A challenging puzzle from Neo.
This puzzle requires a fair bit of general knowledge to complete it, most of it fairly well known (ROCKY, eg), but ISIS and GOLDIE, and XANADU may only be known to sports fans and movie buffs (thankfully I fall into both categories). After my first pass, I had a lot of unsolved clues, but ANTEPENULTIMATE provided a few crossers, which helped. A couple of parsings held me up for a bit. SILENT was very obvious once I came back to it, and BONDHOLDER was very clever.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | SAN MARINO |
Oarsman wanders round home in landlocked country (3,6)
|
| *(oarsman) [anag:wanders] round IN (“home”) | ||
| 10 | BOTOX |
Worth occasionally going into Spar for wrinkle reducer (5)
|
| (w)O(r)T(h) [occasionally] going into BOX (“spar”) | ||
| 11 | AMPUTEE |
John Silver? Alpha male turned up with peg (7)
|
| A (alpha) + M (male) + <=UP (“turned”) with TEE (“peg”) | ||
| 12 | HOLSTER |
What secures arm in place for drawing? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | ASH |
When hot, this Etna spews out (3)
|
| AS (“when”) + H (hot) | ||
| 14 | URBAN LEGEND |
Pope with support to complete some Apocryphal tale? (5,6)
|
| URBAN (the name of eight “popes”) with LEG (“support”) + END (“to complete”) | ||
| 17 | ANTEPENULTIMATE |
PA met Lieutenant Batty with two more to come (15)
|
| *(pa met lieutenant) [anag:batty] | ||
| 19 | BOXER SHORTS |
Rocky films? Pants (5,6)
|
| BOXER (“Rocky” Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone) + SHORTS (“films”) | ||
| 21 | ASS |
American behind in Kansas regularly (3)
|
| (k)A(n)S(a)S [regualrly] | ||
| 23 | TINFOIL |
Slave gathering in fine wrapping material (7)
|
| TOIL (“slave”) gathering IN + F (fine) | ||
| 25 | BRISTOL |
Port riots uncontrolled in Central Dublin (7)
|
| *(riots) [anag:uncontrolled] in [central] (du)BL(in) | ||
| 26 | ORDER |
Ruling class (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | ERUDITION |
Issue involving sport scholarship (9)
|
| EDITION (“issue”) involving RU (Rugby Union, so “sport”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ASTANA |
Capital features in last analysis (6)
|
| Hidden in [features in] “lAST ANAlysis”
Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan |
||
| 2 | SNAPSHOT |
Photograph attempt on goal after game? (8)
|
| SHOT (“attempt on goal”) after SNAP (card “game”) | ||
| 3 | LAST SUPPER |
Stay with drinker for carpenter’s farewell (4,6)
|
| LAST (“stay”) with SUPPER (“drinker”) | ||
| 4 | PIKE |
Weapon for spearing fish (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | DOG HANDLER |
Manager taking lead? Staff up for protecting good name (3,7)
|
| <=ROD (“staff”, up) for protecting G (good) + HANDLE (“name”) | ||
| 6 | ABEL |
First victim having enough strength reportedly (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reportedly] of ABLE (“having enough strength”) | ||
| 7 | STATUE |
United in mess — bust, maybe (6)
|
| U (United) in STATE (“mess”) | ||
| 8 | OXBRIDGE |
Whence Isis and Goldie steer to reach across? (8)
|
| OX (“steer”) + BRIDGE (“to reach across”)
The reserve rowing boats for the University boat race are Isis (Oxford) and Goldie (Cambridge) |
||
| 15 | BONDHOLDER |
Investor acting as lender — such as Lisbon dealer? (10)
|
| “lisBON Dealer” holds BOND, so is a BONDHOLDER | ||
| 16 | EVIL SPIRIT |
The Demon Drink? (4,6)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | AMBITION |
Drive in range with ball slicing in (8)
|
| AMBIT (“drive”) with O (ball) slicing IN | ||
| 18 | ABATTOIR |
American trio playing outside club — stunning location? (8)
|
| A (American) + *(trio) [anag:playing] outside BAT (“club”) | ||
| 20 | XANADU |
Kane’s estate also has a lodging inside by university (6)
|
| AND (“also”) has A lodging, inside X (‘by”, in multiplication) + U (University)
Xanadu was the hilltop mansion owned by Kane in the classic Orson Welles movie, Citizen Kane, |
||
| 22 | SILENT |
Dumb as leading character in Psycho (6)
|
| The “leading character in Psycho” is SILENT (silent P) | ||
| 24 | OGRE |
Giant conger-eel oddly ignored (4)
|
| (c)O(n)G(e)R (e)E(l) [oddly ignored] | ||
| 25 | BLUE |
Sporty sort down and dirty (4)
|
| Triple definition, the third referring to pornography. |
May be it’s my age, but the various pieces of GK were reasonably easy; ‘though ASTANA was beyond my ken…very clear wordplay to get there.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, it’s excellent setting across the board, and some very smart plays.
