Hello again to Coot – I’m blogging his work for the third time this year.
A few tricky moments in this one, especially the reverse-engineering needed for 17d, but I think I’ve managed to explain it all (with one or two niggles noted below). I liked 9a for the #MeToo surface, 18a which tends to reflect my own view, and the dubious foodstuff in 21a.
It’s Tuesday so there should be something more to this one. I didn’t think it was very obvious, but there seem to be various entries associated with 16a SOCCER, appropriately enough during the World Cup. It’s a sport played on a PITCH that involves kicking BALLS into a NET; we also have BACK (playing position) / BENCH (team members not currently on the pitch), DRINK (which we now have to stop play for), HUDDLE (team conference before play starts), perhaps SERVICE (in football commentary, the job of midfielders to get the ball forward to the striker), and perhaps TABLE football. There are also football references in the surfaces of 6a, 27a and (perhaps) 5d and 14d. On the other hand, maybe our setter or someone else will tell me this is all irrelevant and I’ve missed something else that should be obvious. Either way, thanks Coot for a fun puzzle.
[UPDATE: Yes, it’s a sport, but not football. See comments below.]
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BACKBENCH |
Non-ministerial support new church receives to remain unchanged (9)
|
| BACK (as a verb = support = be in favour of) + N (abbreviation for new) + CH (abbreviation for church), containing (receiving) BE (to remain unchanged, as in “let it be”).
Referring to Members of Parliament who don’t hold a specific ministerial role. |
||
| 6 | TABLE |
Opener for Tottenham with skilful counter (5)
|
| Opening letter of T[ottenham] + ABLE (skilful).
A surface on which food is displayed for sale, though generally a counter is higher than a table. |
||
| 9 | ENAMOUR |
On reflection, regret being transfixed by old guy’s charm (7)
|
| RUE (regret), containing (transfixed by) O (abbreviation for old) + MAN (guy = slang for a man), all reversed (on reflection).
A verb generally used in the passive: “enamoured of” = charmed by. |
||
| 10 | DOUGLAS |
Man has this grim, unfinished vessel docked (7)
|
| DOU[r] (grim = dull and unpleasant) without the last letter (unfinished) + GLAS[s] (a drinking vessel) with the last letter cut off (docked).
The capital of the Isle of Man, or the river that flows through it. |
||
| 11 | DRINK |
Something to refresh primarily damp and chilly venue (5)
|
| First letter (primarily) of D[amp] + RINK (ice rink = a chilly venue). | ||
| 12 | HALL |
Had to pay to vacate holy room (4)
|
| HALL[owed] (holy), removing OWED (had money to pay). “Vacate” doesn’t seem quite right because it has the sense of “empty out”, rather than removing a chunk from one end of a word. | ||
| 13 | TSAR |
27 small parts for top Russian … (4)
|
| TAR (reference to 27a PITCH: sticky black substance used as a sealant), with S (abbreviation for small) inserted (parting it).
Russian title for an emperor, related to the Latin word Caesar. |
||
| 15 | NEITHER |
… not one in three broadcast (7)
|
| Anagram (broadcast = scattered) of IN THREE.
Not one of two things and not the other. |
||
| 16 | SOCCER |
Popular pastime taking regular nips of Scotch – cheers! (6)
|
| Alternate letters (regular nips) of S[c]O[t]C[h] C[h]E[e]R[s].
Short for association football, as defined in the rules established by the Football Association: a name used to distinguish it from various other games called “football” played in different regions. |
||
| 18 | NET |
X is regressing, that’s clear (3)
|
| TEN (X in Roman numerals) reversed (regressing).
Net = after deduction of taxes, fees etc = clear. The surface suggests that our setter isn’t fond of the online platform previously known as Twitter. |
||
| 20 | TINTIN |
Comic character flipping two eggs (6)
|
| NIT (a louse egg) twice, reversed (flipping).
Comic-book character created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. |
||
| 21 | RICOTTA |
Cereal snubbed – too much American dairy product (7)
|
| RIC[e] (a cereal crop) without the last letter (snubbed), then OTT (abbreviation for “over the top” = slang for too much) + A (abbreviation for American).
Italian soft cheese. |
||
| 24 | LOOP |
Ring John and Paul to begin with (4)
|
| LOO (john = slang for a toilet) + beginning letter of P[aul]. | ||
| 26 | FORD |
Crossing Doubtful Sound, maybe, Juliet’s blown away (4)
|
| F[j]ORD (for example Doubtful Sound = a fjord in New Zealand), without the J (Juliet in the radio alphabet, officially spelled Juliett to make the pronunciation clearer in French-speaking countries).
A shallow section of a river that can be crossed on foot or in a road vehicle. |
||
| 27 | PITCH |
Delap’s last long throw (5)
|
| Last letter of [dela]P + ITCH (long, as a verb = yearn). The surface appears to refer to the former footballer Rory Delap, who was known for long throw-ins. | ||
| 29 | ASEXUAL |
Not interested in IT? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition, in which IT should be read as “it” (old slang for sexual activity) and not as an abbreviation for Information Technology. | ||
| 30 | SERVICE |
Give assistance to gentleman reportedly failing (7)
|
| Sound-alike (reportedly) of SIR (a gentleman), then VICE (failing, as a noun = morally or socially unacceptable behaviour).
Service as a verb, as in “serviced offices” which include additional supporting facilities as well as office space. |
||
| 31 | SMASH |
Mum’s mum admits defeat (5)
|
| SH (mum = slang instruction to be quiet), containing (admitting) MA’S (mum’s = belonging to Mother).
Smash, as a verb = defeat = destroy. |
||
| 32 | REPAYMENT |
Means for getting even near empty works (9)
|
| Anagram (. . . works) of NEAR EMPTY.
