Starting with ANAESTHETIST, EXTRACTOR and LONG IN THE TOOTH, I got the longer answers first and filled in most of this rapidly… until the last handful, which took almost as long as all the rest!
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Detective pinching old-fashioned type’s bum (8) |
| DERELICT DE(RELIC)T …This one would have fallen much sooner if I hadn’t been reading “bum” as “burn.” That damned font! |
|
| 5 | Bit of dope and meth one rolled with The Faces (4) |
| DICE D |
|
| 8 | What secretary gets with Republican fellow (6) |
| PARDON PA, personal assistant, “secretary” + R(epublican) + DON, random “fellow” “What” when expressed as an interrogation: “Come again?” “Excuse me?” “Eh?” …I pieced together the answer from wordplay and was left thinking, “But where’s the definition?” |
|
| 9 | When detaining British party people embodies guts (8) |
| ABDOMENS A(B)(DO)(MEN)S |
|
| 10 | Ultimately out of time, I’m sorry to say (4) |
| ALAS A |
|
| 11 | One often initially involved in starting rioting? (10) |
| INSTIGATOR &lit! I, “One” + O |
|
| 12 | I deliver numbers that senate is reconfiguring (12) |
| ANAESTHETIST (that senate is)* |
|
| 16 | Those who control movements in mainland Europe (3,9) |
| THE CONTINENT DD, the first expressed humorously |
|
| 18 | Looney Tunes cartoons featuring mostly sad wiseguys (4,6) |
| COSA NOSTRA (cartoons)* with SA |
|
| 20 | One that digs chap leaving area for Ohio (4) |
| MOLE M[-A,+O]LE |
|
| 21 | Ribbon on transparent formal evening dress (5,3) |
| WHITE TIE WHITE, “transparent” + TIE, “Ribbon” Definition 8 for WHITE in Collins is “colourless or transparent,” with the example white glass. |
|
| 22 | Fashionable china one found in big house (6) |
| INMATE IN, “Fashionable” + MATE, “china” (CRS, “china plate”) |
|
| 23 | Craig Charles is one in Red Dwarf, for example (4) |
| STAR DD …Never heard of the guy. |
|
| 24 | Spooneresque anecdote not allowed in Animal House (8) |
| BARNYARD “yarn barred” Not quite a “House,” really, as it’s out of doors. |
|
| DOWN | |
| 1 | Uninspiring band that a hack may have to meet (8) |
| DEADLINE DEAD, “Uninspiring” (i.e., not breathing) + LINE, “band” |
|
| 2 | Reformed drunks with duke going down in lifts (5) |
| RIDES DRIES, “Reformed drunks”—with the “duke” taken down |
|
| 3 | Geriatric possibly disturbing to hotel in thong (4,2,3,5) |
| LONG IN THE TOOTH (to hotel in thong)* Collins: “used originally of horses, because their gums recede with age” …Defined as “aged or ageing” (emphasis added), but I’m not sure the latter option justifies the “possibly.” |
|
| 4 | People seen in church with energy-sapped primates (5) |
| CHAPS CH(urch) + AP |
|
| 5 | Silent film perhaps screened in Scottish town (9) |
| DUMBARTON DUMB, “silent” + ART, “film perhaps” + ON, “screened” |
|
| 6 | Cloth rep reportedly shot during game of billiards (6) |
| CANNON “canon” Specifically, “a shot in which the cue ball is caused to contact one object ball after another” (Collins) |
|
| 7 | Government bill helping to protect small street (14) |
| ADMINISTRATION AD, “bill” + MINI, “small” + ST(reet) + RATION, “helping” |
|
| 13 | Old men collecting pamphlet for dentist? (9) |
| EXTRACTOR EX, “old” + TRACT, “pamphlet” + O(ther) R(anks), “men” …As someone who lost all his natural teeth by tenth grade (Appalachian dentistry at its finest), I appreciate the old French expression, mentir comme un arracheur de dent: “Lie like a tooth-puller.” |
|
| 14 | I move posterior to dance ultimately (3) |
| EGO |
|
| 15 | Pompous criminal defiant after pocketing pound (8) |
| INFLATED (defiant)* folding in L, “pound” |
|
| 17 | Big deal in Panama is one broadcast covers (2,4) |
| SO WHAT SOW, “broadcast” + HAT, “Panama is one” “Big deal” as expressed sarcastically |
|
| 19 | Offensive note written about hard Greek character (5) |
| THETA T(H)ET + A, “note” TET (Tết) is the most important Vietnamese holiday, celebrating the Lunar New Year and the arrival of spring (it’s on February 17 this year), but the word was burned into the memories of Americans of a certain age by North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive, which started with a surprise attack on January 30, 1968, and lasted until September 23. |
|
| 20 | Mum, bishop admitted, is one with a lot of wind! (5) |
| MAMBA MAM(B)A A long snake |
|
Guy, I believe you need to strike through both Ts of AT LAST (10a)
Indeed. Thanks
3D “Geriatric” often means “old” in a bad way – ODE calls it derogatory, so “possibly” is wise for avoiding “You can call me old, but …” feedback.
