Anto provides our cryptic crossword this morning.
It’s over a year since I last blogged an Anto puzzle and I don’t think I’ve solved one since then. He’s given us a generally very straightforward set of clues, with a number of simple charades and neat anagrams, with smooth, often witty, surfaces throughout and several smiles along the way.
I had ticks for FIVE A SIDE, CARBON EMISSIONS, SCAT, A BIT MUCH, THE BACK OF A LORRY, VERBALS, POST-HASTE and HEIFERS. I have a quibble at 21ac but, otherwise, found it a pleasant solve – thanks, Anto.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Quins getting slaughtered reportedly in this game format (4,1,4)
FIVE A SIDE
Whimsically, sounds like (reportedly) ‘five a cide’, using the combining form ‘-cide’ to indicate killing, as in ‘insecticide’ – rather outrageous but it made me smile, with the nod to Harlequins at the beginning
6 Take apart resistance with very little money raised (3,2)
RIP UP
R (resistance) + I P (one penny – very little money) + UP (raised)
9 Transport doctor secures undertaking to show damaging output (6,9)
CARBON EMISSIONS
CAR (transport) + BONES (military slang for a doctor) round MISSION (undertaking)
10 Muck about in street (4)
SCAT
CA (circa – about) in ST (street)
11 Casting chum bait overboard? (1,3,4)
A BIT MUCH
AN anagram (casting) of CHUM BAIT – a reference to the expression ‘go overboard’ – to go to extremes
14 Examine current wealth declaration that’s provided in court (9)
TESTIMONY
TEST (examine) + I (current) + MONY (sounds like – declaration – ‘money’ (wealth)
15 Resolved to return short communications (5)
NOTES
A reversal (to return) of SET ON (resolved)
16 Traditional name dropped – it’s a matter of principle (5)
ETHIC
ETH[n]IC (traditional) minus n (name)
18 Made clear: hero moved improperly (5,4)
DROVE HOME
AN anagram (improperly) of HERO MOVED
20 Enquiry identifies food included in sample (8)
TRIBUNAL
BUN (food) in TRIAL (sample)
21 Retaliation involves the others (2,2)
ET AL
Contained in rETALiation – but ‘et al’ means ‘and others’, not ‘and the others’
25 Terribly fat York bachelor the source of hot stuff (3,4,2,1,5)
THE BACK OF A LORRY
A clever and amusing anagram (terribly) of FAT YORK BACHELOR, with a cryptic definition, ‘hot stuff’ being stolen goods, claimed to have fallen from there
26 Defence is useless to hold back this woman (5)
SUSIE
A hidden reversal (back) in defencE IS USeless
27 Extended conflict has grafter almost completely apprehensive (6,3)
TROJAN WAR
TROJAN (grafter – ‘work like a Trojan’) + WAR[y] (apprehensive, almost)
Down
1 Aim is to shrink Fort Custer by half (5)
FOCUS
FO[rt] CUS[ter]
2 Block clergyman over argument (7)
VERBALS
A reversal (over) of SLAB (block) + REV (clergyman)
3 Common direction of travel after they open border fronts (1,2,1)
A TO B
Initial letters of After They Open Border
4 Thing that makes loving couple … (4)
ITEM
Double definition
5 … irritated by indolent author (4,6)
ENID BLYTON
An anagram (irritated) of BY INDOLENT – ‘indolent’ made me smile: see here
6 Got up coloured with optimism (4-6)
ROSE TINTED
ROSE (got up) + TINTED (coloured)
7 One paid on channel to provide content (7)
PRODUCT
PRO (one paid) + DUCT (channel)
8 Issue dispatch ASAP (4-5)
POST-HASTE
POST (issue) + HASTE (dispatch)
12 Put off recording what we’re living though (10)
DISCOURAGE
DISC (recording) + OUR AGE (what we’re living through)
13 British agent satisfied capturing vessel – something that intimidates governments! (4,6)
BOND MARKET
BOND (British agent) + MET (satisfied) round ARK (Vessel)
14 America sticks poor material in papers (3,6)
THE STATES
TAT (poor material) in THESES (papers)
17 They’ll come into estate carrying 50% of feed for livestock (7)
HEIFERS
HEIRS (they’ll come into estates) round FE[ed]
19 Beat in a gunfight with banned move? (7)
OUTDRAW
OUT (banned) + DRAW (move)
22 Sort of early film (5)
LAYER
An anagram (sort of) of EARLY
23 Occasional infusion is required on that basis (2,2)
IF SO
Alternate letters of InFuSiOn
24 Simple form of life spotted in spiral galaxy (4)
ALGA
Contained in spirAL GAlaxy
Another intriguing set of clues from Anto (his QUIPTIC on Sunday is also worth a look). I was hooked by FIVE A SIDE, my FOI, and also liked CARBON EMISSIONS, (helped by remembering the Star Trek character), TRIBUNAL, THE BACK OF A LORRY, TROJAN WAR, VERBALS, ENID BLYTON (amusing link indeed, Eileen), DISCOURAGE and BOND MARKET.
