The original puzzle may be found here.
I thought this was an excellent puzzle which was pitched at about the perfect level. There was enough difficulty to make you stop and think but not so much that you ever became completely bogged down. My favourite has to be the excellent 3D.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | CHIPOLATA |
Sausage French fry with oil, salt and bay occasionally (9)
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Chip(=French fry) + odd letters of "oil salt bay" |
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| 10 | ICIER |
Cooler setter essentially renounced drink (5)
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I(=the setter) + ci[d]er(=drink with the middle "renounced") |
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| 11 | RIGHTED |
Set straight communist about conflicts without borders (7)
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Red(=communist) around [f]ight[s] |
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| 12 | KIPPERS |
Fish captain primarily shipped to East End (7)
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Skipper with the first letter moved to the eastern end. |
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| 13/18/23 | HIT AND RUN |
Third nun wrongly charged with a cowardly crime (3,3,3)
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(Third nun + a)* |
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| 14 | FIDDLER CRAB |
One who wangles tip from passenger in taxi? Animal! (7,4)
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Fiddler(=one who wangles) + ([passenge]r in cab(=taxi)) |
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| 17 | DONNA |
Italian lady returning an unspoken acknowledgement (5)
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(An nod)< |
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| 18 |
See 13
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| 19 | SINEW |
Suture holds in tendon (5)
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Sew(=suture) around in |
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| 21 | WHEELBARROW |
Pub brawl after Welsh emptied fish cart (11)
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W[els]h + eel(=fish) + bar row(=pub brawl) |
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| 23 |
See 13
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| 25 | CHATEAU |
Tom consumes hot water in French stately home (7)
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Cat(=Tom) around h{ot} + eau(=French for water) |
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| 27 | PENDANT |
Ornament from Norway acquired by purist (7)
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N{orway} in pedant(=purist) |
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| 28 | SHEER |
Thin bedcover Romeo brought in for model (5)
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Sheet with R{omeo} (abbrev from phonetic alphabet) replacing T(=model from Model T Ford) |
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| 29 | GUNPOWDER |
Grown-up desperate to secure extremely destructive explosive (9)
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(Grown-up)* around d[estructiv]e |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCORCH |
Show contempt for church when snubbing cardinal’s char (6)
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Scorn with ch{urch} replacing the N(=cardinal compass point) |
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| 2 | KINGSTON |
Family goes on vacation to northern capital (8)
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Kin(=family) + g[oe]s + to + n{orthern} |
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| 3 | PORT OF CALL |
Spooner’s apostle’s train makes scheduled stop (4,2,4)
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Spoonerism of "Court of Paul"(=apostle's train) |
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| 4 | MAID |
Abigail is prepared for eavesdroppers (4)
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Hom of made(=prepared). Abigail is a word for a lady's maid. |
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| 5 | BACKSLIDER |
Recidivist regularly concealed gear under rugby player’s top (10)
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[G]e[a]r under back's(=Rugby player's) lid(=top) |
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| 6 | WIMP |
Weed provided by fellow impresario (4)
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Hidden in "fellow impressio". |
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| 7 | LINEAR |
Straight man discovered aboard ship (6)
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[M]a[n] in liner(=ship) |
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| 8 | CROSSBOW |
Flapper admits boss shot shooter (8)
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Crow(=flapper from flapping wings) around boss* |
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| 15 | DRAMATURGE |
Doctor initially assists German dissecting aged script consultant (10)
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D{octo}r + a[ssists] + (G{erman} in mature(=aged)) |
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| 16 | ROSE WINDOW |
One might provide over-optimistic worldview? (4,6)
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CD |
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| 17 | DOWNCAST |
Subdued party with Nollywood’s top actors (8)
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Do(=party) + w[ith] N[ollywood] + cast(=actors) |
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| 20 | NORMANDY |
Random drunk entering city where many disembarked (8)
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Random* in N{ew} Y{ork}(=city) |
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| 22 | ENAMEL |
Partially retired middleman enjoys dental cover (6)
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Hidden, rev in "middle man enjoys" |
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| 24 | NATURE |
Character in novella that you consider memorable, ultimately (6)
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[I]n [novell]a [tha]t [yo]u [conside]r [memorabl]e |
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| 26 | EARL |
Nobleman almost loses case (4)
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[N]earl[y] |
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| 27 | PINE |
Long needle supplier (4)
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DD – pine for something and a pine tree supplying pine needles. |
NORMANDY, CROSSBOW, and DRAMATURGE were my favourites in a very enjoyable puzzle.
