Tuesday fun from Alchemi today.
Our setter seems to have been at home in the Tuesday slot recently, where we expect to find a theme – and it’s not hard to spot today’s. 12a 13a identifies the unfortunate lunar mission, using a 30a rocket; 29a, 7d and 21d were its crew; they encountered an issue as identified in 22d 4d 2d, and made a somewhat understated report of it as in 5d 3d. We could perhaps also add 23a (because that’s how they used the lunar module to get home) and 15a (the wonderful example of practical engineering they used to maintain their air quality – quite literally fixing the system with cardboard and gaffer tape).
Apart from the many thematic entries, I liked the two well-constructed initial-letter clues in 18d and 24d, and the misdirection of a North London supermarket in 8d. Thanks Alchemi for an enjoyable ride.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TEAPOT |
Disconsolate apothecary’s brewing vessel (6)
|
| Hidden answer (. . .’s = belonging to) in [disconsola]TE APOT[hecary]. | ||
| 5 | WHAT HO |
Friendly greeting which superficially broke oath (4,2)
|
| W[hic]H (superficially = just the outside letters) + anagram (broke) of OATH. “Broken” would be more grammatically correct for an anagram indicator, but perhaps it’s the informal usage of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. | ||
| 10 | DIPSO |
Taramasalata, maybe very alcoholic (5)
|
| DIP (sauce for dipping finger food into = taramasalata maybe) + SO (very).
Short for dipsomaniac = someone with a drinking problem. |
||
| 11 | NEVER MIND |
Perhaps Flanders eats rats? Sorry to bother you (5,4)
|
| NED (perhaps Ned Flanders, character in The Simpsons) containing (. . . eats) VERMIN (for example rats).
Never mind = sorry to bother you = an acknowledgement that someone isn’t able to help you as requested. |
||
| 12 | APOLLO |
Butterfly vote included by Army Order (6)
|
| POLL (a vote), included in A (abbreviation for army) + O (abbreviation for order, as in OBE).
The Parnassius genus of butterflies. |
||
| 13 | THIRTEEN |
Hint tree could be this (8)
|
| Anagram (could be) of HINT TREE.
The definition isn’t entirely helpful, but I’m assuming it refers to the fact that this clue is numbered 13 across. |
||
| 14 | SHIMMY |
Beginning to seduce that guy with gracious swivel of the hips (6)
|
| Beginning letter of S[educe] + HIM (that guy) + MY (my! = gracious! = an expression of surprise).
A dance move, shaking the hips and/or shoulders. |
||
| 15 | ADAPTIVE |
Self-adjusting advanced exercise one channel features (8)
|
| A (abbreviation for advanced, as in A-level), then PT (abbreviation for physical training = exercise) + I (one in Roman numerals), contained in (. . . features) DAVE (a UK TV channel). | ||
| 18 | KINGSHIP |
Guerrilla leader in close connection with royalty (8)
|
| Leading letter of G[uerilla] in KINSHIP (close connection). | ||
| 20 | USED TO |
Not surprised by American journalist returning books (4,2)
|
| US (American) + ED (short for editor = journalist), then OT (Old Testament = books) reversed (returning). | ||
| 23 | LIFEBOAT |
Biography program includes a rescue vessel (8)
|
| LIFE (biography, as in Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson) + BOT (computer program), including A. | ||
| 25 | PIGSTY |
Shame about grammar school’s awful accommodation (6)
|
| PITY (shame, as in “it’s a pity that . . .”) around GS (abbreviation for grammar school).
Informal term for a very untidy or dirty living space. |
||
| 27 | KNOWLEDGE |
Intelligence Director in week-long struggle (9)
|
| D (abbreviation for director) in an anagram (struggle) of WEEK-LONG.
Intelligence in the espionage sense = information = knowledge. |
||
| 28 | ELATE |
Told endlessly to cheer up (5)
|
| [r]ELATE[d] (as a verb = told a story) without its end letters. | ||
| 29 | LOVELL |
12 13 commander with liberal line on honey (6)
|
| L (abbreviation for Liberal) + L (abbreviation for line), added to LOVE (honey = a term of endearment).
The commander of 12a 13a. |
||
| 30 | SATURN |
Space agency initially go for series of rockets (6)
|
| Initial letters of S[pace] A[gency], then TURN (go, as in “it’s my go next”).
