Those who bothered to read last week’s diatribe about blocked roads and the bird flu outbreak will be pleased to hear there have been no more mass duck-roastings (as far as I can smell) but the roads are still barricaded. However this week it hasn’t been an issue because I’ve been laid low with The Mother Of All Colds. Only today have my eyes stopped streaming enough to peer at the screen and ponder a clue or two.
No wonder, then, that this took me about twice the alloted 20 minutes, and even then I had a couple of ‘bung in and hope’ moments. Given that 20 of 24 had it all correct, and only 7 had all three Finals puzzles right, the next two Wednesdays could be tricky.
Across |
1 |
BRATPACK – A tricky start. After a time spent naming violin parts, I realised it was BACK = second, with (PART)* inserted; D precocious players, those in-your-face young actors in the 80’s. |
5 |
CARPUS – CAR = vehicle, PUS(H) = propulsion reduced; D joint, wrist. |
10 |
SPLIT INFINITIVE – SPLIT IN FIVE would be to make a handful of pieces; insert I NIT = one egg; D &lit., the beginning of the clue has one in ‘to maybe make’. |
11 |
IRRATIONAL – I, RR = bishop, (N)ATIONAL = of a country, wanting leadership (N); D could be pi, 3.14159265359…. an irrational number. |
13 |
STOP – ST = stone, OP = work; D finish. |
15 |
GIBBOUS – GIBBO(N) is your tailless primate, add US for humans; D with asymmetry. Gibbous usually refers to the moon shape when it’s more than half full but not a full disk, but the word has a wider meaning of protruding or hunchbacked. ‘With asymmetry’ seems a somewhat vague definition. |
17 |
KREMLIN – K = king, MERLIN was Arthur’s adviser, swivel his first half, to get REMLIN; D seat of power. |
18 |
SUSPEND – Drink = SUP, insert (‘neck’) S; add END = stop as in 13a, D 13a for a time. |
19 |
DEBRIEF – DEBRI(S) = most of wreckage, add EF being iron, Fe, reversed; D after operation, pump. |
21 |
RAID – D offensive, as a noun; sounds like RAYED as in ‘bit of sun’. |
22 |
CLAW HAMMER – C = constant, LAMER = less impressive, insert WHAM = sound of impact; D versatile tool. |
25 |
PAR FOR THE COURSE – A bit convoluted but I think it’s PA = aide, RECOURSE = emergency action, insert FORTH for going forward; D what’s expected. Or in my case, 8 over par. |
27 |
EMERGE – Hidden word in SCH(EMER GE)TS, D become known. |
28 |
BLISTERY – LISTER was the pioneer of antisepsis, insert him into BY = through, D with effects of chafing or burns. As it was a word I’d never seen, although perfectly reasonable one, I’d put an S on the end not a Y at first until 20d put me right. |
Down |
1 |
BASKING – SKI = runner, a crossword regular; insert into BANG = suddenly; D taking it easy. |
2 |
AWL – This was my LOI and took me too long to twig. AWOL = bunking off, remove the O = nothing to lose. D useful to hide work, a tool for working with leather. |
3 |
PETITIONER – PETER being the first bishop of Rome, insert I and (INTO)*; D supplicant. |
4 |
CONGO – CON = argument against, GO = game; D equatorial country. |
6 |
AVID – A VID(EO) = a recording, years ago; D showing passion. |
7 |
POINTILLISM – PO = post office, IN = concerned with, TM – trademark, insert ILL IS = trouble consists of; D dotty representation. Don’t blame me, I don’t write these clues. |
8 |
STEEPEN – STEEL PEN = instrument with metal nib; remove the L; D increase slope of. |
9 |
HIJACKED – HID = cloaked, insert JACKE(T) = short coat; D taken on a journey. |
12 |
ROBESPIERRE – ROB = rip off, ERE = once, insert SPIER = Observer; D powerful Frenchman. |
14 |
MEMBRANOUS – (OBAN SUMMER)*, D as a film. |
16 |
SODALITY – (LOT I’D SAY)*, D brotherhood. |
18 |
SCRUPLE – S = small, CRU(M)PLE, D hesitation. |
20 |
FORGERY – FORGET TRY = disregard attempt, remove the TT; D fake. |
23 |
WHEEL – WHEE ! = I’m thrilled, L = large; D revolver. |
24 |
PONG – P = quietly, replaces S in SONG musical number; D hum, smell. Thanks gothick matt for clearing that up. |
26 |
RYE – RYE is a nice little port in East Sussex and a sort of whisky beloved of country and western types, a DD. |
Thanks to setter and blogger. I definitely needed a couple of the explanations for my biffs today; I was certainly pleased to get PAR FOR THE COURSE from only a single letter and without understanding how the clue worked!
