Another fine crossword from Aardvark, very enjoyable all the way thorugh. Thank you Aardvark.
I’m getting used to Aardvark now. Any time I don’t get a clue straight away I just remeber to ignore the obvious. For example, if there is an obvious definition at one end of the clue then go and look at the other…
And finally, the grid is a pangram (contains every letter of the alphabet).
| Across | ||
| 1 | CARBOHYDRATE |
Vehicle by the road’s struggling to reach source of fuel (12)
CAR (vehicle) (BY THE ROAD)* anagram=is struggling – a fine clue |
| 8 | EJECTED |
Turned out miserable as first of downpours kicked off (7)
dEJECTED (miserable) missing (kicked off) D (first letter of downpours) |
| 9 | KINDRED |
At end of week, daughter stays in owing relatives (7)
weeK (end of) then D (doughter) inside (stays in) IN RED (owing) |
| 11 | RISOTTO |
Italians consume such port, travelling round south over the limit? (7)
|
| 12 | NOMINEE |
One’s in the running store during Christmas briefly (7)
MINE (store) in NOEl (Christmas, briefly) |
| 13 | EXACT |
Force past performers (5)
EX (past) ACT (performers) |
| 14 | BLOCK TYPE |
Lettering extremely tiny on group of buildings next to gym (5,4)
TinY (extremes of) on BLOCK (group of buildings) then (next to) PE (physical exercise, gym) |
| 16 | BRATWURST |
Tell wife entering to split sausage (9)
RAT (tell) W (wife) inside (entering) BURST (to split) |
| 19 | QUEUE |
Audibly signal waiters? (5)
sounds like (audibly) “cue” (signal) – people who are waiting |
| 21 | ZIONIST |
Religious adherent gazing centrally is not moving (7)
gaZIng (centre of) then (IS NOT)* anagram=moving |
| 23 | EDITING |
Newsman’s craft can cut through electronic research (7)
TIN (can) inside (cut through) E (electronic) DIG (research) |
| 24 | TOADIES |
They crawl over trailer getting into fastenings (7)
O (over) AD (trailer) inside (getting into) TIES (fastenings) |
| 25 | OMICRON |
Greek character has men to check amplifier before performing (7)
OR (men, other ranks) contains (to check, like baggage) MIC (amplifier) before ON (performing) |
| 26 | MOTHER TERESA |
Charity worker given test by that woman, disrupting Easter (6,6)
MOT (test) by HER (that woman) EASTER* anagram=disrupting |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHELSEA |
Fleece mostly covers golfer somewhere in London (7)
CHEAt (fleece, mostly) contains (covers) ELS (Ernie Els, golfer) |
| 2 | RAT-A-TAT |
Repeatedly thanks plumber, finally turning taps (3-1-3)
TA TA TA (thanks, repeatedly) and plumbeR (finally) reversed (turning) |
| 3 | ODD-JOBBER |
Handyman’s bored silly when disc-jockey (old boy) popped in (3-6)
BORED* anagram=silly contains (when…popped in) DJ (disc-jockey) OB (old boy) |
| 4 | YUKON |
River over there encapsulates our country (5)
YON (over there) contains (encapsulates) UK (our country) |
| 5 | RUN AMOK |
Charge around Asian country commonly after game agreed (3,4)
NAM (Asian country, Vietnam, commonly=slang) after RU (game, rugby union) then OK (agreed) |
| 6 | TYRANNY |
Apprentice misses latest article on state oppression (7)
TYRo (apprentice) missing latest (last letter of) AN (article) on NY (state) |
| 7 | GEORGES BIZET |
Composer gets big zero when reviewed around Spain (7,5)
anagram (when reviewed) of GETS BIG ZERO and E (Spain) |
| 10 | DIESEL ENGINE |
Eileen deigns to travel in noisy part of train? (6,6)
(EILEEN DEIGNS) anagram=to travel |
| 15 | ON THE NOSE |
Exactly at that time, seaman carried in sole (2,3,4)
THEN (at that time) OS (ordinary seaman) inside (carried in) ONE (sole) – took some time to figure this one out |
| 17 | AVOCADO |
Fruit and eggs knocked back around party (7)
OVA (eggs) reversed (knocked back) CA (circa, around) DO (party) |
| 18 | WAIFISH |
Marine animal at side of street moaning like a stray (7)
FISH (marine animal) next to (at side of) WAI sounds like (moaning) “way” (street) |
| 19 | QUININE |
Parisian who has “one over the eight” needs pain-reliever (7)
QUI (who in French, Parisian) has NINE (one over the eight) |
| 20 | ERITREA |
Introduction of religious rite performed in each country (7)
Religious (introduction of, first letter) then RITE* anagram=performed all inside EA (each) |
| 22 | TASER |
Stunner did some modelling around mid-Somerset (5)
SAT (did some modelling) reversed (around) then somERset (middle of) |
definitions are underlined
Thanks for a fine blog, PeeDee and Aardvaark for an enjoyable puzzle.
I particularly liked 19ac – and in 10ac I was amused by the ‘deigns’, since I always request a ‘quiet’ coach when booking a train ticket!
The only clue I didn’t like was 18dn – ‘at side of’ in a down clue?
I parsed 11ac as ‘Italians consume such’: RIO [port] round S [South] OTT [over the limit].
Grrh! – I always have trouble spelling Aardvark! ðŸ™
Eileen – I thought of you at 10dn but was wary of commenting as everything I could come up with seemed to have the potential to be misread as a comment on your public behaviour in trains!
You are certainly correct for 11ac, what I wrote was just gibberish. ROP as a port?
I don’t have any problems with down/across mismatches. If the setter chooses to regard all the solutions as linear sequences of letters than that’s OK with me. If they like to have content of the clues match the orientation of their solutions in the grid then that’s OK with me too. I think of it as their choice not mine.
Of course Aardvark may be of the matching persuasion and simply have made a mistake. Only Aardvark himself would be able to clear that one up.
Thanks, PeeDee, for your gentlemanly restraint. 😉
That’s a fair point about 18ac: I retract my comment.
I got 21a but the definition of Zionist as “religious adherent” is just plain wrong.
Thanks Aardvark and PeeDee.
I was really stuck with parsing ON THE NOSE. I did like QUININE, CARBOHYDRATE, RISOTTO and BRATWURST. Just realised it is lunch time.
Coby @5 – one of the two definitions for Zionism given in Chambers is: “a religious movement in southern Africa in which traditional beliefs are incorporated within Pentecostal Christianity”. This would make one definition of Zionist to be an adherent of this religious movement.
Not the most common definition of Zionist certainly, but a valid one which Aardvark is free to choose?
Thanks to setter and blogger.
An enjoyable puzzle, though I was held up in the SE corner for a while, having carelessly written in ‘aspirin’ at 19d. I saw ‘pain-reliever’, and used ‘Parisian’ as anagram fodder less one of its eight letters. Eventually MOTHER TERESA showed me the error of my ways, and on reading the clue a bit more carefully, I found that my initial thoughts didn’t make sense. ðŸ™
Another first for me! For once I spotted the pangram, realised the ‘F’ was missing and that gave me the way in to WAIFISH. Thanks PeeDee and Aardvark – just hard enough for me to complete but feel satisfied.
Thanks Aardvark and PeeDee
Did this one around the time of publication, but just checked it off today. He drew the error with DEJECTED – I came here to understand the parsing of my ‘everted’ … and whammo ! Wish that I had of seen the pangram – and maybe got saved with the J.
Lots of nice clues as per normal from this setter and a challenging level of difficulty. Finished all over the place with the last three in being ON THE NOSE, DIESEL ENGINE and WAIFISH.