Fed sets the midweek challenge …
…with an absorbing and enjoyable puzzle. There are several clever cross references, including a nifty combination of two of my potential bugbears – a Spoonerism and a meaningless ellipsis at 7/19 and 8dn – which produced a delighted chortle when I worked them out.
There are a number of simple charades (1, 11, 14ac and 3, 16, 20 and 23dn) to help the solve along. Some of the clues seemed rather ponderous at first sight but I enjoyed unravelling them. As often, my list of ticks is quite long but I’ll include them all: GERIATRIC, COSH, BENEVOLENCE, CROW, ACCIDENTAL, ARRAY, EDAM, BURGER BUN, IRRELEVANT, RELUCTANT and – pick of the bunch – PERSONAL STEREO.
Reading the remarks on the Guardian website, which I do occasionally to gauge others’ reactions after I’ve blogged a puzzle, I suspect that not everyone enjoyed this as much as I did: it just seemed to hit the spot for me today. I look forward to reading your comments.
Thanks to Fed for the fun.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Sort of holiday some rugby players must have time for (7)
PACKAGE
PACK (some rugby players) + AGE (time)
5 Cup of tea turned up with a little Bounty Bar? (7)
BREWPUB
BREW (cup of tea) + a reversal (turned) of UP + B[ounty]
9 Possibility of outlet store finally opening (5)
EVENT
[stor]E + VENT (opening) – I’m rather puzzled by ‘outlet’: ‘outcome’ seems more logical, in which case I’d have underlined it as part of the definition but I’m probably missing something: ‘outlet’ certainly makes more sense in the surface reading
10 I worked with cash register she’s discarded – it’s old (9)
GERIATRIC
An anagram (worked) of I + CA[sh] R[e]GI[s]TER minus she’s
11 Confused as senior coppers demanded … (10)
DISORDERED
DIS (Detective Inspectors – senior coppers) + ORDERED (demanded)
12 … commanding officer essentially use the truncheon (4)
COSH
CO (Commanding Officer) + middle letters (essentially) of uSe tHe
14 Firm steal something many people like to drive (4,7)
HARD BARGAIN
HARD (firm) + BARGAIN (steal)
18 Goodness – neighbour’s entrance buzzer rings with excessive force – I must hide (11)
BENEVOLENCE
BEE (buzzer) round (rings) N[eighbour’s] + V[i]OLENCE (excessive force) minus i (must hide)
21 Show off contribution to murder (4)
CROW
Double definition, murder being, as all crossword lovers know, the collective noun for crows – which never fails to delight this one
22 A Western losing Oscar – that’s unexpected (10)
ACCIDENTAL
A + [o]CCIDENTAL (Western) minus o (oscar)
25 It must go through on time they regularly stress (9)
REITERATE
IT in RE (on) + ERA (time) + T[h]E[y]
26 Order Andrew’s source to meet King Charles, say (5)
ARRAY
A[ndrew] + R (king) + RAY (Charles, say)
27 Fool taking smack maybe loves to escape (7)
DINGBAT
D[o]ING (taking) + B[o]AT (smack, maybe) minus (to escape) o o (loves)
28 Drunk dwelt on disappointment (3-4)
LET-DOWN
An anagram (drunk) of DWELT ON
Down
1 Maintains focus for cryptic clues (6)
PLEADS
[cry]P[tic] + LEADS (clues)
2, 17 Without using tons, strangely it does not enhance crisp flavour (6,3,5)
CHEESE AND ONION
A clever anagram (strangely) of I[t] DOES NO[t] ENHANCE( minus t t (tons)
3 David Beckham makes one eat dessert first (10)
AFTERSHAVE
AFTERS (dessert) + HAVE (eat) – a thing I learned today
4 Silver lining – occasionally he’ll get two below par (5)
EAGLE
AG (silver) in (lining) hElL gEt
5 Supply gum rubber – wanting metre on new roll? (6,3)
BURGER BUN
An anagram (supply) of GU[m] RUBBER minus m (metre) + N (new)
6 2 seconds to read advertising watchdog’s email (4)
EDAM
Second letters of rEad aDvertising wAtchdog’s eMail – the entry at 2dn is CHEESE
7, 19 Walkman – perhaps as Spooner relates playing … (8,6)
PERSONAL STEREO
An anagram (playing) of SPOONER RELATES: I think this must go into my little book of classics – it made my day
8 … one from The Strokes (unoriginal pop group, according to him) (8)
BACKHAND
HACK (unoriginal) + BAND (pop group), as Spooner might say
13 Allowed to take caravan briefly – that is assuming posh car up front is connected? Not so (10)
IRRELEVANT
I E (id est – that is) round RR (Rolls Royce – posh car) + LET (allowed) round [cara]VAN
15 Can rule Tottenham’s first 11 out – ultimately not up for it (9)
RELUCTANT
An anagram (disordered – 11ac) of CAN RULE + T[ottenham] + [ou]T, ultimately
16 Made cloudy as former students smoked (8)
OBSCURED
OBS (old boys – former students) + CURED (smoked
20 Teasing related to exploit (4,2)
PLAY ON
PLAY (teasing) + ON (related to)
23 One wood is perfect (5)
IDEAL
I (one) + DEAL (wood)
24 Perhaps Rosemary is writing her book (4)
HERB
Hidden in HER Book: I can’t quite see the indicator – should the clue have ‘Rosemary’s’, rather than ‘Rosemary is’?
