A ‘gubernatorial’ feel to this puzzle, with three references to ‘presidents’, plus Mao, Merkel, Her Majesty and Charlie…and also some pop royalty with Tina Turner and Yoko…and all that just in the clues!
And so it continued, with three presidents – Putin, Bush and Reagan – around the perimeter, with Putin delightfully including Trump in the anagram fodder – very apposite!
I found this a bit of a mixed bag of clues – there were some pretty much write-ins – C (Charlie) in SAN for SCAN at 24D; the anagram fodder and indicator for EMPATHY; M + IKE for MIKE (Pence) – which helped me get some footholds into the puzzle.
Then there were some nice touches – the Trump/Putin anagram fodder; the Tina Turner city (K)N(U)T-BUSH contributing to 27A; the French ‘UN CLÉ’ for a Montmartre pawnbroker at 6D; the Yoko Ono/OH NO homophone!
And then there was some downright cleverness – the ‘camel’s (or camels’?) graveyard’ at 21A (missing an apostrophe?) and the Little Boy Blue/blew up with ‘catastrophic results’ at 16D:
ASHTRAYS was my LOI (last one in), but my LOP (last one parsed – while writing up the blog) was NO-HOPER – it had to be that from the crossers/definition, but I hadn’t heard or conceived of NOHO being the opposite of SOHO – not in London, but in Manhattan!
All in all a lot of fun to solve, some nice surface reads and misleads, and more subtlety found in writing up the blog – many thanks to Knut… Not sure I see any Nina/theme apart from the presidents generally?…
Hope all is clear below.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | VLADIMIR PUTIN | President Trump livid, in a rage (8,5) | president (POTUSSR!) / anag, i.e. rage, of TRUMP LIVID IN A |
|
| 9A | IN CHECK | Unleaded pinchbeck kept in a controlled environment (2,5) | kept in a controlled environment / ( |
|
| 10A | MECCANO | Acme Co working to introduce new construction project (7) | construction project / MECCA_O (anag, i.e. working, of ACME CO) introducing N (new) |
|
| 11A | PRIMP | Smarten up pages around the margin (5) | smarten up / P_P (pages) around RIM (edge, margin) |
|
| 12A | ANGELICA | Frau Merkel’s current carbon storage plant? (8) | plant / ANGEL_A (Frau Angela Merkel) around (storing) IC (I – current – plus C – carbon) |
|
| 14A | ROYAL FLUSH | Generous hand bringing colour to Her Majesty’s cheeks? (5,5) | generous (poker) hand! / If Her Majesty blushed, it could be called a ROYAL FLUSH |
|
| 15A | BYRD | He wrote notes alongside river delta (4) | he wrote notes (William Byrd) / BY (alongside) + R (river) + D (delta) |
|
| 17A | OH NO! | Damn … it’s Yoko on the phone (2,2) | damn! / homophone, i.e. on the phone – Yoko ONO could sound like OH NO! |
|
| 19A | BALUSTRADE | Rail: Labour rejected American deal (10) | (stair) rail / BAL (Lab, or Labour, rejected) + US + TRADE (deal) |
|
| 21A | ASHTRAYS | Camels graveyards? (8) | CD? / Once used, or dead, Camel cigarettes end up in ASHTRAYS! |
|
| 23A | MR BIG | Top criminal Russian fighter accepting bribe on a regular basis (2,3) | top criminal / M_IG (Russian fighter jet) around RB (regular letters from ‘bRiBe’) |
|
| 25A | EMPATHY | Pay them off in compassion (7) | compassion / anag, i.e. off, of PAY THEM |
|
| 26A | CROUTON | Some toast Tory admitting defeat (7) | some toast / C_ON (Conservative, or Tory) around (admitting) ROUT (defeat) |
|
| 27A | PRESIDENT BUSH | Quietly live next to Tina Turner’s city, ignoring an upper-class George (9,4) | George (Bush, POTUS 41) / P (piano, quietly, in music) + RESIDE (live) + N( |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | LUCKILY | Fortunately, bravely – though not at first (7) | fortunately / ( |
|
| 3D | DEED POLL | Head supporting action by which to obtain a new name (4,4) | by which to obtain new name / DEED (action) under (supported by, in a down clue) POLL (head) |
|
| 4D | MIKE | Pence perhaps beginning to madden former President (4) | Pence perhaps (current US VP) / M (beginning letter of Madden) + IKE (former US President, Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower) |
|
| 5D | ROMANESQUE | Near mosque, oddly, as are some early churches (10) | as are some early churches / anag, i.e. oddly, of NEAR MOSQUE |
|
| 6D | UNCLE | One opens doors for Montmartre pawnbroker (5) | pawnbroker / clé’ is French for key, so UN CLE might open a French door, e.g. in Montmartre! |
|