Ta Anto & Eileen.
Thanks Anto and Eileen
Some odd ones. I didn’t see “cide” in FOI 1a. “Traditional” is a long way down a list of possible meanings of “ethnic”. Why is “move” DRAW in 19d?
Held up by writing AFGHAN WAR in for 27a at first – I thought that closer inspection would reveal it to be some sort of subtractive anagram.
Favourite HEIFERS.
muffin @2: DRAW as in pull, drag or move something.
Thanks AlanC – again a rather off-centre usage.
I liked HEIFERS and FIVE-A-SIDE.
CARBON EMISSIONS and DISCOURAGE held me up. POST HASTE didn’t hold me up but I’m not comfortable with the parsing; haste ≡ dispatch?
Thanks Anto and Eileen
I don’t really understand 2d. The clue seems to suggest singular whereas the answer seems to be plural.
What am I missing?
Eileen says it all. Thanks both
Martin @5
Collins – ‘dispatch: prompt action or speed (often in the phrase with dispatch )’
Chambers – ‘inconsiderate or undue speed’.
kenmac @6: There was a bit of VERBALS between the two opponents.
Martin @5: she completed the task with HASTE/dispatch.
Muck @7: I’m surprised you didn’t highlight your name check in SCAT.
kenmac @6
In slangish usage, if you have VERBALS with someone, you are having a row.
kenmac @6
The best I could find – Collins: ‘verbal: (plural) slang) abuse or invective’.
I was amused by the Harlequins reference in 1ac. Very appropriate after the terrible season they have had this year! I wonder if Anto is a fellow Quins fan.
Thanks to Anto and Eileen.
Thanks Anto, thanks Eileen! Finished just after 9am, this is a first for me!! Solved quickly but didn’t entirely understand. Now Eileen has explained. Five-a-cide!! Oh my. I was momentarily stumped by SCAT and DISCOURAGE. Lovely, good-natured puzzle. Have a great day everyone.
Thanks Alan and Eileen @8 and 9.
There was certainly no question over the accuracy. I was merely unfamiliar with that meaning.
I had looked in Chambers but somehow missed the line that said Haste, promptitude
Good work on the blog, as ever, Eileen.
Congratulations, Nic @13! – glad you enjoyed it.
Should have been straightforward but I wasn’t on the same wavelength as Anto but all perfectly fair.
I couldn’t parse FIVE A SIDE, and reading the blog I see I was never going to. I wrote in Eric Ambler for the indolent author which slowed me up.
Favourites: TESTIMONY and BACK OF A LORRY.
Martin@5 to do something with dispatch is to do it quickly.
Loi VERBALS where the plural had me confused.
Thanks Anto and Eileen.
Tricky and mildly enjoyable.
