Ah, an Enigmatist Prize puzzle on my blogging slot – that familiar pang of fear in the pit of the stomach, and the instinctive rush of fight-or-flight adrenalin!
And it was a tough fight, but tempered by two generous helpings of crossers from the long/linked entries left and right (once they eventually got solved!…)
A high proportion of &lit(-ish) clues and some devious surface reads and almost impenetrable parsings – I have my doubts about a few below – made it slow but steady going, but I managed to fill the grid on the day of publication – fairly rare for an E puzzle – even if some of the parsings took a bit longer.
ELECTRA and NECKERCHIEF were my two last ones in (LOIs), as they had to be those from crossers/definitions, but it took me a long time to see Electra hidden/reversed, and also to ‘wind’ CHECKER (cashier) to ECKERCH. My LO(M)P (last one (maybe) parsed) was TAMPER-PROOF – still not completely sure I have it all correct…or MEANS TEST, for that matter.
ICE-FREE reminded me of the time 20-odd years ago when we flew to Australia around New Year’s Eve and the flight was delayed by a couple of hours as ground-crews spent a long time carefully de-icing the wings/flaps until we were allowed to take-off.
My brain was so fried by the end that I don’t think I had the energy to pick a favourite at the time – maybe NOTATOR, on reflection – but I am sure commenters below will suggest a few…and hopefully supply a few better parsings in some cases.
My masochistic thanks to Enigmatist for a tough workout – and a silent prayer to the Grauniad editor to avoid my blogging slot next time out!…
[As is often the case, I will be out golfing on Saturday when this is published, so may not be too responsive, but I will keep an eye on proceedings in the comments – behave yourselves, please…and talk amongst yourselves until I am back in the room…]
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1A | TAMPER-PROOF | Resistant to changing it, bar I am an expert in (6-5)
T (iT, bar i) + AM + PER (an, a, per, as in per person?) + PRO OF (Professor of …, expert in …) |
| 9A | ICE-FREE | Cleared by air defence after skirmish, and OK to travel? (3-4)
subtractive anag, i.e. skirmish, of ( |
| 10A | GUERDON | One drug troublingly Tennyson’s reward? (7)
snag, i.e. troublingly, of ONE DRUG |
| 11A | EPAULETTE | Essential for dress colours on outside of uniform? (9)
&lit – E (essence, or middle, of dress) + PA_LETTE (colours) outside of U (uniform) |
| 12A | THREE | In Exodus, perhaps, you’ll have run through a crowd (5)
TH_EE (biblical, perhaps, you) around R (run, through) [three’s a crowd!] |
| 13A | ORBY | Gold in reserve not often spherical (4)
OR (heraldic, gold/yellow tincture) + BY (in reserve) [‘orby’ being rare, so not often, for orbed, spherical] |
| 14A | GARDEN FLAT | Frantically rang about empty domicile, having been let down – one such? (6,4)
GAR_N (anagram, i.e. frantically, of rang) around DE (DomicilE, empty), plus FLAT (having been let down) |
| 16A | EGOMANIACS | Who say, in fancy dress: ‘Can I go as me?’ (10)
anag, i.e. in fancy dress, of CAN I GO AS ME |
| 19A | RUNG | Identified with a circle, called, spoke (4)
triple definition – identified with a circle can be RUNG, ringed; called, on the phone, can be RUNG; and a spoke of a ladder, or wheel, can be a RUNG |
| 20A | HEGEL | Absolute idealist turned on by Man (5)
HE (man) + GEL (leg, on side, in cricket) |
| 21A | MEANS TEST | What might be refused by statesmen? (5,4)
Anag, i.e. ‘?’, or STATESMEN (?) |
| 23A | NOTATOR | Controversial claim about Glastonbury? One puts the music down (7)
a cheeky/publicity-seeking historian might claim that Glastonbury Tor is NOT A TOR! |
| 24A | TESTUDO | Tortoises originally used to supply cover for Roman soldiers (7)
T (original letter of Tortoises) + ESTUDO (anag, i.e. supply, of USED TO) |
| 25A | NECKERCHIEF | Cashier’s wound dressed with fine designer cravat? (11)