My daughter in law was surprised that her pregnancy was a “geriatric pregnancy” since she was over 35.
Hmm… It primarily means relating to medical treatment and ailments of the elderly, but a secondary sense, pertaining to people or machines, of “old, obsolete, worn out, useless” is tagged as informal by Collins but not (for some reason) offensive, a label it saves for the word used as a noun. I don’t think I’ve ever heard “a geriatric” tout court for a person, though I think I’ve heard “an old.”
The Merriam-Webster dictionary on my iPad (Collegiate edition content I think) has:
an aged person
“To put it mildly, the geriatrics of the entertainment industry didn’t see this coming.”
— John Perry Barlow
Clue demands the adjective.
I acknowledged the existence of the noun definition of “geriatric,” only added that I don’t think I’d ever heard it in the wild.
As with so many words, geriatric is abbreviated to gerry in Australia.
I’m on the cusp, currently a ‘senior’, but have been known to mutter the term about a driver who is slow to move on a green light.
Most gerry drivers are kind enough to give warning that they are getting on a bit by wearing a hat when behind the wheel.
All green with LOI DEADLINE. I’m not sure LINE for “band” really works. DERELICT and LONG IN THE TOOTH went straight in so I thought I was in for an easy one but, like our blogger, I spent far too long to get the last few.
I spent ages on this, and only got DICE & PARDON after coming back days later; and only parsed PARDON this morning. I wondered about’transparent’. NHO DUMBARTON, but there’s a Dumbarton Bridge across San Francisco Bay, and I biffed from DUMB, parsing later. I liked PARDON, THE CONTINENT, RIDES.
Quite easy for a Sunday. I share our blogger’s misgivings about BARNYARD defined as ‘animal house’.
I’m not sure how I have got to my advanced stage of life without knowing that DICE is acceptable in the singular, yet I was confident 8ac was in error until I consulted the usual sources. They are all agreed on the matter and OED even advises that ‘dice’ as a singular dates back to the 1300s! I imagine this must have been discussed here before, but if so, I have no recollection of it.
I too struggled with bum or burn at 1 ac. Can derelict mean bum?
Yes!
In English or American?
The usual dictionaries all have it as British English. ‘Bum’ is of course chiefly North American although Collins doesn’t make that distinction.
11:47. MER at ‘house’. I was puzzled by WHITE TIE, not knowing the glass-related meaning and finding ‘ribbon’ for TIE a bit loose. ‘Possibly’ in 3dn seems superfluous to me.
I got most of this and fairly quickly IIRC but why ‘O’ for ‘Ohio’ instead of ‘OH’?
It’s listed with both versions on the Wikipedia page of state abbreviations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_abbreviations
I have a copy of the Chambers dictionary of crossword abbreviations but probably just Googled it and shrugged!
It had to be COSA NOSTRA but I can’t understand the definition. What am I missing? I only know them as a variety of Mafia.
You’re not missing anything. We call it the Mafia or the Mob, and the wiseguys in the Sicilian Mafia or its US affiliate call it Cosa Nostra.
Or to be a bit more direct about it, Collins defines ‘wiseguy’ as ‘a member of the Mafia’.
Same complaint about the font – I spent ages trying to work out whether it was bum or burn. I liked this and there were some lovely PDMs, though I had a MER at WHITE being transparent. Favourites were THE CONTINENT, DUMBARTON, PARDON and EXTRACTOR. DICE also raised a smile. LOI RIDES, very much post-parsed!
Had fun with this, but still had a few blanks, some of which I still don’t really understand. The old guy went straight in, which helped me get started, but it was the shorter answers which defeated me : DICE, ALAS ( which I’ve seen before so should have twigged), RIDES ( didn’t see the “lifts” parity), THETA. ( forgot the Tet offensive). Haven’t seen DERELICT for bum since Woke came on the scene, but was easily got, and I liked the ardent dentist definition, also THE CONTINENT! Another good Sunday puzzle.
Found this one pretty tough actually, taking multiple sessions over a couple of days to get it sorted. I found that I had two of my parsings wrong – had mixed STA(rting) with RIOTING at 11a instead of I O STARTING and didn’t twig to the uninspiring meaning to stop breathing. I also had trouble reconciling ‘band’ with LINE at 1d.
Finished up the top with DERELICT and RIDES on the left before the light bulb went on for DICE on the right.
Question to Jackaroo and Brucew@aus particularly, but also to anyone who does these crosswords in The Australian and then links to this blog.
I have not been able to find the correct Times equivalent for the previous Sunday Times puzzle in the Australian – no. 1500, so am not able to locate it in the blog. Any assistance you can offer will be much appreciated.
I sometimes have trouble getting to the blog which I always check. I use either a complete clue or pick a couple of less common answers.Sometimes I get the answer cannot find any reference to my query.Always get there in the end though with perseverance.Good luck. Jerry
There’s a search box on the blog. Just search on an unusual word in the puzzle.
thanks for the assistance. I eventually got there by a lengthy search. It was 4596, from 2014! The Australian throws in such anomalies from time to time, for goodness knows what reason.