Hello everybody, and happy Saturday. This was a dnf in the end, but I was amazed that it was only by one. My last in, PARTHIAN SHOT (33d), was my final stab at something akin to parting shot, when on the verge of giving up I finally dug up something that fit the wordplay. Prior to that I had battled with RABELAIS (22a) and a couple of others in that corner. I also felt lucky to have thought of SAUROPOD (43d) – not something I’m positive I knew, but it parsed and I didn’t doubt it once I had it. MOSTLY HARMLESS (46a) came far too late – I was not expecting it to have anything to do with Hitchhiker’s Guide except in the surface!
There is one I don’t didn’t understand (9d, RACKETEERING) so am hoping you can enlighten me. EDIT: thanks to Branch below for the explanation.
My fail? Well, an earlier punt (when I was expecting to fall short on quite a few) turned out to be wrong – I’d shrugged in MAILESHAIR for MAIDENHAIR at 2d. Mailers for deliveries? I was clearly getting desperate!
Anyway, after all that, I was quite pleased really with my 76 minutes on the timer and single error. Thanks, setter, for the brain teasing.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Dancing is out after swelling puffed up (9) |
| BUMPTIOUS — An anagram of (dancing) IS OUT after BUMP (swelling) | |
| 6a | Be indebted to group behind European politician giving authority (10) |
| EMPOWERING — OWE (be indebted to) and RING (group) after (behind) E (European) and MP (politician) | |
| 12a | Trace 22nd letter about someone living in a dump (7) |
| VESTIGE — VEE (22nd letter, of the alphabet) around (about) STIG (someone living in a dump) | |
| 13a | I follow vocal instruction to extract sap from coniferous wood? (9) |
| SUCCEEDER — Sounds like (vocal) SUCK CEDAR (instruction to extract sap from coniferous wood?) | |
| 14a | Tea at high volume that’s worth little (5) |
| CHAFF — CHA (tea) + FF (at high volume) | |
| 16a | Critical democrat not available to keep two conservatives apart (12) |
| CONDEMNATORY — DEM (democrat) plus N/A (not available) in between (to keep … apart) CON and TORY (two conservatives) | |
| 17a | Hot emotional intensity in total (3,3,4) |
| ALL THE RAGE — ALL THE RAGE could mean the totality of rage or emotional intensity | |
| 19a | Former president’s wretched ball and chain on arm (7,7) |
| ABRAHAM LINCOLN — An anagram of (wretched) BALL and CHAIN ON ARM | |
| 22a | Butler maybe getting page out of Spanish paper for French writer (8) |
| RABELAIS — RAB (Butler maybe) + removing P from (getting page out of) EL [p]AÍS (Spanish paper) | |
| 24a | Not yet having left home, shortly drop in (6) |
| INSTIL — IN STILl (not yet having left home) without the last letter (shortly) | |
| 25a | Small arm aristocrat carries when leading riot (10) |
| PEASHOOTER — PEER (aristocrat) holds (carries) AS (when) preceding (leading) HOOT (riot) | |
| 26a | One of the Reds welcomes good sport (5) |
| RUGBY — RUBY (one of the reds) takes in (welcomes) G (good) | |
| 29a | We back away from Notts town informer (4) |
| NARK — The reversal of (… back) WE is taken away from N[ew]ARK (Notts town) | |
| 30a | Tossed fragments of tin etc after refining (8) |
| CONFETTI — OF TIN ETC after anagramming (after refining) | |
| 32a | Complex variable pair opposed to some number dividing half of cube (9) |
| BYZANTINE — YZ (variable pair), ANTI (opposed to) and N (some number) inside (dividing) half of cuBE | |
| 34a | The speaker’s to perform in a tick, short of dramatic high point (9) |
| CLIMACTIC — I’M (the speaker’s) and ACT (to perform) in CLICk (a tick) without the last letter (short) | |
| 35a | There’s whiskey in odd roll transported from Eurasia (3-5) |
| OLD-WORLD — We have W (whiskey) in ODD ROLL anagrammed (transported) | |
| 36a | What may improve view of people like Deighton? (4) |
| LENS — Two indications, the second whimsical and referencing the author Len Deighton | |
