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| Artwork by Prasanna |
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ACROSS
7 Grave always in excavated space (6) SEVERE {Spa{EVER}cE}
8 Armoured shell wheels rapidly (8) CARAPACE {CAR APACE}
11 Setter's suggestion for The Listener's a headache (8) MIGRAINE {~my grain)
12 Plate with metal closer to zinc runs in beds (6) CHROME {zinC}{H{R}OME}
14 Celebrity in higher office (4) HERO [T]
15 Move by truck to keep shaking? (5) WAGON {WAG ON}
16 Dances where the boys in blue must change for an earlier start (4) BOPS (-c+b)BOPS
18 Like a stick? Before working, gorge (6) CANYON {CANY}{ON}
20 Views over wings (8) OPINIONS {O}{PINIONS}
22 Holding me tight, ask me and set right (4,5) MAKE AMENDS {ME} in {ASK+ME+AND}* Typo in Enu it should be (4,6)
25 Foundation doubling scale suffering severe blows (8) DEBACLES {BED<=}{SCALE*}
26 Appear in smoke (4,2) ROLL UP [DD]
DOWN
1 Vested interest primarily a terrible downer (8) SEDATIVE {VESTED+In...t+A}*
2 Passing through with dogs, men end in safety (10) PERCURSORY {PER}{CURS}{OR}{s...tY}
3 Black strip not new for one used to plane (3,3) JET SKI {JET}{SKIn} Never knew that Jet Ski is actually a Brand Name
5 Hurl well aired clothes back to heap (4) SPEW {(~so)SEW} over {heaP}
6 Pick and shovel at first leading riot (6) SCREAM {CREAM}<=>{Sh...l}
8 Price justification to support fine old clubs upset the dregs of Java? (6,7) COFFEE GROUNDS {FEE GROUNDS}<=>{F}{O}{C}<=
13 Winding lair, Bob the bunny's home perhaps (6,4) RABBIT HOLE*
15 Snake plant an adversary for fabulous knight (8) WINDMILL {WIND}{MILL}
19 When keeping mum exhausted zombie staggers (6) AMAZES {A{MA}{Zo..iE}S}
21 Special condition nurses cover (6) INSURE {IN{S}URE}
23 Stretch from heel and dash (4) ELAN [T]
Reference List
About = C, Section = S, Runs = R, Over = O, Hard = H, Interest = I, Men = OR, Black = JET, New = N, Fine = F, Old = O, Clubs = C, Cold = C, Special = S
7a severe - grave ever in s e from SpacE
ReplyDelete13d Rabbit hole from laie bob the anagram
14a Hero - celebrity from higHER Office
23d Elan - dash from heEL ANd
I found 7A, 13D, 14A and 23D among the easier clues today.
Delete22A enu should be (4,6)? Given as (4,5), in print as well.
ReplyDeleteYes, it should be (4,6)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete9a
ReplyDeleteCompact contents=talc
Baseless story= tale-e,
about=c (tal+c =talc)
3d. Jet lag.
ReplyDelete15. Wag(on). Move and truck . Keep shaking.
3d is incorrect. No anno given also
DeleteHappy Engineers Day to all the Engineers here!
ReplyDeleteM'am, no rangoli for engineers? :D
Delete19d AMAZES: staggers
ReplyDeleteWhen: as, keeping mum: ma, exhausted zombie: ze
A(MA)(ZE)S
19D When keeping mum, exhausted zombie staggers (6)
DeleteAn incredible clue - not a word wasted. Each word word has a role to play in surface reading and cryptic reading. Charade components and selection indicators camouflaged in idioms and common parts of speech. Excellent setting.
22A Holding me tight, ask me and set right (4,6)
ReplyDeleteAns: make amends
Def: Set right
Holding(containment ind) me
Tight(anagrind) 'ask me and'*
(make a(me)nds)
17 dn pinchgut-miser
ReplyDeletep (in (c )hg ut. thing-t.* cold-c
PINCHGUT - what a word!
Delete20A-Opinions-views; O(pinions)
ReplyDelete24Ac HAHN - {HA{H}N} ; Otto Hahn German physicist
ReplyDeleteOtto Hahn is listed in reference sources as a chemist...I suppose physicists can claim he was one because of the connection of his work to radioactivity.
Delete8D COFFEE GROUNDS
ReplyDelete(FEE + GROUNDS) under (F O C) <--
4dn : TRASHCAN Spoonerism of CRASHTAN
ReplyDeleteFold = Crash, Bark = Tan
Definition : Garbage collector
1d, downer = sedative
ReplyDelete(Vested + I + a)*
terrible = anagrind
I = interest primarily
ReplyDelete11a MIGRAINE: headache
ReplyDeleteMigraine~my( setter's) grain(suggestion)
Shovel at first= S
ReplyDeletePick= cream
Scream= Riot
25a DEBACLES = Severe blows
ReplyDeleteBED = Foundation, doubling DEB +
ACLES anagram of Scale . Suffering anind
It us not dounding cane but like a cane- cane ( like lengthy)
ReplyDelete+1
ReplyDeleteI barely filled a third of the grid before opening the blog.
8A- Carapace- armored she'll
ReplyDeletewheels= car?
Rapidly= Apace
Carapace is the shell of tortoice etc.
Deletequite tough to get the annotations. Though I got the answers by crossings anno. parts found to be round about. like IXL grid.......Telescopic clues cracked easily.
