Ouch. Clocked in at 22:59, and really had to work hard at wrestling this one into submission, especially in the bottom half, with 19ac last in, on wordplay only. A wavelength thing, or a puzzle which challenged everyone? We shall see…
Across |
1 |
BANTAMWEIGHT – BAN(=suspension), [Marks in AWE] in TIGHT(=drunk); the boxing weight division between flyweight and featherweight. |
8 |
ANIMISM – AN(article), Singular in I’M x2. |
9 |
IN SHORT – IN SHORTS. |
11 |
RETREAD – double def., the first one being a reconditioned tyre. |
12 |
GORILLA – GO(=travel) RILL(=water) A. |
13 |
FLEET – Large in FEET. |
14 |
LIVERYMAN – LIVER(=organ) + (MANY)*. |
16 |
HANDS DOWN – double def. |
19 |
SWEEP – WE in SEPTEMBER. |
21 |
DUCHAMP – CHA in DUMP; artist possibly most famous for his “Fountain”. |
23 |
RESPECT – PECtoral in REST. |
24 |
GRENADA – [RE:North in GAD] + A. |
25 |
BRIGADE – RIG in BAD + terriblE. |
26 |
DRY-STONE WALL – (WORLD’SNEATLY)*. |
|
Down |
1 |
BRISTLE – BRISTOL + E. |
2 |
NAIVEST – New, A1, VEST. |
3 |
ARMADILLO – ARM, [ILL in ADO]. |
4 |
WRING – Right in WING. |
5 |
INSURER – versioN in 1, SURER. |
6 |
HOODLUM – HOOD(=cowl), LUM(=chimney); the latter being familiar from the Hogmanay expression “Lang may yer lum reek”. |
7 |
HAIR OF THE DOG – (HERGOODFAITH)*. |
10 |
TRAINSPOTTER i.e. TRAINS POTTER. The rise of Harry Potter has meant the disappearance of snooker players as a crossword chestnut. |
15 |
VENERABLE – (REVEALBEN)*; the Venomous Bede, as I always think of him, thanks to Sellar & Yeatman. |
17 |
NUCLEAR – U.C.L. in NEAR. |
18 |
SEA BASS – [EAch Breakfast in SAS] + Seconds. |
19 |
SESTINA – STINK in SEA; had this been the alternative form “sextain” I would have found it more accessible, from the obvious similarity to “quatrain”. As it was, I needed all the checkers before making an educated guess. |
20 |
EYEBALL – double def.; the orbit is the cavity in the skull in which the eyeball sits. Nice misleading surface, for astronomers, at any rate. |
22 |
PLATO – (O.T., ALP)rev. |
Not too bad at all today, and managed it in good time (for me), so maybe a ‘wavelength thing’…
Couldn’t work out RETREAD, so thanks for the heads up on the reconditioned tyre def, or INSURER, but it had to be that.
Hadn’t come across DUCHAMP or SESTINA (also my last in) before, but worked them out. LUM is one of those words I’ve only ever seen in crossword land.
GRANADA was technically last in, though already lightly traced on definition. The wordplay needed a serious wrestle.
TRAINSPOTTER is one of those rare things, an instant chestnut, and just for the fun of it, my CoD.
BRISTLE was rather clever: even if Bristol as a major port has moved downstream to Avonmouth, it certainly sends nothing out east!
Ah! DUCHAMP; the first conceptual artist, wasn’t he? He exhibited his Fountain in 1917 and the Art World has been taking the p*** ever since.
Edited at 2013-04-09 09:41 am (UTC)
I slept better last night in case anyone was wondering.
I’m not keen on ‘very’ to indicate a superlative (2). ‘Most’ can mean ‘very’ when it’s used in a non-superlative sense (the lawn was most green), but the semantic difference between ‘most green’ and ‘greenest’ is significant.
An enjoyable puzzle and apart from that quibble I liked a number of clues.
Edited at 2013-04-09 02:07 pm (UTC)
However, that doesn’t alter my point about the clue, where the answer with its -est ending is unquestionably a superlative, which is not accurately, or even roughly indicated by ‘very’.
Ulaca (thinking pretty good today)
There were some rather easy starter clues, like ‘venerable’ and ‘Plato’, otherwise it would have been even longer.
Thank you for a nice blog, and for a nice puzzle too.
Chris.
About half an hour I guess – but the dog put me off.
P.S. I’m new here. Probably won’t write a lot…
I never understood GRENADA, my last in. It turns out “gad” doesn’t mean quite what I thought it meant, so I was never going to see it for “wander”.
Like Tim, I know “lum” from the expression “lang may yer lum reek”. Unlike Tim I only know the expression from this forum, where it is quoted every time the word “lum” comes up in the crossword.
Didn’t know SESTINA.
I cannot resist quoting Pam Ayres
I am a dry stone waller
All day I dry stone wall
Of all appalling callings
Dry stone walling’s worst of all.
Edited at 2013-04-09 02:35 pm (UTC)
SKELLOW (adj.)
Descriptive of the satisfaction experienced when looking at a really good dry-stone wall.
Possibly not if you’ve been the one building it all day, though.
Edited at 2013-04-09 02:45 pm (UTC)
I came across a forum / messageboard for dry stone wallers and there was one chap who lowers his fee for walls in places where the view is nice, as he’s more keen to get the commission.
That rather gave the impression that dry stone walling is far from an appalling calling.
Really enjoyed this one, was quite disciplined in not resorting to this blog too quickly! It’s really great for new solvers, so thank you muchly
Things were much different in the USA in the late 80s and early 90s, when I struggled every week with the Times puzzle reprinted in NY Magazine. Even after I had the answers, I often could not understand the how the clues worked. A blog like this would have been invaluable.
I finished up with SESTINA, which I bunged in and then wasted time trying to work out how on earth “fuss” = STING, before light eventually dawned.
I was slow to get DUCHAMP as well – I’m still debating whether to go to this show at the Barbican Art Gallery.
Geoffrey