A fun challenge from SOLOMON this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 6
This blog comes from Amersham ( am on a work trip to London , and head back home to Singapore in a couple of days ) . Enjoying the English sun ( not often that this is said, I reckon ).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CABBAGE |
Vegetable container holding some Swedes one removed (7)
|
| CAGE ( container ) containing ABBa ( some swedes, without A – one ) | ||
| 5 | PEANUTS |
Wings from peregrine and a cuckoo make a tasty snack (7)
|
| PE ( PeregrinE, wings of i.e. end characters ) A NUTS ( cuckoo ) | ||
| 9 | RICE PAPER |
I see crowds prepare strange edible substance (4,5)
|
| I C ( i see ) in [ PREPARE ]* | ||
| 10 | LEAVE |
Set out from the Champs-Elysees? (5)
|
| LE ( the , french ) AVE ( ~champs-elysses ) | ||
| 11 | GEESE |
‘Flying V’ guitar engineered, electrified and strung, initially, by European (5)
|
| GESS ( starting letters of “..Guitar Engineered Electrified and Strung..” ) E ( European ) | ||
| 12 | YORKSHIRE |
County court fool with one about to leave on large horse (9)
|
| YORicK ( court fool, without { I ( one ) C ( about ) } ) SHIRE ( large horse ) | ||
| 13 | NOSTRUM |
Scheme to turn on Mother Teresa, perhaps with alcohol (7)
|
| NO ( reverse of ON ) ST ( mother teresa, perhaps ) RUM ( alcohol ) | ||
| 15 | DOORMAT |
Holding wheel, Mr Toad snarls: ‘Step on it!’ (7)
|
| [ MR TOAD ]* containing O ( wheel ) | ||
| 17 | EASTERN |
Exotic sea bird from China? (7)
|
| [ SEA ]* TERN ( bird ) | ||
| 19 | EYE-DROP |
Tear clothing from emissary accompanying cycling Spaniard (3-4)
|
| EY ( EmissarY, clothing i.e. end letters of ) EDROP ( spaniard = PEDRO, cycling i.e. with P moving from first to last ) | ||
| 21 | BEANSTALK |
Plant delivering Stairway to Heaven? (9)
|
| cryptic def, from the story, jack and the beanstalk | ||
| 24 | SAVES |
Banks stops the shot (5)
|
| double def; latter in the context of cricket fielding | ||
| 25 | EXIST |
Are old ones beginning to tire? (5)
|
| EX ( old ) IS ( ones ) T ( Tire, first letter ) | ||
| 26 | UMBRELLAS |
Rain covers Mr Kelly, exposed, holding black article in America (9)
|
| [ { B ( black ) in MR ELL ( kELLy, exposed i.e. without end letters ) } A ( article ) ] in US ( america ) | ||
| 28 | DESERVE |
Earn pennies before fleeced men start to rally (7)
|
| D ( pennies ) E ( mEn, fleeced i.e. without end characters ) SERVE ( ~ start to rally ) | ||
| 29 | BATTERY |
Mad tradesman loses face before going around and beating people up (7)
|
| hATTER ( mad tradesman, without starting letter ) in BY ( ~before ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CAR |
The King’s taking a taxi? (3)
|
| A in CR ( king ) | ||
| 2 | BUCKETS |
Cents regularly covered by dollars — lots of them (7)
|
| ET ( cEnTs, alternate letters of ) in BUCKS ( dollars ) | ||
| 3 | APPLE TREE |
Part of orchard with pear peel scattered around the bottom of it (5,4)
|
| [ PEAR PEEL ]* around T ( iT, last letter of ) | ||
| 4 | EMPTY |
My relative to marry English politician, tackily, on vacation (5)
|
| E ( english ) MP ( politician ) TY ( TackilY, on vacation i.e. end characters ); reverse clue -> empty MARRY = MY ( without ‘ARR’ ) | ||
| 5 | PARTRIDGE |
Bird in twisted net free, say, to rise (9)
|
| PART ( reverse of TRAP, net ) RID ( free ) GE ( reverse of EG, say ) | ||
| 6 | ATLAS |
A sailor from the south who’s a big strapping lad (5)
|
| A TLAS ( reverse of SALT, sailor ) | ||
| 7 | URANIUM |
Metal skull about to be replaced by you (7)
|
| cRANIUM ( skull, with C – about replaced by U – you ) | ||
| 8 | STEREOTYPES |
Yellowhammers originally found in tangled treetops, empty eaves and pigeonholes (11)
|
| Y ( Yellowhammers, first letter of ) in [ TREETOPS ES ( EaveS, empty i.e. without inner letters ) ]* | ||
| 11 | GINGERBREAD |
What makes a man? Being treated with regard? (11)
|
| [ BEING REGARD ]* | ||
| 14 | MINIATURE |
Baby of popular crossword setter with sensible clothing (9)
|
| [ IN ( popular ) I ( crossword setter ) ] in MATURE ( sensible ) | ||
| 16 | OVERSLEPT |