ReplyDelete15d WINDMILL = An adversary for fabulous knight ( Don Quixote)
ReplyDeleteWIND = Snake
MILL = Plant
Nice solve.
Delete23d - ELAN [T]
ReplyDeleteheEl ANd dash
Relook anno.
ReplyDelete26A Appear in smoke. - ROLL UP
ReplyDeleteDD
One more by your leave
ReplyDelete21d INSURE = Cover
INURE = Condition
S = special
IN+S+URE
Nurses container ind.
21D Special condition nurses cover (6)
DeleteAnother brilliant clue - not a word wasted. Every word has a role in the surface reading and wordplay. A cryptic crossword connoisseur's delight.
Ac 12, 16
ReplyDeleteDn 2, 3, 5
remaining
Me too, one more please
ReplyDelete2d, passing through = Precursory
With = pre
Dogs = curs
Men = or
End in safety = y
Typi, Percurso.ry
ReplyDeleteWith = per
ReplyDelete2d, passing through = Percursory
ReplyDeleteWith = per
Dogs = curs
Men = or
End in safety = y
A percursory look at the clue have me the answer because of the dogs, but couldn't figure out the full anno. Got stuck on 'men end in safety'.
Deletehave/gave*
Delete3D-Jet ski- one used to plane; black-jet; strip-skin
ReplyDeleteThis has come up here any times with the answer. OR- Other Ranks= Men/ Soldiers
ReplyDelete16A- Boys in blue= cops? Police?
ReplyDeleteWhat a clue!
DeleteThis one was my favorite in the grid
DeleteYes, that is what the dic. says. Did the English cops wear blue uniform? News to me.
ReplyDeletehttps://projectbritain.com/london/crime.htm#:~:text=The%20Metropolitan%20Police%20force%20patrol,the%20%22boys%20in%20blue%22.
Delete"like a stick" = CANY is such a good piece of wordplay, one can forgive the surface grammar and enjoy the chuckles in this case.
ReplyDeleteI have a 7A 11A today, so I thought I will skip my grid analysis. But with Crescent and hard-difficulty Sudoku next to it, I enjoyed the paper enough to scribble my 20A.
ReplyDeleteAfter getting 4-5 clues I spotted the letters J, K, V, W and thought the grid might be a pangram. But it was not meant to be - the letters Q and X are missing.
The puzzle was a thoughtfully constructed one, with unusual definitions and part-of-speech changes to make charades harder to parse. For example, in 8A, "wheels" is a verb on the surface while it is a noun for CAR in the cryptic sense. In the same clue, "rapidly" is provided as the charade definition for APACE. Most people would think first of words like "quickly" or "fast" and APACE might be among the last synonyms they think of. So the setter has done a good job of thoughtfully constructing a challenging clue in this case.
Another trick used effectively by the setter is to have multiple indicator-like words in the clue, making the solver guess which is the real indicator. For example, in 10A, I had identified "sugar" as the definition, but for the wordplay I misread and took "wasted" as anagrind, "fit section" as fodder, "for" as linkword and having got crossings for S and F in positions 1 and 3, I was thinking how "soft incite" could mean "sugar"! It turns out that the correct parse takes "fit" as "anagrind" and "s(ection) wasted for" as fodder for "soft sawder" as sugar (in the sense of "flattery"). Here, the definition was also quite cryptic, which added to the difficulty.
Some other enjoyable cryptic definitions were: "compact contents" for TALC in 9A, "suggestion" as GRAIN for the HP in 11A, "downer" for SEDATIVE in 1D, "one used to plane" for JET SKI in 3D, "riot" as SCREAM in 6D, "justification" for GROUNDS in 8D, and "plant" for MILL in 15D.
However, while it was a creative definition, "bed" and HOME (12A) are not listed as synonyms by Chambers. Similarly, "move by truck" for WAGON in 15A was interesting but "wagon" is not defined as a verb in Chambers. PINION (20A) is defined as a part of a bird's wing, not the wing itself. Having some experience in the matter, I can say that "roll up" (26A) is an action that one might do immediately before smoking - it doesn't refer to the act of lighting up itself. "Bark" and TAN (4D) are unlisted as synonyms - I recently got flak for similarly using CORAL and "wine" as colour synonyms in a Sunday Special on this blog.
Special mention should be given for the setter's use of Homophone and spoonerism clues, of which we ought to see more in THC. The phrase "well aired clothes" as [fodder][HP indicator][containment indicator] was brilliant in 5D. 5D was also my COD for maximum setter skullduggery in camouflaging indicators as common words. 4D and 11A were also well-executed spoken-language clues.
There were one or two grammatical nits to pick, but those are forgivable. The vast majority of the clues were inoffensive for repeated rereading.
Challenging grid but very satisfying to wrap up. LOI were SOFT SAWDER and SPEW. Did not get the anno for the latter till I saw the blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Crescent and Col.
For those who enjoy a challenge - last night I solved The Guardian Cryptic by Fed. Mind-blowing puzzle with "every other" clue having an inventive device.
ReplyDeletePuzzle: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29175
Annotated solutions: https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/09/14/guardian-29175-fed/
Tough nut to crack
ReplyDeleteThank you Col.sir. It was my delay. However, you have considered it. Thanks once again for posting my artwork. Happy Engineers day & week to all members in this blog.
ReplyDeleteVery fine artwork Prasanna. 👌
ReplyDeleteThank you RR
Delete