A puzzle of perhaps average difficulty, though my mind went a complete blank on 2D and 34D until I had pretty much all the checkers in place. Nothing particularly obscure in the vocab, with words like 23A, 19D, 34D, and 38D all pleasing to my ear.
I'll be relying on the LiveJournal scheduler to post this correctly on the morning of Saturday 10th March as I will be away in a place that, cryptically speaking, is a heady brew of Edam and trams. I should, though, have the time to answer any questions that may arise.
Definitions are underlined, * = anagram, {} = omission, dd = double definition
I'll be relying on the LiveJournal scheduler to post this correctly on the morning of Saturday 10th March as I will be away in a place that, cryptically speaking, is a heady brew of Edam and trams. I should, though, have the time to answer any questions that may arise.
Definitions are underlined, * = anagram, {} = omission, dd = double definition
| Across | |
| 1 | What South Korea is to the U.S. in unmilitaristic way (11) |
| PACIFICALLY - South Korea is a PACIFIC ALLY to the US | |
| 7 | Modern man hooked up with woman, forty, outside university area (11) |
| METROSEXUAL - MET (hooked up with) + ROSE (woman) + XL (forty) outside U (university) A (area) | |
| 13 | Moderates shade Democrat in broadcast (5,4) |
| TONES DOWN - TONE (shade), + D (Democrat) in SOWN (broadcast) | |
| 14 | Leader of riot in hold to get off transportation (7) |
| DETRAIN - R{iot} (Leader of riot) in DETAIN (hold) | |
| 15 | Gathers to hear DJ (5) |
| TUCKS - homophone of TUX (DJ, i.e. dinner jacket) | |
| 16 | Hollow in island containing redcaps (6) |
| ARMPIT - AIT (island) around RMP (redcaps, i.e. Royal Military Police). We occasionally get MP for Military Police but rarely this specific example. | |
| 17 | Boxer dog and this setter roll (8) |
| PUGILIST - PUG (dog) + I (this setter) + LIST (roll) | |
| 18 | Discover me erotically embracing painter (7) |
| VERMEER - hidden in DiscoVER ME ERotically | |
| 20 | Order rest for tired fish — rare breed (13,7) |
| STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER - (REST FOR TIRED FISH RARE)* | |
| 23 | Medication with which a French chap’s dressing middle of thumb (7) |
| UNGUENT - UN (a French) + GENT (chap) around (dressing) {th}U{mb} (middle of thumb) | |
| 24 | Playwright picked up tick (7) |
| CHEKHOV - homophone of CHECK OFF (tick) | |
| 26 | Two quarters Canadian Iroquios (7) |
| SENECAN - SE + NE (Two quarters, i.e. points of the compass) + CAN (Canadian), with a misspelt definition (of which there are nearly 100,000 Google hits) and Senecan being the adjectival form of Seneca (Chambers): "An Iroquois Native American of a tribe in New York state" | |
| 28 | Tablet— one a day, containing phosphorus (4) |
| IPAD - I (one) + A + D (day) around P (phosphorus) | |
| 29 | Apple product's sales value (8) |
| TURNOVER - dd, with this and the previous clue providing a bit of product placement | |
| 32 | Represented in tales or narratives (9) |
| RELATIONS - (IN TALES OR)* | |
| 35 | Sceptical ambassador is cornered by Greek (9) |
| ATHEISTIC - HE (ambassador, i.e. His/Her Excellency) + IS, in ATTIC (Greek). Maybe not an equivalence that I would use in real life, but close enough. | |
| 36 | Bears find out metal stocks key — beginning to slide (8) |
| SUSTAINS - SUS (find out) + TIN (metal) around A (key, as in music), + S{lide} (beginning to slide) | |
| 37 | Might he be found under 'hairy' in thesaurus? (4) |
| ESAU - hidden in thESAUrus, with a sort of extended definition given the Biblical Esau's reputed hairiness | |
| 39 | Extremely hacked off by top of tower, I split — having this (7) |
| VERTIGO - VER{y} (Extremely hacked off) + T{ower} (top of tower) + I + GO (split), with a rather forced extended definition | |
| 41 | Pay them badly for identification (7) |
| EMPATHY - (PAY THEM)* | |
| 44 | 'Gorblimey trousers' back to front with half missing (7) |
