The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30112.
Brockwell has provided us with another excellent puzzle, with prime misdirection to add to his characteristic inventive use of real names.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MASCARA |
Make-up artist follows old ladies around (7)
|
| A charade of MAS (‘old ladies’) plus CA (‘around’) plus (‘follows’) RA (‘artist’). | ||
| 5 | SMASH-UP |
Sabbath remix is a car crash (5-2)
|
| A charade of S (‘Sabbath’) plus MASH-UP (‘remix’) | ||
| 9 | SMALL |
Abrupt South American soprano returns to deliver slight (5)
|
| A reversal (‘returns’) of LLAM[a] (‘South American’) minus its last letter (‘abrupt’) plus S (‘soprano’). | ||
| 10 | CHARLOTTE |
Old cricket commentator tucked into red dessert (9)
|
| An envelope (‘tucked into’) of ARLOTT (John, ‘old cricket commentator’) in CHE (Guevara, ‘red’). | ||
| 11 | EVENTUALLY |
Incident with United supporter at the end of the day (10)
|
| A charade of EVENT (‘incident’) plus U (‘United’) plus ALLY (‘supporter’) | ||
| 12 | ROTI |
Louis XIV maybe taking time to make bread (4)
|
| An envelope (‘taking’) of T (‘time’) in ROI (French king, ‘Louis XIV maybe’). | ||
| 14 | EVE’S PUDDING |
Sinner’s racket string ultimately broken by 19 – sweet! (4,7)
|
| An envelope (‘broken by’) of SPUD (’19’ POTATO) in EVE (‘sinner’ – a reference to the Genesis story, with woman being blamed for the loss of Eden) plus DIN (‘racket’) plus G (‘strinG ultimately’). Eve’s pudding is a dessert of apples under a sponge, | ||
| 18 | NIGHTSHADES |
Darkness is hell for plants (11)
|
| A charade of NIGHT’S (‘darkness is’) plus HADES (‘hell’). | ||
| 21 | HEAD |
What about promotion, boss? (4)
|
| A charade of HE, a reversal (‘about’) of EH? (‘what’?); plus AD (‘promotion’). Very neat. | ||
| 22 | FREEMASONS |
Band of brothers released Samson easily (10)
|
| A charade of FREE (‘released’) plus MASONS, an anagram (‘easily’) of ‘Samson’. | ||
| 25 | ACID TESTS |
4Detectives match arsenic cases in definitive trials (4,5)
|
| An envelope (‘cases’) of CID (‘detectives’) plus TEST (‘match’) in AS (chemical symbol, ‘arsenic’). As with 4D, ‘cases’ is ambiguous as an envelope indicator, but here as a matter of word order. | ||
| 26 | ELATE |
Where unhappy couples may go right away to lift spirits (5)
|
| A subtraction: [r]ELATE (‘where unhappy couplles may go’ – Relate is a UK charity offering relationship councelling) minus the R (‘right away’). | ||
| 27 | LANYARD |
Rope in some to jam Grease (7)
|
| An envelope (‘to jam’) of ANY (‘some’) in LARD (‘grease’). | ||
| 28 | DISH OUT |
Papers over attempt to get hold of Murray’s second serve (4,3)
|
| An envelope (‘to get hold of’) U (‘mUrray’s second’) in DI, a reversal (‘over’) of ID (‘papers’) plus SHOT (‘attempt’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MISTER |
Rampant Royal Engineers team at last winning first title (6)
|
| An envelope (‘winning’) of IST (1st., ‘first’) in MER, a reversal (‘rampant’ in a down light) of RE (‘Royal Engineers’) plus M (‘teaM at last’). | ||
| 2 | STATER |
Ancient Greek coin originally stolen by Duke of York? (6)
|
| A charade of S (‘originally Stolen’) plus (‘by’) TATER (potato, ‘Duke of York’ – a variety, hence the question mark).. Evidently Brockwell did not want another reference to 19D. | ||
| 3 | ALLOTMENTS |
Poor Matt Damon to finally sell shares (10)
|
| An anagram (‘poor’) of “matt’ plus NO (‘damoN tO finally’) plus ‘sell’. | ||
| 4 | ACCRA |
King invested with a chap occasionally for capital (5)
|
