This seems to be only the second Indy puzzle set by Penelope – and we had the pleasure of blogging the first back in March – with a theme based around Johnny Cash.
Tuesday is theme day in the Indy, and this week’s theme revealed itself fairly early on with various answers relating to the world of Magic.
We have MAGICIAN at 12ac, ALAKAZAM at 4d and WAND at 20ac. Then we have PLAYING CARDS (19d/28ac) HEARTS (10ac), SPADES (5d) and ACEs (23d). Perhaps rather less connected to the them is ASSISTANT at 27ac (but most magicians seem to have had assistants).
We also found out that there is an acclaimed French Mauritian magician/illusionist called BERYL (6d) but we can’t find very much about her specialities, so perhaps this is a coincidence – or maybe we’ve missed something?
We had to check several crafty or rather obscure definitions and elements of wordplay, but that didn’t stop the enjoyment. Thanks to Penelope – here’s to the next one!
Hidden (‘during’) in rehearSAL VOcals
An anagram (‘abandoned’) of SLEEP APP I
R (rector) in (‘enthralled by’) HEATS (‘warm-ups’)
NAKED (nude) EYE (a homophone – ‘say’ – of I)
An anagram (‘animated’) of CGI in an anagram (‘creative’) of MANIA
Double definition
BOX (‘whack’) after (‘on’) J (Japanese) UKE (ukulele – ‘guitar’)
AM (morning) SING (chorus) round U (first letter or ‘head’ of Ullswater)
WAN (pasty-faced) D (director)
LEAVE (go) + a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of DEN (study)
HUMAN (‘maybe man’) ELY (city)
EVEN (plane) + L Y (first or ‘original’ letters of landed yesterday)
An anagram (‘deranged’) of SATANIST’S
CAR (‘Rolls among others’ – as in Rolls Royce) D (first letter or ‘top’ of dachshund) S (last letter or ‘tail’ of as)
An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of CAVA and FUEL + E (English)
OVER (extra) SIZE (measure)
An anagram (‘cocktail’) of GIN after (‘bolstering’) PEN (writer) after O (love)
ALA (in the style of) KA (genius) AM (American) round (‘claiming’) Z (zenith)
An anagram (‘designer’) of PASSED
B (British) + a reversal (‘brought up’) of LYRE (instrument)
A S (first letter or ‘opening’ of sour) TI (note – in sol-fa notation)
An anagram (‘ramshackle’) of LET RUINED
ODD (strange) + NT (New Testament – ‘books’) round (‘keeping’) ME (Penelope – the setter) + S (middle or ‘essential’ letter of satisfied)
A reversal (‘backward’) of LATE (tardy) LEKS (‘places where males gather, perhaps’) – we had to check this – a LEK is apparently a place where male blackcocks and capercailzies gather to display
PING (high-pitched sound) round (‘overwhelming’) LAY (place)
A (American) CIA (spies) round (‘circling’) CA (circa – ‘around’)
First letters or ‘number one spots’ of Agassi, Clijsters, Evert and Sampras
Hidden (‘through’) in AlbuquerQUE STreets
And a pangram
I think the theme may be specifically the Three Card Trick. Apparently Beryl is the name given to the hidden Queen if Hearts. There are three cards in the grid.
Quite enjoyed this although foiled by SKELETAL, was looking for the wrong definition hoping to find a male gathering place!
I was also hoping to find out why KA = genius. It must be so blooming obvious that B&J see no need to elaborate but defeats me, I’ve found the ancient Egyptian meaning of essential spirit or soul but that’s it.
Thanks to Penelope and the aforementioned B&J
Doofs@3: From Chambers: KA = the spirit or soul within a person; GENIUS = (among other definitions) a good or evil spirit, supposed to preside over every person, place and thing [in this sense, singular of the perhaps more familiar GENII].
Apologies to Doofs. We had a very rushed blog and failed to add that a genius can also be a spirit. La is defined as a spirit as well. It was one of those obscure definitions that we alluded to in the preamble.
Well spotted on the pangram – GrahamS
Very well-constructed puzzle, though the theme seems a bit “etsy-ketsy”, as the Greeks have it, and a few clues were a bit too simplistic.
I’m afraid that I didn’t fall in love with 18(d), SKELETAL; backwards jars for a down clue reversal, LEK is a bizarro, and “inadequate” is a stretch, as a definition.
4(d), too, was, for me, a bit desperado. I don’t see what purpose ” – say” serves in the clue sentence; KA, well, whatever; and zenith is Z, is it?
25(ac) MAN = HUMAN, not very good, really.
15(ac), JUKEBOX, well, a ukulele is far from a guitar, but, ho-hum.
Grumpy old man, so I will also say I enjoyed so many clues, that’s it is still a thumbs up, and I look forward to the next one, from P. Thanks as ever to B+J
13a – Zest is not the same as peel. Otherwise a good crossword.
ENB@6 Perhaps MAN is there as a cryptic allusion to sawing “a woman” in half?
Enjoyed this one in the sun with SKELETAL the only one that really put up a fight.
Thanks B&J and Penelope
Petert @8
I don’t see it, but it’s a cracking idea for a clue.