26242 In which quick grown hoaxes junk ogre lazy dogs

A 22.35 solve for me, which puts it in the mildly tricky class, possibly stretched a bit by needing to be sure of understanding everything before submitting in case any of you had queries. The presence of early high value Scrabbleâ„¢ letters raised expectations of a pangram, not to be disappointed. Indeed, today’s setter only missed a double by 4 letters, one of which I found useful in filling in the questionmarks in 28ac – not, perhaps, one you would expect to be of that ilk. I do believe we have a previously unseen device being employed to excellent effect. There’s also some interesting fringe vocabulary and GK around, including several Bible references, but all fairly clued and gettable. I also found several places where I might query the numeration. No matter, here’s the result of all my explorations

Across

1 VOICE BOX Speechmaker
Raising hopes of another gentle stroll, a V(olume) followed by n0thing and an ICEBOX serving as a cooler. I thought it a single word, but the enumeration and all the usual sources have the temerity to disagree.
6 BELONG  Fit
If you continue a marathon, you’re going to BE LONG. Or in my case, late. As in the late Z8b8d8k
9 ADIT  Passage
Normally the entry way into a mine, here a poster or AD with IT, (sex) appeal as found in crosswords.
10 GAS GUZZLER  Expensive car
I’m not aware of this device appearing before. “Talk” provides the GAS , and the rest is provided by the gottle og gear producer’s attempt at “puzzling”, which is, perhaps, doubly “perplexing” for the stomach speaker. Back in the day, we had a character called Archie Andrews, a ventriloquist’s dummy who appeared on the radio show “Educating Archie” in the 50s. You couldn’t see the lips move, which was just as well because the ventriloquist was one Peter Brough.
11 JOCKEY CLUB  sports administrators
Must be the oldest extant sporting body, founded in 1750. C(arbon) is included in JOKEY, full of (wise) cracks, CLUB for “strike” follows. Anyone else try visualising the surface meaning of the clue? Just me, then.
13 RUDD  Relative of carp
So a fish then, and I believe the only freshwater fish I have ever caught. RUDDy is our shortened cussword, perhaps as devised by our tame ventriloquist.
14 AMUNDSEN He visited pole
And German gives UND, add S(on) and enclose both as instructed in AMEN for “let it be”
16 ON SONG  performing well
More German, this time Lied for SONG, with ON, about, leading the way.
18 SNUGLY closely
The team at (Bridge) table, are N(orth) and S(outh). If UGLY, they are presumed not to be attracting each other, but, hey, ugly people need soulmates too. It’s only a matter of time before such appearancism becomes a crime
20 MUD PUPPY  N American native
A species of salamander, as it says native to the US and Canada. My internal image system produces children splashing in grubby places, along the lines of mudlarks, but apparently that’s only by extension. The last letter of celebritY and the letters UP DUP MP combine in restructured format. Not, perhaps, the most opaque anagram, especially when mostly in stand out capitals.
22 FAVE popularly preferred
For which read what the dictionaries sniffily call an (inf) version of favourite. F, the musical version of loud, then AVE, your greeting for Caesars and blessed virgins.
24 ANNE BOLEYN  She….
A pretty good &lit, an anagram of SHE’S ONLY BEEN plus the end of queeN, wretched the anagram announcer.
26 QUICKTHORN  May
Or indeed hawthorn. Not slow QUICK, however THO’, and sailors RN
26 AWAY out
My LOI, Now where’s the setter put his W? Ah, being resourceful, I find A WAY to answer my own question.
29 CAREER  calling
A minder is a CARER, the transported E the setter’s drug of choice, s
o much easier to use in a clue than methylene-dioxymethamphetamine
30 IOLANTHE opera
G&S ouevre, not the most hummed. A plainly signalled anagram of HIS ALONE

