We grapple again with Slormgorm today.
Nothing too strenuous, with a few chuckles in store.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | HERO |
Man who leads horse away from one knight (4)
|
| HERO[IN] (horse) minus (away from) {I (one) + N (knight)} | ||
| 8 | EXHAUSTING |
Ugh! Ain’t sex ridiculously tiring! (10)
|
| Anagram of (ridiculously) {UGH AIN’T SEX} | ||
| 10 | CLOSER |
Nobody on cocaine becomes more reserved (6)
|
| C (cocaine) + LOSER (nobody) | ||
| 11 | LAGER TOP |
Adulterated drink royal knocked over by crown (5,3)
|
| REGAL (royal) reversed (knocked over) + TOP (crown). I do not see this in Chambers. This is apparently a lager with a splash of something like lemonade on top, so “adulterated” is whimsical (or the declaration of a purist). | ||
| 12 | SWIMMERS |
Those crawling west engulfed by fumes (8)
|
| W (west) inside (engulfed by) SIMMERS (fumes), i.e., those doing the crawl. | ||
| 13 | REEFER |
Joint committee waver in the end on off-shore bank (6)
|
| REEF (off-shore bank) + last letters of (in the end) {[COMMITTE]E + [WAVE]R} | ||
| 15 | HARBOUR MASTER |
One monitoring and controlling salt intake? (7,6)
|
| Cryptic definition, “salt” here meaning “sailor” | ||
| 18 | OPIATE |
Number one covered by old and glib European (6)
|
| I (one) inside (covered by) {O (old) + PAT (glib)} + E (European) | ||
| 20 | PEDANTRY |
News chief must be locked in larder for nitpicking (8)
|
| ED. (news chief) inside (must be locked in) PANTRY (larder) | ||
| 22 | TIRAMISU |
Sweet truism I concocted without trace of acidity (8)
|
| Anagram of (concocted) {TRUISM I} around (without) first letter of (trace of) A[CIDITY] | ||
| 24 | AUTUMN |
Fall in gold corporation essentially engineers (6)
|
| AU (gold) + TUM (corporation) + middle letter of (essentially) [ENGI]N[EERS] | ||
| 25 | CONTINGENT |
Group able to restrict movement around Gulf (10)
|
| CONTINENT (able to restrict [bowel] movement) around G (Gulf). I do not see “G” for “Gulf” in Chambers, but it seems obvious enough. | ||
| 26 | REED |
Grass and drugs must be hidden in case of raid (4)
|
| {E + E} (drugs) inside (must be hidden in) outside letters of (case of) R[AI]D | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FELLOWSHIP |
Academic first to smoke joint in fraternity (10)
|
| FELLOW (academic) + first letter of (first to) S[MOKE] + HIP (joint) | ||
| 2 | CONSUMER |
Tory problem with old head of state and patron (8)
|
| CON (Tory) + SUM (problem) + ER (old head of state) | ||
| 3 | HEARSE |
Carriage that’s departed in South East passes judge (6)
|
| HEAR (judge) + SE (South East), with “passes” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 4 | BULGARIA |
State burial mistakenly buries German alive initially (8)
|
| Anagram of (mistakenly) BURIAL around (buries) first letters of (initially) {G[ERMAN] + A[LIVE]} | ||
| 5 | STARVE |
Don’t scoff at all if celeb gets very obese in the end (6)
|
| STAR (celeb) + V (very) + last letter of (in the end) [OBES]E | ||
| 6 | INFO |
Dope provided bit of optimism around North (4)
|
| {IF (provided) + first letter of (bit of) O[PTIMISM]} around N (North) | ||
| 9 | HOLY SCRIPTURE |
Pushy rector I struck with large bible (4,9)
|
| Anagram of (struck) {PUSHY RECTOR I + L (large)} | ||
| 14 | EAR TRUMPET |
Amp aperture repurposed to hold mike lead for tenor (3,7)
|
| {Anagram of (repurposed) APERTURE around (to hold) M (mike)} + first letter of (lead for) T[ENOR] | ||
| 16 | OBEDIENT |
Well-trained earl will block no bidet up (8)
|
| E (earl) inside (will block) anagram of (up) {NO BIDET} | ||
| 17 | TINCTURE |
Can smoke rings ultimately emit a slight aroma? (8)
|
| TIN (can) + {CURE (smoke) around (rings) last letter of (ultimately) [EMI]T} | ||
| 19 | AWAITS |
A contrary saying about match (not one beginning “England expects”) (6)
|
| A + {SAW (saying) around (about) TI[E] (match) minus (not) first letter of (one beginning) E[NGLAND]} all inverted (contrary) | ||
| 21 | DEARTH |
Want heavenly body? Start to diet first of all! (6)
|
| First letter of (start to) D[IET] + EARTH (heavenly body), with “first of all” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 23 | IDOL |
God left following confirmation in church? (4)
|
| I DO (confirmation in church, e.g., at a wedding) + L (left), with “following” indicating the order of the wordplay |
Middle of the road difficulty for me. I liked EXHAUSTING, TINCTURE, and FELLOWSHIP. I thought Slormgorm overplayed his hand with the “whimsical” definitions.
Thanks Cineraria for demonstrating how to parse HERO and the blog, and thanks Slormgorm for the puzzle
Bit of a pothead’s picnic this, with a couple of es thrown in, and then some of the hard stuff as well. At least nine reeferences (sorry!), might be a record. Good puzzle though, thanks both.
grantinfreo@2: Yes, I wrote and deleted a remark about it, but it is not exactly a theme — more of a vibe. I am glad someone else noticed it.
It was my first thought too, Grant and Cineraria (great blog). A record number of substance references? As a pick-me-up, I prefer TIRAMISU.
EXHAUSTING, PEDANTRY, HARBOUR MASTER and DEARTH were my picks today in a puzzle which I found very entertaining overall.
Thanks Slormgorm.
Enjoyable but 17d a tincture is a liquid not an aroma surely? But often a tincture of laudanum so at least it’s on theme. Thx all.
Jamesp@5: The definitions in Chambers include: “a quality or slight taste added to anything,” which I thought sounded general enough possibly to extend to smells. I would tend to think of a tincture as the liquid extract used to produce a particular smell, as an ingredient in perfume, for example, but perhaps a more figurative usage exists.
Another toughie, for me.
I suppose “gulf” converting to G holds water, but not likeable.
Conversely, I was OK with tincture, in its sense as a hint or slight trace of something, which equates to “a whiff”, I think.
I enjoyed the whimsy and the novelty, but not so much the concentration of the drugs, which is too common in cryptics these days ( a bit like Mr. Trump).
Very smart and original setting, and testing.
Thanks, Slormgorm & Cineraria
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
11ac: lager top is in Collins 2023 p 1099 under lager¹
25ac: Collins 2023 p 795 has G. or g. abbreviation for 1 Gulf.
17dn: Collins 2023 p 2070 has tincture 3 a slight flavour, aroma, or trace.