Coot provides this Thursday’s challenge.
We wonder if Coot has been in cahoots with Hoskins for this puzzle as there are (admittedly fairly obscure) references to male genitalia in 14ac and 20d.
Surfaces are good and it is a solver-friendly grid.
Thanks to Coot for an enjoyable Thursday work-out.
CON (criminal) FUNDED (paid for) round (‘charged by’) O (nothing – 2 down)
L (fifty in Roman numerals) in (‘netted by’) COD (fish)
lOUTS (oafs) missing the first letter (‘faceless’) + a reversal (‘backing’) of STRIKe (industrial action) missing the last letter (‘mostly’)
SAT (perched) + a reversal (‘westbound’) of RY (railway – ‘track’)
An anagram (‘production’) of AIDa missing (‘short of’) one of the ‘a’s (alto) + S (soprano)
FLAG (Jack) WAG (footballers’ Wives And Girlfriends – ‘Grealish’s girl maybe’) round (‘supping’) VIN (French for wine)
A sort of clue-as-definition: EGG (urge) PLANT (bed) We had to check – apparently an EGGPLANT emoji is a flirty reference to male genitalia – ‘urge to bed’?
LIE (tell stories) + a reversal (‘about’) of EG (for example)
L (first letter or ‘glimpse’ of Lune) in BURT (Burt Lancaster – old film star)
An anagram (‘designed’) of dOMEs (missing first and last letters or ‘discovered’) C WREN
An anagram (‘criminal’) of BOLDLY RACE
A reversal (‘sending back’) of BUNS (cakes)
Hidden in (‘from’) GewürztramINER Tasting
M (money) ‘invested’ in CREATORS (‘those who produce’)
A homophone (‘gathered’) of HEARD (became aware of)
B (British) RAKE (playboy) + D (duke) in an anagram (‘insane’) of PLEA
An anagram (‘could be’) of C and WORDle missing ‘l’ and ‘e’
NO (never) THIN (fine) G (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of time-wasting)
OKAY (fine) with the middle letters (‘stomach’) reversed (‘upset’)
A reversal (‘ascending’ in a down clue) of RUN (ladder – as in tights) + SLING (support)
Hidden (‘housed by’) and reversed (‘over’) in trainiNG IS NEver
OUT (public) + a homophone (‘in speech’) of SIGHS (expressions of disappointment)
I (Coot – the setter) in (‘gripped by’) an anagram (‘not behaving’) of RUDE URGE
LEAN (bend) with the first letter moved to the back (‘cycling’) in (‘cracking’) SOCK (chin) – Sean Lock died in 2021
P (pressure) LATE (behind) LET (‘false start in court’ – in tennis)
BELL (telephone call) in EM (space – in printing) ISH (‘somewhat’)
Double definition
NUCLEAR (‘type of weapon’) with ‘nu’ (‘Greek character’) reversed (‘brought round’)
HOOD (cover) after (‘located by’) MAN (staff)
MERCy (compassion) missing the last letter (‘endless’) ER (‘late queen’ – Elizabeth II)
If the B in Bert is ‘replaced by’ (AS) AL it turns into ‘alert’
CAMPus (‘home for university’) with ‘us’ (America) ‘leaving’
Many comedians would be missed, but few as fondly as Sean Lock with his absurd brand of comedy.
Carrot in a box was genius, Jon Richardson I don’t think ever recovered from being completely out-witted!
Very enjoyable puzzle.
My faves: OUTSKIRTS, FLAG-WAVING, EGGPLANT, CREMATORS, BRAKE PEDAL,
OAKY, PLATELET, EMBELLISH, UNCLEAR and BASAL.
LEG BREAK
“Batter” would have been better?
Thanks Coot and B&J.
Fun puzzle. OAKY held out til the very end, as did EGGPLANT which was the only thing that could fit but the definition meant nothing to me. Which is, perhaps, no bad thing. Genitalia used to be plums; now it’s aubergines. I guess that’s inflation for you.
CREATORS, BRAKE PEDAL, CROWD, NURSLING (which I’d normally spell with an ‘e’), DE RIGUEUR, SEAN LOCK and MERCER are my faves today. To me, ‘batsman’ is OK – whilst probably not politically correct, a batter of either gender could be facing a LEG BREAK.
Thanks both
I really enjoyed this although I couldn’t parse OAKY.
My top picks are FLAG-WAVING, CROWD, LEG BREAK, BRAKE PEDAL.
Many thanks to Coot and B&J.
Thought I’d just take a look. 90 minutes later I staggered across the finishing line. I’m glad I didn’t give up on OAKY as that would have been annoying. Thought this was intriguing and gripping.
I made heavier weather of this than maybe I should have. Same favourites as Rabbit Dave.
Great clues, especially the cheeky 20 down, I found difficult to parse. Eg is Eggplant an emoji?
Thanks
Is it to do with ‘planting’ eggs?
Gemini:
In a chat between a boy and a girl, the eggplant emoji (🍆) is a sexual symbol. It means a penis. People use it during flirt or dirty talk.
Confirming what others have said here.
“Planting eggs” doesn’t fit in, I think, Grant@8.
Anyway, the setter usually makes an appearance at some stage. Let’s hear from him what he had in his mind 🙂
Oh well, just planting a thought…
Comment #11
Hahaha
Good one!
Many thanks to B&J for an impeccable blog, and to everyone who has solved/commented on the puzzle.
Re EGGPLANT, B&J and KVa@9 have summarised it well. Nice idea, grantinfreo@8, but any egg (im)planting would be unplanned.
Thanks Coot for a great set of clues with my top picks being DAIS, LIEGE, SNUB, HERD, OUTSIZE, DE RIGUEUR, MERCER, and CAMP. I didn’t need to ‘reveal’ any answers but I failed to fully parse CONFOUNDED, FLAG-WAVING, OAKY, SEAN LOCK, and UNCLEAR. Thanks B&J for the blog.