| 39a | Champagne maker limiting temperature and composition (5) |
| MOTET — MOËT (champagne maker) around (limiting) T (temperature) | |
| 40a | Watch part established to hold male South Africans? (10) |
| ESCAPEMENT — EST (established) to hold CAPEMEN (male South Africans?) | |
| 42a | Wool provided by farmer in Otago (6) |
| MERINO — Hidden in (provided by) farMER IN Otago | |
| 44a | Absolute terror allowed (8) |
| IMPLICIT — IMP (terror) + LICIT (allowed) | |
| 46a | Dent with Ford Prefect for the fifth time, not causing much damage? (6,8) |
| MOSTLY HARMLESS — Two meanings: MOSTLY HARMLESS is the title of the fifth Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book, featuring Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect | |
| 48a | Defensive position’s vice-like grip (10) |
| STRONGHOLD — STRONG HOLD (vice-like grip) | |
| 49a | One evades partygoer flipping in photo by a Glastonbury sight (12) |
| PREVARICATOR — RAVER (partygoer) reversed (flipping) in PIC (photo) by A + TOR (Glastonbury sight) | |
| 53a | BBC pioneer backing row with husband (5) |
| REITH — Reversal of (backing) TIER (row) with H (husband) | |
| 54a | Not the last painting where a polar bear is black (9) |
| UNDERCOAT — Polar bears are black UNDER their COAT. | |
| If you know your polar bear facts you’ll also know that their fur is actually translucent, but appears white because of the way it scatters light | |
| 55a | One eats a lot of fish, large one in some pie filling (7) |
| PELICAN — L (large) and I (one) in PECAN (some pie filling) | |
| 56a | Aesthetic judgment about rude photo that’s applied with brushing (10) |
| TOOTHPASTE — TASTE (aesthetic judgment) around (about) an anagram of (rude) PHOTO | |
| 57a | ER I’d spoiled with TV set showing Top Gear feature? (4,5) |
| TEST DRIVE — An anagram (spoiled) of ER I’D with TV SET | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Two lads, the first one stunted — hardly any matter! (5) |
| BOSON — The two lads are BOy and SON; the first is without its last letter (stunted) | |
| 2d | Plant deliveries not allowing a run on hospital ventilation (10) |
| MAIDENHAIR — MAIDEN (deliveries not allowing a run) on H (hospital) + AIR (ventilation). | |
| I didn’t think of cricket and was trying to remove AR or one R from something preceding HAIR | |
| 3d | Time proverbially not on our side? (3,5) |
| THE ENEMY — Two meanings, or perhaps just one cryptic definition | |
| 4d | Start in place for shooting (5) |
| ONSET — ON SET (in place for shooting) | |
| 5d | Crass cake smashing competitions you’ll have in the bag? (4,5) |
| SACK RACES — An anagram of (… smashing) CRASS CAKE | |
| 6d | Board member formerly with European Commission (4) |
| EXEC — EX (formerly) with EC (European Commission) | |
| 7d | Delayed crossing delta from the south, missing hotel pool (6) |
| PUDDLE — Reversal of (… from the south, in a down entry) [h]ELD UP (delayed) around (crossing) D (delta) and missing H (hotel) | |
| 8d | Exhausted Republican breaks habit with barbarian spree (4,2,1,7) |
| WORN TO A FRAZZLE — R (Republican) goes inside (breaks) WONT (habit) + OAF (barbarian) + RAZZLE (spree) | |
| 9d | Illicit profiting from wheel-turning mechanism, and pinions replaced by rear of axle (12) |
| RACKETEERING — |
|
| 10d | A river repeatedly goes over here (7) |
| NIAGARA — A, R (river) and AGAIN (repeatedly) is reversed (goes over) | |
| 11d | Clearing assessment when learner leaves for start in college (10) |
| EVACUATION — EVA[l]UATION (assessment) when L (learner) is replaced by (leaves for) the first letter of (start in) College | |
| 15d | Complimentary hairdresser’s offering to improvise (9) |
| FREESTYLE — A hairdresser’s complimentary offering might be a FREE STYLE | |
| 18d | Red-stained flower almost perished (8) |
| BLOODIED — BLOOm (flower) without the last letter (almost) + DIED (perished) | |
| 20d | Terrier vs Terries in a tangle (9) |
| RESERVIST — VS TERRIES anagrammed (in a tangle) | |
