A Dalibor puzzle today – this will be quite a challenge!
As expected, there are several very tricky and quite convoluted clues, some relying on a little General Knowledge – but also a couple of surprisingly straightforward write-ins (6d and 18d) – so surprising that we didn’t write them in until we had some crossers.
There are a lot of smooth surfaces and ingenious references to recent events at 12/13ac and 17ac.
Tuesday is usually theme day, but we haven’t been able to find one. If there is a theme, surely someone out there will spot it?
Thanks to Dalibor for the challenge.
ELGar (English composer) missing (avoiding) ‘a r’ (river) + IN
An anagram (‘wandering’) of H (husband) DASHING and L (first or ‘initial’ letter of looks)
NORTH (British PM) ER (King Edward – ‘his majesty’) + L (live) in NIGHTS (dark times)
HAD (deceived) + an anagram (‘in a fight’) of IRAN’S + W (with) ALL (everyone)
OUTDo (better) missing the last letter (‘mostly’) round (‘keeping’) WAR (hostilities)
An anagram (‘deranged’) of P (last or ‘latest’ letter in Trump) and vICTORY missing (‘removing’) ‘v’ (first letter or ‘leader’ of Venezuela)
SO (very) G (good) round (‘receiving’) M (money)
P (parking) EM (space – in printing) BROKE (was revealed – as in a news story)
H (first letter of Hungary) cANNIBAL (maneater) missing the first letter (‘beheaded’)
cUMBRIA (‘part of England’) missing (‘not part of’) ‘c’ (first letter or ‘capital’ of Campania)
PENNe (sort of pasta) missing the last letter (‘mostly’) in an anagram (‘lively’) of SIENA
If TREND is ‘displayed’ in ‘hearing’ it could become ‘hearT-RENDing’ (causing great sadness)
TIM (Tim Berners-Lee, ‘internet pioneer’, as he would be known to his friends) AT U (university) in ULM (German city)
WITH DRAW (result of a match which is not won or lost)
WINES (‘red perhaps’ in the plural – ‘more than once’) S (first letter or ‘beginning’ to struggle) round T (tension)
THIRD runWAY (‘what Heathrow wants’) missing (‘less’) ‘run’ (control)
WAR (conflict) H O L (last or ‘ultimate’ letters of with Picasso surreal)
A (Austria) D (Germany) OR E (Spain)
A clue-as-definition: A S (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of ambitious) A (area) round (‘including’) I (India in the phonetic alphabet)
A homophone (‘talked about’) of KANE (Harry Kane – ‘England striker’) after CO (Colombia) C (first or ‘initial’ letter of criticised) – a new word for us – a land of plenty in medieval mythology
An anagram (‘new’) of sEaT (missing the odd letters – ‘oddly lacking’) and AIRBAG
RARE (bloody) BIRD (chicken)
APP (program) LIED (‘spread fake news’)
M (first letter or ‘bit’ of mango) bANANA (fruit) missing the first letter (‘topped’)
Alternate letters (‘every now and then’) of eMmAnUeL
Double definition, the first referring to the seven dwarfs in the Snow White fairytale
Found this easier than expected, but still challenging. Doubted myself on OUTWARD as I couldn’t see the anagram fodder for RAGE BAIT.. HANNIBAL confirmed the BAIT, but wrestled with new as N n “designed” as the anagram indicator… apart from that OK. Wondered about all sorts of themes, like Scotland, whisky, Roman history, Italy etc.. just added to the fun..
Thanks Dalibor and Bertandjoyce
Although I noticed ELGIN, HIGHLANDS & NORTHERN LIGHTS being above HADRIAN’S WALL, this can’t be the theme. Must be more that I can’t see.
And with PEMBROKE, PENNINES and (c)UMBRIA below? Surely that’s thematic — though it seems unsatisfactory.
Just the right level of difficulty for me; LOI HAPPY was a lucky guess after realising this is neither a sin nor a rainbow colour, and me being ignorant of the dwarfs’ names. Liked COCKAIGNE, WITHDRAW, WARHOL. Thanks Dalibor and B&J!
Thanks both.
TILT: COCKAIGNE – now to introduce it into conversation…..
I thought THIRD WAY was very parochial in terms of the aviation requirement and have never heard of the politically centrist interpretation – but then I lead a sheltered life.
If there is a theme I would suspect that ELGIN is germane to it as there are so many option to fill _L_I_ with something a bit easier to clue.
When you do cryptics for years, and you think you’ve finally learned all the obscure British words and slang. Then comes Cockaigne.
Thanks Dalibor. This was a DNF for me with ELGIN, TREND, WITNESS, and the nho COCKAIGNE beyond my orbit. There were clues I enjoyed such as OUTWARD, HANNIBAL, APENNINES, and ADORE. I saw what might be bits and pieces of a theme but that’s as far as I got. Thanks B&J for the blog.
Thanks both. Not hugely enjoyable if I am frank, even when I was on the right wavelength e.g. HAPPY which my grandson is on occasions, but he’s yet to be slightly drunk. I suspect I’ll get PTSD if I see COCKAIGNE again; mythology bores me rigid, so inevitably a nho though I spent ages in the hope it would ring a bell – clang!
A bit of an oddity of a puzzle. Mostly straightforward but I was undone by COCKAIGNE and TREND, both of which were biffed but without parsing so it does’t count. The later seems a bit of a stretch.
I was chuffed to get Cockaigne, but had only heard of it thanks to Elgar’s overture (with a notable conductor holding the score
here
; never knew of the land of luxury, so thanks for the education Dalibor.
We can add HANNIBAL to a mountainous/upland theme, perhaps?
Many thanks to B&J for a fine blog. When I found out that this puzzle would be published on a Tuesday I was rather mystified like many others. It was a few months ago that I submitted it as an unthemed one. I started off with finding a grid that would accommodate HADRIAN’S WALL somewhere in the top half. All (well, only four acrosses above the wall were rather easily found (Alphapha @5, that’s why I chose Elgin) but filling the grid to the south of the wall turned out to be much harder after which I abandoned the idea (it would have given an overdose of GK entries). I agree not really satisfying but you cannot blame me for it being Tuesday today ……
A late comment, but I wanted to say how much I enjoyed this. TREND and ULTIMATUM being particularly satisfying.
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