Brummie provides this week’s Prize puzzle.
Timon and I didn’t get to solve many clues on the first pass, but there were just enough to enable us to start using the crossers and in the end we finished it in our usual hour. As usual with a Brummie puzzle, the surfaces were concise and often witty. There was just one clue, at 27 across, which we couldn’t fully parse, so your comments and suggestions are more than usually welcome. There was no theme or nina, at least as far as we could see.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | BED LINEN |
Sack cord attached to new sheets? (3,5)
|
| BED (sack – as in “hit the sack”), LINE (cord) N(ew). | ||
| 9 | GRIFT |
Republican beset by donation swindle (5)
|
| R(epublican) inside GIFT. A term that’s become familiar in the analysis of the US midterm election results. | ||
| 10, 11 | DROP EVERYTHING |
Abandon all current tasks to empty the bomb bays? (4,10)
|
| An amusing double definition. | ||
| 11 |
See 10
|
|
| 12 | PEEWIT |
Tinkle, the comedian gets the bird (6)
|
| PEE (tinkle), WIT (comedian). This meaning of “tinkle” is described by Chambers as being used particularly by or to children. | ||
| 14 | SENTINEL |
Defender consigned to stand by line, being drunk (8)
|
| SENT (consigned), *LINE. | ||
| 16 | ORATORY |
Nothing right with a politician’s speechifying (7)
|
| O (nothing) R(ight) A TORY. | ||
| 18 | STADIUM |
Makes us admit it’s pitch? (7)
|
| *(US ADMIT); “pitch” is defined in Chambers as “a place set apart for playing or practising a game” so the definition is justified, although I can see why Brummie added the question mark. | ||
| 21 | UPPERCUT |
Stunner’s superior cleavage (8)
|
| UPPER (superior) CUT (cleavage). | ||
| 23 | DO DOWN |
Two party success – one goes ‘swindle!’ (2,4)
|
| DO DO (two parties), W(i)N (success with “one” gone). | ||
| 24, 26 | FRESHWATER FISH |
Carp about the sheriff’s war? (10,4)
|
| *(THE SHERIFFS WAR). | ||
| 26 |
See 24
|
|
| 27 | SHORN |
Maybe Mr Bean’s said to be more than half cut (5)
|
| A homophone of Sean (Bean); I can’t adequately explain “more than half” as the clue seems to work perfectly well with those words omitted. | ||
| 28 | RESTORER |
Fixer gets to stop working with rock star finally (8)
|
| REST (stop working) ORE (rock) (sta)R. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NEAR BEER |
Keen drinker’s favoured place – but not for this? (4,4)
|
| Double definition. “Near beer” is an American term for low or zero alcohol beers. | ||
| 2 | FLOP |
Left inside swell American place to sleep (4)
|
| L(eft) inside FOP (swell). | ||
| 3 | INGEST |
‘Eat!’ said as a joke (6)
|
| Sounds like “in jest”! An old chestnut, but none the worse for that. | ||
| 4 | UNLEASH |
Relative, about to depart, wants a quiet release (7)
|
| UN(c)LE (relative less c – about), A SH (quiet). | ||
| 5 | UGLY |
Revolting caveman’s utterance, put heartlessly? (4)
|
| UG (supposedly said by cavemen), L(a)Y (put). | ||
| 6 | HIGH-MINDED |
Looking to get a hit from a drug, say, that’s pure? (4-6)
|
| HIGH (to get a hit from a drug), MINDED (looking, as in I’m looking to do this = I’m minded to do this) | ||
| 7 | STANCE |
Second-time political party takes ultimately futile position (6)
|
| S(econd) T(ime) ANC (African Natiional Congress) (futil)E. | ||
| 13 | WITNESS BOX |
Watch case’s telling place in a court (7,3)
|
| WITNESS (watch) CASE (box). A nicely constructed definition. | ||
| 15 | NIT |
Charlie’s egg (3)
|
| Another double definition. | ||
| 17 | ROC |
‘No modern technology in Cairo, sadly’ – legendary flier (3)
|
| *CAIRO less AI (modern technology). | ||
| 19 | UNWASHED |
Dirty, single-coated timber (8)
|
| ASH (timber) inside UNWED (single). | ||
| 20 | STATURE |
Standing figure straddling river (7)
|
| R(iver) in STATUE (figure). “Standing” here is a noun not an adjective as the surface suggests. | ||
| 22 | PHRASE |
Sound of free-for-alls put into words? (6)
|
| Sounds like “frays” (as in affray). | ||
| 23 | DURESS |
Force of habit to skirt university (6)
|
| U(niversity) insider DRESS (habit). | ||
| 25 | WINO |
Achieve diddly-squat as an alcoholic (4)
|
| WIN 0. | ||
| 26 | FLOG |
Game’s over for whip (4)
|
| GOLF (rev). |
For the surface of 27, “half cut” means drunk, so more than that, very drunk. Also shorn in eg sheep-shearing means totally or severely clipped.
WINO was very good, and DO DOWN was cute, I’m not sure NEAR BEER could be considered a “double definition”, more like a Cryptic Definition really.
