Thanks Brendan for a tricky and very enjoyable solve.
There is a theme around PORTMANTEAU: there are many examples of ‘portmanteau’ words in the solutions including DOCUSOAP, INFOTECH, LABRADOODLE… and in ORWELL’s 1984, NEWSPEAK contains many portmanteau words.
| ACROSS | ||
| 4 | NEWBIE |
Pay attention about opposing points, namely for novice (6)
|
| NB (Nota Bene, “Pay attention”) around EW (East and West, “opposing points” of the compass); plus IE (id est = that is = “namely”) | ||
| 6 | DOCUSOAP |
Medic and aged Brit traversing America for TV series (8)
|
| DOC (Doctor, “Medic”), plus OAP (Old Age Pensioner in Britain, “aged Brit”); both around US=”America” | ||
| 9 | WEIRDO |
Current controller leading party is eccentric (6)
|
| a WEIR is a “Current controller” as it helps control a river’s current; plus DO=”party” | ||
| 10 | INFOTECH |
Foci then shifted to computer applications etc` (8)
|
| anagram/”shifted” of (Foci then)* | ||
| 11 | PORTMANTEAU |
Piece of luggage left on board by guy you heard consuming drink (11)
|
| PORT=”left” when “on board” a ship, plus MAN=”guy” + U (sounds like ‘you’ i.e. “you heard”) around TEA=”drink” | ||
| 15 | ASSEGAI |
Weapon, for instance, deployed in unending attack (7)
|
| definition: a type of spear or javelin
EG (e.g. = “for instance”), inside ASSAI-[L]=”unending attack” |
||
| 17 | TUSSORE |
Coarse fabric making us hurt after short time (7)
|
| definition: a type of silk with a coarse texture
US (from surface) + SORE=”hurt”; both after T short for “time” |
||
| 18 | LABRADOODLE |
Awfully adorable old pet (11)
|
| anagram/”Awfully” of (adorable old)* | ||
| 22 | TEAMMATE |
Fellow in squad raving at me in first half, otherwise in second (8)
|
| anagram/”raving” of (at me)* for the first half TEAM, and the second half MATE is an anagram of the same letters but in a different way (“otherwise”) | ||
| 23 | ORWELL |
One English author or another abridged (6)
|
| OR (from surface) + WELL-[s], as in H. G. Wells = “another [English author] abridged” | ||
| 24 | ELEPHANT |
Owner of trunk that must be repacked for the plane (8)
|
| anagram of (the plane)*
“that must be repacked for” = ‘these letters, if rearranged, would make…’ to indicate the anagram |
||
| 25 | KNOTTY |
Like bad deal, difficult to undo? (6)
|
| “Like bad deal” – reference wood that has too many knots in it, as “deal” can mean wood material
“difficult to undo” – reference to knots that are difficult to untie |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LIB-DEM |
Line from the same source about British political type (3-3)
|
| L (Line), plus IDEM=”from the same source”; around B (British) | ||
| 2 | POINSETTIA |
Popular houseplant I set in a pot adapted (10)
|
| anagram/”adapted” of (I set in a pot)* | ||
| 3 | AUTOCUES |
They help people with deliveries after car gets in line, we hear (8)
|
| definition referring to the delivery of spoken lines
AUTO=”car”, after which goes CUES which sounds like ‘queues’ as a verb=”gets in line, we hear” |
||
| 4 | NEWSPEAK |
Quartet playing best performance? That’s made-up propaganda (8)
|
| definition: Newspeak as a form of propaganda in the fictional 1984
NEWS (North East West South, the four players in a game of bridge = “Quartet playing”) + PEAK=”best performance” |
||
| 5 | WAITRESS |
Female serving as half of ward sister’s replacement (8)
|
edit thanks to comments from Layman and KVa |
||
| 7 | OP-ED |
Newspaper article began in old-fashioned way (2-2)
|
| ‘ope’ is an old-fashioned version of ‘open’=’to begin’
so OPED can be “began” in an old-fashioned way |
||
| 8 | PAHS |
Negative reactions from pedant and his sort, primarily (4)
|
| starting/primary letters from P-[edant] A-[nd] H-[is] S-[ort] | ||
| 12 | NAIL-BITING |
Suspenseful part in capture (4-6)
|
| BIT=”part” in NAILING=”capture” | ||
| 13 | WORDFEST |
Concluding pieces from head of state in last literary event (8)
|
| final letters (Concluding pieces) from [hea]-D [o]-F [stat]-E; inside WORST=”last” | ||
| 14 | TELEPLAY |
Drama as seen from the box (8)
|
| cryptic definition: can mislead if read as describing e.g. a play watched from box seats in a theatre | ||
| 16 | GALUMPHS |
Proceeds clumsily with talk about growth and height (8)
|
| GAS=”talk” around: LUMP=”growth” + H (height) | ||
| 19 | OARING |
Bellowing, losing head, and having a row (6)
|
| [R]-OARING=”Bellowing” losing its first/head letter | ||
| 20 | STYE |
Pound’s gone out of fashion – that could affect one’s view of things (4)
|
| definition: a stye on one’s eye could affect vision
L (Libra, “Pound”), taken out of STY-[L]-E=”fashion” |
||
| 21 | CASE |
Legal action that may be taken on by boarder (4)
|
| double definition: a legal case; or a case of luggage taken on by a passenger boarding a ship/plane |
No knowledge problems today*, although I did check WORDFEST and found two near me.
