This is my first ever attempt at blogging, whether here or anywhere else, so please bear with me. My IT skills are not exactly first class so I’m grateful to Andy for sending me a template, and I take no credit for the appearance of what follows*.
I clocked in at 11:27. I often find Tim Moorey’s puzzles difficult, so it was a relief to get something gentle. My relief turned quickly to trepidation, though, because straightforward as this puzzle is, there was one clue I couldn’t explain. And try as I might, I still can’t. So on my first ever attempt at blogging I appear to have failed to fulfil the basic requirements of the job. Ah well.
I enjoyed this puzzle: it has a light-hearted feel.
Across | |
1 | RAM RAID – cryptic definition. Geddit? |
5 | HACK SAW – HACK (journalist), SAW (spotted). ‘What’s used in cutting’. |
9 | RURAL – R (run), URAL (Russian river), ‘in the country’ is the definition. As far as I’m concerned ‘Russian river’ is primarily a viticultural area in California. |
10 | WHOLESALE – HOLE (dump) inside an anagram of WALES. ‘Neglected’ signals the anagram, ‘sweeping’ is the definition. Chambers defines ‘sweeping’ as ‘of wide scope, wholesale, indiscriminate’. |
11 | BLUENOSE – NOSE, a homophone (‘reportedly’) of ‘knows’ (is aware of) after BLUE (conservative). Not a term I knew. According to Chambers, a BLUENOSE is a ‘straitlaced and puritanical person’, and it’s also a nickname for a Nova Scotian: in the latter case presumably a reference to the weather. |
12 | TOILET – TO LET (available for hire) around I (one). An old chestnut and graffiti favourite. See also T.S. Eliot. |
14 | TWIG – DD. As this is a family blog I’ll say no more about the surface reading of this clue. |
15 | BRIDGEHEAD – BRIDGE (game), HEAD (nut). ‘A fortification covering the end of a bridge nearest the enemy’s position’. |
18 | HULLABALOO – HULL (skin, see also ‘husk’), A, BALOO (bear). Cf. The Jungle Book. |
19 | HIND – contained in ‘teach in deer’. |
22 | BRAISE – B (second class), RAISE (upgrade). |
24 | DOGTROTS – DOG (follow) TROTS (reds, of the variety found under the bed). |
26 | TOSCANINI – an anagram of IN ACTION around S (back of bus). A conductor in Crosswordland is often TOSCANINI. I guess he’s a bit easier to fit into the grid than Furtwängler. |
27 | ALIKE – AL (Gore), IKE (former president, Dwight D. Eisenhower). A rock’n’roll version of this clue is also available. |
28 | TANGENT – TAN (lay into), GENT (fellow). The definition is ‘touching’. A TANGENT also doesn’t intersect. |
29 | THE ALPS – T (time), HEAL (get better), P (parking), S (southern). |
.
Down | |
1 | RAREBIT – an underdone snack is a RARE BITE, so if it’s unfinished it’s a RAREBIT. I’m not sure about ‘underdone’ for RARE, though: as far as I’m concerned there’s no other way to eat some bits of some animals. In contrast there seem to be a thousand different ways of making Welsh RAREBIT. |
2 | MARSUPIAL – This is the one I don’t understand. Is the definition ‘jumper’? I can’t see anything else that would serve, although if I were a possum I’d be writing in. I can see an anagram of AU PAIR, and an M for ‘married’, but I can’t see where the L comes from, what’s got lost, or what ‘foreign’ is doing in the clue. With my self-kicking leg at the ready, I appeal to the floor for help. Edit: The L comes from ‘lost’ (see discussion below). ‘Foreign’ remains a mystery at the time of writing. |
3 | AILING – take an M (male) from MAILING (posting) |
4 | DOWNSTREAM – an anagram of TERMS AD around OWN (personal). There was a debate recently about whether OWN can mean ‘private’: I expect ‘personal’ will be less controversial. |
5 | HOOP – POOH (bear) up. |
6 | CHEW OVER – HEW (cut) in COVER (insurance). |
7 | SHAWL – L (line) under SHAW (playwright). An Afghan is a shawl that multitasks as a coat and a dog. |
8 | WRESTED – WED (married) containing (housing) REST (remains). |
13 | IDEOLOGIST – an anagram of OLDIES GO inside IT. I’m not sure what ‘grandly’ adds, either to the surface or the definition. |
16 | EDITORIAL – an anagram of TAILORED around I (one). ‘Worsted’ is the anagrind, in the sense ‘defeated’, I guess. |
17 | LAYS BARE – an anagram (‘organised’) of REASONABLY without ON (‘on leaving’) |
18 | HABITAT – A BIT (to some extent) inside HAT (Panama, with a question mark signalling the DBE) gives us the British retailer founded by Terence Conran in 1964. |
20 | DOSSERS – DOSSIERS (briefs) without the I. |
21 | AT EASE – A (adult), TEASE (kid). |
23 | ARSON – PARSON (clergyman) without his first letter (‘overlooking original’). |
25 | HINT – HIT (buffet) which contains (‘sandwiches’) N (last in reception). |
*OK, I’m secretly quite pleased with myself for figuring out the colour thing in 19ac.
I hadn’t heard of BLUENOSE or DOGTROT and I was sorely tempted to put in foxtrot for the latter until I realised it didn’t parse properly. Enjoyable puzzle.
Congrats on your first blog, k. I don’t have a note of my solving time (nodded off again part way though) but it was a lot longer than your 11:27 and I really struggled with 2dn as my LOI. I got an easyish puzzle too for my first ST blog due next Sunday, but I’m completely bamboozled by one clue in today’s Everyman – not the answer, the wordplay.
Edited at 2014-05-11 01:03 am (UTC)
Edited at 2014-05-11 06:43 am (UTC)
And I’ll try to remember that not quite all marsupials are noted for their jumping abilities.
As for marsupials, don’t forget koalas, wombats, Tasmanian Devils and opossums. 😉
I’d always thought the L in W-L-D was loss not lost. Your win-loss record might be 5-3.
Cheers,
Rob
See below: COD has the L as ‘lost’. I suppose it could be any of lost, loss or lose, but if COD chooses ‘lost’ then the setter is off the hook.
Barbara
Edited at 2014-05-11 02:27 am (UTC)
Welcome to the new kid on the block!
Translated Veda ends “Bastard shaft etc”. (3,4,4,4)
The issue with ‘jumper’ for MARSUPIAL is that it’s a definition by example (DBE), which is considered by some to be a no-no. I think sometimes DBEs are OK, and sometimes they aren’t. So ‘Old MacDonald’ as a clue for ‘farmer’ seems entirely reasonable, where ‘France’ as a clue for ‘country’ does not. It comes down to how archetypal of the broader group the example is.
A roo is arguably an archetypal MARSUPIAL, but arguably it isn’t, because there are lots of others (wombats, koalas, Tasmanian devils, possums, opossums). I’m pretty sure though that if asked to name a MARSUPIAL most people would say ‘kangaroo’.
As for the word ‘foreign’, it doesn’t apply to the jumper in the clue. As Peter explains above, it’s one of two anagram indicators in the clue and superfluous.