Happy New Year to you all!
For the first time in my years of doing this, I blogged the wrong puzzle. Not by muddling up my schedule, but by somehow (no idea how) managing to navigate to 1763 instead of 1765 and not noticing until late last night. As such, what follows is a bit hurried and short of explanatory notes, but do feel free to ask questions below.
This was certainly on the tricky side. I don’t have a proper time as my “solvemate” and I did it together, but it was a good puzzle for sharing, with plenty of cunning tricks and misdirection. Thanks setter!
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 | Hurt by tango: dance where you might find colouring offensive (9) |
| PAINTBALL — PAIN (hurt) + T (tango) + BALL (dance) | |
| 6a | Background work for cruciverbalist (7) |
| SETTING — A double definition | |
| 10a | Slug produces such negligible energy (5) |
| SLIME — SLIM (negligible) + E (energy) | |
| 13a | Do without Conservative network, joining thoughtless movement from USA (13) |
| TRANSATLANTIC — TRANSA[c]T (do) without C (Conservative) + LAN (network) + TIC (thoughtless movement) | |
| 14a | Hope, possibly with Geldof, to make plenty of money (1,3,2,3) |
| A BOB OR TWO — Two meanings, the first referring to Bob Hope and Bob Geldof | |
| 15a | Police have to cover volume with Northern Gas (7) |
| METHANE — MET (police) + HA[v]E replacing V with N (to cover volume with northern) | |
| 16a | Tree in Mediterranean maybe containing what Marseille uses (7) |
| SEQUOIA — SEA (Mediterranean maybe) containing QUOI (what Marseille uses) | |
| 17a | Combined action succeeded with millennials installing Republican over Yankee (7) |
| SYNERGY — S (succeeded) + reversal of (… over) GEN Y (millennials) taking in (installing) R (Republican) + Y (Yankee) | |
| 18a | Sins of a lone Catholic ultimately spilled here? (12) |
| CONFESSIONAL — An anagram of (… spilled) SINS OF A LONE with CatholiC ultimately | |
| 20a | Jabber about head of Leeds United following popular YouTuber? (10) |
| INFLUENCER — FENCER (jabber) around (about) the first letter of (head of) Leeds and U (United), all following IN (popular) | |
| 23a | Largely discourage D minor (5) |
| CHILD — All but the last letter of (largely) CHILl (discourage) + D | |
| 24a | Yours truly follows Wings song more than Day Tripper (3-6) |
| JET-SETTER — SETTER (yours truly) follows JET (Wings song) | |
| 25a | Wine produced by Gershwin? (7) |
| MADEIRA — MADE (produced) by IRA (Gershwin?) | |
| 26a | Coerced president at a loss without publicity (11) |
| PRESSURISED — PRES. (president) + SUR[pr]ISED (at a loss) without PR (publicity) | |
| 28a | Exposed core of idea like open gardens (11) |
| DEFENCELESS — The inner letters of (core of) iDEa + FENCELESS (like open gardens) | |
| 30a | Allowed minor in clan, surprisingly (11) |
| NONCRIMINAL — MINOR IN CLAN, anagrammed (surprisingly) | |
| 32a | Banished pirate taxed abroad (11) |
| EXPATRIATED — PIRATE TAXED anagrammed (abroad) | |
| 34a | Daunting novel, apart from introduction for A Farewell to Arms (7) |
| ANTIGUN — An anagram of (… novel) dAUNTING without its first letter (apart from introduction) | |
| 36a | European missile rejected by legitimate exhibition (5,4) |
| TRADE FAIR — E (European) and DART (missile) reversed (rejected) + FAIR (legitimate) | |
| 38a | Mostly smoke and mirrors, primarily involving misdirection? (5) |
| MAGIC — Other than its last letter (mostly) CIGAr (smoke) + Mirrors primarily backwards (involving misdirection) | |
| 39a | After day one, no one moves quickly to return excessive spin (10) |
| DISTORTION — After D (day) I (one), a reversal of (… to return) NO, I (one) and TROTS (moves quickly) | |
| 41a | 501 struggled to retain opening of denim fringe in culottes (7,5) |
| DIVIDED SKIRT — DI (501) + VIED (struggled) holding (to retain) the first letter of (opening of) Denim + SKIRT (fringe) | |
| 45a | Easy choice for those going downhill, less happy with country club (4,3) |