| An envelope (‘invested with’) of CR (Charles Rex, ‘King’) in ‘a’ plus CA (‘ChAp occasionally’). ‘Invested with’ as an envelope indicator is ambiguous, but I would be happier if it were used the other way round – ACA in CR. Accra is the capital of Ghana. | ||
| 5 | SCALLOPED |
Fashion doll’s cape with a fancy border (9)
|
| An anagram (‘fashion’) of ‘dolls cape’. | ||
| 6 | ABLE |
Clever canine escaping from lead (4)
|
| A subtraction: [c]ABLE (‘lead’ – the connector for an electic device) minus the C (‘canine escaping’). | ||
| 7 | HOT TOPIC |
Case of taboo-breaking erotic photograph in theBig Issue (3,5)
|
| An envelope (-‘breaking’) of TO (‘case of TaboO‘-) in HOT (‘erotic’) plus PIC (‘picture’). Big Issue is in italics in the original, but, as it is the definition, it is here likewise; the missing space must be accidental. | ||
| 8 | PEELINGS |
Heather goes outside and strips (8)
|
| An envelope (‘outside’) of LING (‘heather’) in PEES (‘goes’). | ||
| 13 | ODDS-MAKERS |
Drunk dad smokes without resistance in the bookies (4-6)
|
| An envelope (‘without’) of R (‘resistance’) in ODDSMAKES, an anagram (‘drunk’) of ‘dad smokes’. | ||
| 15 | ETHERISED |
Southpaw essentially boxed with 19, getting knocked over and knocked out (9)
|
| An envelope (‘boxed with’) of TH (‘souTHpaw essentially’) in EERISED, a reversal (‘getting knocked over’) of DÉSIRÉE (’19’ – a variety of potato) | ||
| 16 | IN THRALL |
Harry Hill with rant under some powerful influence (2,6)
|
| An anagram (‘harry’) of ‘hill’ plus ‘rant’. | ||
| 17 | AGRARIAN |
American relative drowning valley of cultivated land (8)
|
| An envelope (‘drowning’) of RIA (‘valley’ – actually a drowned valley) in A (‘American’) plus GRAN (‘relative’). | ||
| 19 | POTATO |
Kitty cheers up content from YouTuber (6)
|
| A charade od POT (‘kitty’) plus AT, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) p\of TA (‘cheers’) plus O (‘content from yOu’-). | ||
| 20 | ASCENT |
Climb the top of Appalachian Trail (6)
|
| A charade of A (‘top of Appalachian’) plus SCENT (‘trail’). For the surface, the Appalachian Trail is a 2000-plus mile path between Georgia and Maine in the USA. I hiked it in 1984. | ||
| 23 | EASED |
Relaxed dressmaker oddly flips (5)
|
| A reveral (‘flips’) of alternate letters (‘oddly’) of DrEsSmAkEr’. | ||
| 24 | ETNA |
Piece from Norman Tebbit upset smoker (4)
|
| A hidden (‘piece from’) reversed (‘upset’ in a down light) in ‘normAN TEbbit’. Etna is liable to smoke when not errupting. |
And a theme of potatoes – CHARLOTTE and CARA are potato varieties, MISTER POTATO HEAD is a toy, MASH (or SMASH), ROTI and SCALLOPED are ways of cooking them, potatoes are NIGHTSHADES (plant family), grown on ALLOTMENTS, something can be SMALL POTATOES, a HOT POTATO, POTATO PEELINGS, I’m sure there’s more, there usually is with Brockwell.
Thank you to PeterO and Brockwell.
Brill, Brock! Thanks for passing the imparsable (to me), PeterO. There’s a veritable sackful of spuds in the grid: MASH, SMALL, CHARLOTTE, ROT[ten], SPUD, MISTER… HEAD, DISH, TATER, DESIREE, SCALLOPED, POTATO, PEELINGS… some of which, I suppose, are grown in AGRARIAN ALLOTMENTS. (Cross-posted with Shanne)
Comment #3
I failed to parse several of these, and getting a name for the ‘old cricket commentator’ was something that I completely forgot about once I saw the answer. Thanks PeterO.
Thanks to Brockwell (and Peter) especially for bringing back memories of the good and great John Arlott.
In particular this early one: in 1961 I was travelling along the East Lancs Road, headed to the England-Australia Test when JA’s dulcet tones came on the car radio saying “We welcome listeners to the World Service with the news from Old Trafford that rain has stopped play”.
