Atrica has provided our cruciverbal entertainment today on what is theme day.
Unlike many themes, this is not one that the solver needs to go looking for: a reference to food and drink has been included in every single clue and a good many of the solutions. Quite a tour de force, if you ask me!
I think I am happy with my parsing, although I don’t quite see being in a stew” as a synonym for “moping” at 7, but that could just be me, and it’s close enough for our purposes here, I suppose. Incidentally, I couldn’t parse 8 until the dictionary showed that I has misspelled the word, whereafter it all made sense; and the spelling at 19 caught me by surprise, as I am more familiar with the alternative.
My favourite clues today were 1A, for overall construction; 2, for making me smirk; 4, 9 and 13, for smoothness of surface; and 21, for the wordplay around “fails to rise”.
After all that talk of food and drink, it’s time for me to make myself a spot of lunch 🙂
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
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||
| 1 | RAVIOLI |
Pasta recipe? Voila! Introduction to Italian cooking (7)
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| R (=recipe, in Latin) + *(VOILA + I<talian>); “introduction to” means first letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “cooking” | ||
| 5 | VITAMIN |
Something good for you, varied in taste, taking beginners one minute (7)
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| V<aried> I<n> T<aste> (“taking beginners” means first letters only are used) + A (=one) + MIN (=minute) | ||
| 9 | TENDERISING |
Assemble ingredients making chewing easier (11)
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| *(INGREDIENTS); “(to) assemble” is anagram indicator | ||
| 10 | PEA |
Chop the end off fruit and vegetable (3)
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| PEA<r> (=fruit), “(to) chop the end off” means last letter is dropped | ||
| 11 | OVAL |
Flavour comes back somewhat similar to an egg (4)
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| Hidden (“somewhat”) and reversed (“comes back”) in “fLAVOur” | ||
| 12 | DILETTANTI |
Enthusiasts of diet sandwiches left thank-you note before tea delivered (10)
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| [L (=left) in DIET] + TA (=thank you, colloquially) + N (=note) + homophone (“delivered”) of “tea” | ||
| 13 | AMONTILLADO |
Sherry in the morning acceptable before a party (11)
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| AM (=in the morning) + ON (=acceptable, as in That’s not on) + TILL (=before, until) + A + DO (=party) | ||
| 18 | AMYLOPECTIN |
May unfortunately see can contains rejected mushroom starch component (11)
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| *(MAY) + LO (=see) + PEC (CEP=mushroom; “rejected” indicates reversal) + TIN (=(a) can); “unfortunately” is anagram indicator; amylopectin accounts for about 80% of starch | ||
| 21 | OVERSLEEPS |
Finished small pastries at last after flipping flake fails to rise (10)
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| OVER (=finished, done) + S (=small, of sizes) + LEEP (PEEL (=flake, of skin, paint); “flipping” indicates reversal) + <pastrie>S (“at last” means last letter only is used) | ||
| 23 | SCAR |
Spoil escargot partway through (4)
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| Hidden (“partway through”) in <e>SCAR<got> | ||
| 25 | I C I |
Chemical company at one time dissolving biscuit in odd locations (1,1,1)
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| <b>I<s>C<u>I<t>; “dissolving … in odd locations” means all odd letters are dropped | ||
| 26 | CARBONISING |
Char occasionally good, as the French say, in emerging “extreme grilling” (11)
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| C<h>A<r> (“occasionally” means alternate letters only are used) + [BON (=good, as the French say, i.e. the French word for good) in RISING (=emerging, up-and-coming)] | ||
| 27 | DISUSED |
Deli on the fringes marinated missing duck left to rot (7)
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| D<el>I (“on the fringes” means first and last letter only) + S<o>USED (=marinated, pickled; “missing duck (=O, i.e. zero score)” means letter “o” is dropped) | ||
| 28 | STARTLE |
Surprise! After brief wait trifle, if dropped, reconstituted (7)
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| STA<y> (=wait, “brief” means last letter is dropped) + *(TR<if>LE); “if dropped” means letters “if” are not used in anagram, indicated by “reconstituted” | ||
| DOWN
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||
| 1 | RATIONAL |
Reasonable portion: a large (8)
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| RATION (=portion, share) + A + L (=large, in sizes) | ||
| 2 | VINDALOO |
In half-dark toilet after very hot curry (8)
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| V (=very) + IN + DA<rk> (“half-” means 2 of 4 letters only are used) + LOO (=toilet) | ||
| 3 | OVEN |
After the start, adore new kitchen appliance (4)
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| <l>OVE (=adore; “after the start” means that first letter is dropped) + N (=new, as in NT) | ||
| 4 | INITIALLY |
Egg feeding two in Rome completely unknown as a starter (9)
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| [NIT (=egg, of louse) in II (=two in Rome, i.e. in Roman numerals)] + ALL (=completely) + Y (=unknown, in algebra) | ||
| 5 | VOICE |
Utter failing to eat nothing (5)
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| O (=nothing, pictorially) in VICE (=failing, fault); as a verb, to utter is to voice, express in speech | ||
| 6 | TIGHTROPE |
Blending hot tripe with icing in the end? This creates a problem with balance (9)