| STREWTH - TREWS (trousers) with the S moving from the back to the front, + {wi}TH (with half missing). For anyone wondering about the surface reading, ODO has for gorblimey "in use as a noun in the early 20th century to denote various kinds of unusual clothing", with the closest real-life example I can think of to be found in Lonnie Donegan's seminal My Old Man's A Dustman (though actually "Cor Blimey trousers" in the lyrics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7GeZ3YmONw | |
| 45 | Opposed to major change, perhaps like conveyor belt sushi? (7-13) |
| COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY - literal interpretation, in that some sushi restaurants have a conveyor belt continuously going round the counter from which you select your required dishes, which could be described as COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY | |
| 49 | I invested in construction of tented eating area (7) |
| DINETTE - I in TENTED* | |
| 50 | Headliners in Miles Davis evening covering start of iconic A Kind of Blue? (8) |
| MIDNIGHT - M{iles} D{avis} (Headliners in Miles Davis) + NIGHT (evening) around I{conic} (start of iconic), and a jazz-centric surface slightly spoiled by the "A" (Davis' (arguably) most famous album is just Kind of Blue) | |
| 51 | Paper's publication behind time (6) |
| TISSUE - T (time) + ISSUE (publication) | |
| 53 | Nothing in three core subjects after English mistake (5) |
| ERROR - E (English), + O (Nothing) in RRR (three core subjects, i.e. reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic) | |
| 54 | Italian dish mixed on plate (7) |
| POLENTA - (ON PLATE)* | |
| 55 | Expression, a conversational filler that makes you spit (4-5) |
| LOOK-ALIKE - LOOK (Expression) + A + LIKE (conversational filler, perhaps most commonly associated with young Americans though its usage seems rather older), with the definition a slang expression for an exact replica (which Chambers claims comes from the expression "As like him as if he had spit him out of his mouth") | |
| 56 | Claret being circulated rendered mood stabler (11) |
| BLOODSTREAM - (MOOD STABLER)* with claret being a slang expression for blood | |
| 57 | Rejected Middle Eastern ring I got rid of, with decorations (11) |
| EMBELLISHED - reversal of ME (MIddle Eastern), + BELL (ring) + I + SHED (got rid of) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Track an inhabitant of NW Pakistan? (6) |
| PATHAN - PATH (Track) + AN, to give (Chambers): "A member of a Pashto-speaking people of Afghanistan and NW Pakistan" | |
| 2 | Shooter picked up slang, the last word in code (15) |
| CINEMATOGRAPHER - reversal of ARGOT (slang) + AMEN (the last word), in CIPHER (code) | |
| 3 | Following ship taking on petrol, almost to the brim, storing energy — of this type? (6,4) |
| FOSSIL FUEL - F (Following), + SS (ship) in OIL (petrol), + FUL{l} (almost to the brim) around E (energy). Another extended definition, with the petrol=oil equivalence presumably from the former being a fractional distillate of the latter. | |
| 4 | Chokerthat may be worn to dance (4) |
| CLOG - dd, the first needing to be read as something that chokes | |
| 5 | Scots long to start with using English labelling guarantee for wine region (9) |
| LANGUEDOC - LANG (Scots long) + U{sing} (to start with using) + E (English) + DOC (labelling guarantee, i.e. Denominazione di Origine Controllata, the Italian equivalent of Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée), to give the French wine region near the Mediterranean | |
| 6 | Language for doing at home perhaps coming up on satellite receiver (7) |
| YIDDISH - reversal of DIY (for doing at home perhaps), + DISH (satellite receiver) | |
| 7 | Powerful woman using marriage to control two states (9) |
| MATRIARCH - MATCH (marriage), around RIAR (two states, i.e. Rhode Island and Arkansas) | |