Down

2 ODD JOBMAN  casual worker.
An anagram of MOOD BAN with formal wear, the D(inner) J(acket) inserted.
3 CATSKIN hide from queen
Not, perhaps, the most common of hides, though I found this slightly disturbing one. A queen is a lady cat, the disapproving TSK is surrounded by the fratricidal CAIN
4 BUGGY  Early form of transport
Not drawn from Georgette Heyer: early in the sense of for early years. There’s a second definition in “beset by defects”. Take your pick.
5 XIS Letters from abroad
If indeed Greece is abroad for you. SIX, definitely “a number”, reversed.
6 BLUE BLOOD  classy descent
Supposedly because fair and noble skin showed blue veins more clearly. A BLUE is a distinguished Oxbridge sports person. To BLOOD is to initiate
7 LAZARUS  miracle man
Cf John 11: 1-44. Most of LAZy for idle, AS for while, and R(ugby) U(nion) for the (inserted) game, much forgotten by the English.
8 NO END  a lot
The Bible Land is NOD (cf Genesis 4: 16) to which Cain (cf 3dn) was exiled. The tips of EuropeaN provide the “visiting” letters
12 LINKMAN  Anchor
L(eft) INK, black liquid at least sometimes, and the Isle of MAN
15 SPYMASTER  Top agent
Take MY for (goodness) gracious and PS for something I might add, reverse them as instructed by “turning over”, and add ASTER a plant. Of some sort.
17 NAPPY RASH  an affliction of the very young
Refusal, NAY, “keeps” PP, music for very quiet, and RASH for “not considered”
19 GLENCOE  Depression Sxcottish hiker could enter
Though you can also get in by road. An “injured” anagram  of ONCE LEG
24 UNLEARN  Forget
A remarkably long every other letter example  tUnNeL-rEpAiRiNg
23 ARUBA  Island
Not the sound of an old fashioned motor horn, then. Off the coast of Venzuela, but then you knew that. The A(utomobile) A(ssociation) binds RUB for “cause friction”
25 BANAL  far from original
The Idol (from the unbeliever’s point of view), is BA’AL (cf 1 Kings 18 et al). Chuck in a N(ame)
27 OBI charm
Not Wan Kenobi, then. “Passed on” gives  OBit, and one’s just I. In Roman, if you please.

41 comments on “26242 In which quick grown hoaxes junk ogre lazy dogs”

  1. 39 minutes, finishing with 15d, as I was looking for a plant involving M. I thought about as much of the ventriloquist clue as I do of the ‘entertainment’ itself.
  2. I was very slow off the mark but once started it mostly fell into place quite readily despite a number of unknowns or forgottens such as MUD PUPPY, QUICKTHORN and ARUBA.

    However, just as yesterday, I fell at the final hurdle and after 10 minutes of staring at the last three blank squares (at 18ac) I gave up and cheated. Unlike yesterday though, I was sorry when I knew the answer as I should have got it. Yesterday with ABELE I didn’t have a chance.

  3. … as hard as a set of old 13s on the (pictured) Tele.

    Best clue was for ANNE BOLEYN: a great &lit — one that the setter must have been proud of. (If anyone here’s done much setting, they’d know that you get one this good once a year or so.) Closely followed by BELONG which I took to be a simple charade: BE (to continue), LONG (marathon, adj.).

    Two quite disturbing reminders of ex Australian PMs at 7dn and 13ac. Both, to my mind, were 25dn.

    The GUZZLER at 10ac I took to be that ventriloquist’s trick of talking while drinking a glass of something. Perhaps a gottle o’ geer?

    Another parsing difference: at 15dn I took “turning” alone as the indicator and “over” to show that SP,YM goes above the rest.

    And thanks to you Z8 for finding my old Dad’s ostler yesterday!

