I think I’m right in saying this is the first time Liari has appeared in the saturday slot.
I know there have been several Liari puzzles over the last few years but I have not had the chance to have a crack at many of them. Clearly I should.
This is a mix of a clues that I found of varying difficulty including a few that I found write-ins and a few I could not get at all except from the definition and crossing letters. Happily they were mixed up enough in the grid that there wasn’t a knotty corner that was impenetrable. For instance, last one in 3d required trying to think up anything that would fit the checked letters and mean the first or last words in (or any part of!) the clue. For that one the wordplay hit me like a train when I saw it, which is kind of satisfying, if painful.
My favourite clues: Acrosses: 11 and 28, Downs 13 and 15.
To match the two birds in the first two across clues, there is GENTOO (Penguin <Wiki> ) in the bottom row of unches.
I wonder if this was intended and there is some theme going on that I cannot spot. That could be why Liari has this Saturday slot. If there is a theme please can someone let me know.
<Later>. I have now spotted that it must be because today is World Penguin Day . I wonder if there are other clues to this in the puzzle?
<Much later update>. Doh! There is HAPPY PEN GWYNned DAY in the middle rows of answers.
PEN GWYN (Welsh for “white head”) is the origin of the name.
(Thanks to Milo at comment #5)
As usual, I have not adequately explained or found the wordplay at all, for a few clues so help please with: 10, 18 and 21 (all downs).
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | WHITEHEAD |
We had initially identified the camouflaged bird (9)
|
| (WE HAD I[dentified]THE)* AInd: camouflaged. Not a bird I know. Wiki |
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| 9 | ARGUS |
Discovered large American pheasant (5)
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| [l]ARG[e] US (American) First one in. I was pretty sure an “Argus” is a pheasant (Wiki), amongst many other things/newspapers/legends etc. |
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| 11 | MINICAB |
Vehicle from 60s I turned behind abruptly (7)
|
| MIN (60s, 60 seconds!), I, BAC[k]< (behind, abruptly, turned) Penultimate clue entered after finally spotting that 60 seconds = 1 minute. Excellent clue. |
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| 12 | BANDANA |
Headgear made from fruit worn by dancer originally (7)
|
| BANANA (fruit) around D[ancer] I’ve heard of “Bananas in Pyjamas” but apparently they are wearing bandanas this season |
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| 13 | HAPPY |
Extremely hazy about program’s content (5)
|
| H[az]Y around APP (program) This clue describes my working life. At some point I have become an SME (Subject Matter Expert). So I have to know everything about everything. Unfortunately the little I did learn is rapidly declining. Just because I have been around the IT department a long time doesn’t mean I know everything about the company’s systems… |
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| 14 | SKEDADDLE |
Clear out messy desk and go off (9)
|
| (DESK)* AInd: messy. ADDLE (go off) … and this clue is very good suggestion of what I should do about it. |
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| 16 | PEN |
Stockholder is ready for business, withholding nothing (3)
|
| [o]PEN (ready for business, minus O (nothing)) Took me till 2nd pass to see which vowel to stick between P and N |
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| 17 | GWYNEDD |
Wedding day ultimately ruined after bride’s heart rejected somewhere in Wales (7)
|
| (WEDDING [da]Y – I from [br]I[de])* AInd: ruined. Even after working out the anagram on paper I misspelt the answer when putting it in the grid. I wonder what being Gwynned means? (King Charles! Stop smirking at the back) |
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| 19 | DAY |
Some military advisors lying about global revolution (3)
|
| Hidden reversed in militarY ADvisors Were there many solvers who wrote in CIA? |
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| 20 | ALABASTER |
Research facility in front of assembly plant produces white mineral (9)
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| LAB (Research facility) between (in) A[ssembly] and ASTER (plant) I have no comment on alabaster, it is too white and pure to be mocked. |
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| 22 | AVERS |
States opposed banning latest drug (5)
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| AVERS[e] Latest “E” is removed I saw that Nigel ‘Avers on the train once, learning ‘is lines. |
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| 23 | ANGRIER |
More annoyed in rage rambling and raving at first (7)
|
| (IN RAGE)* AInd: rambling, R[aving] Have you been looking at “previously known as twitter” again? |
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| 25 | HUSKIES |
Covering that is primarily shielding workers in the Arctic (7)
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| HUSK (covering) IE (that is) S[hielding] Apparently they work like dogs |
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| 27 | DAUNT |
Cow is close to dead and extremely thin – not good (5)
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| [dea]D [g]AUNT Cows work pretty hard too. |
