A Puzzle by Hubble
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Congratulations to Hubble on becoming a nationally-published setter and many thanks for this enjoyable puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Left out of team, doctor, quietly withdrawn, had some retail therapy (7)
DROPPED: a 2-letter abbreviation for doctor followed by a verb meaning ‘had some retail therapy’ without the instruction to act quietly.
5a Bear getting aggressive finally in muddy ground (7)
UNDERGO: insert the final letter of aggressive into an anagram (muddy) of GROUND.
9a Following publicity, one made changes to parade (9)
PROMENADE: the 2-letter abbreviation for publicity or public relations and an anagram (changes) of ONE MADE.
10a Media group's leading article for newsreel producer (5)
PATHÉ: the name of a media group based in London and a definite article give us the name of the organization that used to provide news in cinemas prior to the development of television.
11a Plan to introduce drug shortly to school (6)
SKETCH: insert the abbreviation (not in the BRB or Collins as far as I can see) of a recreational drug into the abbreviation for school.
12a Licenses secretary shelters (7)
PATENTS: the abbreviation for a top secretary and flimsy shelters.
13a Required singers to finish early (3)
DUE: a pair of singers without their last letter.
14a Herb's clutching hip base (7)
THYMINE: a herb of the mint family containing an adjective meaning hip or trendy gives us one of the bases of nucleic acids.
15a Rip off European researchers' business (7)
CONCERN: a rip-off or scam and the European research organization based in Geneva.
18a Bishop's responsibility to rearrange deaconries strangely ran out (7)
DIOCESE: an anagram (to rearrange) of DEACONRIES after we’ve removed the anagram (strangely) of RAN.
20a Dedicated hiding place for hearing aid? (7)
EARNEST: cryptically as 3,4 this could be a hiding place for a hearing aid.
22a New and old director showing sign of approval (3)
NOD: stick together abbreviations for new, old and director.
23a For this reason stay around with application (7)
BECAUSE: a verb to stay or exist, the 2-letter abbreviation meaning around or approximately and a synonym of application.
25a Trouble when king deposed by sibling (6)
BOTHER: remove the Latin abbreviation for king from a male sibling.
27a Second bung needed for post (5)
STAMP: the abbreviation for second and a verb to bung or pack.
28a I can contrarily block technology company's contraption (9)
APPLIANCE: I and an anagram (contrarily) of CAN go inside a major US technology company.
29a Back last mount in Bow? (7)
ENDORSE: how a Cockney might describe the final finisher in the 2:25 at Epsom.
30a Skill set army's developed (7)
MASTERY: an anagram (developed) of SET ARMY.
Down Clues
1d Act to cover advance put in place (9)
DEPOSITED: a synonym of act contains a verb to advance or propose.
2d Move about between Oregon and east New York with Rockies builder maybe (7)
OROGENY: reverse a verb to move between the standard abbreviation for Oregon and abbreviations for east and New York. The answer is, apparently, a word for the process by which mountains are formed.
3d Recommend drug ban expressing love for tablet (9)
PRESCRIBE: start with a verb to ban and replace the love-resembling letter with the abbreviation for a drug tablet.
4d Unable to pick up what is certainly broadcast (4)
DEAF: this sounds like a slang term meaning certainly.
5d Out of the blue a French lover once went around court (10)
UNEXPECTED: assemble ‘a’ in French, a word for a previous lover and a verb meaning went or urinated containing the map abbreviation for court.
6d Clear out marijuana in warehouse? (5)
DEPOT: cryptically, as 2-3 this could mean to clear out marijuana. Ideally the question mark would be placed next to the first bit rather than the warehouse.
7d Country club fool turning up on first train (7)
RETINUE: reverse the abbreviation for the club of countries we no longer belong to and a fool then precede that with a preposition meaning on or concerning.
8d Run out of deliveries for new baker's hotspots (5)
OVENS: start with cricket deliveries made in batches of six and replace the abbreviation for run with that of new.
