A somewhat racy puzzle this Friday from a very welcome setter. Thanks Wanderer!
Apologies for the formatting error in the blog. Instead of underlining the definition, I underlined the clue. Net Net, whatever is not underlined in the overall clue is the definition.
FF: 9 DD: 9 . I believe there is a near-pangram in the mix. ‘J’?
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BABYFACE | Comparatively small mug for one seeming young and innocent? (8) |
| BABY (comparatively small) FACE (mug) | ||
| 5 | PIQUET | Huff leading to end of first game (6) |
| PIQUE (huff) T (end of firsT) | ||
| 8 | RAB | Counter-revolutionary Scotsman? (3) |
| reverse of BAR (counter) | ||
| 9 | AGGRESSIVE | Showing belligerence, rages and gives out (10) |
| RAGES GIVES* | ||
| 10 | TRAIL MIX | Wanderer’s one that’s fibbed about being kept in trim primarily by snack food (5,3) |
| [ I’M (wanderer’s) LIAR (one that has fibbed), all reversed (about) ] in [ T (Trim, primarily) X (by, times) ] | ||
| 11 | WILLIE | Women’s organisation accepts sick European as male member (6) |
| [ WI (women’s organization) containing ILL (sick) ] E (european) | ||
| 12 | BILL | Account for programme of entertainment (4) |
| double def | ||
| 14 | DISGRUNTLE | Let down daughter? Result: gin drunk (10) |
| D (daughter) [ RESULT GIN]* | ||
| 17 | ENACTMENTS | Stagings of Cats ten men produced (10) |
| CATS TEN MEN* | ||
| 20 | SHAH | In Bangladesh, a Hindu ruler once (4) |
| hidden in “..bangladeSH A Hindi..” | ||
| 23 | See 21 | |
| 24 | SPARE RIB | Feminist magazine featuring extra Knitting section? (5,3) |
| SPARE (extra) RIB (knitting section) | ||
| 25 | LAID EYES ON | Spotted dick’s 50% off with ale? Yes and no, in turn (4,4,2) |
| DIck (50% off) ALE YES NO* | ||
| 26 | TIT | One that tweets back and forth (3) |
| cryptic reference to a palindrome | ||
| 27 | ASTHMA | With this airways problem, ask the man with all the details? (6) |
| cryptic def; ASk THe MAn (de-tailed) | ||
| 28 | ASTEROID | Space traveller’s bloomer, I do suspect (8) |
| ASTER (bloomer) [ I DO]* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BIRD TABLE | Good book about art deco, writer having left out garden feature (4,5) |
| BIBLE (good book) around [ ART Deco (without writer) ]* | ||
| 2 | BOBTAIL | Rabbit taking short cut, story said (7) |
| BOB (short cut) TAIL (sounds like TALE – story) | ||
| 3 | FLATLY | Apartment largely unoccupied? Absolutely (6) |
| FLAT (apartment) LY (LargelY, unoccupied) | ||
| 4 | COGNITIVE | Sort of dissonance one encountered during Viet Cong manoeuvres (9) |
| I (one) in VIET CONG* | ||
| 5 | POST WAR | Abandoned straw poll lecturers vetoed after conflict (4-3) |
| STRAW POll* (without LL – Lecturers) | ||
| 6 | QUISLINGS | In France, who supports traitors? (9) |
| QUI (who, french) SLINGS (supports) | ||
| 7 | EZEKIEL | Book showing what’s kept in freezer (like cooking, then?) (7) |
| EZE (whats kept in freEZEr) LIKE* | ||
| 13 | LOCKSMITH | Jams with German hotel’s key worker? (9) |
| LOCKS (jams) MIT (with, german) H (hotel) | ||
| 15 | GATEPOSTS | Letters hidden by 12, famously – ones sharing secrets, perhaps (9) |
| POST (letters) in GATES (12, famously – referring to 12 across : BILL) | ||
| 16 | EXHIBITED | Shown by former lover how I’d primarily have sex when retired? (9) |
| EX (former lover) HI (How I’d, primaily) [ IT (sex) in BED (when retired) ] | ||
| 18 | NEEDLES | New winger getting sent off at start of Leeds game is annoying (7) |
| NEw (without W – winger, end character) [LEEDS]* | ||
| 19 | MANDELA | Famous African person with key blood type (7) |
| MAN (person) DEL (key) A (blood type) | ||
| 21, 2 | HORATIO NELSON | 3 Nation’s hero, lost way out at sea? (7,6) |
| &lit ; [NATION’S HERO LOst (way out)]* | ||
| 22 | PRINCE | Musician is one like will.i.am, if only half as dotty! (6) |
| cryptic def; alluding to prince william in the clue; definition is a musician who changed his name to TAFKAP (The Artist Formerly Known As Prince) | ||
On the whole I found this crossword harder than the average Wanderer.
For some reason I couldn’t fully parse NEEDLES (18d) although the answer was clear enough.
My last one in was PRINCE (22d) and while I see the Prince William bit, I still don’t get the last part of the clue (‘if only half as dotty’).
I parsed 25ac slightly different.
(DI (‘just’ 50%) + ALE)* [indicator: off], followed by YES and a reversal [in turn] of NO.
