Thanks to Brummie for a fun puzzle with some tricky cluing. My favourites were 11ac, 12ac, 18ac, and 20dn.
…as it’s a Brummie, I looked for a theme – couldn’t find one this time.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | HALF-INCH |
Nick and Henry Bird (4-4)
|
| definition: to half-inch = to nick = to steal
HAL (short for “Henry”) + FINCH (a type of bird) |
||
| 9 | CORAL |
Pink cattle pen? Not right! (5)
|
| COR-[r]-AL=”cattle pen”, without one of the R (right) letters | ||
| 10 | UGLY |
Articulated fruit is not fair (4)
|
| sounds like (Articulated): ‘ugli’ = a type of “fruit” | ||
| 11 | BANKRUPTCY |
Left and right wings of party turn back, collapsing into ruin (10)
|
| anagram/”collapsing” of (p y turn back)*, with p y from the left and right sides/wings of p-[art]-y | ||
| 12 | STRESS |
Hair loss ultimately comes before anxiety (6)
|
| TRESS=”Hair”, with the last/ultimate letter of [los]-S | ||
| 14 | RAREFIED |
Are fired (sacked), being thin (8)
|
| anagram/”sacked” of (Are fired)* | ||
| 16 | PRECEDE |
Herald’s power decline (7)
|
| P (power) + RECEDE=”decline” | ||
| 18 | INQUEST |
Hearing of pub expedition, neighbours start off (7)
|
| definition: an inquest is a type of “Hearing”, as a noun similar to ‘investigation’
IN-[n]=”pub” + QUEST=”expedition”, with the start of n-[eighbours] removed |
||
| 21 | TRIPTYCH |
Panels damaged – try pitch (8)
|
| anagram/”damaged” of (try pitch)* | ||
| 23 | PATOIS |
Dialect reveals smooth love lives (6)
|
| PAT=to shape with patting=”smooth” + O (zero in tennis = “love”) + IS=exists=”lives” | ||
| 24 | ANKLEBITER |
Kid’s rental bike fixed (5-5)
|
| anagram/”fixed” of (rental bike)* | ||
| 26 | GUTS |
Bottle essential parts (4)
|
| double definition: bottle/guts as in courage; or guts as the innermost/essential parts of something | ||
| 27 | EIGHT |
Crew strive to get leader replaced (5)
|
| definition: a rowing crew of eight
[f]-IGHT=”strive” with its leading letter replaced |
||
| 28 | ARCHIVES |
Shrewd US composer making records (8)
|
| ARCH=”Shrewd” (e.g. a shrewd/arch remark) + IVES (Charles Ives the American composer) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GANGSTER |
Tough comedian without name (8)
|
| GAGSTER=”comedian”, around/without N (name) | ||
| 2 | IFFY |
Just a second to remove top? Doubtful (4)
|
| [j]-iFFY=a short moment=”Just a second”, with top letter removed | ||
| 3 | ANUBIS |
A core island sun god (6)
|
| A (from surface) + NUB=”core” (e.g. the nub/core of an issue) + I (island) + S (sun) | ||
| 4 | BHANGRA |
Depend on getting in support for a music genre (7)
|
| HANG=”Depend on”; inside BRA=”support” | ||
| 5 | ACER |
Wizard at foot of elder tree (4)
|
| ACE=expert=”Wizard” + last letter (“foot”) of [elde]-R | ||
| 6 | GRAPEFRUIT |
Fig, pear almost turn out to be the possible basis of fad diet (10)
|
| definition refers to the “Grapefruit diet” [wiki]
anagram/”out” of (Fig pear tur)*, with “almost” all of tur-[n] |
||
| 7 | CLOCHE |
Chestnut one replaced with ring for crop protection (6)
|
| definition: a cover to protect plants from frost
a CLICHE = an old “Chestnut”, with I=”one” replaced with O=”ring” |
||
| 13 | ESCAPOLOGY |
Drugs defence involving college that’s associated with Houdini (10)
|
| ES (more than one ‘e’ for ecstasy = “Drugs”) + APOLOGY=”defence”; around C (college) | ||
| 15, 17 | RUN DRY |
Stand for election (ironic) and get through all the booze (3,3)
|
