Thanks to Fed for the puzzle, with a nice mix of clever clues. I particularly liked 14ac, 25ac, 2dn, 3/16, and 13dn.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | BARN OWLS |
A better plan – finally – to stop game hunters (4,4)
|
| final letters of A [bette]-R [pla]-N, stopping inside BOWLS=”game” as in lawn bowling | ||
| 9 | HYENAS |
Bears controlling hunger – they eat carrion (6)
|
| HAS=holds=”Bears”, around YEN=yearning=”hunger” | ||
| 10 | GANG |
Crew fitting angle brackets (4)
|
| hidden inside (bracketed within): [fittin]-G ANG-[le] | ||
| 11 | REASONABLE |
Just dread spending days working in dark (10)
|
| [d]-REA-[d] losing/spending “days” i.e. letters d for ‘day’; plus ON=”working” in SABLE=”dark” | ||
| 12 | COWBOY |
Rogue bully by boxing ring (6)
|
| definition as in e.g. ‘cowboy traders’ = ‘rogue traders’
COW=intimidate=”bully” + BY (from surface) around/”boxing” O=letter with “ring” shape |
||
| 14 | ENTREATY |
Two nurses ignoring half of my request (8)
|
| “Two nurses” gives EN (Enrolled Nurse) + TREAT=to nurse; plus [m]-Y with half removed/ignored | ||
| 15, 17 | BREAK A RECORD |
Become the best by baking bread or a little rock cake (5,1,6)
|
| anagram/”baking” of (bread or r cake)*, with r from “little r-ock” | ||
| 17 | BREAK A RECORD |
See 15
|
| 20 | CATS-EYES |
Watches musical’s opening night – that’s when these things shine! (4-4)
|
| definition: the reflective cat’s eyes on a road surface, visible at night
EYES=”Watches” with CATS=name of a “musical” going first/”opening” |
||
| 22 | BEETLE |
Live in Le Mans – and the VW? (6)
|
| definition: the VW Beetle car
BE=”Live”, plus ET LE=”and the” in French (i.e. “in Le Mans” the French city) |
||
| 23 | PLUM TOMATO |
Cartoon dog bites old woman clutching cat food in tins? (4,6)
|
| PLUTO=Disney “Cartoon dog”, around/biting MA=mother=”old woman” around/clutching TOM=”cat” | ||
| 24 | LACE |
Large hole in one tie (4)
|
| definition as in e.g. to tie/lace one’s shoes
L (Large) + ACE=”hole in one” |
||
| 25 | ANTLER |
Part of stag party in strip club getting wrecked in just seconds (6)
|
| just the second letters from: [p]-A-[rty] + [i]-N + [s]-T-[rip] + [c]-L-[ub] + [g]-E-[tting] [w]-R-[ecked] | ||
| 26 | DRAG RACE |
Drive a good line in test of acceleration (4,4)
|
| DR (short for Drive, as in a street name) + A (from surface) + G (good) + RACE=”line” (perhaps in the sense of ancestry, lineage) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CATACOMB |
Combat manoeuvres – keeping watch regularly in caves? (8)
|
| anagram/”manoeuvres” of (Combat)*, around/”keeping” regular letters from [w]-A-[t]-C-[h] | ||
| 2 | SNUG |
Tight biceps after lifting (4)
|
| GUNS=slang for bicep muscles; reversed upwards/”lifting” | ||
| 3, 16 | QWERTY KEYBOARD |
Question weaker body? Try exercising. (One probably sits with a computer all day) (6,8)
|
| Q (Question) + anagram/”exercising” of (weaker body Try)* | ||
| 4, 22 | THROW THE BOOK AT |
This suggests he took bat for discipline (5,3,4,2)
|
| definition: “discipline” as a verb, to reprimand someone or to throw the book at them
it it were part of a crossword clue, THROW THE BOOK AT would suggest an anagram/”throw” of (the book at)*, giving “he took bat” |
||
| 5 | SEA ANEMONE |
Imagine taking group of drivers north on M1 to see Coral’s relative? (3,7)
|
| SEE=”Imagine” (e.g. ‘could you see it happening here?’), around/taking: AA (Automobile Association, “group of drivers”) + N (North); then plus M ONE=”M1″ | ||
| 6 | WALLET |
Keep everything in pathetic pocketbook (6)
|
| ALL=”everything”, kept in WET=”pathetic” | ||
| 8, 19 | STATEN ISLAND |
Tesla isn’t working with NYC borough (6,6)
|
| anagram/”working” of (Tesla isn’t)*, plus AND=”with” | ||
| 13 | BREAST MILK |
Mother might express this clumsily – be smart and kind (6,4)
|
edit thanks to comments: anagram/”clumsily” of (be smart)*, plus ILK=”kind” |
||
| 16 | QWERTY KEYBOARD |
See 3
|
| 18 | DELICACY |
Refinement represented Cecil Day … (8)
|
| anagram/”represented” of (Cecil Day)*
for the anagrind, think re-presented, presented again in a new way |
||
| 19 | STATEN ISLAND |
See 8
|
| 21 | ASLANT |
… Lewis’s character – conclusively yet obliquely (6)
|
| ASLAN=character from the Narnia books by CS Lewis; plus last/concluding letter of [ye]-T | ||
| 22 | THROW THE BOOK AT |
See 4
|
| 24 | LURE |
Decide to swap hands and draw (4)
|
| RULE=”Decide”, swapping positions of R and L (Right and Left “hands”) |
Tea tray for aisle 25!