13d Go back on up during appointment that's worse than before (10)
DEGENERATE: reverse a verb to go back on or fail to honour inside a possibly romantic appointment.
16d Managed to rise above company jerks supplying dope (9)
NARCOTICS: reverse a verb meaning managed and follow that with the abbreviation for company and some facial jerks.
17d Virginia's expulsion from class initially not over bad reputation (9)
NOTORIETY: remove the abbreviation for Virginia from a synonym of class or type and precede that with NOT and the abbreviation for a crickety over.
19d Where trees may be grown or burned reportedly (7)
ORCHARD: OR and a homophone of burned or blackened.
21d Stormy English Channel nearly causes swell (7)
ENHANCE: an anagram (stormy) of E[nglish] CHANNE[L].
23d Sew bottom of tent within camp (5)
BASTE: insert the bottom letter of tent into a camp or settlement.
24d Superior stuffing for meals arriving later (5)
UPPER: the stuffing (i.e. inside bits) of meals consumed later in the day.
26d Posts pamphlet carrying undesirable message (4)
SPAM: hidden in the clue.
Thanks Hubble for an enjoyable ‘caffeine free’ solve with smiles for 18a, 5d, 6d, and 16d.
The NW caused some head scratching but that was probably self-induced! Although 14a and 2d were somewhat obscure for me.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Stephen L.
Hubble is now a nationally-published setter so it won’t be Stephen blogging this one. I have several commitments taking up my time, so Gazza will be doing the review
Thanks Sue and thanks in advance to Gazza.
This was a very enjoyable lunchtime diversion, but one in which the NW corner was several orders of magnitude more difficult than the rest. One part of that difficulty was self-inflicted by spending ages trying to justify “scheme” as the answer to 11a.
I am not convinced that “licenses” is a valid definition for 12a. Nor does the definition for 2d (admittedly a word I’ve never heard of) make much sense to me. The BRB says the answer is a time period when mountains are being formed.
I often reflect on how much crossword setters rely on drugs knowledge and this puzzle was no exception!
I had lots of ticks on my page with 6d my favourite.
Many thanks to Hubble.
You might say that the setters are ‘addicted’ to recreational pharmaceuticals
The 12a answer are types of licences, though the setter appears to be usinging the verbal forms here.
The 2d answer is a mountain-building process where the Earth’s crust is crumpled/uplifted due to plate tectonics. So, the answer could be said to be (maybe): Rockies builder.
Like RD, I found this to be an enjoyable lunchtime diversion although my lunch hour was obviously appreciably longer than his! I found one word that I simply didn’t know. one that needed confirmation and several that gave me the run-around until I had some checkers in place. Can’t help wondering whether our setter has picked up his drug knowledge from a certain ‘arry Hoskins!
Leader board here shows 1&15a plus 6&16d with a mention for 29a – a chestnut but it still makes me laugh.
Thanks to Hubble and hope Gazza’s got some good cartoons lined up for the review!
That had us working hard, but we did eventually get everything sorted. 1a became our favourite once we had got it round the right way.
Thanks Hubble.
Many thanks for the review Gazza although you let me down on the cartoon front. Congratulations to Hubble on finally getting financial reward for his efforts!
Sorry for the dearth of cartoons, I’m busy this morning. I’ll try to do better this coming Wednesday.
Many thanks to those of you who have taken the time to comment on the puzzle. A big thank-you also to Gazza for the explanations. May I just quickly point out that KET as short for KETAMINE is the first entry in Collins online. Finally, thanks to all at BD involved in publishing the puzzle.
Late night / early morning entertainment for me and it suited the reference-free time slot perfectly. Only one dictionary check required this morning to confirm the ‘base’, which I had come across previously – but goodness knows where! On my printout the down clues won the day by 5 ticks to 1; with 5 (notwithstanding the cheeky ‘went’), 6, 7, 19 & 21 outnumbering the lonely 1a.
Many thanks to both Hubble and Gazza.