Bluebird’s latest challenge should keep us busy this Thursday. I have had very little experience of solving and blogging work by this setter to date.
I found this to be a real treasure trove, with lots of intricate wordplay, plenty of cultural references to pin down, and a good few penny-drop-moments along the way. As such, I would place it towards the upper end of the Indy spectrum in terms of difficulty.
1D was my last one in, since I didn’t know the TV show, and 6 was the last one to be parsed – I clearly haven’t spent enough time in front of the goggle-box over the decades! I also found some of the wordplay of the shorter entries particularly challenging to tease out, e.g. at 4, 17, 21, 29. I think, however, that I sorted out the parsing in the end. Let us see if other solvers agree.
My favourite clues today were 9, 12 and 28, all for smoothness of surface; and 20, for making me smile, since one rarely associates Norse gods with Spanish resorts. I hope that others enjoyed this puzzle as much as I did.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 1 | CODA |
Extra bit of fish was unwrapped (4)
|
| COD (=fish) +<w>A<s> (“unwrapped” means that the first and last letters are dropped); a coda is music added to bring a piece to a conclusion | ||
| 3 | CHECKMATED |
Bohemian soundly screwed and defeated (10)
|
| CHECK (CZECH=Bohemian; “soundly” is homophone indicator) + MATED (=screwed, copulated) | ||
| 10 | INSTANT |
Laurel spreads in eastern edge of allotment fast (7)
|
| STAN (=Laurel, the comic actor) in [IN + <allotmen>T (“eastern edge of” means last letter only)]; e.g. an instant decision is one taken quickly | ||
| 11 | ENSIGNS |
Guys without mike sing moving number and start to shake banners (7)
|
| <m>EN (=guys, blokes; “without mike (=M, in NATO alphabet)” means letter “m” is dropped) + INGS (SIGN; “moving number (=N)” means letter “n” is moved, here to front of word) + S<hake> (“start to” means first letter only) | ||
| 12 | SETTLE |
Fix Tesla with damaged steel casing (6)
|
| T (=Tesla, i.e. SI unit) in *(STEEL); “damaged” is anagram indicator; e.g. to fix a dispute is to settle, resolve it | ||
| 13 | GREEN TEA |
Drink neat rum with endless voracity (5,3)
|
| GREE<d> (=voracity; “endless” means last letter is dropped) + *(NEAT); “rum”, i.e. strange, is anagram indicator | ||
| 16 | CHEAP |
Cut-price – from 26 a penny (5)
|
| Hidden (“from”) in “fiCHE (=entry at 26) A Penny” | ||
| 17 | MONK |
Say, lama‘s focus of thinking following mantra from the East (4)
|
| MO (OM=mantra, i.e. sacred syllable intoned as part of Hindu devotion; “from the east” indicates reversal) + <thi>NK<ing> (“focus of” means middle letters only); the Dalai ama is a Tibetan monk | ||
| 18 | SALT |
No.9 to decompress ahead of key season (4)
|
| <decompre>S<s> (No.9 means ninth letter of word only is used) + ALT (=key, i.e. on computer keyboard); to season food can be to salt it | ||
| 20 | ODIN |
Once-revered figure seen about in Benidorm (4)
|
| Hidden (“seen”) and reversed (“about”) in “beNIDOrm”; as a Norse god, Odin can be described as a once-revered figure | ||
| 21 | EROS |
Archer with warring house’s heraldic badge back-to-front (4)
|
| ROSE (=warring house’s heraldic badge, as in the War of the Roses between the Houses of York, with its white rose, and Lancaster, with its red rose); “back-to-front” means that the last letter moves to the front of the word; Eros can be described as an “archer” in that he fires arrows at people’s hearts | ||
| 22 | ISSUE |
Result is certain right away (5)
|
| IS + SU<r>E (=certain; “right (=R) away” means that the letter “r” is dropped); an issue is a result, an outcome | ||
| 24 | OUTGROWN |
Gotten too big for unfashionable dress? Finally, tailor gets brought in (8)
|
| OUT (=unfashionable, passé) + [<tailo>R (“finally” means last letter only is used)) in GOWN (=dress, robe)] | ||
| 25 | RELIEF |
Help official put about ‘fake news’ (6)
|
| LIE (=fake news, untruth) in REF (=official, i.e. a match referee); relief is help, assistance | ||
| 27 | ALIMENT |
Great boxer destined to lose core support (7)
|