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| 28 | WATERFOWL |
Essentially downy, we float freely around river? (9)
|
| ([do]W[ny] WE FLOAT)* AInd: freely, around R[iver]. Lovely &Lit clue. Ducks are also very busy, but they just quack on with it. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SWAM |
Went by water and set up traps (4)
|
| MAWS< (traps, i.e. mouths, set up) First clue read and if I had the courage of my convictions (only one caution for possession y’honour) I’d’ve written this in as the first one in. But it didn’t seem quite right somehow and I couldn’t get a confirming crosser. |
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| 2 | GIANT PANDA |
Grunting beast rising up to capture small insect and a large mammal (5,5)
|
| PIG< (Grunting beast, rising up) around (to capture) ANT (small insect) AND A Anyone else, when they were a kid, think pandas were polar bears who’d been in a fight? |
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| 3 | PEACHY |
Nice and sore after gym class (6)
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| PE (Gym class, Physical Exercise) ACHY (sore) Last one in. This took ages to understand. I did not see this wordplay till I went through all the -E-C-Y words. Nice is such an anodyne definition |
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| 4 | EDIBLE |
Reliable striking king is fit to serve? (6)
|
| [cr]edible (Reliable, without CR = Charlie-boy Rex) I always thought he would choose a different name when he the fateful day arrived, given what happened to the last one. I wouldn’t want to tempt fate like that. |
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| 5 | MAINLAND |
Post also covering Northern Territory (8)
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| MAIL AND (post also) around (covering) N[orthern] In 1998 Northern Territory voted 52:48 in a referendum not to become a state. No comment. |
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| 6 | AGRA |
Indian city featured in paragraph (4)
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| Hidden in parAGRAph An Indian city well known to crossword solvers |
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| 8 | EMBASSY |
English spymaster heading fishy mission? (7)
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| E[nglish] M (spymaster) in front of (heading) BASSY (fishy) There are more fish in the sea |
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| 10 | SNAKE EYES |
With an empty stomach, she of course eats plain trimmed ones on a roll (5,4)
|
| You might get two 1s on a dice roll – what is the rest of the clue doing? This is one I must throw out to all you commenters. <Edit> Thanks to E.N.Boll& at #1: S[h]E (she, with an empty stomach) and YES (of course), around (eats) NAKE[d] (plain, trimmed) |
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| 13 | HAPHAZARD |
Random answer in a pub quiz’s last difficult round (9)
|
| A[nswer] inside A PH (a pub) and [qui]Z, all in (round) HARD (difficult) A satisfying clue to solve. Couldn’t get it without a crossing letter first, then needed pencil and paper to fathom the wordplay |
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| 15 | DIDGERIDOO |
Australian music producer performed cover of Grease free on discs (10)
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| DID (performed) G[reas]E RID (free) OO ([couple of] discs) I now want to hear “You’re the one that I want” on a didgeridoo |
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| 17 | GLACIATE |
Government spies constrained by recent freeze (8)
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| G[overnment] CIA (spies) inside LATE (recent) Be a while before there’s any more glaciation |
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| 18 | EARSHOT |
Bears heading off in the distance we hear (7)
|
| [b]EARS then how does HOT derive from “in the distance” ? More help needed here <Edit> Thanks to E.N.Boll& at #2: [b]EARS (bears, heading off) in (HOT, as in trendy). The definition is “the distance we hear” I really should have seen this |
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| 21 | THROWN |
Cast personnel in Hamilton? (6)
|
| I have no idea about this one. Is it a homophone of “throne” somehow? I probably need to know more about Andrew H <Edit> Thanks to E.N.Boll& at #2: HR (personnel, HR = Human Resources) inside TOWN (Hamilton, a town in Scotland) I rate this the trickiest in the puzzle. |
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| 22 | ASSORT |
Classify official document missing a couple of pages (6)
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| [p]ASS[p]ORT (official document, couple of P[ages] removed) These days a passport isn’t just needed to show you’re British to foreigners, it is to prove you’re British to the state. |
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| 24 | GLUG |
Swallow starts to glide low under gazebo (4)
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| First letters of Glide Low Under Gazebo An easy initialisation towards the end of the first pass of the puzzle to give me hope when I was suffering a lengthy blank patch. |
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| 26 | SOLO |
Listener’s very depressed and alone (4)
|
| Homophone of “so low” (very depressed). Homophone indicator: Listener’s A clue that I thought I would not get as I have more trouble with homophone based clues than any other. |
10(d), I think (?)