| RUN=”Stand for election” + DRY (describing a style of humour) = “ironic” | ||
| 17 | RUN DRY |
See 15
|
| 19 | SKITTLES |
Game of kiss and tell, perhaps, with time for Latin (8)
|
| anagram/”perhaps” of (kiss tel L)*, with a T (time) substituted in for one L (Latin), so (kiss tel T)* | ||
| 20 | WHITMAN |
Poet’s wife and enforcer (7)
|
| definition: Walt Whitman the poet
W (wife) + HITMAN=”enforcer” |
||
| 22 | RINGER |
Twin drying aid, lidless (6)
|
| definition as in a ‘dead ringer’ being an exact match/twin for someone
[w]-RINGER=”drying aid”, without its top letter or ‘lid’ |
||
| 23 | PIRACY |
Devout, bawdy and buccaneering (6)
|
| PI (pious, “Devout”) + RACY=”bawdy” | ||
| 25 | BUTT |
Ram’s a laughing-stock (4)
|
| double definition: to butt / to ram into something; or the butt or target of a joke | ||
| 26 | GLIB |
Easy: massive return with little initially invested (4)
|
| reversal/”return” of BIG=”massive”; with the initial letter of L-[ittle] invested inside |
My first pass of the across clues was barren but the downs were more fruitful, GRAPEFRUIT and ESCAPOLOGY were among the first in and provided a lot to work with. I think I need to tussle with clues for a bit longer rather than just ploughing through looking for anagrams and easy CDs.
Anyway, it was another day with no specialist GK requirement (WHITMAN might have been, but the clue was too clear to miss). I liked BHANGRA, ANKLE BITER, BANKRUPTCY and CLOCHE.
There seems to have been a regatta’s worth of EIGHTs recently.
That’s an interesting avatar Michelle (below).
Thanks Brummie and manehi
New for me: HALF-INCH = nick/pinch; CLOCHE = a small translucent cover for protecting or forcing outdoor plants.
Favourites: WHITMAN, ANKLE-BITER
Charles IVES remains a very useful composer for crossword setters. It was nice to see WHITMAN as well as he was popularised by the beats in the 60’s, but seems to have largely disappeared from view. Found this an enjoyable and satisfying solve. Liked ANKLE-BITER, but I do seem to remember it cropping up in puzzle in the past. As a gardener, CLOCHE was a gimme. Held up briefly by misspelling TRIPTYCH. ANUBIS wasn’t the first god to come to mind, but liked the clue. Thanks to Brummie and to manehi for his usual helpful blog.
[The avatar I commented on @1 has now disappeared, unless I was hallucinating. I like the energy the new avatars have brought.]
Top marks for what was a very entertaining puzzle, with the NW holding out longest, loi, the cockney HALF-INCH. I also enjoyed ANKLE BITER, GANGSTER, IFFY, WHITMAN and SKITTLES.
CORAL for one of my favourite bands https://youtu.be/KErHjXpsfwA?si=fhNUIRfxDGmaN49L.
Ta Brummie & manehi.
Really liked the clueing for HALF-INCH and GANGSTER. But mystified how BANKRUPTCY worked, nor quite how SKITTLES was put together. BHANGRA a new one for me today. GLIB my last one in. Apart from all those, enjoyable fun and games from Brummie today…
AlanC@5…I also saw original member of that band, Bill Ryder-Jones fronting his own band later on at The End Of The Road Festival. Very good…
Quite a few levels up the difficulty scale compared to Brummie’s usual offering but still very enjoyable. Getting the first few in proved difficult but once I had a bit of a framework it seemed to flow.
Liked HALF-INCH and SKITTLES
Thanks Brummie and manehi
Perhaps 18 could have been “neighbours start out” for a better surface and better wordplay?
Anyway, a fun puzzle.
I love the Cockney slang. Learnt HALF-INCH today.
