Maybe not as challenging as some recent Saturday Prize Indy puzzles, but an enjoyable offering from Klingsor, with some nice surface readings…
I particularly enjoyed the image of a ‘reckless’ Doc slapping Happy in a seven-dwarf fight, at 12A, as well as the use of ‘twerk’ as an anagram indicator for 20D, a clue involving ‘Miley C’!
The ’lesser spotted’ quadruple definition for SPLIT, at 22D, was also impressive.
LOI was AMICABILITY at 13D, mainly because I had lazily put in GLISSANDO at 21A, without properly checking the anagram…or spotting that it was a plural.
I couldn’t see any obvious theme or Nina, but as usual somebody with keener senses than me might have done!
Thanks to Klingsor, for a relatively gentle workout – maybe I was just ‘on the setter’s wavelength’ with this one?…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | PERIDOT | Stone Age circle ignored by books (7) | Stone / PERI(O)D (age, ignoring O – circle) + OT (Old Testament, books) |
|
| 5A | MEDICAL | Examination papers perhaps left around college (7) | Examination / MEDI_A (papers, perhaps) around C (college), plus L (left) |
|
| 9A | TESTAMENT | Will mates go off camping, as it were? (9) | Will / STAME (anag, i.e. off, of MATES) in TE_NT (camping, as it were!) |
|
| 10A | ACERB | Rex gets stuck into terrific Bass bitter (5) | bitter / ACE (terrific) + B (bass) around R (Rex, king) |
|
| 11A | TORSO | Temperature approximately required for body part (5) | body part / T (temperature) + OR SO (approximately) |
|
| 12A | SLAPHAPPY | What Doc may do in fight with co-worker, being reckless? (9) | reckless / From the Seven Dwarfs – if Doc and Happy had a fight, Doc might slap Happy. |
|
| 14A | PERFORMING ARTS | E.g. drama and ballet star? (10,4) | e.g. drama and ballet / ‘star’ could be an anagram, i.e. PERFORMING, of ARTS |
|
| 17A | ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH | Novel by Zola caused hoo-hah, heartlessly portraying Midlands town (5-2-2-5) | Midlands town / anag, i..e ‘novel’, of BY ZOLA CAUSED H(oo-ha)H (heartlessly) |
|
| 21A | GLISSANDI | “Slidings” achieved primarily when playing? (9) | CD (cryptic definition) / anag, i.e. when playing, of SLIDINGS + A (first, primary, letter of achieved) |
|
| 23A | CUSHY | Check Yankee’s keeping us comfortable (5) | comfortable / CH (check) + Y (Yankee), around US |
|
| 24A | TROLL | Annoying poster essentially advertising bread? (5) | Annoying (internet) poster / T (middle letter, or essence, of adverTising) + ROLL (bread) |
|
| 25A | ELIMINATE | Get rid of the upper classes pocketing millions in America (9) | Get rid of / ELI_TE (upper classes) around (pocketing) M (millions) + IN + A (America) |
|
| 26A | ROSETTE | Favour memorisation in class? The opposite (7) | Favour (badge, or prize) / RO_TE (memorisation) around SET (class) |
|
| 27A | YARDARM | Something’s up with my radar beam (7) | beam (nautical) / anag, i.e. something’s up with, of MY RADAR |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | POTATO | Maybe Charlotte regularly visited Stuart in Number Two (6) | Maybe Charlotte / POO (number two!) around TAT (regular letters of ‘sTuArT’) |
|
| 2D | RESERVE | Retain missing page for book (7) | book / (P)RESERVE – retain – missing P – page |
|
| 3A | DRAGONFLY | Insect in bottle out of water, according to Spooner (9) | Insect / The Rev Spooner might have said FLAGON (bottle) DRY (out of water) |
|
| 4D | TREE SURGEON | One may treat elder son with greed, mostly – true, sadly (4,7) | One may treat elder / anag, i.e. sadly, of S (son) + GREE(D) (mostly) + TRUE |
|
| 5D | MAT | Complicated mass is dull (3) | double defn / a MAT can be a tangled mass of something, and MAT (or more usually MATT?) can be dull, not shiny |
|
| 6A | DEATH | Worry that daughter initially hates net curtains (5) | Curtains (the end!) / D (daughter) and H (initially Hates), around, netting, EAT (worry) |
|
| 7A | CREEPER | Engineers look closely around upturned trailer (7) | trailer (trailing plant) / RE (Royal Engineers) + PEER (look closely) + C (circa, around) – all upturned |
|
| 8D | LOBBYIST | In lean times follows old boy, one seeking political influence (8) | one seeking political influence / L_IST (lean) around OB (old boy) + BY (times) |
|
| 13D | AMICABILITY | Friendliness, keeping civil for a start? (11) | &lit-ish/cryptic double definition? Friendliness / AMI_ABILITY (friendliness) around C (first letter of civil) = AMICABILITY (also friendliness!) |
|
| 15D | GROUCHIER | Party leader finishes off resistance, creating more grumbling (9) | more grumbling / GROU(P) + CHIE(F) (party and leader, both with last letters off) + R (resistance) |
|
| 16D | GANGSTER | Criminal’s apprehension to take place in Germany (8) | Criminal / G_ER (Germany) around ANGST (apprehension) |
|
| 18D | HEINOUS | Wicked man’s in love with American (7) | Wicked / HE (man) + IN + O (zero, love) + US (American) |
|
| 19D | CASSAVA | Fool’s taken in by wine being a source of starch (7) | source of starch / C_AVA (wine) taking in ASS (fool) |
|
| 20D | LYCEUM | One misses Miley C twerking, entertaining University College (6) | College / LYCE_M (anag, i.e. twerking, of M(I)LEY C, less I – one) around (entertaining) U (University) |
|
| 22D | SPLIT | Leave port to share sweet dish (5) | quadruple definition! / SPLIT can mean to leave; a port (Capitalised); to share (out); and a sweet dish – banana split |
|
| 25D | ERE | Before dinner eat sandwiches (3) | Before / hidden word, i.e. sandwiched by, ‘dinnER Eat’ |
|
Thanks to Klingsor and mc_rapper67,
I must say I had a few cerebral aches and twinges after my cognitive workout, especially 12a which took me ages to get although was worth it when the penny dropped. Loved the “qd” in 22d, the first I can ever remember coming across.
Good stuff.
I went down a few blind alleys with this one but eventually got there, although PERIDOT and GROUCHIER were only parsed post-solve. Even though it was only a three-letter answer it took me a while to see MAT because the DD didn’t immediately occur to me when I didn’t have either of the crossers and I had been thinking that mass=m was part of the wordplay. I found this was a puzzle in which close attention to the wordplay was needed for plenty of the answers, and I thought it was a quality offering.
Surprised at how few comments there were here on an exceptionally well-clued puzzle. Almost no redundant link words; logically parseable (is that a word?) grammar throughout (only way into 6D!) ; uniformly rock-solid surfaces; clever and fresh constructions aplenty. Thanks, Klingsor, for the usual very rewarding challenge.
Fully agree with you, Monk.
I actually gave my praise for this crossword already earlier, see post #49 of a Picaroon puzzle (Jan 24) that fuelled a heated discussion [which had nothing to do with the excellent Picaroon].
“Almost no redundant link words; logically parseable (is that a word?) grammar throughout (only way into 6D!) ; uniformly rock-solid surfaces; clever and fresh constructions aplenty” : if I would have said a thing like that there, some would probably have criticised me even more than they [pluralis majestatis] already did, as being a pedant who thinks he has the unique vision on what correct cryptic grammar is. I decided not to talk about that anymore for a while (but I do think about it).