This puzzle is clearly intended as a tribute to someone (perhaps a dog) who is no longer with us
Not only is there a Nina across the top and bottom rows reading Farewell Eddie Boy, 2 down makes a specific reference to Eddie, and several other clues refer to dogs. I hope that Brockwell will drop in (he usually does) and explain who Eddie was.
Other than that, Timon and I found the puzzle fairly challenging, but I think that we found all the parsings. Our eyebrows were raised at the upstanding member in 15 across, which is perhaps more typical of a clue by Cyclops in Private Eye than one to be found in The Guardian. But it’s all in the dictionary!
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | LIBRA |
Left underwear lying around one’s house (5)
|
| I (one) inside L(eft) BRA (underwear). We’re talking houses in the astrological sense here. | ||
| 10 | YORKSHIRE |
Pig bowl is her potty (9)
|
| YORK (a cricket term for a specific kind of ball bowled) *(IS HER). Other pig breeds are named after other counties. | ||
| 11 | TWENTY TEN |
2x + x = y? (6,3)
|
| 2 x 10 (X in Roman numerals) + 10 = the year 2010. Could this be Eddie’s year of birth? | ||
| 12 | AILED |
Cockney showered and was unwell (5)
|
| (h)AILED (showered). | ||
| 13 | PET NAME |
Maybe 25 go touring Thailand and Vietnam (3,4)
|
| T (hailand) NAM (short for Vietnam) all inside PEE (go). A cross-reference to the answer at 25 across. | ||
| 15 | HARD-WON |
Whiskey drunk by upstanding member requiring great effort (4-3)
|
| W(hiskey) inside HARD-ON (upstanding member). Chambers defines HARD-ON as “vulgar slang”. | ||
| 17 | SCENE |
Old boy leaves disgusting picture (5)
|
| (ob)SCENE. | ||
| 18 | HIM |
That bloke’s song on the radio (3)
|
| Sounds like hymn (a song). | ||
| 20 | LOWER |
Take down bloomers having removed outer wear (5)
|
| (f)LOWER(s) (bloomers). | ||
| 22 | TERRIER |
Nameless casserole recipe for dog (7)
|
| TERRI(n)E (casserole) R(ecipe). Perhaps Eddie was a terrier? | ||
| 25 | SWEETIE |
What’s behind James Bond cuddling little baby? (7)
|
| S (last letter of JameS), WEE (little) TIE (bond). | ||
| 26 | TETRA |
Arsenal boss abruptly flipping fish (5)
|
| (Mikel) ARTET(a) (Arsenal manager, rev and omitting last letter). Tetra are tropical fish. | ||
| 27 | MEANDERED |
Fix bit of Elastoplast to cover a bloody wound (9)
|
| A inside MEND E(lastoplast). | ||
| 30 | EMOTIONAL |
Intense Germany escaping relegation before the end of Europa League (9)
|
| (d)EMOTION (relegation) (europ)A L(eague). | ||
| 31 | ADOPT |
Take in song and dance part (5)
|
| A DO (a song and dance) PT (part). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FLAT |
Monotonous place to live (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 2 | ABSENTEE |
A bin originally delivered Eddie – gutted he’s not here (8)
|
| A B(in) SENT (delivered) E(ddi)E (gutted). This seems to be a reference to the theme. | ||
| 3 | RANT |
President blowing his top in Stormy diatribe (4)
|
| President Ulysses (g)Rant. The capitalisation of Stormy is (quite fairly) misleading. | ||
| 4 | EYE TEETH |
Alien stops to watch the angry canines (3,5)
|
| ET (alien) inside EYE (watch) *THE. | ||
| 5 | WRENCH |
Architect on top of church reveals tool (6)
|
| (Sir Christopher) WREN CH(urch). | ||
| 6 | ESPADRILLE |
Mongrel pees over a training shoe (10)
|
| A DRILL (training) inside *PEES. | ||
| 7 | LIE LOW |
Keep doggo in mattress did you say? (3,3)
|
| Sounds like Lilo. | ||
| 8 | LEAD |
Guide dog’s accessory (4)
|
| Another double definition; you have to split the clue after “guide”. | ||
| 13 | POSIT |
Revolutionary surgery on model is put forward (5)
|
| OP (rev) (surgery) on SIT (model). | ||
| 14 | ACETIC ACID |
Hermit rejecting society’s help to collar canine that’s in a pickle (6,4)
|
| A(s)CETIC, C(anine) in AID (help). | ||
| 16 | NURSE |
Climbing ladder on slide without stopping to get treat (5)
|
| RUN (rev) (a ladder in a stocking can also be called a run) S(lid)E (without stopping indicates without the intermediate letters). | ||
| 19 | MISSABLE |
Clever girl swapping places is difficult to spot (8)
|
| An ABLE MISS is a clever girl. | ||
| 21 | WATERLOO |
Single defeat is terminal (8)
|
| Another double definition. “He’s met his Waterloo” means that he has finally been defeated. | ||
| 23 | RETROD |
Old school Head of Dance performed steps again (6)
|
| RETRO D(ance). | ||
| 24 | RIMINI |
Brit stripped car in Italian city (6)
|
| (b)RI(t) MINI (car). | ||
| 26 | TREE |
Shirt is OTT for Robert Plant (4)
|
| R (the top of, or for Robert) inside TEE (shirt). So the shirt is Over The Top of Robert. | ||
| 28 | DRAB |
Boring poet making comeback (4)
|
| Bard (rev). | ||
| 29 | DUTY |
Henry Tudor raised housing tax (4)
|
| Hidden and reversed. |
It’s not often a crossword brings a tear to the eye but, as the theme emerged late on, this one certainly did. Thoughts with Brockwell and family. A fitting tribute to Eddie. Thanks bridgesong.
This was a lot of fun, with some tricky ones. In a couple of cases I was wondering about the logic:
So, is ACETIC ACID in a pickle, or is a pickle in acetic acid? Both, in a way, I suppose.
SWEETIE: Is “what’s behind James” the letter S, or what follows it (in some context)? Still, I’ve seen this usage before, so it’s probably considered standard, if not 100% accurate (imo).
I thought of TWENTY TEN early on, but didn’t figure it out completely till later, so it was my LOI. Along the way, I had the thought that if 28 is twenty-eight, and 29 is twenty-nine, then by cryptic logic 2x should be twenty-ten, allowing for a more concise clue.
My condolences to Brockwell for Eddie.
I think ‘bowl’ in 10ac has to be a verb, because you york a batter by bowling a yorker. Stuffs up the surface though.