I went to school with his son Tim in the 60s.
This initially looked hard but soon softened up, potato style. I found the prominent theme helpful today (PEELINGS, EVES PUDDING, CHARLOTTE, ROTI) and really liked its use on ETHERISED. I didn’t realise Duke of York was a spud (the Australian military detail who used to look after him gave him a far more apt 4 letter nickname) so I had to look up coinage. My only external assistance.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO.
Well that was fun. Ditto Trovatore @5 re the witty dulcets of J Arlott. Noticed a few spuds, and at 14ac a nice new dessert (as for the sin, I’m on the feminists’ side — it was him that failed to man up). Thanks B & P.
A theme close to my heart. I felt sure Desiree was going to be in there somewhere, but I was expecting a more obvious wordplay. Great puzzle.
Bit of a strain for a Tuesday, especially with the obscure English references like Arlott (I don‘t follow cricket and don‘t live in the UK) and Relate, but got there in the end.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
Taking the clues in order, FOI was PEELINGS. Things speeded up thereafter. Clever puzzle, no particular favourites.
I thought the word order for ACCRA was a bit odd too.
I’ll be interested to hear if others thought that a reference to John Arlott (died 1991) was fair. I would have thought you would have to be a) a cricket buff, and b) at least as old as me (70s), to know of him.
Re John Arlott. Not just a commentator but a Guardian journalist for many years, so fair game in a Guardian crossword
I really enjoyed the theme and had POTATO PUDDING as well as Shanne’s comprehensive list @1. My favourite was ALLOTMENTS, which I thought was hilarious.
Ta Brockwell & PeterO.
Brockwell always seems to have lovely surfaces. What a nice puzzle, where the theme doesn’t lessen the enjoyment or the difficulty. Liked this a lot. Thanks Brockwell and PeterO.
Very tough.
I gave up on 9ac, 14ac apart from the DIN +G bit (never heard of this pudding) & 1d. Of the ones I solved, I could not parse 26ac (never heard of the UK charity but thought of ‘relate’ then gave up on parsing it), 3d, 6d.
New door me: RIA – valley (in 17d); DESIREE = potato; John ARLOTT (for 10ac) although I might have heard him commentating on test match cricket. Also Duke of York potato/tater (for 2d).
Have recently read Basingstoke Boy, JA’s autobiography. But non cricket lovers might possibly find his name a bit obscure. My favourite clues today were EVENTUALLY and FREEMASONS. I notice King Charles gets mentioned but not King Edward in a potato themed puzzle today…
On the hard side. Failed on STATER as my knowledge of Greek coins and potato varieties is inadequate. Otherwise the theme helped a lot and I spotted it early on. Enjoyable solve.
Favourites EVES PUDDING and PEELINGS.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO.
What fun! – from the very first clue: double tick immediately for the brilliant MASCARA.
I managed to get all the TATERs mentioned above (particularly liked that one) but wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were more. Laughed out loud to find MISTER POTATO HEAD and the clever inclusion of DESIREE. (I just haven’t been able to find my current favourite, Vivaldi 😉 )
It would be far easier to list the entries that I didn’t tick – but I’ll just go back and savour them all again. (John Arlott’s ‘dulcets’ were part of my childhood, so no problem there.)
Many thanks, as ever, to Brockwell for a delightful start the day and to PeterO, for the blog.
Me @12. And wine critic. Also a published poet. He even did football reports, and was due to be on the flight where several Man United players were killed. The paper’s chief football writer pulled rank, and was a fatality.
A fun offering. As a cricket hater, even I had heard of John Arlott, so I think that can be regarded as GK (although rather UK-centric, as was ELATE) so I sympathise with foreign solvers (and younger British ones). Far too many favourites to list them all, but a particular mention for the abrupt South American.
John Arlott also narrates the wonderful 1982 film P’tang, Yang, Kipperbang.
Lyssian @21 – I’d completely forgotten that wonderful film: thank you for the reminder.
Like others I grew up with the sound of John Arlott on the radio; a wonderful voice and memory. He was also, I know, notably outspoken in his view that England should not be playing in apartheid South Africa when the cricket establishment was much more mealy-mouthed about it. A good man.
Seems another tough puzzle for the start of the week. Not helped by putting in LANDINGS (lings around and) for PEELINGS. It was only when I clocked the potato theme I could correct. Definitely feel like a potato after that.
