When we saw that it is Punk today, we knew we were in for an enjoyable challenge – and we weren’t disappointed. We were slightly surprised that several of the clues – particularly the 3-letter ones – were rather easier than we had expected, but we scratched our heads for some time before the penny dropped on several others.
There were no less than seven double definitions – is this a record?
We’ve come to expect a bit of ‘near the knuckle’ stuff from Punk, and this time what one might call ‘bodily functions’ make appearances at 6D and 8D – the definition in 6D raised a smile!
We also have some perhaps rather pernickety concerns with 4D, but all-in-all, a fun puzzle.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Tree where duck engaged by some trill? | |
| BAOBAB | O (duck) in, or ‘engaged by’ B A B A B (trill – a repeated sequence of two notes a tone apart) | |
| 5 | You’ve been caught cold in superhero’s city, dropping back | |
| GOTCHA | C (cold) in GOTHA |
|
| 10 | Burner, cold one | |
| CHILLI | CHILL (cold) + I (one) | |
| 11 | Old sovereign, a particular age | |
| ERA | ER (‘old’ sovereign – either Elizabeth I, or the queen, who is getting on a bit!) + A | |
| 12 | Groovy thing to have sex! | |
| RUT | Double definition | |
| 14 | So long fluffy rice came first? | |
| ARRIVEDERCI | An anagram of RICE (anagrind is ‘fluffy’) with ARRIVED (came) first | |
| 16 | Giant, light having shed skin | |
| ORC | ||
| 17 | God gaining ultimate of respect in trip across Africa as emperor | |
| RAS TAFARI | RA (god) + T (last letter or ‘ultimate of’ respecT) in SAFARI (trip across Africa) | |
| 18 | Beastly remark from far right escaping US actress | |
| MIAOW | Far r (right) omitted from MIA |
|
| 19 | Pass off as fake ring held by hand | |
| FOIST | O (ring) in or ‘held by’ FIST (hand) | |
| 21 | They’re thick, some this stupid banking zilch | |
| SMOOTHIES | An anagram of SOME THIS (anagrind is ‘stupid’) round or ‘banking’ O (zilch) | |
| 23 | Race to publish | |
| RUN | Double definition | |
| 24 | Intensity of light in Milan needing clue that’s cryptic | |
| ILLUMINANCE | An anagram of IN MILAN and CLUE (anagrind is ‘cryptic’) | |
| 25 | Avian sound in place of chickens? Not quite | |
| COO | COO |
|
| 26 | Some bozo, a fool? | |
| OAF | Hidden in bozO A Fool | |
| 27 | Thingamy having back-to-back parties – that’s cute! | |
| DOODAH | DO (party) + DO (party) reversed or ‘back-to-back’ + AH (that’s cute!) | |
| 29 | Second change | |
| SILVER | Double definition. Every time we see the word ‘silver’ we think of Jerry Seinfeld talking about winning a silver medal. If you haven’t heard it before, THIS is worth it! | |
| 30 | Style for swimmer | |
| MULLET | Double definition – a hairstyle and a fish | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | Tree remains after forest fire? | |
| ASH | Double definition | |
| 3 | Entrance of beautiful girl in play for the nation | |
| BOLIVIA | B (first letter or ‘entrance’ of Beautiful) + OLIVIA (girl in play) Sadly, Bert’s first thought was that this refers to Olivia Newton-John of ‘Grease’ fame – but that was a film, so it must be Shakespeare’s Olivia from ‘Twelfth Night’! | |
| 4 | Magoo’s good-natured game | |
| BLIND MAN’S BLUFF | We’re not too happy about this one – Mr Magoo was a cartoon character created in 1949 who was near-sighted, but not a BLIND MAN + BLUFF (good-natured). Bert had thought that the game was called ‘Blindman’s Buff’, but a quick google established that that was the original name, but it is now more commonly known as ‘Blindman’s Bluff’. | |
| 6 | Order restraining granny is for seedy practice | |
| ONANISM | OM (order – as in Order of Merit) around or ‘restraining’ NAN (granny) IS. Interesting definition!!! | |
| 7 | Big firm belly | |
| CORPORATION | Double definition | |
| 8 | Extremes of language? Weep three times, ‘cos terribly upset on holiday | |
| AZTEC TWO-STEP | A + Z (extremes of language – well, of the alphabet, anyway) + an anagram of WEEP T T T (three times) COS (anagrind is ‘terribly’). We’d never come across this phrase before – ‘Delhi belly’ is more familiar to us as a way of blaming foreign food for anything that causes the runs! | |
| 9 | Formal introduction suggested error said before a maiden | |
| DEAR SIR OR MADAM | An anagram of ERROR SAID, with the anagrind being MAD (‘suggested’ indicating that it is part of the solution) + A + M (maiden) | |
| 13 | One elasticated item – or four? | |
| PAIR OF BRACES | A play on the fact that a brace can mean two, so a PAIR OF BRACES could be four, as well as trouser supports | |
| 15 | Pound in US dollars as concealed figure | |
| RUSSIAN DOLL | An anagram of IN US DOLLARS (anagrind is ‘pound’) | |
| 20 | God taking ecstasy for an interval | |
| TRITONE | TRITON (god) + E (ecstasy) | |
| 22 | Metal wrapper up to wrapping up dope | |
| TINFOIL | TIL (up to) around or ‘wrapping’ INFO (dope) | |
| 28 | Closely follow gorilla | |
| APE | Double definition | |
11A I suppose ER could be for one of the eight (or seven as the last was not crowned?) Kings Edward.
Also wondered about “blind” for Magoo, hardly ever watched it but did understand he was just extraordinarily short-sighted. Probably too non-PC these days to make fun of myopia.
Also found more relatively straightforward clues than usual with Punk, final entries were the crossing MIAOW (couldn’t parse it) and AZTEC TWO-STEP from the wordplay and enumeration, though had never heard of it.
Thanks to Punk and Bertandjoyce.
A typically enjoyable Punk puzzle that was probably towards the easier end of his spectrum. Some laughs along the way, such as the definition for ONANISM. I’d heard of AZTEC TWO-STEP so I didn’t have too much of a problem with it once a few checkers were in place. I confess that I didn’t think twice about the clue for BLIND MAN’S BLUFF. DEAR SIR OR MADAM was my LOI. I thought the DD clue for SILVER was good.
8 down is clearly related to Montezuma’s revenge, which is what I have always called it.
With regard to 6 down, I once heard of someone who named their budgie Onan – because he spilt his seed upon the ground.
(I’ll get my coat.)
Superman has moved to Gotham City these days? I can’t keep up. Who’s looking after Metropolis?
Actually, 5ac was my first in, and I’d vaguely heard of 8dn but wasn’t sure if it was one-step or two-step. Turns out there’s a band called the Aztec Two Step, when I googled it.
Took me ages to get 9dn!
Oops, trying to be too clever in my post. Meant to add that Batman is the more usual superhero resident of Gotham City. Incidentally, back when I read Superman comics in the sixties, I always assumed that bot Metropolis and Gotham City were fictionalised variations of New York. Gotham was an old nickname for New York, and the globe on the Daily Planet building was actually based on a real newspaper building in New York.
Thanks b&j did wonder if magoo was going to be a dig at mark goodliffe.
Oh dear! Bert apologises profusely – never having been into superheroes it can’t even be described as a ‘senior moment’! Sorry Dormouse.
Joyce apologises too – to her Gotham is just a nearby village.