A Monday morning challenge from Brunel
And I must admit, I did find it quite tricky going in places. Brunel is a setter of fairly long-standing for the Indie, but looking back over the moh archives I see I’ve blogged them but once before. Anyway, there were some very well-engineered constructions on display here, as befits the name, absolutely nothing quibbleworthy, and some highly enjoyable surfaces.
I’m going to pick out ADORABLE, AS THE CROW FLIES, the APT surface for WORDS PER MINUTE and the Cockney chap covered in pearly tat as my favourites today. No doubt you will have your own faves. Many thanks to Brunel for the workout, and now it’s time to head back upstairs for a restorative snooze.
Moh’s trusty cruciverbal hardness scale rating: Fluorite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ADORABLE |
Lovely lady more fabled when bare (8)
|
| Inner letters (when bare) of [l]AD[y] [m]OR[e] [f]ABLE[d] | ||
| 5 | ABLOOM |
A surge in activity catches learner out (6)
|
| A BOOM (a surge in activity) around (catches) L | ||
| 10 | TREAT |
Negotiate withdrawal after soldiers go AWOL (5)
|
| [re]TREAT (withdrawal) minus R[oyal] E[ngineers], soldiers | ||
| 11 | A GOOD DEAL |
Much value for money (1,4,4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | CLAMSHELL |
Within enclosed chamber, metres inside, tie down stateside digging equipment (9)
|
| Double insertion: M (metres) inside LASH (tie down), both inside CELL (within enclosed chamber). Def is an American term for one of those two-jawed bucket things you see on the business end of a digger | ||
| 14 | VIALS |
By means of leaks, drained bottles (5)
|
| VIA (by means of) + L[eak]S (leaks drained) | ||
| 15 | AS THE CROW FLIES |
Direct reorganisation of Welsh factories (2,3,4,5)
|
| Anagram (reorganisation of) of WELSH FACTORIES | ||
| 18 | WORDS PER MINUTE |
Crazily, Trump worsened international speed of data capture (5,3,6)
|
| Anagram (crazily) of TRUMP WORSENED I | ||
| 22 | LEPER |
Charitable person accommodates pariah (5)
|
| Hidden in (accommodates) charitabLE PERson | ||
| 23 | BILL GATES |
Big US donor‘s attendance restricted by what he calls checks (4,5)
|
| GATE (attendance) inside (restricted by) BILLS (checks, in US parlance) | ||
| 25 |
Platform One at northern station – note crush (9)
|
|
| I (one) + N (northern) + STA (station) + G (note) + RAM (crush) | ||
| 26 | ID EST |
That’s the thing about poor grades, son (2,3)
|
| IT (the thing) around (about) D E (poor grades) S (son) | ||
| 27 | HARASS |
Fergie returns to confront start of soccer trouble (6)
|
| Reversal (returns) of SARAH (Sarah Ferguson, formerly married to the man formerly known as a prince now called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and popularly referred to in the redtops as Fergie) + S (start of soccer) | ||
| 28 | ASWAN DAM |
First man to bring in flier for viewing African landmark (5,3)
|
| Insertion (to bring in) of SWAN inside ADAM | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AUTOCRAT |
Supremo‘s order to a curate finally cancelled (8)
|
| Anagram (order) of TO A CURAT[e] (finally cancelled) | ||
| 2 | OVERACT |
Trace very old chopped ham (7)
|
| Anagram (chopped) of TRACE V O | ||
| 3 | APT |
School organisation cycling to get fit (3)
|
| PTA (school organisation) with the A cycling to the front | ||
| 4 | LEAVE |
Part from grille a vent covers (5)
|
| Hidden in (covers) grilLE A VEnt | ||
| 6 | BEDEVILLING |
Cockney chap was flipping covered in pearly tat, maybe being a nuisance (11)
|
| E (‘e, so cockney chap) + reversal of LIVED (was, flipping) inside (covered in) BLING (pearly tat, maybe) | ||
| 7 | OVERATE |
Took too much on at once, ultimately (7)
|
| OVER (on) + AT (from surface) + E (once ultimately) | ||
| 8 | MOLEST |
Attack using half of bullets, perhaps, in case (6)
|
