The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26551.
It started off easily enough, but the last several clues took me quite a time to sort out.
| Across | ||
| 9 | SINEW |
Is working on novel, building literary muscle (5)
A charade of SI, an anagram (‘working’) of ‘is’ plus NEW (‘novel’). |
| 10 | PNEUMONIA |
Virgin broadcast by Lisa without one complaint? (9)
A charade of PNEU, a homophone (‘broadcast’) of NEW (‘virgin’) plus an envelope (‘without’) of I (‘one’) in MONA (‘Lisa’). |
| 11 | ASCENDING |
Going like a rocket, when fitted with carbon tip (9)
A charadeof AS (‘when’) plus C (‘carbon’) plus ENDING (‘tip’). |
| 12 | AMUCK |
Africa’s principal northerly island in a frenzy (5)
A charade of A (‘Africa’s principal’) plus MUCK (‘northerly island’ in the Inner Hebrides). |
| 13 | DIEBACK |
Chump acquires modern marketplace, almost leading to reversal of growth (7)
An envelope (‘acquires’) of EBA[y] (‘modern marketplace’) cut short (‘almost’) in DICK (‘chump’). |
| 15 |
See 20
|
|
| 17 | ISSUE |
Children‘s lives appeal (5)
A charade of IS (‘lives’) plus SUE (‘appeal’). |
| 18 |
See 20
|
|
| 20,18,15 | DUTCH ELM DISEASE |
Arboreal devastation of Middle East unleashed with such energy (5,3,7)
An anagram (‘unleashed’) of ‘middle east’ plus ‘such’ plus E (‘energy’). |
| 22 | GASTRIC |
Rabbit illusion: disappearance of tail, of stomach (7)
A charade of GAS (‘rabbit’, to talk inconsequentially) plus TRIC[k] (‘illusion’) without its last letter (‘disappearance of tail’). |
| 25 | NARROWS |
Channel indicator stuck between numerous limits (7)
An envelope (‘stuck between’) of ARROW (‘indicator’) in NS (‘NumerouS limits’). |
| 26 | FIRST |
Tree on the way ahead (5)
A charade of FIR (‘tree’) plus ST (‘way’). |
| 27 | CLIPBOARD |
Cutting panel for High Street surveyor’s use? (9)
Double cryptic definition, more or less – the surveyor being someone who buttonholes you in the street for your opinions. |
| 30 | RANCOROUS |
Bitter flowed cold and oyster starter turned sour (9)
A charade of RAN (‘flowed’) plus C (‘cold’) plus O (‘Oyster starter’) plus ROUS, an anagram (‘turned’) of ‘sour’. |
| 31 | RELIC |
Barrel ice houses a thing of the past (5)
A hidden answer (‘houses’) in ‘barREL ICe’. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | OSSA |
Greek mountain bones (4)
Double definition. |
| 2 | KNICKERS |
Underwear that’s annoying (8)
Double definition, the second being a comic mild expletive. |
| 3 | SWAN |
Physicist who had a real “light bulb” moment saw out Newton (4)
A charade of SWA, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘saw’ plus N (‘Newton’). Sir Joseph Wilson Swan developed an early electric light bulb. |
| 4 | SPRINKLE |
Dotty Perkins comprehends Latin for “baptise” (8)
An envelope (‘comprehends’) of L (‘Latin’) on SPRINKE, an anagram (‘dotty’) of ‘perkins’. |
| 5 | SEA GOD |
New age, ground-breaking spear carrier? (3,3)
An envelope (‘breaking’) of EAG, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘age’ in SOD (‘ground’). The definition must refer to Poseidon carrying a trident. |
| 6 | AMBASSADOR |
Country representative dances, head to foot a party queen (10)
A charade of AMBASS, which is SAMBAS (‘dances’) with its first letter moved to the end (‘head to foot’) plus ‘a’ plus DO (‘party’) plus R (‘queen’). |
| 7 | UNGULA |
Technically, a hoof is a northerner’s ear bent back under large body (6)
A charade of UN (‘large body’) plus GULA, a reversal (‘bent back’) of A LUG (‘a northener’s ear’). |
| 8 | LARK |
Mischief, latitude and craft (4)
A charade of L (‘latitude’) plus ARK (‘craft’). |
| 13 | DYING |