| BLUE RUN — BLUER (less happy) + UN (country club) | |
| 46a | American Medical Association go striking (7) |
| AMAZING — AMA (American Medical Association) + ZING (go) | |
| 47a | Where problem was reported to us on struggling with hospital (7) |
| HOUSTON — An anagram of (… struggling …) TO US ON with H (hospital) | |
| 49a | Footwear for climbing cliff favoured by Italy on reflection (9) |
| SCARPETTI — SCAR (cliff) + PET (favoured) + in reverse (… on reflection) IT (Italy) | |
| 50a | Act friendly, possibly reading into Twilight heroine’s shade (5,8) |
| BEACH UMBRELLA — BE A CHUM (act friendly) + R (possibly reading – in the three Rs) going into BELLA (Twilight heroine) | |
| 52a | Suspicious pitch to roll back years (5) |
| LEERY — REEL (pitch) reversing (to roll back) + Y (years) | |
| 53a | School lesson meant stirring honey, perhaps (3,4) |
| PET NAME — PE (school lesson) + MEANT anagrammed (stirring) | |
| 54a | County pension at first delivered cover in retirement (9) |
| BEDSPREAD — BEDS. (county) + Pension at first + READ (delivered) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | American runner sent back green and brown shirt, perhaps (7) |
| POTOMAC — Reversed (sent back) CAMO (green and brown) TOP (shirt, perhaps) | |
| 2d | Occupying a tense camp, one’s distracted (11) |
| INATTENTIVE — IN (occupying) + A + T (tense) + TENT (camp) + I’VE (one’s) | |
| 3d | Inventor creates landmark houses (5) |
| TESLA — CreaTES LAndmark contains (houses) the answer | |
| 4d | Current hair for Emma Thompson? (7) |
| ACTRESS — AC (current) + TRESS (hair) | |
| 5d | Field bound to be unending (3) |
| LEA — LEAp (bound) missing the last letter (to be unending) | |
| 6d | Help to get an angle of queen visiting emperor in court (3,6) |
| SET SQUARE — QU (queen) inside (visiting) TSAR (emperor), all in SEE (court) | |
| 7d | Asian reported company operating for magnate (6) |
| TYCOON — TY, which sounds like (… reported) THAI (Asian) + CO (company) + ON (operating) | |
| 8d | Sort of person going into silly fears, poking about (2,1,6,2,8) |
| IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING — MAN (person) going into INANE (silly) + an anagram of (… about) FEARS, POKING | |
| 9d | Paint a length of the tongue (7) |
| GLOSSAL — GLOSS (paint) + A + L (length) | |
| 10d | Priest who messed up speaking briefly about Iron Duke’s baby (5-4) |
| SPOON-FEED — SPOONEr (priest who messed up speaking) without the last letter (briefly) around (about) FE (iron) + D (Duke) | |
| 11d | Allowing relations to bury Ophelia’s heart underneath where she died (11) |
| INTERACTIVE — INTER (to bury) + OphElia’s middle letter (heart) underneath ACT IV (where she died) | |
| 12d | What could be seen in key, thin? (5) |
| EBONY — E (key) + BONY (thin), describing the slimmer black keys on a piano | |
| 16d | Sturgeon perhaps swimming in a school — isn’t it tasty? Not entirely (8,11) |
| SCOTTISH NATIONALIST — An anagram of (swimming) IN A SCHOOL — ISN’T IT TASTy without the last letter (not entirely) | |
| 19d | Money initially spent acquiring American customer (3,4) |
| END USER — On removal of its initial letter (… initially spent) tENDER (money) taking in (acquiring) US (American) | |
| 21d | Romantic played harp before disco dancing (9) |
| RHAPSODIC — An anagram of (played) HARP before DISCO anagrammed (dancing) | |
| 22d | For example, pepper’s elevated unpalatable food (6) |
| STODGE — EG (for example) and DOT’S (pepper’s) written upwards (elevated) | |
| 23d | Humbly getting attention with introduction of Excel (3,2,4) |
| CAP IN HAND — IN HAND (getting attention) preceded by (with introduction of) CAP (excel) | |
| 24d | In Scotland, 15 June involves poem left behind by Henry (7) |
| JURYMEN — JUN (June) contains (involves) R[h]YME (poem) without (left behind by) H (henry) | |
| 25d | Teacher holding on for a jumbo (7) |
| MONSTER — M[a]STER (teacher) holding ON in place of (for) A | |
