Another good and interesting puzzle from Gozo, as we have come to expect from him. Always a pleasure to solve and blog.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ALCESTIS |
Twisted elastic around skirt top for princess (8)
anagram (twisted) of ELASTIC and S (top of skirt) – mythical Greek princess rescued from Hades by HERACLES |
| 5 | THETIS |
Alien visitor embraced by this nereid (6)
ET (alien visitor) inside (embraced by) THIS – a sea nymph |
| 9 | THE FATES |
Goddesses chew this when arguing two points (3,5)
THE FAT (chew this when arguing) E S (two points, of the compass) – a mythical trio ensuring nobody escapes their destiny |
| 10 | ATHENA |
Goddess gets consistently good exam grades (6)
A THEN A (consistently good exam grades) – godess of wisdom and justice |
| 12 | APHRODITE |
Badly atrophied goddess (9)
ATROPHIED* anagram=badly – goddess of love and beauty |
| 13 | ORION |
Hunter is opening batsman, apparently, run out, backing up (5)
NO I (number one, opening batsman apparently) RO (run out) all reversed (backing up) – a giant hunter from Homer’s Odyssey |
| 14 | ODIN |
Job centre row in Valhalla (4)
jOb (centre of) DIN (row) – ruler of Valhalla, the hall of the slain |
| 16 | LEANDER |
Swimmer showing how to spell “ogle” in two halves (7)
LE AND ER is how to spell ‘leer’ (ogle) in two halves – swam across the Hellespont every night to be with Hero |
| 19 | ORPHEUS |
Sup with Hero disguised as musician (7)
anagram (disguised) of SUP with HERO – whose music could charm all worldly things |
| 21 | THOR |
Half-complete god (4)
THORough (complete, half of) – Norse god of strength and thunder |
| 24 | MINOS |
Juniors having no right to be king (5)
MINOrS (juniors) missing R (right) – king of Crete |
| 25 | TISIPHONE |
It’s me on the blower in fury (9)
TIS I (it’s me) on PHONE (the blower) – one of the Furies who enact punishment on wrongdoers |
| 27 | OSIRIS |
God’s very large flag (6)
OS (out size, very large) IRIS (flag, flower) – Egyptian god of the dead |
| 28 | HERACLES |
Champion removed thong from broken clothes hanger (8)
(CLothES HAngER)* anagram=broken missing THONG – the greatest of all Greek heros, rescuer of ALCESTIS |
| 29 | MEDUSA |
Gorgon at sea across the pond (6)
MED (sea) USA (across the pond) – one of the Gorgons, terrifyingly creatues with snakes for hair, so awful that looking at one would turn you to stone |
| 30 | GANYMEDE |
Beautiful youth, awfully mean and edgy (8)
anagram (awfully) of MEAN and EDGY – described by Homer as the most beautiful of all mortals |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ASTRAY |
Off course, Vauxhall car by yard (6)
ASTRA (Vauxhall car) by Y (yard) |
| 2 | CRECHE |
Councillor from the city – chap at nursery (6)
CR (councillor) EC (from the city, London postal code) HE (chap) |
| 3 | SHAKO |
Military cap has to be waved at kick-off (5)
HAS* anagram=to be waved then KO (kick off) |
| 4 | IBERIAN |
European in the same place with monarch and Scot (7)
IB (ibidem, in the same place) with ER (monarch) and IAN (common scottish name) |
| 6 | HOT POTATO |
Awkward matter seeing sexy Charlotte? (3,6)
HOT (sexy) POTATO (Charlotte, variety of potato) |
| 7 | THE BIRDS |
Suite, play and film (3,5)
triple definition – a suite by Ottorino Respighi, play by Aristopanes, film by Hitchcock |
| 8 | SPANNERS |
Wrenches for bridges? (8)
definition and cryptic definition – bridges span things |
| 11 | DEAL |
Peddle drugs from the inside, allegedly (4)
found in insiDE ALlwgwdly |
| 15 | DEERSKINS |
Newspaper department popular on Sundays, snapping Queen in leathers (9)
DESK (newspaper department) IN () popular on S (Sunday plural?) containing (snapping up) ER (The Queen) |
| 17 | FORM ROOM |
Class base supporting Mr Low turning up (4,4)
FOR (supporting) MR MOO (low) reversed (turning up) |
| 18 | OPEN MIND |
PM, done in, shattered, now receptive to new ideas (4,4)
(PM DOME IN)* anagram=shattered |
| 20 | SITE |
Location of 5 requiring backing somewhat (4)
found (somewhat) reversed (requiring backing) in thETIS |
| 21 | TESSERA |
Literary heroine having time for piece of mosaic work (7)
TESS (literary heroine) having ERA (time) – a tile from a mosaic |
| 22 | COLLIE |
Clash having released daughter’s dog (6)
COLLIdE (clash) missing D (daughter) |
| 23 | LESSEE |
Rent payer from the French diocese (6)
LES (the, French) SEE (diocese) |
| 26 | PEATY |
Blended a type of whisky? (5)
(A TYPE)* anagram=blended – Scotch whisky can be flavoured by peat smoke |
definitions are underlined
Thanks for a great blog, PeeDee.
I thought this was a delightful puzzle.
There were a number of nice touches – the goddess of wisdom getting good exam grades, the goddess of beauty being atrophied and the beautiful youth mean, as well as Leander and Hero appearing in consecutive clues / answers.
Favourite clues: LEANDER, TISIPHONE and HERACLES.
Many thanks, Gozo – I really enjoyed it.
I enjoyed this a lot – my initial fear that the theme would get in the way was not justified. I knew most of them and others came from the wordplay and electronic confirmation. Sadly I thought I knew it was ACLESTIS which left 2n impossible..
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
Yes, I enjoyed this too.
‘It’s me’ for TIS I made me smile, and I particularly liked both the ‘consistently good exam grades’ (a wise woman, Athena) and the ‘how to spell “ogle” in two halves’.
Mr Low had me going for a while. Thought it might be a reference to popular culture I might unaccountably have missed 🙂
Truly a joy to encounter this from one of our greats.
I echo all of the above.
Here’s another one who found this an excellent puzzle, perhaps the best of today’s broadsheet offerings.
I think it’s some kind of feat to have in the Acrosses hardly anything too obscure while at the same time having ‘normal’ Down solutions.
But indeed, as you say PeeDee, Gozo is perhaps the leader of the pack in these kind of crosswords.
If I were hedegehoggy (but I am not) I would question S for ‘Sundays’ (15d). Actually, and surprisingly, S for ‘Sunday’ (singular) is also not in my dictionaries.
I would also say that ‘fury’ in 25ac is false decapitalisation, something that purists do not accept.
The reversal indicator in 13ac (‘backing up’) is slightly unfortunate as it is an Across clue.
And finally, EC being ‘from the city’ (again with false decapitalisation) is not something we are used too – usually EC = ‘the City’.
But all in all, a very satisfying solve.
Many thanks to Gozo & PeeDee.
I also wondered about S for Sundays in 15d, especially as it is plural, and as Sil said, it doesn’t appear in dictionaries that I have to hand.
I didn’t worry about “backing up” in 13a, as in common English parlance it just implies “reversing”, without any gravitational reference, though again that meaning doesn’t seem to appear in Chambers or the compact OED
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
Very late to this one, but well worth the wait !!! Counted at least 15 mythological answers with many of the clues having further mythical characters in them – quite an achievement.
Last few in were DEERSKINS, ODIN and HERACLES.
A clever variety of clue devices with ATHENA, LEANDER and HERACLES my favourites in a long list.