| 21d | Smearing Fife, a cynic not working (10) |
| INEFFICACY — An anagram of (smearing) FIFE, A CYNIC | |
| 23d | Hugging old sailors, with bristles, in a stiff way (10) |
| STUBBORNLY — Around (hugging) O (old) and RN (sailors), STUBBLY (with bristles) | |
| 27d | Auditor’s man had to cover inside advice (9) |
| GUIDELINE — GUIDE sounds like (auditor’s) GUY’D (man had) + LINE (to cover inside) | |
| 28d | Facing punishment to achieve bar clearance? (3,3,4,4) |
| FOR THE HIGH JUMP — Definition plus literal interpretation | |
| 31d | Emma in films, however acting to entertain politicians (8) |
| THOMPSON — THO (however) plus ON (acting) containing (to entertain) MPS (politicians) | |
| 33d | Extract iodine collected by Geiger, possibly radioactive, leaving dig (8,4) |
| PARTHIAN SHOT — PART (extract) + I (iodine) inside (collected by) HANS (Geiger, possibly) + HOT (radioactive) | |
| 34d | Soviet official’s order to overlook breaking wheels (9) |
| COMMISSAR — OM (order) and MISS (to overlook) inside (breaking) CAR (wheels) | |
| 37d | Very little money for lace (10) |
| SHOESTRING — A double definition. When solving I thought the second whimsical, but shoestring is a US term for a shoelace | |
| 38d | Liver rodents left with first pair to finish pasta (10) |
| VERMICELLI — LIVER, MICE (rodents) and L (left) with the first pair of letters moved to the end (first pair to finish) | |
| 41d | Fluid defence keeps closed round ball — nothing to row about (9) |
| MOTORBOAT — A Russian doll clue: MOAT (fluid defence) contains (keeps) TO (closed) round ORB (ball) | |
| 43d | Cross-border crime force drops its case for unfortunate dead plant-eater (8) |
| SAUROPOD — eUROPOl (cross-border crime force) has its outer letters replaced by (drops its case for) SAD (unfortunate) | |
| 45d | Left unfinished, religious image in place of pillars (7) |
| PORTICO — PORT (left) + without its last letter (unfinished), ICOn (religious image) | |
| 47d | A Knight wooing Lady shuns embraces (6) |
| GLADYS — WooinG LADY Shuns holds (embraces) the answer: Gladys Knight | |
| 50d | Vain thugs regularly struck Christian martyr (5) |
| VITUS — VaIn ThUgS with alternate letters deleted (regularly struck) | |
| 51d | Divine Greek article cracked by Young Conservatives (5) |
| TYCHE — THE (article) with insertion of (cracked by) YC (Young Conservatives) | |
| 52d | Drive Golf into river (4) |
| URGE — G (golf) goes into URE (river) | |
9D: some cars have “RACK AND PINION STEERING”. Replace “AND PINIONS” by “E”!!
Aha! Thanks Branch!
I had never heard of STIG, so I rushed to the blog to find out. Thanks Kitty!
Too hard for me. I got through most of it but eventually abandoned it with two or three clues unsolved and at least half-a-dozen unparsed. I’m glad I didn’t get this one to blog, so well done to you, Kitty, for persevering.
I found this difficult, but I loved it. Some of the references (Stig of the Dump, Len Deighton, THGTTG) are right up my street and there is a really nice variety.
I only finished because I got lucky though. PARTHIAN SHOT came up here about 18 months ago (although it wasn’t in the puzzle) in an interesting discussion about its origin and the alternative ‘parting shot’. I had never heard of it then but remembered it today (these days I solve the jumbos when the blogs come out). And I had also never heard of SAUROPOD until appeared somewhere else very recently (a concise?), without which I don’t think I’d ever have got it from the wordplay.
Thank you Kitty for explaining this one. There were some really neat clues (like suck-cedar and especially the polar bear) but a couple we really struggled to understand.
So now I see Racketeering and, like the best if clues, it seems obvious in retrospect.
And a laugh out loud moment for Gladys. How did we miss that? I’d worked out that Eudes is the French name for Odo the knight, embedding L for lady to get Eludes! A case of trying too hard.