Many thanks to Turbolegs for the blog & Wanderer for the puzzle.
Thanks, Turbolegs. I come from a naval family, so as I skimmed the clues I spotted HORATIO NELSON immediately. That was my FOI, which got me off to a good start (although the parsing of 22dn PRINCE is still a mystery to me). Some excellent clues and great surfaces. My favourite is 11ac WILLIE, because I have a coarse sense of humour, and my least favourite is 10ac TRAIL MIX, which I’ve never heard of and I’m sure will never hear again. Thanks, Wanderer, for an engrossing Friday.
Hi Sil@1,
I think the 22dn parse for the ‘dotty’ bit is the removal of 2 dots/periods in the name (between will and i, and i and am) .. there are a total of 4 dots in the original (including the 2 on top of the ‘i’s). Can’t think of any obscure Black Eyed Peas reference to the singer himself.
Regards,
TL
An enjoyable solve with a few clues needing some thought to parse. Not sure if there’s something more with WILLIE NELSON appearing? Didn’t know the feminist magazine at 24a.
The clueing for 7d seemed a little clumsy (EZE for “what’s kept in the freezer” and “then?” at the end) and I’m not sure I fully get 22d. Why half as dotty? This would leave one dot.
Thanks to Wanderer and Turbolegs.
Hornbeam@2,
I thought 21,23dn was an excellent clue. Elegant in its construction.
Regards,
TL
Phew, a lot of responses whilst typing mine. I also meant to add that I parsed 25a as did Sil. I like your explanation for 22d Turbolegs. Never considered the dots on the i’s.
There are Nelsons all over the place: Horatio Nelson, Nelson Mandela, Nelson Piquet, Willie Nelson, Babyface Nelson, probably more…
FOI, Willie, which being rude, made me laugh out loud. Enjoyed the Bill/William mini themes along with the numerous Nelsons as pointed out by Grant (TAFKAP being another), and not a few musicians. Great fun. 28ac and 6d were favourites but should have got 7d much sooner. Thanks to Wanderer and Turbolegs
This is my favorite type of crossword i.e. where there’s a lot that’s new to me — BIRD TABLE, HORATIO NELSON, SPARE RIB, GATEPOSTS, PIQUET — but all solved through elegant clueing. Thanks to Wanderer and Turbolegs.
Thanks for the blog, Turbolegs – and Grant and Diane for the extras, which completely passed me by.
I parsed 21,23 as an anagram [at sea] of NATION’S HERO LO[st] minus st [way out].
My favourites today were POST-WAR,QUISLINGS, GATEPOSTS, HORATIO NELSON and EXHIBITED.
Many thanks, Wanderer, for another great puzzle, which I enjoyed despite missing the theme.
I think your parsing of 21,23 Eileen, matches that of the blog.
Thanks Grant for expanding on my comment @4. I should have at least spotted the Mandela link. Of course, Horacio Nelson was clued. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more. Ezekiel Nelson? Rab Nelson? Bobtail Nelson (getting a bit carried away now). I’ll put my lack of understanding for 22d as a half Nelson.
One or two hiccups on the way – we tentatively had ‘Mac’ (‘cam’ reversed) for 8ac thinking a cam might be part of a revolution counter; don’t know why RAB didn’t occur to us earlier. So that held us up in the NW corner. TRAIL MIX was our LOI after finding it under ‘trail’ in Chambers and then we took a while to parse it. Failed to spot the theme, though.
We agree with Sil’s parsing of 25ac, and we parsed 7dn slightly differently; we saw “what’s in freezer” as the middle letters, EEZ, so the parsing was (EEZ LIKE)*
HORATIO NELSON, PIQUET and GATEPOSTS were ones we particularly liked.
Thanks, Wanderer and Turbolegs.
Hovis @11 – I’ve reread the blog more carefully and see now that Turbolegs doesn’t give anagram indicators in brackets, as some of us do: I’d read his [‘way out’] as the anagram indicator.
My apologies, Turbolegs.
There’s also Bill Nelson, of Be Bop Deluxe fame.
Yes, Turbolegs @3, that’ll be it in 22d!
allan_c’s explanation (@12) of 7d (EZEKIEL) is much better than the one in the blog (and mine!).
I was a bit bothered by EZE not being in the middle of ‘freezer’ but, I think, allan hit the nail on the head.
Also, thumbs up to Grant @7 who saw what many of us didn’t see.
The icing on the cake.
@1, Sil van den Hoek:
will.i.am – stage name of William Adams, rapper, songwriter?
Joe, I know who will.i.am is, so that was not the point.
I am happy with what Turbolegs said @3.
Prince’s full name is Prince Rogers Nelson.
Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs
Very late to the party with this one … but what a cracking puzzle – made all the better with the NELSON ghost theme. Quite tricky in places with unknown to me SPARE RIB (magazine), COGNITIVE DISSONANCE and the BIRD TABLE. Had to re-remember that QUISLING could actually be a noun, from the Norwegian traitor. Loved the construction of GATEPOSTS and did grin at WILLIE.
Started with the relatively easy anagram for ENACTMENTS and finished with that GATEPOSTS and BIRD TABLE.