Completed in 17.36 with no major hold-ups, though the novel may not be on everyone’s reading list. I enjoyed this, especially with some well-worked long anagrams which fell out easily enough, and some witty and smile-inducing clues distributed amongst the rest. I did wonder whether the inclusion of the familiar snake in the first column was deliberate – I rather hope it was.
On with the analysis, in which these are definitions, deleted and excluded letters appear in [], and everything else is, I hope, clearly enough set out.
| Across | |
| 1 | However made, a TV programme easy to dip in and out of (2,2,5) |
| AS IT COMES – A TV programme here is A SITCOM to which add the odd letters of EaSy, signified rather neatly by “dip in and out of”. | |
| 6 | Carried on getting regular money (5) |
| WAGED – Two definitions, the first as in carrying on a war. | |
| 9 | Novel way to prepare extending the patio? (3,3,4,5) |
| PUT OUT MORE FLAGS – If you don’t know the Evelyn Waugh novel, this could be fairly opaque, but it’s represented by a succinct suggestion in the rest of the clue for how to extend a paved area such as a patio. You could try taking up the TLS, where this sort of entry crops up regularly. | |
| 10 | Babies here in playground wearing red (6) |
| CRÈCHE – A playground is a REC, which here dons everyone’s favourite red, Ernesto “CHE” Guevara. If you can find a way of entering the grave accent by all means do, but it messes up 2d. | |
| 11 | Two sources of energy containing key blend (8) |
| COALESCE – Two uses of “sources”, too, one being COAL the other being the first letter of E[nergy]. The key to be entered is (probably) top left of your keyboard, ESC. Blend here is a verb. | |
| 13 | Her actions damaged one of several branches (5,5) |
| CHAIN STORE – A kind anagram (damaged) of HER ACTIONS | |
| 14 | School leaving German castle in deficit (4) |
| LOSS – A German castle is a SCHLOSS, from which SCH[ool] is removed | |
| 16 | Takes on board chairs, not the first (4) |
| EATS – Chairs are SEATS, scratch letter one. Some clues are easier than others. | |
| 17 | Visited a fellow motoring enthusiast to give a bit of a hand (10) |
| METACARPAL – One of the bones between wrist and fingers. The wordplay spreads it to MET A CAR PAL | |
| 19 | Authoritative impression of reserve with a little money around (8) |
| PRESENCE – As evidenced by impressive people. RES[erve] surrounded by PENCE, a little money | |
| 20 | Bother sailors beginning to swab decks (6) |
| ADORNS – You know this meaning of decks from the unseasonal “deck the halls with boughs of holly”. Bother, fuss is ADO, sailors are the R[oyal] N[avy], add the beginning of S[wabs] | |
| 23 | Sorting out problems with noise in parliament? (15) |
| TROUBLESHOOTING – Rather &litish, though my definition works on its own. Problems is/are TROUBLES, and the noise from a parliament of owls is HOOTING. Fun clue. | |
| 24 | A prison is busy (5) |
| ASTIR – STIR is one of many slang terms for a prison, origin uncertain. The A in front completes our answer. | |
| 25 | Several weeks in Provence introduced to provide rest (9) |
| REMAINDER – Well, we’re still in May, and in Provence they’re in MAI. introduce it to RENDER for provide. That meaning of rest. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | It sets like a shot (5) |
| ASPIC – A savoury jelly. Like gives AS, and a PIC is a shot. | |
| 2 | Finally hotel-resistant, staggering around end of tour (2,3,4,6) |
| IN THE LAST RESORT – An anagram (staggering) of HOTEL-RESISTANT and [tou]R. I initially had AT…, which doesn’t work. | |
| 3 | Herald’s lying in grass with a collection of books (8) |
| COUCHANT – We’re in the heraldry collection of words. COUCH grass is a variant of wheat, to which A N[ew] T[estament] is added | |
| 4 | Egotist’s urgent claim that spreads online (4) |
| MEME – ME! ME! | |
| 5 | Boor reacts furiously — language! (5-5) |
| SERBO-CROAT – and anagram (furiously) of BOOR REACTS | |
| 6 | Exhausted fiancée stops scheming like some women (6) |
| WIFELY – “Empty” F[iancé]E and place it within WILY for scheming | |
| 7 | Dropping arms, she strangely exhibits small attention span (11,4) |
| GRASSHOPPER MIND – Which I endeavour manfully to keep under control. An anagram (strangely) of DROPPING ARMS SHE. | |
| 8 | Splitting up, speak rudely to individual not working (9) |