Thanks B&B
Ronan @1, so then the def is “more than half cut” ? …
grantinfreo @3, I think that would be a reasonable reading.
[Note in passing: the name of the animated character Shaun the Sheep is a pun on shorn.]
I still don’t see how Mr Bean = Sean. I understand how Sean = Shorn, but I’m missing that first step in the solution.
Thanks Brummie for a worthy prize puzzle. Most of this slipped in without angst but I stalled in the SW and missed both PHRASE (should have seen that one) and SHORN (no hope for that one). My top picks were UPPERCUT (COTD), INGEST, STATURE, and WINO. Thanks bridgesong for the blog.
Kangakam @5 – the surface would lead us to think of the comic character Mr Bean, played by Rowan Atkinson, but there are other people called Mr Bean, including the famous actor Sean Bean.
Thanks Larry @7 – I did, indeed, run down the Rowan Atkinson rabbit hole and could not find my way back.
Thanks bridgesong. Like you, I didn’t have many entries on the first pass but made steady progress after that and enjoyed it. I never had any difficulty in accepting that SHORN = more than half cut, if the sheep had only been half cut it wouldn’t have been shorn.
I agree with Antonine @2 about NEAR BEER. Also a thing I’d never heard of which took me far longer to get than the whole of the rest of the puzzle, despite having all the crossers.
Another who hadn’t heard of NEAR BEER which held me up in the NW.
Liked: INGEST (first time I’d seen it), PHRASE, WITNESS BOC, ROC, UNLEASH
Thanks Brummie and bridgesong
Thanks for the blog , good set of clues , neat and concise , lots of space in the paper .
SHORN , I agree with Ronan@1 , the second half is the definition and the first half the wordplay . In A Close Shave the stray lamb gets into the Knit-O-Matic machine and has a very severe haircut so Wallace names him Shaun .
NEAR BEER is new to me but had to be right , perhaps favored could have been used to indicate a US term .
I was not on Brummie’s wavelength at all. I spent a long time staring at it before the light dawned, but it seems I was not alone in this. There were some clues where my reaction was “I suppose that’s right” rather than aha. After reading the blog this seems unfair on a perfectly good puzzle.
I failed on SHORN. I’ve heard of Sean Bean so no excuse, but I ended up with an unparsed CLOWN, and PIRACY as in free for alls and breach of copyright.
I liked the two long clues DROP EVERYTHING and FRESHWATER FISH, and also INGEST and PEEWIT.
Thanks to Brummie and to bridgesong for the excellent blog.
Good fun and neat cluing.
Favourites were UNWASHED and GRIFT.
I noticed PEEWIT, SENTINEL, DODO and ROC – not sure this is enough for a Theme
Not heard of near beer.Too many Americanisms creeping in!
I found this reasonably straightforward. My final clues were similar to others though; NEAR BEER and SHORN. I’m sure that the Mr Bean trick has been played before, but it still sidetracked me. I liked UPPERCUT and SENTINEL – a good word.
Thanks Bridgesong and Timon.
I’ve just realised that the mug I often drink tea from while doing crosswords has the original Shaun from A Close Shave on it. (By dint of always hand washing it and keeping it from the clutches of the dishwasher, it’s hardly faded after all this time. ) However, I don’t remember making the connection at the time, although I have a tick by SHORN for the Rowan Atkinson misdirection. I also see I have question marks by UNWASHED and UGLY suggesting I had trouble with the parsing, but I can’t see why now. I remember HIGH MINDED was my LOI and it took me some time to think of it. A fun puzzle,
Thanks Brummie and bridgesong.
I had ‘nut’ for NIT, what a nitwit. Must try harder.
Heartening to see so many struggled with NEAR BEER like me, although I did have an impressive list of words that could fit with the crosses! For 15D I had NUT on the basis of ‘a right Charlie’ and egg definition. It seems to me to work as well as NIT as solution. Mixed bag of clues which kept me going over several sessions.
I see Redrodney #19 says the same on 15D – comment was posted while I typed mine! Glad to not be alone on this.
Good straightforward crossword, which I remember seemed easier than the average weekday one – I do usually seem to be on Brummie’s wavelength. NEAR BEER was one of my favourites: it was a term I knew, though I wasn’t aware it was of US (Prohibition) origin. My other top clues included PEEWIT, STATURE, GRIFT.
Thanks Brummie and bridgesong.
Nho of NEAR BEER.
Why ‘makes’ rather than ‘make’ in 18a?
DNF because of the awful hormophorne at 27a, which I couldn’t see in a week of staring.
I thought this was fairly straightforward for a Prize Puzzle but entertaining anyway. I liked DROP EVERYTHING from the bomb bays, the stunner’s UPPERCUT, the RESTORER working with rock star, the relative about to UNLEASH, and the UNWASHED timber.
Thanks Brummie and bridgesong.
*Possible sour grapes alert*
Even if you work out “keen drinkers favourite place”, if you don’t know the other meaning you can’t be sure it’s correct. The clue is much harder than probably intended if you don’t know that meaning.
