46:29 with quite few guesses, one of which I’m still to parse (10ac)…
This was a bit different from the most recent Friday stinkers, not in terms of difficulty – it was still hard! But there were many unusual bits of vocab in addition to fiendishly convoluted wordplay. I have a real blind spot for “find a word then subtract a bit”-type clues, and there were enough of those. Along with several words for which I had to rely heavily on the wordplay. Finally, I guessed ‘scat’ at the end, got a pink square, and returned to rethink.
Happy BH weekend, for those who get one.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Characteristic of radioactive decay found in lithium and iron (4-4) |
| HALF-LIFE – LI + FE (Li and Fe, lithium and iron, or a compound made from HALF of each) | |
| 5 | Have a go at wife leaving festive occasion (6) |
| ASSAIL – wASSAIL (festive occasion) minus (leaving) ‘w’ (wife). | |
| 9 | Water to some extent absorbs toxic compound (8) |
| PARAQUAT – AQUA (water) that PART (to some extent contains (absorbs). A weedkiller a had never heard of. | |
| 10 | Inane urban type lacking in consideration (6) |
| UNKIND – empty (inane) UrbaN + KIND (type). I DNK this definition of ‘inane’ and had to look it up. | |
| 12 | Understand the difference record margin had in cuts (12) |
| DISCRIMINATE – DISC (record) + RIM (margin) + ATE (had) which IN is contained by (cuts). | |
| 15 | Where Roman contests were seen some time back (5) |
| ARENA – AN ERA (some time) reversed (back). | |
| 16 | Celebrity to change course half-heartedly and begin again (5,4) |
| START OVER – STAR (celebrity) + TO + VeER (change course, half of the two central letters missing). | |
| 18 | Ruin dreadful couple’s adopted son (9) |
| DISREPAIR – DIRE (dreadful) + PAIR (couple) containing (adopted) S (son). | |
| 19 | Ancient ship on lake moving slowly (5) |
| LARGO – ARGO (ancient ship) on L (lake). | |
| 20 | In favour of member warning about introduction (12) |
| PROLEGOMENON – PRO (in favour of) + LEG (member) + OMEN (warning) + ON (about). Thank goodness for wordplay, eh? | |
| 24 | Complete part of joint activity (6) |
| INTACT – hidden in (part of) joINT ACTivity. | |
| 25 | Line, say, reflected poem as written (8) |
| GEODESIC – EG (say) reversed, then ODE (poem) + SIC (as written). | |
| 26 | Bloke on the radio that vents periodically (6) |
| GEYSER – sounds like (on the radio) “geezer” (bloke). | |
| 27 | Most strict testers finish off examination with a twist (8) |
| STERNEST – anagram of TESTERS + last of (finish off) examinatioN. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Expect much fancied favourite to lose every time (4) |
| HOPE – HOt (much fancied) and PEt (favourite) minus (to lose) every occurrence of ‘t’ (time). | |
| 2 | My choice of central elements in building (4) |
| LORD – L OR D, choice of central letters on buiLDing. | |
| 3 | Pay off overdue £1 charges (9) |
| LIQUIDATE – LATE (overdue), which I QUID (£1) fills (charges). | |
| 4 | Study following nomadic Africans engages British polymath (7,5) |
| FRANCIS BACON – CON (study) after an anagram of (nomadic) AFRICANS, containing (engages) B (British). | |
| 6 | Part of Egypt in Asia not entirely developed (5) |
| SINAI – anagram of (developed) IN ASIa (not entirely). | |
| 7 | Criticise an author’s publicity material (10) |
| ANIMADVERT – AN + I’M (author’s) + ADVERT (publicity material). To speak out against, another new one on me. | |
| 8 | Ideal ground secures backing for facilities (6,4) |
| LADIES ROOM – anagram of (ground) IDEAL + reversal of (backing) MOORS (secures). | |
| 11 | Staff in broadcast said to welcome argument (12) |
| DISAGREEMENT – MEN (staff) contained by (in) an anagram of (broadcast) SAID and GREET (welcome). | |
| 13 | Revolutionary movement transfers power round (10) |
| HANDSPRING – HANDS (transfers) + P (power) + RING (round). Another way to describe a cartwheel. | |
| 14 | Each point somebody thought fit to publicise? (10) |
| NEWSWORTHY – N E W and S (each point of the compass) + WORTHY (somebody). | |
| 17 | Remarkable stable state that is difficult to achieve (4,5) |
| TALL ORDER – TALL (remarkable) + ORDER (stable state). | |
| 21 | Host seems clever eliminating every other part (5) |
| EMCEE – every other letter from (eliminating every other part) sEeMs ClEvEr. | |
| 22 | Key passage in recital (4) |
| ISLE – sounds like (in recital) “aisle” (passage). | |
| 23 | The buck stops here! (4) |
| SCUT – the tail, or back end, of a deer. | |
70 minutes, but still ended up with one missing I eventually used aids for. That was 14dn, NEWSWORTHY, and I was nowhere near solving it as I had become fixated on ‘each’ being PER so I was looking for a word to fit PERS?O?T?Y.
