Hi everyone. A puzzle from a setter who clearly likes double definitions – but as those are nice and simple to write up I won’t RAISE A STINK (17a)! Nor will I grouse about the number of canines running around, for they have contributed to some good clues.
I found it of mid-range difficulty, but used dictionary help at the end for 26a EPITAXY. No matter, I still enjoyed it. Thanks setter.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, I generally italicise indicators unless it seems clearer not to. Where the removed part is specified, [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. I sometimes omit link words and juxtaposition indicators if it doesn’t feel necessary to explain them. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments section.
| Across | |
| 1a | Dependant in the family was the soul of discretion (4,3) |
| KEPT MUM — A “KEPT MUM” could be a dependent family member | |
| 5a | Progressive learner yours truly scolded (9) |
| LIBERATED — L (learner) + I (yours truly) + BERATED (scolded) | |
| 10a | Goddess, something of an observer? (4) |
| IRIS — A double definition, the observer being an eye | |
| 14a | Advisor perhaps yawning over the telephone (8,5) |
| SOUNDING BOARD — Sounds like (… over the telephone) SOUNDING BORED (perhaps yawning) | |
| 15a | Drug stuffed in a corset (9) |
| NARCOTISE — An anagram of (stuffed) IN A CORSET. I shuffled these letters for too long, not thinking the definition would be a verb | |
| 16a | Undeniably strength drops boxing in leader in triathlon (3,7) |
| FOR CERTAIN — FORCE (strength) and RAIN (drops) containing (boxing in) the first letter of (leader in) Triathlon | |
| 17a | Something sharp picked up, scent grouse (5,1,5) |
| RAISE A STINK — RAISE A sounds like (… picked up) RAZOR (something sharp), plus STINK (scent) | |
| 18a | Third person accepting introduction from Ronnie Barker? (5) |
| CAIRN — CAIN (third person – in the Bible) taking in (accepting) the first letter of (introduction from) Ronnie | |
| 19a | In meticulous fashion, but not exactly (10) |
| THOROUGHLY — THO’ ROUGHLY (but not exactly) | |
| 21a | Slur, bit of a bloomer? (6) |
| STIGMA — Two definitions, the second botanical: part of a carpel | |
| 23a | Soup in delis unfortunately slightly gloopy? (9) |
| SEMISOLID — MISO (soup) in an anagram of (… unfortunately) DELIS | |
| 25a | With runs to bag, get that job done right (5) |
| DROIT — With the insertion of (… to bag) R (runs), DO IT (get that job done) | |
| 26a | Growing crystals, good try cutting surfaces on eighty (7) |
| EPITAXY — PI (pious, good) and TAX (try) going into (cutting) the outer letters of (surfaces on) EightY | |
| 28a | Charge more to cover rent, finally — and relax! (3,4,4,2) |
| PUT ONE’S FEET UP — PUT ONE’S FEE UP (charge more) going around (to cover) renT, finally | |
| 31a | Splashing out conversation uniting nations? (9) |
| SPANGLISH — SPLASHING anagrammed (out) | |
| 33a | While sad, all relics for us initially confined to box (9) |
| TEARFULLY — First letters of (… initially) All Relics For Us inside (confined to) TELLY (box) | |
| 35a | Damned red card — is one really sympathetic? (8,5) |
| BLEEDING HEART — BLEEDING (damned) + HEART (red card) | |
| 37a | Absurd backing dismissed in short opera (7) |
| FATUOUS — Reversed (backing) OUT (dismissed) in FAUSt (opera) without its last letter (short …) | |
| 38a | Thumb problem (5) |
| HITCH — A double definition | |
| 40a | Sadly unfinished, has pipe run down to a greater extent? (9) |
| UNHAPPIER — An anagram of (sadly) HAs missing the end (unfinished …) with PIPE RUN | |
| 42a | Surgically remove a robin’s heart, not before time (6) |
| ABLATE — A + roBin’s middle letter (heart) + LATE (not before time) | |
| 44a | Hog weary, one of four surrounding field (6,4) |
| CORNER FLAG — CORNER (hog) + FLAG (weary) | |
| 46a | Man giving his name to New York island a little unwell, I sense (5) |
| ELLIS — Hidden: a little unwELL, I Sense | |
| 48a | Heavenly display from swimmer followed by broadcaster (8,3) |
| MACKEREL SKY — MACKEREL (swimmer) followed by SKY (broadcaster) | |
