Jambazi (a.k.a. Tramp) is one of my favourite setters and one I’d like to see more of in both the Indy and the G.
He is known for hard puzzles, and if I hadn’t been blogging this I might not have finished it. Although the first half of the answers went in readily (and very enjoyably), and most of the rest after a struggle, I was stuck on the last few – particularly a crossing bunch in the top left corner: 1, 2, 9, 4. Of course, once solved I found they were well worth the solving effort and wonder what made them so hard.
The number of lavatorial and smutty clues here makes it look like he is staking his claim to be the next setter in Private Eye should Cyclops hang up his monocle.
(Some time after writing that I perused the archives and found that exactly a year ago mc_rapper said almost exactly the same thing see blog for Indy 8524 <link>). Jambazi replied to a tweet to say he hadn’t meant the grid to be rude – it just came out that way! So thanks to Jambezi!
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SCONES | Food feature of motorway service stations, primarily sandwiches (6) CONE (feature of motorway) inside S and S from S[ervice] S[tations] – insertion indicated by ‘sandwiches. One of the last clues I got and a great clue. |
| 5 | GENIALLY | Cheerfully at home, say turning to friend (8) IN (at home) E.G. (say) all reversed, then ALLY (friend) |
| 9 | SCHMOOZE | Discharge school master before gossip (8) SCH[ool] M[aster] OOZE (discharge). Another one of the last clues I got and a devil to solve. |
| 10 | THIEVE | Appropriate birth, i.e. ventouse extraction (6) Hidden in birTH I.E. VEntouse. First clue solved. |
| 11 | ESTATE AGENTS | Dealers in houses after drug, mess with plants? (6,6) E (drug) STATE (mess – as in the state of my desk) AGENTS (plants – as in spies/moles/stool-pigeons etc.) |
| 13 | WINO | Heavy drinker to lose everything? (4) WIN 0 (zero) |
| 14 | INCOMERS | Immigrants are, we hear, consumed by wages (8) R (homophone “are”) inside INCOMES (wages) |
| 17 | ASTEROID | Like star on a drug (8) A STEROID (a drug) – Asteroids were so called by William Herschel because, although they moved across the firmament like planets, given the power of the telescopes of the time they appeared to be points of light, like stars. |
| 18 | DIET | Stop model making food (4) DIE (Stop) T (model) |
| 20 | ELEPHANT’S EAR | Ultimately, large plant here as in arrangement? (9-3) [larg]E (PLANT HERE AS)* AInd: in arrangement. &Lit. A plant whose large, thick leaves are shaped like an elephant’s ear. I had never heard of a plant so called (see wiki starting here) but given the anagram fodder and guided by crossing letters and letter count it could be little else |
| 23 | BONSAI | Tea in pot? Irish singer spoke endlessly (6) BON[o] SAI[d] Last in. Thought this from the fact that not much else fitted the crossing letters, and eventually understood the wordplay. I was very misled by the definition and did not know that a tea tree is often a bonsai tree |
| 24 | IDENTITY | Name of institute with books to get into God (8) I[nstitute] then NT (books) inside DEITY |
| 25 | KNEE-JERK | Without thinking, idiot finishes joint (4-4) JERK (idiot) after KNEE (joint) |
| 26 | MADE DO | Managed crazy European party (4,2) MAD (crazy) E[uropean] DO (party) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | COCK | Member to stand up conspicuously (4) Double Def. |
| 3 | NUMBER ONE | Piss myself (6,3) Double Def. |
| 4 | SMOOTH | Subject to debate in quiet flat (6) MOOT (Subject to debate) in SH (quiet!). Penultimate clue answered and I reckon hardest to get without all crossing letters |
| 5/7 | GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE | I also imagined that gent left a skidmark in the pants, one admitted (5,5,5,5) (GENT L[eft] A SKIDMARK IN THE + I (one admitted))* AInd: pants. Very pleased to get this early on mainly from the definition and letter count. One of those where checking the anagram is left till writing the blog |
| 6 | NUTHATCH | Bird to sit on head first (8) NUT (head) HATCH (to sit on). One of my favourite little birds |
| 8 | LAVATORIES | Places to go in city — changes to parts (10) LA (city) VARIES (changes) TO (parts – put inside) Last wordplay to be deduced |
| 12 | TINSELTOWN | Model won’t listen to Hollywood (10) (WON’T LISTEN)* AInd: model |
| 15 | MODERATED | Controlled teenagers from ’60s and ’50s with period inside (9) ERA (period) inside MOD and TED (those teens – now mostly pensioners) |
| 16 | WOMANISE | Play around with a semi? No, drunk (8) (W[ith] A SEMI NO)* AInd: drunk |
| 19 | REDEEM | Cash in on diamonds, essentially need money (6) RE (on) D[iamonds] [n]EE[d] M[oney] |
| 21 | POSSE | Small model entertaining group (5) S[mall] inside POSE (model) |
| 22 | STUD | Potent man mostly learning (4) STUD[y] |
Thanks to Jambazi and beermagnet,
Yes, I really liked this one – NBN.
I too was stuck in the NW corner until I finally solved 1a which helped with the others. 9a was my LOI and I thought it was a beauty. Thanks for explaining the parsing of 8d and 23a, neither of which I could work out myself.
By the way, ELEPHANT’S EAR appeared at St. Elsewhere’s recently (can’t remember where exactly) so even though I knew nothing about it (thanks for the link) it was one of those lucky ones which undeservedly went straight in.
Thanks again.
As a regular reader of, but infrequent contributor to, this site, am I alone in finding over-indulgence in scatology and sexual innuendo tiresome? It isn’t clever, and it isn’t grown-up.
I mentioned the same thing a while ago xenopus, I have stopped bothering with some setters because of the tedium, I hope Jambazi doesn’t become one of them.
Occasionally it reminds me of the child who has just learnt that ‘bum’ is rude and has to be ignored to stop them saying it.
That said, I’m slightly surprised that the blogger didn’t manage 2d at the first pass as I did.
I really enjoyed this. I’m ok with the smut to be honest, and I’m all for a few Private Eye style clues cropping up in the mainstream puzzles. Having said that, COCK was my LOI after SCHMOOZE, and I agree that the NW corner was the trickiest part of this puzzle.
Thanks for the superb blog and very kind words beermagnet — I appreciate it.
Neil
No, xenopus, you’re not alone, but don’t expect an outpouring of sympathy here. Even if most are not bothered, I’m sure some will be — and I can’t imagine any will be delighted. Is there any adult solver out there who thinks “Oh, goody! A clue about penises! Tee-hee.”? The smutty or scatological clues aren’t even a novelty any more, so what’s the point?
Another enjoyable puzzle from Jambazi. Liked TINSELTOWN, WOMANISE and the ‘tea in pot’ definition particularly.
Thanks for comments (I forgot to change the name in the post @5).
Neil
I think xenopus and sidey are being a little tedious (I could use a ruder word) themselves. Such humour is now and has always been part of everyday life, and is much enjoyed by most adults as well as children. Keep’em coming!
Thank you, Tatrasman, for your restraint (!). The key word in my comment was “over-indulgence”. Like Andy B, I enjoy the occasional witty rudery. But, like sidey, I sometimes feel the setter is trying too hard to impress us with his naughtiness. Still, each to his/her own.
Very rude and enjoyable, but coming two days after an equally rude donk was probably misguided by the editor. Found it quite easy for a Saturday let alone jambazi but the rude stuff was OTT.
I think scat has to be VERY good to be endurable. So it was very nice (not) to have clues about urine AND faeces in one puzzle. On the plus side, I really liked the clue for WINO.