A fun puzzle from BOBCAT this Friday.
FF: 8 DD: 6
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DEPICTION |
Record boring speech in sketch? (9)
|
| EP ( record ) in DICTION ( speech ) | ||
| 6 | COMUS |
God having care of particular Greek characters (5)
|
| CO ( care of ) MUS ( greek characters ) | ||
| 9 | BABY-SIT |
Youngster’s relations take charge for a while (4-3)
|
| BABY’S ( youngster’s ) IT ( relations ) | ||
| 10 | STAGGER |
Astonish excessively grand old actor (7)
|
| STAGER ( old actor ) with 2 G’s instead of one ( ~excessively, G – grand ) | ||
| 11 | RAITA |
Side dish from Croatia ready on the counter (5)
|
| hidden, reversed in “..croATIA Ready..” | ||
| 12 | AD-LIBBING |
Bling (almost half diabolical) adapted for presenting off the cuff (2-7)
|
| [ BLING DIABolical ( almost half of ) ]* | ||
| 13 | DARK AGES |
Ask Edgar about times past (4,4)
|
| [ ASK EDGAR ]* | ||
| 14 | EYOT |
You once capsized, retreating to island (4)
|
| EY ( you once = YE, reversed ) OT ( reverse of TO ) | ||
| 17 | RELY |
Bank on lady missing out on promotion (4)
|
| RE ( on ) LadY ( without AD – promotion ) | ||
| 18 | UNGAINLY |
Lumbering French unit get lamentably stoned (8)
|
| UN ( french unit, one ) GAIN ( get ) LY ( LamentablY, stoned i.e. without inner letters ) | ||
| 21 | BATTLE-AXE |
Conflict and cut! … sums up the Iron Lady? (6-3)
|
| BATTLE ( conflict ) AXE ( cut ) | ||
| 22 | EIGHT |
Wait for singer to ditch opening number (5)
|
| wEIGHT ( sounds like WAIT, without starting letter ) | ||
| 24 | ADORERS |
Fuss about adult being excluded by Ra’s worshippers (7)
|
| ADO ( fuss ) RE ( about ) RaS ( without A – adult ) | ||
| 25 | AERIALS |
Receivers of Iranian currency in deep water taking a turn (7)
|
| RIAL ( iranian currency ) in reverse of SEA ( deep water ) | ||
| 26 | DUSTY |
Old-fashioned levy charged by governments in the East (5)
|
| DUTY ( levy ) containing S ( governmentS, east implying rightmost letter ) | ||
| 27 | ADDRESSEE |
Letter opener? (9)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DEBAR |
Stop woman coming out stark naked? There’s no time (5)
|
| DEB ( woman coming out, socialite ) AR ( stARk, naked i.e. without end letters, and no T – time ) | ||
| 2 | PUBLIC RELATIONS |
Department churning prosaic bulletin? (6,9)
|
| &lit; [ PROSAIC BULLETIN ]* | ||
| 3 | CASTAWAY |
Lonely islander suggests reason for theatre closure (8)
|
| cryptic def; read as CAST AWAY ( reason for theatre closure ) | ||
| 4 | INTRANET |
Computer facility that connects circulating public transport with difficulty (8)
|
| INTRA ( public transport = TRAIN, with the last two letters moving to the front – circulating ) NET ( difficulty ) | ||
| 5 | NESTLE |
New wrestlers, having been exposed repeatedly, huddle together (6)
|
| N ( new ) wrESTLErs ( exposed repeatedly, i.e. without two end characters on either side ) | ||
| 6 | CRABBY |
Tetchy element of reviews received by Taxi Driver (6)
|
| R ( element of Reviews ) in CABBY ( taxi driver ) | ||
| 7 | MAGNIFYING GLASS |
Unfortunate snag with failing gyms that could make bums look big (10,5)
|
| [ SNAG FAILING GYM ]* | ||
| 8 | SPRIGHTLY |
Energetic agent takes in both sides (9)
|
| SPY ( agent ) containing [ RIGHT L ( left ) – both sides ] | ||
| 13 | DARTBOARD |
Nothing to stop dull sort of jazz being sent up in pub fixture? (9)
|
| O ( nothing ) in reverse of [ DRAB ( dull ) TRAD ( sort of jazz ) ] | ||
| 15 | ON DEMAND |
Whenever required, having been reimprisoned, Republican’s giving way to Democrat (2,6)
|
| ON rEMAND ( reimprisoned, with R – republican changing to D – democrat ) | ||
| 16 | LAKE ERIE |
Mix kir with East European ale and North American water (4,4)
|
| [ KIR E ( east ) E ( european ) ALE ]* | ||
| 19 | SLEEPY |
Go north to be introduced to crafty dwarf (6)
|
| reverse of PEE ( go ) in SLY ( crafty ) | ||
| 20 | NAUSEA |
To some extent, marijuana use arouses aversion (6)
|
| hidden in “..marijuaNA USE Arouses..” | ||
| 23 | TASTE |
Society gallery closes in style (5)
|
| TATE ( gallery ) containing S ( society ) |
Good fun with the addition of two cats (and a male appendage)!
