Neo steps up to the plate this morning.
When I saw 1 across, my heart sank as I can’t find a way to justify LIB = freedom. (see Hovis’s comment at 1, although I’m still not entirely convinced as without a qualifier, such as “Women’s”, Lib can’t stand alone, in my view). The next clue I answered was also disappointing. In SHEARED, Neo has handed us more than half of the answer on a plate. Thankfully, as I worked my way through a first pass, the rest of the answers I slotted in were better, and I really liked 10dn, 27ac and 22ac.
I did have one other quibble. In the clue for 23dn, I don’t think P in isolation can stand for “peace”. It is only used in compound phrases such as “rest in peace”. Happy to be corrected, if anyone can tell me otherwise. (Again, Hovis has provided an explanation, and I agree with his premise, so it’s me who’s in the wrong here.)
Oh, and one even more minor quibble – the word “one” was used on at least three occasions to indicate I.
These aside, the puzzle was quite satisfying in the end, with some lovely definitions (“tie-break expert” being the best example) and just enough general knowledge to keep me interested (as I prefer a bit of GK in my puzzles).
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LIBIDO | Desire freedom associated with marital consent? (6) |
| LIB (short for liberty? so “freedom”) associated with I DO (as spoken at wedding ceremonies, so “marital consent”)
I’m not aware of LIB as an accepted abbreviation for liberty, but can’t see any other way of parsing this? |
||
| 4 | OTOSCOPE | Lug instrument and books round room (8) |
| OT (Old Testament, so “books” of the Bible) + O (round) + SCOPE (“room”)
An otoscope is the handheld instrument doctors use to investigate the ear canal. |
||
| 9 | ROBOT | Base installing second-class machine (5) |
| ROOT (“base”) installing B (“second-class” as in B-grade) | ||
| 10 | ICELANDER | European craft touching down on frozen mass (9) |
| LANDER (“craft touching down”) on ICE (“frozen mass”) | ||
| 11 | SHEARED | Time to reflect in shed having removed fleece (7) |
| <=ERA (“time”, to reflect) in SHED
The setter has given us more than half the letters, and could have used a synonym like “hut” or “outhouse” instead. |
||
| 12 | IMMENSE | Huge mines exploding around me (7) |
| *(mines) [anag:exploding] around ME | ||
| 13 | UVEA | Bit of a looker going through Villeneuve Airport (4) |
| Hidden in “villeneUVE Airport”
The uvea is the middle layer of the eye, hence cryptically, a “bit of a looker” |
||
| 14 | STINGRAY | Mean to eat a lot of raw fish (8) |
| STINGY (“mean”) to eat [a lot of] RA(w) | ||
| 17 | TENERIFE | Bag sent back – ecstasy widespread in island (8) |
| <=NET (“bag”, sent back) + E (ecstasy) + RIFE (“widespread”) | ||
| 19 | BRIO | Energy from endless cheese and egg (4) |
| [endless] BRI(e) (“cheese”) + O (egg, due to its shape – in cricket, duck meaning zero, is short for “duck’s egg)) | ||
| 22 | HOUDINI | Racket one used after short time for tie-break expert? (7) |
| DIN (“racket”) + I (one) used after [short] HOU(r) (“time”)
Houdini, a famous escapologist, could be considered an “expert at breaking his ties”. |
||
| 24 | OSMOSIS | Gradual assimilation of silicon in universe, not carbon (7) |
| Si (chemical symbol for “silicon”) in (c)OSMOS (“universe”, not C (chemical symbol for “carbon”)) | ||
| 25 | PTEROSAUR | Ground or pasture for ancient beast (9) |
| *(or pasture) [anag:ground]
A pterosaur was a flying dinosaur. |
||
| 26 | SHIVA | Among Muslims, very destructive deity (5) |
| Among SHIA (“Muslims”), V (very)
Shia is one of the two main branches of Islam, the other being Sunni. and Shiva is one of the gods of the Hindu triumvirate. |
||
| 27 | DEPRIVES | In disreputable clubs expert at intervals strips (8) |
| In DIVES (“disreputable clubs”) E(x)P(e)R(t) [at intervals] | ||
| 28 | ADVENT | Entering a depression, see what’s coming (6) |
| Entering A DENT (“depression”), V (“look”, short for “vide” in reference books) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LARKSPUR | Birds turned up on river to see plant (8) |
| LARKS (“birds”) + [turned] <=UP on R (river) | ||
| 2 | BIBLE BELT | Southern area displaying Christian restraint? (5,4) |
| Cryptic definition.