| DISPERSAL – DIS (sometimes with an extra S) for speak rudely, then individual gives PERSONAL, without the working ON | |
| 12 | Don’t go near ox, plainly (5,5) |
| STEER CLEAR – Ox: STEER, plainly: CLEAR. Succinct. | |
| 13 | Pale actor transformed her death scene? (9) |
| CLEOPATRA – An anagram (transformed) of PALE ACTOR gives the most famous snake bite victim in history. The clue would have been perfect if an asp (Shakespeare’s version) or other venomous candidate were pale, but I can’t verify that. | |
| 15 | Cooking Italian brought up to eat with old men (8) |
| TANDOORI – Several Italian cooking products fit the space, if not the crossers, and I tried most of them before realising that it’s the reverse (brought up) of IT[alian] taking in AND for with and O[ld] O[ther]R[anks] men. Today’s most complex clue. | |
| 18 | Leg after end of swim, one still glowing (6) |
| MEMBER – EMBER, for one still glowing, follows the end of [swi]M | |
| 21 | Source of sweetness in sauces from the south (5) |
| SUGAR – Sauces here are RAGUS (now we get Italian cooking!). in a down clue, “from the south” indicates reversal. | |
| 22 | Fancy wife being supported by that man (4) |
| WHIM – W[ife] above that man, HIM | |
10:09 – got off to a pretty slow start with this one, only a few across answers went in at a first glance. I had to write down the long anagram letters to piece together GRASSHOPPER MIND and IN THE LAST RESORT
Very frustrating! Unfortunately 2dn has four possibilities if you have no clue about the parsing. I started off with AT THE LAST MINUTE and the crossers only worked for THE LAST. I finally fixed up ASTIR by changing MINUTE to MOMENT. After more problems with the crossers I fixed RESORT but still couldn’t get 1ac. I finally put IN for AT and completed the puzzle.
Thanks Z
NHO the novel. Somehow, IN THE LAST RESORT doesn’t seem quite right, I’ve heard ‘as a last resort’. NHO GRASSHOPPER MIND but I think I suffered from it this morning. Liked COUCHANT which was a NHO but got from the wordplay. Luckily ‘Schloss’ came up on Pointless yesterday so LOSS was a write-in. Liked REMAINDER with several weeks in Provence for Mai, and AS IT COMES with the dip in and out device. COD to TROUBLESHOOTING for the parliamentary din, very clever.
Thanks Z and setter.
Really liked this. But would never have come up with the novel unaided.
Fortunately, Put Out More Flags is one of my favorite Waugh novels – it’s the one where he allows Basil Seal to run wild. I initially biffed The Sun Also Rises, which is the usual 15-letter novel in that letter pattern, but it didn’t seem right. I also had a wrong answer in stand clear, and couldn’t read my handwriting, which held me up considerably. I eventually managed to finish by biffing troubleshooting, without really seeing the wordplay.
Time: 45:22
I also biffed THE SUN ALSO RISES!
I’m afraid TANDOORI was one piece of complexity too many for me, even though I was convinced that my second-last-in METACARPAL (arrived at with a feeling of some triumph) would provide the crosser that made it all clear. But no, so DNF in 40ish. Some very good clues here, this degree of difficulty seems about right for me (if we ignore tandoori)…thanks Z.
From Tweedle-Dee Dum and Tweedle-Dee Dee:
Tweedle-dee Dum says to Tweedle-dee Dee
Your PRESENCE is obnoxious to me.
29 minutes. I knew the book title which must be one of the few Waugh novels I have not read although I think I have watched it adapted for TV. All the anagram answers jumped out at me.
Always a bit reluctant to say I don’t know a novel on this forum but slightly relieved reading to see I was not the only one.
NHO GRASSHOPPER MIND or COUCHANT either but managed to piece them together.
LOI TANDOORI which after seeing the i at the end I was convinced was going to be some sort of Italian chef and I left it until the end. After much thought, it finally came.
Nice to break a run of two DNFs
COD METACARPAL
Thanks blogger and setter
29:05. I was way off the wavelength today, as evidenced by having the worst WITCH at time of typing. Still, I was just pleased to get over the line after such a struggle. Like zabadak once I had 15D ending O_I I was thinking MACARONI, RIGATONI, etc so was surprised to end up with TANDOORI. I finished with COUCHANT which I suspect we have seen before, given that I’m not overly familiar with couch grass or heraldry.