Elsewhere I battled to justify UNKIND and took forever to spot ‘inane’ as an intruction to delete all but the first and last letters of ‘urban’.
PROLEGOMENON was hard and I was amazed to find it was correct. It has appeared here only once before, 15 years ago when we were still blogging the TLS puzzle – not that I would have have seen it there as I never did them.
Thanks for sorting the title, if that was you.
No, I got there first. I figured that at 3:30 AM, everybody in the UK was probably sleeping.
Well thanks – at least I remembered to underline the definitions this time!
Just a bit too hard for me I’m afraid, a DNF in about 45 with NEWSWORTHY and PROLEGOMENON (I mean, gimme a break) unsolved. I got the PRO, thought about LEG but it all looked highly unlikely and I gave up. There was some dastardly clever wordplay throughout and it was a relief to happen upon simple, pleasant little answers like ISLE and the hidden INTACT. Thank you William, a tough one to blog.
From Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right:
I ain’t saying you treated me UNKIND
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
DNF but liked ‘The buck stops here!’
That was very original and amusing!
(You need to include the S in “Africans” in the 4D anagram, William.)
I really liked this. LOI HANDSPRING.
As a pothead from way back, I’d certainly heard of PARAQUAT
(Shudder)
I know PROLEGOMENON from Kant’s Prolegomenon to Any Future Metaphysics. Of course.
Ta
I got SCAT on the basis after watching so many wild life programs that a full-grown male deer will stop at the smell of possible rivals and lay down his scent by urinating and/or defecating.
I had it very similar, except he was sniffing does out.
Very pleased with myself for ignoring the obvious (at the time…to me) ‘Scot’ and opting for ‘scat’, as a healthy buck is bound to to do. Had totally forgotten about the correct answer, which I ‘knew’ from crosswords only.
Around half an hour including my bish.
Another DNF, what a shame after being quite happy with getting some of those tough clues. Loved PROLEGOMENON (just the word itself), quite well-known to anyone who’s read much philosophy (via Kant), but perhaps less famously in linguistics, via Morris Halle and Louis Hjelmslev (and maybe others).
Gave up at 35′ without PARAQUAT (NHO) or LORD. As with the QC today, I failed to spot the cleverest clue (LORD), which is very disappointing.
Thanks all!
My prolegomenon known through CS Lewis’s two lecture courses, ‘Prolegomena to Mediaeval Studies’ and ‘Prolegomena to Renaissance Studies’, which formed the basis of his posthumously published book, ‘The Discarded Image.’
17.00
Tricky in the SE corner, but somehow dredged GEODESIC and LOI SCUT up from the memory banks.
COD HALF-LIFE
Off to Oxford for AZED 2750 lunch tomorrow!
DNF
Couldn’t get HANDSPRING; couldn’t get anywhere near it, so after 6 or 7 minutes of trying, I threw in the towel at about 30′. Like Guy, I got PROLEGOMENON from Kant. Not that I’ve read it, mind you; not, indeed, that I’ve ever read, or will read, anything on metaphysics. I liked SCUT, and HOPE, and LORD.