This was an excellent puzzle with lots of good surfaces.
I expect I’m missing something, but I think that “train” in 3d is rather a stretch for “court”.
My top picks were CHIPOLATA, FIDDLER CRAB and HIT AND RUN.
Much to like today. I enjoyed constructing WHEELBARROW but have somehow made it into my seventh decade without ever coming across a DRAMATURGE. ROSE WINDOW had to be, but the symbolism of their use in churches doesn’t seem to equate to an over optimistic world view such as one may get peering through rose tinted glasses, perhaps I’m missing something. Annoyed with myself for also missing Abigail=MAID as this was floating around in the murky memory pool of my mind.
Thanks to Italicus and NealH
Decent test for me, the script consultant was new to me, as was the association of Abigail with maid, and the crab… every day’s a school day, and the cluing was fair…
Thanks Italicus and NealH
Rabbit Dave No 2. Both “train” and “court” are listed as synonyms for “entourage”.
I’m very much in agreement with our blogger: a very nice start to a Monday. Elegantly clued, accurate and succinct, clean to solve. HIT-AND-RUN, WHEELBARROW and GUNPOWDER are my podium.
Thanks both
NealH #5. Thanks for the explanation. I am not particularly keen on the use of Thesauri as A=B and B=C doesn’t necessarily mean A=C so I feel it is better use dictionary definitions. In this specific case, I think there is a distinct difference in the type of “entourage” (but I am a self-confessed pedant 😉 )
A few new ones for this aged solver…ROSE WINDOW/ DRAMATURGE/ and the ABIGAIL maid.
No quibbles, nicely-clued, as is the entire puzzle.
The allusion of a rose window being akin to rose spectacles ( in the look-through sense ) is very witty.
I solved but failed to parse ICIER, thanks to NealH for that one.
Pleased to see another Spoonerism that works smoothly. ( unlike many ).
Jolly good show, Italicus & NH
Thanks both. I find myself a whole year older today, which might explain why I still don’t entirely follow ROSE WINDOW unless the ‘might’ in the clue also means ‘might not’ therefore it’s an ‘anti-definition’? WHEELBARROW was to enjoy, though whether a row and a brawl are the same would for me depend upon how many tables and chairs were broken in said row.
Rabbit Dave @7. I did use google to check on this. It gave the example “A visiting monarch would arrive with their entire court (or train) of attendants” to show they can mean the same thing, so I’m happy. It’s always possible that this is US English but I believe not.
Got into a pickle by biffing ‘reoffender’ for BACKSLIDER. Eventually sorted it out.
Rabbit Dave@7 aged pedant here, and I dislike synonym creep.
E.g. RAW = green ( as inexperienced )
RAW = red ( as for meat)
But, does green = red?
That’s an absurd illustration, but I’ve seen some nuanced ones which still don’t work, for me.
However, Hovis@10 has provided my take on “court” and “train”, in that they can both allude to “followers”, or “people in tow”, of a person, so I think it’s fair play. Stretchy, yes, but no yellow card.
Thanks Italicus for a solidly clued crossword that was a joy to solve. Favourites included DONNA, SINEW, KINGSTON, LINEAR, DRAMATURGE, and EARL. I missed MAID not knowing the Abigail reference and couldn’t parse ICIER. Thanks NealH for the blog.
For court = train, I picture medieval courts with the king making his progress with two hundred people following him across the country, temporarily impoverishing whatever manors and demesnes they visit. So, Hovis @10: definitely not American!
I have worked in one theater fancy enough to have a dramaturg (spelled there in the variant without the final E). This was while I was a student at Harvard. (My theater-kid days are firmly behind me now, but I was a lighting technician back in the day.) The Lyric Opera here in Chicago also has a dramaturg, who writes the long essays about each opera that appear in the program (for your intermission reading), presumably among other responsibilities.