31.12 so not fast, but several really enjoyable clues made the time pass quickly.
FOI LOSS
LOI COUCHANT (despite having a friend who is a Herald)
COD METACARPAL
Thanks Z and setter.
33:40 – 1 error
Slow but steady – and although I had never heard of 7D, it was easy once everything else was resolved. And then I foolishly convinced myself PRETENCE somehow worked!
Thank you, Zabadak and the setter.
24:22, LOI was TANDOORI where I spent a couple of minutes thinking about Italian foods, distracted by the phrasing of the clue and the -I at the end. Then I mentally stepped back and had an aha moment.
I knew the novel luckily.
I thought that was a good puzzle.
Thanks setter and blogger 🙂
47 minutes, a bit disappointing since I knew the Waugh and did once break two metacarpals making a cup of coffee. Insisting on spelling DISS like that and without the second s was not helpful. Neither was that famous Italian cooking method TANDOORI. COD to MEME. Thank you Z and setter.
Gah. I’ve avoided OWL (One Wrong Letter) club for a while, but I’m back in it today with PRETENCE rather than PRESENCE, having misunderstood ‘Authoritative impression’ and convinced myself that ‘ret’ might somehow mean reserve.
– Biffed AS IT COMES once I had enough checkers
– Also needed all the checkers to get the unknown PUT OUT MORE FLAGS, and even then I wasn’t completely confident as to me it didn’t sound like the title of a novel
– Had no idea how REMAINDER worked as I was fixated on ‘weeks in Provence’ giving semaines
– Didn’t know (or had forgotten) couch as a grass, but I knew about COUCHANT heralds
– Not really familiar with the term GRASSHOPPER MIND, but eventually I saw it from the anagrist
Thanks Zabadak and setter.
COD Troubleshooting
A slow 37 mins. NHO the novel, should have RESORTed to pen and paper to work out which letters were left in 2d. All a bit beyond reach of much biffing for me so had to do it the hard way.
LOI DISPERSAL after finally dredging schLOSS.
COD COUCHANT
Thanks to Zabadak and setter.
27:42* (silly typo)
As yesterday I went off like a train before coming to a heavy stop with about 5 to go. COUCHANT unknown (as was COUCH for grass), the novel was an unknown too, and I took an age to put together the language, DISPERSAL and METACARPAL.
No complaints and an entertaining solve.
Thanks to both.
19.32
TANDOORI really was quite sneaky (in a good way) and my LOI. Briefly wondered about COUGH (up) for grass but came to my senses. Also had PRETENCE but for a change made myself re-think rather than hitting and hoping. Smiled at the CAR PAL
Thanks Z and setter
I also considered COUGH!
I don’t think I knew COUCHANT previously, but my main problem was completely failing to identify the definition for several minutes. Once I saw that, I was much happier constructing it, trusting that there was such a grass, and relying on some semantic overlap between lying & the furniture item.
Also hit the OWL as Chris Lytton did, with pretence! Worked really hard to get wifely for some reason, and once you have it, it seems so easy!! Still took me a full hour. Beg the question be answered about the snake, I do not know what it refers to, best and thanks, Carolyn
It’s a quotation from Shakespeare’s Antony and CLEOPATRA, by the “Countryman” who delivers a basket of figs which conceals the asp (Shakespeare’s identification) the queen uses to commit suicide. Cleo’s words to him: “Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there
That kills and pains not?”
Before she applies the asp o breast and arm, her parting kiss to Iras, one of her attendants, appears to be fatal, giving rise to the line “Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?” Hence my assertion that 1d can’t be coincidence.
Failed with PRETENCE.
Just looked up heraldry in the Thesaurus, and it’s chock full of AZED/MEPHISTO beauties. I think there was a university challenge question on various coats of arms this season.
Flummoxed by TANDOORI despite identifying all the components separately as convinced the IT had to be the last two letters reversed – kicking myself as would have been inside 20 mins
FOI WAGED
COD METACARPAL
Made a bit of a mess of this. Got all the ‘hard’ ones, but had DISPERSED and STAND CLEAR, which made METACARPAL impossible. A reminder to be sure the wretched answers work before bunging in something that seems about right.
