11:08. A puzzle of two halves for me, the first half being the across clues where I failed to get a single answer on my first pass through. Fortunately the downs proved much more amenable and as I got checking letters I was able to solve a lot of the clues that had stumped me on first reading.
Otherwise the usual high quality from Dean, a very enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, deletions like this, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Small cloth covering uncooked black fruit |
| STRAWBERRY – S, T(RAW, B)ERRY. I feel this should have been a write-in based on a very clear indication for RAWB and the definition, but I failed to get it until I had a few crossers. | |
| 6 | Perhaps flat fish can be caught with it |
| GAFF – DD. ‘A stiff pole with a stout prong or hook attached for landing large fish’ (Collins). | |
| 10 | US sculptor’s work rejected, silly blunder in it |
| OLDENBURG – reversal of GO containing (BLUNDER)*. I had never heard of this sculptor but his name was readily constructible from the wordplay. | |
| 11 | A little iron piece placed around window |
| ORIEL – contained reversed in ‘little iron’. | |
| 12 | Record turned out badly — Holst didn’t know it |
| PLUTO – reversal of LP, (OUT)*. Because Holst wrote The Planets between 1914 and 1917, and Pluto was discovered in 1930. | |
| 13 | Whiff of decay in iron I removed from order |
| FETIDNESS – FE, TID |
|
| 14 | Viewer of arms business shot in the legs — it’s bad |
| TELESCOPIC SIGHT – (THE LEGS ITS)* containing CO (business), PIC (shot). | |
| 16 | What occurs that I will come out of unharmed? |
| WITHOUT A SCRATCH – (WHAT OCCURS THAT I)*. | |
| 18 | Possibly stole kiss with hunk |
| NECKPIECE – NECK, PIECE. | |
| 20 | Turned up with skirt for Jewish festival |
| PURIM – reversal of UP, RIM. | |
| 21 | Drive across a country |
| SPAIN – SP(A)IN. | |
| 22 | One fascinating plotter |
| INTRIGUER – DD. I hesitate to call this a DD since the word INTRIGUER is not really used in the first sense, but it could be. | |
| 24 | One inclined to drive before parking |
| RAMP – RAM, P. | |
| 25 | Northern town’s odd Latin 19 |
| ALTRINCHAM – (LATIN CHARM)*. CHARM being the answer to 19dn. A town near Manchester. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Call about training to return for field event |
| SHOT PUT – SHOUT containing a reversal of PT. | |
| 2 | Fish counter about to stock mud pie |
| RED MULLET – reversal of TELLER containing (MUD)*. ‘Pie’ is an alternate spelling of ‘pi’, ‘a jumbled pile of printer’s type’ or more generally ‘a jumbled mixture’ (Collins). | |
| 3 | Changing platforms and not spending a penny? |
| WINDOW SHOPPING – WINDOWS-HOPPING, geddit?! | |
| 4 | Associate of Hull Science Museum’s inside |
| EMU – contained in ‘science museum’. The Hull here being Rod. Overseas solvers who are ignorant of this cultural phenomenon are strongly advised to remain in blissful ignorance. | |
| 5 | Share offer a reason for demonstration? |
| RIGHTS ISSUE – two definitions: one straight, one a mildly cryptic reference to some sort of issue pertaining to rights, of the human variety perhaps. | |
| 7 | Stomach tender in casualty? |
| ABIDE – A(BID)E. I think the question mark here covers for the fact that AE does not actually mean ‘casualty’: you have to read the two letters as A and E. | |
| 8 | I’m left injured outside small shooting range |
| FILMSET – (IM LEFT)* containing S. | |
| 9 | Patient profile in the post? |
| JOB DESCRIPTION – a sort of CD where the patience comes from JOB, and the answer is a ‘profile’ of a ‘post’. Beyond that I would recommend not overthinking it! | |
| 13 | Low support ahead of police pay |
| FOOT THE BILL – FOOT (low support), THE BILL (police, often qualified as ‘old’). | |
| 15 | Became ill getting over hospital experience |
| GO THROUGH – GOT(H), ROUGH. | |
| 16 | House snake, tailless kind |
| WINDSOR – WIND, SOR |
|
| 17 | Stink over tap routine |
| HUMDRUM – HUM (stink), DRUM (tap, as you might do with your fingers). | |
| 19 | Caught, leading to wrong appeal |
| CHARM – C, HARM. | |
| 23 | Go off around peak |
| TOR – reversal of ROT. | |
36:31 WOE
I started off slightly better than Keriothe, my FOI being RAMP; but it was slow going. My error was AltrinGham; it sounded vaguely familiar and, without looking at 19, I biffed it. Unfortunately, my E-J dictionary confirmed the misspelling, and I only did the parsing after submitting. I could make no sense of 4d, but having just now Googled Rod Hull I realize that I’ve seen him and Emu, I don’t know how or why. Vaguely knew GAFF and OLDENBURG (not sure I could have told you who he was). I liked TELESCOPIC SIGHT & NECKPIECE.
