18:14 on the Club timer, held up at the end by 11ac (followed by a short break spent kicking myself) and 24dn (which I think was more understandable). With the exception of one I can’t wholly unpick, I thought the clueing here was very precise, which, apart from anything else, made the unfamiliar spelling variant at 7dn perfectly fair. As far as I can tell, this is the first time Twitter has appeared in the
puzzle (at least as something other than the noise birds make). Enjoyable puzzle all round.
Across |
1 |
PLAICE – PLAY, ICE. |
4 |
CAROLLER – CHORUS, A ROLLER. |
10 |
APPEALING – APP(=software), EALING, the West London facility most famous for the classic comedies of the 40s and 50s. |
11 |
GRASS – reverse hidden in endleSS ARGument. I think it’s generally accepted that the later a hidden word reveals itself, the better the clue, by which test this was a very good one; even when I got to the stage of thinking “it simply has to be GRASS=”shop” as in “rat on”, I still couldn’t see how to get there. D’oh. |
12 |
MONKEY BUSINESS – [ON KEY BUS] in MINE, SERIOUS. |
14 |
COWES =”COWS”, such as Jerseys. Even with the capital concealed as the start of a sentence, this one leapt out. (On edit, it occurs to me this might not be the case for overseas solvers, unless they are yachting enthusiasts: though I think for a place of its size, Cowes definitely punches above its weight in terms of recognition…
|
16 |
BARBAROUS – BAR, BAR (two pubs), OFFPUTTING, US. |
18 |
SHIFTLESS – SHIFT LESS=”make slower progress”. |
20 |
SCENE =”SEEN”. |
21 |
BEHIND THE TIMES – (HE)rev. in BIND THE TIMES. |
25 |
EXACT – EXAM, COURT. |
26 |
TEMPORISE – RISE after (OP. MET)rev. |
27 |
ANTEROOM – (AREAONMETRO)*. |
28 |
UNREST – (NURSE)* + TIME. |
|
Down |
1 |
PHARMACIST – As I admitted in the first edition of this blog, I couldn’t initially parse this, so I am grateful to dorsetjimbo for his explanation below; P=power, HARM=destroy and IS is “apprehended” i.e. caught in the ACT. The solution is obvious, but I’m not sure I can completely parse it: “Drug dealer” is definition, which gives us P=Power, and HARM ACT, with IS “apprehended”, meaning “harm act” has to come from “destroy”. Is there maybe a word missing from the clue or am I missing something obvious?
|
2 |
ASPEN – A SPENT. |
3 |
CHAPESS – CHA(=tea), PRESS without the RIGHT. There is a certain manner of jocular speech which would involve referring to “chaps and chapesses”, hence “woman jokily”; very nice use of an uncommon crossword word. |
5 |
AEGIS – G.I. in wAdErS. |
6 |
ORGANZA – ORGAN(=newspaper), ZANY. |
7 |
LOADSTONE – ADS(=notices) in LOT(=among crowd), ONE(=individual). I’d only ever come across LODESTONE, which I’m pretty sure is far more widespread, but as I say, the wordplay was very clear. |
8 |
RASH – CRASH. |
9 |
ZIMBABWE – M.B.A. in (BIZ)rev. + WE; the MBA being “appropriate” because it’s a business degree. |
13 |
ASSESSMENT – ASSES(=dunces), MARKS in SENT(=very elated). |
15 |
WHITEBAIT – (WITH)*, EGG, (ABIT)*. The definition is just “fish”, but the clue makes sense, as whitebait is often served as a starter, and I’d certainly regard it as a bit odd to have an egg added to the dish. |
17 |
REST HOME – ESTH. in ROME. The Old Testament Book of Esther is one which is less commonly used as an abbrev. in crossword language. |
19 |
TWITTER – TWISTER with the central S replaced by another T. |
20 |
SET DOWN – SET(=group) DOWN(=sad). |
22 |
DITTO – in DO(party), I, TT(=teetotal, thus possible lemonade drinker). |
23 |
MAINE – 1, NEW in MAE West. |
24 |
MEGA – GAME(=match) but with the ME and GA swapped over. “Wicked” = “MEGA” in some version of cool young persons’ talk (not the current one, of course: parents of teenagers tell me that impressive or desirable things these days are “sick”). The checkers for _E_A seemed 100%, so there surely weren’t very many words which would fit, I thought, but it took me a long time to work out how to get to the right one. I tried to work out how “L” could be swapped for “R” somewhere in a word for “match”, toyed with the possibility that wicked might mean “having a wick” and I was looking for some sort of candle, took away the number I first thought of…eventually the penny dropped. |
14ac. What’s brown and comes steaming out of … ?
