A breezy challenge from Julius , which was easy for most part with only the parsing for 27ac holding me back from an equally speedy finish. Thanks Julius!
I asked Geoff for help with 27ac and he very generously also let me know that there are quite a few TV shows in the crossword. Maybe they can all be identified in the comments …?
FF: 8 DD: 7
| Across | ||
| 1, 5 | A PLACE IN THE SUN | “A fish wrapped in newspaper,” reportedly what the Kaiser ordered (1,5,2,3,3) |
| sounds like A PLAICE (fish) IN THE SUN (newspaper) , wiki here | ||
| 10 | RAVE-UPS | Wild parties partly responsible for grave upset (4-3) |
| hidden in “..gRAVE UPSet” | ||
| 11 | GOURMET | Good Moët served when entertaining original connoisseur (7) |
| [ G (good) MOET*] containing UR (original) | ||
| 12 | THIRTIETH | Tesla hit their buffers at month- end (9) |
| T (tesla) HIT THEIR* | ||
| 13 | EBBED | Declined English-born teaching graduate (5) |
| E (english) B (born) BED (teaching graduate, Bachelor of EDucation) | ||
| 15 | IMAGO | I leave to nurse mother, a major subconscious influence (5) |
| [ I GO (leave) ] containing MA (mother) | ||
| 16 | CHAMPERS | Cold restricts the Widow (8) |
| C (cold) HAMPERS (restricts); reference to veuve clicquot (champagne) and the lady who led the business after her husband’s death; veuve is french for widow. | ||
| 19 | PIANISTS | Constant stains troubled key workers (8) |
| PI (constant) STAINS* | ||
| 20 | ITALY | Rift valleys regularly drained the land (5) |
| rIfT vAlLeYs (regularly i.e. alternate letters) | ||
| 21, 28 | CATCHPHRASE | Broadcast The Chase – endless crap daytime telly (11) |
| THE CHASe (endless) CRAP* – referring to a game show of the same name | ||
| 23 | ALL AT ONCE | Suddenly tall ocean waves (3,2,4) |
| TALL OCEAN* | ||
| 25 | EXCERPT | Bar put right in a passage (7) |
| EXCEPT (bar) containing R (right) | ||
| 27 | CHEQUER | Chubby-sounding man on board (7) |
| sounds like CHECKER, referring to CHUBBY CHECKER (born ernest evans, a rock and roll singer) | ||
| 28 | See 21 across | |
| 29 | CASSETTE | Toxic asset temporarily securing storage unit (8) |
| hidden in “toxiC ASSET TEmporarily..” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | AIRSTRIP | First-class journey taking in Rhodes on vacation begins here (8) |
| [ AI (first-class, A1) TRIP (journey) ] containing RS (RhodeS, on vacation, without inner letters) | ||
| 2 | LOVE IN A MIST | “I’m a novelist!” snarled Nigella (4- 2-1-4) |
| I’M A NOVELIST* ; very pretty flowering plant | ||
| 3 | COUNTDOWN | 3-2-1 is a popular TV show (9) |
| cryptic def | ||
| 4 | ISSUE | Controversy tracking International Space Station upset Brussels (5) |
| ISS (international space station) UE (brussels = EU, reversed) | ||
| 6 | HOUSE | Bingo Little finally supporting a disheartened 22 (5) |
| E (littlE, finally) supporting HOrUS (22d, without central letter) | ||
| 7 | SUM | Problem with uniform getting into bondage clothing (3) |
| U (uniform) in SM (Sadism & Masochism, bondage) | ||
| 8 | NOTED | Marked Eton downwards – poor grade (5) |
| NOTE (reverse of ETON) D (poor grade) | ||
| 9 | EGGHEADS | Smart people – for example: grand masters in charge (8) |
| EG (for example) G (grand) HEADS (masters in charge) | ||
| 14 | BARGAIN HUNT | Baronet snapping up Hungarian sculpture in visit to car boot sale (7,4) |
| BT (baronet) containing HUNGARIAN* | ||
| 16 | CASUALTY | In California, flipping USA, temperature variable, in ER (8) |
| [ ASU ( reverse of USA) in CAL (california) ] T (temperature) Y (variable, algebra) | ||
| 17 | POINTLESS | No marijuana going round at home, futile (9) |
| POT LESS (no marijuana) around IN (at home) | ||
| 18 | BY GEORGE | Crikey! Cultured 80s singer has a ring stolen (2,6) |
| BoY GEORGE (cultured 80’s singer, without O – ring, from the band ‘culture club’) | ||
| 21 | CHEAP | Stingy bloke conserving energy (5) |
| CHAP (bloke) containing E (energy) | ||
| 22 | HORUS | The Falcon’s Head chou crust stuffing (5) |
| cHOu cRUSt (stuffing i.e. inner letters) | ||
| 24 | LYCRA | Spoken like another Egyptian deity – it could be at a stretch! (5) |
| sounds like “LIKE RA” (like another egytian deity) | ||
| 26 | CAR | Mechanics turning up to fix this? (3) |
| &lit; reverse of RAC (mechanics) | ||
*anagram
Missed out on B(O)Y GEORGE which was disappointing as he was the first singer who came to mind and I was blind to the (now) obvious.