| 8 | One gets drunk when dram's consumed (5) |
| TOAST - TOT (dram) around AS (when) | |
| 9 | They'll scoff the lot, showing zero manners drinking up Bordeaux? (9) |
| OMNIVORES - O (zero) + MORES (manners) around reversal of VIN (Bordeaux, i.e. French wine) | |
| 10 | Former revolutionary after uprising transformed into a leader of elite that's oppressive (12) |
| EXTORTIONATE - EX (Former) + reversal of TROT (revolutionary), + (INTO A)* + E{lite} (leader of elite) | |
| 11 | Hazy leading role for uranium in 30 (7) |
| UNCLEAR - just a definition to go on if you haven't already solved 30A, but the answer to 30A is NUCLEAR so you then move the U (uranium) to the front | |
| 12 | Distinction made by religious teaching in support of sin (6) |
| LUSTRE - LUST (sin) + RE (religious teaching) | |
| 19 | Noisy lot going to tango clubs, perhaps, in retro gear (4,4) |
| ZOOT SUIT - ZOO (Noisy lot) + T (tango) + SUIT (clubs, perhaps), to give (Chambers): "A flashy type of man's suit with padded shoulders, fitted waist, knee-length jacket, and trousers narrow at the ankles (introduced in the late 1940s)" | |
| 21 | Guesthouse near to collapse after tax raised (7) |
| TAVERNA - reversal of VAT (tax), + NEAR* | |
| 22 | Leader of alpinists hesitates to climb, having stuck part of foot in so far (8) |
| INASMUCH - A{lpinists} (Leader of alpinists) + reversal of UMS (hesitates), in (having stuck (in the sense of fastened by piercing)) INCH (part of foot) | |
| 23 | Limpet maybe dead: not one, but four inside (8) |
| UNIVALVE - UNAL{i}VE (dead: not one) around IV (four) | |
| 25 | The King’s fabulous speech, failing to finish (5) |
| ELVIS - ELVIS{h} (fabulous speech, failing to finish) | |
| 27 | Tackle puzzles involving singular humour — hard (5,6,4) |
| CROSS SWORDS WITH - CROSSWORDS (puzzles) around S (singular), + WIT (humour) + H (hard) | |
| 30 | Upset world body getting rid of centre (7) |
| NUCLEAR - reversal of UN (world body, i.e. United Nations), + CLEAR (rid) | |
| 31 | Stunner turned up and took over (5) |
| RESAT - reversal of TASER (stunner), with the definition in the sense of taking again | |
| 33 | Grass-roots movement, perhaps, finds itself on the edge (8) |
| LANDSLIP - LANDS (finds itself) + LIP (the edge) | |
| 34 | Strained to catch one coach getting delayed (12) |
| FILIBUSTERED - FILTERED (Strained), around I (one) + BUS (coach) | |
| 38 | Travelling afar, pining for scent of the tropics (10) |
| FRANGIPANI - (AFAR PINING)*, to give (Chambers): "The red jasmine or other species of Plumera, tropical American shrubs of the dogbane genus with scented flowers" | |
| 40 | Instant penalties delivered here (2-3-4) |
| ON-THE-SPOT - reference to penalty kicks in a game of football/soccer being taken from the penalty spot | |
| 42 | Parking charges raised on the author’s turning up to give false identity (9) |
| PSEUDONYM - P (Parking) + reversal of DUES (charges), + ON + reversal of MY (the author's) | |
| 43 | Solver is leaving this card in teen hangout (5,4) |
| YOUTH CLUB - YOU (Solver) + TH{is} (is leaving this) + CLUB (card) | |
| 45 | Party writer advancing right forcefully (3,4) |
| CON BRIO - CON (Party, i.e. Conservative) + BIRO (writer) with the R moving one place to the left, to give the musical expression | |
| 46 | Put protective coat on farm animal I take out (7) |
| OXIDATE - OX (farm animal) + I + DATE (take out) | |
| 47 | Cockney's eaten fennel, perhaps containing dash of vetch— unwisely? (6) |
| ADVERB - 'AD'ERB (Cockney's eaten fennel, perhaps) around V{etch} (dash of vetch), with the DBE indicated by the question mark | |
| 48 | Rest of French power to be shut down? (6) |
| DEPEND - DE (of French) + P (power) + END (to be shut down) | |
| 50 | Note kung fu star in fight (5) |
| MELEE - ME (Note) + LEE (kung fu star, i.e. Bruce Lee) | |
| 52 | Cry of bird after close of day (4) |
| YOWL - {da}Y (close of day) + OWL (bird) | |