SLORMGORM kicks off the week…
A fun puzzle from this ever-reliable setter.
Thanks SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
1. Church in Essex’s attacked rampant vices (8)
EXCESSES
CE (church) in (ESSEX’S)* (*attacked)
5. Noise of the enemy passing in ship lingers (6)
STICKS
TICK (noise of the (old) enemy passing) in SS (ship)
10. A French bloke on piano with a sharp smell (7)
PUNGENT
(UN (a, French) + GENT (bloke)) on P (piano)
11. I crow about head of Opec’s work schedule (7)
ROOSTER
about O[pec] (head of), ROSTER (work schedule)
12. A wind soon blows up in a region of Wales (9)
SNOWDONIA
(A WIND SOON)* (*blows up)
13. Good type throwing party provides spirit (5)
GHOST
G (good) + HOST (type throwing party)
15. Some fear a stalking dread (5)
RASTA
[fea]R A STA[lking] (some)
16. Father Superior drinks keg when out of head (8)
BEGETTER
BETTER (superior) drinks [k]EG (when out of head)
19. I hate awful old peer consorting with king (8)
DEPLORER
(OLD PEER)* (*awful) consorting with R (king)
20. Film one French article reviewed’s High Society (5)
ELITE
(ET (film) + I (one) + LE (French article))< (<reviewed)
21. Bed by dawn (one goes off without issue at last) (5)
BERTH
B[i]RTH (dawn, I (one) goes off) without [issu]E (at last)
23. When short dude wears jumpers in plant (9)
ASPARAGUS
AS (when) + (GU[y] (dude, short) wears PARAS (jumpers))
25. Quickly run into a large building company (7)
ALLEGRO
R (run) into (A + L (large) + LEGO (building company))
27. All the rage ultimately brews up wrath? Take a breath! (7)
INSPIRE
IN (all the rage) + [brew]S [u]P (ultimately) + IRE (wrath)
28. Drink in bed knocked over and spilled on occasion (6)
TIPPLE
(PIT)< (bed, <knocked over) and [s]P[i]L[l]E[d] (on occasion)
29. Celeb group back restraining order finally for cranks? (8)
STARTERS
STAR (celeb) + ((SET)< (group, <back) restraining [orde]R (finally))
DOWN
1. Old model to tour ancient city for publicity (8)
EXPOSURE
(EX (old) + POSE (model)) to tour UR (ancient city)
2. Criminal censorious about knight in the buff (11)
CONNOISSEUR
(CENSORIOUS)* (*criminal) about N (knight)
3. Drug deal with plebs gone south (9)
SPEEDBALL
(DEAL with PLEBS)* (*gone south)
4. Heading for emergency, attending nurse is worried (5)
EATEN
E[mergency] + AT (attending) + EN (nurse)
6. Object if one becomes old pain in the arse?! (5)
THONG
THING (object, if I (one) becomes O (old))
7. Those first in charge of triage for crash site? (3)
COT
C[harge] O[f] T[riage] (those first in)
8. What is carried by asp, rats and fish (5)
SPRAT
[a]SP RAT[s] (what is carried by)
9. I bring to order a park officer in hearing (8)
ARRANGER
“a ranger” = ARRANGER (a park officer, “in hearing”)
14. Men messing with pigeon? It must be beer o’clock! (7,4)
OPENING TIME
(MEN with PIGEON IT)* (*messing)
16. Country pub foremost of bores bothers (8)
BARBADOS
BAR (pub) + B[ores] (foremost of) + ADOS (bothers)
17. I suppose article on leader’s by The Sun? (9)
THEORISER
THE (article) + O[n] (leader) by RISER (the Sun?)
18. Dieters seen around English diners at midnight? (8)
FEASTERS
FASTERS (dieters) seen around E (English)
21. Animation originally featured in Top Cat? (5)
BEAST
A[nimation] (originally) featured in BEST (top)
22. I thought German should wear stiletto, perhaps (5)
HEGEL
G (German) should wear HEEL (stiletto, perhaps)
24. One in undersized undies can make you colour (5)
PAINT
I (one) in PANT[s] (undies, undersized)
26. Drink Bud after getting up (3)
LAP
(PAL)< (Bud, <after getting up)
Ticked BEGETTER, PAINT, BEAST, and EXCESSES.
A few mysteries remain for me. I had no idea how to parse STICKS, aside from the SS, and I am afraid I still do not understand how TICK is noise of the enemy passing. I do not understand how THONG is a pain in the arse, and I also do not understand why a FEASTER eats at midnight.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
Martyn@1 , time is the enemy and it TICKS . In the UK , THONGS are tiny knickers so not at all comfortable . Midnight FEASTS very popular in children’s literature .
Thanks for the blog , good set of clues and some interesting defintions .
HEGEL was famously out-consumed by David Hume .
Thanks Roz@2. I see TICKS now – thanks. I admit I suspected the meaning of THONGS was as you explained, and I will avoid commenting further.
Thank you for explaining that FEASTS occur in children’s books at midnight. While I do not question your explanation, I do not think it justifies the definition. Feasts can happen any time (e.g. midday feasts are big in some cultures). It strikes me as a bit like saying black is the definition for feather because some feathers are black. Not important, as the answer was obvious once I got the crossers.
And I just realised that “diners at midnight” is followed by a question mark, meaning it is an example. So ignore my second paragraph@4. I should have reread the clue before posting. FWIW, I still do not think much of it as a definition.
Captain Hook in Peter Pan had an old enemy, the crocodile, who had swallowed a clock whose tick tocking terrified the Captain.
Martyn@5 “The Midnight Feast” is a common phrase in Enid Blyton books , Mallory Towers , St Clares etc . It may be in Harry Potter books but I have not read them .
[Eight kids at music camp, four girls and four boys, got busted having a midnight feast. Huge fuss, parents called in etc. We were 11 years old 🙂 !! ]
MIDNIGHT FEAST is in Chambers ‘a secret feast held during the night, esp by children’.
Grant@8 , I hope you had lashings of ginger beer .
A couple of thong-related stories: One time I was driving when there was a discussion on the radio about thongs with a fan of them who was explaining how comfy they are. It got to the inevitable question about them “riding up” as it were and the answer given was…lost to posterity as I drove into the Blackwall Tunnel.
My wife tells of a work visit to Australia when a taxi-driver explained that it was OK on hot days as people were pretty informal and you would even see them wearing thongs to the office. It took a while to percolate through the jet-lag that “thongs” in Australia are flip-flops. Quite the image…
And I am sure Roz is well aware that EB never wrote “lashings of ginger beer” and she is simply winding up the pedants like me!
Many thanks Slormgorm – I always find the order of particles in the clues a little confusing with this setter, which hold me up. And thank you Teacow.
JackOFT@11 are you suggesting that The Comic Strip Presents was not faithful to the original text ?
[Roz@12: I was shocked, shocked I tell you…]
Thank you Teacow for the parsings!
I thought this was fairly clunky in places. Poor style in my book to have two beds and a cot, and the agent nouns got quite grating. In case there’s any Finlay Christie fans in, it all felt a bit ‘this one’s for the dreamers, the coffee creamers, the taxi drivers and exam revisers’.
Almost. Stumped myself with ETILE, failing to reverse everything!
(Wonderful comedy references Roz, spanning generations…)
I agree with most that this was a little clunky but also held some very nice clues. I liked the drink-adjacent OPENING TIME, TIPPLE and BARBADOS and perhaps STARTERS too, something HEGEL may have consumed (albeit less than Hume).
I could have looked at 18d all day and never got it…. because I was reading the first word as Dieter’s (ie something belonging to Dietrich).