That was some workout, with some very tricky clues, but what a super puzzle and it’s difficult to pick out favourites as there were so many. ASLANT was familiar as Brockwell set a similar clue a couple of week’s ago. Nice touch with GANG sitting above COWBOY but a special mention for THROW THE BOOK AT.
Ta Fed & manehi.
Brilliant! Witty and clever with lots of misdirection. Kicked myself for not parsing ANTLER but otherwise very satisfying.
Thanks Fed and manehi
A few I needed parses for. I’ve never heard of GUNS for biceps, didn’t see how REASONABLE and DRAG RACE worked.
Lots to like. Favourite BEETLE. I also liked the construction of COWBOY, though the surface didn’t make a lot of sense.
Straightforward solve in the end, despite initial doubts. Lots of good stuff. Thanks both.
I thought this was a lot harder than usual by Fed but then it didn’t add too much extra time to my usual solve speed. A fair few tricky parses but for a lot I was able to get the answer and work backwards.
Liked BREAST MILK and COWBOY.
Thanks Fed and manehi
BREAST MILK is an anagram of be smart + ilk for kind.
Manehi – BREAST MILK is (BE SMART)* + ILK (ILK = KIND)
I’m with Redrodney @3!
Favourites: BARN OWLS, REASONABLE, PLUM TOMATO, CATACOMB, QWERTY KEYBOARD, THROW THE BOOK AT, BREAST MILK.
Many thanks to Fed and manehi.
Not that it matters, but I swapped L for R and R for L, rather than their positions in LURE.
Thanks both
I forgot to mention the clever use of ellipses, disguised by 19ac, for Cecil Day and Lewis, lovely.
AlanC @11
I hadn’t noticed that – thanks. I agree that it’s very clever.
Didn’t know the CS Lewis character, but solved that clue anyway. My last attempt at one of Fed’s ended in tears, but this one worked out nicely. Perhaps I just wasn’t on the wavelength last time.
For those who hadn’t heard of Aslan, he’s the lion in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He represents a Jesus figure.
The elliptical 18/21 was quite delightful – but it’s a great pity that it appeared so soon after Brockwell’s clue in his lions puzzle, only two weeks ago: 2 followed by Tesla obliquely (6). It would certainly have been in my list of favourites if I hadn’t got it quite so quickly.
Thanks Fed and manehi
What a brain-teaser. Can’t wait for the next one!
Tough. A very slow start yielding one solution on first pass. However I slowly got into it and found some fine clues.
I couldn’t parse ANTLER (though I wrote it in as what else could stag part be?) or THROW THE BOOK AT so thanks to manehi for that.
Nho guns as slang for biceps.
Favourites BARN OWLS, PLUM TOMATO, QWERTY KEYBOARD.
Should caves be singular in the clue for CATACOMB? Not sure, but liked the clue.
Thanks Fed and manehi
I found this very difficult. Solved most of the clues though mainly through the definitions. I liked ASLANT and DELICACY among the few I worked out from the clues. I’m not attuned to Fed’s cryptics at all.
That was a cracker. Thanks to manehi for parsing a couple that I didn’t fully parse like ANTLER & THROW THE BOOK AT. Thought BEETLE was brilliant, and thanks to AlanC@ 11 for spotting the link between 18d & 21d.
Didn’t know the biceps, but otherwise the usual Fed experience: slow, convoluted but rewarding. I thrEw the book at… before I checked it properly: nice clue. Top marks for having me refusing to accept [Q weaker body try] as a possible anagram (no U?) for such a long time.
A CATACOMB is a series of caves, so they don’t need to be singular.
I usually enjoy Fed, puzzles, but I thought this one was particularly good. I had ticks for so many clues, that it’s hard to pick out favourites.