20ac. David Byrne’s chapter in How Music Works (“How to Make a Scene”) comes to mind and is worth a read.
3dn. After amalgamation with the Girls’ High, our dear old art teacher, Fatty Williams, had to change his sign off to “That’s all chaps … and chapesses”. (Testimony to the word in actual use.)
Admissions: read the “egg” in 15dn as WHITE and the def as “fish cooked”. And wanted 19dn to be a variation on GRIFTER. Sad eh?
Edited at 2013-11-19 09:07 am (UTC)
Managed most of this in 30mins or so, but needed a lot longer to get my last three (MEGA, RASH and GRASS). Glad to see I’m in good company. How often is it the sodding hidden word that catches me (and clearly others) out?
Another good entertaining puzzle with 11A an outstanding example of a hidden word. I didn’t parse it until I’d finished the puzzle. 20 minutes of good fun.
on edit, now I can, thanks Jimbo..
I also meant to say I don’t like loadstone much, even though the OED insists lode/load are interchangeable. Just doesn’t look right..
Edited at 2013-11-19 09:25 am (UTC)
I’m likewise at a loss to explain 1d in full. No doubt someone will have posted the answer before I finish my entry.
Two early Z’s threatened a pangram, but it was not to be.
I am left to wonder how many correspondents immediately thought of Uncle Bulgaria during the solve?
WHITEBAIT gets my CoD because it took some time and crossers to unravel, but was one of those smooth clues that remains consistent to its theme.
Edited at 2013-11-19 09:57 am (UTC)
Edited at 2013-11-19 09:36 am (UTC)
My thought process in solving MEGA was absolutely identical to yours, Tim. My kids say “epic” at the moment.
I didn’t understand 1dn and I’m not sure that “caught in the act” and “apprehended” mean the same thing. The answer was obvious enough though.
Like others I wanted to put in LODESTONE and the actual answer looked wrong.
Thanks for clarifying 15d, where I thought the WHITE came from ‘egg’, but couldn’t see how to parse.
COWES was my FOI, I then saw WHITEBAIT immediately, and after that the answers came at a steady pace. The NW corner was the last to be completed and in the order I entered them PHARMACIST, CHAPESS and PLAICE were my last three in. I don’t have a problem with “apprehended” as a definition of “caught in the act”. I have come across both spellings of lodestone/loadstone before so I wasn’t tempted by the more common one.
Nairobiwallah
Very nice puzzle, thanks to setter and blogger alike.
Otherwise, Mrs Lincoln enjoyed the play: there was some witty and elegant clueing, with MONKEY BUSINESS in BARBAROUS ZIMBABWE quite APPEALING.
Like you I took ages to see GRASS; and MEGA – my LOI, by which time I was so exhausted that I initially imagined it merely swapped the M and G of GAME so couldn’t see how the clue worked! And I only twigged PHARMACIST after I’d finished. I wasn’t familiar with LOADSTONE either, so (like others) I wasted time trying to justify LODESTONE.
No complaints though. I’m sure I’d have enjoyed it very much if I hadn’t been so darned tired.
“MEGA” held me up for a long time, and was my LOI. No doubt, over the coming years, things that are really good will become “giga”, “peta” and “tera”. Or perhaps the term “sick” (as noted by our blogger) will evolve to become “critical”, “in resus” and “oopsie”, as we medics say.
GRASS was well-concealed, to the point where I failed to parse it and moved on, forgetting to go back later. Shame on me.
I abandoned my personal game of “use all the answers in conversation with patients” today. “RASH”, “ASSESSMENT” and “PHARMACIST” would have been too easy, whilst neither “ORGANZA” nor “ASPEN” ever stood a chance. On the plus side, though, Tuesdays in A&E are picking up – it seems that Cambridge’s pubs and clubs have launched a “Tuesday is the new Friday” campaign which, along with a bit of frost and drizzle, have kept us amused here. Today’s brainteaser is “What’s got five legs and no lights?”**
*Technically, the word “acceptable” is redundant.
**Three cyclists.
Edited at 2013-11-20 12:03 am (UTC)
Didn’t parse Grass, Monkey Business or Pharmacist – put them in from checkers and definitions.
FOI Rash.