Gurney is this morning’s setter.
I solved this in the wake of Scotland’s disastrous match against Brazil, so was glad that it wasn’t too difficult, although it took me a while to parse CORNER. There were a couple of &lits. that just about work, but the are on the verge of having words doing double duty. Still, a fun enough solve.
Thanks Gurney.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CORNER |
Spot boy not entirely ready initially (6)
|
| COR (“boy”, as in “oh, boy!”) + N(ot) E(ntirely) R(eady) [initially] | ||
| 4 | CABARETS |
Shows worry about airline tickets after vacation (8)
|
| CARE (“worry”) about BA (British Airways, so “airline”) + T(icket)S [after vacation] | ||
| 10 | MISTRAL |
Recalling some classical arts, impressive feature of southwest Europe (7)
|
| Hidden backwards in [recalling some] “classicaL ARTS IMpressive” | ||
| 11 | COTTAGE |
Small house, somewhere to sleep time and time again? (7)
|
| COT (“somewhere to sleep”) + T (time) + AGE (“time”) | ||
| 12 | BELL |
Call good-looker, we hear (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [we hear] of BELLE (“good-looker”) | ||
| 13 | CHARIOTEER |
More cautious about remote, half-forgotten, driver from past (10)
|
| CHARIER (“more cautious”) about (rem)OTE [half-forgotten] | ||
| 16 | CONVEY |
Communicate argument against valuing every year from the outset (6)
|
| CON (“argument against”) + V(aluing) E(very) Y(ear) [from the outset] | ||
| 17 | SCHOLAR |
One studying Church participating in type of panel (7)
|
| Ch. (church) participating in SOLAR (“type of panel”) | ||
| 20 | REFEREE |
Official notes about iron, European (7)
|
| RE + RE (musical “notes”) about Fe (chemical symbol for “iron”) + E (European) | ||
| 21 | RECIPE |
Instructions about famous work brought over (6)
|
| RE (“about”) + <=EPIC (“famous work”, brought over) | ||
| 24 | ATTAINABLE |
Dining, say, having assumed home, first-class, is within reach? (10)
|
| AT TABLE (“dining, say”) having assumed IN (“home”) + A (“first-class”) | ||
| 25 | MAST |
Mother’s introduction to totem pole (4)
|
| MA’S (“mother’s”) + [introduction to] T(otem) | ||
| 27 | TACTILE |
Given to touching diplomacy, yielded at regular intervals (7)
|
| TACT (“diplomacy”) + (y)I(e)L(d)E(d) [at regular intervals] | ||
| 29 | ALL-TIME |
A doubly large term in prison — unsurpassed (3-4)
|
| A + LL (doubly large) + TIME (“term in prison”) | ||
| 30 | NOBILITY |
Dignity — charm, easily seen in New York (8)
|
| OBI (“charn”) + LIT (“easily seen”) in NY (New York) | ||
| 31 | PEANUT |
Some hype a nutritious item? (6)
|
| Hidden in [some] “hyPE A NUTritious” and semi &lit. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COMEBACK |
Leading couples in court meet and support return to former position (8)
|
| [leading couples in] CO(urt) ME(et) and BACK (“support”) | ||
| 2 | RESPLENDENT |
Dazzling new present with advance inside? (11)
|
| *(present) [anag:new] with LEND (“advance”) inside | ||
| 3 | EURO |
Your race on water, they say, for money? (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [they say] of YOUR ROW (“your race on water”) | ||
| 5 | ACCURACY |
Correctness of account supported by religious office (8)
|
| Ac. (account) supported by CURACY (“religious office”) | ||
| 6 | ASTRONOMER |
Expert on star — more flexible (10)
|
| *(on star more) [anag:flexible] and semi &lit. | ||
| 7 | ERA |
Period in Copper Age (3)
|
| Hidden in “coppER Age” | ||
| 8 | SHERRY |
Coy about slip in drink? (6)
|
| SHY (“coy”) about ERR (“slip”) | ||
| 9 | ALPHA |
Code word for a dominant person (5)
|
| Double definition, the first probably referring to the NATO phonetic alphabet where alpha is “code” for A | ||