    Edited at 2015-10-29 07:46 am (UTC)

    1. Would a ventriloquist find drinking and projecting his voice perplexing? Difficult, perhaps, or challenging. And why guzzling and not plain old-fashioned drinking? I remain convinced (and gottle o’ gear rather underlines it) that the P/G confusion is intended, and puzzler is the affected word.The guzzler would have to be the ventriloquist herself, and I don’t really see how the second half of the clue drives you to that. It might equally, and by the same sort of rough association, lead to (say) duettist.
  4. Would have been ~15 minutes but argh, argh, argh, I put HOCKEY CLUB at 11ac. Well, something that’s HOKEY might have cracks showing, sort of, maybe? Yet again a sports question lays me low. Good puzzle though, kept me on the tips of my mental toes throughout…
    1. Glad to find myself in esteemed company with HOCKEY CLUB, having reasoned HOKEY similarly. It’s possibly all a bit tenuous to put in a claim for this as an acceptable alternative.

      Good puzzle though with some particularly smooth surfaces to my mind. CATSKIN perhaps the pick of the bunch.

  5. Morning!

    Was due to blog the Quick today but after arriving at hospital for a check up am likely to be here until lunchtime!

    If no-one can cover, I’ll be along later.


  6. 2dn proved difficult for a long time
    and plenty of other road blocks – over an hour.
    But is was well constructed except for 28ac

    The Northern Venezuelan Islands are my speciality!FOI

    horryd Shanghai

  7. Held up at the end by QUICKTHORN. As soon as I considered the “Q”, the answer seemed obvious, not that I’d heard of it. As the great Homer Simpson almost said, “Those British, they got a word (or several) for everything”.

    Can’t agree with your comment at 7dn Z. The good folk at Twickers haven’t forgotten about rugby, they’re just swapping nationalities on a weekly basis. They’ve had turns at being Welsh, Scottish and Argentinian (!!??), and this week I suspect will be tapping into their long lost NZ heritage!

      1. Me? I’ll be barracking for the Green and Yellows. Now, cricket’s a different matter – I’d be rooting for the Boys in Beige.
      2. About to take off from Coolangatta, heading for home. Anxious to inspect status of crack. Will provide updates.
        1. Crikey, this is better than Neighbours! Tune in tomorrow, when Galspray gets the old hose out.
  8. Over the 60m today. Not one that I enjoyed very much – I thought 10a very weak and it will be interesting to see how many different parsings we get of that one. 18a – my LOI – wasn’t much fun either. Good blog, Z, thanks.
  9. 24 minutes, with a major hold-up in the NW after bunging in ODD-JOBBER, which rather put the kibosh on AMUNDSEN and SNUGLY for a while.

    Isn’t MUD PUPPY a cute term? And rather descriptive, too.

    Thanks for the parsing of GUZZLER, Z8. I guess it works.

  10. This almost felt like a TLS offering (and it was certainly a whole lot better than the most recent one there). It flowed nicely from queen in 3d – “get up get up sweet slugabed (Lazarus) Corinna’s gone a-maying”, to “call me early mother dear for I’m to be queen of the may”. 21.26
  11. Quite pleased with myself at just under 20 minutes. Less pleased to have one wrong. What’s the straight meaning of ‘obi’? I had ‘oki’ (passed = ok, on top of ‘i’). I can find a few references on line to Native American charms being called ‘oki’ so, even if inadvertently, I think that’s an alternative answer?
  12. Jockey Club no longer administer racing! It is now the BHA.Hard enough without duff information
    1. I’m not sure they need to qualify something as well known as being ‘once’; you might as well complain that Lazarus is no longer a miracle man.
  13. 25m. I didn’t get time to do the puzzle yesterday (or more accurately, by the time I got the time I was slightly squiffy and decided to leave it) so I did that one and this one in quick succession. Yesterday’s took me just under 7 minutes so the contrast could hardly have been more stark.
    I enjoyed the struggle with this one. Tricky, but without too much that I didn’t know, and I never got completely stuck.
  14. I like this setter. I enjoyed the wit and originality and seemed to get what was going on fairly quickly resulting in a pleasing 12:11. This despite all the biblical stuff (I told Don Manley in the George the other week that I thought his puzzles had too much ecclesiastical stuff in them).