Paying back money owed in order to get back into financial balance; or metaphorically “repayment” and “getting even” can both mean taking revenge for a perceived injustice. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BLEND IN |
Provide receptacle for wine bottles to match the background (5,2)
|
| BIN (a storage container for bottles of wine), containing (bottling) LEND (provide on a temporary basis). | ||
| 2 | COALITION |
Boxer embraced by Coot in unconventional union (9)
|
| ALI (the boxer Muhammad Ali) contained in an anagram (unconventional) of COOT IN. | ||
| 3 | BLOCKCHAIN |
Digital records system – secure measure supporting bursar principally (10)
|
| LOCK (secure) + CHAIN (old measure of length, equal to 22 yards), after (below, in a down clue = supporting) the first letter (principally) of B[ursar].
Blockchain (Wikipedia article) |
||
| 4 | NORTHERN |
Hornet flying with force from Inverness? (8)
|
| Anagram (flying) of HORNET, then RN (abbreviation for Royal Navy = a military force).
Inverness is in the north of Scotland, so its inhabitants would be “northern” to most of us. |
||
| 5 | HUDDLE |
Crowd disorder in which Henry’s knocked out Mike (6)
|
| [m]UDDLE (disorder), with H (abbreviation for henry = unit of electrical inductance) replacing M (Mike in the radio alphabet). | ||
| 6 | TAUT |
Tense auditor’s shown how (4)
|
| Sound-alike (auditor’s) of TAUGHT (shown how to do something). | ||
| 7 | BALLS |
Playing Quidditch one needs such courage (5)
|
| Double definition. Quidditch is a fictional sport in the Harry Potter books, played with a set of four balls; or balls = a metaphorical slang term for courage, as in “he doesn’t have the balls to do it”. | ||
| 8 | ENSURER |
Old queen’s engaged trained nurse, one providing guarantees (7)
|
| ER (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina, the late Queen Elizabeth II) containing an anagram (trained) of NURSE. | ||
| 14 | COACH PARTY |
Travelling crowd celebrate on top of train? Quite the opposite (5,5)
|
| PARTY (as a verb = celebrate) and COACH (train, as a verb = teach). “Quite the opposite” says we need to put COACH before PARTY (on top of it, in a down clue), not the other way round.
A group of people travelling together by coach to an event. |
||
| 17 | CUT IT FINE |
Allow little margin for error if using wordplay? (3,2,4)
|
| Reverse wordplay: if we separate “if” into I and F, the letter I could be clued as CUT IT (I[t] with the second letter cut), and F could be clued as an abbreviation for FINE. | ||
| 19 | TRADES UP |
Rudest PA sacked, invests in better (6,2)
|
| Anagram (sacked, as in an army sacking a city = destroyed) of RUDEST PA.
Trade up = to sell something in order to buy a better version. |
||
| 20 | TELE-ADS |
Marketing via mobiles possibly exhausted the Guides (4-3)
|
| T[h]E (exhausted = emptied out) + LEADS (guides).
Tele-ad = originally a classified advertisement in a newspaper for which the text was dictated by telephone. I don’t expect such things are very common now, but I’m not sure if the term has acquired a more modern meaning. |
||
| 22 | ACHIEST |
Area over unfinished main road suffering most (7)
|
| A (abbreviation for area), before (over, in a down clue) CHIE[f] (main) without its last letter (unfinished), then ST (abbreviation for street = road).
Achiest = most painful. |
||
| 23 | BOWLER |
Person who delivers headgear (6)
|
| Double definition. A cricketer who bowls (delivers) a ball; or a round-topped hard hat. | ||
| 25 | OPERA |
Did surgery Edward wanted work in theatre? (5)
|
| OPERA[ted] (did surgery), without TED (short form of the name Edward). | ||
| 28 | PUSH |
Promote the sale of local American jams (4)
|
| PH (abbreviation for public house = local = a drinking establishment), with US (abbreviation for United States = American) inserted (jamming it). |
Thanks Quirister. It isn’t football but I won’t give the game away just yet …
Very enjoyable set of clues as always from Coot and, knowing him, I’d normally expect a sport theme but, beyond the same guess at footie as Quirister, I cannot go. A few ‘oofs’ from this solver – Doubtful Sound as a New Zealand feature is not top of my list of ‘fjords I could name’ and I was nowhere near spotting the parse for HALL. nho TELE-ADS so no idea whether they are still a Thing and similarly nho footballer Delap (either father or son) but then the setter is a soccer fan so this is more his bailiwick than mine. Fortunately, we only needed him for the P. BACKBENCH, RICOTTA, NORTHERN, CUT IT FINE and BOWLER my faves today.
Thanks both
PITCH was a great find. After the first two clues I was expecting more furniture.
A batty form of phairistike, methinks; though I only recognised one of the smashing competitors (Douglas).
@4: did you mean ‘sphairistike’? Google did not recognise your word but threw up the alternative which is apparently the original name for lawn tennis which, for some unaccountable reason, did not catch on. A number of solutions could be associated with tennis and the setter is a big fan of the table version.
What Bojo called Wiff-waff. Apparently Liam Pitchford is a leading exponent.
Ah, now I see – thanks to commenters above, and to Coot for sending me back to look again. We’re talking TABLE tennis, which isn’t really my thing. But of course it still uses BALLS and a NET. Leading British players have included Desmond DOUGLAS, Paul and Joanna DRINK/HALL, Liam PITCH/FORD and TIN-TIN Ho. Playing strokes include the LOOP, PUSH, SMASH and BLOCK.
Me @7: . . . and SERVICE, of course.