I also made rapid progress and ticked RAITA, DARK AGES, and NAUSEA. I could not parse DUSTY and missed both the second cat and the male appendage.
What does a MAGNIFYING GLASS have to do with bums? In 18, why is stoned a vacation indicator?
Thanks Bobcat and Turbolegs
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues , a lot of intricate wordplay which made it quite tricky for me .
Martyn@2 when making damson jam they must be stoned , take out all the middle .
A MAGNIFYING GLASS makes everything look bigger , the example was just to go with the clue .
I actually found the two tigers , to celebrate there will be a Bank Holiday on Monday .
Two tigers share one penis, odd. Fun puzzle—thanks Bobcat.
Thanks for pointing out the 2 Tigers and the willy nina in the grid. I didnt see them at all.
Cheers
TL
Lovely puzzle from Bobcat with the customary nina (a double, made me think of Blake, didn’t spot the rude one!).
Everything fell into place nicely with the exception of DUSTY, my LOI, which required an alphabetical trawl. Now I look at the blog, I’m not sure why I struggled! My favourite among a good set of clues was MAGNIFYING GLASS.
Thanks Bobcat and Turbolegs.
I found the right hand side harder than the left. I ticked 3D. Not sure in 4D why “net” equates to “difficulty”, but a fun crossword nevertheless
thanks Roz@3. I clearly had the wrong stoned in mind. I had a feeling the answer to my MAGNIFYING GLASS question would be they make everything bigger. That does not say much for the clue.
Thanks Bobcat and Turbolegs. I am sure that the two occurrences of TIGER symmetrically placed in columns 6 and 10 and each taking all the letters in those columns are a deliberate Nina in line with Bobcat’s previous puzzles. I am open to the possibility that the word hidden on row 14 is just coincidence.
4dn: Chambers 2016 p 1033 gives “a plan to trap or catch someone or something; a difficulty” as consecutive definitions of net¹. As usual, it gives no more help than the plain definitions, but it seems to be along the lines of “a difficulty” in the sense of “an obstruction”.
Grazer@7
I think this refers to the National Eligibility Test, a notoriously difficult exam in India. Missed the ninas but still great fun.
Thanks to Bobcat and Turnolegs
Thanks Bobcat for an approachable crossword that was nonetheless very clever. I guessed a few and parsed afterwards but overall this was much easier than Bobcat’s last offering. My top picks were RELY, EIGHT, DUSTY, SPRIGHTLY, and SLEEPY. I saw one TIGER and never thought to look for a second feline. I’m not sure PENIS was intentional as I can’t see how it’s at all relevant. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Just a brief note to say that I was entirely unaware of the presence of the word appearing in row 14 until it was pointed out here today – it’s just an instance of happenstance. The Nina I knowingly provided was, as Diane has indicated, inspired by William Blake. Thanks to Turbolegs for the blog and to all who have commented.
I am not complaining and it does not matter , but William Blake wrote – Tyger , Tyger burning bright …
I found this great fun and a little difficult for the same stoned and net reasons discussed. But enjoyed seeing the Nina appear and never for once did it even cross my mind that there was a naughty word at 14. But i did wonder for some time what it might all mean!
I suppose it’s difficult to get it inter a net . .
Two nice long anagrams, and I enjoyed the groanful theatre closure reason. Totally missed the nina(s). Like Grazer, I didn’t see why NET makes difficulty until I looked in the big red book. I do feel, though, that ‘IT’ for that kind of relations is a bit old and tired.