After the rigours of the previous Sunday’s offering from Dean, this one from Harry came as a bit of light relief – and I for one am not complaining! A very accessible puzzle by Sunday standards, but neatly put together and fun to solve.
2d required specific knowledge of football conventions pre (roughly) 1966 – which, luckily, I happened to have – although the answer was pretty clear even if the underlying logic of the clue remained impenetrable. 5d was an unknown word for me, but given that we were clearly being pointed to an anagram and had 4 out of 7 checkers from the across answers, it was a fairly safe bet albeit my LOI.
I remain slightly unsure about the parsing of 19d, but I’m sure the assembled crew will help out here if I have gone astray. Other than that, not much else to say – other than thanks, of course, to our setter
Across |
1 |
Rubbish description of a bootmakers’ union? (1,4,2,8) |
|
A LOAD OF COBBLERS – DD – the second mildly cryptic |
9 |
Poisonous American incessant talker topped (7) |
|
RATTLER – {P}RATTLER (incessant talker loses its first letter – i.e. is ‘topped’) |
10 |
E-security feature about to get a new patch (7) |
|
CAPTCHA – *(PATCH) – with “new” indicating the anagram – is included inside CA (about), giving us the term for those irritating blurry letter combinations used by some web sites that supposedly ensure that it is a human (rather than an automated program / robot) filling out an online form. I often struggle to decipher these, giving further credence to the theory of some of my pals that I am actually just visiting from another planet… |
11 |
This marijuana will get you gone! (4) |
|
WEED – I think the idea is that WEED (gone) is the past participle of WEE (to “go”). Hmm – let’s move swiftly on. |
12 |
Sot’s confession asserts nothing? Er, ok (1,7,2) |
|
I SUPPOSE SO – I SUP (sot’s confession) + POSES (asserts) + O (nothing) |
13 |
A second impression, perhaps, about kids (7) |
|
REISSUE – RE. ISSUE (about kids) |
15 |
Wave degree student group in IT returned (7) |
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TSUNAMI – Inside TI (IT returned) we reverse MA (degree) + NUS (student group) |
17 |
Thankless sort angry over nothing on vacation (7) |
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INGRATE – IRATE (angry) goes around (over) N{othin}G (nothing after being vacated) |
19 |
Holdall graduate opens to get woolly (4,3) |
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TOTE BAG – BA (graduate) inside (opens) *(TO GET) with “woolly” pointing to the anagram |
20 |
Very shocking squeal enveloping milliner (10) |
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SHATTERING – SING (squeal – both being terms for what a police informant does) ‘envelopes’ HATTER (milliner) |
22 |
It’s a meat-eating wild animal — gulp! (4) |
|
WOLF – DD |
25 |
Rotten son pinching bottom hurts feelings (7) |
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OFFENDS – OFF (rotten) + S (son) take END inside (pinching bottom) |
26 |
I don’t believe a chap who thinks God exists (7) |
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ATHEIST – A THEIST (a chap who thinks God exists) |
27 |
I won’t tell sleepers I’m a lady in disguise (2,4,3,6) |
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MY LIPS ARE SEALED – *(SLEEPERS IM A LADY) with “in disguise” indicating the anagram |
Down |
1 |
East End school, one found near Bow? (5) |
|
ARROW – {H}ARROW (school as pronounced by the aitch dropping cockney) |
2 |
Where one used to see 7 or 11 in flight? (2,3,4) |
|
ON THE WING – DD. The first of the two definitions may have been a bit of a mystery to non-football fans, or indeed to footy people who were introduced to the game after the traditional 2-3-5 formation became somewhat passé. The key to the definition is that 7 and 11 were the shirt numbers of the right winger and the left winger respectively – Matthews and Finney come to mind… |
3 |
Benefit of turning wheel? 0 dents! (4) |
|
DOLE – Reversed (turning) hidden in wheEL O Dents |
4 |
Court in support of warning witness in advance? (7) |
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FORESEE – SEE (court – as in Holy See) comes after (in support of) FORE (warning – on the golf course) |
5 |
Cop cut badly around one bit of the bonce (7) |
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OCCIPUT – *(COP CUT) – with “badly” pointing to the anagram – going ‘around’ I (one) |
6 |
Side effect of what junkies often do, I’m told (2-7) |
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BY-PRODUCT – Sounds like (I’m told) BUY PRODUCT (what junkies often do) |
