Ooo, I struggled a bit with this one.
I had what felt like a slow start, but then cold-solved a clutch of down clues which led to a few others, so was happy enough to end up with about a dozen on the first pass. But crucially not the theme answer 6D or any of the 4 longish clues referring to it. It took the Y from TEAPOY to enable me to get 6D OXYMORON (but I still don’t understand the wordplay). Then the most pleasurable part of the solve: Trying to think of oxymorons to fit. The last of those I found very hard to get – Definite Maybe – it was a cracking clue and definitely my favourite of the grid (maybe).
Apart from 6D there are a couple of others where the wordplay escapes me and I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer I’ve assumed at 12 turns out wrong.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 5 | TALL | Agree 80 per cent is unlikely (4) TALL[y] |
| 6 | OVERT | Done time – that’s evident (5) OVER (done) T[ime] |
| 8 | NAFF | Supporter after setback loud and crass (4) FAN< F (loud) |
| 10 | TEAPOY | Beating Stoke, Villa and City, finally top table (6) ([stok]E [vill]A [cit]Y TOP)* AInd: beating |
| 11 | BOUDICCA | Writer about to take pair back to old queen (8) BIC (writer) CA (about) around (to take) DUO< (pair back) |
| 12 | IRIS | Woman in short: ‘The setter’s revolting!’ (4) ? IRIS[h] Setter SIR I ??? mc_rapper at comment #2 nails it: I RIS[e] (The setter’s revolting <short>) |
| 14/19 | OPEN SECRET | It’s well-known in one respect – criminal 6D (4,6) (ONE RESPECT)* AInd: criminal |
| 15 | STUDS | Daughter in America with EastEnders bosses (5) D[aughter] inside [ea]ST (EastEnders !) and US |
| 17 | PISTOL | Sleuth, on return, loads gun (6) PI (Sleuth – Private Investigator) LOTS< (loads, on return) |
| 24 | FREI | Wrongfully fire Channel 4’s Matt (4) FIRE* AInd: wrongfully. Matt Frei Easy enough for me as someone who will turn to C4 for news if in front of a TV at 7:00-ish |
| 25 | CANE | Rod taking Echo to toilet (4) CAN (toilet) E[cho] |
| 27 | MONOKINI | Costume seen on beaches round Ohio – brother’s wearing one (8) O[hio] inside MONK (brother), IN I (wearing one) |
| 28 | INGEST | Take in to broadcaster for a laugh (6) Homophone “in jest” |
| 30 | OSSI | Old European is very reactionary (4) IS SO all reversed. The old European in question is East German |
| 31 | SATIE | Make it a serious piece about composer (5) Hidden reversed in makE IT A Serious |
| 32 | ANKH | When cycling Henry gets cross (4) “Cycled” HANK putting the H to the end. Things you learn from crosswords: I did not know HANK was a derived form of Henry till I checked [Wiki] |
| Down | ||
| 1 | EASE | Tablets taken orally for relief (4) Homophone “Es” |
| 2 | ELOPES | Runs off only to turn up outside gym (6) SOLE< around PE (gym) |
| 3 | FEEBLER | Twisted muscle left Queen increasingly infirm (7) BEEF< L ER |
| 4 | INDICTER | One charging mounted police in Bury (8) CID< inside INTER (bury) |
| 6 | OXYMORON | Expression of love – it’s wrong that money men are involved (8) O (love) X (wrong) OR (men) inside YMON money anagrammed?! How does the E drop out of the fodder? Sil at comment #1 sorts it out: O (love) + X (it’s wrong) + {M (money) + OR (men)} inside YON (that) |
| 7/26 | TRUE LIES | Result that is surprising for film 6D (4,4) (RESULT IE)* AInd: surprising. I reckon this is my favourite Arnie film (after T2 of course) I even saw it at the cinema when it came out. |
| 9 | FACED | Credibility’s run out after soccer administrators met (5) C[r]ED after F.A. |
| 13/21 | RAP ARTISTS | Performers in pairs start fighting – 6D some might say (3,7) (PAIRS START)* AInd: fighting. I dotted underlined “in pairs” because they are often in pairs when fighting Rap Battles so this clue is very pleasing. |
| 16/22 | DEFINITE MAYBE | Unsure answer‘s very good, trendy couple in agreement – British 6D (8,5) DEF (very good, slang) IN (trendy) ITEM (couple) B[ritish] inside AYE (Agreement) Favourite clue |
| 18 | SUBSONIC | Is bonus culture slightly flawed and unable to produce boom? (8) (IS BONUS C[ulture])* AInd: flawed |
| 20 | TIN | Money from Table Seven’s outside (3) S[eve]N = Sn Table = Periodic T Sn is Tin, slang for money |
| 23 | AEONS | Red 22 comes round and keeps working for ages (5) SEA< (Red 16D = Red Maybe = Red Sea) around ON (working) |
| 25 | COGNAC | Firm government has the power to lift spirit (6) CO G CAN< |
| 29 | SAKI | Short story writer sounded scornful (4) Homophone “Sarky” sarcastic Ref HH Munro well-known for his short stories |
Thanks Beermagnet another very difficult Tyrus.
I cannot help you with 12ac as it was one of the two I didn’t get (the other one being SAKI).
OXYMORON, however, I can parse, it’s:
O (love) + X (it’s wrong) + {M (money) + OR (men)} inside YON (that)
12A = I (the setter) RIS(E) (is revolting, in short)
Gosh, as simple as that!
Sepp Blatter won’t have enjoyed the NINA much.
To paraphrase Wordsworth slightly, bliss it usually is to be alive when Saturday’s Indy arrives, but for it to be a Tyrus makes it very heaven.
Nice one Jim, and thanks beermagnet.
Thanks Beermagnet & Tyrus,
I really struggled with this, made even trickier by the clunky grid..
Assumed there was a nina, but was too preoccupied with solving & parsing what I had, so thanks Muffyword @4 for giving me that further elucidation (& an early morning chuckle, Sepp Blatter probably not..as you say.)
This one defeated me. About a third left to do and I made several guesses which turned out to be wrong.
Another blog another missed Nina.
Muffy (at #4) I’ve got to thank you for pointing it out but it pains me – I studied that outside edge but saw nothing in it. I wonder if “FIFA’s Ethics Committee” will wrest the crown of Nation’s Favourite Oxymoron from “Military Intelligence”
Thanks to Sil and mc_rapper for sorting out the missing wordplays too. ‘Yon/that’ has fooled me before (I don’t talk Shakespeare).
Not the easiest of Tyrus puzzles, but I thought it was a gem. The grid screamed “nina” but I didn’t see it until I only had a few clues left to solve. My last two in were TEAPOY where it took me ages to realise it was an anagram (getting the nina helped immensely), and TIN which I put in from definition alone, so thanks for its parsing.
Have to concur with Conrad, this was a great puzzle but not as tough for me as some found it, the nina possibility was spotted quite early on but didn’t really help the solve, although it gave me quite a laugh when I saw it and the link to 6D. Cheers BM for the blog and Jim for a mighty fine piece of work.
Joyce just pointed out to Bert that we missed the NINA. His first response was – another oxymoron – and laughed.
We struggled with this one too but had some laughs along the way. We managed to parse them all but we were glad that we had more free time than usual.
Thanks Tyrus and beermagnet.
Many thanks for the nice blog, beermagnet, and thanks to others for their comments.
I too thought this was a gem. It was hard for me, particularly in the bottom right corner, but I have ticks next to most of the clues. I didn’t spot the Nina either. Lovely puzzle.