| ALI (=great boxer, i.e. Mohamed Ali) + ME<a>NT (=destined, intended; “to lose core” means middle letter is dropped); to aliment is to support, sustain | ||
| 29 | PLASTIC |
Artificial plaits blown around (7)
|
| *(PLAITS) + C (=around, i.e. circa); “blown” is anagram indicator; as an adjective, plastic can mean artificial, synthetic | ||
| 30 | EVERYTHING |
Caviare? Very thin gourmand has the lot (10)
|
| Hidden (“has”) in “caviarE VERY THIN Gourmand” | ||
| 31 | BLUE |
Boy band played trumpets on a record (4)
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| Homophone (“on a record”) of “blew (=played trumpets)”; Blue is a British boy band, formed in 2000 | ||
| DOWN
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||
| 1 | CHIPS |
TV cop show Lewis has cool content (5)
|
| HIP (=cool, trendy) in C S (=Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia); CHiPs was an American cop show, launched in the 1970s, following the lives of highway patrol officers in California | ||
| 2 | DISH THE DIRT |
Handsome chap, though exhausted, tried to spread gossip (4,3,4)
|
| DISH (=handsome chap) + T<houg>H (“exhausted” means all middle letters are dropped) + *(TRIED); “to spread” is anagram indicator | ||
| 4 | HOT |
Contraband article used by Pablo Escobar taken from Caesar’s Palace? (3)
|
| HOT<el> (=Caesar’s Palace, in Las Vegas; “article used by Pablo Escobar (=el, i.e. a Spanish word for the) taken from” means that letters “el” are dropped | ||
| 5 | CHEERINESS |
Pill-popping pop star in soldier’s canteen, topless, bringing joy (10)
|
| [E (=pill, i.e. Ecstasy tablet) in CHER (=pop star)] + IN + <m>ESS (=soldier’s canteen; “topless” means first letter is dropped) | ||
| 6 | MISTER |
Title of film/TV show (6)
|
| MIST (=film, spray) + ER (=TV show, i.e. the US hospital drama) | ||
| 7 | TIG |
Stuck-up It Girl’s first touching gesture (3)
|
| TI (IT; “stuck up” indicates vertical reversal) + G<irl> (“first” means first letter only); a tig is a touch, as in the game of tig | ||
| 8 | DISMANTLE |
Break up with 18 men I messed around with following date (9)
|
| D (=date) + *(SALT (=entry at 18) + MEN I); “messed around with” is anagram indicator | ||
| 9 | GALLOPS |
Young woman cuts and runs (7)
|
| GAL (=young woman) + LOPS (=cuts (off), prunes) | ||
| 14 | TRANSMITTAL |
Broadcast travelling martians left intercepted by telegraphist following evacuation (11)
|
| T<elegraphis>T (“following evacuation” means all middle letter are dropped) in [*(MARTIANS) + L (=left)]; “travelling” is anagram indicator; a transmittal is a broadcast, transmission | ||
| 15 | SMARTWATCH |
Misguidedly attach empty wheelchair to the bottom of S&M gadget (10)
|
| SM (=S&M) + *(ATTACH + W<heelchai>R); “empty” means outer letters only are used in anagram, indicated by “misguidedly” | ||
| 16 | CHOCOLATE |
Something sweet and hot eaten by clown in the evening (9)
|
| [H (=hot, as on tap) in COCO (=clown)] + LATE (=in the evening) | ||
| 19 | VINEGAR |
Condiment with French wine base put on fish (7)
|
| VIN (=French wine, i.e. the French word for wine) + E (=base, in mathematics) + GAR (=fish, i.e. species) | ||
| 23 | GREEDY |
Often hungry, and beginning to grow thin (6)
|
| G<row> (“beginning to” means first letter only) + REEDY (=thin and piping, of sound) | ||
| 26 | FICHE |
Revolutionary provided with Guevara’s microfilm (5)
|
| FI (IF=provided; “revolutionary” indicates vertical reversal) + CHE (=Guevara, i.e. the Argentine revolutionary) | ||
| 28 | ICE |
Dessert? Fine, but no starter (3)
|
| <n>ICE (=fine, lovely); “but no starter” means first letter is dropped | ||
| 29 | PIN |
Part of badge with two numbers (3)
|
| PI (=number, in mathematics) + N (=number, as PIN, ISBN) |
I think there is a theme around 1d.
Thanks Bluebird and RR
Well spotted DuncT. I felt this was just the right side of being too convoluted.
Thanks both. For me, this was middling in every regard. Glad not to need to rely upon the theme – I have a vague recollection of CHIPS on TV, which I rated as garbage and wouldn’t welcome any invitation to revisit it 43 years after it last aired.