Solving time: 5:42
An enjoyable Wednesday morning grid from the Breadman who is perhaps muscling in on the self-referential malarkey with 16a – I am tempted to look at their previous grids to identify other references…
I had a minor eyebrow twitch with 2d – not sure that the apostrophised word in the clue and its counterpart in the answer are the finest synonyms? But hats off to the clever 3d, which foxed me while in flight, and only revealed its brilliance on writing up this blog.
How did you all get on?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].
| Across | |
| 7 | Creeper following Oscar, sheep-like (5) |
| OVINE – VINE (Creeper) following O (Oscar – NATO phonetic alphabet) | |
| 8 | Fellow mariners initially hand over navigational device (7) |
| COMPASS – CO (Fellow) then first letter [initially] of M{ariners} then PASS (hand over) | |
| 10 | Clever clogs not a boring thing, we hear (4-3) |
| KNOW-ALL – Homophone/aural wordplay [we hear] of NO AWL (not a boring thing)
Collins Online defines an AWL as “a pointed hand tool with a fluted blade used for piercing wood, leather” – ‘boring’ would seem to be a shade harsher than ‘piercing’ |
|
| 11 | E-fit organised to catch hard criminal (5) |
| THIEF – Anagram [organised] of E–FIT to catch i.e. insert H (hard) | |
| 12 | Unknown Parisian is ready to play Beatles song (9) |
| YESTERDAY – Y (unknown) EST (Parisian i.e. French for ‘is’) then an anagram [to play] of READY
Would probably be the top answer on Family Fortunes if asked to ‘Name a Beatles song’… |
|
| 14 | Black ducks show disapproval (3) |
| BOO – B (Black) OO (ducks – a duck is a zero score for a batsman’s/batswoman’s innings in cricket) | |
| 15 | Peripherally, uncover new vase (3) |
| URN – U{ncove}R [peripherally i.e. take the peripheral/end letters] then N (new) | |
| 16 | Brown cut of meat that’s on breakfast table? (5-4) |
| TOAST-RACK – TOAST (Brown – as a verb) RACK (cut of meat e.g. RACK of lamb)
Our setter’s self-referential signature perhaps? |
|
| 18 | University business graduate on variable programme of exercises (5) |
| ZUMBA – U (University) MBA (business graduate i.e. Master of/in Business Administration) on Z (variable)
ZUMBA is a fitness program involving cardio and Latin-inspired dance. After forgetting his usual music one day in the 1990s, aerobics instructor Beto Pérez used cassettes of salsa and merengue music for his class. Integrating the music into regular classes, it was initially called “Rumbacize”. Pérez and some colleagues created a company in 2001 to release fitness videos, and the name “ZUMBA” (now a trademark) was born. It was called ZUMBA because of its similarity to “rumba” – the Z came from Pérez liking the fictional character Zorro when he was a child. |
|
| 20 | French country residence with gas and water there (7) |
| CHATEAU – CHAT (gas) EAU (water there i.e. in France, water is ‘eau’) | |
| 22 | Partly hear a cheeky complaint (7) |
| EARACHE – Hidden [partly] in hear a cheeky | |
| 23 | The Italian in California rejected shade (5) |
| LILAC – IL (Italian for ‘The’) in CAL (California) reversed [rejected] | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Coniferous tree, with rascal on stump (6,6) |
| MONKEY PUZZLE – MONKEY (rascal) on PUZZLE (stump – verb)
‘on’ is apposite as this is a down clue. PUZZLE as a verb is from the 1590s, pusle meaning “bewilder, confound, perplex with difficult problems or questions” – possibly frequentative of ‘pose’ in an obsolete sense of “perplex” (compare nuzzle from nose)? To PUZZLE something out “resolve or discover by long cogitation or careful investigation” is by 1781. |
|
| 2 | Breed of cattle, large one prowlin’? (8) |
| LIMOUSIN – L (large) I (one) MOUSIN‘ (prowlin’)
The LIMOUSIN is a French breed of beef cattle from the Limousin and Marche regions of France. Is “prowlin'” the perfect synonym for MOUSIN’? Surely there must be a better one… |
|
| 3 | Great match, switching over at halfway (4) |
| MEGA – Switch the two halves of GAME (match) i.e. GA ME becomes ME GA
I failed to parse this in flight, only doing so when it came to writing up this blog. |
|
| 4 | Climbed peak in Scotland, then roughly showed the way (6) |
| SCALED – ‘peak’ indicates the first letter of S{cotland} then CA (roughly i.e. circa) LED (showed the way) | |
| 5 | Gemstone, in the morning, they mislaid on street (8) |
| AMETHYST – AM (in the morning i.e. ante meridiem) then an anagram [mislaid] of THEY on ST (street) | |
| 6 | Appreciated Greek character’s vehicle (4) |
| TAXI – TA (Appreciated) XI (Greek character)
XI is the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. |
|
| 9 | Horse, somewhere in East Anglia, with striking power (7,5) |
| SUFFOLK PUNCH – SUFFOLK (somewhere in East Anglia) with PUNCH (striking power)
The SUFFOLK PUNCH is an English breed of heavy draught horse and is always chestnut in colour. |
|
| 13 | Access transport (8) |
| ENTRANCE – Double definition | |
| 14 | Boldly support religious school on Londonderry’s outskirts (8) |
| BRAZENLY – BRA (support) ZEN (religious school) on the end letters [outskirts] of L{ondonderr}Y
ZEN is a Japanese word for a school of Mahayana Buddhism originating in China during the Tang dynasty, emphasising the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or study of scriptures. |
|
| 17 | Cunning old monarch, a Sagittarius (6) |
| ARCHER – ARCH (Cunning) ER (old monarch – Elizabeth Regina)
Sagittarius is a southern constellation and the ninth sign of the zodiac – the Latin name means “pertaining to arrows”. The star-picture represents a centaur drawing a bow, which scholars suspect to have depicted originally, a Babylonian god, but which to modern observers, looks vaguely like a teapot. |
|
| 19 | Spot Mike on rescue boat (4) |
| MARK – M (Mike) on ARK (rescue boat) | |
| 21 | Clever student in Lincoln? (4) |
| ABLE – L (student i.e. learner) in ABE (Lincoln)
Crosswordland-friendly presidents that frequently visit these grids include ABE (Lincoln) and IKE (Eisenhower) |
|
Slightly harder than the last two but all done in about 15min.
Did like know all..
how many of us have used an awl ?
I was a little edgy when I saw it was Breadman as I sometimes have difficulty with his puzzles. All went well but needed the blogger to explain how I got MEGA.
Thanks both
A disappointing 15 mins because I made a stupid error and so took a few mins for my LOI- BRAZENLY.
Tried big crossword but came up a few short. Four either wrong or incomplete.