Sorry for the late blog, I’ve just got back from seeing my husband off for his first session of radiotherapy. I’ll do the puzzle as quickly as I can and write up a quick one.
| Across | ||
| 1 | GAME PLAN | A good start – I’d never heard of GAMELAN. Insert P for the answer |
| 5 | GRAPPA | RAP in GP + A |
| 9 | THIN ON TOP | THIN + ON TOP |
| 11 | COROT | CO + ROT |
| 12 | DIRECT ACTION | DIRECT + ACTION |
| 15 | ARID | Hidden in KalahARI Desert |
| 16 | LAWN TENNIS | *LENIN WASN’T |
| 18 | SALMONELLA | ELLA after SALMON |
| 19 | SAKE | Double definition |
| 21 | FRANK SINATRA | FRANK + *ARTISAN |
| 24 | VOILA | OIL in V&A |
| 25 | EXHIBITED | EXITED round HI + B |
| 26 | RAGGED | G in RAGED |
| 27 | GREATEST | *RAGE + TEST |
| Down | ||
| 1 | GUTS | *TUGS? |
| 2 | MAID | I in MAD |
| 3 | PROFIT | PRO+ FIT |
| 4 | AT THE SAME TIME | *MEAT EMITS HEAT |
| 6 | RECYCLED | RED around CYCLE |
| 7 | PERSIAN CAT | SIÂN + C in pert |
| 8 | ASTONISHED | *A DISHONEST |
| 10 | PATENT LEATHER | *THE TEA PLANTER |
| 13 | LASSA FEVER | S + SAFE in LAVER |
| 14 | MISLEADING | MI’S + LEADING |
| 17 | BOOKCASE | BOOK + CASE + cd. |
| 20 | ARABIA | AB in ARIA |
| 22 | STYE | STY + E |
| 23 | EDIT | <TIDE 🙂 |
*anagram
Hold mouse over clue number to see clue, click a solution to see its definition.
Sorry to hear that, Stella. My best wishes to your husband. Don’t worry about the blog – it shouldn’t take you very long as the puzzle’s pretty straightforward.
May I also offer my best wishes. The puzzle will indeed not take you long.
Hi Stella
Sorry to hear that. Best of luck.
Yes indeed – all the best to you and yours Stella.
Gosh, that was quick, Stella! Reflecting the level of difficulty, I guess. Chifonie must have known you’d be pressed for time. A lot of this, I’m afraid was “Quick Quiptic” stuff but I did like 24!
Thanks all for your best wishes. He was summoned at short notice, as a place suddenly opened up – but he has to travel 200 km. daily!
I didn’t want to waste time writing in comments, but I did quite enjoy this, as much as lack of time would allow, and I’m grateful to Chifonie for making the clue structures quite straightforward, even though there were a couple of words that were new to me – the one I’ve already mentioned, and LAVER.
With more time, I’d have included a couple of links, for example to COROT, as I’m very fond of Impressionist paintings.
Fairly gentle puzzle, but entertaining.
Thanks, Stella for the blog, and best wishes to your husband.
I think 1d is a dd and you have missed the ‘A’ in the CA of PERSIAN CAT.
GAMELAN is a nice word; I must remember it for Scrabble.
I believe 1d is a straightforward dd – OED online (for instance) gives “disembowel” as a particular case of draw: “take or obtain from a receptacle”. As in “Hanged, drawn and quartered”
Thanks, Stella – and best wishes to all.
Very straightforward but beautifully clued puzzle, which I enjoyed a lot (while it lasted!). Good range of vocabulary, but nothing too recondite – I have never tasted the (in)famous LAVER but I have enjoyed GAMELAN concerts.
Last in was 19a – four letter words, eh? Nice non-homophonic dd, though.
Thanks Stella and best wishes to you and your husband. It can’t be easy to have to travel so far on top of everything.
This was all very straightforward, I thought — failed to parse 7dn, but otherwise no problems. Quite a few nice surfaces.
Thanks to my husband’s wide-ranging musical tastes, I had heard of Gamelan.
PS I agree with Chris @9 re 1d.
Me too. Chambers gives draw as “to eviscerate” and gut as “to take out the guts of”.
Thanks all (especially in light of unfortunate circumstances).
To quote:
“pretty straightforward”, “not take long”, “quick….not take long”, “quick,reflection of levelof difficulty”, “Quick Quiptic”, “very straightforward”.
Need I add more.
Thank you, Stella.
I’ve nothing to add, except my best wishes to you both.
I think 14 down should be parsed “M is leading”, where M is the security agency chief of James Bond fame.
Best wishes to your husband Stella.
Thanks for the blog as you explained a couple of cases where I did not manage to parse them.
Thanks Stella. May I also add my best wishes to you and your family at this time.
I remember GAMELAN from the children’s early days when one was brought to their school and all the kids were allowed to ‘have a go’. There’s also a fine example at the sbc.
David, in Stella’s understandable absence: “chief” is LEADING – I understand your idea about M but your version would need “deceptive” to supply LEADING and the whole clue to be an &lit.
Thanks Stella and Chifonie
No more to add. Enjoyed 12a, 19a, 24a, 6d, 10d, 23d.
Very bestwishes.
Thanks Stella
An enjoyable puzzle although I did take a while over the bottom left corner. Kicked myself when I eventually saw FRANK SINATRA.
Thanks all for your good wishes. He’s on his way home now. More tomorrow.
Thanks also for explaining 1d. – though my version could (barely) have worked 🙂
Quite right, robi@7, on this occasion “about” is ‘ca.’, not just ‘c.’
Can someone provide a fuller explanation of 23d EDIT
gasmanjack, it’s “check” = EDIT and “overflow” is, as Stella says, a reversal of TIDE, “flow.” You might also take it as an &lit as an editor will reduce verbosity. (As should probably be done to this post!) 🙂
Actually, cd rather than &lit.
Nothing to add, just wanted to send my very best wishes to Stella and thanks for the urgent blog.
Simple and well-clued puzzle, which I enjoyed, but also a reminder that there are more important things in life than crosswords. My best wishes too.
Thanks Neil.
Guts, persian cat, grappa and corot did for me -not the easiest Graundiad for me .
Thanks Stella – just right for you in the circumstances. Hope all goes well for you all.
Like NeilW @5, I enjoyed 24a. Voila made me smile and reminded me that I hope the olives will yield some good oil in the next few weeks.
Giovanna
Could someone please explain 12a? I got the answer but don’t know why plain suit = direct action.
Ian
Morning Ian.
It’s ‘plain’ in the sense of ‘direct’, like in ‘plain speaking’; and the legal sense of ‘suit’, as in to bring an action against someone in court (more commonly heard in ‘lawsuit’, I guess).