A classic Io puzzle.
Tricky indeed, but I will say that Io seems to include more and more ‘standard’ cryptic clues which certainly helps to get things going. A very enjoyable solve. Thanks to the setter.
BARS (secures) + TOOL (gun)
A[bba] (‘s first) + UNTIE (release)
‘Auntie’ is a nickname for the BBC, where ‘Top of the Pops’ came about
ABE’S (Lincoln’s, B (bishop) and S (special) doubly so)
N[igel] (at the outset) and ELECTS (chooses) to retain G (government)
(EAT (corrode) + HER (ship’s) + CU (copper)); FT (paper) bags
[th]E CHO[ir] (from)
(BULKY [ca]SE)* (*awfully, CA (about, circa) to split)
SEAT (mansion) maintains RIG< (appearance, <from behind)
Double definition
(IN FATHER)* (*revelling) inhaling HE (helium)
AT (in) + OM (Order of Merit) + IS + ED (newspaper chief)
RIP (saw) through TOD (one’s own)
From Cockney rhyming slang: Tod Sloan (a famous jockey) rhymed with “on one’s own/alone” which over time came to be “on one’s tod”
Reverse anagram
(HELENE + COMES)* (*to order) = LEMON CHEESE
“ODOUR V” (cologne number 22, “are you picking up”)
If odour A is cologne number one, odour B is cologne number 2 etc.
J (judge) + [l]AW BREAKER (criminal, waiving [counse]L (right to))
AS HE (playing a man) and A SHE (a woman)
Io offers two alternative clues in one
[t]ROUSSEAU (woman’s collection, robbed of top)
Double definition
Newgate is a former (old) prison (nick)
BETWEEN
1. THE DEVIL (from 4 down, “Old Nick”) and THE DEEP (from 19 down) BLUE (half of 16 across) SEA (half of 17 across)
2. A ROCK (2 across, with a bit of imagination) + A HARD PLACE (starting at 22, and working anticlockwise in the grid) – as highlighted
(Apologies, I didn’t highlight the A at 22, but this should be included.)
K[ilt], N[egligee] E[tc] (principles of) + (LEG THEN)* (*sporting) – &lit
IF (provided) ingredients for GT (popular cocktail drinks, gin and tonic)
BUT< (objection, <raised) wanting THUMPER (friend to fawn)
Thumper is a character from Disney’s Bambi, the fawn
(CHOICE MIRO)* (*surreal)
(V (very) + FLUENT + E (English))* (*in translation)
THE DEE (Scottish runner, river) takes [u]P (finally)
F1 SHED (storage facility at Silverstone?)
Silverstone is the home of British Formula 1
HEA[t] (warm up, T (temperature) rising maximally)
I.D. (check authenticity of) + EA (each)
My faves: ABBESS, FEATHER CUT, ATOMISED, HELENE, EAU DE VIE, JAW-BREAKER, ASHE,
CAUGHT, FISHED and IDEA.
Excellent puzzle. Superb blog.
Thanks Io and Oriel.
Beyond my pay grade. Re 6d was wondering if principle is doing the job of principal.
JS@2
KNEE-LENGTH
Principle in the sense of ‘origin’ works all right, I think.
Glad I gave up on this. Too many nigh-impossible (and iffy) clues. A thumbs down from me.
For ABBESS, I took ABBE to be ABE having B (Lincoln’s Bishop). The blog seems to be giving ABESBSS.
Hovis@4 it is ABES with a double B and double S .
Roz. That makes more sense. Thanks.
Thanks for the blog and grid , always good to see IO Wednesday with quite a range of clues , some very tough .
ABBESS a clever idea and a neat compound anagram for HELENE , great use of fawn for TUB-THUMPER .
I thought CAUGHT overdoing it a bit with the detail . Slight correction to blog , it is half of 16 17 together not half of each .
A minor point on GIFT
I took it as…
provided=IF (as the blog says)
ingredients for popular cocktail=GT
GT drinks IF
A dnf in the SE. Master of succinct obliquity, this bloke; like ‘rip’ inside ‘tod’ with ‘table’ as the def: all three steps are nicely oblique. Similarly ID as verb, ‘idea’ as ‘plan’. So, had to reveal the ‘i’ to finish this corner. Otoh, 17ac shouldn’t have taken such a long bear-stare, given the “girt by sea” line in the Oz anthem (on repeat in Glasgow). Enjoyable challenge as ever from Enigio, and thx Oriel.
Thanks Io and Oriel
10ac: I originally parsed this as (ABE containing B) + double S, similar to Hovis@4 – which I think does work – but thought of the alternative given by Oriel – which I agree works more smoothly – before coming here.
grantinfreo@9: Just as a matter of curiosity, do you have any special reason for referring to “Enigio”? Do you refer to any other setters by combinations of their pseudonyms across different papers, perhaps Philigoliath for Goliath (FT) who is also Philistine in the Guardian?