Favourites: THE BACK OF A LORRY, DISCOURAGE, A BIT MUCH, NOTES (loi).
I agree with Eileen re 21ac.
Didn’t know bones was a doctor, so couldn’t parse CARBON EMISSIONS, and I don’t understand move/draw.
GDU @18
Never seen Star Trek, then?
Dr Macoy in Star trek was always referred to as Bones by Captain Kirk. I didn’t spot the CIDE = side link, but now that it’s been explained have to admit, very clever. BOND MARKET was knew to me, and like many others VERBALS was LOI. thanks to Eileen and Anto.
12ac typo in clue in my version – “though” should be “through”. ?
I mean 12d of course!
Very entertaining. The “five-a-cide” was brilliant. I was also amused by THE BACK OF A LORRY and ENID BLYTON — Eileen, that link is amazing. Many thanks to Anto and you.
Nic @13 – well done! It’s downhill from here…
Thanks for the hints, Eileen. The CIDE at 1a eluded me, as did IP for ‘very little money’, thanks.
A nice set of clues to enjoy overlooking the calm of the Ionian Sea.
I was pleased when working on 17th-century letters to discover the literal meaning of ‘post-haste’ – an order from Charles I in 1639 to prevent any unauthorised person or letters from leaving the country is marked ‘Hast Hast / Post Hast / with all speed’; the postmasters at each stage have noted on the cover the times at which his letter passed them on its way to Dover.
Thanks to Anto and Eileen – this was fun.
No, never saw Star Trek.
Jacqui @21/22 – well spotted. I’d missed that: you see what you expect to see. (It’s the same in my paper version, too.)
Sarah @25 – thank you for that interesting titbit.
Absolutely loved FIVE-A-SIDE – so inventive. I find Anto’s cryptics much more fun than many of those by other setters. Maybe it’s a wavelength thing.
I read 12d as through !
As mystified as some others by VERBALS. I’ve ever heard of that meaning and can’t see the plural form in a dictionary, the singular being defined by Chambers as voluble or articulate (e.g. Verbal Klint in The Usual Suspects). Also DRAW=move (I nearly had OUTDREW but opted for the present tense as a guess). FIVE-A-SIDE was obvious but couldn’t parse it.
Enjoyed that with the SW quadrant being most challenging.
Do things still fall off the back of a lorry? Not heard that phrase for a while. Those drivers were quite clumsy back in my youth. My favourite clue today.
Also enjoyed FIVE-A-SIDE
Glad someone else spotted the typo. Is the editor not checking Anto’s crosswords?
Thanks Eileen and Anto
poc @30: as Eileen says @11, Collins online has, for VERBALS, “(plural noun) abuse or invective”, and it gives various examples including “He traded verbals with fans who went for him” from
The Sun (2010) and “One thing I didn’t mention was a bit of touchline verbals between the managers” from The Guardian (2020) . It’s not in my paper Collins, which is 1998, so it’s maybe more recent than that.
A smooth, steady solve today; favourites were the York bachelor and the indolent author. Although an erstwhile Blyton devotee, I didn’t realise she was so prolific until I followed Eileen’s link: a book a year for each of her major series was a tremendous output. I was unfamiliar with SCAT, and the intersecting VERBALS took a long time to stare down. I have a distant memory of the latter being used in tv programmes but I haven’t heard it in a while. Thanks to Anto and to Eileen.
Another use from my bad old Detective days, although no admission here 😉, was ‘the copper gave me some VERBALS’, as in fitted up or scripted up.
I wrote in FIVE-A-SIDE immediately but never did figure out the ‘cide’ reference. And VERBALS was new to me, although I should have done better with the parsing, getting REV but not SLAB.
Otherwise, lots to like including the impressive long anagram
ET AL. Puzzled by Eileen’s quibble, given that Latin doesn’t really have an equivalent to “the”,
That’s why the Romans found it handy to have both ALTER = (the) other (of two), and ALIUS = other (of an indefinite number).