I’ve things to do today so didn’t linger. DNF in half an hour, missing UNKIND, HANDSPRING and SCUT. Another half hour would have made little difference, I suspect. Thank you William and setter.
The buck stopped me – another SCAT. Never heard of SCUT and no word play to help. Ho hum.
About 30 minutes. SCUT I associate with rabbits and they too have bucks. COD the small but perfectly formed LORD. Thanks William and setter.
I can’t get my head around half-life. Half of LIFE is Li or Fe but the clue reads lithium AND iron. Alternately, lithium and iron gives Li + Fe which gives life but then, where does the half come from?
If anyone can explain, I’d appreciate it.
Half of LIFE is LI. The other half is FE. So cryptically, half-life is found in lithium (LI) and found in iron (FE).
I think.
I’m with Glen though, I don’t think the clue works. Half of LIFE is either lithium OR iron, not both.
An uptick from me – shouldabin “Li or Fe”.
Another DNF but at least I am not alone.
NEWSWORTHY evaded me for no apparent reason apart from dimness but pleased to have dredged up SCUT and PARAQUAT from the memory bank. I thought the latter had been banned years ago but apparently not.
PROLOGOMENON just floated to the surface of my memory from whence I know not but very welcome.
ANIMADVERT suggests so many cluing possibilities that I was surprised that it had not previously crossed my path.
Thanks to setter and William.
Banned in the EU since 2007. In the UK also, but we still manufacture and export it!
Another member of the SCAT club (probably needs another name) which was mostly a case of I had to put something there than any reasoning. It does have a long entry in Chambers so I was hopeful.
Otherwise I didn’t find this too difficult by Friday standards. I had to drag PROLEGOMENON, PARAQUAT, GEODESIC and ANIMADVERT from distant parts of the brain but atleast they were spread out. Some tricky word play but only LORD and SCUT that I couldn’t parse. There was quite a fair bit of guess first, parse later eg DISAGREEMENT but I thought the crossers were often friendly.
Liked NEWSWORTHY and HANDSPRING.
Thanks blogger and setter.
Another dnf here, by a long way. Liked SCUT, but then I got that.
Thanks william and setter.
Tricky, but got there apart from the SCAT… annoying, since I knew scut, at least in relation to rabbits.
HALF LIFE was FOI. NEWSWORTHY and UNKIND brought up the rear, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth in between. PROLEGOMENON indeed! Having got the C from GEODESIC and the T from STERNEST, I somehow knew that a rabbit’s tail was a SCUT. 37:51. Thanks setter and William.
28.54 I was never going to get SCUT until GEODESIC fell, and to match the latter to “line” (and to detach it from Wellington bombers) was a matter of faith. I associate both scut and buck with rabbits rather than deer, but that was of no use finding the solution.
I don’t pronounce GEYSER like that, but I see you can and it was no obstacle.
Just couldn’t see HANDSPRING and LORD, though I had everything else. Very irritating. Loved SCUT.
DNF.
I’m sure most of you know this one …
When I was young my father said to me: “Knowledge is power, Francis Bacon.” I understood it as “Knowledge is power, France is bacon.”
For more than a decade I wondered over the meaning of the second part and what was the surreal linkage between the two. If I said the quote to someone, “Knowledge is power, France is Bacon,” they nodded knowingly. Or someone might say, “Knowledge is power” and I’d finish the quote “France is bacon,” and they wouldn’t look at me like I’d said something very odd, but thoughtfully agree. I did ask a teacher what did “Knowledge is power, France is bacon” mean and got a full 10-minute explanation of the “knowledge is power” bit but nothing on “France is bacon.” When I prompted further explanation by saying “France is bacon?” in a questioning tone, I just got a “yes.” At 12 I didn’t have the confidence to press it further. I just accepted it as something I’d never understand.
It wasn’t until years later I saw it written down that the penny dropped.
🙂
Reminds me of that country from where the Three Kings came, Orientar.
😀
Brilliant
😀
I was occasionally as a 12/14 yo told by my father to change my clothes so that I did not look like some kind of Famfa Tahl! Whoever she was!
