NTSPP 743 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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NTSPP 743

A Puzzle by Jeemz

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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.

Jeemz provides this weekend's alternative exercise in lateral thinking with a clever puzzle that I enjoyed blogging.

 

Across

1a Disheartened oldster's spot of bother with computing revolution (5)
ORBIT: Put together the outside letters (disheartened) of OldsterR, the initial letter of Bother and an abbreviated Information Technology

4a Born in England on Thursday I get called this (3)
POM: A cryptic definition based on the geographical location of Thursday (Island). From the days when we were less likely to be offended.

6a Repairs sirens (5)
VAMPS: Double definition, the less obvious probably used more when preceded by “re”

9a Displaying boldness competently arrests Scot (9)
DEFIANTLY: A synonym of competently or with skill placed around a “Scotsman” seen more often in crosswords than real life these days.

10a Thank you note's encapsulating son's discernment (5)
TASTE: An informal “thank you” and a note on the sol-fa scale placed around the single-letter abbreviation for Son

11a Homer's long spell in custody of what some call police! (7)
PIGEONS: Place a very long period of time inside a derogatory word for the police. I'd call them ineffective at best. The apostrophe in the clue  appears to be in the wrong place.

12a Elaborate style of jumper taking care of canine (6)
ROCOCO: The usual informal marsupial placed around abbreviations for Care Of and Canine

14a Drains vital fluids (4)
SAPS: Double definition

16a Tip from godly writer describing genesis of godliness (6)
PIGPEN: A term for godly or pious and a writing implement around the initial letter of Godliness

18a Understand cockney's more intemperate rage… (3)
IRE: A homophone of a word that could be mean more intemperate missing it's initial letter (cockney's)

19a ...gets 'ard labour maybe - an old measure (3)
ELL: The same parsing as above (drop the initial letter from a term that could describe a very unpleasant experience), hence the ellipses

20a It's clear, typically Robin Goodfellow sports Tam O'Shanter say (6)
LIMPID: Something of which Robin Goodfellow is an example inserted into an old fashioned name for something of which a Tam O’Shanter is an example.

21a Leader of Safari meandering around (4)
EMIR: Hidden and reversed (of and around)

23a Tailor's regular trade (6)
CUSTOM: Another double definition

25a Byzantine Pope - not convertible (4,3)
OPEN TOP: Anagram (Byzantine) of the following two words

28a Leading Geordie's back portraying state of NE (5)
MAINE: A synonym of leading or most important plus the final letter of Geordie

29a Notably Roux brothers' focus is on rice Ken cooked (9)
THICKENER: The central letters of broTHers plus an anagram (cooked) of RICE KEN.

30a Chinese society's costumes capturing centre of attention (5)
TONGS: An informal word for costumes or clothes around the middle letter of atteNtion. Great clue but seems a shame to follow one clue using the middle letter of a word directly with another.

31a Strip tease (3)
RAG: Double definition, one a noun the other a verb

32a Cycling terms for chopper (5)
SWORD: The things we put together to make terms or sentences with the final letter cycled to the front

 

Down

1d Deterioration of exposed unnamed ruin's a Greek tragedy (7,3)
OEDIPUS REX: Anagram (deterioration) of EXPOSED plus RUIn without the single-letter abbreviation for Name

2d Heading north for winter month from the south, travel in blanket (5)
BEFOG: Reverse (heading north) an abbreviated winter month then reverse (from the south) a synonym of travel. Perhaps not the smoothest surface read.

3d Brewer's stance (6)
TEAPOT: Double/cryptic definition, the second an (affected) pose. Maybe a question mark would help here.

 

4d Essential mineral's up most, as in short supply (9)
POTASSIUM: Anagram (supply) of UP MOST AS In.

5d Topping republican becoming town's first citizen (5)
MAYOR: A salad topping and the abbreviation for Republican. Nice succinct clue.

6d City where leaders adopt tailcoat occasionally (7)
VATICAN: An informal VANguard placed around TaIlCoAt

7d Fetish is needing a cosh kinkily applied, grasped by heartless Madam (9)
MASOCHISM: Is from the clue preceded by an anagram (what an indicator!)of A COSH all inserted into the outer letters of MadaM.

8d Greatly amused by opponents crushing the French (4)
SLEW: Two bridge opponents placed around a French definite article

13d Act on Fashion Director's maxim for youngsters in uniform (2,8)
BE PREPARED: Put together a synonym of act, one of fashion as a verb and the abbreviation for Daughter. I think the youngsters here may be Scouts.

15d Result the Spanish in retrospect excluded after election corruption... (9)
POLLUTION: A synonym of an election plus one of result missing a reversal (in retrospect) of a Spanish definite article

17d …the noxious activity of Lucrezia? (9)
POISONING: A mildly cryptic definition of the acts of a famous Lucrezla

20d Correspondence from Juliett and Charlie? (7)
LETTERS: Double/cryptic definition, the second being a reference to the phonetic alphabet

22d Looks to have half perked up on Greek Island (6)
DEKKOS: A reversal of the the second half of perKED plus a Greek Island

24d Gauge of distance in Texas? (5)
METER: How an American spells a metric distance.

26d Finally get a new start with South American trip (5)
TANGO: The final letter of geT plus A from the clue, the abbreviation for New and a synonym of start

27d Sanctum substantially stifles rampant disease (4)
SMUT: Hidden and reversed (stifles rampant…in a down clue)

 

28 comments on “NTSPP 743

  1. I found this quite tough but very enjoyable – many thanks to Jeemz.
    The parsing of 13d held me up for some time and I decided in the end that the ‘act’ must be a musical group.
    I particularly liked 4a, 5d, 6d, 15d and 26d with my favourite being the very clever 7d.