The rockets used for the Apollo missions. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | EXPLOSION |
Sex in pool, wild banging (9)
|
| Anagram (wild) of SEX IN POOL. | ||
| 3 |
See 5
|
|
| 4 | TANK |
Fail to beat picture card (4)
|
| TAN (as a verb = slang for beat or flog) + K (abbreviation for king, one of the “picture cards” in card games).
Tank, as a verb = slang for fail badly. |
||
| 5/3 | WE’VE HAD A PROBLEM |
Following 2 in 22 4 on 12 13, 21 and 29’s reports have blamed power failure (4,3,1,7)
|
| Anagram (failure) of HAVE BLAMED POWER.
The famous message from two of the Apollo 13 crew (following an explosion in an oxygen tank) is quoted in various slightly different forms, but according to Wikipedia it was “Houston, we’ve had a problem”. |
||
| 6 | AIRDROP |
Show doctor at work for relief mission (7)
|
| AIR (show, as a verb = broadcast) + DR (abbreviation for doctor) + OP (abbreviation for Latin opus = a work of music or literature). | ||
| 7 | HAISE |
Odds of heat issue given by 12 13 crew member (5)
|
| Odd-numbered letters of H[e]A[t] I[s]S[u]E.
Fred Haise, crew member of 12a 13a. |
||
| 8 | IDEALS |
Kentish Town Iceland stocks perfect models (6)
|
| DEAL (a town in Kent, not the area of north-west London) contained in (. . . stocks) IS (abbreviation for the country of Iceland, not the frozen-food supermarket). | ||
| 9 | ODENSE |
City keeping 26 in extreme opulence (6)
|
| DENS (reference to 26d) in the outer letters (extreme) of O[pulenc]E.
City in Denmark. |
||
| 16 | IN DESPAIR |
Eats (with starter coming late) with couple having lost all hope (2,7)
|
| DINES with its starting letter coming two places later than expected, then PAIR (couple). | ||
| 17 | BICAUDAL |
Work of Dali – a cub with two tails (8)
|
| Anagram (work) of DALI A CUB.
A guessable definition, especially if you know the Latin cauda = a tail. But I suspect it’s a word that most of us don’t use very often. |
||
| 18 | KULAKS |
Prosperous Russian peasants knuckling under, looking after kind Soviet leaders! (6)
|
| First letters (leaders) of K[nuckling] U[nder] L[ooking] A[fter] K[ind] S[oviet].
Peasants who managed to do well for themselves in the final years of the Russian Empire, but were then in trouble for it after the Russian Revolution. |
||
| 19 | SIBYLLE |
German woman caught by weaselly bishops turning up (7)
|
| Hidden answer (caught by . . .), reversed (turning up = upwards in a down clue), in [weas]ELLY BIS[hops].
A German woman’s name, though not perhaps one of the first few you’d think of. |
||
| 21 | SWIGERT |
Substantial draught on target oddly put up by 12 13 crew member (7)
|
| SWIG (substantial draught = a large gulp of drink), then the odd-numbered letters of T[a]R[g]E[t] reversed (put up = upwards in a down clue).
Jack Swigert, crew member of 12a 13a. |
||
| 22 | OXYGEN |
Steers round edges of yachting element (6)
|
| OXEN (steers = castrated bulls) around the outer letters (edges) of Y[achtin]G. | ||
| 24 | FRODO |
1 chased by 9 for ring of dark occult origins (5)
|
| First letters (origins) of F[or] R[ing] O[f] D[ark] O[rigins].
Extended definition: Frodo Baggins, character in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, who acquires a dangerous magic ring and is pursued for it by (among others) the Nine Nazgûl. |
||
| 26 | DENS |
Reduced budgets ultimately restrict space studies (4)
|
| Last letters (ultimately) of [reduce]D [budget]S, containing (restricting) EN (in typesetting, a medium-sized space between letters).
Study = den = private room. |
Good fun. Accessible theme. Nice clueing. New word with BICAUDAL. Also like KULAKS and FRODO. Thanks Quirister and Alchemi.
Thanks, Alchemi and Quirister! An enjoyable puzzle. As usual a neat and informative blog.