| MO (half of ammo, so bullets, perhaps) + LEST (in case) | ||
| 9 | FOLLOWER |
Most of religious community let down disciple (8)
|
| FOL[d] (most of religious community) + LOWER (let down) | ||
| 13 | SPEED FREAKS |
Drug users mistakenly freed in talks (5,6)
|
| Anagram (mistakenly) of FREED inside SPEAKS | ||
| 16 | ROPE BURN |
Borne up bed of glacier, suffering climbing injury (4,4)
|
| Anagram (suffering) of BORNE UP [glacie]R | ||
| 17 | NEWS ITEM |
Piece of paper? (4,4)
|
| Cryptic definition. A piece or article in a newspaper may well be a news item | ||
| 19 | OPPOSER |
One facing problem, weighed down by work (7)
|
| POSER (problem) after (weighed down by, in a down clue) OP | ||
| 20 | UPTREND |
Wrong turn oddly heralds finish of economic improvement (7)
|
| UP (wrong, as in “what’s up?”) + T[u]R[n] (turn oddly) + END | ||
| 21 | BLUISH |
A bit raunchy? I show embarrassment outwardly (6)
|
| Envelope of BLUSH (show embarrassment) around (outwardly) I | ||
| 24 | LIMES |
Trees in locations bisected by motorway (5)
|
| LIES (locations, eg in golf) around (bisected by) M | ||
| 26 | IDA |
Reportedly, you can get down from this mountain (3)
|
| Soundalike (reportedly) of “eider” |
Very enjoyable start to the week.
Did not parse IDA. Very clever now I can see it.
Brunel must have really enjoyed working out 15a as I did solving it.
Is STA a legitimate abbreviation of Station?
Thanks all.
Pleased to finish this, especially the jorum CLAMSHELL. Liked ABLOOM and ID EST when the definitions finally emerged. Couldn’t think of how UP equated to “wrong”, so thanks for that.
At first, I thought “How can ‘actuator’ be ‘supremo’? Surely, there can’t be a different anagram”. 15a gave me the A that led to the correct answer.
And here’s me thinking anthropologists had found that clamshells were ancient hand tools, d’oh! Fun puzzle tho, ta Brunel and moh.
An impressive anagram for AS THE CROW FLIES. Nice to be reminded of pearly kings, who I remember from Epsom racecourse. I was another who struggled to equate UP with wrong.
Thanks both. Ideal for a Monday. Somewhat bizarrely three-letter IDA was very late in, and I note it’s only a homophone if going with the English rather than the local pronunciation. I thought I’d seen anagrams worked in past for AS THE CROW FLIES – when I asked AI, without my prompting it used cryptic crossword answers as the source, and acknowledged today’s version; impressive therefore in many ways.
Well-built by Brunel, but some of the rivets seemed a bit wonky.
10(ac) is TREAT, “negotiate”? I suppose it must be, but my only guess is the archaic phrase, “invitation to treat”, a precursor to a contract of purchase.
25(ac), does STA = station, again, it must do, but it’s a bit too meh, for me.
6(d) cockney chap = ‘E; fair play, but parsing this one was a devil of a job.
7(d), how is “over” = “on”? Possibly, ” I struggled on this”, as in ” I struggled over this” ?? If so, ouch.
20(d), WRONG = UP, another “sort of, maybe” synonym, but not my bag.
17(d), NEWS ITEM, yes, I get it. It’s just not clever.
Basically, 327 things might be ” piece of paper”, in this context.
End of the day, it’s a skilful puzzle, with a lot of very good clues, wordplays, and surfaces, but a bit over-engineered in places.
Thanks, Brunel & moh
Failed on CLAMSHELL. But also IDA. Lovely clue though.
ENBoll& @6
Put your coat over /on the back of the chair
Nearest I can get on how / that is:
‘He told me how / that, as a child, he used to….’
Found it tricky, and had to look up who Fergie is. CLAMSHELL was a jorum.
I liked it that the setter tried to avoid crossword staples like NS = poles, MO = second etc. My favourites are ASWAN DAM, VIALS, ID EST, AS THE CROW FLIES and LEAVE (the last two for the definitions). I think INSTAGRAM = I + NS + TAG + RAM. I’ve no problem with TREAT = negotiate (cf eg treaty). Thanks Brunel and moh!