Thanks, Pip, and respect to all those who managed to finish, however quickly! Janie
Edited at 2016-12-14 10:10 am (UTC)
Some wonderful clues here.
Thank you, Pip, and good luck on the next two which I’m sure you’re right in thinking will be tougher yet. Love the blog title.
This was a horrible puzzle that I came very near to abandoning as too difficult but eventually completed it with a couple of resorts to aids. DK GIBBOUS or SODALITY, needed help with MEMBRANOUS and biffed PAR FOR THE COURSE with no idea how any of it worked.
Is a reference to C&W music really the explanation of “country gentleman” at 26ac? If so, it’s pretty feeble in my view. I couldn’t think what it was doing there but had expected something a bit stronger than that. I’m sure many people who drink RYE are neither devotees of country music nor are they gentlemen.
Edited at 2016-12-14 10:26 am (UTC)
Thanks setter and Pip.
BTW Pip, in 28ac I had BY=through, BLISTERY=with effects of chafing or burns. And in 12dn I had ERE=before, ROBESPIERRE=once-powerful Frenchman.
This puzzle is a perfect example why I would never enter the Championship. I doff my cap to those that can complete three of these within an hour. Truly an amazing feat imho.
My jury is still out on whether GIBBOUS is a brilliant word or a really stupid one.
Edited at 2016-12-14 11:07 am (UTC)
Some superb clues here and if the next two are even harder we’re in for a treat.
I learned about him when studying the so called “semmelweis-reflex” which uses his awful treatment to demonstrate how people often react to new ideas. You can still see evidence of it from time to time!
I enjoyed this one immensly and came in at 49 minutes – although it actually felt quicker!
LOI 2dn AWL – my COD
WOD BRATPACK DNK SODALITY
Early on I was fixed on 22dn CLUB HAMMER but CLAWED it back.
A couple did not parse understanding – 24dn PONG and partially 26dn RYE
P.S. Meant to say – great blog Pip!
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/brat-pack
GIBBOUS and SODALITY were unknown and I biffed BRATPACK, SPLIT I and PAR FOR THE C. My sheet has “workings out” all over it.
26 just had to be RYE but I’d be interested to hear the full explanation from RR or the setter.
Edited at 2016-12-14 01:53 pm (UTC)
Alan
Vexingly, I did think of BRATPACK, and then dismissed it because I failed to unwrap the multiple, duct-taped layers of parsing. I considered “resting” for 1D, but it didn’t parse either; for “runner” I could only think of either “h” or “r” (abbreviations from horse-racing, I believe) – “ski” didn’t even cross my mind.
I also mangled the parsing of a few others, such as SCRUPLE, for which I took “mass” to be the definition (a scruple being a small weight).
No problems with pi being IRRATIONAL, though a more interesting and uncommon property of pi is that it is transcendental.
Transcendental numbers are even more strange, because they can’t be expressed as an equation at all (without some serious skullduggery). The fact that many of the numbers built into our universe (like pi and e) are transcendental probably means something, but nobody knows what.
I biffed quite a lot today, including EMBARKED at 9d, which makes even less sense than you might think because my ‘short coat’ was a PARK
a. Actually I suppose that’s not really a biff, is it? What do you call it when you put in something that doesn’t fit the definition from an erroneous reading of the wordplay?I didn’t know SODALITY but it seemed much the best arrangement of the available letters. I suppose ‘country’ in 26dn is being used here to indicate ‘in the country’ and hence ‘a gypsy word for’, which seems a little loose now but as I didn’t have a clue what was going on one way or the other it didn’t bother me while solving.
Anyone for that well-known Italian film UMBRAMESNO,
presumably by the famous auteur Antonio Dyslexio?
Staggered over the finish-line eventually with a huge sigh of relief.
Time: far too long.
Thank you to blogger and setter.
Dyslexio was very diferent – he was something in the war in Rome – rather good dancer – addicted to Strega- I was haunted by Antonio’s intercity. We dridfted apart.
Edited at 2016-12-14 06:26 pm (UTC)
Back in the 1960s when I started out, and certainly carrying on into the early days of the Championship, you needed a fair knowledge of the works of George Borrow, so solvers from those days would have bunged in RYE without a moment’s hesitation.
I’m OK on whisky though 😉
Hang on…
Edited at 2016-12-15 08:34 am (UTC)
Your comments made me laugh as well. 👍😂😂
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