It’s been three months of lockdown since we last blogged a Radian puzzle, so we looked forward to this…….
… and we found it a little easier than we had expected, but no less enjoyable.
We tumbled to the ‘clothing’ theme fairly early on, and when we had completed the grid, we were surprised by how many thematic entries there are. If we were to include entries associated with personal adornment, we could have added 10ac, 14ac and 13d.
We had to check 1d, which is a new word for us, and we weren’t aware of the Burns hero at 18ac.
PA (per annum – every year) + RAN round or ‘out of’ GO (energy)
P Y (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of pretty) JAM (stuff) AS (like)
I (current) + REF (judge) reversed or ‘retired’ after L (first or ‘initial’ letter of libelling)
BLUE (Conservative) RISE (rebel) round or ‘defending’ N (name)
An anagram of BOLD ONE GOT – anagrind is ‘unusually’
Alternate (‘now and then’) letters of TuRn OuT
An anagram of SHE HAD BRA (anagrind is ‘fixed’) + ER (the Queen – ‘top woman’)
Double definition – The eponymous hero of a poem by Rabbie Burns and a Scottish cap (‘headdress’ – 25ac)
A BUT (reservation) – we have not come across ‘march’ as a verb relating to a border, but Chambers has it as ‘to have a common boundary’
UN and DER (French and German respectively for ‘the‘ ‘a and an’ ‘a or an’ in French and ‘the’ in German - ‘foreign articles’) PANTS (rubbish) Thanks Gwep – Thanks again. Joyce obviously wasn’t awake properly this morning.
HE (His Excellency – ambassador) ADDRESS (deal with)
I (one) in ALB (priest’s vestment) + I (the writer)
T (first letter of trouble) + an anagram of STRIFE – anagrind is ‘shattered’
MET (City police) round or ‘seizing’ S (second) SKI (runner)
PAGE (attendant) round or ‘bringing in’ EL (‘the’ in Spanish)
F (fellow) F (female) in or ‘breaking’ RULE (law)
An anagram of GOES (anagrind is ‘wonky’) round or ‘swamping’ ARDEN (forest) H (hotel)
NAB (collar) OB (old boy)
PLUTO (film dog – in the old Walt Disney cartoons) CAT (feline) ‘running round’ R (royal)
J (jack) K (king) round or ‘capturing’ ER (queen)
ON (operating) in or ‘during’ MARCH (parade) + Y (last letter or ‘end’ of May)
SW (South-West – ‘Cornish’) EATERS (consumers)
HAIR (shock) SPRAYS (bouquets)
BRALESS (not supported at the top) with IN inside or ‘lodging’
S (society) THAT (which) round or ‘admitting’ RAW (inexperienced)
A MB (doctor) + alternate or ‘regular’ letters of pUlLs + ANT (soldier)
UN (‘one’ in French, as in Nice) PICK (choose)
An anagram of THIS (anagrind is ‘repair’) + R T (first or ‘initial’ letters of rather tempting)
EP (record) SOMe (a few) without the last letter or ‘short’
EG (say) round or ‘touring’ D (Germany) + E (Spain)
Thanks Radian and BnJ
March in the sense of border is probably best known as “The Welsh marches”. It’s also the source of the obsolete title ‘margrave’, and possibly ‘marquis’.
Thanks for the blog, B and J.
A fun puzzle as usual, from Radian.
Like Simon S, I knew March = border from the Welsh Marshes and did know the Burns poem, having had a Scottish husband.
Homage to our local hero, Jamie Vardy, who has just won the 11ac. (Pity he couldn’t have scored a couple more.)
Re 25ac: I have to point out that HE could be Her Excellency. ;-) It reminded me of my outrage a few years ago when we had AMBASSADRESS clued as ‘diplomat’s wife’.
Many thanks to Radian for another enjoyable puzzle.
I think march = border as a noun, as mentioned by Simon and Eileen, is more widely known. As a verb it was unknown to me. Like Bertandjoyce, I checked this in Chambers.
Similar story here re march and pelage; alb for vestment was also new to me and is one I shall attempt to remember.
UNDERPANTS and PYJAMAS were my smiles of the day!
Many thanks Radian and B&J.
It being Tuesday we were looking for a theme; having solved a few such as HEADDRESS and STRAW HAT, and seeing ‘top’ in a few of the clues we thought the theme might just be hats till we had a few more thematic answers. PELAGE and the use of ‘march’ in the sense of ‘border’ as a verb were new to us, too, but easily confirmed in Chambers. Favourite was TAM O’SHANTER – a write-in after getting 25ac. Incidentally the Burns poem was the inspiration for an overture by Malcolm Arnold.
Thanks, Radian and B&J.
Thanks to Bertandjoyce and Radian
Very good, “dark clothing?” is a great def but I think “tiles” for “titfers” warrants a ? as well.
I saw “on” as part of the def in 21a.
A not too difficult but amusing and interesting crossword. I also thought early on it would be all hats, but that would be expecting a bit much.
Pedants’ corner: 22A “un” is French for “a” or “an”, (as noted in 19D).
Thanks to Radian and Bertandjoyce.
I’m on a real run of completing or near completing puzzles, while parsing very few clues properly. I’m still heavily sleep deprived, which must be more than a coincidence now. PELAGE was a case where being a spanish speaker helped me, as PEL- starts a myriad of words that are related to fur, hair, skin etc.
Thanks radian and bertandjoyce.
But Bertandjoyce, I only said “un” was French for “a” or “un”; but “der” is “the” for masculine articles (certainly in the nominative) in German.