Coot has provided our Tuesday teaser today, on what is usually theme day.
On the theme, I haven’t spotted any particular theme here, but other solvers may well have. I’ll come back later to see what I have missed!
As a crossword, I found this to be an easy-to-medium puzzle on the Indy spectrum of difficulty. And much to my relief after failing on a few recent occasions, I was able to parse all the entries to my satisfaction. I was just about to give up on parsing 14, but then I discovered that stokes is a unit of measurement (and not just a cricketer!) and then I understood how the clue worked.
My favourite clues today were 9, for the cheeky use of “business”; 16, for humour and originality; 18 and 29, both for smoothness of surface; and the semi- & lit. at 23.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | COCOA |
Company business comes before a drink (5)
|
| CO (=company) + CO (=business, i.e. company) + A | ||
| 4 | FRIED EGGS |
Reggie’s finally tired of cooked breakfast? (5,4)
|
| *(REGGIE’S + <tire>D <o>F); “finally” means last letters only are used in anagram, indicated by “cooked” | ||
| 9 | COUCH POTATO |
Lazybones put across rubbish business cases (5,6)
|
| COUCH (=to put across, i.e. express in language of a particular kind) + [TAT (=rubbish) in POO (=business, as in to do one’s business)] | ||
| 10 | EON |
Heroin taken regularly for a long time (3)
|
| <h>E<r>O<i>N; “taken regularly” means that alternate letters are dropped | ||
| 11 | ULCERATE |
Rotten clues mostly deserve to fester? (8)
|
| *(ULCE<r>) + RATE (=deserve, be worthy of); “mostly” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “rotten” | ||
| 12 | BLOTCH |
Irregular discoloration left within clumsy work (6)
|
| L (=left) in BOTCH (=clumsy work) | ||
| 14 | MINUTES |
Stokes close to speechless defending home record (7)
|
| [IN (=(at) home) in MUTE (=”speechless”, i.e. unable to speak)] + S (=Stokes, i.e. CGS unit of kinematic velocity) | ||
| 16 | JOAN |
Sir Elton abandons husband in favour of American woman (4)
|
| JOHN (=Sir Elton, i.e. the British musician); “abandons husband (=H) in favour of American (=A)” means letter “h” is replaced by “a” | ||
| 20 | AUNT |
Out of hospital, frequently visit relative (4)
|
| <h>AUNT (=frequently to visit, of a ghost, say); “out of hospital (=H)” means letter “h” is dropped | ||
| 21 | SQUEEZE |
Extort from girlfriend? (7)
|
| Double definition: to squeeze money out of someone is to extort them AND a squeeze is a boyfriend or girlfriend | ||
| 24 | ELEVEN |
Team taking part in Whitechapel event (6)
|
| Hidden (“taking part in”) in “whitechapEL EVENt” | ||
| 26 | CROSS SEA |
Vexed witness reported dangerous swimming conditions (5,3)
|
| CROSS (=vexed, annoyed) + homophone (“reported”) of “see (=witness, observe)”; a cross sea is one with waves coming from different directions, thus generating “dangerous swimming conditions” | ||
| 29 | IRE |
Broadcast exposed anger (3)
|
| <a>IRE<d> (=broadcast, of a TV or radio programme); “exposed” means first and last letters are dropped | ||
| 30 | TRAILER TENT |
River borders dilapidated retail and holiday accommodation (7,4)
|
| *(RETAIL) in TRENT (=River, in UK); “dilapidated” is anagram indicator | ||
| 31 | GO TO PRESS |
Republican with ego stops mingling to progress publication (2,2,5)
|
| R (=republican) in *(EGO STOPS); “mingling” is anagram indicator | ||
| 32 | SUPER |
Marvellous old queen in pursuit of drink (5)
|
| SUP (=drink, imbibe) + ER (=old queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COCK UP |
Make a mess of power grab acquiring fashion brand (4,2)
|
| CK (=fashion brand, i.e. Calvin Klein) in COUP (=power grab) | ||
| 2 | CHURCHMAN |
Devoted Christian‘s two chapters about ancient city soldier … (9)
|
| {[UR (=ancient city, in OT) in [CH (=chapter) + CH (=chapter)]} + MAN (=soldier) | ||
| 3 | ADHERENT |
