I suppose every setter has his or her idiosyncrasies, but I think that it is fair to say that Slormgorm’s style poses a unique challenge. Today’s puzzle is a fine example, with a number of clues requiring a third or fourth read-through before any sort of solution registered with me.
I found the right side of this puzzle much harder than the left, and I think that 16A is particularly memorable.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SMARTISH |
Right one involved in collision’s not too clever (8)
|
| {RT (right) + I (one)} inside (involved in) SMASH (collision) | ||
| 5 | IN HOCK |
First person to have new wine with an uncle? (2,4)
|
| I (first person) + N (new) + HOCK (wine), referring to a pawnbroker | ||
| 10 | ITCHIER |
Thrice I put out, being more desirous than usual (7)
|
| Anagram of (put out) THRICE I | ||
| 11 | AIRLINE |
Series on Sky’s one likely to have many pilots (7)
|
| AIR (sky) + LINE (series), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 12 | DEMAGOGUE |
A mug with ego acting up in Delaware? Trump, perhaps? (9)
|
| Anagram of (acting up) {A + MUG+ EGO} inside (in) DE (Delaware) | ||
| 13 | SPOIL |
Unduly yield to wishes of country on seizing power (5)
|
| SOIL (country) around (on seizing) P (power) | ||
| 15 | E-BOAT |
Contrary old boy will fill upset vessel (1-4)
|
| OB (old boy) reversed (contrary) and inside (will fill) EAT (upset). I cannot see that the use of italics here means anything. | ||
| 16 | ARTICLES |
Things father has in his case? (8)
|
| I am not quite sure how to classify this clue–double/cryptic definition, maybe? The inside letters (has in his case) of the word [F]ATHE[R] are A and THE, i.e., the indefinite article and the definite article, respectively. Sophisticated clue. | ||
| 19 | BARRACKS |
Boozer suffering southern soldiers’ digs (8)
|
| BAR (boozer) + RACK (suffering) + S (southern) | ||
| 20 | RETRO |
Period of severe trouble (5)
|
| Hidden in (of) [SEVE]RE TRO[UBLE], as in “period piece” | ||
| 21 | FIELD |
Those running in the National, say, in a paddock? (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | NARCOTIST |
One on junk is at sea with Contra close to port (9)
|
| Anagram of (at sea . . . with) {IS + CONTRA} + last letter of (close to) [POR]T, referring to heroin addiction | ||
| 25 | IMITATE |
Reproduce with one with sex appeal in China (7)
|
| I (one) + {IT (sex appeal) inside (in) MATE (China)} | ||
| 27 | AVARICE |
Cupidity is a bad habit, a royal admitted (7)
|
| {A + R (royal)} inside (admitted) {A + VICE (bad habit)} | ||
| 28 | THE BAR |
Where one might get shot of lawyers? (3,3)
|
| Double definition, “shot” here meaning “a shot” | ||
| 29 | ESCARGOT |
One shelled freight stored in European street (8)
|
| CARGO (freight) inside (stored in) {E (European) + ST (street)} | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SWINDLED |
Did soprano with gas initially leave everyone dazed? (8)
|
| S (soprano) + WIND (gas) + first letters of (initially) L[EAVE] E[VERYONE] D[AZED] | ||
| 2 | ACCOMMODATE |
A bit of trouble opening a cold toilet seat (11)
|
| {A + first letter of (bit of) T[ROUBLE]} inside (opening) {A + C (cold) + COMMODE (toilet)} | ||
| 3 | TAILGATER |
A tale composed with grit one follows too closely (9)
|
| Anagram of (composed with) {A + TALE + GRIT} | ||
| 4 | SCRAG |
Part of body the King caught in sink (5)
|
| CR (the King) inside (caught in) SAG (sink) | ||
| 6 | NORMS |
Knight very upset about Royal Mail’s standards (5)
|
| N (knight) + {SO (very) inverted (upset) around (about) RM (Royal Mail)} | ||
| 7 | OBI |
Those heading over before installing sash in Japan (3)
|
| First letters of (those heading) O[VER] B[EFORE] I[NSTALLING] | ||
| 8 | KNEEL |
Show respect if Welsh emblem’s raised around noon (5)
|
| LEEK (Welsh emblem) inverted ([is] raised) around N (noon) | ||
| 9 | MAGENTAS |
A nice chap, when hugged by old ladies, colours (8)
|
| {A + GENT (nice chap)} inside (when hugged by) MAS (old ladies) | ||
| 14 | OVERTOILING |
I love to ring about working too hard (11)
|
| Anagram of (about) I LOVE TO RING | ||
| 16 | ASCENDER |
A person broadcasting, reportedly, for Jesus? (8)
|
| Homophone of (reportedly) A SENDER (a person broadcasting) | ||
| 17 | CARBONARA |
Saucy type in vehicle with a bra and no pants (9)
|