Top marks for HOLSTER, BONDHOLDER, and SILENT.
Lovely stuff, NEO & loonapick
Yes, a very enjoyable puzzle from Neo. Really liked SILENT, the BLUE triple def and BOXER SHORTS (to cover 21 across!)
Thanks Neo and Loonapick
Dnk the boat names, and had forgotten that Kane’s castle was named after the Khan’s (here, Xanadu is a swish winery built by a mining magnate, hey ho). Smooth bunch of clues from Neo, carpenter’s supper was cute, thx to them and to loona.
English homework one day in c.1964 was to learn the first dozen or so lines of Coleridge’s Kubla Khan (“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan … “). I can still remember most of it.
That’s a coincidence Hector. I had a similar English homework (though a few years later) and learned the whole thing. Still can recall it (though I remember having to correct the odd word or two when I reread it in the first Dirk Gently book).
Lovely puzzle – tho tricky in the bottom half.
Never heard of the OXBRIDGE boats.
Loved the carpenter’s farewell
Also liked: AMPUTEE, URBAN LEGEND
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Fun puzzle with some great clues as already mentioned . General knowledge pretty basic.
Small correction to the excellent blog.17d should be AMBIT(range) rather than(drive ).
Thanks to Neo and loonapick.
I struggled a bit till I used an anagram solver for 17ac, after which a few problems were overcome with a little thought. It’s so long since I saw Citizen Kane that I’d forgotten Xanadu along with most of the rest of the film and I wondered if ‘Kane’ was a typo for ‘Khan’. Favourite was another answer with an X – OXBRIDGE.
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
Hector/Hovis, what with crowding out by other works* and a weird selection of literature electives on my part, I didn’t study Kubla Khan until I was in college, but yes, I managed to memorize the first several lines even though it wasn’t required! (*As you can probably imagine, US literature courses mix in a lot more American writers than British ones do.)
I’m another who doesn’t know anything about Oxbridge rowing traditions, so I needed all of those crossing letters to get that one in.
The clue for EVIL SPIRIT is an odd one, as it’s sort of a definition and a half. “The Demon” is an evil spirit, and the sort of person that calls alcohol “The Demon Drink” would also say that spirits are evil, but you can’t quite call it a double-def, since “demon” is doing double duty.
A difficult but enjoyable crossword. Most of the GK was within my ken, the 2nd VIIIs being the exception.
Among several nice surfaces, I best liked ORDER (succinct), ABATTOIR (great surface), and URBAN LEGEND & BOXER SHORTS (both elicited a smile).
Does Eve not count as a victim (‘a person who is taken advantage of, a dupe” according to my dictionary), before ABEL?
Thanks Neo and loonapick
I’m feeling very pleased with myself. I didn’t finish, but I’ll give myself 8/10.
Antepenultimate, Oxbridge and Last Supper all had me stumped.