… partially mislead her enthusiastic follower (8)
|
| Hidden (“partially”) in “misleAD HER ENThusiastic” | ||
| 4 | FRONT |
Basic for baptism that rector’s in prominent position (5)
|
| R (=rector) in FONT (=basic for baptism, i.e. church feature) | ||
| 5 | IPAD |
Tablet dad found amongst papers (4)
|
| PA (=dad) in ID (=papers, i.e. to prove identity) | ||
| 6 | DOODLE |
Over for a day, walk in the park and draw (nothing in particular) (6)
|
| DODDLE (=walk in the park, i.e. something very easy); “over (=O, on cricket scorecard) for a day (=D)” means a letter “d” is replaced by an “o” | ||
| 7 | GREAT |
Remarkable rasping sound heard (5)
|
| Homophone (“heard”) of “grate (=rasping sound, jarring)” | ||
| 8 | SUNSHINE |
Eric and Ernie wanted this star to excel (8)
|
| SUN (=star, in solar system) + SHINE (=to excel, be brilliant); the reference is to The Morecambe and Wise Show, whose closing number was Bring Me Sunshine | ||
| 13 | ESAU |
Some recalled you as extremely hairy man (4)
|
| Hidden (“some”) and recalled (“reversed”) in “yoU AS Extremely”; the reference is to Esau, brother of Jacob, in the OT | ||
| 15 | TOSH |
Getting sides confused, presenter is rubbish (4)
|
| HOST (=presenter, of TV show); “getting sides confused” means first and last letters change places | ||
| 17 | OVERSLEEP |
See lover agitated – terminal to relationship to miss alarm? (9)
|
| *(SEE LOVER) + <relationshi>P (“terminal to” means last letter only); “agitated” is anagram indicator | ||
| 18 | CATERING |
Cringe at awful food at function (8)
|
| *(CRINGE AT), “awful” is anagram indicator | ||
| 19 | DESSERTS |
Turned up anxious for culinary courses (8)
|
| STRESSED (=anxious, under pressure); “turned up” indicates vertical reversal | ||
| 22 | PENT-UP |
Hospital department entertained by youngster kept unwillingly (4-2)
|
| ENT (=hospital department, i.e. ear, nose and throat) in PUP (=youngster, i.e. young dog); pent up is locked away, hence “kept unwilillingly” | ||
| 23 | WAITER |
He’ll bring drink one assumes (6)
|
| I (=one) in WATER (=drink) | ||
| 25 | EJECT |
French writer appearing in European court to exit rapidly (5)
|
| JE (=French writer, i.e. the French for the personal pronoun I, Coot in this case) in [E (=European) + CT (=court, in addresses)]; e.g. to eject from a falling aircraft is to exit it rapidly | ||
| 27 | RULES |
Sport Dawson dominates (5)
|
| RU (=sport, i.e. Rugby Union) + LES (=Dawson, i.e. UK comedian) | ||
| 28 | LATE |
Departed towards the end (4)
|
| Double definition: my late husband is my dearly departed husband AND late in a book, say, would mean towards the end of it |
I spent too long on MINTUES thinking that “close to speechless” must give S and needed all the checking letters for SUNSHINE because I couldn’t remember the Morecambe and Wise song. I also entered COUCH POTATO long before I explained it, thinking that “business cases” must give the CO on the outside.
There are several references to The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin in the grid. Reginald Perrin works at SUNSHINE DESSERTS where his secretary is named JOAN. Several times in the the series Reginald Perrin explains why he is “ELEVEN MINUTES LATE”, Jimmy Anderson says “Bit of a COCK-UP on the CATERING FRONT” and David Harris-Jones and Tony Webster are always saying “SUPER” and “GREAT”.
Thanks, RatkojaRiku and Coot.
I didn’t get where I am today by worrying about whether there’s a theme …
Well spotted Matthew and PostMark.
Lovely puzzle as always from Coot, and possibly a little gentler than many of his offerings.
Took me a ridiculous amount of time trying to come up with an L/R swap in 15.
Thanks both.
Ah, another theme taken from UK TV of yesteryear. No wonder I couldn’t find one. (To be clear: not complaining, just observing.)
The puzzle itself was pretty breezy, with lots to enjoy.