I think most will find this reasonably straightforward although there are some slightly obscure references. 20 minutes to solve.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | CONFETTI – cryptic definition – as usual solved by guessing words from checkers and then groaning; |
6 | BECAME – B(MACE reversed)E; BE from B(lockag)E; “got” is definition; |
9 | NEVE – EVEN reversed; the snow that forms glacial ice; |
10 | SPOILSPORT – SPOILS-PORT; |
11 | STEPS,ASIDE – STEPS, A-SIDE; flight as in stairs; |
13 | LOST – many=lots then switch “t” and “s” to give LOST; |
14 | SUBTITLE – (tube list)*; essential for much modern TV drama; |
16 | INANER – IN-AN-ER; |
18 | SPIDER – RE-DIPS reversed; a rest for the cue used in snooker; |
20 | ALABAMAN – A-LAB-A-MAN(y); Rosa Parks, Jesse Owens, Helen Keller, etc; |
22 | CLOT – area for vegetables=plot then change “p”=parking to “c”=caught to give CLOT; |
24 | A-FLAT,MAJOR – two definitions, the second whimsical; one of Beethoven’s favourites; |
26 | SALAMANDER – SA(y)-LA-M(AND)ER; |
28 | ERAS – ERAS(e); |
29 | DAMN,IT – TIN-MAD all reversed; |
30 | CASTANET – CAST-A-NET; reference Izaak Walton 1593-1683 who wrote a book called The Complete Angler – surely you knew that!; |
Down | |
2 | OVERTRUMP – (c)OVERT-(f)RUMP; assumes the club suit is trumps; |
3 | FLEAPIT – F(LEAP)IT; old pre-war cinemas used be called fleapits; |
4 | TESTA – (cour)T-(seat)*; outer shell of a seed; |
5 | IDO – I-DO; offshoot of Esperanto; |
6 | BALLERINA – (bare all in)*; depends where and what she’s dancing I guess; |
7 | CAPELLA – CAP-ELLA; reference singer Ella Fitzgerald; bright star in Auriga; |
8 | MORES – MORE-S(taff); |
12 | ICE,FALL – ILL surrounds (face)*; Khumbu Ice fall and Glacier presumably; |
15 | TORN,APART – TOR(NAPA-R)T; Napa Valley is a centre of excellence for US wines; |
17 | ELABORATE – E-LAB-ORATE; |
19 | DETRAIN – DET(R)AIN; coach as in railway coach; |
21 | ALAMEDA – A-LAME-DA; a Spanish tree-lined street and another place in California; |
23 | LIANA – NAIL reversed – A; generic name for climbing plants; |
25 | TURNS – sounds like “tea”-URNS; starts is definition; |
27 | DOC – D(O)C; quack is slang for doctor; |
Didn’t help that I put in ‘retrain’ for DETRAIN without really understanding the ‘leave coach behind’ bit, so SPIDER was never going to happen.
Also left a blank at CLOT, not knowing whether it started with a C or a P. Where is the definition for CLOT? Is it just “who might get caught”? Also had a blank at INANER, again not quite understanding the def (rather?). Thought it could be ‘imaged’ (=represented), but of course then I couldn’t fathom the wp.
dnk Walton, so that was a punt. As was ALAMEDA.
Cod: OVERTRUMP. Or maybe SALAMANDER.
PS This shows why I can never volunteer for blogging duty…!
Main hold-up was INANER, which doesn’t really feel like a word, and the crossing ELABORATE, which I made harder by pencilling in EONS at 28a.
All in all, a rotten effort — by me. I imagine the crossword was fine.
As it happens I did know Walton and The Compleat Angler but at least with that one there was a way of solving the clue if you didn’t.
No problem with The Compleat Angler reference though as I used to visit the hotel of the same name in Marlow.
Janie as our next blogger? Yes! We need more ladies in this forum.
Edited at 2014-06-10 07:56 am (UTC)
There are many diversions on the way to solving this: the ones already mentioned and, for me, a trip along the SACKCLOTH variation path at 10. My ALOI was CONFETTI, where i was trying to make it a wordplay sort of clue. At least it made me smile, too (a prime requisite for a CD) and led directly to my LOI, that damned artificial language I can never remember. Now, of course, I do.
NEVE because it sounded more snowy. EVEN as in its adverbial form satisfied me, as in “even greater” or perhaps “even so”. Chambers has it.
I doubt if Izaac ever cast a net – he was all about using a hook and line, wasn’t he? maybe he used one to keep his catches.
Edited at 2014-06-10 08:53 am (UTC)
Edited at 2014-06-10 04:13 pm (UTC)
Isn’t 10ac a thing of beauty?
Not keen on 16ac. “More silly..” makes as much surface sense, and is accurater..
Janie, your insightful comments are proof enough that you would be up to this blogging lark. And I don’t think anyone around here really minds having to jump in and correct the blogger! It happens to all sooner or later.
That’s terrible. Well done.
I should stop worrying about it: there’s nothing I can do about it. Our wills and fates do so contrary run that our devices still are overthrown and all that.
When it comes to this stuff – The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Frozen, The Lego Movie – I’m a veritable polymath.
Didn’t know NEVE, TESTA, CAPELLA, IDO or ALAMEDA, but was able to trust the wordplay, which makes a good puzzle for mine.
Izaak Walton and The Compleat Angler were no problem – there is a Walton window in Winchester Cathedral with the legend “Study to be quiet” which I always liked. But like z8b8d8k it did occur to me that casting a net is not exactly angling.
Edited at 2014-06-10 11:43 am (UTC)
Thanks all.
Not.
What is it, I wonder, that attracts them so?
I also failed on PLOT and I now see why I didn’t understand how plot could be right. Not a great clue really. I’d use a stronger word for a vegetable-plot-parker.
18:12 otherwise if anyone’s counting.
At first I threw in “castaway”, as in “carry on casting” but it didn’t take long to correct – although I agree with Z about the hook and line. I was another one with “ice wall” (something to do with North Wall perhaps) but one of the advantages of solving on paper is that often when you go to key in the letters online the parsing sort of presents itself.
What a very nice conversation here! We’ve got a troll on the Club Forum at the moment. He first popped up in April and now seems to wish to get up the nose of the great PeterB. I don’t really see that working. Would this be what is meant by a “concern troll”? Oh, forgot – 25.39.
Edited at 2014-06-10 12:00 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2014-06-10 01:43 pm (UTC)
One missing (Castanet – would never have got that) and mistakes with Darn It (Damn It) and Imaged (Inaner).
Enjoyed Ballerina and Detrain.
I made another of my desperately slow starts, but eventually hit the setter’s wavelength helped by a number of what seemed like old chestnuts.
//I made another of my desperately slow starts…//
If I could make as desperately slow a start as Tony, I’d finish in half my usual time.
As it is, I was beaten by INANER. I saw it, and thought (a) INANER surely means “more inane” not “rather inane”. (b) the Queen is surely not represented “in an ER” – maybe “by ER”; I may take this point up with her. (c) INANER is one uggerly word. So, like others, I took a stab with “IMAGED”. I feel cheated by a clue which doesn’t “click” even when you have the answer in mind.
NEVE was new to me. I plumped for it, rather then “REVE”, on the grounds that it’s closer to “neige”. Now that I look more closely, I also find the adjective “niveous” tucked away in a cardboard box at the back of my memory.
About average 25 minutes, but guessed wrongly on alameda, not speaking Spanish. Vane doesn’t mean weak, but avaneda sounded like an avenue. Liked 1 ac, 6 dn and 12 dn.
Rob
On the other hand, I thought that there were some superb clues.
George Clements