Pic @23 “makes” works as well as “make”, so why not?
poc#23
Why do you think “make” is better in 18a?
What is the difference between Sean and shorn in your language?
I’m not happy with STADIUM being the equivalent of pitch. The Chambers definition of the first is too loose. My Oxford Concise puts it better. Pitch- the area of play in a field game. Stadium – a sports ground with tiers of seats for spectators. The school teams I coached played on many pitches but never in a stadium of which at the time there were only two locally, Villa Park and St Andrews.
I enjoyed this puzzle. Brummie’s mind did need a bit of tuning into. 21 across was a fine misdirection, with “red top” tabloid language making a guest appearance.
When a solution features something I’ve never heard of, it can fall into either the “unfair / frustrating” category, or “educational / smug”, depending on whether I worked it out or not. NEAR BEER had to wait until I got all the crossers; an hunch that at least one of the words would be BEER; and then systematic working through the alphabet. Looking up “Near Beer” to confirm the definition, I found it in my Chambers Dictionary under “Near”, although not under “Beer”.
As for 27 across, I think the “more than half” adds some surface flourish and misdirection, regarding drunkenness, even the wording would be more economical without it.
Loiner @26 That is either a very parochial question or a very disingenuous one. I’m sure poc can answer for himself, but there are many non-rhotic speakers who are habitues of this forum but who nonetheless acknowledge that soundalikes which rely on the non-pronunciation of medial ‘r’s in words such as SHORN privilege non-rhotic speakers and in so doing marginalise many Scottish, Irish and other users of English.
PS I concur with Zoot @2f7.
Balfour@29: exactly. I’d add that in the case in point there’s also a different vowel sound, i.e. Sean sounds like ‘shawn’ to me, but ‘shorn’ (passing over the ‘r’) sounds like ‘shown’.
I remember this sort of thing coming up when our children were learning about homophones in school. There were a couple of parents we knew who are from Lancashire, and for whom “fairy” is a perfectly good sound-alike for “furry”. And “look” might have written one of the gospels.
There is a built-in RP assumption I suppose. I know it’s not always a laughing matter.
Balfour@29
Clearly, a disingenuous one, as I could not imagine an accent where the two sounded differently, irrespective of rhoticity.
poc@30
I will just have to accept that your English is very different to mine.
I once shared a house with a Glaswegian friend, and a lad called Earl moved in. The friend pronounced it “Errol”, and couldn’t get his head, or tongue, around the southern pronounciation.
Loiner@32: Indeed, (though I would say different ‘from’ mine …). My objection is not that pronunciations vary between speakers or regions, but that crosswords simply assume that everyone uses the non-rhotic variant. Sometimes I can get it, but other times (such as here) it causes genuine difficulty. More cosmopolitan setters will sometimes include a hint (e.g. “some say”) but I’m afraid they are a minority.
Got a late start because of a busy weekend, but was able to chip away at it between weekday puzzles. Now I see I failed on 15d NIT (NUT, like Redrodney@19 and Hastings Honey@20), so missed completing by one letter — unless we can make a case for it as a legitimate solution?
Some great surfaces, including 9a GRIFT, 16a ORATORY, 21a UPPERCUT. Other favourites, 1d NEAR BEER (funny), 4d UNLEASH (enjoyable wordplay), 19d UNWASHED (concise), and others
Although 27d SHORN was annoying because of the non-rhotic soundalike (thanks Balfour@29), it also brought a smile by invoking the wonderful SHAUN THE SHEEP
Thanks bridgesong and Timon, and Brummie for a fine puzzle
…Sorry, 27a…
Tim@33: then there is the Irish pronunciation of film as “fillum”. Nations vary on which two-consonant sounds they can easily pronounce: when learning German you will meet “pf” as in pfennig and pferd (horse), and the inability of the French to say “th” is legendary. The word “shibboleth” for a cultural signifier comes from the inability of the Biblical Ephraimites to pronounce its Hebrew “sh” sound: it was the password and anybody who could only say “sibboleth” was immediately identifiable as an enemy. If Scotland ever does gain its independence, some word with a conspicuous rhotic R could be similarly employed.
Thanks Gladys @37. Indeed.
gladys@37 “Braveheart” perhaps?
I remember fondly the TV show “What The Papers Say”, and the voice caricatures of the columnists.
Whenever the indignation of rhotic speakers is aroused by claimed homophones, and they comment on the fact, I always hear their words mentally in the that show’s rendition of the late John Junor’s voice for some reason.
Cheers all.
Is there a term for people who sound the h in rhotic ?
Since I know everything I recall hearing FLOP from Kirk talking to Spock in The City on the Edge of Forever .
I always thought that to DO someone DOWN (23A) was to denigrate them rather than to swindle them. Very enjoyable puzzle though
Happy enough with the puzzle. Liked 21ac, 23ac, 4d, 22d. Not bothered by the homophone disputes. Didn’t like 1d (never used in the UK, got it with help from a word fitter) or 5d (rather weak).
Roz 41:
Yes: Welsh.