    1. I too wasn’t sure about 13d, Gazza. Rightly or wrongly, I decided that “be” and “act” could (just about) be synonymous as in “be/act” your age.

      1. I parsed it (eventually) as BEP (Black Eyed Peas, act) + RE (on) + PARE (fashion) + D(irector).
        I could be wrong!

        1. Gaza, Act = BE fashion = PREPARE + D(irector) is how it’s parsed.
          Be as in I’m going to be/act in a play
          Or as RD parsed it act/be your age. I thought that worked ok

          1. Thanks Jeemz. I wasn’t totally convinced by my parsing but I did discover that BEP is used as an abbreviation for the band.

        2. My probably wrong parsing was BE (act) + PREPARE (fashion) +D (director). :unsure:

  2. Goodness me, Jeemz, that was tough. I did enjoy the challenge but it was pretty close to defeating me.

    I’m definitely not an expert in such matters, and I am probably missing something, but shouldn’t the definition for 7d be “fetishism”?

    The Thursday in 4a was very clever and I only found it via Google after it became obvious from the checking letters what the answer must be. I can’t find anything in any dictionary about “stance” being a definition for 3d, and 17d doesn’t seem at all cryptic to me but again with this one perhaps I am missing something.

    I was blown off track by 31a, for which I originally entered “rib”, which seems to be a feasible answer (except for the wrong checking letter).

    I had loads of ticks, and 4a got my vote as favourite once the penny dropped.

    Many thanks to Jeemz and in advance to SL (?).

    1. RD, 3d. I took this as a cryptic definition (needs a ? really) with the stance = carriage/vehicle or vessel delivering the brewer’s tea. But am I clutching at straws? It might be a bit indirect to get from stance to the answer via that route.

        1. Yes, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. There is such a position in yoga. Well thought out!

    2. Thanks RD. Googling teapot stance provides ample illustrations of this stance or pose by sport players et al. Or maybe the nursery rhyme on the subject might help! Sorry if it didn’t immediately spring to mind.

      1. The nursery rhyme did it for me. Always a favourite with little ones!

  3. Some of this was well outside of my comfort zone and having read the explanation from jeemz regarding 13d I’m not at all surprised that I resorted to writing in whatever would fit on certain occasions and moving on!
    From the ones that I did parse satisfactorily, my ticks went to 9,11& 29a.

    Thanks to Jeemz for the Saturday challenge, apologies for relying too heavily on inspired guesswork at times.

  4. Certainly a challenge but we did get most of it eventually. One that we missed was 3d and one of our team has been doing yoga for more than 30 years and had never heard of it before. We also haven’t twigged the significance of Thursday in 4a yet.
    Thanks Jeemz.

      1. Thanks Gazza. We had got it just before you posted but did need Google for confirmation.

  5. Many thanks to all who have commented. It does seem this has been quite a bit tougher than I had intended. I did think the teapot pose or stance adopted by actors or anyone feeling indignant would have been familiar to most. Had no idea it was a yoga stance though!

    I had hoped Sloop John Bee might have popped in as i think he may well have spotted the mini theme that’s referenced in 9 of the clues.

  6. We found this tough and had to reveal some starter letters and then struggled to parse some of our answers. Nevertheless we enjoyed the challenge – but it was a struggle! Thank you Jeemz and Stephen L.

  7. Gardening chores took precedence over the NTSPP during the day, but I enjoyed solving this over a glass of wine in the evening. Well, actually, that became 2 or 3 glasses of wine as it was tougher than anticipated, or perhaps the effect of the wine was starting to take hold… :scratch:
    I noted some very good surfaces and several very devious misleads, plus a couple of unusual ‘instructions’ – ‘byzantine’ & ‘rampant’. I wasn’t aware previously that the Juliet in the phonetic aphabet is, in fact, Juliett, but then I have only known it phonetically! I didn’t know the Australian island either but with 2 checkers in a 3-letter word it just had to be – and was. And I did get 30a wrong as I had never heard of Tong, and tried hard to justify ‘tags’ as ‘costumes’ – which I couldn’t, but I wasn’t able to come up with an alternative. My favourite clues were 1a, 29a and 1d.
    My thanks to Jeemz for a fun, challenging puzzle and to StephenL for introducing me to a Chinese society!

    1. I still had the wikipedia page open and just noticed that ‘A’ is ‘Alfa’ and not ‘Alpha’. All these years of blissful ignorance…

      P.S. Did somebody mention a theme..? :unsure:

  8. Many thanks for the review, Stephen, which answered my parsing dilemmas even though I’m still slightly uncomfortable about the odd one. Did you by any chance pick up on the theme Jeemz mentioned?

    1. I was blissfully unaware of the theme Jane but no doubt curiosity will lead me to investigate and see what I’ve been missing

  9. Many thanks Stephen L for the comprehensive review.
    The theme, such as it was, might be a bit dated for some. Tom Lehrer songs appear in various places . Oedipus Rex, Be prepared, Vatican Rag – among others. He was a genius of his time and all his songs are available for your amusement on you tube. Highly recommended viewing!

    1. Sorry I missed this on Saturday, I did not have enough time at the end of the day
      Jeemz gave me a nudge when 1d appeared in the Sunday Toughie but I am sure I would have spotted Tom Lehrer’s Poisoning Pigeons in the Park whilst dancing The Masochism Tango to the tune of the Vatican Rag, maybe I (rather like Oedipus Rex) should spend more time on crosswords rather than loving my mother a bit too much

        1. 15d and 27d are Tom songs too and maybe 9a references Fight Fiercely Harvard and 4d is one of the Elements but it was just one of one hundred and eight “discarvard” at the time Tom composed it

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