Some great vocab words in here, never used or imagined in conversation, but worth knowing anyway. Maybe they will occur to me next time I need them. I parsed Pro Leg, and then got stuck not believing I was going in the right direction. great fun
Cx
😀
😂
DNF.
Couldn’t get newsworthy; like Jack, I was sure the answer would begin with PER. I think Jeeves likes to say animadvert. Got prolegomenon, as I’d encountered it in its plural form (prolegomena) in Kingsley Amis’s ‘Jake’s Thing’.
Thanks, w.
DNF, no LORD or PARAQUAT, but I did know SCUT and assembled PROLEGwhatever from the instructions (though I did then check it…). Having spent the day with my young granddaughters recently, handsprings quickly came to mind. In fact I got quite a few in my first pass and thought it was going to be an unusually easy Friday. Then it wasn’t. Thanks William and setter.
DNF in 34:26. 26 is a rare genuinely ambiguous homophone and in my struggle to make head or tail of 14dn I kept switching between GEEZER and GEYSER. At the point the penny finally dropped I had GEEZER in the grid, forgot to correct it and so ended up with GEYZER. Very frustrating after wrestling this absolute beast into submission.
I thought a lot of this was just too obscure for a daily puzzle. And as mentioned above I don’t think 1ac works.
35 minutes. Exactly the same experience as Jack and a few others with NEWSWORTHY at the end. Had to come back to it to expunge PER from the neural circuitry. It wasn’t made any easier by not being confident if it was GEYSER or GEEZER at 26a. Only remembered PROLEGOMENON from previous appearances here and probably elsewhere, so sort of Ninja Turtled, at least as compared to knowing all about it from Kant. I didn’t know GEODESIC as a ‘line’, only in reference to domes and now Z mentions it, Wellington bombers.
Glad you’ve had at least some respite from the really tough ones recently William – SNITCH “only” at 130 currently.
It looks like I must have been on the wavelength. I knew a few answers like prolegomenon and paraquat that some solvers didn’t (Kant and Vietnam), and was able to work out the cryptics for ones like geodesic and hope. I was left at the end with scut and lord, which required careful thought. I was thinking lord, but I couldn’t see why, and then I saw it.
Time: 27:51
15:33
That’s a very quick Friday time for me and I felt on-message throughout. PARAQUAT, PROLEGOMENON, GEODESIC, and ANIMADVERT were all unknowns but I thought the cluing very fair for those. My last in was SCUT which raised a faint bell as otherwise it would have been guess a vowel time.
In spite of the vocab I found that one far easier than yesterday.
Thanks to both.
Another who failed on NEWSWORTHY, and for similar reasons to jackkt, I got fixated on the idea that the solution would begin PER. Otherwise a fairly challenging but satisfying solve that took a little more than my usual time.
DNF, defeated by UNKIND (forgot that ‘inane’ means ’empty’), PROLEGOMENON (never heard of it), ANIMADVERT (it rings a bell now I’ve seen it), NEWSWORTHY (thought ‘each’ was giving ‘per’ at the start and never reconsidered) and SCUT (didn’t know it means the back end of a deer).
– Still not sure I get HALF-LIFE despite the explanations above
– Got the unknown PARAQUAT from wordplay
– Similarly, GEODESIC went in from wordplay and because it sounded plausible
Thanks William and setter.
COD Scut
55 minutes, with a little bit of help. So not the sort of thing we have been having recently although it was certainly not easy. In 1dn I read the much fancied favourite as one thing and wondered if there was a word hoip. LADIES ROOM isn’t in Chambers, but it is in Collins. Wasn’t quite sure what a HANDSPRING was, surely not a cartwheel I thought. PROLEGOMENON known from the recesses, Kant from many years ago and almost completely forgotten.
Newsworthy was my LOI and nemesis
A 70 min solve time after promising start with Francis Bacon FOI
Thanks to everyone who contributes – it really helps elevate the enjoyment of doing the crossword
Excellent puzzle. Having battled gamely to the end, I was less than chuffed to have entered GEODISIC. I liked ANIMADVERT, HOPE and (COD) SCUT.