| 50a | Use hoops bent around silver tube (10) |
| OESOPHAGUS — An anagram of (… bent) USE HOOPS around AG (silver) | |
| 52a | Born tilted, is cant originally stopping device? (5,4) |
| BRAKE DISC — B (born), RAKED (tilted), IS and the initial letter of (… originally) Cant | |
| 53a | Paediatrician’s preserve probing unusual pink bonces? (8,5) |
| BENJAMIN SPOCK — JAM (preserve) going into (probing) an anagram of (unusual) PINK BONCES | |
| 54a | Bladed weapon cut skin on back of knee (4) |
| EPEE — Stopping short of its last letter (cut) PEEl (skin) on the end of (back of) kneE | |
| 55a | Republican put in application after party conference (9) |
| DISCOURSE — R (Republican) put in USE (application) after DISCO (party) | |
| 56a | Bird seed catching salmon (7) |
| SPARROW — SOW (seed, verb) holding (catching) PARR (salmon) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Light touch: knock is somewhat stronger, first of all (4) |
| KISS — Taking each initial letter (… first of all), Knock Is Somewhat Stronger | |
| 2d | Uranium breaking lump into twisted metal (9) |
| PLUTONIUM — U (uranium) going into (breaking) an anagram of (… twisted) LUMP INTO | |
| 3d | Life-savers — ‘renc’ ‘octor’? (8,4,10) |
| MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES — An inverse clue: taking the answer as wordplay, we have fRENCh dOCTORs Without Borders (missing outer letters) | |
| 4d | Police arresting Indian queen after climbing tall spire (7) |
| MINARET — MET (police) taking in (arresting) RANI (Indian queen) on reversal (after climbing) | |
| 5d | Cross, when nail and contents of boot found in spoon! (11) |
| LABRADOODLE — BRAD (nail) and the contents of bOOt found in LADLE (spoon) | |
| 6d | Board prepared to gather intelligence? (9) |
| BRAINFOOD — An anagram of (… prepared) BROAD taking in (to gather) INFO (intelligence). | |
| Many thanks to Emcsquared below for alerting me to the wordplay here | |
| 7d | Cowboy for example in condition? (5) |
| RIDER — Two definitions | |
| 8d | Inflammation, it’s seen after time on shelf (11) |
| TONSILLITIS — IT IS (it’s) seen after T (time), ON and SILL (shelf) | |
| 9d | Dim case in office (6) |
| DARKEN — ARK (case) in DEN (office) | |
| 11d | Protestation in bar? (7) |
| RAILING — Two definitions | |
| 12d | Dodgy joint, sufferer’s heading over mountain before a walk in the park (9) |
| SPEAKEASY — Sufferer’s first letter (heading) above (over) PEAK (mountain) before EASY (a walk in the park) | |
| 13d | Hey-ho, safer on the beach is it? (5,6,6,2,3) |
| WORSE THINGS HAPPEN AT SEA — An interpretation of the answer is that the beach might be a safer place than at sea | |
| 18d | Septic tanks in the end redesigned — something like that? (7) |
| CESSPIT — An anagram of (… redesigned) SEPTIC and the last letter of (… in the end) tankS | |
| 20d | Follower of power in rogue I suspect (7) |
| GROUPIE — P (power) in an anagram of (… suspect) ROGUE I | |
| 22d | Concerned with meal when fed a fresh starter? (8) |
| RELAUNCH — RE (concerned with) LUNCH (meal) on insertion of (when fed) A | |
| 24d | Tired, straight up? (8) |
| LISTLESS — Two definitions, the second whimsical: without a list or tilt | |
| 27d | Soul in dream, in actuality lifted (5) |
| ANIMA — The answer is in dreAM, IN Actuality reversed (lifted) | |
| 29d | No more cheers, say (5) |
| TOAST — A double definition | |
| 30d | Remain taken by giant of the Himalayas? (7) |
| TIBETAN — BE (remain) in (taken by) TITAN (giant) | |
| 32d | Those are straight, or these crooked? (7) |
| HETEROS — OR THESE anagrammed (crooked) | |
| 34d | I don’t care book penned by thug isn’t very good (3-3,5) |
| YAH-BOO SUCKS — B (book) inside (penned by) YAHOO (thug) + SUCKS (isn’t very good) | |
| 36d | Type observing large gaps goes twice as fast (6-5) |
| DOUBLE-SPACE — DOUBLES PACE (goes twice as fast) | |
| 37d | Incendiary story about Los Angeles madam appearing vacuous (9) |
| FLAMMABLE — FABLE (story) around (about) LA (Los Angeles) and MadaM appearing without inner letters (vacuous) | |