I did like ‘the Widow’ (I once heard it pronounced as ‘the Veeve Clique’ and that’s how I’ve thought of it ever since) and the cunning CASSETTE. I thought of A PLACE IN THE SUN as a film with Elizabeth Taylor, but I see it’s also a TV program. I’ll leave the rest of the thematic clues to others.
Thanks to Julius and Turbolegs
Thanks, Turbolegs.
Lots of fun from Julius, so many thanks to him, too.
I thought at first they were all [mostly] day-time quiz shows [see brilliant clue for 21,28] – CATCHPHRASE, COUNTDOWN, EGGHEADS, POINTLESS [and 3-2-1 and The Chase in the clues] but there are also A PLACE IN THE SUN, BARGAIN HUNT, HOUSE and CASUALTY. Bravo, Julius!
Apart from the theme, I thought LOVE-IN-A-MIST was a great clue, too.
I also really liked the juxtaposition of 22 and 24dn.
Great entertainment!
Didn’t know the widow connection with the chambers. Spotting the theme helped me solve 9d, a word I detest and thus a program I will not watch. Hadn’t heard of the themester House, not surprising as I don’t watch American TV series. I have my principles.
Forgot to ask Turbolegs, what do FF 8 and DD 7 mean? And while I’m at it, thanks Rob/Julius for yet another crossword I could solve without needing help from a word wizard or a dictionary. I just used pencil and paper.
Hi NNI,
Just a personal thing I started a few years back. Read the preamble here: http://www.fifteensquared.net/2014/08/08/financial-times-14695-by-goliath/
Regards,
TL
Thanks, TL. I agree with your opinion.
As I’m unfamiliar with most TV series (American or British) I had no idea that this was a theme crossword! That did not affect my solving, however. Thanks Julius for another good puzzle and Turbolegs for explaining the answers I get without fully knowing why.
Thanks to turbolegs for the blog and to those have commented, with a particular thanks to Eileen for spotting the significance of the word “another” in the clue for 24d. I’m sorry to our esteemed blogger and indeed to Tony @9 and any other overseas FT solvers who aren’t familiar with the thematic material.
warmest regards to all, Rob/Julius
I rather wish I was less familiar with most of the themers, but as always this was very entertaining.
Thanks Julius and Turbolegs
Actually did this one on the weekend away down on our Mornington Peninsula, a lovely part of the world. This fitted in perfectly, a good mix of clue devices and a theme that although I wasn’t completely across, was able to find out about the ones I didn’t easily enough
Interesting other information to pick up along the way as well – e.g the Kaiser’s speech about ‘A PLACE IN THE SUN’, another meaning of IMAGO, WIDOW (as a reference to Mme Cliquot), UR (for original), etc.
Thought that the linked Egyptian gods were well done and liked the gateway to the theme clue @21, 28.
Finished in the SE corner with Chubby Checker’s soundalike game piece, the well concealed CASSETTE and the excellent BY GEORGE as the last few in.