Knut has set today’s cruciverbal challenge. It is some time since it last fell to me to blog one of his puzzles.
One is tempted to think that there may have been a recent addition to Knut’s household or extended family, since many clues and solutions refer to children and their early years. I am sure that he will enlighten us later in the day.
I found this a medium-difficulty puzzle, not made any easier for me by the fact that I was unfamiliar with the actor/musician at 4 or indeed the identical twins referenced at 1A. This sense of “buff” at 8 and the entry at 9 were also new to me. Even so, I think that I have managed to solve everything correctly and have more or less parsed the clues to my satisfaction, perhaps with the exemption of 4, where I don’t understand what “upstanding” is doing in the clue; and of 23, where I would have expected a verb to appear in the definition part, such as “initiate procedure for dismissal”. I would be interested to hear other solvers’ views on these points.
My favourite clues today were 11 and 15A, for smoothness of surface; and 22, for including so much cricket-related content in a single clue.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | IDENTICAL TWINS | Say the Barclays International clients want ID reset?
I (=international) + *(CLIENTS WANTS ID); “reset” is anagram indicator; the reference is to UK billionaires and identical twins David and Frederick Barclay (1934-) |
| 08 | E-FIT | European, buff, copper-toned image?
E (=European) + FIT (=buff, i.e. attractive); cryptically, an e-fit could be described as a “copper-toned image” in that it is put together by the police (=coppers)! |
| 09 | BRIDLE TAPE | Piano part of wedding video broadcast
Homophone (“broadcast”) of “bridal (=wedding-) + tape (=video)”; bridle tape is cloth placed between the hammers of a piano to prevent excess motion |
| 10 | ANKLET | Financial institution, non-British, to lease jewellery
<b>ANK (=financial institution; “non-British (=B)” means letter “b” is dropped) + LET (=(to) lease) |
| 11 | DETAINED | Separatists ate out while under arrest
ETA (=separatists, in Basque country) in DINED (=ate) |
| 12 | RABBINIST | Talmudic adherent’s backsliding sin couched in common parlance
NIS (SIN; “backsliding” indicates reversal) in RABBIT (=common parlance, chitchat) |
| 14 | MISS | Skip lessons given by her?
“Miss” is often used to address a female teacher, hence “lessons given by her” |
| 15 | PUBS | Leaders of Pakistani uprising behind steel bars
First letters (“leaders of”) only of P<akistani> U<prising> B<ehind> S<teel> |
| 16 | AGE LIMITS | Given restrictions, a sports car’s overtaken a mile back
ELIMI (I=a + MILE; “back” indicates reversal) in [A + GT (=sports car)’S] |
| 20 | MEN’S ROOM | Where American chaps go potty, shocking Ms Monroe
*(MS MONROE); “shocking” is anagram indicator; cryptically, the men’s room is a place “where American chaps go ((to use the) potty)”, i.e. to use the toilet |
| 21 | AUBADE | Regularly lap up brandies with which to greet the dawn
<l>A<p> U<p> B<r>A<n>D<i>E<s>; “regularly” means alternate letters only are used; an aubade is a musical announcement of dawn, a sunrise song |
| 23 | GIVE NOTICE | Cite Gove in criminal procedure for dismissal
*(CITE GOVE IN); “criminal” is anagram indicator |
| 24 | ROLE | Function: to spin on the radio
Homophone (“on the radio”) of “(to) roll (=spin, turn)” |
| 25 | GETS IT TOGETHER | After spoiling tee shirt with egg, tot straightens himself out
*(TEE SHIRT + EGG TOT); “after spoiling” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | INFANTA | Royal Iberian drained orangeade
I<beria>N (“drained” means all but first and last letters are dropped) + FANTA (=orangeade) |
| 02 | EXTOL | Celebrate from Sussex to London
Hidden (“from”) in “SussEX TO London” |
| 03 | TIBETAN | Asian second grade canned?
BETA (=second grade, after alpha) in TIN (=canned, i.e. “in (a) TIN”) |
| 04 | CHILDISH GAMBINO | Actor/musician, 15, upstanding good Italian kid (though not at first)
PUERILE (=childish, i.e. entry at 15) + G (=good) + <b>AMBINO (=Italian kid; “not at first” means first letter is dropped); the reference is to the American actor/musician Donald Glover (1983-), better known by his stage name Childish Gambino |
| 05 | LOLITA | That’s funny, uncovering vital novel
LOL (=that’s funny, i.e. laugh out loud, in textspeak) + <v>ITA<l> (“uncovered” means first and last letters are dropped); the reference is to the 1955 novel by Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov |
| 06 | WITTICISM | William defending Kitty and Dick endlessly is a joke
[<k>ITT<y> + <d>IC<k> + IS] in WM (=William, i.e. an abbreviation); “endlessly” means first and last letters are dropped |
| 07 | NIPPERS | Young crabs?
