The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hello all. This was my first Ringoe puzzle, but it won’t be my last. I must have been in the zone because it slipped down a treat. My favourite clue is 8d, ABYSSINIAN, and not just because it gave me an excuse for a kitty pic. I also liked 18d – I’m not sure our compiler is all that likely to be our next PM, much less installed by Ringo Starr, but I liked the image.
Thanks Ringoe!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Nuts in AA to meet separately (3,2,1,4) |
| ONE AT A TIME — An anagram of (nuts) IN AA TO MEET | |
| 6a | Snake-haired monster leaving cheese for writer (4) |
| ZOLA — GORGON (snake-haired monster) leaving [gorgon]ZOLA (cheese) | |
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|
| 10a | Andy Burnham is cross about a Liberal raising stock (6,9) |
| ANIMAL HUSBANDRY — An anagram of (… cross) ANDY BURNHAM IS around (about) A and L (Liberal) | |
| 11a | 50 with a king by unearthly American feature (4,4) |
| LAKE ERIE — L (50) + A + K (king) by EERIE (unearthly) | |
| 12a | Protection from serviceman in ebbing tide (5) |
| AEGIS — GI (serviceman) in reversing (ebbing) SEA (tide) | |
| 14a | Pole features in Room 101 making comeback (7) |
| ICECAPS — SPACE (room) and CI (101) going backwards (making comeback) | |
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|
| 16a | Slippery surface sends child into bridge (7) |
| SKIDPAN — KID (child) is sent into SPAN (bridge) | |
| 17a | Wild sheep accompanies us in ancient city (7) |
| EPHESUS — An anagram of (wild) SHEEP goes next to (accompanies) US | |
| 19a | Granny seen in Dickens a godsend (7) |
| BONANZA — NAN (granny) seen in BOZ (Dickens – the nickname Charles Dickens adopted as an early pen name) + A | |
| 20a | Captains perhaps in privy at sea (5) |
| HEADS — Two definitions. Heads is a slang nautical word for a ship’s toilet | |
| 21a | Sceptical as a good number remain we hear (8) |
| AGNOSTIC — A + G (good) + NO (number) + STIC, which sounds like (… we hear) STICK (remain) | |
| 24a | Ruler’s order for backer briefly touring two states (7,2,6) |
| WILLIAM OF ORANGE — WILL (order), FOR and ANGEl (backer) without the last letter (briefly) going around (touring) IA and MO (two states – Iowa and Missouri) | |
| 25a | Exquisite morsel missed in savoury dish (4) |
| RARE — BIT (morsel) lacking from (missed in) RARE[bit] (savoury dish) | |
| 26a | Star to rage when drunk grabs dress (5,5) |
| GRETA GARBO — TO RAGE when anagrammed (drunk) takes in (grabs) GARB (dress) | |
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|
| Down | |
| 1d | Female no wife for Saudi neighbour (4) |
| OMAN — [w]OMAN (female), no W (wife) | |
| 2d | American visiting The Ritz all obey — volatile player? (9,6) |
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|
| ELIZABETH TAYLOR — A (American) going into (visiting) an anagram of (… volatile) THE RITZ ALL OBEY | |
| 3d | Hint from artist forsaking daily grind (5) |
| TRACE — RA (artist) leaving (forsaking) [ra]T RACE (daily grind) | |
| 4d | Garments: those in which to sleep almost removed? (1-6) |
| T-SHIRTS — [nigh]TSHIRTS (those [garments] in which to sleep) with NIGH (almost) removed | |
| 5d | Overcome small albatross sometimes seen here? (7) |
| MASTERS — MASTER (overcome) + S (small). There have been four albatrosses at the Masters golf tournament | |
| 7d | One possibly retired hurt alongside opener? (3-3,9) |
| OLD-AGE PENSIONER — An anagram of (hurt) ALONGSIDE OPENER | |
| 8d | Significant hole in one by an old African? (10) |
| ABYSSINIAN — ABYSS (significant hole) + IN + I (one) by AN | |
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|
| 9d | Caribbean sort to sight whaler up north (8) |
| BAHAMIAN — AIM (to sight) and AHAB (whaler – the captain from Moby Dick) reversed (up, in a down entry) + N (north) | |
| 13d | Ground where one welcomes island leader (10) |
| EISENHOWER — An anagram of (ground) WHERE ONE takes in (welcomes) IS (island) | |
| 15d | One kills when elite troops stray from path (8) |
| ASSASSIN — AS (when), SAS (elite troops) and SIN (stray from path) | |
| 18d | Is it Ringo installing Ringoe as PM? |
| STARMER — STARR (is it Ringo … ?) taking in (installing) ME (Ringoe) | |
| 19d | Assist insect outside close to sunken well (7) |
| BENEFIT — BEE (insect) around (outside) the last letter of (close to) sunkeN + FIT (well) | |
| 22d | Seconds for good child (5) |
| SPROG — S (seconds) + PRO (for) + G (good) | |
| 23d | Revolutionary augury one found in movie? (4) |
| NEMO — Going backwards (revolutionary) OMEN (augury) | |
Great blog – highlighting how many people found their way into this very neat puzzle. A couple of great anagram spots. (I think I need some convincing that ‘cross’ works as an anagrind though.)
I note the online version has the word (undefined) in brackets at the end of the clue. I could not make sense of it in the parse so hoped the blog would shed light on it. Looks like it’s an on-line typo.
Thanks both
Yep enjoyable outing, ta Ringoe and Kitty. A couple unfully parsed … totally forgot about Dickens being Boz, and 24ac where I cqba and just biffed.
[And Vale to my old pal Lew who used to breed Abyssinians …]
Thanks PostMark @1. I didn’t illustrate all the people. No politicians, for example – and I removed a reference of my own in the intro to Count Binface!
Yeah, I was unsure about “cross” too. Will be interested to see what others think.
It just looks like the enumeration was omitted from STARMER. I can see how “(undefined)” might be particularly misleading!
I quite liked undefined as a description of Starmer
[Ian Dunt, of the i, agrees, James @4]
Thank you, Kitty, for parsing 24A, which mystified me.
My favorite was 26A: “star” and “grabs” both led me and misled me. Very clever cluing!
I think “cross” works well as an anagrind.
Thank you, Ringoe and Kitty both.
Thanks both. Enjoyed this, although some of the parsing was beyond me e.g. T-SHIRTS (too clever) WILLIAM OF ORANGE (pick 2 of 50 states, and insert in ….help!) BAHAMIAN (I need a lie down). My favourite anagrind is ‘rhubarb’ as it works about as well as ‘cross’ though admittedly difficult to make it fit with Mr Burnham.
Book club meeting this afternoon so I didn’t start this till late and it took a while to finish. Many I couldn’t parse.
I had ‘cross’ as synonymous with ‘upset’ so accepted it as an anagrind. At the time the solution went in very quickly with just the first ‘A’ so I moved on. In fact, the grid was a (rare) rapid solve for me. Thanks Kitty and Ringoe. I’ll be seein’ ya.