Those were the two I had, along with an F in 6 down that looked like an E!
30:58
Nothing too troublesome apart from the mystery cooking, but plenty of bits missed. Some notes:
AS IT COMES – didn’t see the wordplay at all! Very good
PUT OUT MORE FLAGS – read several of Waugh’s years ago, so was aware of this book, but don’t think I got around to reading it – perhaps I’ll give it a try
REMAINDER – over my head
IN THE LAST RESORT – as with others, started out with AT THE LAST, but that was kyboshed by the lack of two As
COUCHANT – forgotten about COUCH grass, had the end bit OK, but needed all the checkers to get the rest
TANDOORI – with just this and ADORNS left, I tried all manner of pastas before coming up with 20a which gave the all-important D, the rest falling into place surprisingly easily
GRASSHOPPER MIND – not come across this in real life, but believe it’s been here somewhere before. Worked out from writing it out with five checkers in place.
Liked MET A CAR PAL.
Thanks Z and setter
About 22 minutes, with LOI TANDOORI being the only word to do with food that I could think of which fitted. Some nice anagrams made it easier. I liked the owls reference, of course, and MET A CAR PAL.
Started with MEME and SERBO CROAT, then had to head south and work my way back. Didn’t know the novel so had to assemble it bit by bit. TANDOORI was LOI as I looked at the crossers and noticed that it would fit. I did manage to reverse engineer it before submitting, and also did a proof read which saved me from THE LAST ESORTT and TRRUBLESHOOTING. 24:37. Thanks setter and Z.
24:50 – no major hold-ups but a steady toughish solve. Didn’t understand REMAINDER (duh) until coming here, but once I had untangled TANDOORI, it couldn’t have been anything else. Surprised to see Put Out More Flags isn’t universally known among this learned gathering; well worth a few evenings of anyone’s time.
I don’t know whether it’s just me, but it seems that in the last few years the amount of foreign words we need to know has significantly increased. In “the old days” all we had were the usual “articles”: UN, UNE, DER, DIE, DAS, EL etc. – Latin notwithstanding – but in this puzzle alone we have the German SCHLOSS and the French MAI (arguably also COUCHANT). Goodness, this does test my O-level languages of 60 years ago!
I had to choose between Latin and German as my second language. I chose Latin.
I confess I asked Alexa for the German for castle.
I can understand basic words and adopted words being used in cryptics, but castle I would never have got.
I wondered about ‘Schloss’ (my A-level German was enough for that), but it does appear in Chambers.
It’s also (to my surprise) in Collins and ODE.
Only know ‘Schloss’ because of the best war movie ever made, ‘Where Eagles Dare’….
I’ve read most of Evelyn Waugh’s novels and to my mind Put Out More Flags is one of the best of them. It has the lightness of touch of the earlier novels, something he rather lost later on. This was the sort of crossword that makes me keep on doing The Times: a set of excellent and utterly sound clues. 40 minutes.
16:50
Very enjoyable. TANDOORI took a bit of head scratching but the rest went in fairly easily.
The book is on a nearby shelf; there was a good Radio 4 Extra version last year. COD METACARPAL.
Thanks to Zabadak and the setter.
About 20 minutes, a few of them deciding whether to write in COUCHANT and come to the blog.
Terrific puzzle, full of clever, original and amusing clues. REMAINDER was my favourite.
Thank you very much setter and Z.
This was a doddle after yesterday’s struggle and took me 22 minutes. I was helped by getting three of the 15-letter answers at an early stage, and by the friendly anagrams. I was held up at the end by the SE corner, but eventually ADORNS and METACARPAL revealed themselves and I saw at last that 15dn required something other than a form of pasta. A very engaging misdirection. Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
FOI – COALESCE
LOI – TANDOORI
COD – TROUBLESHOOTING
Thanks to Zabadak and other contributors.
I had to log in again today which I’m getting a bit fed up with as it seems to be happening every other day. God knows why.
Anyway, no time as done in two sessions , but in any case I had to look up the unheard of book to give last two in WIFELY & DISPERSAL.
Some tough stuff in there but generally good fun. I liked TROUBLESHOOTING.
Thanks Z and setter.