| CAR (vehicle) + anagram of (pants) {A + BRA + NO}, with a slightly whimsical definition | ||
| 18 | POTTIEST |
Most fanatical spectator essentially follows cup matches (8)
|
| POT (cup) + TIES (matches) + middle letter of (essentially) [SPEC]T[ATOR], with “follows” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 21 | FEINT |
Misleading action lacking conviction in hearing (5)
|
| Homophone of (in hearing) FAINT (lacking conviction) | ||
| 22 | DRAMA |
Type of show shot on Australia’s southern coast (5)
|
| DRAM (shot) + last letter of (southern coast [of]) [AUSTRALI]A | ||
| 24 | READS |
Foremost of academics in socialist society studies (5)
|
| {First letter of (foremost of) A[CADEMICS] inside (in) RED (socialist)} + S (society) | ||
| 26 | IRE |
Anger is awful, no need for hatred ultimately (3)
|
| [D]IRE (awful) minus (no need for) last letter of (ultimately) [HATRE]D |
I agree with your summary, Cineraria. I found about half of this easy, then some clues took several visits – particularly in the SE corner.
In the end the only hitch was my inability to parse ARTICLES. Thanks for explaining it
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
I made heavy weather of this one, some very elusive definitions. SCRAG, for example.
Even then, I fell at the last hurdle, going for ARCANGEL in 16(d), which is (3-5) anyway, so a dumb answer.
11(ac), AIRLINE, I felt the wordplay was a bit iffy.
ARTICLES took me an age to parse, but it’s a novel and crafty clue. Best in show.
Tough, but Good stuff from Slormgorm, thanks to Cineraria
I usually finish and enjoy this setter’s but after less than half completed I ground to a halt. Either they’re getting harder or I’m losing the plot.
Hmm, too clever for me, articles was a bung and shrug. A dnf anyway, had to guess/check to get where the n went before doing narcotist and finally ascender. Enjoyed it ntl, ta both.
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria. The grid used today is one of the ones that is not as well connected as it looks on a casual glance. Having solved 1ac straight away, and then worked downwards from there, I got stuck at the barrier made by 9dn and 16dn, and had to start again with 5ac, which was fortunately an easy clue. My favourite was definitely 16ac (ARTICLES): further to comment 2, I would classify this as a novelty clue type.
9dn: My usual printed dictionaries do not give direct support for a plural of magenta, as they define the word as the shade from a specific dye, but I think the plural can be justified from the use as a colour on computer systems. I think one can say that the magentas shown on different monitors are different colours. Another possibility for the plural could be related to a heavy duty colour printer which has separate cartridges for cyan, yellow, and magenta (as well as black). One could say that the workload sent through the printer only needs one yellow cartridge for every two magentas. At least the first of these options fits with the way Slormgorm has clued it for today’s puzzle.
Crashed and burned on this. My worst Slormgorm with 20 undone. Previous worst was 18 some time ago. Only the SE completed.
Thanks Cineraria for the answers … a few I feel I should have got … but not many.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues and pretty tough in parts .
ARTICLES is very neat , just a normal , clever clue for me . A definition plus a cryptic indication .
Some pool sets have two magenta balls , a spot and a stripe , you could pot two MAGENTAS but it would be a foul .
Is Slormgorm American? I noticed quite a few bits of US-inflected English. THE BAR, TAILGATER, SMARTISH (where smart means clever rather than tidy)… of course these are all words in British usage too but I would say slightly more common usage in the US. Likewise “put out” (the sexual connotation in the clue here is more common in the US), “junk” for heroin.
Perhaps a pointer to why it felt a little awkward for some?
Got about 2/3rds of the clues but struggled with NW corner
I can never predict whether a Slormgorm puzzle is going to be easy or tricky, though you can usually bet on there being a clue like CARBONARA (which I enjoyed). Some say we have too many Trump clues, but I liked the way both the definition and wordplay in DEMAGOGUE were apposite.
I think the clue for DEMAGOGUE could have missed out the last two words .