| 14 | EGALITARIAN |
Retail again stirring — just (11)
|
| *(retail again) [anag:stirring] | ||
| 15 | BENEFICIAL |
Good for you, nice ale? Fib, unfortunately! (10)
|
| *(nice ale fib) [anag:unfortunately] | ||
| 18 | DECADENT |
Self-indulgent in 1960s maybe, nihilist — extremely (8)
|
| DECADE (“1960s maybe”) + N(ihilis)T [extremely] | ||
| 19 | VESTMENT |
Money put aside (not popular) for specialist clothing (8)
|
| (in)VESTMENT (“money put aside”, not IN (“popular”) | ||
| 22 | CANTON |
Basic rule about temperature in Swiss region (6)
|
| CANON (“basic rule”) about T (temperature) | ||
| 23 | ELGAR |
Lager arranged for scorer (5)
|
| *(lager) [anag:arranged] where “scorer” refers to one who creates a musical score, so a composer. | ||
| 26 | GLEE |
Sound of surprise about learner’s delight (4)
|
| GEE (“sound of suprise”) about L (learner) | ||
| 28 | CUB |
Diving equipment with edges trimmed for newcomer (3)
|
| (s)CUB(a) (“diving equipment”, with edges trimmed) |
A good challenge. I’m not sure 3d makes a good homophone, as it requires the r in EURO to be sounded twice. I can’t speak for people in Britain, but here in Ireland we typically pronounce the word with one r.
If the clue was “You race on water…” it might read and fit the homophone better.
Thanks Gurney and Loonapick.
Thanks Gurney and Loonapick
3dn: I was happy to let “Your race on water” mean “You row” for the soundalike.
6dn: I would say that “Expert” is a sufficient definition, and call the clue a definition with helpful wordplay. I think some people call this an extended definition.
PB@2
On reflection, you’re probably right
Funsize@1: perhaps “some say” instead of “they say” (with either “your” or “you”) would satisfy both camps.
Hector@4 Absolutely. It was a minor quibble, now seen in a different light after a hearty lunch.
I find it interesting how many different ways there are to pronounce four letters. Two or three syllables, diphthongs, and the v sound making an appearance.
Worth a look: https://lingohuts.com/euro-in-different-languages/
It flowed smoothly until a few challenging clues at the end. I best liked CANTON, BENEFICIAL, SCHOLAR, and CABARETS
I was initially not sure whether 26 was GLEE or GLAD. I did not know OBI as part of NOBILITY, and could not parse CHARIOTEER. I also scratched my head when EURO emerged as the most likely answer to 3dn.
Thanks Gurney a loonapick
An enjoyable solve and given the hot weather we weren’t in a mood to quibble about dodgy homophones or double duty. Favourite was ASTRONOMER.
Thanks, Gurney and loonapick.
Thanks loonapick and Gurney- mostly pretty straightforward and fair and I suspect that setters put in some of these “soundalikes” purely to get a reaction from solvers as they know that there will always be a rhotic/non-rhotic divide along with vowel shifts and the like. If anyone has done today’s NYT “Connections” I’ll be impressed if you got the set of supposed homophones in that as they really did not work in any English accent I could think of!
Many thanks, loonapick, for the excellent blog and thanks also to all who commented.
Yes, it looks like it might be hard now for Scotland to qualify for further matches at the World Cup, but it has yet to be decided, depending on other games, so hope remains. Considering the pool of players at management’s disposal, qualifying for the Finals, from a very strong qualifying group, was a major achievement. Let’s hope they can do it.
I enjoyed this but it’s a bit hot and I can’t be bothered to elaborate. I just wanted to show appreciation.
I’m with Martin @ #10