Romeo’s left depressed, finally, because drugged-up Juliet woke too late (9)
|
| OVERSL ( LOVER’S = romeo’s, with L – left moving to the end ) EPT ( last letters of “..becausE drugged-uP julieT..” ) | ||
| 18 | SCABIES |
One piercing terrible abscess scratching bottom, resulting in infection (7)
|
| I ( one ) in [ ABSCESs ( scratching bottom i.e. without last letter ) ]* | ||
| 20 | REVOLVE |
Turn about car getting tailed on the southern edge of Baltimore (7)
|
| RE ( about ) VOLVo ( car, tailed i.e. without last letter ) E ( southern edge of baltimorE ) | ||
| 22 | SITAR |
Musical instrument made by Roland is getting set up (5)
|
| reverse of [ RAT ( roland ) IS ] | ||
| 23 | KEBAB |
Piece of cake BA Baracus eats (5)
|
| hidden in “..caKE BA Baracus..” | ||
| 27 | STY |
Warm to a detached farm property (3)
|
| STaY ( ~warm to , without A ) |
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs. I think 24ac is more likely to be a reference to stopping a shot at goal in soccer, with a reference to the former England goalkeeper Gordon Banks for those of us of a certain age.
Comment #2
Very enjoyable throughout. There seem to be a lot of “eats” in the solutions, depending on your dietary preferences. Is it a theme?
I’m including “Yorkshire” (pud) for one my favourite treats.
Rice Paper, I can take it or leave it.
Great variety in the clues, and quite a few novel wordplays.
UMBRELLAS and GINGERBREAD top my list of crafty setting – but it’s a long list.
Lovely grub, both Solomon & Turbolegs
27D: [TOA]STY (warm) minus (detached) TO A
Good blog on a rather hard puzzle.
More difficult than 6 for me.
Liked: YORKSHIRE, BEANSTALK, SITAR, MINIATURE
Thanks both
Cineraria. Thanks for parsing (toa)STY, just didn’t see it. Didn’t see the definition for EMPTY either, so thanks Turbolegs.
Also agree with PB @1. In 8d, I feel it works a smidgeon better if the final ES is taken out of the anagram fodder.
I loved UMBRELLAS: wonderful construction and surface!
(I deleted my comment @ 2, because I messed up the (predictable) link to the video of Mr Kelly ‘Singin in the rain’ – you were spared that but I’ve had an earworm ever since.)
Like Pelham Barton @1, my immediate thought was of the legendary goalkeeper – he played for my home town’s team, Leicester City, too.
Other favourites were CABBAGE, PEANUTS, YORKSHIRE, BATTERY, STEREOTYPES and GINGERBREAD.
Thanks to Solomon and Turbolegs.
Very enjoyable esp the LED Zeppelin surface of beanstalk. Thanks both.
Another Gordon Banks parse here. Yet another splendidly crafted puzzle from Solomon, one of my favourite FT setters. I agree with the praise for UMBRELLAS and GINGERBREAD. OVERSLEPT is an absolute gem of a clue: that surface is simply superb and the WP equally clever.
Thanks both
Thanks Solomon for another superb effort with my favourites being GEESE, EASTERN, BEANSTALK, EXIST, ATLAS, and OVERSLEPT (COTD). I arrived at all of the correct solutions but I fell short in parsing YORKSHIRE (shire=horse), DESERVE (start to rally=serve), EMPTY, and STY (both too clever for me). Thanks Turbolegs for the help.
@7 I was listing my favourites chronologically and OVERSLEPT somehow dropped off the end. It’s up there with UMBRELLAS, for the same reasons.
(I shall have to stop referring to my ‘favourites’: I’m getting really irritated at my ‘spelling mistake’ being pointed out – but I don’t like ‘faves’!)
[Eileen @11: Keep using ‘favourites’. This is how I spell it when I’m visiting a largely British site even though I use ‘favorites’ in the US. When in Rome … ]
Thank you, Tony. 😉
@12: preferiti?
[ @14: Quando a Roma … si! ]
I can’t join the discussion now – I’m expecting visitors at any moment!
Left hand side went quickly, RHS, particularly the bottom corner needed more time. I agree there was a nice variety of clues and some interesting constructions.
I best liked GINGERBREAD, EXIST, LEAVE, and DOORMAT.
I could not parse OVERSLEPT or LOI EYE DROP (both move the letter clues)
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Loved the Robert Plant, Stairway to Heaven clue. And the Flying V. Lots to enjoy for an aging rocker! 🙂