Cryptic definition: crabs can “nip” you with their pincers, and could thus be called “nippers”, a slang word for “children” |
| 13 | BABY STEPS | 18’s first movement, tossing pet into black, bottomless pit
*(PET) in [B (=black, as in HB) + ABYSS (=bottomless pit)]; baby steps are the first movement of a toddler (=entry at 18) |
| 15 | PUERILE | Being immature, turn up on ecstasy to provoke anger
PU (UP; “turn” indicates reversal) + E (=Ecstasy, i.e. the drug) + RILE (=to provoke anger) |
| 17 | LEAVE BE | Avoid entering Dunstable Ave, Bedford
Hidden (“entering”) in “dunstabLE AVE BEdford” |
| 18 | TODDLER | Lord Ted trained a two-year-old
*(LORD TED); “trained” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | COHORT | Troop company undermanned, leaderless
CO (=company) + <s>HORT (=undermanned, short-staffed; “leaderless” means first letter is dropped) |
| 22 | BIRTH | Delivery bowled Hampshire’s opener, having pinched one run over point at last
[I (=one) + R (=run, on cricket scorecard) + <poin>T (“at last” means last letter only)] in [B (=bowled, on cricket scorecard) + H<ampshire> (“opener” means first letter only)] |
A bit of a challenge in places but we got it all. We had to confirm our guesses for BRIDLE TAPE and CHILDISH GAMBINO by googling – and in the latter we can’t make out what ‘upstanding’ is doing in the clue, it seems totally superfluous. And in 8ac we didn’t know ‘fit’ as a meaning of ‘buff’.
Otherwise, all good stuff. We liked AUBADE, INFANTA, TIBETAN and WITTICISM.
Thanks, Knut and RatkojaRiku.
Could it be that there two clues at 15, and that ‘upstanding’ means ‘take the Down clue’?
(not that it’s needed because the convention is that, if you refer to just ’15’ in a Down clue, the Down option should be chosen)
Thanks for the blog, RatkojaRiku.
I had exactly the same queries as you (and Allan – and I shared his googling experiences), except that I did know of the twins. I agree with your favourites, too, with the addition of IDENTICAL TWINS and GIVE NOTICE.
I couldn’t see the parsing of I(beria)N ‘drained, as I’d seen it as part of the definition.
RR – in 16ac, you’ve omitted the final S (a sports car’s).
I think I learned AUBADE from crosswords and was struck by the fact that it’s so much less familiar than serenade, the evening equivalent (cf occidental / oriental and aestivation / hibernation).
I’m sure Sil’s right about ‘upstanding’.
Many thanks to Knut for another most enjoyable puzzle.
I also took the ‘upstanding’ to mean the vertical 15 (i.e. 15D).
Found this at the easier end for me but knowing of the Barclay twins (court case currently in progress between them) helped.
Never heard of 4D and assume it’s a made-up name but clue was, thankfully pretty clear (ditto 21).
Thanks to S&B
Thanks for spotting the typo at 16, Eileen – now corrected!
It never occurred to me that the “upstanding” might refer to a down clue, but I suppose you are all right.
thanks for the blog, RR and thanks to those who have commented. I can confirm that the word “upstanding” in the clue for 4d is intended to differentiate between 15a and 15d; a distinction which Eimi asked me to make. I didn’t want simply to use “15d” in the clue, for fairly obvious reasons.
A year ago or so, I saw my son (now 16) watching a MTV video of Childish Gambino which struck me at the time to be an interesting name, not least because it has 15 letters. More recently, during lockdown, my wife was watching some Netflix series in which he starred and so I decided to use him in a puzzle, themed around youth. No new patter of tiny feet here (mercifully).
Warmest regards to all, Rob/Knut
Struggled towards the end but I did complete it. I had heard of the Barclay twins – as reddevil says, they’ve been in the news recently – and I managed to dredge CHILDISH GAMBINO from somewhere in my memory, although I googled him to find out who he is. It was only BRIDLE TAPE I’d never heard of and had to google to check it existed.
I came to this later in the day and would agree that it was tricky for a Knut, but as enjoyable as ever. I got everything except 4d.
thanks as ever to Rob and RR
Never heard of the Barclays or the actor/musician with the strange name.
Couldn’t parse 8a and Aubade was new to me also. But with a little help from google I completed the puzzle.
I agree with crypticsue @8 that this was a relatively tricky Knut crossword.
Non the worse for that.
In the end, I got everything but like some others I had not heard of the Man in the Middle.
The GAMBINO part was easily found but then I decided to google it.
Apparently, he had a role in The Martian, a well-made nonsense film which I saw a few years ago.
But if you’d asked me how or what Donald Glover looked like – I really don’t know.
What followed was a nice and satisfying workout of the theme.
Music of the Day: Neil Young’s I Am A Child (or perhaps Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood).
I think 1ac was my absolute favourite.
Many thanks to RatkojaRiku & Knut.
Exactly as Sil van den Hoek, once GAMBINO was in without too much trouble, it was over Google for the rest of 4d. Just the parsings for 3d and 16ac missed. The first I should have got, the second would have eluded me from here to next month – first time I’ve seen “overtaken” as an insertion indicator, plus the substitution of A for I seems very lateral to me.
And of course, thanks to RatkojaRiku & Knut, most enjoyable today.
Not knowing the Barclay twins, the ‘Actor/musician’ or the ‘Piano part’ made this tough and I spent ages trying to work it all out. Eventually got there, including the use of ‘upstanding’ in 4d. The theme was a pleasant reminder of times past.
Thanks to Knut, for the puzzle and for dropping in, and to RR