| 7D | INANITY | Isn’t it commonly showcasing adult Yankee senselessness? (7) | senselessness / IN_NIT (isn’t it, informally, or commonly) around (showcasing) A (adult), plus Y (Yankee, Y in phonetic alphabet) |
|
| 8D | RONALD REAGAN | 27’s predecessor arranged loan rollover (6,6) | 27’s predecessor (as POTUS – so POTUS 40) / anag, i.e. rollover, of ARRANGED LOAN |
|
| 9D | IMPERSONATED | President Mao angered, having been done (12) | having been done / anag, i.e. angered, of PRESIDENT MAO |
|
| 13D | BLEARY-EYED | Tired-looking writer of nonsense in Times I had reportedly contracted (6-4) | tired-looking / B_Y (times, multiply by) around LEAR (Edward, writer of nonsense poetry), plus EYED (homophone, i.e. reportedly, of I’d, or I had, contracted) |
|
| 16D | ATOM BOMB | Such as Little Boy Blue broadcast, with catastrophic results? (4,4) | &li-ish? Such as ‘Little Boy’ / homophone, i.e. broadcast, BLUE sounds like BLEW, and atomic bombs like ‘Little Boy’ definitely ‘blew’ with catastrophic results |
|
| 18D | NO-HOPER | Area north of Houston St a “lost cause” (2-5) | a lost cause / NOHO (area north of Houston Street in New York, the opposite of Soho!) + PER (a, as in each) |
|
| 20D | ARBUTUS | Unpopular, but usually accommodating growth (7) | growth (shrub) / hidden word in, i.e. accommodated by, ‘unpopulAR BUT USually’ |
|
| 22D | RATES | Criticises prices (5) | double defn. / to RATE can be to criticise; and a RATE can be a price |
|
| 24D | SCAN | Examine Charlie in hospital (4) | examine / S_AN (sanatorium, hospital, around C (Charlie) |
|
Too many write-ins perhaps but 1a alone made the experience more than worthwhile. Couldn’t parse NO-HOPER or UNCLE (knowledge of French for “key” maybe a bit specialised?). Thanks to Knut and mc_rapper67.
Another treat from Knut with some great clues – lots of brilliance but 1a probably takes the gold medal, although I agree with our blogger’s fourth paragraph which mentions other clues I’d marked for stardom
Thanks to Knut for the fun and mc_rapper67 for the review
Fast and fun, but expecting British solvers to know some obscure New York geography seems unfair to me. All part of the unfortunate Americanisation of the Indy I suppose.
What crypticsue said – again.
Many thanks, both.
Very nice, and light relief after the past couple of days where I’d lost my mojo. I join in the applause for 1a.
I slipped up on 15a, thinking it was BARD (B and A being musical notes, with the definition simply being “he wrote”, rather than “he wrote notes”), which scuppered INANITY for me; not helped by me thinking that contained AIN’T rather than INNIT.
The Houston St ref was lost on me (even though I have been to NYC and used to know the derivation of SoHo), but it was my knowledge of un clé that reminded me of the slang for pawnbroker!
Very enjoyable, thanks Knut and mc_rapper67.
Great entertainment.Thanks all
A very enjoyable solve and smiles throughout.
1a really should enter some form of hall of fame. Beautiful clue.
I’m with Eggcusturd – just what the doctor ordered after the previous three days’ frustrations.
Lovely puzzle from Knut with the typically contemporary and political references. Agree with others that VLADIMIR PUTIN is a great clue. Elsewhere, ROYAL FLUSH raised a smile.
I don’t want to rain on the parade, but 6dn doesn’t really work, since the French for ‘a key’ is une clé, not un clé. You can have une clef, but it’s a bit old-fashioned and doesn’t help matters.
Thanks to S&B.
Thanks to mc_rapper67 and Knut
Some nice clues but “rage” in 1a misses a trick I think.
Was Mao a president?
Obama was.
Isn’t “impersonated” simply “done”?
1a was a delightful start. Meccano and Byrd were gentle pleasures. And the Monmartre door-opener was inspired. My IkanTinology was not up to parsing 27, sadly. Otherwise, a real treat!
Thanks for the various comments and feedback – seems like 1A was most popular…
I guess ‘un(e) clé’ and Noho(per) were fairly obscure, and in the former case grammatically gender-incorrect, according to Kathryn’s Dad…
Dansar at #11 – yes, Mao was a chairman, but surely the clue isn’t trying to be historically correct, it is just putting the words ‘president’ and ‘mao’ out there to be anagrammed?…
EggCustard at #5 – I also hastily entered ‘BARD’ at 15A, then repented when INANITY wouldn’t fit…but I forgot to mention that in the blog.