Liked BANKRUPTCY, INQUEST, BHANGRA (Isn’t depend=HANG and depend on=HANG on? HANG ‘on getting into’ BRA?),
CLOCHE, ESCAPOLOGY and SKITTLES.
Thanks Brummie and manehi.
Comment #11
Comment #12
Didn’t know BHANGRA (and surely ‘depend on’ means ‘hang on’, not ‘hang’), nor the horticultural meaning of CLOCHE. I did get HALF-INCH as soon as the crossing F was revealed.
Poc@13
Depend – archaic use. Not uncommon in crossword land
Good tussle with this today. I too liked BANKRUPTCY. Loi BHANGRA as I didn’t know it. Actually didn’t know CLOCHE in that sense either.
Like a few others I’ve never heard of BHANGRA or cloches for plants — I only know them as hats. Others seem to feel the same, So Martin@1 I wouldn’t say there’s no specialist GK. (Isn’t “specialist GK” an oxymoron?)
Is Henry Bird a real person? I found several on Google but don’t know which one Brummie has in mind.
Thanks Brummie and manehi.
Valentine @16. On reflection, yes, that is an oxymoron. I’ll probably go for a tautology next time!
(Is “I wouldn’t say there’s no” a double negative?)
Martin @1: one person’s GK is another’s obscurity. I have never heard of BHANGRA so this was a DNF for me. I also arrived at CLOCHE by a process of deduction and then verified with a search on DuckDuckGo. (Other search engines are available.)
(Yes, “I wouldn’t say there’s no” is a double negative, hence “I would say there is”. One of the wonderful things about English is that depending on context, a double negative can be a positive, or it can be an emphatic negative, and both are equally grammatical despite the protestations of self-appointed language police).
And I see Valentine got there before me on BHANGRA.
[Believe me Jacob. I am not language police. I was just joining in.]
Fun puzzle, as usual. I thought 7d was ambiguous regarding CLICHE/CLICHE.
Only got BHANGRA through word-search, but happy to learn it.
Thanks both and a slow-burning entertainment – perfect for my situation today (waiting for builders).
I suppose one person’s GK is another’s NHO but BANGHRA strikes me as being really quite obscure. With some crossers in place I nearly popped an eyeball trying to justify ‘country’. I feel we could have done with a specifier along the lines of, ooh I dunno, ‘Punjabi music genre’ to give a nudge towards the answer.
And, to me, a RINGER is not a ‘twin’. I would argue that for someone to be a ringer for another there would need to be an element of distance – ‘my next-door neighbour is a ringer for Henry VIII’ – whereas one twin looking like the other would be unremarkable. But I’m waffling.
There is an added layer of satisfaction to be had from filling a grid from the bottom up (as with me today – only two cold solves on the first pass led to a mild panic attack which dissipated slowly and pleasantly). I was grateful for EIGHT and GLIB and that I filled the rest from there is a testament to my… waffling again.
(£$%* builders)
this was really quite doable, with most of the unknown bits (e.g. IVES) becoming obvious from the cluing.
however… TRY PITCH is not much of an anagram for TRIPTYCH!
Once I stopped trying to think of a bird ending in HAL, and trying to make a fad diet ingredient out of FIG PEA(R) TURN, I enjoyed this, but I couldn’t bring the UGLI fruit to mind.
I know and enjoy BHANGRA, and have danced to it at a Sikh friend’s wedding, but it still took a while to come to mind, and I agree that it’s not the best known of musical genres.
Entertaining puzzle. My favourite was WHITMAN, though I did wonder if it’s been done before. ARCHIVES also got a tick. COR(r)AL was OK.
Thanks Brummie and manehi.
That was pretty tough for an Tuesday and LOI 1D, Gangster, took a while as I was convinced you needed to remove the N….
Thanks to B and m.
Once I got the hang of the puzzle style, it progressed steadily. Nho Bhangra so had to have web assistance there. Also put in cliche rather than cliche, but on re-reading the clue it must be cloche.
Had a bit of trouble with Anubis as I parsed it A + NUB + IS and Anubis is not a sun god. Penny dropped after a bit.
