Blogging from Melbourne this week. No Parkrun to report as I attended a function this morning before heading off to the “G” for the AFL Grand Final. This year it’s Sydney v Brisbane which is a mind-boggling concept for us older Australians, but enough of that…
For only the fifth time, as far as I can tell, our daily sustenance is provided by Pipsqueak today. It’s a nicely-weighted Quickie which I would judge to be slightly on the challenging side of the spectrum. Always hard to know what constitutes an obscurity, but some solvers may not be familiar with “whack” for “share”, or the physicist, or the nomadic people. In each case however there’s a clear alternative route to the solution.
Nothing more to add other than please let us know how you got on, and go the mighty Swannies.
(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics.
In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc. Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).
.
| Across | |
| 1 | Preparing a vinaigrette? (8) |
| DRESSING – Double definition | |
| 5 | Reportedly make fun of supporters on course (4) |
| TEES – Homophone (reportedly) of TEASE (make fun of)
And tees are used to support the golf ball on a golf course. |
|
| 8 | Seductress about to be caught in sin (5) |
| SIREN – RE (about) in SIN | |
| 9 | Teacher coming back with fish — or meat dish? (7) |
| RISSOLE – RIS [SIR (teacher) “coming back”] + SOLE (fish) | |
| 11 | Go astray in the middle of Derry (3) |
| ERR – The middle letters of dERRy
Ah Derry. The Town That I loved So Well. |
|
| 12 | Being alone, I sadly sat in loo (9) |
| ISOLATION – I + (SAT IN LOO)*
We’ve all been there. |
|
| 13 | One paying out money for nuclear physicist (6) |
| TELLER – Double definition
Edward Teller, Hungarian-born American nuclear physicist. |
|
| 15 | Set about conclusion for fanciful tale (6) |
| LEGEND – LEG [GEL (set) “about”] + END (conclusion) | |
| 18 | At party we embarrassed famous lawman (5,4) |
| WYATT EARP – (AT PARTY WE)*
An itinerant saloonkeeper, gambler, lawman, gunslinger and conman, who worked in Tombstone, Deadwood and Dodge City. In other words, a walking meme. |
|
| 19 | Mike leaving service, the idiot (3) |
| ASS – M (Mike) leaving MASS (service)
Mike from the NATO alphabet |
|
| 20 | Forgive a bishop taking crack (7) |
| ABSOLVE – A + B (bishop) + SOLVE (crack) | |
| 21 | Make amends early in the afternoon? (5) |
| ATONE – AT ONE (ie, at 1pm, early in the afternoon)
Could also be 1am of course, hence the question mark. |
|
| 22 | Joke about northern type (4) |
| KIND – KID (joke) about N (northern) | |
| 23 | Object after criminal deed (8) |
| ARTEFACT – (AFTER)* + ACT (deed)
I think criminal is my favourite anagram indicator. Tends to make for an interesting surface. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Son entering wasteland — a fool? (7) |
| DESSERT – S (son) entering DESERT (wasteland)
I’ll fess up to not really knowing what a fool is in the dessert sense, but it’s pretty popular in Crosswordland. |
|
| 2 | Dread wasting time? That’s a mistake (5) |
| ERROR – Noun form of dread required here. |
|
| 3 | Latin men set out to be romantic (11) |
| SENTIMENTAL – (LATIN MEN SET)* | |
| 4 | Strict new school for Cockneys (6) |
| NARROW – N (new) + ARROW [putative Cockney pronunciation of HARROW (school)] | |
| 6 | European cause becoming controversial (7) |
| EMOTIVE – E (European) + MOTIVE (cause) | |
| 7 | Grim end for the Titanic? (5) |
| STERN – Double definition
As in the rear end of the Titanic. Or any ship, hence the question mark again. |
|
| 10 | Dramatist upsets nobleman in speech (11) |
| SHAKESPEARE -Homophone of SHAKES PEER (upsets nobleman) | |
| 14 | Cooperation in Somalia is ongoing (7) |
| LIAISON – Hidden in somaLIA IS ONgoing
If only it were so. |
|
| 16 | Drop of French perfume (7) |
| DESCENT – DE (French for “of”) + SCENT (perfume) | |
| 17 | Rush job (6) |
| CAREER – Double definition
“Move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way”. |
|
| 18 | Share wife with journalist? (5) |
| WHACK – W (wife) + HACK (journalist)
Whack has a number of slang meanings, not all of which would be at home in a respectable space such as this. In this case we’re talking about a portion. Some references have this as an outdated usage but it’s quite familiar to me. Then again some references have me as outdated as well. |
|
| 19 | Bouquet made by a nomadic people (5) |
| AROMA – A + ROMA (nomadic people)
A term to refer to the Romani people collectively. Wikipedia has it as a colloquial term, but it’s not tagged as such in the dictionaries I checked. |
|
As per Templar and Plett, just a little quicker.
5:12
Lots of lovely lateral thinking today. Really enjoyable puzzle.
FOI5a Tees
LOI23a Artefact
COD 18a Wyatt Earp – one of those that you instinctively and instantly know is right and then are please to parse – does the mind see the answer before the rest of you catches up?
Nicely pitched puzzle today. LOI 23a ARTEFACT. I forgot again that criminal was an anagrind! grrr!
Thanks Pipsqueak and Galspray
A frustrating one for me where clearly I am from the wrong generation to solve these with some ease. After all the hubbub about Adele a couple days ago, I was shocked to see no-one comment on WYATT EARP. I can say with certainty that I have never heard that name before. Particularly annoying was that I could see the anagram, but it is not a common or guessable name.
Also, an someone not from the UK, I had never come across Harrow for school before.
Also unsure about EMOTIVE = controversial? Sigh. Another day tomorrow.
I don’t know how old you are, Anymouse but I knew of Wyatt Earp through the many many fictional depictions of him. It’s got its own wiki list.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp_in_popular_culture
Most notably the 90s movies Tombstone/Wyatt Earp where Kevin Costner tried to block Kurt Russell from making his movie by renting all of the western costumes so Kurt had to go to Europe to find some (which ended up better and cheaper) and Kurt’s movie ended up far out grossing Kevin’s.
Also Harrow and Eton are the only UK schools I’ve come across in these crosswords. Sometimes they’ll reference specific colleges at Oxford/Cambridge but that’s rare and I haven’t bothered to write them down.
“Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp,
Brave, courageous, and bold
Long live his name
And long live his fame
And long may his story be told”.