I really enjoyed this puzzle. Whilst I found it slightly easier than some of Dean’s offerings, it nonetheless came up with three instances where I had to trust to the wordplay and enter the answer on a wing and a prayer – the lake equivalent of estuarine, the rope and the surgical opening.
Dean’s usual concise, elegant and amusing cluing was on display throughout, with a number of great surfaces. Particularly enjoyed the whimsy of the “imaginary” rope and the delightful reference to Cassius Clay’s footwork, but my personal favourite was the unconditional love at 11dn – an absolute ripper of a clue.
Thanks as ever to Dean. Here’s how I think it all works…
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}.
| Across | |
| 1 | Use keys to enter property, perhaps (4) |
| TYPE – Hidden in (to enter) properTY PErhaps | |
| 3 | Busy times for the law breakers? (5,5) |
| CRIME WAVES – Cryptic definition based around ‘breakers’ also meaning ‘waves’ | |
| 9 | Runs are like gold dust (4) |
| RARE – R ARE (runs are). My FOI and so straightforward that I feared I must have got the wrong end of the stick altogether – a kind of “Greeks bearing gifts” moment… | |
| 10 | Copper’s buried in bog near lake (10) |
| LACUSTRINE – CUS (copper’s) inside (buried in) LATRINE (bog). My last one in and a case of trusting to the wordplay as this was an unknown to me. | |
| 12 | Son with bass most unlikely to clean building? (9) |
| SANDBLAST – S (son) AND (with) B (musical abbrev. for bass) + LAST (most unlikely – as in “the last person you’d expect to…”) | |
| 13 | Legal office given to auditor (5) |
| RIGHT – Sounds like (given to auditor) RITE (office – as in last rites) | |
| 14 | One complaint, still no problem (6,8) |
| MOTION SICKNESS – Cryptic definition – if the sufferer is still, they will not have a problem… | |
| 18 | The last place you’d find liver? Yes and no (14) |
| SLAUGHTERHOUSE – Another cryptic based on the double meaning of “liver” as a survivor (unlikely to be found amongst those sent to an abattoir) and the organ to be cooked with bacon and onions (loads of it in the abattoir) | |
| 20 | Assistant needed to catch black bear (5) |
| ABIDE – AIDE (assistant) with B inside (to catch B{lack}) | |
| 22 | Plant stem, soil, ground, earth (9) |
| MISTLETOE – Um, this one went slightly wrong (with PB graciously apologising on the Times Forum). It looks as though it was supposed to be an anagram (“ground”) of STEM SOIL + E (earth), but unfortunately we are a T short and are left with an extra S. Anyway, with the cross checkers it was fairly clear what was supposed to be happening – although I did spend some time rummaging around looking at possible archaic spellings of the Yuletide osculation enabler just in case. | |
| 24 | Resort to guessing to get the idea (10) |
| SUGGESTION – *(TO GUESSING) with “resort” (i.e. ‘re-sort’) signposting the anagram | |
| 25 | Gnome’s short skirt (4) |
| MAXI – This one required us to know that “gnome” can also mean a MAXI{M} – served “short” in this instance. The only time I have ever dressed in drag (don’t ask!) I happened to don a maxi skirt and found it damned tricky to walk in: fortunately I was wearing relatively low heels, as a combination of a maxi and stilettos would have been more than a chap could handle. | |
| 26 | Hidden weakness of boxer’s supporters (4,2,4) |
| FEET OF CLAY – the pedal ‘supporters’ of Cassius Clay – “Float like a butterfly…” Gorgeous clue. | |
| 27 | Opinion given about temperature control (4) |
| STAY – SAY (opinion – ‘have your say’) goes ‘about’ T (temperature). I was a bit unsure about ‘control’ as the definition here, but I suppose a stay in the sense of a brace or a guy rope could be said to be a control – better offers most welcome… | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Dull book about rise of anagram maker (8) |
| TIRESOME – TOME (book) goes ‘about’ *(RISE) with “of anagram maker” helpfully signalling the, er, anagram. Loved the image conjured up by the surface – although it sounds like the kind of tome that might potentially be far from dull for frequenters of this forum! | |