Quite approachable for Io, I only needed a little help from anagram solver and wordfinder, but I couldn’t parse 26ac although the answer appeared to be HELENE. I guessed 5dn was CAUGHT but it was ages before the penny dropped about the references to other clues.
Thanks, Io and Oriel.
me@8 contd
GIFT
If we take ‘ingredients for’ as the inclusion indicator, the cryptic reading
becomes:
IF ingredients for GT (does it work?).
And
G&T is (a) popular cocktail drink, rather than ‘…drinks’.
If we take ‘drinks’ as the inclusion indicator, the cryptic
reading becomes:
IF, GT drinks.
Please correct me if my understanding is erroneous.
KVa @12, it’s as you have it, GT contains (drinks) IF.
It’s slightly problematic because the clue says ‘ingredients for popular cocktail’ to give GT; that expresses GT as two things, so it should perhaps be ‘ingredients for popular cocktail drink’.
I don’t see how ‘religious’ = ABBESS or ‘painting’ = ROUSSEAU. They are a religious figure and a painter. I know it’s Io and he is who he is but if the clues are going to be hard then making them fair is the key difference between a satisfying puzzle and a frustrating experience. If you solve a couple of iffy ones then you start to question whether the ones you haven’t solved are going to be possible.
The rhyming slang needed for TRIPOD was unknown to me, and I didn’t understand what was going on with CAUGHT or HELENE at all. So I cheated on those. Otherwise, this was slightly less impenetrable than this setter can be, but still very rough going. I understand perfectly the people who see Io’s/Enigmatist’s byline and run screaming; I only tackled it today because I had some time on my hands.
Dnf.
First Io I have tried for a while and I can see why I don’t like them. Too many iffy clues and contortions for my liking.
And surely resorting to using Word Finder is a DNF?
Moly @16: I would agree personally, but this is not a team sport, or indeed a sport at all. So you can set your own rules for what counts as cheating for you and what doesn’t. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Digger @14. I raised an eyebrow at “religious” but I feel sure there must be dictionary confirmation of this. Didn’t have any problem with “painting” though. People say of a painting “It’s a Rousseau” using the artist to also refer to their work.
Further to Hovis@18
10ac: Chambers 2016 p 1317 has religious n “a person bound by monastic vows”. Collins 2023 p 1683 has “a member of an order or congregation living by such a rule [i.e. a monastic rule]; a monk, friar, or nun”. Either of those will allow “religious” as a valid definition of ABBESS.
3dn: Collins p 1735 gives us a choice of two painters called Rousseau. A painting by either of them could be referred to as “a Rousseau”, for example in a sentence such as “There is a Rousseau in the local Art Gallery”.
Further to mrpenney@17, I would suggest that for a non-prize puzzle you have every right to set your own rules of engagement. This includes the question of what aids you will allow yourself, but also the question of whether a solution other than the officially published one can be counted as a valid alternative.
PB @20: a digression inspired by your post. I also do the daily New York Times puzzles. As you probably know, American-style crosswords are, in many respects, tests of general knowledge (with lots of latitude for other forms of cleverness). So when I’m doing the NYT, I count it as cheating if I have to look anything up, be it the meaning of a word, the name of a TV actor, whatever. (I’m making these puzzles sound less fun than they are.) For a British cryptic, the name of the game is using the wordplay to arrive at the answer, and if it’s not part of your GK, well then you’ve learned something. Since the game is different (and also since my foreignness is a handicap) my rules are different: I have no objection to looking up the meaning of any word in a British crossword or any person or place that appears. So yes, the rules you set are what, for you, make the game interesting and fun.
[For those who want to try the NYT, maybe don’t start tomorrow, since Thursday is gimmick day. Some unannounced extra trick always appears in Thursday puzzles; figuring out what the heck is going on is part of the puzzle. That’s great, but it’s also not for beginners.]
Pretty much perfection. Witty and well planned.
CAUGHT was about my last in when I saw the whole pie as to were
Thanks IO and Oriel
PB @10, yes I confess, Enigio is a bit of smartarsery, but also a sort of acknowledgement that he’s the current chief torturetter 🙂
grant@23
Have more of Enigio today 🙂
I didn’t finish this but would have got there in the end. I do these in the evening and don’t bother staying up late if other activities have eaten the time. If anyone is still around, I just wanted to mention that my first thought for the tennis champion was BORG, i.e. boy or girl. No quibbles with the correct answer, just fun that another player could be clued so similarly.
Thanks IO and Oriel.