This was another enjoyable puzzle from Dac.
I wondered if this was going to be a pangram but I think we are a W and a Z short.
When I came to my final two entries was slightly surprised to see that they both offered the same letters A_M_N at 2 down and 26 across. Eventually the penny dropped for both of them
There were definitions today for both the entries and the wordplay that weren’t straight out the dictionary. A bit of lateral thinking was required in places.
I liked the definition ‘driver’s left’ for NEARSIDE in 16 / 19. Of course, for any overseas solvers who drive on the right, the definition is not quite right. The surface of the clue for CABALLERO at 7 down was good.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Eat cold meat with pickle for starters (5)
|
C (cold) + HAM (meat) + P (first letter of [for starters] PICKLE)
|
CHAMP (bite or chew; eat)
|
|
4
|
Fools swim to side of infernal river, we’re told (9)
|
DIP (reference go for a dip; go for a swim) + STICKS (sounds like [we’re told] STYX [river in Greek mythology that formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld; infernal river])
|
DIPSTICKS (fools)
|
|
9
|
Evoke memories about cars produced by engineer (9)
|
RE (with reference to; about) + MINIS (cars) + CE (Civil Engineer)
|
REMINISCE (recount memories; evoke memories)
|
|
10
|
Capital city partly near a battleground (5)
|
RABAT (hidden word in [partly] NEAR A BATTLEGROUND)
|
RABAT (capital city of Morocco)
|
|
11
|
Doubly evil sea dog (6)
|
SIN (moral offence; evil) + BAD (evil) giving double evil)
|
SINBAD (reference SINBAD the Sailor, fictional hero of a series of stories of Middle Eastern origin; sea dog
|
|
12
|
About noon, American writer rings for spicy food (8)
|
(VIDAL [reference American writer Gore VIDAL {1925 – 2012}] containing [about] N [noon]) + OO (two letters in the shape of a ring; rings) VI (N) DAL OO |
VINDALOO (type of very hot Indian curry; spicy food)
|
| 14 |
Caribbean island providing cocktail that’s French (10)
|
MARTINI (cocktail) + QUE (‘that is’ in French)
|
MARTINIQUE (Caribbean island) |
|
16 / 19
|
Driver’s left Newcastle area, on a journey bypassing south (8)
|
NE (North East [of England]; Newcastle area + A + (RIDE [journey] containing [bypassing] S [South]) NE A R (S) IDE |
NEARSIDE (In a left-hand drive car, the driver’s left will be the NEARSIDE) If you drive on the right in a left-hand drive car then this definition is not correct)
|
|
20
|
Cancelling visit home following bad weather’s return (7,3)
|
CALL (visit) + IN (home) + (F [following] + FOG [bad weather]) reversed (return) CALL IN (G OF F)< |
CALLING OFF (cancelling)
|
|
22
|
Church with a modest clergyman (8)
|
CH (church) + A + PLAIN (modest)
|
CHAPLAIN (clergyman)
|
|
23
|
Means of payment creates endless optimism, without question (6) |
CHEER (optimism) excluding the final letter R [endless] containing (without; outside) QU (question) CHE (QU) E |
CHEQUE (means of payment) |
|
26
|
US guitarist missing intro to Beatles song (5)
|
TAXMAN (Beatles song that was track 1 on the Revolver album 1966) excluding the first letter (missing intro) T
|
AXMAN (in America a guitar used in rock music, so an AXMAN could be a guitarist) |
|
27
|
Part of communications company organised chaperone (9)
|
Anagram of (organised) CHAPERONE OPENREACH* |
OPENREACH (the infrastructure division of the British telecommunications company BT Group; significantly involved in the rollout [or not] of superfast broadband which we might get in my neck of the woods in the next 18 months [if we’re lucky])
|
|
28
|
Dope stuck in sand hills near small coastal headland (9)
|
(GEN [information; dope] contained in [stuck in] DUNES [sand hills]) + S (small) DUN (GEN) ES S |
DUNGENESS (coastal headland in Kent, SE England)
|
|
29
|
Rushed round entrance to this Dutch town (5)
|
FLED (rushed) reversed (round) + T (first letter of [entrance to] THIS) DELF< T |
DELFT (Dutch town)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Noel Smith’s car needing repairs (9)
|
Anagram of (repairs) SMITH’S CAR CHRISTMAS* |
CHRISTMAS (Noel)
|
|
2
|
A boss promoted in management (5)
|
A + (MD [Managing Director; boss] reversed [promoted; down clue]) + IN A DM< IN |
ADMIN (administration; management)
|
|
3
|
Joke OK for Germans, to be repeated for Indians? (8)
|
PUN (joke) + JA (yes in German; OK for Germans) + BIS (in music a direction indicating that a section is to be repeated)
|
PUNJABIS (native or inhabitant of the PUNJAB region of India; Indians)
|
|
4
|
Regularly drowsy? So sleep (4)
|
Letters 1,3,5 and 7 [regularly] of DROWSY SO)
|
DOSS (sleep)
|
|
5
|
Earlier, vicar has entered in suitable fashion? (10)
|
REV (reverend; vicar) contained in (has entered) PIOUSLY (devoutly; religiously; in the style of a reverend) P (REV) IOUSLY |