| 2 | Treated later, pain around time of birth (9) |
| PERINATAL – *(LATER PAIN) with “treated” signalling the anagram | |
| 4 | Upset at “imaginary” rope (5) |
| RIATA – AT AIR reversed (upset). And in case anyone is wondering about how “imaginary” gives us “air”, think air guitar. Took me a while to cotton on to this rather nice bit of whimsy. | |
| 5 | Hair growth over parting has to hurt (9) |
| MOUSTACHE – O (over) ‘parts’ MUST (has to) + ACHE (hurt) | |
| 6 | Worried group in full pub (8,4) |
| WATERING HOLE – ATE (worried) + RING (group) are found inside WHOLE (full) – triggering fond memories of Dean’s busty barmaid clue for the same answer in ST 4695, one of the all time classics in my humble opinion. | |
| 7 | Sides in varsity home game initially in contention (5) |
| VYING – VY (sides in VarsitY) + IN (home) + G (Game initially) | |
| 8 | Sleep — that is one way to interrupt it (6) |
| SIESTA – IE (that is) + ST (one way – i.e. a street) go inside (interrupt) SA (it – i.e. sex appeal). | |
| 11 | Unconditional love, OK? (8,4) |
| ABSOLUTE ZERO – ABSOLUTE (unconditional) ZERO (love – as in tennis score) combine to give Zero Kelvin (i.e. OK). Super clue – an intriguing surface read, some quirky lateral thinking and trademark Dean economy. | |
| 15 | Matches scattered, I see outline (9) |
| SCHEMATIC – *(MATCHES) – with “scattered” pointing to the anagram – and I C (I see). Must admit I’m not sure how the C derives from ‘see’ (other than the obvious phonetic – maybe that’s how it works but I think I may be missing something…) | |
| 16 | City pioneer accepts university trophy, Germany’s first (9) |
| STUTTGART – START (pioneer) ‘accepts’ U (university) + TT (trophy – the prize at the prestigious Isle of Man motorbike races) + G (Germany’s first) | |
| 17 | Speed star Bullock’s first to leave (8) |
| CELERITY – CELE{B}RITY (star – with Bullock’s first letter leaving) | |
| 19 | High points of service provided (6) |
| MASSIF – MASS (service) + IF (provided) | |
| 21 | Old fire, one that won’t start (5) |
| INGLE – {S}INGLE (one without it’s first letter – ‘won’t start’). I think the “old” in the definition is simply telling us we are looking for a somewhat archaic term – although “ingle” is still used in everyday speech by some friends of mine who live in darkest Somerset (mind you they also eat squirrel on occasion so they might not be fairly regarded as exemplars of contemporaneity) | |
| 23 | Somewhat serious to make a surgical opening (5) |
| STOMA – Hidden in (somewhat) seriouS TO MAke. Another unknown word for me, but the cross checkers and wordplay enabled it to go in with some confidence. | |
Nick, re 15dn, I think the dictionaries spell “C” as “see”, so yes it is as simple as that. Mohn pointed out on the Quickie blog the other day that they (Chambers at least) spell “Y” as “wye”, which could make for some interesting cluing of the river.
On edit: Scratch that. After extensive research (ten seconds of googling), it seems they tend to spell “C” as “cee”. So yeah, I guess it’s just the phonetics at work.
Edited at 2017-07-23 12:16 am (UTC)
COD 11dn ABSOLUTE ZERO knock-out!
22ac MISTLETOE – apology accepted – TOIL for SOIL?
As per nick no time forthcoming.
Edited at 2017-07-23 03:30 am (UTC)
Just bobbed in because I can’t run away from 22a. Yes, I know PB issued an apology, but the error he ‘missed’ is one he shouldn’t have had to be looking out for. I mistyped the answer before working on the clue edit, and it was pure carelessness. The unfortunate presence of an (albeit extremely obscure) valid alternative spelling only compounded the confusion for some solvers.
Fullest apologies from me. The only comfort is the reminder that I’m human.
In the end I got most of it. Couldn’t get the rope and failed to identify the city; tried to make Scunthorpe fit! Had Mini at 25a which did not help.
17d and 27a also beyond me but I see they troubled more experienced solvers.
Much to enjoy here and I think I’m making progress. David