I spent the most time in the North West. AUTOCUES held out the longest though.
I was surprised that we haven’t seen an ASSEGAI in a while. WEIRDO was mentioned in a clue last week. It’s over a year since TEAMMATE last arose with a similarish clue from Imogen.
Faves today include ORWELL, OARING and GALUMPHS.
Thanks Brendan and manehi.
*OK, maybe TUSSORE, well clued though.
I find portmanteau words a bit craptacular, I’m afraid. I did enjoy the solve, though. I think it’s the second time I’ve seen ASSEGAI in the last few days (I think the other instance was in Private Eye). Thanks to Brendan and Manehi.
Very tough – my foi was 7d which I could not even parse as I solved it from the letter count. Never heard of OPED = “began”.
New for me: WORDFEST, DOCUSOAP, TUSSORE.
It wasn’t Private Eye – maybe The i.
Another great themed puzzle from Brendan, although it was only at the end that the penny dropped with PORTMANTEAU. I had spotted ORWELL’s NEWSPEAK earlier though. Liked the anagrams LABRADOODLE and POINSETTIA.
Ta Brendan & manehi.
A few of those portmanteaux a tad groanworthy, but I enjoyed this, my only unknown being TUSSORE.
Found this a ploddy solve. Liked TEAMMATE. Not come across that before. But it’s not quite chuckle worthy. GALUMPHS and PAHS brightened the grid for me.
A finely worked theme, with a few jorums (ASSEGAI, TUSSORE). Thanks Brendan and manehi!
A slight correction: in WAITRESS, “‘s” is not part of the anagram fodder.
Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog.
Both of high quality.
Thanks Brendan and manehi.
Top ones: WEIRDO (current controller & my professional connection with dams for decades), TUSSORE,
KNOTTY, AUTOCUES, OP-ED and TELEPLAY.
A minor point:
WAITRESS
WA stays outside the anagram fodder.
Always a pleasure to see Brendan’s name. One of his more obvious themes today. Nice to see ORWELL and Wells together — I believe they had a falling out. Speaking of Wells, and sleepers awaking, 7d recalled Prospero in The Tempest:
… graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, OPED, and let ’em forth
Many thanks Brendan and manehi.
Another very enjoyable puzzle from Brendan – ticks for DOCUSOAP (‘aged Brit’ – Ouch!), WEIRDO (current controller), PORTMANTEAU (super construction and surface), ELEPHANT, for the smile, AUTOCUES, ditto, NEWSPEAK / ORWELL combination and GALUMPHS, a favourite word of mine. TUSSORE a jorum for me, too but very neatly clued.
Many thanks to Brendan, for the fun and to manehi for a fine blog.
Another excellent puzzle from Brendan, though I rather felt that he might have painted himself into a (NE) corner today, with my last two in PAHS and OP-ED. Thought TEAMMATE a wonderful construction, amongst several others…
Loved this frabjous nod to Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty (with the Jabberwocky’s galumphing vanquisher in ‘Through the Looking-Glass’), and George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’.
A Wednesday-wordfest, for which thanks to Brendan and manehi
I thought this was fun, and for once spotted the theme and found it helpful, though in a rather roundabout way – I still hadn’t solved PORTMANTEAU when I got DOCUSOAP and muttered to myself that there were a lots of portmanteau words here – Aha! my brain then told me rather belatedly…