I loved the way a few clues confounded expectations. It was quite accessible overall, but I made myself slightly late for the gym by completing the last couple, BREWPUB and BACKHAND, without help. “Having a brew” is not part of my life practically or linguistically; 5A must have been far easier for some others. I parsed everything; Fed deserves to have them all unravelled.
“In the event” referring to a possibility was my take on 9A.
Favourites: IRRELEVANT, BENEVOLENCE, HARD BARGAIN and PERSONAL STEREO.
Excellent stuff. Thanks Fed and Eileen.
Hi, I read 9a as…outlet for vent with the whole clue as the definition of event (opening puts stor E first)
Thanks Fed and Eileen
Lots to like. Favourites CROW, ARRAY, and PERSONAL STEREO
Several not fully parsed, so thanks Eileen. I didn’t know about the Beckham aftershave, for instance.
Subtractive anagrams are one of my least favourite types of clue, and we had several here. Spoonerism are another type I dislike, so I was delighted when this one wasn’t one!
Enjoyed that.
For some of the clever clueing (the crisps and the spooner), the solution was really obvious so it became a case of “That’s the answer!” then parsing back.
I get for some people that rankles but it made me chuckle.
Thanks to Fed and Eileen.
Top ticks for BREWPUB and the ellipses that actually meant something with PERSONAL STEREO (loved the fake Spooner) & BACKHAND
Bonus points for lining up the multi-word answers in the grid
Slightly furrowed my brow over the wordplay for DAVID BECKHAM but did LOL when the penny finally dropped
Cheers E&F
Muffin’s reminded me that I should have listed AFTERSHAVE as a favourite. That’s a classic!
I parsed EVENT as SimpleS @2. Like Eileen, this hit the spot, but Fed always does, despite what seem like ponderous clues at times. AFTERSHAVE and PERSONAL STEREO were sublime but I also ticked BREWPUB, BENEVOLENCE, HARD BARGAIN, ARRAY, PLEADS and BURGER BUN. I solved quite a few from the definition first and then parsed afterwards, which is part of the fun. I had to google smack to check if it was a boat.
Ta Fed & Eileen.
I agree with Eileen about the lack of indicator in HERB. I toyed with ‘is writ in’ but couldn’t lose the pesky ‘g’. Or maybe it is HER + B rather than a HA?
I’ve never had the intellectual ability to solve cryptics solely from the wordplay. I give everlasting thanks to Mr Turner at my primary school who wholeheartedly encouraged my joy of words and word puzzles. Seeing words from scattered letters and having a wide vocabulary means back parsing is a common way of my dealing with crosswords.
Having got that off my chest I thoroughly enjoy Fed’s playfulness. The use of the almost universally redundant ellipsis was a particular highlight for me.
CRIW and EDAM also up there.
AlanC @8: your alternative is how I parsed HERB. I think ‘is’ is link word followed by ‘the writing of’ HER straight from the clue and book = B.
I found this very tough, maybe not used to this setter. I gave up on 26ac and 20d.
New for me: BREWPUB; David Beckham = aftershave.
I could not parse 25ac apart from IT ERA and could not work out the RE TE bits, as well as 27ac, 1d, 8d.
Favourite: CROW.
I parsed EVENT as outlet = VENT with (stor)E first/opening, and just ‘possibility’ for the definition but now see CAD is a possibility!
Loved STEREO@not-a-spoonerism.
I tried both DING & BAT for smack before thinking of the boat.
AlanC@8: ‘is writ in gHER Book’ – ingenious.
Thanks to Fed & Eileen
PM@10: Yes, I think it’s not a hidden — ‘is’ is a link word to the wordplay which instructs the solver to write HER + B (=book).
Joining the praises for the Spooner double bluff. Thanks Fed & Eileen!
I really couldn’t parse the BACKHAND wordplay — so flushed with delight at the misdirection of the Spooner clue that I didn’t notice the crucial ellipsis; I mean, ellipsis dots are never crucial, eh!
At last, a meaningful pair of ellipses – and I missed the connection! Joint clues of the day, now I see it, although CROW was an honourable runner up.
Lots of complicated back-parsing to do, as usual with Fed, and I never did fully untangle IRRELEVANT. Like michelle@11, I didn’t know about David Beckham’s AFTERSHAVE or that a BREWPUB was a thing.
“Perhaps Rosemary is writin’ her book” would be a fun clue – I’m not sure how the one we have parses, though the answer is clear. Bargain=steal puzzled me for a while, but I think both are nouns – it’s a steal if you got a good deal on it?
Thanks Fed and Eileen.
Thanks to Eileen for the excellent blog as I had several, like 8D, which I didn’t fully parse. As others have said, impressed with the ellipses actually meaning something.
Not sure I like my green colour?