    I won my school talent competition with a vent act when I was 12 so I think I’m well-placed to judge that 10 doesn’t quite work. Guzzled would equate to buzzled. Puzzled would come out as cuzzled. Regardless, I saw what was intended. It reminded me of the cartoon in the Sunday Times when Keith Harris (he who made a career of having his arm stuck up a green duck’s fundament) died this year. His gravestone read:

    Keith Harris
    Ventriloquist
    Gorn 1947
    Guried 2015

    Thanks all round.

    Edited at 2015-10-29 01:24 pm (UTC)

  15. ” Puzzled would come out as cuzzled”

    Yes indeed it would! I realised this at the time, but figured that a really bad ventriloquist would not even able to manage that 🙂

  16. I rather liked GAS GUZZLER and ANNE BOLEYN, rather embarrassingly the one I bunged in without realising at the time was AMUNDSEN.
  17. Really enjoyed this one; slow to get going and didn’t think I’d get more than 5 clues but plodded on to a satisfactory conclusion. Thought Anne Boleyn clue very clever and also gas guzzler even though perhaps it isn’t quite right!
  18. About 20 minutes to solve this, but I had RUDE for 13A. I don’t know my carp relations. Everything else was OK, but I don’t have any opinion on the GAS GUZZLER pronunciation thing. The answer just seemed pretty apparent so I put it in without much further thought. Regards.
  19. I loved this puzzle. Had HOCKEY CLUB at first, until I saw the light. Never heard of MUD PUPPY but the anagram made it easily gettable. A most enjoyable 32 minutes. Ann
  20. I did this a little later than what has become usual, and I had to have a couple of breaks while I did what passes for cooking. Anyhoo, I think my time was around 24 mins but I was another “hokey/hockey club” so the time doesn’t matter. Of the ones I didn’t balls up SNUGLY was my LOI after SPYMASTER, and it took me a while to see AWAY.
  21. This one was either just over 20 hours, or about 30min – depending on whether I go by the timer (I think I left a window open) or my recollection. Either way, it didn’t seem as tough as the last couple.

    I was almost beaten by OBI (particularly before I got QUICKTHORN). I had a vague idea that it was the waistband on a kimono, and Wikipedia seems to agree. So how does it become a charm? I, like some others here, pondered “oki”, and even flirted briefly with “exi”.

    BANAL also worried me (at least until I had all the checkers), as I’d NHO “ba’al”. “Banal” is one of those words I remember reading, as a child, before I’d heard it pronounced. I made a point of using it in conversation thereafter, but its withering effect was probably undermined by my pronouncing it to rhyme with “anal”. (I also remember receiving a Scalextric set called “Grand Prix”, resulting in another unfortunate mispronunciation.)

    CODs for me were CATSKIN, and QUICKTHORN – the latter because the &lit was so modestly tucked away.

  22. A very enjoyable puzzle, which made up for the one in another newspaper today, with which I lost patience rather quickly. Combined with changes to the online format, which makes solving on an iPad a pain in the proverbial, I was considerably dischuffed.
  23. A disappointing 14:29 for me. I’d rather hoped I was going to recover more quickly from the (failed) house-moving ordeal, but it’s apparently going to take a little longer before I get a decent night’s sleep. I suspect if I hadn’t been feeling so burnt out, I might have posted quite a decent time, as with hindsight this looks very much my sort of puzzle.

    COD to 17dn (NAPPY RASH), the best of a very fine bunch, apart perhaps from 10ac, since I agree with penfold that it would only really work if the ventriloquist failed to say “buzzler”.

  24. Thanks z8, especially for parsing 10ac. I know ‘ow a cockney sounds, but my GK stopped short of knowing how a ventriloquist articulates Bs and Ps. Thanks setter.

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