Our setter also (mostly) eschews the laconic, which gives scope for some rather evocative mini-dramas throughout. It’s at least possible that Charlotte Proudman, the “Portia” who turned an aging lawyer’s inended gallant comment into a degrading insult/suffered an egregious, sexist assault on her on-line persona*, will have something to say about a couple of the clues. I wonder if she does the Times?
Anyway, I had fun with ths one, and present for your interest, correction and amusement my interpretation of this excellent setter’s intentions, in which, as ever, the answer in bold capitals is followed by the definition, and on the next line(s) justified by the wordplay:
Across
1 NOTE ROW musical series
More commonly the (slightly unnerving anagram) tone row the basis of serial music favoured by Stockhausen et al (et Radio 3). Constructed by reversing was in: WORE and fashion: TON
5 JOSEPH one colourfully robed
He of the amazing technicolour dreamcoat (or, in more accurate and prosaic versions, “a long robe with sleeves” – much duller). Kid: JOSH encloses record: E(xtended) P(lay)
8 PLAY A PART (to) contribute
Freedom (sc of movement) provides the PLAY bit, and to one side APART
9 URBAN City’s
Note the apostrophe S, so “belonging to the city”. The “wingers” in UproaR BAN, or stop playing. Play to the whistle, guys.
11 NEEDY Poor
Jounalist is the usual ED(itor) and the old Marshal is Napoleon’s trusted sidekick NEY
12 OVERTHROW to remove from seat
Spare: OVER; blanket: THROW, of the sort you chuck over the bed to hide a mutitude of Tracy Emin leftovers.
13 NONTOXIC Ok to take
Can’t make up my mind whether this definition is exquisite or rather loose. The centre of oNCe “co-opts” ONTO XI, perhaps the most common of “teams” in Latin. Much harder to work in the more current XV. Collins has this unhyphenated version, Chambers doesn’t.
15 LEG BYE
Cryptic definition. In cricket, a run/single (or more) is scored when the ball strikes the batsman’s pad (or other parts not necessarily below the waist) and ricochets off in such a fashion as to allow the batsman time to run to the other end. There are other niceties to this concession.
17 ERFURT German town
Matin Luther went to University fhere, and Pachelbel’s greatest hit may well have been composed during his residency. I was there in 1975, when the only light and entertainment in the streets after dark was a gang of men and women repairing the tram tracks. In the DDR, such things pulled in quite a crowd. Here, father produces FR, and in fact produses TRUE. insert one into the other and reverse.
19 FOOTFALL Number of customers in shop
FOOT, to pay, is placed up front of FALL, decline
22 DISHWATER ….this?
An anagramatical &lit where WASH DIRT and the end of teatimE provide the source materials, off and around the instructions.
23 MOURN to put on (widow’s) weeds
Maybe another cricket reference, though it doesn’t have to be. Second: MO, and lot of ashes URN.
24 THEISM DEISM belief
Elsewhere also defined as “an unhealthy condition resulting from too much tea-drinking”, which is surely impossible. Take the odd letters from DiEd InSoMe and this mini History of Religion resolves itself into your answer. Thanks to Ulaca for possibly the smoothest and most elegant correction ever seen in these pages. Sadly, my comment on tea drinking is now incomprehesible, but I’ve left it in because it would have been interesting had it been apposite.
25 KILOJOULE Quantity of work
Carefully separating the words of the clue: to do in unfinished is KIL(l), add O(ld) and something that can, in certain circumstances, be understood to sound like jewel.
26 JENNER old physician
The vaccination man to whom the entire world owes an enormous debt and a life-long fear of pointy things. A common soubriquet for the wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) is JENNY, which we shorten (briefly) and introduce to the longest reigning monarch in Britsih history.
27 SURPLUS what’s not required
A (mis?)pronounciation of surplice, the habit/cothing of a clergyman.
Down
1 NO PUN INTENDED didn’t mean to joke
A religious sister, or NUN, embraces (for example a) nose job, or OP (definition by example justified by the ?). Fiancé provides the INTENDED.
2 TRADE-IN …this?
Not quite as flawless an &lit, perhaps, but it’s a hidden reverse in deNIED ARTicle.
3 READY on hand
Touching is RE, and the woman is, though topless, unmistakeably a (l)ADY. Sniggering at the back is probably now illegal. Stop it.
4 WHAT OF IT Does it matter
HOW, FAT and 1 (one) are awfully well arranged over T(ime)
5 JOTTER notepad.
The writer in French is JE. (Electrical) resistance gives thr R, and OTT the too much stored within.
6 SQUATTEST shorter than the others
A SQUAT is “a weightlifting exercise in which a weight is lifted by a person rising from a squatting position”. An assessment thereof is a TEST.
7 PUB GRUB Local (sc inn, hostelry) dishes
The boxer is a PUG(ilist). Insert B(lack) (The Times hasn’t got round to K, yet) followed by ointment, (a) RUB.
10 NEW ZEALANDERS People
Tempting to waste time looking for anagrams. Try not to. Your Swede is ANDERS (such as Celsius) which follows NEW (mint) and ZEAL (heat).
14 OARSWOMAN One female in eight.
We could be in trouble here for this damn lie of a statistic (probably). For those lady lawyers easily upset and unfamiliar with cryptic crosswords, let me explain that the words “IS A MORON” are simply the letters of our answer treated roughly, and not a comment on the mental prowess of the – um – fair sex. Dear me no. Not at all.
16 NO FRILLS plain
N(ame), plus OF standing in for “associated with”, and streams are RILLS. Ryan Air style flying, except they keep trying to sell you the frills throughout your airbourne captivity.
18 FESTIVE for carnival
I liked this one. Once you twig that V is 5 (Latin again), placing it round a convolution of SET is easy.
20 AS USUAL predicatably.
Two A articles and two US Americas and one L(arge) are assembled in the order given by the clue and reversed.
21 STOKER Irish author
Which came as a surprise to me. Anyway, think Dracula and you have him. Feed provides STOKE, and Rumour at the outset adds the R
23 MAJOR System of changes
I think this refers to campanology, in which a major bob is a series in which eight bells are rung in a constantly changing sequence until you get round to the one you started with. Major Barbara is a play by (George Bernard) Shaw. You wait all crossword for an irish writer, then two turn up at once.
*delete according to taste, courage or sensitivity.
I ring church bells, and it never occurred to me that “System of changes” could mean “Major”. Mainly because it doesn’t.
A ‘Method’ is the word that means a system of changes.
‘Major’ refers means quite simply to the number of working bells in a method. You are correct it means 8 bells.
Having said that, I suspect your parsing of the clue is correct in that it is supposed to refer to this, and that there have been no other concerns from solvers reflects that this has been accepted as legit.
Quite Interesting since this thread talks so much of required knowledge, bemoaning cricket and classics, when something as arcane as bellringing is happily ignored, especially with a clue so obscure it beats a campanologist with toshness!… 🙂
Great puzzle all the same, and excellently blogged.
–Steve
I don’t want to bore you with ringing terms, but since you bothered to research a bit … ‘Bob Major’ is a method, and is a shortened term for ‘Plain Bob Major’ where ‘Plain Bob’ is the specific method and ‘Major’ means on 8 bells.
All the possible combinations of rows on 8 bells is 8! (factorial) – 40320. This can’t be done in a method without using ‘calls’ to cause bells to change places within the methods. These calls are called a “Bob” … which just goes to confuse the matter.
The full number of changes on 8 bells has only been done a couple of time as it takes approximately 24 hours to complete! Easier on 6 bells (called Minor) – 720 rows, nearer 20 minutes…