The usual Dean Mayer blog epithets apply – elegant, succinct, masterly tight cluing with plenty of real ingenuity. This puzzle was, I think, probably one for the true connoisseurs. It struck me (Pseud’s Corner alert) as being a sophisticated, complex Pinot Noir type of a puzzle, as opposed to the kind of big, bold Shiraz that drives less sophisticated topers like me to reach for our superlatives.
In short, I admired it immensely but (speaking entirely personally) it did not provide the belly laughs and overall sense of joie de vivre that I usually get from this most wonderful setter. Which is not in any way intended as a criticism – simply a (no doubt somewhat clumsy) attempt to “position” this crossword.
Numerous great clues, with my personal favourites probably being 19dn, 11ac, 17dn and 3dn. As ever, many thanks to Dean for a terrific challenge.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: Anagrams indicated by *(–): Omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Runway staff short on salt (6) |
| TARMAC – MAC{E} (staff short – i.e. minus last letter) ‘on’ TAR (salt) | |
| 5 | Spades in copper and steel is blasphemy (8) |
| CUSSWORD – S (spades) ‘in’ CU (copper) + SWORD (steel) | |
| 9 | State finance (8) |
| MAINTAIN – DD – simple when you see it, but took me an age to spot | |
| 10 | Contain them by gathering force (6) |
| EMBODY – {TH}EM (which I guess is fine as usages such as “hang ’em and flog ’em are pretty common) + BY ‘gathering’ OD (force – a supernatural one apparently) | |
| 11 | Summer’s end? (3,2,9) |
| DAY OF RECKONING – When the chap totting up the numbers meets his end… very nice cryptic | |
| 12 | Showing proof of evil, detain criminal (10) |
| EVIDENTIAL – *(EVIL DETAIN) with “criminal” indicating the anagram | |
| 15 | Free to carry a rifle (4) |
| RAID – RID (free) ‘carries’ A. I initially wondered a bit at the definition, but I think that if you rifle through someone’s drawers you could be said to be raiding them. | |
| 16 | Constant? Never secure (4) |
| KNOT – K (constant) + NOT (never). Vaguely recalled the chemistry (or is it physics?) reference from periods of incarceration in school science labs where I had no clue what was going on. | |
| 18 | Mike’s shed discovered unopened (4,6) |
| HANG AROUND – HANGAR (shed) +{F}OUND (discovered unopened). The wordplay pointed unerringly to the solution, and I just assumed “to mike” must be some kind of slang term meaning to hang around. Which, apparently, it is – although it does not crop up in my Chambers. | |
| 20 | In a way he’s common (3,2,3,6) |
| MAN IN THE STREET – Cryptic definition that fell into place quite quickly from the enumeration once a couple of cross checkers were available. This chap is a close relative of the man on the Clapham omnibus, and also from the same broad clan as the “moron in a hurry” and (my personal favourite when I was a law student) “the officious bystander”. | |
| 23 | That is right, after that is official (6) |
| VIZIER – IE R (that is right) “after” VIZ (that is) | |
| 24 | Cracked iron mug filled with a herb (8) |
| ORIGANUM – *(IRON MUG) – with A also in the mix – and “cracked” pointing us to the anagram. The Latin name for the genus that includes the better known Origano, as I subsequently learned. | |
| 25 | Outstanding gong made loud noise (8) |
| BELLOWED – BELL (gong) + OWED (outstanding) | |
| 26 | A first for Ellen Page, really (4,2) |
| EVER SO – E (a first for Ellen) + VERSO (page – a term meaning the left hand page of an open book) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Decoration in one room (5) |
| AWARD – A WARD (one room) | |
| 3 | Rich chap in 60s bags new watch (7) |
| MONEYED – MOD (chap in 60s) takes in (bags) N (new) + EYE (watch). Rather neat, I thought. | |
| 4 | Kid wants to steal a bird (9) |
| CHAFFINCH – CHAFF (kid – as in tease) + INCH (steal – as in move slowly / cautiously and “inch your way forward”). I needed a long time before the penny dropped on the parsing of the “inch” part of the clue, as I thought we were in Cockney rhyming slang territory here with “half inch” somehow involved. | |
| 5 | Bog standard fare? (11,4) |
| CONVENIENCE FOOD – Cryptic clue revolving around bog being slang term for toilet / public convenience. | |
| 6 | A bit of smoked ham (5) |
| SPECK – DD | |
| 7 | Sport about to get rid of online discussion (7) |
| WEBINAR – WEAR (sport) goes around (about) BIN (to get rid of) | |
| 8 | Update includes name for flag (3,6) |
| RED ENSIGN – REDESIGN (update) with an N (name) included to give us the red duster | |
| 13 | Bag to carry with trash (9) |
| VANDALISE – VALISE (bag) ‘carries’ AND (with) | |
| 14 | Of minimal intelligence — American, anyway (9) |
| LEASTWISE – LEAST WISE (of minimal intelligence), and leastwise being (approximately, I think – but I’ll leave that to Kevin and co. to opine on further) a kind of US version of “anyway” | |
| 17 | Pilot admitting sex is meaningless (7) |
| TRIVIAL – TRIAL (pilot) including (admitting) VI (Roman six or ‘sex’ as they would have said). Neat clue with plenty of misdirection. | |
| 19 | Ring a worried man (7) |
| OPERATE – O (ring) + PER (a – ten bob a/per head) + ATE (worried), with the definition being the verb “to man”. Classic tight cluing from Dean | |
| 21 | Extremely tough bank project (5) |
| THROW – TH (extremes of TougH) + ROW (bank) | |
| 22 | Support that Russia’s secured (5) |
| TRUSS – Hidden in (indicated by ‘secured’) thaT RUSSia | |
Thus my WOD WINEBAR.
FOI 15ac RAID COD 13dn VANDALISE
About a leisurely hour.
Edited at 2017-02-05 03:24 am (UTC)
Having looked it up, I think “mike” will be my WOD. COD to 26a; Ellen Page gave a terrifying performance in Hard Candy and I’d forgotten all about it until today.
My last in was CHAFFINCH. I didn’t know this meaning of the word CHAFF, and like our blogger I was convinced that ‘steal’ was somehow indicating the CRS ‘half-inch’. Unsurprisingly I couldn’t for the life of me work out how. I’m sure this was entirely deliberate, and it’s devilishly cunning.
http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/james-thurber-on-Burgundy.gif
Edited at 2017-02-05 01:08 pm (UTC)