HOT TOPIC my favourite today
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
Muffin@11: I yield to none in my utter disinterest in cricket, often a handicap when it comes to crosswords, but even I had heard of Arlott, though I only spotted him after guessing the answer from crossers.
What I hadn’t heard of was EVES PUDDING (was tempted to put in RICE PUDDING, but couldn’t make it work) or Relate.
Smashing – I loved all of it, especially ‘content from YouTuber’, ‘Sinner’s racket string’ and ‘Poor Matt Damon’.
Thanks to Brockwell (in chipper form) and PeterO.
What a delight! Love the wit in clues like STATER.
The theme put me in mind of the film, “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peelings Pie Society” which is well worth a look if you haven’t already.
Woohoo! I actually saw the theme, but fairly late so it really only helped with STATER, my last one in. I do love a short, clever clue and 21a was my favourite among the many excellent ones here. Thanks Brockwell and PeterO!
When my mum added Eve’s Pudding to her repertoire in the 80s, I wasn’t convinced by the concept. However, it turned out to be wonderful stuff. I always like it when her British classics make an appearance. [Brummie had a syllabub in 2022, which I’d have thought was niche, but it didn’t seem to raise any reaction.]
Good fun, with the NW corner the last to yield. I liked the make-up (MASCARA) artist following ladies around, Sinner’s racket string in EVE’S PUDDING, the Grease jammers in LANYARD, Murray’s second serve DISH(ed) OUT, Matt Damon’s ALLOTMENTS, and the YouTuber’s POTATO.
Thanks Brockwell and PeterO.
Never heard of Duke of York spuds. So obscure, I had to add a link on Wikipedia.
Muffin @11, I’m not much of a cricket fan, am not in the UK, am at least two decades younger than you are (but have seen Ian Botham play :)), and have most certainly heard of John Arlott.
A sample size of one doesn’t mean much, but here it is 🙂
Thanks for all the responses to my John Arlott query. It seems he has penetrated further into group consciousness than I would have expected!
I yield to no-one in my irritation at the assumption that all solvers are omniscient cricket buffs, but I have heard of John Arlott. It took a while to remember EVE’S PUDDING (which I have never tried) and I never did sort out ALLOTMENTS. I think I got all the potatoes except Duke of York – I suppose having King Edward as the thief of the STATER would have been too obvious. Not sure I have heard bookies described as ODDS MAKERS before.
William@27: the Guernsey film is based on a (much better) book. The pie, however, is not recommended.
Favourite Arlott quote, as rain threatened: “There’s a liver-coloured cloud moving down the Old Kent Road”.
S as a substitution for “soprano” goes on my list of “reduce literally any word to its first letter”. I’m sure it’s in Chambers and might even be a familiar abbreviation to opera buffs, but for me it was a bung-and-shrug.
My knowledge of potatoes being limited, I missed the theme and failed entirely on 2D, having reached the point of thinking I could look online for Greek coinage (about which I know only the now-obsolete joke, “What’s a Grecian urn?”) and deciding I might equally as well reveal it.
Also NHO Eve’s pudding, but it was gettable from the cluing, so fair play.
7D was my distinct favorite.
If we’re going down the route of favourite John Arlott quotations., I would nominate one from 1975, when David Steele at the age of 33 was surprisingly selected to face up to the ferocious pace attacks of Australia and the West Indies. As he walked to the crease, bespectacled, his shock of prematurely white hair under his cap, Arlott described him as looking ‘like a bank clerk going to war’.
Joseph @36
SATB is a very familiar set of abbreviations in choral circles.
(soprano alto tenor bass, of course)
Aficionados of TS Eliot’s work will ave been reminded o/f the opening lines of ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’:
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table; …
I don’t think I have ever seen the word anywhere else.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues , DISH OUT a neat construction , POTATO a clever clue with well-disguised fission . Not keen on Sinner=EVE , defying male authority and gaining knowledge is a virtue .
Thanks to Lyssian@21 for a great reference . Gladys @34 , bookmakers literally make the odds for a book for a sporting event . often a horse race .
Duke of York potatoes ideal for growing in containers , first earlies and my favourite , especially the red version .
Belated thanks to Shanne@1 for all the potato references .
And perfect timing .
Thanks both,
Enjoyed it immensely. [Anecdote about Arlott and Neville Cardus arguing about who had the best job suppressed on grounds of good taste.]