Pretty steady solve really, only slowed at the end by the ne corner where METACARPAL and finally DISPERSAL took a while. I needed Waugh’s unknown (to me) book to be sorted before the final two allowed me to stop the clock at 37.08. Never heard the expression GRASSHOPPER MIND either come to that. Bearing all that in mind, glad to finish with all correct and parsed.
9:13. On the wavelength today it seems.
The novel was vaguely familiar and prompted me to wonder if anyone reads it any more. The last time I had this thought it was about Cider with Rosie which turned out to be on the current GCSE syllabus!
I had forgotten couch grass so 3dn came purely from a vague sense that heraldic terms are sometimes French.
All correct in 37 minutes. Not sure why it took so long, perhaps I left the timer running while otherwise occupied, as it posed no real problems for me.
I knew of the novel but don’t remember reading it.
Toyed with metatarsal for a while, all fingers and thumbs but no typos for once.
Thanks to setter and Zabadak.
NHO the novel but worked it out from the checkers and the clue then Googled it. NHO Couchant but vaguely remembered couch grass so worked it out and then Googled it again.
Enjoyed this one, definitely the sort that I would have given up on not too long ago. Particularly liked TANDOORI, which I started at for ages before forensically constructing it with a smug smile.
Loved MEME by the way (as a big fan of crosswords and Richard Dawkins).
Checked that couch was grass in COUCHANT and had a sneaky look at the blog for TANDOORI otherwise steadily plodded through to a finish. Didn’t know the Waugh novel but kind wordplay and checkers made the answer possible. Needed the blog to parse REMAINDER – I thought it was something to do with weeks/semaines but could get no further. WIFELY took an age to emerge even with the initial W. German A Level came in handy for LOSS. Liked COALESCE and CRÈCHE. Many thanks all.
43 mins alas, but all parsed. LOI TANDOORI, and I note that I’m not alone in that regard! Great misleading clue. I haven’t read PUT OUT MORE FLAGS for many years – must do so again. (I think the other Basil Seal novel, Black Mischief, is the one in which he dines with some cannibals and finds out he’s eaten his girlfriend. Waugh could be pretty dark…)
Always pleased to finish a cryptic. Eight clues biffed from crossers. Thanks Zabadak for the explanations.
38:17, with TANDOORI and COALESCE my last two in.
My knowledge of anatomy is fairly rusty, and I often confuse metatarsals and metacarpals. Luckily only the latter fitted the checkers, at which point I suddenly got the wordplay.
Thanks Z and setter
Thank you Zabadak & setter.
Oh dear, Tricky Thursday, 1a only and biffed already. Thanks Z for the parsing.
9a Put out more flags, we must have had this before as I’ve never read it but it was in Cheating Machine.
23a Troubleshooting, biffed, never found the owls even though I was looking for them, so must have GRASSHOPPER MIND. Thanks Z, again.
15d Tandoori, LOI, hard work.
Could someone kindly explain how flags would be used in extending one’s patio?
‘Flag’ is short for ‘flagstone’.
flagstones
I was lucky that In The Last Resort was an anagram, as I only know ‘as a’ or ‘at the’ formulation. And I guess, about Cleopatra, but the definition is a bit of a leap, no? Metacarpal makes up for quite a lot, including the unflagged DBE at Member.
Amazingly a near PB for me. 45 minutes. A couple BIFD. Liked the ASPic Cleopatra suggestion. Dread Tricky Thursdays however on the wavelength.
Gave up on TANDOORI, too clever for me.
PUT OUT MORE FLAGS not one of Waugh’s best imo. Excellent puzzle.
I think these days Serbs and Croats argue they have separate languages. Now they have separate countries they don’t seem to like the old fashioned idea that it’s just one language. Not sure how different they really are..maybe Glaswegian v BBC.?
Clever TANDOORI. That last I and the Italian food. Very cheeky. 20’04”
Agree about the ‘cheekiness’ of some of the clues: TANDOORI, ASPIC and METACARPAL for example. NHO the Waugh novel ( an unlikely title!) and was sure the phrase was “AT THE LAST RESORT” . So, enough excuses – didn’t get very far without several look-ups, spent an age on PRESENCE ( which I still didn’t get right), but was happy to remember COUCHANT and schLOSS, among others. COD to TROUBLESHOOTING – fun crossword.
My chance to feel smug – I usually feel intimidated by the forum, reading late when the puzzle has appeared in The Australian.
Nobody seems to have associated ‘lying in’ with pregnancy or accouchement.