(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A fun crossword with nice misdirections, and surfaces. A sort of Paulesque mini-thread ties 5, 8, 24, 14, 16, 1down, 15, 9 and part of 6, or perhaps I’m reading too much into it. Thanks to Paul. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Hence failure, nothing less, is grave (6)
SOLEMN : SO(hence;thus) + “lemon”(a failure;something that doesn’t work properly) minus(… less) “o”(letter signifying 0;nothing).
4 Incidents where git punches crusty things behind back of cafe (8)
EPISODES : [ SOD(a git;an obnoxious person) contained in(punches) PIES(pastries with crusts) ] placed after(behind, in an across clue) the last letter of(back of) “cafe “.
9 Hollow sculpture, perhaps, encapsulating a reflection of the early afternoon? (6)
ARMPIT : ART(an example of which;perhaps is a sculpture) containing(encapsulating) reversal of(reflection of) [I PM](a time in the early afternoon, 1 pm, with the Roman numeral substitution).
10 Grass around broom not entirely swept back, revealing plant
ROSEBUSH : RUSH(long grass) containing(around) reversal of(… swept back) “besom”(a broom made of a bundle of twigs tied to a handle) minus its last letter(not entirely).
11 Argentinian leader calls God often when swimming in papal palace (6,8)
CASTEL GANDOLFO : Anagram of(… when swimming) [ the 1st letter of(… leader) “Argentinian ” + CALLS GOD OFTEN].
Answer: Summer palace and retreat used by the Pope.
13 What may bring the roof down for the audience gets closer for a writer? (7,3)
SEALING WAX : Homophone of(… for the audience) “ceiling whacks”(what may bring the roof down, physically).
Defn: What’s used to close a letter, physically.
14 Mistake that may be reversed? (4)
BOOB : A palindrome(… that may be reversed).
16 Warmer 14 (4)
MUFF : Double defn: 1st: … for the hands; and 2nd: Answer to 14 across. A bungled attempt, say, to make a shot or a catch in a game.
18 Chiefly, bread found in skip wrapped in newspaper less perfect (10)
DOMINANTLY : [ NAN(Indian bread) contained in(found in) OMIT(to skip;to not consider) ] contained in(wrapped in) “daily”(a newspaper issued, well, daily) minus(less) “AI”(first class;perfect;A1, with the Roman numeral substitution).
21 Red, indigo’s second, then brown one, perhaps? (8,6)
CARDINAL NUMBER : CARDINAL(a deep red;scarlet) + the 2nd letter of(…’s second) “indigo” plus(then) UMBER(a brown colour).
Defn: An example of which;perhaps, is “1”. Well constructed clue, with 3 colours mentioned.
23 Doctor having filled bottle, dropping lid in coat (8)
LAMBSKIN : MB(abbrev. for the Latin for Bachelor of Medicine;a doctor) contained in(having filled) “flask”(a bottle with a narrow neck) minus its 1st letter(dropping lid) + IN.
24 See 8 down
25 Stupidity, as partners stop briefly to punch hooter (8)
NONSENSE : [ N,S(abbrev. for “north” and “south” respectively, indicating partners in a bridge game) + “end”(to stop) minus its last letter(briefly) ] contained in(to punch) NOSE(slang for which is “hooter”).
26 Turn both taps, darling, then scrub back (6)
CHANGE : C,H(abbrev. for “cold” and “hot” respectively, as displayed on your water taps) + “angel”(a term of endearment for your darling) minus its last letter(then scrub back).
Down
1 Bird that’s smoked (4)
SHAG : Double defn: 1st: A cormorant; and 2nd: Shredded coarse tobacco.
2 Priest hosts wicked dance (7)
LAMBADA : LAMA(a Tibetan priest) containing(hosts) BAD(wicked).
3 Keep the blue and brown, pocketing one (8)
MAINTAIN : MAIN(like “the blue”, a term for the sea) plus(and) TAN(a light brown) containing(pocketing) I(Roman numeral for “one”).
5 ”Bum”, “fart”, “poo” in an act of irreverence (11)
PROFANATION : Anagram of(Bum)“FART”, “POO” IN AN. Well-constructed clue, mentioning 3 words, each of which is, or can be used in, an act of irreverence.
6 Sherry emptied, drinking went fast (6)
SPEEDY : “Sherry ” minus its inner letters(emptied) containing(drinking) PEED(past tense of “go”, as in “I have to go, urgently”).
7 Gloom and doom with this blue mood, not married sadly (6-1)
DOUBLE-O : Anagram of(… sadly) [“blue mood” minus(not) “m”(abbrev. for “married”) ].
Defn: What the words “gloom” and “doom” have – and “mood” too.
8,24 across Stink in so much holy mess with setters’ lack of sophistication (9,6)
SCHOOLBOY HUMOUR : B.O.(abbrev. for “body odour”;a stink from an unwashed body) contained in(in) anagram of(… mess) SO MUCH HOLY plus(with) OUR(possessive pronoun of “setters”, self-referentially).