Liked HALF INCH, WHITMAN and ANKLE BITER.
Isn’t the grapefruit diet a bit passé?
Thanks Brummie and manehi
I see I have kept my colour from yesterday.
In the spirit of manehi’s helpful blog, and since a few haven’t heard of it, here’s an example of BHANGRA: https://youtube.com/shorts/YqxJ-A9x2H0?si=RYwUSlSW3RKDNQ5z
Bhangra was originally a festive harvest dance of Punjab. It is now more popular in urban music.
Thanks both
I got bhangra as LOI but had to check it, I also agree with bristle @22 that 21a isn’t much of an anagram. Other than that a fun puzzle, for which thanks to Brummie and thanks to manehi for the blog.
I started slowly as some others but got there in the end with BHANGRA an unknown. I liked Henry Bird’s HALF-INCH, the ANKLE-BITER’s rental bike, and the GANGSTER comedian.
Thanks Brummie and manehi.
A lot here that was beyond me. Much I suspect that I’ll need to learn as I do more crosswords. e.g. American poets I could name unaided can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand;
Is ‘Pi’ an abbreviation of Pious, or a synonym?
Paul@31 PI came from pious but acquired its own meaning , more insulting for someone excessively sanctimonious , pious can be a compliment . Pi turns up in 40s/50s literature . Worth remembering for crosswords , also Pi=constant or irrational .
Thanks for the blog, good set of clues with some nice touches , my favourite TRIPTYCH is The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch in the Prado , used to visit Madrid on inter-rail just to see it .
I was waiting for 42 but moving slowly today , at least the beavers sneaked through yesterday .
There were two other types of pictures early today on the FT blog , does anybody know how to change the colour ?
bristle@22, TFC@29
Can you suggest a better anagram for Triptych?
Finally completed this one after wrestling with the top half for a while. Getting 11a BANKRUPTCY opened things up. Last three were all nho’s: 8a HALF-INCH (= pinch = nick), 4d BHANGRA (setters do love their bras), 7d CLOCHE
Delayed for a while by 26d GLIB. I confidently had SLOW (“Easy”), as in “massive return” = OS reversed, “with” = W, “little initially invested” = L inside
Favourites 16a PRECEDE (concise), 21a TRYPTICH (misdirecting plural definition), 23a PATOIS (Quebec French, although I took PAT = “smooth” as Chambers “exactly to the purpose; with…fluent or glib repetition”), 24a ANNKLE-BITER (good surface, amusing word), 1d GANGSTER (comedian as GAGSTER), 20d WHITMAN (surface)
Very enjoyable challenge, though I did think subtractions were over-used. Thanks both
Later finish today but got through it eventually, and very much enjoyed it. I find it fascinating that Bhangra , which was enormously popular in the 90’s / 00’s is considered obscure. Yet throw in an Austrian composer who peaked 100 years ago (e.g Berg) and nobody bats an eyelid.
I’m surprised how few had heard of BHANGRA or CLOCHE. I knew both. Didn’t help me one whit though. I’m getting steadily worse at crosswords.
Thanks manehi and Brummie.
I liked WHITMAN, one of the ten clues I solved.
I love a Brummie, you always get a few write-ins so you don’t lose heart, then lots of chewies. Half-inch made me laugh out loud.
Enjoyed this puzzle once I got into it. I too was looking to subtract an N in 1d and hadn’t met the musical style before which held me up in the NE.
Bottom half fell out more easily than the top half. Enjoyed ARCHIVES, TRIPTYCH and HALF-INCH. Was going to moan that ANUBIS wasn’t a sun god until I twigged that Island and Sun were being abbreviated – doh! And like someone else I was trying to remove an N from a comedian for 1d for a long time. Thanks Brummie, and manehi.
COD CLOCHE. Apache Indian played Bhangramuffin right there in Britain in the 90s.
Comment #42
Tomsdad@3: for me at least Whitman’s Leaves of Grass remains an inexhaustible treasury of delights:
Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child leaving his bed wander’d alone, bareheaded, barefoot …