Many thanks to PeterO (we meet again) for another excellent blog and to everyone else for the nice comments. I would have used King Edward in 2d, if king had not already been taken. However, like Roz @41, red DoYs are my favourite first early spuds. All the best, B 🥔
Thanks Brockwell. My lack of British knowledge and potato varieties prevented me from solving STATER and parsing CHARLOTTE and ELATE but there was much to enjoy including SMALL, the intricate MISTER, ALLOTMENTS (COTD), ABLE, PEELINGS, and ASCENT. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
Balfour @39: that was the first poem I read at Uni before we proceeded to The Wasteland. Never did get into his poetry alas. Celebrating my 42nd wedding anniversary today Roz, by having a broken back tooth extracted. Yikes.
Any day when we’re reminded of John Arlott is a good day!
Some incredible stretching here:
Duke of York = TATER…. hmmm, OK… but only just about acceptable.
Charlotte = DESSERT…. hmmm, maybe if it was ‘type of dessert’, or ‘female dessert?’ (leaving aside needing to know an ex-cricket commentator to even get there!)
Rampant meaning a reversal – new one for me, but I guess it works.
Anyway, chips for dinner anyone?
IC @48
In heraldry, “rampant” means (more or less) “standing up”, so works as a reversal in a down clue. Here’s an example.
[ AlanC@46 , yikes indeed , hope it goes well . Many congratulations , only three more years to your second Vinyl Anniversary . We had our first in March this year , in 33 and 1/3 years I have not received a single Red Cross parcel and not one letter from Amnesty International .
Sorry I cannot resist correcting an English Lit graduate – it is The Waste Land . ]
[Roz, that made me laugh, although that’s not easy at the moment].
Enjoyable but tough again. Funnily / annoyingly the ones that I had the most problems with were the themed clues – 19 and those referencing it. Didn’t see ‘tuber’ and was desperately trying to work OUTUBE into some kind of cat!
I liked CHARLOTTE, and knew the name, even though his commentary long pre-dates my TMS listening. I do wonder how long such a name continues to be acceptable? He’s been gone for 35 years and Wiki says he retired from commentary in 1980
Fabulous puzzle, thanks Brockwell, loads of great clueing, many smiles – some excellent misdirection, too many really good clues to call out favourites. Some tricky, but all gettable from one or other of synonyms, cryptics and/or crossers. That’s my definition of a fine crossword. Several tricky parses, managed them all, but had to confirm that Duke of York was a variety of potato (a cross-reference to 19 would have made it a bit easier) and that STATER was a “Greek” coin. Fortunately, I’m a cricket-lover (and Guardian-reader) of a generation for whom John Arlott was very well-known and loved. The hidden synonym in 19d was my Favourite misdirection, (fortunately not for too long) – “Kitty cheers up content from YouTuber” – I spent a couple of minutes looking for a synonym for Kitty with AT and four letters from YouTuber, before the penny dropped. More like this please
Sorry objectors, from a crossword point of view CHARLOTTE is easy enough to get from the definition, theme and crossers and should prompt solvers to look him up. John Arlott was/is a national treasure!
DangerMouse @32
Of course, your mention of Botham brings to mind a couple of other cricket commentators, Aggers and Brian Johnston.
PeterO @55
“Botham failed to get his leg over”?
PeterB @54
I wasn’t objecting, just wondering how well know he would have been.
Not That Paul @52 – I think a selection of today’s comments gives the answer to your question: I think he still has some mileage.
Just for fun, type ‘Beerbohm Tree, actor’ into Site Search – he was going for long after I started solving crosswords!
John Arlott was also responsible for bringing Basil D’Oliveira to England.
Another quote, on Asif Masood’s run-up ‘ like Groucho Marx chasing a pretty waitress.’
[If we are sharing stories of cricket commentators, one of my other favourites is Henry Blofeld visiting Australia:
Immigration officer: “Blofeld,eh? Master criminal, eh?”
