Many thanks to Mr. Pearce for a most enjoyable puzzle that I found chewy in parts and fun throughout. A splendidly rich and diverse range of characters were on parade, including a goatish Tory (who gets my COTD award), an angry scrubber, the funny man with the tickling stick, Castor & Pollox, the man who gave us The Gherkin, a political assassin and a champion pole vaulter better known for his acting.
Some very enjoyable surfaces – particularly liked 13a, 19a, 20a and 3dn – and some inventive definitions to be found in 10a and 6dn. Great stuff.
Definitions underlined, DD = Double Definition, anagrams indicated by *(–)
| Across |
| 1 |
Lover of animals goes round box tree (5,8) |
|
HORSE CHESTNUT – HORSE NUT (lover of animals) “goes round” CHEST (box) |
| 10 |
Remember a small bit of Ronnie Barker (9) |
|
RETRIEVER – RETRIEVE (remember) + R (a small bit of Ronnie) giving the canine. Very nice |
| 11 |
Island starts to grow organic fruit (5) |
|
MANGO – MAN (island) + first letters of (starts to) Grow Organic
|
| 12 |
Fool randy Conservative? (5) |
|
CHEAT – C (Conservative) “on” HEAT (randy). Top flight clue, I thought, albeit curiously hard to explain (see dialogue below with Kevin!) |
| 13 |
Works from single American writer featured in cricket broadcast (4,5) |
|
TONE POEMS – ONE (single) + POE (American writer) “featured” in TMS (Test Match Special – the iconic BBC radio cricket broadcast widely known by its initials to aficionados, but probably somewhat obscure to others…) |
| 14 |
Rude and unwise if Republican is hosted (8) |
|
IMPUDENT – IMP[R]UDENT |
| 16 |
Small fairy – that’s a popular image nowadays (6) |
|
SELFIE – S (small) + ELF (fairy) + IE (that’s) |
| 19 |
Horn featured in middle sections of frantic boleros (6) |
|
ANTLER – FRANTIC BOLEROS (answer constructed from the “middle sections”). Great surface! |
| 20 |
Scrubber shows anger at court – wife left outside (4,4) |
|
WIRE WOOL – IRE (anger) + WOO (court), with W (wife) and L (left) “outside”. Another fine surface |
| 22 |
Teenage player needs a shower after squash (5,4) |
|
JAMES DEAN – JAM (squash) + *(NEEDS A) with “shower” as the anagrind, for the junior pole vault champion who also made a name for himself as a “player” of angst ridden teenagers |
| 24 |
Crack sculpture right in the middle (5) |
|
BURST – BU[R]ST |
| 25 |
Theologian leaves funny guy for Japanese discipline (5) |
|
KENDO – KEN_DODD. He of the tickling stick – and Knotty Ash’s most famous son – without DD (Doctor of Divinity – “theologian”). “Funny guy” is, I guess, always a matter of opinion: a list of his top one liners has, at number 1, “Did you hear about the shrimp who went to a prawn’s cocktail party? He pulled a mussel.” It’s the way he tells ’em… |
| 26 |
Oil rig mob behaving badly in mess (9) |
|
IMBROGLIO – *(OIL RIG MOB) with “behaving badly” as the anagrind. One of my favourite words, as it happens |
| 27 |
Transport frying pan then break it (5-8) |
|
PENNY FARTHING – *(FRYING PAN THEN) with “break it” as the anagrind. Always been quite fascinated with the penny-farthing – it just looks so improbable. Some wag once described a camel as “a horse designed by a committee”: the P-F is surely the bicycle equivalent |
| Down |
| 2 |
Like a shot in hot water? (2,3,4) |
|
ON THE SPOT – DD, with just a slight bit of eyebrow action on the first of the definitions initially, but on reflection I guess both it and the answer can mean “immediately” |
| 3 |
Satirical piece about Thatcher finally seen in the fringe (5) |
|
SKIRT – SKI[R]T. ThatcheR finally enters a sketch |
| 4 |
After some fizzy wine girl produces simple song (8) |
|
CAVATINA – CAVA (Spanish bubbly) + TINA (girl) giving what (I subsequently learned) is “a short song of simple character”. Did not know the word, but having drunk more than my fair share of the world’s stock of CAVA and having never met a girl called Tuna, it looked about right |
| 5 |
Offending member of Royalty with tirade (6) |
|
ERRANT – ER (member of Royalty) + RANT (tirade) |
| 6 |
Watch the enemy with a gun! (9) |
|
TIMEPIECE – TIME (is the enemy) + PIECE (slang for firearm). Very droll – maybe time as “the enemy” is an old chestnut in Crosswordland, but it was new to me |
| 7 |
Bones heads to Enterprise after nicely leading Uhura back (5) |
|
ULNAE – First letters (heads) of Enterprise After Nicely Leading Uhura reversed (back), giving the plural of one of the bones in the forearm |
| 8 |
Bloke goes round kitchen – primarily after handy rag (9,4) |
|
PRACTICAL JOKE – JO[K]E (bloke goes round first letter – “primarily” – of Kitchen), coming “after” PRACTICAL (handy), giving the sort of shenanigans that may well happen during “rag” week |
| 9 |
Twins, perhaps, sent out during light meal (13) |
|
CONSTELLATION – *(SENT) with “out” as the anagrind, inside (during) COLLATION (light meal – a word my grandmother used to use when producing plates of “cold cuts” of dubious vintage usually accompanied by pickled onions), with the heavenly twins being an example of a constellation |
| 15 |
Tear off a strip for inappropriate state of attire (5,4) |
|
DRESS DOWN – Nice and straightforward DD |
| 17 |
Puzzle factory contracted to produce image of Foster’s? (5,4) |
|
FLOOR PLAN – FLOOR (Puzzle) + PLANT (factory contracted – i.e. shortened) giving the type of graphic likely to be produced by Norman Foster, architect responsible for (inter alia) The Gherkin and the Reichstag in Berlin – a somewhat unlikely pairing… |
| 18 |
Bright red vehicle outside pub with a blonde in the front (8) |
|
CINNABAR – CAR (vehicle) going around (outside) INN (pub) with A B (Blonde in the front), giving the bright red pigment derived from the mineral. Did not know the word, but gettable thanks to the generous wordplay plus cross checkers |
| 21 |
Help priest imprisoned by Judge (6) |
|
RELIEF – R[ELI]EF – the setter’s favourite cleric “imprisoned” by the man in black that the crowd loves to hate |
| 23 |
Vermin eating last bit of rotten meat (5) |
|
MINCE – MI[ROTTEN]CE. |
| 24 |
Stand and stall an assassin (5) |
|
BOOTH – DD (I believe) featuring John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin, with a temporary erection at a trade fair or street market. Not quite sure what the “Stand and stall” is doing as it seems like a repeat of the same usage – I guess it’s just to make the surface read more smoothly, unless I’m missing some additional layer of subtlety… |
Re. wire wool, yes, sometimes also called steel wool here in Australia.
I thought this was a very enjoyable puzzle. No problem with 12: C (conservative) is on HEAT. Not sure what else there is to explain!
I read 24 as a triple definition, although the first two do seem to be the same thing!
Edited at 2015-05-31 08:48 am (UTC)
Edited at 2015-05-31 12:17 pm (UTC)
England has had its share of unfunny comedians, but Ken Dodd is right up there. If you’re feeling really melancholy, try Max Bygraves or Harry Secombe. They might just snap you out of it.
On a side note, there’s something rather ordinate about putting ‘erring’ instead of ‘errant’ – but only if it is someone else who’s doing it.
Edited at 2015-05-31 09:07 am (UTC)