Please take a minute to read this post: Help save The Independent Cryptic Crossword
A fun challenge from SOLOMON!
FF: 9 DD: 9
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | OLD |
Sheep loudly escapes over the hill (3)
|
| fOLD ( sheep, without F – loud ) | ||
| 3 | SCREENPLAYS |
Stones frontman finally produces music and scripts for a film (11)
|
| SCREE ( stones ) N ( frontmaN, final letter ) PLAYS ( produces music ) | ||
| 9 | TESTING |
Difficult cricket match in the capital of Grenada (7)
|
| TEST ( cricket match ) IN G ( Grenada, first letter ) | ||
| 10 | SURREAL |
Bizarre King Lear adaptation by American revolutionary (7)
|
| SU ( reverse of US, american ) R ( king ) [ LEAR ]* | ||
| 11 | STAIRCASE |
Steps song covered by Wicked castβs back in vogue (9)
|
| { AIR ( song ) in [ CAST’S]* } E ( voguE, back of ) | ||
| 12 | PRIOR |
Former conventβs east facade gotten rid of (5)
|
| PRIORy ( convent , without east facade i.e. right most letter ) | ||
| 13 | AARGH |
Cry of pain from Graham, upset after rear-endβs pinched (5)
|
| [ GRAHAm ( without rear end i.e last letter ) ]* | ||
| 15 | TIPPERARY |
One dumping rubbish by a railway in remote location (9)
|
| TIPPER ( one dumping rubbish ) A RY ( railway ) | ||
| 17 | ENSHRINES |
English knight with black eyeβs right to move treasures (9)
|
| E ( english ) N ( night ) [ SHINER’S – black eye’s, with R moving up 3 places ] | ||
| 19 | YACHT |
A number of Germans on the stern of my boat (5)
|
| Y ( mY, stern of ) ACHT ( eight, in german ) | ||
| 21 | ERASE |
Wipe under a setteeβs lining (5)
|
| hidden in “..undER A SEttee..” | ||
| 22 | PSEUDONYM |
Head of publishing used to get upset about writerβs twisted pen-name (9)
|
| P ( Publishing, first letter ) [ USED ]* ON ( about ) YM ( writer’s = MY, reversed ) | ||
| 24 | WORSHIP |
Admire either end of woodworkersβ ball-and-socket joint (7)
|
| W OR S ( either end of WoodworkeR ) HIP ( ball and socket joint ) | ||
| 25 | SELFISH |
Will I be quiet or greedy? (7)
|
| SELF ( will, english writer ) I SH ( quiet ) ; had to google to find out who will self is. | ||
| 27 | NEW YEARS DAY |
Crossword setterβs ready, say, for a bank holiday (3,5,3)
|
| reverse clue ; ‘new’ indicates anagram; [ YEARS DAY ]* = READY SAY | ||
| 28 | MUM |
Silence out of which you first emerged (3)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | OUT |
Youth discovered away from home (3)
|
| yOUTh ( discovered, i.e. without end characters ) | ||
| 2 | DESPAIR |
Give up match after passes oneβs squandered (7)
|
| DiES ( passes, without I – one ) PAIR ( match ) | ||
| 3 | SKIER |
Runners are on their feet about one thousand seconds after turning up (5)
|
| RE ( about ) I ( one ) K ( thousand ) S ( seconds ), all reversed | ||
| 4 | REGGAETON |
Dance music genre got confused with Afrobeats at first (9)
|
| [ GENRE GOT A ( Afrobeats, first letter ) ]* | ||
| 5 | ENSUE |
Result of late-opening venues β dancing (5)
|
| [ vENUES ( late opening i.e. without first letter ) ]* | ||
| 6 | PERIPHERY |
Quietly, he follows one with pear cider crossing border (9)
|
| [ I ( one ) P ( quietly ) HE ] in PERRY ( pear cider ) | ||
| 7 | AMERICA |
Group of states in area north of Crimea undergoing struggles (7)
|
| A ( area ) [ CRIMEA ]* | ||
| 8 | SOLAR SYSTEM |
Sly maestroβs forged arrangement of The Planets (5,6)
|
| [ SLY MAESTRO’S ]* | ||
| 11 | SIAMESE TWIN |
One of two brothers who had each otherβs back? (7,4)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 14 | HORSESHOE |
Gym implements groundbreaking equipment thatβs installed on the hoof (9)
|
| HORSES ( gym implements ) HOE ( groundbreaking equipment ) | ||
| 16 | POSSESSED |
Demonic gang on steamship starts to exhibit depravity (9)
|
| POSSE ( gang ) SS ( steamship ) ED ( starting letters of “..Exhibit Depravity” ) | ||
| 18 | SPARROW |
Flyer from on-street convenience store (7)
|
| SPAR ( convenience store ) ROW ( ~ street ) | ||
| 20 | CONFIRM |
Establish two companies with new content (7)
|
| [ CO FIRM ( two companies ) ] containing N ( new ) | ||
| 22 | PIPER |
Under pressure, one agent returned material for a novel (5)
|
| P ( pressure ) I ( one ) PER ( agent = REP, reversed ) | ||
| 23 | DOLLY |
Toy truck (5)
|
| double def | ||
| 26 | HAM |
Old Hebrew discarding a bra that could never be kosher (3)
|
| abraHAM ( old hebrew, without A BRA ) |
I will go first.
