I enjoyed this a lot. It seemed very fresh, and potent as well. There were several CDs, all very amusing; no (usually either dull or unfathomable) DDs; a not-untimely reference to a particular conjuncture in US-Russian relations; an invitation—to me, at least—to some historical/etymological edification (clue 18): and even a term (also US-centric) that reminded me, and in an
agreeable way, of my own backwoods background, as well as of my all-time favorite singer (the song was at first, at least, more associated with Joan Baez, though she didn’t
write it…
either).
I do (armganas)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clues.
| ACROSS |
| 1 |
Old actress predicted modern movie formats (5,5) |
|
BETTE DAVIS — BETTED (“predicted”) + AVI (Audio Video Interleaved), plural. Anyone got Bette Davis AVIs? |
| 7 |
One opening in long black robe (3) |
|
ALB — ”One” is A, then L[-ong] and B(lack). The L is clued this way because it’s not a conventional abbreviation for “long,” whereas B is conventional for “black.” |
| 9 |
From its reading, novel completely changed (14) |
|
TRANSMOGRIFIED — (from its reading)* |
| 11 |
Sporty husband into tactile dancing (8) |
|
ATHLETIC — (tactile)* with H(usband) inserted |
| 12 |
Chief’s friend grabbing skirt (6) |
|
PRIMAL — P(RIM)AL |
| 14 |
Lack of infrared type of film (4) |
|
NOIR — No I.R. |
| 15 |
Reagan’s proposal to make love not war? (4,6) |
|
ZERO OPTION — CD. Yes, indeed, in 1981 US President Reagan proposed the withdrawal of all Soviet and United States intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe, and—although at this juncture anti-nuke activists accused him of making the offer only in full expectation of its being rejected, thereby giving him an excuse to up the ante in the arms race—there’s actually a good chance he was sincere. It was as if he had never realized what nuclear weapons could do until after he became president (which is not hard to believe). A few years later, after Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, serious nuke-reduction treaties were signed. (Oh, yes, those were the days…) |
| 18 |
Fellowship found in unexciting marches (10) |
|
BORDERLAND — B(ORDER)LAND. This sense of “marches” does not derive from the fact that dividing lines between, say, England and Scotland or Wales have often been embroiled in conflict and thus have been patrolled by armed forces (my first thought!); “march” in this sense is derived from “mark,” originally meaning a boundary, or the sign of a boundary (and eventually only a sign). (Although the sense of walking purposefully and/or in step with others derives directly from an Old French term for “trample,” even that word may originate in a Frankish term meaning “mark.”) Did you know that the words “marquess,” “marchioness,” et “marquis” all derive from this sense of “march”? I didn’t! |
| 19 |
Light brown part of pie crust (4) |
|
ECRU — Hidden |
| 21 |
Small village managed 50 per cent of chores (6) |
|
RANCHO — RAN + CHO[-res]. I haven’t found support for this definition. Wiktionary says that in Spanish it means, “properly, a mess, mess room,” and gives two American definitions: a small hut or a “large grazing farm.” In Merriam-Webster, the first def. is simply “ranch.” I know there can’t be some odd UK alternative! There are towns with this word in their name, however—por ejemplo, Rancho Velos, in Cuba. Jackkt found the definition in the SOED, which I have not at hand.