| 39d | Killer with barb sending up Nevada city chat show host? (9) |
| HARPOONER — Going upwards in the grid (sending up) RENO (Nevada city) plus OPRAH (chat show host) | |
| 41d | Irascibility, given sick jokes? (3,6) |
| ILL HUMOUR — ILL (sick) + HUMOUR (jokes?) | |
| 43d | At peace about routine, provide for baby (7) |
| LACTATE — LATE (at peace) around (about) ACT (routine) | |
| 45d | Fish dishes overlooked by dog after rolling over (7) |
| GUPPIES — PIES (dishes) under (overlooked by) PUG (dog) on reversal (after rolling over) | |
| 47d | Losing, sorry, in tie (6) |
| BEHIND — EH (sorry – beg your pardon?) in BIND (tie) | |
| 49d | Tough day, no pub grub, so all finishing up (5) |
| YOBBO — All the last letters of (… all finishing up) daY, nO puB gruB, sO | |
| 51d | Colour in back of frock welcomed by tailor? (4) |
| SKEW — The final letter of (back of) frocK in (welcomed by) SEW (tailor). To influence or distort | |
I had this down this as quite easy but I must have lost concentration midway through as I noted a lapse of nearly half an hour when I struggled to make progress. I had made the mistake of being determined to complete a section of the grid that was putting up resistance instead of abandoning it temporarily and looking for a new foothold elsewhere.
I missed the parsing of UNHAPPIER completely.
DNF
For some reason, or more likely none, I put in HERA at 10ac and never went back to it, even though I was getting nowhere with 11d and 12d. 23ac: Miso is not soup; it is a paste made from soybeans. This Jumbo setter is given to grotty surfaces, like 52ac.
According to ODE just ‘miso’ is also used for the soup. News to me.
And to me; but then I’ve never seen the word in English. (My [2005] ODE gives only the paste definition.)
1 hour 37 minutes, so middling difficulty for me. I think EPITAXY was my only completely unknown.
But I have achieved an astonishingly high position on the leaderboard at 43. Lots of solvers – including the best – have one error, and have ended up below me. But what? There was initially a problem with MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES. There was a mistake in the solution with MEDICINS instead of MEDECINS, so people with the right answer were marked wrong. Mick Hodgkin has posted an apology on the Club Site, and has said it has been corrected and the puzzle rescored. But we still have all those solvers with single errors. Could it be something else?
On edit. Oops. I have corrected my own misspelling of MEDECINS in this post
Thank you for not pointing out that I made exactly the same muff with MSF! Now corrected above.
I put MEDICINS, which is particularly annoying as I know perfectly well how to spell it in French. I had put in MEDICINE initially as the only word that could possibly fit and didn’t correct it when I saw the complete answer.
I found this quite difficult, but also very satisfying to solve. Lots of clues that wouldn’t yield to my initial attempts, and required determined engagement with the wordplay.
I couldn’t get a linked group of answers in the top right – 8 and 9a, and 15 and 25d.
Favourite clue: 18d.
Least favourite: 26a for its obscurity, and 34d was horrible.
Thanks for the blog.
We liked this one. Found the NW corner quite easy but then struggled a bit with the NE corner.
Several really nice clues. Needed a dictionary check for Epitaxy (like everyone else) but no complaints.
Admiration for Cesspit and also Railing was neat.
We (my wife and I) had this as medium too but noted some uneven, weak or even a few stinky clues! (TBF in a jumbo there may always be some…?)
“Bladed weapon” = EPEE is one such since (I read) that technically it still has a blade (as the name for the attacking bit of the sword), but it is not “bladed” in the usual sense of the word ie. flat with a sharp cutting edge (as for most swords).
for 6d I had ‘info’ for intelligence, inserted into anagram of ‘broad’. So an ‘& lit’ rather than CD perhaps?
Oh, well spotted, Emcsquared! That means it is a much better clue that I’d originally thought. I will update the blog.