N_IEF (anag, i.e. designer(?) of FINE) around ECKERCH (checker, or cashier, cycled, or wound, by putting two letters to the back)? |
| Down | ||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1D | THE CAT BROUGHT IN | See 7 (3,3,7,2)
see 7D |
| 2D | MORAL | Lesson in speaking presided over by master (5)
M (master) presiding over (for a Down clue) ORAL (spoken) |
| 3D | ELECTRA | Upcoming party to start celebrating Agamemnon’s daughter (7)
reversed hidden word, i.e. upcoming, and party to, in ‘stART CELEbrating’ |
| 4D | PIGFEED | Babe’s grub mixed up? Tucking in, girlfriend beginning to eructate (7)
PI_ED (mixed up) around (tucking in) GF (girlfriend) + E (beginning to Eructate) [‘Babe’ being the eponymous pig from the film ‘Babe’] |
| 5D | OVERTONE | Open a suggestion (8)
OVERT (open) + ONE (a) |
| 6D | FEDERAL BUREAU OF (INVESTIGATION) | & 8 It’s mobilised for deviation and alien subterfuge around America (7,6,2,13)
A long anagram (mobilised) of FOR DEVIATION and ALIEN SUBTERFUGE, around A (America), which could be any one of the three As |
| 7D | LIKE SOMETHING (THE CAT BROUGHT IN) | & 1 Fancy item of jazz memorabilia on Antiques Roadshow, maybe not particularly presentable? (4,9,3,3,7,2)
LIKE (fancy) + SOMETHING THE CAT BROUGHT IN (if a jazz fan – cat – brought some item of memorabilia in to the Antiques Roadshow, it would be something the cat brought in?!…) |
| 8D | INVESTIGATION | See 6 (13)
see 6D |
| 15D | BALLETIC | With Grace to summon up, ducking delivery? (8)
BALL (delivery, cricket) + ETIC (cite, summon, mention, up) |
| 17D | IMMERSE | Slimmers enjoy taking dip (7)
Hidden word in, i.e. taken by, ‘swIMMERS Enjoy |
| 18D | CHAOTIC | Such parts this catastrophic? (7)
CHAOTIC (such) and PARTS, if chaotic (this), can make CATASTROPHIC! |
| 22D | SUSHI | Selection of exotic cakes along the way gets us high (5)
Hidden word in, i.e. along the way in, ‘getS US HIgh’ [exotic fish cakes] |
Now I definitely know I’m not premiership material just like my beloved KPR. I had TIMBER BRACE at 1ac so absolutely no hope of getting near this, although I did solve MORAL, ELECTRA and GARDEN FLAT. I can only marvel at your ability, and any other contributors to solve this mc_rapper67. Chastened Roz!
Thanks mc_rapper67. Very difficult and I can’t say I enjoyed it, only got there in the end through sheer doggedness. Wasn’t helped by thinking the cat had dragged the something in and I’d pencilled ELECTRA in at the start after Google had told me of her parentage but without ever understanding why. Kicking myself now. Still not really convinced by 1a but can’t see any other explanation.
TAMPER-PROOF
Had the same parse as the blog. Just that I had PRO and OF separately for expert and in.
NECHERCHIEF
Had the same parse. I feel it’s all right.
MEANS TEST
re-fused?
re-fused (anagram indicator)
refused in the usual sense in the surface.
ICE-FREE, RUNG, NOTATOR and CHAOTIC were my top faves.
Thanks mc.
Never have I finished a puzzle with so many unsure entries. It didn’t feel like much of an accomplishment, unfortunately.
Questions/quibbles included the following. Sorry if this appears excessively nit-picky, it’s just the effect the puzzle had on me.
ICE-FREE: tortured parsing
GUERDON: Not especially associated with Tennyson, I don’t think. thesaurus.com gives 5 example sentences of use, none of which were from Tennyson
EPAULETTE: “essential for” does not mean “essence of”
GARDEN FLAT: how does either “one such” or the whole rest of the clue provide a definition?
RUNG: “identified with a circle”? Isn’t rung the past of a different meaning of ring?
BALLETIC: why does ducking mean placed under?
IMMERSE: why does taking mean a part of, or hidden in?
CHAOTIC: clue is word salad.
SUSHI: “along the way”? There’s no “in” or “of” in the clue.
Liked MORAL and TESTUDO (foi), so it does have some redeeming parts.