|
| 23 |
Puzzling item opened by bank (8) |
|
THROWING — TH(ROW)ING. Cambridge: “A bank is also a row of similar objects: A bank of computers displays the latest weather data.” |
| 25 |
Underwear for mum? (14) |
|
UNMENTIONABLES — CD |
| 26 |
Complex parts with radius taken in (3) |
|
HAD — ”Complex” being “hard,” which lets go of its R(adius) |
| 27 |
Rebel soldier in group is heading for trouble (10) |
|
SEPARATIST — SE(PARA)T + IS + T[-rouble] |
| DOWN |
| 2 |
Stay inside weaving rather more material (9) |
|
EARTHLIER — LIE inside (rather)* |
| 3 |
Fiddle one considers not hard (6) |
|
TINKER — T[-h]INKER |
| 4 |
Miss one’s opening of French wine (10) |
|
DEMOISELLE — DE (of, Fr.) + MO(I)SELLE |
| 5 |
Very mature rising star (4) |
|
VEGA — V + AGE<= |
| 6 |
Bones touch and move the wrong way (8) |
|
STIRRUPS — STIR (“touch”—as in being, uh, moved emotionally) and “move,” SPUR<= |
| 7 |
Saw a cross on an island (5) |
|
AXIOM — A + X + IOM (Isle of Man) |
| 8 |
That imparted by a figure of speech? (4,8) |
|
BODY LANGUAGE — CD. A “figure” can be a “body,” which can express itself more or less eloquently |
| 10 |
Artist realises old river branch is crossing (12) |
|
GAINSBOROUGH — GAINS, “realises” (in the financial sense) + B(O)(R)OUGH |
| 13 |
Old criminal, still running? (10) |
|
MOONSHINER — CD. I learned when on vacation with my teetotaling parents many years ago that I had two great-uncles in Pennsylvania who used to run stills. Bob Dylan (who purveys some fine whiskey himself these days) is singing “Copper Kettle” in my head as I type. “We ain’t paid no whiskey tax / Since 1792.” The only time I’ve ever drunk moonshine was in the early 1970s at a bluegrass festival on a hill near my hometown—I was just so bored by the twanging banjos after a half-hour… I don’t remember much else about that night. |
| 16 |
Wound in chest is something irritating (9) |
|
ITCHINESS — (in chest)* |
| 17 |
My opinion is old-fashioned (8) |
|
METHINKS — CD. Now-quaint way of saying IMO |
| 20 |
Ring, perhaps one created by Tolkien (6) |
|
HOBBIT — On top of an oven you will find a HOB, with a “ring” being a BIT of it. [Previous entry: HOB is “ring” (a heating coil on top of an oven; I didn’t find a dictionary that defined it as a ring, but a picture is worth a thousand words), and BIT is “perhaps one” (the other OPTION being ZERO) Well,, that was fun while it lasted.] |
| 22 |
Called me in and exploded (5) |
|
NAMED — (me in and)* |
| 24 |
I’m initially placed under wide doormat (4) |
|
WIMP — W(ide) + IM + P[-laced] |
As usual, a fine puzzle from Dean, and a quality blog from Bruce. I biffed HOBBIT (I gave up on “Lord of the Rings” about 15 pages in, and Tolkien deliberately remains a mystery to me), while ZERO OPTION was hidden in the darker recesses of my mind, and went in on trust.
FOI ECRU
LOI HAD
COD UNMENTIONABLES
TIME 23:33
On RANCHO, SOED has: 1 In Latin America: a hut, a hovel, a very simple building; a group of these, a small village; esp. one put up to accommodate travellers.
Edited at 2019-06-23 06:34 am (UTC)
Edited at 2019-06-23 07:14 am (UTC)
Edited at 2019-06-23 10:29 am (UTC)
My COD goes to METHINKS because, for once, ‘my’ does not indicate cor!
He has a very distinctive avatar.
Guy, your new avatar does not define much at all!
I think you need to invest in a bit of branding.
Just sayin’.
Your avatar seems to suit you nicely.
PS: Seems I was not alone…I see philjordan made the same mistake.
I thought UNMENTIONABLES was a great clue.
No BETTE DAVIS AVI’s. Not even BETTE DAVIS I’s.
Thank you to setter and blogger
Thanks for the blog Bruce 😉
Edited at 2019-06-23 12:54 pm (UTC)
But this didn’t occur to Mayer or Biddlecombe.
But I never did get the Hobbit wordplay, and assumed I was just being ignorant about something. Likewise RANCHO, though I see Chambers has the “group of huts” idea, which I suppose will do.
Just to clarify 20d – yes the intention was to describe a ring as a ‘hob bit’. As Peter says, any other interpretation of bit would leave an unsatisfactory def for the answer.
It may not help that I’m young enough not to think of AVI as a “modern” format, it being 27 years old. I also only got as far as “BET” before thinking I’d parsed the “predicted” bit. Fiddlesticks!
Enjoyable puzzle that took just over my average time (at 47 min) with some after solve unravelling word play activity taking quite some time as well – but eventually got there.
Started off quickly with the VEGA star and was able to steadily work through the grid. Was happy to be able to finally see the HOB BIT at 20d and B ORDER LAND at 18a – they were my 4th last and last clues in respectively. MOONSHINER and METHINKS came in between them.