Raining properly this morning in SW France, it’s not a Bank Holiday but it’s Roland Garros of course, so I passed on the dog walking to make a prompt start on my virgin grown-up crossword blog. A minute or two of panic as the NE corner didn’t give up its secrets quickly while the coffee was still hot, but 5 dn went in and thereafter a steady solve clockwise ending with the easy-when-you-see-it 1ac in 17 minutes. No words here required research and I think I ‘get’ all the parsing, but please put me right if I’m off piste.
Across |
1 |
TETRAD – THE less H (hot) = TE, TRAD=jazz, def. ‘quartet’, a group of four anythings. For a while I was fixated on ‘cool’ featuring somehow in the answer. |
5 |
UPSTAGED – Leading=UP, coach=STAGE, departs=D, def. ‘outmanoeuvred by player (actor?)’. |
9 |
SAND-HOPPER – (DON PERHAPS)*, Talitrus saltator, a small but annoying little beastie found on European beaches. |
10 |
AIDA – ‘Ultimately’ operA verdI composeD pashA, def. the opera he wrote. |
11 |
BLOCKADE – some hair=LOCK, included in instructed=BADE, def. ‘cut off’. |
12 |
WINTRY – Succeed=WIN, score=TRY, def. ‘characteristic of one season’. |
13 |
DELI – Directed to left = LED reversed = DEL, one=I, def. the usual ‘food store’ we find in crosswords. |
15 |
OVERLOOK – Double def. Easiest clue in the grid? |
18 |
CUT GLASS – Naval weapon = CUTLASS, insert G (girl initially) def. ‘refined’, as in a cut glass accent. |
19 |
SINK – Succeed=S, something needed in putting = INK (we’re thinking about putting down on paper, not golf), def. ‘in kitchen.’ At least, that’s one way of parsing it. As commented below, it is better parsed (as Jimbo says, simpler is better) as a double def. SINK = success in putting and SINK = something needed in kitchen. I’ll buy either. |
21 |
BARBEL – BABEL (where confusion reigned) about R=river, def. a genus of carp-like fish found in our rivers. Apparently the roe is poisonous, with unpleasant gastric effects, so refuse it if offered. |
23 |
STREAKER – Amusing cryptic def., following on from ECDYSIAST last week. Same setter? |
25 |
LIEN – A lien is a legal term for a right to something; ALIEN=foreigner, with the A ‘rejected’. |
26 |
TAILOR-MADE – (MATERIAL DO)*, def. ‘for specific purpose’. |
27 |
UNDERDOG – Make rare = UNDERDO, as in a steak; add G = gaffe initially, def. ‘outsider’ as in a tennis match, not the favourite. |
28 |
DISOWN – What comes next = DOWN (this being the last Across clue), with IS included, def. ‘cast aside’. |
Down |
2 |
EMAIL – Def. ‘message’, I think it’s a homonym of FEMALE with her ‘top’ F removed. |
3 |
REDACTING – Syndicate=RING, insert ED (as editor) and ACT (operate), def. ‘preparing for publication’. Well, preparing for publication so the good bits are obliterated, more often, or do I watch too much HOMELAND. |
4 |
DVORAK – (VODKA R)*, def. ‘composer’. R from the end of BAR. Underrated chap, in my view, I went through a serious ‘Dvorak period’ in my undergrad days. |
5 |
UNPREPOSSESSING – (PUN)* followed by RE (about) POSSES (legal support groups) SING (confess), def. off-putting. My putting was off on Saturday. |
6 |
SHREWDER – Scold=SHREW (as in The Taming of), duke=D, R = king, I can’t see where the E comes from unless DE is an abbrev. for duke? Def. ‘more crafty’. |
7 |
AGAIN – Double def. Again as in ‘there again’, and A GAIN being a change for the better. |
8 |
EIDERDOWN – RED IE turned up = EIDER, DOWN=blue, def. ‘bedcover.’ When you see bedcover in a puzzle, think eiderdown. |
14 |
EDUCATION – (AUCTIONED)*, def. ‘what may be completed by degrees’. A touch of cynicism here, degrees for sale? |
16 |
LAS PALMAS – LASS is around PALMA, the capital of Majorca, answer the resort and joint capital, full name Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. |
17 |
BALLOTED – First of bills=B, assigned=ALLOTED, def. ‘subjected to vote’. |
20 |
ARNOLD – (LANDOR)*, Matthew Arnold, poet, school inspector and son of the headmaster, Tom. |
22 |
BINGE – Def. ‘spree’, EG and NIB heading north i.e. reversed. |
24 |
ENDOW – Hidden in CHILDR(EN DO W)ANT, def. ‘present’ as in give to. |
Nice blog too, just a reminder that we bloggers are not supposed to use answers to clues as part of the title, as some get to see the title before having done the crossword..
It doesn’t bother me but when I did it I got told off so I’m passing it on 🙂
Quick one for me today, with all complete in 25mins. Reading the blog, I didn’t parse AIDA, nor did I really understand AGAIN, my LOI. Now I realise I was thinking of the wrong sort of better… Didn’t know POSSES as ‘legal support’ groups, but the rest was clear.
Oh, and I parsed SINK as Succeed (S) in (IN) putting something needed in kitchen (K). Ie you need a letter K to make kitchen. The whole clue is an &lit (I think)
Glad to see you coped OK with the blog – well done. Quite a friendly puzzle really. I think 19A is a simple double definition in keeping with the rest of the puzzle. The more complex constructions being suggested don’t chime with the rest of it – or look upon it as a simple application of Occam’s Razor if you prefer.
Interesting election result down your way and here too!
The CUT GLASS/UNPREPOSSESSING crossers were my last ones in.
Thanks for the blog, Pip. In 19ac I think we are thinking about golf, because to SINK is to ‘succeed in putting’.
11ac was LOI, as it took me a while to think of a message to fit E-A– at 2dn.
Why doona? Sounds like something that isn’t quite a googly
I don’t comment much on TftT these days and usually only on the Quickie. Oh, Aussies call a duvet a doona – I’ve no idea why.
I thought TETRAD was a beautiful clue. Great surface and slick wordplay. It was my last in and my COD.
Congrats Pip on a very decent first “grown up” blog. I hope you’ll feel encouraged to go on the piste to celebrate!
Edited at 2014-05-26 05:05 pm (UTC)
I worked this one in bits and pieces between chores; that made the difference between the easy ones and the difficult ones particularly obvious.
Other than that, not much to sat about an enjoyable crossword, so I’ll just add for paul_in_london’s benefit that I appreciate another dog picture.
Completed while watching a superbly cast, but otherwise pedestrian, version of “Ivanhoe” on the box (well it was a Bank Holiday), so no timings possible.
My COD goes to TETRAD.
I’m surprised nobody else has mentioned this.
Edited at 2014-05-27 06:36 pm (UTC)