Liked DIPSO, ADAPTIVE, LIFEBOAT, TANK, WE’VE HAD A PROBLEM and FRODO.
TANK
I parsed it Quirister did.
I think an alternative parsing is almost possible (TAN+K is the preferred parsing).
TANK means fail as well as to beat (a contronym?). There is a movie (picture) titled ‘Tank’.
And I see (during a Google search) a particular comedian (card) named ‘Tank’ (a pseudonym).
A quadruple def possibly!
I parsed it as Quirister did. Sorry for the error.
What an absolutely superb puzzle, with the theme so cleverly worked in and gradually being teased out during the solve. The only one I didn’t understand was 24D as I didn’t know the Nine Nazgul and couldn’t see how Odense came into it. Top marks Alchemi, many thanks to you and to Quirister for the blog.
Thanks, Quirister.
LIFEBOAT was thematic before I started cluing, but I couldn’t find a way of involving it which resulted in a clue which made sense or was less than 30 words, so I left it as an Easter egg. I reckoned enough people would recognise the caud- root for BICAUDAL for it to be guessable; I’ll admit that it’s not a word that I use too frequently, but I expect there’s been a Star Wars/Trek, Dr Who or Blake’s 7 or something which used it a bit.
Same comment as Tatrasman @4 about 24d which was the only one I couldn’t parse. Loved the theme, especially as I remember APOLLO 13 well, even if it did happen 53 years ago. Still, my memory isn’t all that good as I always thought the famous quote was “Houston, we have a problem” (perhaps as alluded to in Quirister’s comments) so that held me up for 5/3d; it was interesting to read in Wikipedia about the real words used by the astronauts. Yes, I semi-guessed BICAUDAL via the CAUD- root.
Very enjoyable. The surface for 2d was a great way to start!
Thanks to Alchemi (and thanks for dropping in) and Quirister
Could I add SHIMMY as thematic? Used in the movie, probably never said in real life.
The scriptwriters HAD A PROBLEM with “WE’VE HAD A PROBLEM” – the present perfect tense wasn’t tense enough for the movie.
“Houston, we have a problem” – the present tense is much more immediate and dramatic. Happening. Now.
Also, there really is an Iceland in Kentish Town.
“1 chased by 9” – I’d never have got that, either.
Thanks A&Q
Thanks both. Struggled for a while including trying to justify Spock instead of HAISE where SP for ‘odds’ set the hare running the wrong way. Once I cracked LOVELL having already seen SATURN the remaining challenge was to identify the other members of crew who were unknown and not with obvious surnames. SIBYLLE has never introduced herself on my trips to Germany, so perhaps she needed to be there to make the excellent theme work
Thanks Alchemi and Q. All very enjoyable. Had to use wiki for crew names and HAVE Vs HAD.
If you get a chance I recommend ‘Apollo Remastered’. A paper copy is too small but the online version – available at some libraries – is spectacular.
Enjoyed this but the solve was not without its problems for me. The only Flanders’ I knew were Moll and Mr Swan’s partner and 24d was a complete bung in based on the checkers.
Top three for me were USED TO, PIGSTY & OXYGEN.
Thanks to Alchemi and to Quirister for the review
Great fun. Apollo 13 and the Lord of the Rings reference, along with the Woosterish WHAT HO, both brought me back to rose-tinted times. Found it hard going but enjoyable.
Thanks both.
‘Both’=’all’
An enjoyable challenge to work out all the theme references, but we had the same difficulties as Jane@11 with Flanders and FRODO. Plus BICAUDAL isn’t in Chambers (13th ed) or Collins (2006), although it was easily derived from ‘caudal’.
Thanks, Alchemi and Quirister
Thanks Alchemi. Slow start, quick finish, a few parsing gaps, and a familiar theme — I’ll take it. Favouite clue was NEVER MIND. Thanks Quirister for the blog.
I missed the chased-by-9 reference but the solution had to be what it was. I have a sense of pride at filling this in with no external references! Thank you, Achemi & Quirister. Fave: hard to chhose beteeen the lovely 13 and the clever 1 and 10.
allan_c@14
The Free Dictionary is one of those dictionary aggregators:
“bicaudal
(ba??k??d?l)
adj
(Zoology) having two tails
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014″