Fun puzzle, thanks Fed and Manehi for the blog.
Wasn’t sure if there was an intentional animal theme? Owls, hyenas, beetle, 2xcat (*acomb, *eyes), cow (*boy), sea anemone…
This could be my favorite puzzle of the year. Really a Goldilocks puzzle—just right—-with some incredible clues. A big thank you to Fed for a fun evening here in California.
A great crossword with one flaw for anyone who’s worked in the NHS. The “enrolled nurse” qualification (14ac) was finally abolished in 1992. It’s unfair to newer solvers to keep using such antique terms. I could go on …
Given the summer weather we’ve been having I’m surprised more people aren’t familiar with the expression “Sun’s out, guns out” 🙂
I reverse-solved about 80% of this but thoroughly enjoyed it all the same
I don’t usually pay much attention to surfaces but I thought ANTLER was very good
Cheers F&M
I’m a Fed fan, and it seems most people who have expressed an opinion are on board today.
BEETLE stood out as one of my first in.
All solved and parsed in the end.
Thanks Fed and manehi.
Excellent puzzle. As I began, I genuinely didn’t think I was going to be able to complete it. My first run-through revealed only one answer. But it all fell into place steadily and slowly. Very satisfying.
There is one minor quibble: GUNS is plural; ‘biceps’ is singular. I think.
There is mention on the website of a NINA, but I cannot see one.
I cannot imagine anyone referring to their biceps as ‘a guns’.
Guns is a widely used term for biceps and also for legs in cycling circles. “Sun’s out, guns out!”
I’m surprised it’s being highlighted as an unknown.
The OED has guns for biceps originating in baseball in the early 1900s.
Andrew Sceats @27: regarding the Nina, there is an EYE inside SEE in the last column but it doesn’t make sense to me.
Technically CATS-EYES are reflectors so they shine whenever they are illuminated, so during the day in tunnels or if daylight running lights are in use.
A shame 19d ‘See 8’ split the ellipses.
I found this tough to get into but enjoyable.
Martin @29
Isn’t it a widely-used term for bicepses?
I know the term ‘sun’s out, guns out’ – but doesn’t it refer to both arms, rather than a single arm?
Would anyone say ‘your guns is looking really good’?
I have the muscle definition of a paper straw, so I will happily defer to those who know more about this than me.
Biceps is both the singular and plural form.
Wiki tells me that the “correct” plural of biceps is bicipites – I bet you didn’t know that! It adds that biceps is also used as the plural form, as Petert @33 said.
I grumbled and complained all the way through this, mainly because I was guessing answers then retro-parsing. Then I got to the end and realised that I had actually enjoyed it! Excellent stuff.
As always with Fed, it took me a while to find their wavelength, after that it was a steady and satisfying solve, albeit with ANTLER, my LOI, unparsed. I was pleased with myself for getting the reverse anagram in 4/22. Lots to like but 3D a particular favorite.
I was familiar with GUNS for biceps, but as always one person’s GK is another person’s obscurity. As far as the singular/plural question goes, the Latin source is singular biceps, but over time English speakers have “backformed” the singular “bicep” on the assumption that “biceps” is plural. Linguists call this reanalysis, and it’s not uncommon. Anyway, singular “bicep” has been around since before WWII, so it’s well established by now.
(Reanalysis is quite common in English for imported words, but a more surprising example is “pea” which was created by people assuming that the original “pease” must be plural. The later survives now only in “pease pudding”, I think.)
Nice: 3,16 from mad crazy relative (7,6)
Couldn’t believe the fodder!
Tricky but fair. Definitely needed parsing help. Is this puzzle breaking some sort of record? Otherwise not seeing a nina.
Thanks, folks, for the interesting biceptual analysis.
Thanks for the blog , a really great puzzle with clever and interesting wordplay throughout . Split words lining up in the grid and mainly concise shown by a lot of space at the bottom in the paper . I could name nearly every clue but will just agree with lists above .
Biceps is acrually the form of most muscles in humans although some are circular .
The odd one out is the tongue , only joined at one end , also a voluntary muscle in the female but involuntary in the male .
Perfect timing yet again but my latest run will end today .
This was a satisfying Wednesday night (and morning!) solve. Some challenge, but nothing we couldn’t surmount.
Magic, I really enjoyed this, as usual with Fed. Am I the first to point out that 3,16 wouldn’t work in France (and perhaps elsewhere)? Or is that what Blaise@37 is getting at with Nice? TTS&B
Fairly steady solve. Surprised myself by getting SEA ANEMONE from the crossers and then slowly realising it was right. Special mention to ANTLER and THROW THE BOOK AT. I think that last type of clue is particularly fun. Is there a name for them? Maybe Roz has one. I think I’ve heard ‘reverse anagram’ but that seems a bit worthy. What about ‘gridogrind’ with the anagrind in the grid?
