Daily 25448 – Saturday 13th – more vocab deficiency issues – first Nudnik, now Gneiss ….

Author   fathippy2Posted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Decent Saturday offering, no gimmes, and a steady solve with some head scratching along the way. Technically this was a DNF for me as after about 25 minutes (of which 5 were spent staring at 29A), I made the assumption that this was a word I did not know. 10 seconds later after checking rock types in Bradfords, this assumption was proved to be correct !!

Across
1 ACCENT – A NT=new testament= book, around C(hristian) CE = church. Definition is just “mark”
5 REFORMER – FORMER = sometime, after ER= King Edward, reversed. John Wycliffe was a famous reformer, not to be confused with the TV series of the same name 🙂
9 MALAGASY – GAS = talk idly, inside MALAY, being the one language, predominantly used in Indonesia. Interestingly the other language is the main tongue of Madagascar, which although geographically close to Africa, shares few similarities with the mainland, and instead represents a kind of western outpost of the SE Asian islands.
10 GENDER – GEN = dope, RED = visibly embarrassed, reversed.
11 COMPLIMENT – P(u)L(p)I(t) = pulpit oddly, inside COMMENT = say
13 OATH – LOATH = reluctant, dropping L = line
14 PIKE – Swimmer, as in fish, and also the technique used in diving.
15 PALINDROME – (random pile)* – the phrase “never odd or even” is an example of a palindrome.
18 BETTER HALF – BETTER = cap, HALF = rugby player. the whole is “husband”
20 SORE – sounds like SAW = cut
21 IRAQ – I = island, then QA(TA)R = state, without soldiers, reversed. IRAQ being a republic, nearby to QATAR.
23 UP IN THE AIR – double def
25 BANANA – AN,AN,A = articles, on B(ag), for the fruit that is peeled by “unzipping”.
26 LIGATURE – LIE = story, around GAT = revolver, RU=rugby union=game, reversed, for the bond.
28 THIEVERY – (hit)* , then (th)E, VERY = perfect, for the crime.
29 GNEISS – Very heavily disguised soundalike for NICE = enjoyable. Last one in as it was not a word I knew. Was aware of how the clue worked, but I have to own up to checking Bradford’s for the answer. The lesson to be learned from this is to always consider silent letters when thinking about soundalikes!

Down
2 CHAMOMILE – (ammo)* inside CHILE = country, for the plant, which I normally spell without the H.
3 EXAMPLE – EX = husband, no longer, AMPLE = generous. The whole is “ideal”
4 TEA – TEAL = duck, with its “tail” hidden.
5 RHYME – HYM(n) = anthem with no N = name, inside R(ud)E , for the poem.
6 FIGHTING FIT – FIGHTING = resisting, FIT = attack.
7 RANCOUR – sounds like RANKER = private
8 ELECT – reversed hidden in (grea)T CELE(bration). The definition is “Return”
12 IMPORTUNATE – (utopian term)*
16 LEA – LEA(P) = spring, without P = quiet.
17 MARDI GRAS – RAM = sign, reversed, DIGS = quarters, round RA = artist, for the festival.
19 T SQUARE – T = time, SQUARE = old-fashioned. I hesitated to put this in as it left an entry ending in Q, however a brief check of the clue revealed the obvious answer!
20 SWEETIE – TIE = match, after S = second, WEE = minute (pronounced differently to the surface version)
22 REACH – (care)* then H = horse
24 ISLAY – I SAY! = boy! as in an exclamation, around L = large, for the producer of malt whisky.
27 GIG – triple definition, Perform live / boat / carriage.

9 comments on “Daily 25448 – Saturday 13th – more vocab deficiency issues – first Nudnik, now Gneiss ….”

  1. A tough challenge with one pretty much ungettable clue. In fact, I found the whole SE section tough, as I was unable to think past ‘sore’ as an adverb, as in ‘we are sore afraid’, when the adjectival use is well attested in the AV, especially with regard to ‘famines in the land’. Failing to get the relatively easy ‘sweetie’ had me guessing at ‘pare’ for 20ac before I resorted to aids.

    Some outstanding clues, including 24dn and 28ac, as well as sweetie. Today’s was excellent too, but several notches easier,

  2. I also had trouble getting 20ac, though I did in the end. I think “Severe cut announced” would have been quite easy, it was inserting the “some” that seemed to make it much harder. Presumably it is only there to placate the homophonophobes..
    18ac struck me as rather a weak clue. And in 28ac, how does “perfect” = “very?” I can’t see it. Overall I wasn’t keen on this crossword, no doubt it is just a wavelength thing
  3. I got there in just under the hour and with a few not completely unexplained, such as severe/saw. I’ve always assumed GAT referred to Gatling gun which I don’t think of as a revolver although of course its mechanism does revolve; evidently I need to brush up my knowledge of related terminology. Quite a gneiss puzzle and I enjoyed the long palindrome.
    1. In the old Jimmy Cagney and Edward G films about the mob they’re always using “gat” to mean revolver. I guess it moved from gatling gun to gat to any piece?
  4. 58′ with one error, 20ac. After running through the myriad S_R_ possibilities, I flung in ‘sere’ (‘severe’ cut somehow?), knowing it wasn’t right. But ‘sore’/’saw’ is sooo not homophonic for me that I never would have come up with it, so I’m not particularly disappointed in getting this one wrong. I thought 8d was one of the best hiddens I’ve ever seen.
  5. Reasonable enough puzzle without ever getting me excited. I thought 20A was difficult and agree it’s the “some” that throws one off the scent. Once you see through that and realise its a homophone qualification then the answer falls into place.
  6. As for others, my only major difficulty with this was Sore. Had to put the puzzle down and come back to it a couple of hours later to get that one. Pleased to be all correct in the end – and on a Saturday too!
    Got Gneiss straightaway – there’s lots of it in the Other Hebrides in Scotland where I’ve holidayed. There might even be some on Islay (24dn). The Chamomile spelling was new to me.

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