| 27d | Buck becoming slower with excessive dose turning up (6) |
| DOLLAR — RALL. (rallentando: becoming slower) with OD (excessive dose) reversed (turning up) | |
| 29d | Riddles deployed in games (7) |
| ENIGMAS — An anagram of (deployed) IN GAMES | |
| 31d | Spacemen penning books on custom zip (3,1,7) |
| NOT A SAUSAGE — NASA (spacemen) containing (penning) OT (books) + USAGE (custom) | |
| 33d | Name magazine after revolutionary dog food (11) |
| TAGLIATELLE — TAG (name) + ELLE (magazine) after backwards (revolutionary) TAIL (dog) | |
| 35d | Get on grad PhD, never finishing unknown subject (9) |
| GEOGRAPHY — GEt On GRAd PHd, always missing last letters (never finishing) + Y (unknown) | |
| 37d | End I’m in transfixed by cheer (9) |
| ELIMINATE — I’M IN inside (transfixed by) ELATE (cheer) | |
| 40d | Defeat to pawn, getting wool pulled over your eyes? (4,3) |
| TANK TOP — TANK (defeat) + TO + P (pawn) | |
| 42d | Former philosopher getting daughter unearthed (7) |
| EXHUMED — EX (former) + HUME (philosopher) + D (daughter) | |
| 43d | Brown duck almost capsized local vessel (7) |
| TANKARD — TAN (brown) + DRAKe (duck) almost upside down (capsized) | |
| 44d | Greek character’s energetic dance losing acceleration (6) |
| LAMBDA — LAMB[a]DA (energetic dance) losing A (acceleration) | |
| 45d | Hotelier played with pesto ingredient (5) |
| BASIL — Two definitions, the first being Basil Fawlty | |
| 48d | Tear apart a French epitaph (5) |
| UNRIP — UN (a, French) + RIP (epitaph) | |
| 51d | Where to cook ferret (3) |
| HOB — A double definition | |
This took me about 45 minutes, so towards the trickier end of the spectrum. Of course I can’t now remember why, although I remember being held up for a long time at the end over BEACH UMBRELLA. It seems so obvious now but even with all the checkers I couldn’t come up with anything. A much easier clue for anyone who knows anything about Twilight no doubt!
Thanks for an impeccable blog in difficult circumstances, Kitty. I’m now going to check that the three-quarter finished one I’m publishing tomorrow is for the right puzzle!
Thanks Kitty for the clear blog and to the setter. I found this a little more difficult than usual- but enjoyable and very clearly clued so that the parsing was straightforward when I reviewed. I didnt know tank could be slang for defeat. Also struggled with BEACH UMBRELLA. My favourite clue was 8d- IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING.
Yes it was a hard one. No overall time for me but certainly over an hour. Lots of tricky bits, judging by my annotations on the clues, but I think I managed to parse them all eventually. COD to INTERACTIVE for the ACT IV bit. Thanks Kitty and setter.
What a stinker. How many people can be aware of the Wings song at 24a? Is antigun a word? Never heard of a divided skirt (41a), I didn’t know what a blue run is (45a), the footwear at 49a, the Twilight actress (having never watched it), glossal (9), where Ophelia died (11d), how many people there are on a Scottish jury (24d), the meaning of rall (27d), or that unrip means the same as rip (48d).
Some of the supposed definitions or synonyms were so annoying, like jabber to mean fencer, and isn’t it time to bin cliches such as runner (and flower) for river?
Favourite: 42d.
Least favourite: too many to name.
Rather a joyless slog. I think Andy has a point.
Lots to like here, although there were two clues we found impenetrable. We started at the top right corner, which I think was the hardest section.
So we got “spoon-feed“ and “cap in hand” without understanding the construction. Congratulations and thank you Kitty for working those out!
Favourite clue was “a Bob or two” and I did think the anagram for “confessional” was rather clever.
By the way Kitty, I love the word solvemate. My lovely wife used to watch admiringly while I struggled with the crossword, then started joining in, and nowadays it’s a race to solve each clue.