Muffin@14: bicipites is the Latin plural, in English it’s biceps
Super puzzle: chewy enough to be a challenge but ultimately doable. Loved BARN OWLS, ENREATY, PLUM TOMATO and QWERTY. Failed to parse BEETLE (doh!) and wasn’t entirely happy with the THROW element of 4d, but Fed cements his place in the pantheon. Many thanks to him and manehi.
Imaginatively constructed and entertaining puzzle with some great surfaces (which I always esteem), though at the expense of prolixity, so a lot of the clues were parsed, slowly, after I had found the solutions from some combination of enumeration, crossers and definitions. ANTLER is a case in point.
Like gladys I initially dismissed an anagram for QWERTY… as there was no U for the Q. Deliberately misleading or not, that is clever.
Thanks to Fed and manehi
I too benefitted from the recent ASLANT. I showed some time ago that repeats/coincidences like this are statistically inevitable without manual intervention.
But if you were the editor, and if you noticed a pending repeat such as this, and if you were concerned with giving solvers the best experience, and if you decided to delay the repeating puzzle (all big IFs), then how long an interval would you choose? It’s not obvious.
Fed on top form! This was a great puzzle, as it slowly yielded.
I agree with manehi’s choice of best clues. First prize to ANTLER!
Thanks Fed and manehi
Sorry to reply to myself @44 – on a second look, the neat anagram from Blaise@37 puts the noun first 🙂
Customarily enjoyable puzzle from Fed. Excellent gridfill, with several compound solutions all in a row or column. Smooth surfaces. LOI 12a took an age, going through every possible combination except the right one — JOYBOY? TOMBOY? YOBBOY? Ohhh, COWBOY! (*headdesk*)
Favourites 23a PLUM TOMATO (Russian doll wordplay), 25a ANTLER (surface, “just seconds” wordplay), 3/16 QWERTY KEYBOARD (definition), and all the others
Thanks both
Brilliant puzzle, a real slow burner for this plodder. Failed to fully parse BEETLE which i now tick.
Only fly in the ointment for me was HAS for bears in HYENAS which i feel is little loose.
Many thanks, both.
Very satisfying. A gratingly slow opener, but a second pass got HYENAS and from there it flowed like some satisfyingly viscous fluid. Molasses perhaps.
Favourite PLUM TOMATO for the concise double inclusion. LOI LURE. Thanks to Fed and Manehi.
Great puzzle as always. Really too many goodies to list, but a special mention for the ellipsed pair. I was surprised that some people didn’t link them; neither surface individually makes much sense on its own!
William@53: he has/bears a grudge, perhaps.
I couldn’t parse THROW THE BOOK AT. (I lifted “he +(took) b[OOK]-at” from the surface but inevitably got nowhere with the remaining THROW T.) Fuddleduddy@45, such clues are often referred to as inversion clues, because the solution itself has a cryptic reading giving rise to a part of the surface.
I prefer to keep biceps invariant in the plural; no need to complicate things further! so GUNS< presented no problem to me. It's interesting about the reanalysis though(Jacob@36). I've never heard of bicep, but I can't say I'm surprised. There are lots of fun things that have reached our modern ears in similar ways, including apron, newt and orange. The post at https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/161483242767/one-of-my-favorite-linguistic-phenomena has quite a long list, including some I didn't know such as cherry, admiral – and, interestingly, crosswordland's favourite big cat, the ounce.
Thanks both
[Thanks for that link, AP – fascinating, well worth a look. I knew about apron and orange.]
Steppie @51. With hindsight I should have clued it as “Nice equivalent for 3,16 from mad crazy relative” but I was so gobsmacked by finding such a lovely anagram for “clavier AZERTY” that I didn’t stop to think…
About half of these were beyond my parsing ability. But I was able to get all the definitions and guessed the answers correctly in all. Perhaps these easy to guess definitions were acts of kindness on Fed’s part :-)?
Very interesting in a mountain climbing kind of way!
Thanks both
[Thanks Blaise@57, and well spotted! I was surprised when designing a French terminal keyboard’s firmware many years ago that they shift to get the numerics]
Quite tricky and enjoyable.
Favourites: SEA ANEMONE, STATEN ISLAND, LURE, ASLANT (loi).
FuD@45 , I like to annotate my crossword diary using as few words as possible so clues like 4Down are called moth .
Mig@52 PLUM TOMATO is Matryoshka , saves a letter and a space .
Bully is always cow , along with lower .