Today brought many nicely-constructed clues with a bit of a challenge. There was quite a bit of tricky parsing, some of which occurred well after the answer. I best liked TIPPERARY, AMERICA, POSSESSED, HAM, and MUM
I am not sure that cricket match leads to TEST – so few cricket games are tests and so many other sports have test matches too. I could not parse PERIPHERY, perry being unknown to me. And, it was nice to learn fold, the Scottish word for sheep, now rare. Sigh!
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Thanks Solomon for a great set of clues with my top picks being SCREENPLAYS, SURREAL, ARRGH, YACHT, PSEUDONYM, WORSHIP, DESPAIR, and POSSESSED. 22d should be PAPER, not ‘piper’ with ‘one’ being A, not I. Even though it’s in dictionaries, I was a bit surprised to see SIAMESE TWIN, now widely regarded as dated and offensive but the surface was clever nonetheless. I had some difficulty parsing NEW YEARS DAY (very good), PERIPHERY (didn’t know ‘Perry’), and SPARROW (didn’t know Spar) Thanks Turbolegs for explaining.
For 24A I had WO[OODWORKE]RS’ + HIP.
WILL seems a very inadequate clue for SELF, imho, if the intent was to refer to the author. SELF for WILL might work. I assumed the common thread was something like ego or intentionality, but I cannot find any reference that directly correlates WILL with SELF in quite that sense.
I agree with TS@2 about PAPER.
Cineraria@3
WORSHIP
I parsed it as Turbolegs did. I think this trick (either end)
has been used a few times before by various setters.
SELFISH
I see your pov.
Also had WORSHIP as in blog and PAPER not PIPER. Did remember seeing PERRY before but never seen REGGAETON.
Thanks folks for stopping by. Ref 22d, its one of either “overthinking” or “brain freeze”. Its not lost on me that sometimes I solve really tough clues and other times, I trip up on much simpler challenges. Regardless, I shrink back into the corner of my room, chastened by this faux pas. π
Have a wonderful Friday, and weekend folks.
Regards,
TL
Enjoyed SCREENPLAYS, YACHT, HAM, MUM, and especially NEW YEARS DAY.
TIPPERARY I knew from WW1 lore. “Perry” and “Spar” were unknown to me.
Thanks to Solomon, a great puzzle.
This was one of SOLOMON’s more straightforward puzzles for me.
I am surprised that no-one knows PERRY, the near ubiquitous Babycham of my youth is sparkling perry (revolting, but still around) . I suspect I’ve tried PERRY in the West Country at some festival / drinks do, as I think of it as being a lot nicer that Babycham if I can get my hands on the real stuff, but not worth bothering with otherwise. And we used to live next door to a SPAR when I was really small – the convenience shop on the corner in the village where we lived.
Thank you to Turbolegs and Solomon.
I knew both SPAR (there was one in Church Stetton, home of a great aunt) and PERRY. In fact, this entire crossword was a breezy breath of fresh air. TIPPERARY was my favourite.
I hadn’t know that Babycham was Perry (revolting stuff as Shanne says) but the perry I’ve tried in Herefordshire is a far more delicate thing, especially Dunkerton’s but then their Black Fox cider is delicious too. The dry ciders of this county take some beating in my view.
Thanks to Solomon and Turbolegs.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
I was hesitant about entering SKIER at 3dn, but of course it works with “their” as a gender neutral singular.
Thanks for the blog , good set of clues with some nice touches .
Perry is common at beer festivals and Spar shops still very common in NW England .
Not sure for SELFISH , if it is Will Self then I like the hidden capital at the front , he was a media favourite for quite a while .
Like Tony@2 I am not keen on 11D , the term itself or the clue .
Periphery was loi, as perry was a dnk, and scrump or Conference weren’t going to fit. 22d reminded me of wiki’s explanation of ‘qua’, viz: qua object, a novel is just paper and glue, but qua story it could change your life. Couple of other dnks, Spar shops, and that Reggae + ton was a thing, but still cruisy overall, thanks S and T.
Could a kind soul please explain why piper is material for a novel?
Kevin @13: the correct answer to the clue in question is PAPER, as noted repeatedly in earlier comments.
On the subject of perry (a much maligned drink thanks to Babycham) I should point out that pear cider is made with apples and flavoured with pears, whereas perry is made exclusively with pears. Solomon may not agree, and I donβt know what the dictionaries say, but I feel I should mention this in case any of you decide to try pear cider thinking itβs perry, and find it a disappointing experience. True, decent perry is hard to find but worth searching for.
I am not sure what Babycham is, and I will keep it that way given the universal repulsion. Thanks for the overview of cider and Perry. You made me realise that it is time I visit a local bar with a cider specialty, and I will keep your guidance firmly in mind.