The last Raider we blogged was in February last year. At the time, we commented that it was 10 months since his previous puzzle and that we hoped that we wouldn’t have to wait another 10 months before the next one. In fact we had to wait 7 months for his next one in Sept 25 and it’s now 8 months further on.
Was it worth the wait?
YES! There were a couple of unusual anagram indicators – casual and checkered – and some crafty misdirections – Jimmy White and Ford Sierra for example.
We have commented before on Raider’s smooth surfaces and the same was true here. We missed the pangram last time so checked today but we cannot find J, V, X or Z.
Thanks Raider.
An anagram (‘split’) of WHOSE UNCOOL TROUSERS
An anagram (‘dances’) of STRIPPER round O (Ohio) + Y (last letter or ‘ending’ in tiny)
I (one) M (middle letter or ‘essential piece’ of Jimmy) PALE (white)
PIECE (shooter) after EAR (attention)
An anagram (‘OUT’) of ACTED would be ‘cadet’ – hence a clue for the word
RAVEN (bird) by C (first letter or ‘entrance’ to coalmine)
RUBS (difficulties) around (‘grasping’) I (one) K (thousand) plus CUBE (‘eight maybe’ – 2 x 2 x 2 – a cube number)
IO A around (‘masking’) T (tense)
A reversal (‘over’) of ATE (consumed) + L (50 in Roman numerals)
LOCAL (boozer) + a reversal (‘knocked back’) of RED (wine) + BY (before)
R (Romeo) inside (‘during’) AMOUR (fling)
An anagram (‘casual’) of GOLFER around (‘taking’) a reversal (’round’) of PA (old man)
F (fellow) + AM (American) inside (‘wearing’) an anagram (‘checkered’) of A BLUE
QU (Question) IN (‘latest’ as in fashion) inside (‘piercing’) ST (‘way’ – street) – does Clint Eastwood squint?
An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of THE PONY IS + D (dead)
TON (heavyweight) around (‘boxing’) W (with)
Double definition – the workers being bees
An anagram (‘messy’) of odd letters in HiLl ArE after W (week)
An anagram (‘struggling’) of EX-PRO’S around or ‘clinching’ L (league)
P (parking) fORd (missing first and last letters – ‘extremely neglected’) S (Sierra in the phonetic alphabet) CHE (‘iconic red’ – Che Guevara)
An anagram (‘bad’) of MIGRAINE around or ‘stopped by’ E (pill)
TheY (first and last letters only or ‘turned out’) BOO (expressed disapproval) after TICKET (penalty notice). We thought first of all that it needed to be ‘booed’ for ‘expressed disapproval’ but when writing up the blog, we realised that it could be a noun.
COUNTER (piece in board game) PLAY (Othello?)
An anagram (‘bonking’) of ALF and SIMONE
Hidden (‘series of’) and ‘reversed’ in stunTS EG RALly-driving
An anagram (‘wild’) of LADIES around I (crossword setter)
I (iodine) inside a reversal (‘turning’) of TURF (grass)
NEWt (amphibian) missing last letter or ‘with tail cut off’
As our bloggers observe, Raider crosswords are few and far between. Which is a shame because they are always beautifully crafted. I, too, enjoyed the splitting up of eg Jimmy White and Jonah Hill as well as some amusing left-field definitions. One of those puzzles where there are just too many good clues; pruning my list quite brutally, I end up with SHOW ONE’S TRUE COLOURS, RUBIK’S CUBE, IOTA, LOCAL DERBY, ARMOUR, HYPNOTISED, WHALE, PORSCHE, LARGEST and FRUIT. Which is still ten!
Thanks both
An accomplished and crafty puzzle, but my enthusiasm is somewhat tempered by overuse of anagrams. ( 9, I think ).
Yes, the surfaces are impressive, until the setter relies on stretchy anagram indicators to get the effect. Trousers “split”? bonking, casual, checkered? Ignore those, and it’s a super job.
As PM@1 rightly observes, I too had a very long list of cracking clues.
Thanks, Raider and BJ
An excellent puzzle. I could never manage the actual RUBIK’S CUBE and I nearly failed with the clue as well – a cleverly concealed definition.
Excellent! Suited my simplistic ways… I love an anagram! The misdirections were also good in Othello, the “fine”, and Barry! There were a preponderance of longer clues, which was helpful in opening up the puzzle with each solve..
Thanks Raider and Bertandjoyce
Lots of fun – thanks Raider. Among many fine clues my favourite was probably CRAVEN, in large part because the only crosser I had was the C. 19d rang true – as a keen cruciverbalist myself I’m usually surrounded by a crowd of admirers.
A Raider puzzle is a rare treat and this was no exception. Loved the long opening anagram, IMPALE, RUBIK’S CUBE, ET AL, LEAPFROG, TOWN and PORSCHE.
I’m surprised no-one has mentioned the connection between RUBIK’S CUBE, SHOW ONE’S TRUE COLOURS and the references to white, yellow, red, green, blue and orange in the clues! I was a Cuber in my younger days (and still have one on the bookshelf by me as I type) so maybe I was more alert to the thematic references 😜
Thanks Raider and Bertandjoyce
Thanks Raider for an all too rare appearance. I found this hugely satisfying with the proper amount of head-scratching needed to complete this gem. My top picks included SHOW ONES TRUE COLOURS, RUBIKS CUBE, ARMOUR, CRAVEN, WHALE, and REIMAGINE. Thanks B&J for the blog.
Rob T @6: Good spot. I was never able to crack RUBIKS CUBE so it’s fitting that I wouldn’t see the references in this puzzle 😆
Thanks Raider and Bertandjoyce.
Superb puzzle. More, please.
Conversely, I was a dab hand with a Rubik’s cube -both the 3 by 3 version and the 4 by 4 – but this clue defeated me.
Very good fun, thanks Raider. Raised lots of smiles. Particular favourites were WHALE, PORSCHE and ACTED OUT among a great set. Thanks again to Raider for such an entertaining puzzle, and to Bertandjoyce for a lovely blog
[ Dormouse @10 – what’s your 3×3 speed record? I picked it up again last year after a 40+ year gap and amazed myself by (after a little practice) getting my time down to just over a minute… which is even better than I was in the early 1980s…! 😆 ]
Too long ago, I can’t remember.
Good stuff from Raider, and thanks B&J.
Re 24- yes Clint was a famous squinter as The Man With No Name in the westerns, and a few others where he played taciturn tough guys.
I’m another like Dormouse (a favourite commenter of mine btw) who could manage Rubik’s cube in real life and all the clues in this puzzle except for the Rubik one. It’s staring blankly at me. Beautiful puzzle and just my incompetence to blame. Thanks to Raider and B&J.
Actually, there were a couple of others I didn’t get.
That was a treat. Thank-you Raider and B&J. LOI RUBIK’s CUBE, with lots of PDMs along the way. The reverse cryptic ACTED OUT was my favourite among many, with RUBIK’S CUBE a close second.