Many thanks to all who took part in this week’s challenge, a good turn out with a great range of clues.
Many good anagrams and constructions from Geeker, Paul, Tyke, Jimmy and Aristo. Geeker@31’s surface was one of the best of these I thought.
SimpleSimon’s ‘subby’ @6 was also particularly good - I liked “blind” as the subtraction indicator.
Enjoyed Chris’s “Albert Ross” homophone - which I had to look up to confirm - but is a character in
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (who gets murdered) and is an intentional reference to Coleridge.
Mattrom@3 was cunning as “a salt’s undoing” could equally serve as definition. I also learned from Mattrom’s next clue that the Ross Sea is the world’s “southernmost”.
Enjoyed Mathprof and Fiery’s Python references, see clip below, the only one I could find, from a live performance in LA.
The &lit-ish “primarily” clue from Geeker@16 was up there with the best we see on a weekly basis from Everyman ;-)
Excellent technical construction from Patrick@17, though if I had a quibble it would be that ‘batsman’ for ‘bat’ is a bit too close.
Buddy@28 shares “best literary clue” with Chris. Hats off to you, Buddy, if you read the entire work to find the “storm-blast” reference!
Enjoyed the reverse hiddens from Geeker@30 and Spike@22 which I wasn’t expecting. My favourite being Spike’s for the fact that it crosses over four words, while skipping some punctuation and also has a great surface.
Finally, just as I as was thinking no one had referenced Fleetwood Mac, BBM came to the rescue @40 with the “birdy song” (good to see you back Marty!). The link below was the best I could find.
My final shortlist included Geeker’s primarily, Spike’s reverse hidden, Buddy’s literary and Mattrom’s “a salt’s undoing”. However, for the deception and smooth surface I’m going with Spike’s…
Heavyweight tongs. Sort a blacksmith carries around (9)
Congratulations Spike, here are your prizes…
Ian McKellan reading Coleridge. Skip to 2:50 - 3:50 for the appearance and subsequent demise of the albatross. And 5:25 - 6:40 (which starts with “water, water, everywhere…”) for the bit where the mariner is forced by the crew to wear the dead bird around his neck. (I’ve listened to the rest so you don’t have to!).
https://youtu.be/1raSUYAr0s0
Fleetwood Mac in 1970. I think the footage is probably from BBC2’s
The Old Grey Whistle Test. I would have been three at the time and I dare say it was past my bedtime!
https://youtu.be/Viqr6KHwJjc
The Python reference…
https://youtu.be/wrqW_BZu5Xk
…and some golf…
https://youtu.be/3811r0Hk8DY
Cheers all!