A very enjoyable puzzle today, with some lovely surfaces and the required GK (eg the empire in 3D) mainly gentle, and possibly only one word (the answer to 8A) that could be considered even slightly obscure. 10:20 on the clock when the last clue went in, so at the more approachable end I think for a puzzle by Felix.
COD for me was 18D. Did anyone else try to get Fri for Friday into the answer here?
Many thanks Felix for the puzzle – I expect there will be some quite fast times on this one.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Standard refusal to meet Royal Marines (4) |
| NORM – NO (refusal) + RM (Royal Marines). My FOI and it is always good to start by getting 1A. | |
| 4 | Lady-killer, heroic, as an ovation shows (8) |
| CASANOVA – A hidden, in heroiC AS AN OVAtion. After my comment in my blog a fortnight ago that hiddens across four words are rare, here is another – though the idea of anyone calling Casanova heroic, let alone giving him an ovation for his nocturnal deeds, is an odd one, to say the least. | |
| 8 | Saint, disturbed at Magi revealing marks on his body? (8) |
| STIGMATA – ST (Saint) + (at Magi)*, with the anagram indicator being “disturbed”.
Stigmata (ancient Greek στίγματα) is the plural of stigma (στίγμα); stigma has the generic meaning ‘mark, spot, brand’, but stigmata as now used in English has the specific meaning of marks echoing those reputed to be on Christ’s body from his crucifixion. So a very nice surface with the religious connotations of Stigmata echoed by reference to the the marks being on a saint. |
|
| 9 | Miss Marple’s middle man (4) |
| MALE – The construction is MA |
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| 10 | Female soldier in US, going to right and left (4) |
| GIRL – GI (soldier in US) + R + L (right and left). Another lift and separate clue: we are not looking for women soldiers here. | |
| 11 | State of pasta when mixed with ink (8) |
| PAKISTAN – (pasta ink)*. A straightforward enough anagram, indicated by “mixed”, but it took me longer than it might have to see it as I first checked all 50 US states. | |
| 12 | Notices Charlie has long hair (6) |
| CLOCKS – C (Charlie in the NATO alphabet) + LOCKS (long hair). The meaning of “to clock someone” as to notice or see them is mid-20th century slang, but there seems to be no agreement that I could find on where the phrase originally comes from. Ideas please! | |
| 14 | Fly perhaps from trendy religious faction (6) |
| INSECT – IN (trendy) + SECT (religious faction). The “perhaps” in the clue is to indicate that this is a DBE, a fly being an example of an insect. | |
| 16 | Capone, say, providing weapons is scary! (8) |
| ALARMING – AL (Capone) + ARMING (providing weapons). The “say” is because there are presumably other Capones, even though the only one we ever meet in Crosswordland is Gangster Al. | |
| 18 | Side of the hollow — a metre (4) |
| TEAM – TE (“the hollow”, ie “the” without its middle letter) + A + M (metre). The surface is perhaps a little clunky, but the wordplay is straightforward enough. | |
| 19 | VAT applied to a brass instrument (4) |
| TUBA – TUB (a vat) + A. A clever clue, using the UK/EU sales tax known as Value Added Tax to make a very smooth surface. | |
| 20 | One politician obeying the law: that goes without saying (8) |
| IMPLICIT – I (one) + MP (politician) + LICIT (obeying the law). My first thought on reading the clue was that the answer was Implying – what that says about our respect for our politicians that one immediately thinks of MPs lying is another matter. | |
| 22 | Most bogus calls taking one in? Tons! (8) |
| PHONIEST – PHONES (calls) with I inserted into it (“taking one in”) + T (Tons). This was my LOI; there are a surprisingly large number of words that fit the four checkers. | |
| 23 | Not easy to get river pilot at first (4) |
| DEEP – DEE (the river Dee, of which there are at least four to choose from in the UK) + P (pilot “at first”). Slight hesitation about Deep meaning Not easy; to me it means more “insightful, complex, not simplistic”. I suppose this could be said to imply that deep thoughts are “not easy to understand”, but it is perhaps a bit of a stretch.