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| *(HOT TRIPE + <icin>G); “in the end” means last letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “blending” | ||
| 7 | MOPING |
In a stew, brief period before microwave’s indication that it’s finished (6)
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| MO’ (=brief period, as in in a mo’) + PING (=microwave’s indication that it’s finished); to be “in a stew” is to be in a state of worry or agitation, hence to be “moping”, sulking | ||
| 8 | NIACIN |
Something in fish for example I can cut up at home (6)
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| *(I CAN) + IN (=at home); “cut up” is anagram indicator; niacin is vitamin B3, present in e.g. fish | ||
| 14 | TRANSACTS |
Deals with type of unhealthy fat, then gets down to business (9)
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| TRANS (=type of unhealthy fat) + ACTS (=gets down to business) | ||
| 15 | AMORPHOUS |
Lacking a clear plan, prepare ham or soup (9)
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| *(HAM OR SOUP); “prepare” is anagram indicator; e.g. an amorphous plan is one that lacks structure and details, that is vague | ||
| 16 | STOCKIST |
Supplier‘s broth is nutritional at the core (8)
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| STOCK (=broth) + IS + <nutri>T<ional> (“at the core” means middle letter only is used) | ||
| 17 | INTRIGUE |
Secretly plan hot, dependable stuffing with essence of figs (8)
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| IN (=hot, trendy) + [<f>IG>s (“essence of” means middle letters only) in TRUE (=dependable, loyal)]; to intrigue is to scheme, hence “secretly plan” | ||
| 19 | HONIED |
Sweet made sharper with addition of iodine (6)
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| I (=iodine, i.e. chemical symbol) in HONED (=made sharper, of e.g. skills) | ||
| 20 | SERIES |
Course is enough for one doing the work of five (6)
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| SERVES (=is enough for, as in The pie serves four); “one (=I) doing the work of five (=V)” means that letter “i” replaces “v”; a course of something is a series, set, suite of something | ||
| 22 | EARED |
Burned when initially forgotten, as cereal typically is (5)
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| <s>EARED (=burned, scorched); “when initially forgotten” means first letter is dropped | ||
| 24 | PITA |
Bread on American menus from Pisa – feta not reliable (4)
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| PI<sa fe>TA; “not reliable (=safe, dependable)” means letters “safe” are dropped; pita is the US spelling of pitta, hence “on American menus” |
Who mopes when feeling agitated? Not to worry, enjoyed the victuals, thanks both. Love a good beef vindaloo.
Flew through the NW and then several write ins, but slowed down considerably after the first run through. Got there in the end with the NHO sherry as LOI. Was pleased to construct that, and 2 of the other longer entries in AMYLOPECTIN (also NHO) and CARBONISING.
I also had a shrug at MOPING = in a stew but equally didn’t think it was miles off.
A very fair work out from Attrica so thanks to them and RR for the blog.
A trick a two, in this puzzle, but it’s a good ‘un.
MOPING, 7(d), does not work, for me.
PITA…is it just American? A false steer, for me.
I think that “cooking & food & diet-related stuff” might be a rather elusive theme. But I am rarely right.
A few clues hit the crossbar, but a win , for hat-tricker, and Riku
Thanks both. Provided I know what day it is, what I look for on a Tuesday is a theme linking at least some answers, which is identifiable but challenging; here we have food hitting you harder than it did the Vicar of Dibley on Christmas Day, but only within he clues, so no help offered for the likes of DILETTANTI and AMYLOPECTIN unless you get technical at the dining table. Still enjoyable however, so I won’t be MOPING or climbing in the casserole for that matter.
ginf@1, I do love a good VINDALOO too, but the standard UK curry-house dish seems designed for extreme heat rather than authenticity. Vindaloos in NYC were milder, more vinegary and flavourful, which led me to finding a great recipe for a more authentic pork vindaloo. The name comes from the Portuguese inspiration, vindalho (“with garlic and wine”).
I really enjoyed this food-flavoured quiz (not a single sports reference!) though the southwest held out until the end.
I confess I had to resort to `grep ‘^.e.i.s$’ /usr/dict/words | grep -v [A-Z] | sed ‘s/i/v/’` to solve SERIES once I’d figured the parsing (find all the words matching the crossers, exclude proper nouns, replace v with i) .
I was pleased with myself for getting DILETTANTI, AMORPHOUS and AMYLOPECTIN even though I’d never heard of any of them – not so pleased with myself for not getting HONIED or SERIES – the former probably because I thought it was spelt HONEYED
Didn’t get AMONTILLADO as A: I’ve never heard of it and B: I was thinking that ‘before’ meant putting words/abbreviations for ‘in the morning’ and ‘acceptable’ before ‘a’ and a word for ‘party’, rather than a word meaning ‘before’
Never had a VINDALOO as I’m not a fan of hot curries – I’m more of a korma or tikka masala kind of guy. My late father was more of a spice lover. To be honest whenever I hear VINDALOO I tend to think of the football song by Fat Les
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle with an easy-to-spot theme which I prefer to one that’s a bit more niche
Thanks RR and Atrica
[Agree, LD @5. A great curry doesn’t scorch, it builds to a deeply hot throb]
Amontillado was the first sherry I ever heard of, thanks to this story by Edgar Allan Poe.
This crossword hit the spot for me – I just did what it said in the clues and the answers fell into place.
Thanks to Atrica and RR
Enjoyed this even though it took me two sittings. Failed on AMYLOPECTIN.