Blofeld: “My dear chap, I didn’t realise it was still compulsory”]
[ AlanC@51 , did you have local anaesthetic ? or did they just show you videos of KPR v Charlton ? or maybe just read an in-flight magazine ? ]
John Arlott and the Lord’s ‘freaker’: https://youtu.be/7mWsvMipYKM?si=1FdZsqMQ0Joizzpl
[Ah John Arlott – he retired to the Channel Island of Alderney where he was often visited by Ian Botham who now also has a house there. Arlott’s house has a commemorative blue plaque so is readily identified. This was in my mind as I solved as I was thinking I needed to finish quickly to have time to get the airport to pick up family members returning from that very island. On another day, even a legend like John Arlott may have come to mind a little slower.]
Super puzzle – I thought Eve’s Pudding an indirect reference given a potato in Dutch, French and a few other languages is an “earth apple” or “ground apple”…
Poor AlanC – suffering from a broken tooth and also from the delusion that his wedding anniversary has any relevance for this blog.
I do like Brockwell’s puzzles. Thought HEAD was a classic.
AlanC @46
Congratulations – and commiserations: what rotten luck! Hope you’ve been able to salvage something from the day. x 🙂
Eileen @65
Thanks for posting that. I was thinking about posting that Art @63 was being a bit uncharitable.
AlanC – Hope the tooth extraction hasn’t put the mockers on your anniversary. Congratulations to you and Mrs C
Eileen @57 – yes, I get that in this case he’s still just about well enough known now, but for how long? I’m 50 and he retired before I was 5!
More though a general musing about how long it is reasonable to assume knowledge rather than a comment on this specific instance.
LATE crop and 1ST crop in there as well.
Paul@68 it is more a question of fame rather than just how long ago . I would hope most people would know of Gilgamesh but maybe not Kushim who is even earlier .
AlanC I hope your procedure went well and you recover enough that you can both enjoy your evening . I trust you know that my levity is just an attempt to cheer you up .
Wasn’t entirely happy with SMALL. Yes, a llama is a South American animal of the camel family, but is ‘South American’ a sufficient indicator?
I remember Simon Hoggart describing lunch with John Arlott at a test match on which Arlott was commentating. He said lunch, for Arlott, was four bottles of claret and a sausage.
Thank you everyone, we had a lovely M&S liquid meal. I only mentioned it because it was Roz’s magical 42. Obviously Art @63 missed the relevance and I look forward to his next pithy comment.
Surelly an unconscious patient by now isn’t etherized. No wonder nobody since Eliot has used the word!
Why does C = canine? a common dental reference?
Nho John Arlott, mash-up, Relate or Eve’s putting, which sounds delicious. I’ve downloaded the recipe and will take it to my next potluck.
Thanks to Brockwell and PeterO.
Oops, “pudding.” Somebody tried “rice” with it, I tried “plum”, neither of us got it.
What has become ofOh, the “edit” function
Oh, now it’s there! where was it when I wanted it?
Not helped by being ignorant of the various sorts of potato – completed but with quite a few unparsed. Thanks Brockwell and PeterO
Well, as usual we grew DESIRÉE and CHARLOTTE potatoes on our ALLOTMENT this year so there were a few smiles.
I left STATER because I couldn’t face searching all the Greek coins, and the possibility of TATER being a component eluded me too, so a DNF here.
I liked the cunning use of tuber a lot.
Cheers one and all.
Valentine@73: c = canine is an abbreviation given in Chambers, with an indication that the reference is indeed to dentistry. The ‘it’s in Chambers’ explanation doesn’t placate all solvers (see, for example, Joseph@36) and might be even less persuasive for those of you outside the UK.
I wondered if apples were considered nightshades, to expand the theme. Research says not technically, but they are often mistaken for them.
PeterO@55, not to mention CMJ 🙂
Gave this one another day, and solved a couple more. Still four undone. Mix of easy and difficult. LOI 26a ELATE unparsed. Some nice surprises along the way
Favourite was 21a HEAD, for brevity and a great surface. Same with 8d PEELINGS. Also 19d POTATO (clever fission), 20d ASCENT (“Appalacian trail”)
10a CHARLOTTE, now we’re supposed to know not only cricket terms, players, and venues, but also commentators?? Sheesh! (Lyssian@21 That’s on my watch list, so I’ll prioritize it, to hear Mr Arlott)
11a EVENTUALLY, I hear Manuel from Fawlty Towers in my head
[Belated happy anniversary AlanC@46, and condolences on the tooth]
Etherize – really! All dictionaries use s not z.I don’t mind obscure definitions – never heard of this- so logical parsing helps.Of course with a z the parsing itself is obscure.
Grrrrr!