Edit: The definition should be “Not easy to get”, as New Driver has pointed out below. I nearly got there with my “not easy to understand” … |
|
| Down | |
| 2 | Liar not, unusually, before a judge? (2,5) |
| ON TRIAL – (liar not)*, with the anagram indicator being “unusually”. | |
| 3 | I’m tough, ugly, oddly overlooked old emperor (5) |
| MOGUL – Every other letter of i’M tOuGh UgLy – the indicator to take every other letter is “oddly overlooked”, and we are indeed overlooking, ie ignoring, the odd-numbered letters.
The Mogul or Mughal Empire covered most of what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan between 1526 and 1857. In its heyday it was one of the most powerful and culturally developed states of its time, ruling over 100-150 million people, and one which many Indians today look back on with justifiable pride. |
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| 4 | About to consume hot tea (3) |
| CHA – CA (about, ie circa) with H (hot) inserted into it. | |
| 5 | Fizzy spirit drink taken across recreation ground (9) |
| SPARKLING – SLING (spirit drink) with PARK (recreation ground) inserted in it.
A sling is a generic spirit-based drink, traditionally with sugar in it, with the word dating from the 18th century. These days we more often use the word cocktail for such drinks and the word sling is little used except in the Singapore Sling, a cocktail invented at the Raffles Hotel, Singapore in 1915, and still served there in great quantities. |
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| 6 | Vengeful female upset blokes with English sibling! (7) |
| NEMESIS – An IKEA clue, with the construction being NEM (Men, ie blokes, upset, ie reversed) + E (English) + SIS (sister, sibling). In ancient Greek mythology, Nemesis was the goddess of revenge and retribution; these days one’s Nemesis can be male or female – or even an inanimate object. | |
| 7 | Country house in Virginia, poorly kept (5) |
| VILLA – ILL (poorly) inserted into VA (standard abbreviation for the US state of Virginia). | |
| 11 | See CID tip off killer in field? (9) |
| PESTICIDE – (see CID Tip)*, the anagram indicator being “off”. | |
| 13 | Hanging that appears at end of play? (7) |
| CURTAIN – A straightforward cryptic clue, with the final curtain indicating the end of a show. | |
| 15 | Shrouded in secrecy: an ideal murder weapon? (7) |
| CYANIDE – Our second hidden, in secreCY AN IDEal. It took me a moment to think of poison as a weapon, but even though it is is not the most common linkage, it works for me. | |
| 17 | Roar coming from Irish lake that has taken a second (5) |
| LAUGH – The Irish lake is a LOUGH, and we replace the second letter O with an A to get LAUGH. | |
| 18 | After Thursday, one doctor turning up behind two others? (5) |
| THIRD – TH (Thursday) + I (one) + RD (Dr, ie doctor, “turning up”). And if you come behind two others you are indeed third in the sequence. | |
| 21 | Mine’s an untidy place on reflection! (3) |
| PIT – TIP (an untidy place) reversed (ie “on reflection”). | |
Cedric – excellent blog as always.
Regarding DEEP – I had the definition as “Not easy to get” as opposed to “Not easy” on its own. Your commentary actually seems to back this up by mentioning “not easy to understand”.
Yes that must be it! Many thanks for pointing this out and blog amended.
Excellent read, ND!
Off the pace today, held up in the SW in particular by LAUGH and PHONIEST, finishing somewhere around the 14 1/2 minutes mark. As ever, we join Cedric in obliviousness to the theme. Sorry, Felix!
Annoying typo with CURTAAN at 13D. Finished in 10.36 which is very fast for me. 9A is my my favourite clue of the year so far. Having read most of Agatha Christine’s books I should have got the Nina but did not.
First in Norm
Last Phoniest
8.58 Late to this one too. A nice puzzle. Quite gentle but I hesitated over LAUGH and MALE took a minute at the end. Thanks Cedric and Felix.
What does an “IKEA clue” mean please?
Hi Clare – I use it to mean a clue where you have to assemble the answer from various (usually several) components, like a piece of IKEA furniture. I’ve heard others call such clues Meccano clues too.
I don’t think it has reached the status of being included in the official Glossary, but I have seen other bloggers use it too.
Cedric