PREVIOUSLY (earlier)
|
|
6
|
Angry outburst from left-winger perhaps, during match (6)
|
RAD (radical; left-winger) contained in (during) TIE ([e.g. football] match) TI (RAD) E |
TIRADE (angry outburst)
|
|
7
|
Horseman wants transport to go to Paris, nothing more (9)
|
CAB (form of transport) + ALLER (French for ‘to go’) + O (nothing)
|
CABALLERO (horseman)
|
|
8
|
Argument arising during MOT test (3-2)
|
SET TO (hidden phrase (during) reversed (arising; down clue) in MOT TEST) (SET TO)< |
SET TO (argument)
|
|
13
|
Singer Naomi’s dancing in square (4,6)
|
Anagram of (dancing) NAOMI’S contained in (in) NINE (square of three; 32=9) NI (NA SIMO*) NE |
NINA SIMONE (American jazz singer [1922 to 2003])
|
|
15
|
Daughter’s in the country cooking fish (3,6)
|
(REALM [kingdom] containing D’S [daughter’s]) + ON (cooking) RE (DS) ALM ON |
RED SALMON (type of fish)
|
|
17
|
Report of body discovered during fracas (5,4)
|
FLESH (body) contained in (discovered during) RIOT (fracas) RI (FLE SH) OT |
RIFLE SHOT (explosive noise; report)
|
|
18
|
Given security, with job being fixed (8)
|
CHORE (job) contained in (being fixed) AND (with) AN (CHORE) D |
ANCHORED (given security)
|
|
21
|
Vacuous girl, one adopting new look (6) |
GL (letters remaining in GIRL after all the central letters IR have been removed [vacuous]) + (ACE [one] containing [adopting] N [new]) GL A (N) CE |
GLANCE (look)
|
|
22
|
Cold, bitter vegetable (5)
|
C (cold) + HARD (bitter – I’m not too sure that HARD abd bitter are synonymous although perhaps both are associated with harsh or cruel)
|
CHARD (a type of vegetable)
|
|
24
|
Tremble, seeing game bird (5)
|
QUAIL (flinch; tremble)
|
QUAIL (genus of the partridge family; game bird) double definition
|
|
25
|
Spanish city, sure to be redeveloped (4)
|
Anagram of (to be redeveloped) SURE REUS* |
REUS (Spanish city in Catalonia
|
Thank you Dac and Duncan
I failed to solve 16/19a, 12a & 26a
New words for me were DUNGENESS & OPENREACH, and I needed Duncan’s help to parse 9a (“ce”), 2d, 10a, 13d, 21d.
My favourite was RIFLE SHOT.
Enjoyed the puzzle thoroughly – thank you, Dac! And thanks to Duncan for the blog, which helped me parse ADMIN and NEARSIDE – my entry for the latter was based purely on the definition and the crossing letters!
Re. 26d: Collins has axeman/axman defined as “a man who plays a musical instrument, esp a guitar” with the caveat of “US slang” added.
I hadn’t heard of either NINA SIMONE or the city or REUS, but both fell into place thanks to the wordplay and the crossing letters – a sign, for me, of well-set clues!
Had a blind spot with ADMIN. OPENREACH a bit difficult for one in Oz. Even though it seemed obviously an anagram, I thought I was missing something.
In 14A, “que” is French for “that”, not “that is”, so I suppose “that’s in French” has to be read as … well, I’m not sure (“que” is “that” in French?), perhaps Dac can explain.
Thanks to Dac and duncanshiell.
Thanks to setter and blogger,
I suffer from right-left disorientation so I’m probably wrong, but for 16/19 isn’t the NEARSIDE the side of the car closer to the kerb, that is to the left of a driver in a right (not left) hand drive car driving on the “correct” side of the road?
I found this v. enjoyable though pretty hard with 26 being my LOI – for some reason not a Beatles song I was familiar with. Yes, I liked 7 which brings to mind the classic “A Gay Caballero” by Frank Crumit. Worth a listen if you haven’t heard it.
Thanks again.
Great puzzle asual from Dac, though REUS and OPENREACH seemed odd inclusions, especially as they were both anagrams. Not easy!
Not easy, but very rewarding. The answers revealed themselves eventually, apart from REUS, which could have been UERS for all I knew. I also thought a pangram was coming when I got PUNJABIS and CHEQUE ( full marks for two Q’s in a puzzle!)
A good way to while away an afternoon in A&E while more deserving cases use up the NHS budget. I particularly liked DIPSTICKS and AXMAN, words invented within the last twenty years, unlike PESTILENT the other day.
Thanks to Dac for another gem, and to Duncan for the usual comprehensive blog.
Gwep (*3): OPENREACH = ‘missing something’ sounds pretty reasonable to me. I don’t think they should be defined as a telecomms company at all. Otherwise a pretty good XWord & blog.
Started well, but the last few took a while, and 26ac eluded me completely. Don’t think I knew the Beatles song and now that the answer has reminded me, I think I was vaguely aware of the guitarist meaning.
What can one say that hasn’t been said before. As always, a (fairly) straightforward puzzle from Dac and a comprehensive blog from Duncan. Thanks, both!
Guess I’m the only one that thought 7D should have had IN PARIS rather than TO PARIS then.
I’m not sure how TO PARIS says it should be in French.