Broadcaster’s changing colour on the way out (5)
A homophone (‘broadcaster’s’) of DYEING (‘changing colour’). |
| 14 | ABERRATION |
NASA’s last orbiter with an unstable irregularity (10)
An anagram (‘unstable’) of A (‘nasA‘s last’) plus ‘orbiter’ plus ‘an’. |
| 16 | ETHOS |
The cast upset very distinctive character (5)
A charade of ETH, an anagram (‘cast’) of ‘the’ plus OS, a reversal (‘upset) of SO (‘very’). |
| 19 | MANTISSA |
Two seconds to replace the two lengths of lace shawl — a fractional part (8)
MANTILLA (‘lace shawl’) with LL (‘two lengths’) replaced by SS (‘two seconds’). |
| 21 | TEOCALLI |
Element of Subbuteo: call it “Mexican temple” (8)
A hidden answer (‘element of’) in ‘SubbuTEO CALL It’. |
| 23 | SPRING |
Keeping neutral, shoot well (6)
An envelope (‘keeping’) of N (‘neutral’) in SPRIG (‘shoot’). |
| 24 | CUCKOO |
Silly, gimmicky time announcer (6)
Double definition |
| 26 | FIRE |
Bombardment of loveless resentment (4)
A charade of ‘[o]F’ without the O (‘loveless’) plus IRE (‘resentment’). |
| 28 | BIRD |
Swift sentence? (4)
Double definition. |
| 29 | DECK |
Grace cards (4)
Double definition. |
Thanks Peter. I slowed right down for two good ones at the end, 10A and 5D, which left me with the last three four-letter words. With a bit of cursing I got two of them, then guessed ‘fury’ for 26D which is of course as you have it.
I was stuck too at 26d, yet the answer is so obvious. Thank you for that, Peter. The Mexican temple is a new one for me but was easily gettable from the wordplay. A useful word to know – if I can remember it!
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
I too had 26d and 28 blank long after the rest was complete – I still don’t see how “bombardment” (noun) can be the same as “fire” as a noun.
Vaguely unsatisfying. OSSA was FOI, familiar from the expression “piling Pelion upon Ossa”. SPRINKLE gave the E for 18, so DUTCH ELM DISEASE was an easy guess.
I did like the well-concealed RELIC.
Oh, I took CLIP in 27 to be a (newspaper) cutting, with BOARD being the panel.
Reasonably hard work for me but most enjoyable – there were some very nice clues, although I couldn’t parse FIRE. Favourites were DIEBACK, GASTRIC, CUCKOO and ASCENDING. Many thanks to Brummie and PeterO.
8 11 can’t be a coincidence….it’s Brummie.
Any Vaughan Williams specialists around?
Really enjoyable puzzle, I thought. Thanks Brummie and PeterO
oh how stupid am I…….
(notices for nth. time that posting something always makes the penny drop). Sorry.
There’s a “dying swan” too………
…..and a “FIRE BIRD”.
………”on hearing the first CUCKOO in SPRING”.
.. and the FIRST CUCKOO
Isn’t there a missing ‘R’ in 14D?
I think muffin has the right parsing of 27A.
Is there another mini-theme on DISEASE? DUTCH ELM DISEASE, clearly; DIEBACK DISEASE, PNEUMONIA
. . . Besides a FIREBIRD, SPRING CUCKOO and DYING SWAN, there’s also a LARK ASCENDING!
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
A most enjoyable puzzle. I needed help with parsing and stuck for a while, as did some others, at 26d.
I liked the bird references and the ‘rabbit illusion’ (hat-trick!).
I wonder if there are some other pairs, the first time one crosses the equator on a ship, one is baptised, SPRINKLEd, by the SEA GOD Neptune.
muffin @3, ‘under enemy fire’, ‘under enemy bombardment’ ?
Thanks Brummie, very enjoyable, although I missed the theme as ever.
Thanks PeterO; I loved the ‘cutting panel’ for CLIPBOARD. I did think of chipboard at first but I wasn’t sure about the ‘High Street surveyor’s use.’ 😉
I also particularly liked CUCKOO.
Thanks PeterO and Brummie
Excellent puzzle. Failed to see the theme at the end.