SHE, empty = SE
“of course” = YES
NAKE, is enclosed, “plain” = NAKED trimmed by its last letter.
So, S NAKE E YES.
I may be wrong, as usual
18(d), “in” as in trendy = HOT.
The def is “the distance we hear”
21(d) T HR OWN, Scottish town
Had the same parsings as E.N.Boll& @1,2.
My kind of crossword. Loved it from start to finish. At first, I wondered how 28 was supposed to work, entering ‘waterflow’ (which may be two words) but soon saw the error of my ways.
Very entertaining blog I should also add.
I echo Hovis@3….it’s my kind of puzzle, and my kind of blog.
And Hamilton is my kind of town – the racecourse was a happy hunting ground for my old mare, Bollero!
The Welsh are gaining traction! BM – “gwynned” is a nice neologism, I’d say “whitewashed”!
Gwynedd ( Gwin edth ) is another disputed meaning, possibly White Lord, or White Tribe.
( I should have explained, GWYN is white ).
Super setting throughout by Liari, some smashing devices and wordplays.
The blog is its equal, totally honest, arch, and fun.
My cap has disappeared into the heavens, thanks, L & BM
Thanks both. Now that you’ve mentioned it’s World Penguin Day, I can see a couple of other references: we have Happy Pen Gwyn[edd] Day in the middle of the grid. As E.N.Boll& says, GWYN is Welsh for white – and “penguin” (probably) comes from “pen gwyn”, the Welsh for “whitehead”, which we also have in the grid.
Milo@5, some great spotting. Headslap for me on Pen Gwyn! I think Welsh sailors were allegedly describing an auk, which actually had a black head, so we might have been celebrating “penddu” day! I was so hoping for a clue re Batman’s arch-enemy, or even nuns….may be this time, next year.
Back in May 21, 2024, Liari set a Tuesday theme crossword on types of penguin. I mentioned at the time that ‘gentoo’ didn’t make the cut. Liari replied that it was one of her favourite penguins so congrats for the nina. Missed the happy pen gwyn(edd) day as well. Marvellous!
Didn’t spot the hidden messages (though should’ve known better) and especially loved everything about 3d, 19a, 27a, and 26d. 21d was dastardly! Thanks both for the puzzle and blog.
Nice accessible puzzle and, yes, Liari is a great fan of penguins so this is a red letter day for our compiler.
Struggled here and there but was happy overall… the pheasant was my LOI… I had THROWN as HR in TOWN (Hamilton)… failed to spot the penguin thing..
Thanks to Liari n beermagnet
Ah! I see i doubled up on E.N.Bolls
Thanks to all the commenters for explaining the things I missed. I will update the blog with a few additions soon.
After I realised it was World Penguin Day I really should have spotted the PEN GWYNned DAY across the middle!
This was a Saturday puzzle that went in quickly. Only WHITEHEAD needed a word search.
Incidentally it wasn’t Charles II who came to an untimely end, it was his father.
Thanks Liari. This was a DNF for me as I failed with SNAKE EYES and needed a bit of help to solve several others. I also missed the penguin piece but that GK is not on my radar. I did enjoy a slew of clues, however, including PEN, DAY, DAUNT, WATERFOWL, GLACIATE, EARSHOT, and THROWN (COTD). Thanks beermagnet for the blog.
Completed it but struggled on the parsing for the same ones as Beermagnet as well as MINICAB. Tougher than I usually find this setter.
WATERFOWL, EMBASSY and PEACHY favourites today.
Thanks Beermagnet and Liari