A bit of a last minute rush with this, and apologies for maybe not doing it justice. I did the parsing below earlier in the week, but am now in the depths of Swaledale in North Yorkshire for t’Grand Depart of le tour d’Yorkshire…will there be any Tour-themed puzzles over the weekend?…and only just 25A-ing to finishing the blog off.
As with my last Indy blog 8614, I have to say I found this quite a quick solve – for a Saturday prize – and the grid filled up fairly smoothly – last couple in being OSMOSE and NOSTROMO, which I had to wiki-oogle, as I’m not much of a sci-fi craft-spotter, and was trying to work out an ‘alien’ connection with the Conrad novel of the same name.
Particularly enjoyed the double definition of MINTED, and I thought the overlapping words trick for LATCHKEY was very clever.
No obvious theme or Nina, but now I come to think of it, the clue to 5D (‘Terrible route to mention while climbing’ could maybe be a reference to the climb up to ‘le col des Buttertubs‘ facing le peloton tomorrow…and there were a couple of French connections, with Cousteau and Eiffel/eyeful.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 7A | ULNA | Line with point in middle of square that’s parallel to radius (4) | (something that is) parallel to (the) radius (bone) / U_A (middle letters of sqUAre), around L (line) + N (North, compass point) |
| 8A | DISSIPATED | Detective having had enough swallows drink to become wasted (10) | wasted / DI (Detective Inspector) + S_ATED (having had enough) around (swallowing) SIP (drink) |
| 10A | OSMOSE | Drug mule’s first in run-of-the-mill turns to get through barrier (6) | get through barrier / E (Ecstasy, drug) + SO_SO (run-of-the-mill) around M (mule’s first letter) – all turning to give OSMOSE |
| 11A | LATCHKEY | Absence irregularly interrupted by those people, which allows access to unsupervised children (8) | unsupervised children (‘latchkey kids’) / LA_C_K (absence) and T_H_EY (those people) overlapping (irregularly interrupting) each other |
| 12A | NEWSWIRE | Directions almost diametrically opposed anger in source of stories (8) | source of stories / NE (North East) and WSW (West South West) – directions, almost diametrically opposite – plus IRE (anger) |
| 14A | DITHER | Inability to choose? Find it here! (6) | Inability to choose / hidden word in ‘finD IT HERe’ |
| 15A | STEREOTYPICAL | Tailor spec to reality, matching conventional ideas (13) | matching conventional ideas / anag (i.e. tailor) of SPEC TO REALITY |
| 18A | ENDIVE | Savoury ingredient the writer’s added to dénouement (6) | Savoury ingredient / END (dénouement) + IVE (contraction of I – the writer – have) |
| 20A | NOSTROMO | Alien craft reversing round satellite circling sun, out of a novel (8) | Alien craft (from the film ‘Alien’) / O (round) + MO_ON (satellite) around (i.e. circling) RTS anag (i.e. novel) of ST(A)R (sun, without A) – all reversed to give NOSTROMO |
| 22A | COUSTEAU | French marine explorer about to eject his water (8) | French marine explorer / C (about, circa) + OUST (eject) + EAU (French for water) |
| 23A | INDUCE | Provoke Mussolini with name for Left (6) | Provoke / I(L) DUCE – Mussolini – with N (name) for L (left) |
| 25A | GET ROUND TO | Eventually do understand wife excluded from second part of bout (3,5,2) | Eventually do / GET (understand) + ROUND T(W)O – second part of a bout, without W – wife |
| 26A | SOAK | Lush, small wood (4) | Lush (as in alcoholic) / S (small) + OAK (wood) |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1D | PLUS | Almost luxurious benefit (4) | benefit / PLUS(H) – luxurious, almost, i.e. missing last letter |
| 2D | FAMOUS | Person selling soul shortly receives brief time as a celebrity (6) | as a celebrity / FA_US(T) – person who sold his soul to the Devil, short of a letter – around (receiving) MO (moment, brief time) |
| 3D | ADHESIVE | Perhaps pasty, the man is in an underground club (8) | Perhaps pasty (as in ‘like a paste’, not a Cornish pasty!) / A D_IVE (an underground club) around HE’S (the man is) |
| 4D | MINTED | Roast lamb is often rolling in it (6) | double defn / A roast lamb is often served with mint, so MINTED, and to be MINTED can mean rich, or ‘rolling in it’ |
| 5D | PATHETIC | Terrible route to mention when climbing (8) | Terrible / PATH (route) + ETIC (cite, or mention, climbing) |
| 6D | CEREBELLUM | Something in head of Chancellor, non-conformist Liberal with indecisive comment (10) | Something in (the) head / CE (Chancellor of the Exchequer) + REBEL (non-conformist) + L (Liberal) + UM (indecisive comment) |
| 9D | SILVER-TONGUED | Eloquent version of golden virtues (6-7) | Eloquent / anag (i.e. version of) GOLDEN VIRTUES |
| 13D | EISENHOWER | European lives here now, worried political leader (10) | (US) political leader / E (European) + IS (lives) + anag (i.e. worried) of HERE NOW |
| 16D | EMISSARY | Young woman hugged by emotional, topless diplomat (8) | diplomat / (T)E_ARY (emotional, topless) around (hugging) MISS (young girl) |
| 17D | POSEIDON | Held an attitude about accepting one god (8) | (Greek) god (of the sea) / POSE_D (held an attitude) around (accepting) I (one) + ON (about) |
| 19D | EYEFUL | “Towering” engineer to hear and a lot to see (6) | a lot to see / homophone, using the English pronounciation!? – Alexandre Gustave EIFFEL, a ‘towering’ engineer, sounds like EYEFUL |
| 21D | RADISH | What’s right on a plate (for vegetarians)? (6) | &lit-ish (something vegetarians might have on a plate) / R (right) + A + DISH (plate) |
| 24D | CHAV | Clubs mostly tolerate someone brash (4) | someone brash / C (clubs, in cards) + HAV(E) – tolerate, mostly |
I certainly didn’t find this a quick solve, but a steady one nonetheless and lots of nice cluing, I thought.
I read 20A – NOSTROMO – as a double definition – alien craft and novel – with additional cryptic wordplay. The STR doesn’t need to be anaground.
I wasn’t confident with CHAV, as I’m not sure how have = tolerate, though I couldn’t see what else it could be, but I did like 7A, 10A (also my LOI) and 11A in particular. I sent quite a while on 7A trying to drag out of my memory any mathematical theorems that have squares drawn parallel to radii.
Thanks to Nestor and mc_rapper67. Enjoy the tour! (Or at least the 12 seconds of it you’ll see whilst the rest of relax in front of a dry telly – having said which, wish I could be there too.)
I didn’t find this particularly easy either, although that may have something to do with the amount of Guinness I quaffed last night. I struggled the most in the NW and it took me a while to see FAMOUS, ULNA and OSMOSE. I blanked completely on NEWSWIRE and needed aids to get it, although when I saw it I could have kicked myself because I was almost certain it was going to end in IRE but I couldn’t see the NE/WSW element of the wordplay for the life of me.
This was a real challenge which I couldn’t get going on for ages, but battled on and finally managed to finish. Think it took almost two hours. LOI 10ac.
At last a good test , well balanced,even I got most of the answers today, with a little help from my electronic friend. 2018x