For once, I spotted the musical bird theme almost straight away, which helped a lot. A very enjoyable puzzle – many thanks to Brummie & PeterO.
I found this quite tricky but I got there without the use of aids and all the answers were parsed so I can’t complain. It took me quite a while to get UNGULA, and I finished with the CUCKOO/CLIPBOARD crossers. I was pleased TEOCALLI was so helpfully clued.
Re 5 Down: Homer refers to Poseidon as Poseidon Earth Shaker (i.e. ground breaker…)
Thanks to PeterO for the blog. You explained a couple where I had the answer but not the parsing.
19d held me up for a while. I got the idea of putting SS in place of LL then was fooled by ‘lace shawl’ in the clue as those words have LL but too many letters. ðŸ™
In 24d where is the time announcer?
Also I failed to spot any theme ðŸ™
Chas @ 22 – he pops out of a clock on the hour!
I still don’t understand the BIRD clue. A swift is a bird–yes. But “sentence”? Help.
I found this a bit tricky in places, and there were a few that went in unparsed from definition and crossers. The only unfamiliar word was TEOCALLI, which was clearly clued so no complaints there. The SE corner held out longest – took me a long time to see CLIPBOARD and CUCKOO was last in.
Thanks to Brummie and PeterO
mrpenney @28
Bird is slang for prison time.
PeterO: thanks. Hadn’t heard that one before.
… Chambers assures me that is for bird-lime, rhyming slang for time.
For those of you who prefer to describe 27A CLIPBOARD as a charade, that’s fine by me – I was in two minds how to describe it. Once past the ‘surveyor’ hurdle, the answer is clear even if there are different ways of describing the path.
And I missed the musical birds.
Thanks to crypticsue – I had forgotten about cuckoo clocks
Why does grace=deck in 29D ?
kenj @31
As a verb, in the sense of adorn.
Thanks to PeterO and Brummie. As usual I got several answers without understanding the parsing. I missed the “loveless” OF (but correctly guessed FIRE) and did not know KNICKERS as an expletive. I got UNGULA from the definiton, not the parsing, and got SEA GOD from the crossers (I missed SOD). By now I do know UK RABBIT can mean “talk incessantly,” but I confess getting GASTRIC from “of stomach.” I had heard of BIRD as prison sentence from previous puzzles. All in all, an enjoyable (and educational) outing.
Found this easier than most Brummies despite missing the bird theme, though I did notice the diseases. But blotted my copybook as I had CHIPBOARD at 27a, assuming my inability to parse only reflected on my lack of brain rather than the answer being wrong.
Did I notice the theme(s)? Of course I didn’t. However most of the puzzle was straightforward. I must have heard of TEOCALLI somewhere because I got it without noticing the hidden word but I puzzled over MANTISSA- my LOI-for a long time. Perhaps not the most enjoyable puzzle I’ve done but OK.
Thanks Brummie.
Thanks, PeterO and Brummie.
Why is the muscle “literary” in 9a?
Thanks all
Quite tricky, I thought.
Last in was 26d,the (o)f fooled me.I did not manage to parse dieback, it was the dick I missed!!
Good exercise.
crosser @36
Because “sinew” is only “muscle” metaphorically – they are different types of tissue, in fact.
Thanks all
Quite tricky, I thought.
Last in was 26d,the (o)f fooled me.I did not manage to parse dieback, it was the dick I missed!!
Good exercise
Thanks all
Quite tricky, I thought.
Last in was 26d,the (o)f fooled me.I did not manage to parse dieback, it was the dick I missed!!
Good puzzle
Sorry about the duplication but I tried for ages to submit 39 and was told each time that it was a duplicate, although it had not appeared.When I made the slight alteration to the last word it immediately posted both versions.
I am totally baffled.
Thank you, Brummie, for an enjoyable puzzle. There are too many clever clues to pick out just a few. I spotted the birds, but not their musical connections. I too parsed CLIPBOARD as a charade, not a double definition. I got FIRE but couldn’t parse it, so thanks to PeterO for that explanation.
Dorbala: no, there isn’t.
Very enjoyable puzzle from Brummie.
Agree with Paul B on both counts.
Cheers…
Thanks, muffin @38