7 |
Music Cher initially mentioned to host (5) |
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EMCEE – The letters MC as spoken (Music Cher initially mentioned) |
8 |
Shanty written about fashionable salt? (9) |
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SEASONING – SEA SONG (shanty) goes around (written about) IN (fashionable) |
13 |
Minor star snapped in a power shower? (9) |
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RAINSTORM – *(MINOR STAR) with “snapped” suggesting the anagram |
14 |
Drink drinks chaps without skill make neat (7,2) |
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SMARTEN UP – SUP (drink) has inside it (drinks) MEN (chaps) going around (without) ART (skill) |
16 |
Moral bias, in a strange way, is delicious (9) |
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AMBROSIAL – *(MORAL BIAS) with “in a strange way” as the anagram indicator |
18 |
Orwell’s state overturning first-rate appeal with regret (7) |
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EURASIA – AI (first rate) + SA (appeal – as in ‘sex appeal’) + RUE (regret) all reversed (overturning), referring to the super-state of that name in Orwell’s 1984
|
19 |
Old news in Times: Queen Elizabeth’s weight? (7) |
|
TONNAGE – Not sure of the parsing here, but I think it goes like this… O (old) + NN (plural ‘new’) in T and AGE (two instances of ‘times’) giving us the possible unit for measuring the weight of the liner rather than a monarch. |
21 |
Topless constitutional? Horrific! (5) |
|
AWFUL – {L}AWFUL (constitutional with its top removed) |
23 |
Stinking US agent pulling in upset relations (5) |
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FETID – FED (US agent) with IT reversed (upset relations) inside (pulling in) |
24 |
Where a dealer stashes a pack in Oxford? (4) |
|
SHOE – DD. A shoe is (apparently – had not come across this before) a “box like device for dispensing playing cards” and an Oxford is also a type of shoe. |
6ac is BI-PRODUCT, not one word.
The unit of tonnage is tonne.
4dn FORSEE – I read -to SEE – as -to court – (verb not a noun).
LOI 10ac CAPTCHA I used to have to use KEY-CAPTCHA to enter this programme with a strange little jigsaw-puzzle.
No COD. WOD COBBLERS. Time 40 minutes
Edited at 2017-03-05 02:07 am (UTC)
And, yes, it is ‘by-product’ – I actually checked the official solution over at the CC.
I’m with Nick on illegible CAPTCHAS. Only a nerd could think such things up and think they are good.
Difficult to hear load of cobblers without thinking of Benny Hill’s Chinaman, who had a disturbing likeness to Jiang Zemin – currently in a cryogenic sleep somewhere in China before the time is deemed auspicious to declare his demise.
Edited at 2017-03-05 04:14 am (UTC)
SHOE was one of my old tools of trade, so no problem there.
2dn would be a better clue with “11 or 14” (or “2 or 5”!) instead of “7 or 11”.
Thank Harry and Nick.
I worked out CAPTCHA from wordplay. I knew the irritating device but not its name, nor even that it had one.
Until I read the blog I hadn’t realised that 11ac was being quite so literal in its second meaning. I thought I might have heard WEED used as a slang expression for being out of one’s brain either on drugs or alcohol so I was thinking “gone” in that sense.
Edited at 2017-03-05 05:57 am (UTC)
Google updates are often not instant, you just can’t get the staff these days ..
Hearing people talk about occipital lobes in shows like House led me in the right direction for OCCIPUT, but I was glad it was an anagram. Baffled by the footballing definition of 2d, so just had to take a leap of faith there. Apart from that I think I was all fully parsed…
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Edited at 2017-03-05 11:29 am (UTC)
Edited at 2017-03-05 11:42 am (UTC)
Like others, 1a went straight in so off I went. This was clearly a puzzle on my wavelength- I saw the meaning of 7 and 11 as I read the clue and confidence grew. Also I’ve known Occiput since boyhood so that was in quickly too. Knew the shoes etc. And logging into this site I have frequently navigated Key Captcha. Could not remember my Orwell but the clue was helpful. A very enjoyable hour for me. David
Queen Elizabeth { present Queen’s mum } lived to be 102. TON { 100 ] AGE !!
Still managed it in less than an hour, third time ever. Thanks again to all the bloggers.
Tom (and Janet) Toronto.
Still managed it in less than an hour, third time ever. Thanks again to all the bloggers.
Tom (and Janet) Toronto.
from Phyl, Toronto, Canada