12 Soldiers in line go to take a battering ram (11)
LEGIONARIES : Anagram of(… take a battering) LINE GO + ARIES(the Ram, the first sign of the zodiac in astrology).
13 Mark of a writer comes in novel, nothing left to hide (9)
SEMICOLON : Anagram of(… novel) COMES IN containing(to hide) [O(letter signifying 0;nothing) + L(abbrev. for “left”)].
Defn: …, used as punctuation.
15 Belittle liberal mad to enter fight over leadership in House (3-5)
BAD-MOUTH : Anagram of(liberal) MAD contained in(to enter) BOUT(a fight, eg. in the boxing ring) placed above(over, in a down clue) the 1st letter of(leadership in) “House “.
17 Lift title that’s beneath pro boxer (7)
FOREMAN : Reversal of(Lift, in a down clue) NAME(a title) placed below(that’s beneath, in a down clue) FOR(pro;in favour of).
Answer: George, once World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
19 Secure community housing that is beginning to deteriorate (3,4)
TIE DOWN : TOWN(a community) containing(housing) [ I.E.(abbrev. for “id est”;that is) + the 1st letter of(beginning to) “deteriorate “].
20 Paper towels initially put out (6)
TISSUE : The 1st letter of(… initially) “towels ” + ISSUE(to put out;to cause to emerge).
22 Available, some beer freshly served up (4)
FREE : Hidden in(some) reversal of(… served up) “beer freshly “.
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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)
#2 ring-a-ring-a-roses – so either TISSUE or ROSEBUSH
It’s moved – it’s #3 now.
Right JollySwagman, it’s “A-tishoo A-tishoo” (A TISSUE, A TISSUE).
The original Pic2 wasn’t showing, so I’ve replaced it with one that does.
pic2, DOUBLE-O
I think I’m agreeing with cookie.
Ie Double-0-Cinnamon Apple Breakfast Bowl – for which Mr Google has just supplied me with a recipe.
pic 5, Bagua EPISODES ?
The dress in #6 is made from condoms. They were forbidden by the RC church – so too (in Brazil) was the LAMBADA.
The people in #1 are dancing – but not the Lambada. They are jiving or jitterbugging. Are they German “Swing Kids” – Swingjugend – who continued to listen to and dance to (Jewish/black) jazz music after the Nazis banned it?
Cookie/JollySwagman,
Pic2: The connection is via bowls, the game, not the receptacles
Pic6: And that dress is indeed made from condoms.
pic 6, condoms LAMBSKIN
So maybe #6 is a PROFANATION.
Right Cookie, some condoms are made from lambs’ intestines, but calling them such (cf. rubbers) isn’t such a good marketing idea, so they’re called LAMBSKINs.
Pic 1: the shag is a dance, isn’t it?
No 1 are they dancing a SHAG?
Pic 5: something to do with Chinese medicine- humours?
Pic 4 SPEEDY Gonzales in Looney Tunes?
Shirl/Andy, that is a SHAG, danced to swing music, and somewhere in Pic4 you’ll be able to spot SPEEDY Gonzales.
pic 4, Looney Tunes…EPISODES, SPEEDY Gonzales…
pic 2, it appears there is a porn movie called “Lawn Bowling BOOBs” !
Cookie @19 Some of us are in the office and can’t do that kind of search
pic 5) shows some trigrams from the I Ching, the book of CHANGEs
Pic 5 is a chinese medicine wheel- anybody got any ideas? There are CARDINAL points in chinese medicine, and some might say it is all 25ac!
Gosh, female lawn bowler banned for exposing ARMPIT hair!
bowling originally started 2000 years ago by Roman LEGIONARIES
Cookie@19, we’ll take your word for it 🙂 but that’s not the answer.
Freddy, you’re right about I Ching.
That leaves Pic2. Somewhere above, the referenced solution has been given, but not the right linkage.
pic 2) Bowls can be played as a game of DOUBLEs ??
There was a man called Griff Sanders who was banned from bowls for PROFANATION. There was a film called “Blackball” made about it
Thanks scchua for the fun, Shirl’s suggestion of PROFANATION for pic 2 sounds to be on the ball.
Hi all,
Pic2: In bowls, as it was in early cricket too, the ball is delivered underarm,
the latter a synonym for ARMPIT.
Sorry – had to go last night – thanks for the fun scchua.
#2 still unconfirmed.
I was researching the line that having your own bowl just kissing the jack like that would be super so it might be thought of as a SUPER BOWL – ie the US equivalent to the Cup Final. I found an American footballer called FOREMAN but thought him not sufficiently famous to qualify – at that point the trail went cold.
Oops crossed.
Underarm delivery you say. They used to do that here.
And of course, you’d be aware of the 1981 incident in the Australia vs New Zealand ODI 🙂
That’s what I was alluding to.
I only live here. I wouldn’t pass the local equivalent of the Norman Tebbit cricket test.