | 20s song farewelling a flapper?
Cryptically, saying “bye bye” to a “blackbird” is “farewelling a flapper”; the reference is to the 1926 song by composer Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon |
| 10 | RING MAIN | Call chap about one’s electricity supply?
RING (=call, telephone) + [I (=one) in MAN (=chap)]; a ring main is an electrical supply system in which the power-points and the mains are connected in a ring circuit |
| 11 | PRISON | Promotional activity ready to go for Alcatraz?
PR (=promotional activity, i.e. public relations) + IS ON (=(is) ready to go) |
| 13 | RAY | Suffering wet weather, not in quantity of sunshine
RA<in>Y (=suffering wet weather); “not in” means letters “in” are dropped |
| 14 | TICKET-PUNCH | It provides an opening for the dedicated collector
Cryptically, a ticket inspector will use a punch to put a hole – an “opening” – in a ticket |
| 17 | SUNNY SIDE UP | Cheerful crew ready re: supply of breakfast eggs?
SUNNY (=cheerful) + CREW (=side, team) + UP (=ready, as in up for it) |
| 19 | WIN | Succeed in taking tail off snake
WIN<d> (=snake, meander, as verb); “taking tail off” means last letter is dropped |
| 20 | CORPSE | Collapse with laughter seeing Rector caught in trees
R (=rector) in COPSE (=trees); in theatrical slang, to corpse is to be incapable of speaking one’s lines because of a sudden attack of hysterical laughter |
| 22 | PROLOGUE | Opening page has scoundrel nursing ancient cut
P (=page, in book) + {[OL<d> (=ancient; “cut” means last letter dropped)] in ROGUE} |
| 24 | A BOWL OF CHERRIES | Cushy situation (or bachelor’s dallying with wife)
*(OR BACHELOR’S + WIFE); “dallying” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | MASCARA | Old woman covering a blemish in make-up
[A + SCAR (=blemish)] in MA (=old woman) |
| 26 | SAY WHEN | Order from drink supplier has new brews, including unknown quantity
Y (=unknown quantity, in algebra) in *(HAS NEW); “brews” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | AMBERGRIS | Whale extract is found after morning on floating ice, right?
AM (=morning) + BERG (=floating ice) + R (=right) + IS |
| 02 | GREENLY | About to come in calmly, giving up time in consideration of the environment
RE (=about) in GEN<t>LY (=calmly; “giving up time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped) |
| 03 | ASYMMETRY | My mastery, sadly, not a feature of this grid
*(MY MASTERY); “sadly” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | SUBCIRCUIT | Bus going uphill with Councillor adopting one narrow road to host one minor route
SUB (BUS; “going uphill” indicates vertical reversal) + [I (=one) in CR (=councillor)] + [I (=one) in CUT (=narrow road)] |
| 05 | TRAP | Held up some in ambush
PART (of) (=some (of)); “held up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 06 | POKER | Satisfactory to participate in a game
OK (=satisfactory) in PER (=a, i.e. each, as in It costs £50 a week) |
| 07 | CRIMSON | Red and right-winger restricting borders
RIMS (=borders) in CON (=right-winger, i.e. conservative) |
| 08 | LADEN | Like a busy freighter, taking line to port
L (=line) + ADEN (=port, in Yemen) |
| 12 | RESEARCHES | Military group with notes about monument in investigations
RE (=military group, i.e. Royal Engineers) + [ARCH (=monument) in SEES (=notes, observes)] |
| 15 | POPULARLY | Religious leader curtailed university rally struggling with high levels of support
POP<e> (=religious leader; “curtailed” means last letter dropped) + U (=university) + *(RALLY); “struggling” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | HENDERSON | British Nobel Peace Prize winner, female, drones on
HEN (=female) + *(DRONES); “on” appears to be anagram indicator; the reference is to UK politician Arthur Henderson (1863-1935), who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 for his work in the field of global disarmament |
| 18 | NERVOUS | Sensible ideas about Queen Victoria’s inauguration, subject to some concerns
[ER (=Queen) + V<ictoria> (“inauguration” means first letter only)] in NOUS (=sensible ideas) |
| 19 | WAGGISH | Mischievously humorous desire to snatch silver goblet at first
[AG (=silver, i.e. chemical symbol) + G<oblet> (“at first” means first letter only)] in WISH (=desire) |
| 20 | CHASM | Winner almost bridging small gap
S (=small, of sizes) in CHAM<p> (=winner; “almost” means last letter dropped) |
| 21 | SALSA | Sadly stood up without second dance
S (=second, i.e. measure of time) in SALA (ALAS=sadly; “up” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 23 | OFFA | Dyke-builder using a lot of lights, etc
OFFA<l> (=lights, at the butcher’s); “using a lot of” means last letter is dropped; the reference is to Offa’s Dyke, the earthwork that more or less follows the border between England and Wales |
Not sure about C for ‘concluded’ but I think one can just about get away with ‘on’ as an anagrind, taking ‘on’ to mean ‘working’. It was the two 3-letter words that kept me guessing for a while: RAY was fairly obvious but I parsed it as RA[in] + Y (a quantity, usually an unknown one) to give RAY simply as ‘sunshine’ but then couldn’t account for ‘suffering’; WIN was obvious, too, but I forgot ‘snake’ can be a verb.
I’ve got a vague idea of a theme but too tentative to suggest as yet.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku
Thank you Phi and RatkojaRiku.
An enjoyable puzzle, but I had trouble parsing some of the answers. I should have known the UK Nobel Peace Prize winner.
There seem to be several songs composed by Ray Henderson, A BOWL OF CHERRIES, BYE BYE BLACKBIRD and SUNNY SIDE UP for example…
Well spotted by Cookie, with another Henderson clued for the prolific Ray. Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries.
Thanks to Phi and RakojaRiku.
Ah, I was way out with my guess at a theme. Oh well, you can’t 19ac them all – or even very many of them in my case.
Gwep @3, RR spotted it for certain, see his tongue in cheek comment with the emoticon, and at 09, and there is RAY HENDERSON in the grid.
allan_c @4, keep on with your theme, this could be a red herring, the only other song I can see is SAY WHEN.
I’ve been aware of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson for a while, and I happened to clue BYE BYE… in another puzzle, which sent me looking for other songs, and it’s a surprisingly good track record. Say When I think was also the name of a full-blown show.
I have another Henderson lined up for you in a few weeks, though, given the irksomeness of clueing the surname (there aren’t that many famous examples, though I do have a Canadian dollar with my name on it), I won’t be flagging his presence quite so overtly.