Lots amusement here. I suspected AltrinGham early on but couldn’t make the parsing work so held back on entering it. Eventually the penny dropped that I might be misspelling it, which of course I was.
Really enjoyed this – unlike the recent Wed-Fri weekday offerings which were unpleasant slogs.
Needed the blogger’s comments to unravel some of the parsing: in particular ‘pie’ as an anagrist in 2d seems a touch obscure.
No exact time – solved in bits and pieces on paper but straightforward and quite quick.
FOI Strawberry at 1a
SOI Shot Put at 1d – I always thought it was a Shot Putt?
My POI was 7d Abide and
LOI was 6a Gaff – so an anticlockwise solve.
Oddly enough, especially for a Dean Mayer puzzle, I have no ?s next to any answer.
K – you have an extra S in 16 d WIND SOR(T).
Thanks to DM for the puzzle and K for the blog
Thanks – corrected.
I thought LINE was a pretty good answer to 6a until nothing else in the NE would fit.
In the US mid-west, those three or four story public parking garages are sometimes called ramps – “put your car in the ramp on 4th street and…”
I looked up Hull and the Emu before I read keriothe’s warning. It taught me that the US was not completely alone in having embarassing comedy and embarassing TV in the 1970s. Embarassing haircuts, too.
Two goes needed.
– Didn’t know terry as a covering, but STRAWBERRY had to be
– Also didn’t know (or had forgotten) the second meaning of GAFF
– Think I biffed WITHOUT A SCRATCH, so I missed the anagram
– Had no idea how ‘pie’ can be an anagrind, as used in RED MULLET
Thanks keriothe and Dean.
FOI Emu
LOI Gaff
COD Filmset
I think Terry is Cloth, covering doing the ‘going around’ position indication
Enjoyable as always and relatively straightforward for a Dean.
Re 8dn, FILM SET should be two words. It is in both Collins and Chambers. Filmset as one word means something completely different. A rare slip by Dean.
Gosh, fewer comments than on the Mephisto!
Holst was saved from a mistake since he wasn’t around when Pluto was called a planet!
I used to think the giant button and needle in Manhattan’s Fashion District is by Claes Oldenburg, but it’s not!
Not now 🙂
I hadn’t heard of Oldenburg so I looked him up, and glad I did. I like his work!
Pluto is still a planet, just a minor one now but one day, its time may come again…
There are 875,150 numbered minor planets (the category includes asteroids). That would certainly have kept the composer busy!
Except for the new town of CLARINTHAM this seemed rather easy for one of Dean’s (I was expecting the pink squares in GAFF, but that was OK). As for EMU, I had no idea what the clue was getting at but the wordplay was obvious. There seem to have been lots of really long anagrams (which you can then biff when there are enough crossing letters).
14.41
Almost put in ALTRINGHAM but checked the fodder. Otherwise, gentle with plenty of helpful checkers. I like a slog from time to time but glad this wasn’t one. The SCRATCH clue was vg.
Thanks Dean/Keriothe.
This was easy for a DM. All vocabulary known except the sculptor, but not difficult to work out the letter order. I liked PLUTO, EMU, FOOT THE BILL and the whimsical JOB DESCRIPTION. Thanks, K and DM.
Started off well with STRAWBERRY straight in (“uncooked,black” gave it away); but got halves of some without being able to complete them ( ?O? DESCRIPTION, ??T??NESS, TE LESCOPIC ?????). Also didn’t get 15d ( never would have associated GOT ROUGH with “became ill” – not without the valuable crossers, anyway!). Apart from thinking NECKPIECE is a dreadful synonym for stole, and not being fully acquainted with ALTRINCHAM, I was a few short of a full house, but nevertheless happy with my effort. Really enjoyed 3d and 15a.
Just to be (perhaps unnecessarily!) clear, the clue does not associate GOT ROUGH with ‘became ill’: it associates GOT with ‘became’ and ROUGH with ‘ill’. A fine but important distinction!
Thanks Dean and keriothe
Did this one yesterday in two sittings and took exactly the hour to complete. Started off with EMU by remembering the British comedian only via crosswords ! There were a number of answers that were new learning – the architect OLDENBURG (had to check after untangling the anagram), ALTRINCHAM (I wondered how many British people would even have known this place), PURIM (again had to check after construction of the word play) and GAFF (never heard of the slang meaning of this).
Very enjoyable puzzle – finishing in the NE corner with FETIDNESS, ABIDE and that GAFF.