The Bible Belt is a loosely defined area of Southeast USA, where conservative Protestantism is prominent. |
||
| 3 | DETERS | Discourages revolutionary Red Set (6) |
| *(red set) [anag:revolutionary] | ||
| 5 | THE SIGN OF FOUR | Mystery man to leave unemployed ranks during trip (3,4,2,4) |
| HE (“man”) + SIGN OFF (the dole) (“leave unemployed ranks”) during TOUR (“trip”)
The Sign of Four by Conan Doyle was the second Sherlock Holmes novel. |
||
| 6 | SLAMMER | Prison’s fierce critic? (7) |
| A critic could be considered “one who slams”. | ||
| 7 | OLDEN | Ancient line traced through ordinary study (5) |
| L (line) traced through O (ordinary) + DEN (“study”) | ||
| 8 | EARNER | Breadwinner finding profitable job (6) |
| Double definition, (although not very different definitions). | ||
| 10 | INDETERMINATE | One end muddled with another? It’s not known (13) |
| I (one) + *(end) [anag:muddled] with TERMINATE (“another” end) | ||
| 15 | YORKSHIRE | County once reached by hiker with rosy disposition (9) |
| *(hiker rosy) [anag:disposition] | ||
| 16 | CONSTANT | Dependable and firm the moment one leaves (8) |
| Co. (company, so “firm”) + (i)NSTANT (“moment”, with I (one) leaving) | ||
| 18 | NAIROBI | Excellent swindle in Northern Ireland’s capital (7) |
| A1 (“excellent”) + ROB (“swindle”) in NI (Northern Ireland)
Nairobi is the capital of Kenya |
||
| 20 | SHAPED | Power in Hades deviously influenced (6) |
| P (power) in *(hades) [anag:deviously] | ||
| 21 | AMUSED | A thought caused a chuckle (6) |
| A + MUSED (“thought”) | ||
| 23 | USE UP | Washington-Brussels summit on peace to finish (3,2) |
| US (indicated by “Washington”) + EU (indicated by “Brussels”) on P (peace)
I am only aware of P = peace in RIP (rest in peace), so don’t think this works. |
||
I took LIB in 1a as in Women’s Lib. In 23d, I took P to be “summit on peace”.
I also noted DETER appears in both 3d and 10d.
Thanks to Neo and loonapick.
Thanks, Hovis@1
I agree re “summit of” peace, but still not entirely convinced of LIB, as it doesn’t stand alone (needs to be part of a compound/phrase).
The DETERs didn’t bother me as they are in indicated differently and aren’t synonymous.
DETER didn’t really bother me but looked a little clumsy once I spotted it. No blame on Neo though.
I don’t like abbreviations that are part of compounds either. However, I felt that in women’s lib, lib is short for “liberation” and “women’s” is not abbreviated. Other liberation movements also exist of course. As such, I’m ok with it but opinions will no doubt be divided.
PS. Just looked in Chambers app. LIB as a noun, short for liberation, is given.
Hovis@4
Looks like it’s OK then, and I was just having (another!) bad day.
An enjoyable, mildly taxing diversion from Neo today. I raised an eyebrow at ‘lib’ but, being lib-eral, I suppose it works. OTOSCOPE appears again in less than a week but prefer this clue.
YORKSHIRE, SLAMMER and INDETERMINATE were favourites.
Thanks to Neo and Loonapick.
Not perhaps Neo’s finest work but still enjoyable despite all the quibbles Loonapick points out in his preamble. Thank you to both of them
Well LIB is in Collins too, having its own slot (contraction of liberation, but it’s not actually an abbreviation), so there. With SHED was I just being nice? Possibly, though down under shearing sheds are a lot more common than shearing huts or outhouses, and that’s why it was left.
I didn’t notice the two deters when setting this, so fair enough: had they been clued in similar ways I guess that would have been more ‘clumsy’ than it actually is, and they don’t cross in the grid either. You are hard taskmasters indeed!
Anyway cheers to all.
Naughty Neo.
Thanks to Neo and loonapick. I was slowed down by the “lug” part of OTOSCOPE but as one who lives in the BIBLE BELT I much enjoyed this puzzle.
Enjoyable and satisfying – and completed without aids. Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
But what’s this about Yorkshire being a county once (15dn)? As a Tyke I take exception to that. Yorkshire may be divided into parts such as West Yorkshire, the East Riding and various districts and unitary authorities but it’s still Yorkshire. There is still a Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and since 2015 there’s been a Tour de Yorkshire cycle race.
Solved over breakfast — thought it would be a write-in after tearing through the NW corner but the pace became much slower after that. Favorites wete HOUDINI, TENERIFE, and CONSTANT. Thanks Loonapick for the blog and explaining the “V” in ADVENT. Thanks Neo for the fun.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
A good challenge that took two shortish and one longer sittings to get out. A good mix of clues and general knowledge areas that were covered. It is interesting the number of times that the same word that one hasn’t seen pops up a couple of times in the same week – such as OTOSCOPE here, and agree that this was a nice clue for it. Neo will often throw in a couple of clever definitions and ‘lug instrument’, ‘bit of a looker’ and ‘tie-break expert’ were all gems. Also liked the concept of the ‘Christian restraint’ defining a BIBLE BELT.
Finished in the NE corner with that OTOSCOPE and THE SIGN OF FOUR (which I had to look up, haven’t actually read any of the Sherlock Holmes books) the last couple in.