Thanks to William and the setter
39:06
Cripes. Not sure I’ve heard of PROLEGOMENON before so had to check its existence before submitting. As for ANIMADVERT, I kind of think that I’ve seen it here somewhere before. but no clue as to what it meant. Anyway, needed the former to finally see what was going on with 13d and the latter to see my LOI 10a.
Thanks William and setter
Tough to finish. 1ac doesn’t work for me, but went straight in. I pronounce geyser GUY-zer and reject alternatives, so wondered where the second syllable came from. PROLEGOMENON NHO, looked unlikely but was LOI so didn’t care. Inane as empty seemed dubious but dictionaries say it is. The one thing I immediately recognised – from Times crosswords, nowhere else – was SCUT as the back end of a deer. Needed both checkers, mind. Remembered paraquat from somewhere – I see it’s still legal in most parts of the world, including Oz, US and UK. Didn’t know US sent choppers to Mexico to spray marijuana fields with paraquat and agent orange back in the day – no wonder Guy shudders.
Mostly enjoyed, lots of interesting and testing clues.
DNF. ‘Nuff said.
Well done William for working it all out.
DNF, beaten by 2d. A SCUT is a rabbit’s tail where I come from.
Same here. And a ‘buck’ is a male rabbit, so the deer stuff was news to me.
Likewise. But it’s in the dictionaries in both cases.
Gave up after 50 mins with 8 unanswered. Put in tall story instead of tall order but I don’t think it made much difference.
22 Down. I understand that ISLE sounds like AISLE ‘in recital’, but how does ISLE relate to KEY? I must be missing something very obvious.
A key is a small, sandy island (it can also be spelled cay, or caye)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cay
Thank you very much for your explanation.
50 mins, came here for the parsing of UNKIND which now seems quite gettable in retrospect.
I think I saw ANIMADVERT over the last 6 months, so that helped. Thanks blogger and setter!
DNF in 40
Like others NEWSWORTHY just wouldn’t come at the end despite getting PROLEGOMENON. And punted SCOT not remembering the tail. Actually despite the DNF most of the rest wasn’t too bad though PARAQUAT and UNKIND took far too long after I had the checkers.
Tough but not impossible would be my verdict which suits me for a Friday
Thanks William and setter
Crikey, a Friday finish. First in a while. Maybe it will help drag my average time up on the SNITCH! I’ve only had time to do the easier ones recently, so my average is very flattered.
I constructed PROLOGOMENCA and was happy with it until I solved TALL ORDER. LOI was SCUT, which was a relief – I kind of got that I needed one end of a deer, and remembered that a SCUT was a tail. I remembered ANIMADVERT from somewhere. Otherwise, a steady solve. I liked LORD, where I picked the word as soon as I had both checkers, but it took a while to see the wordplay and write in the answer.
23:04
For some reason lost in the mists of time ‘Scut’ here in the East Riding of Yorkshire has always meant to hit or collide with. Just as we know ‘T’aud Juck’ for old dog and ‘Not Januck’ for not quite right.
Ah’ll sithee.
Enjoyed this – tricky puzzle and I’m not in favour of obscure words such as animadvert or prolegomenon outside of mephisto land but the word play and clueing was very fair. Not seen inane for empty before but ok. Unfortunately I was defeated by scut and I think that’s maybe my one questionable clue as it’s a bit of GK with no wordplay to back it up. Excellent contest though, well played setter.
Thx William
Not a stinker?! Any crossword that has prolegomenon and geodesic as answers does not smell that pleasant to me…
Failed because of those two horrors.
Over the hour including a nap and watching snooker. Another who thinks it’s a rabbit not a deer. COD NEWSWORTHY for an original bit of clueing.
56 minutes, joining the SCAT club (although strangely, when I saw it was wrong, I suspected the right answer would be SCUT). I am very surprised that all the rest was correct, including PARAQUAT, which was the only way to use the Q of LIQUIDATE (perhaps my COD) with something involving water. PROLEGOMENON was also teased very slowly out of wordplay. I am still amazed what one can learn from a cryptic crossword.
34 minutes but DNK SCUT and having no idea guessed SCOT. NEWSWORTHY was my Loi before that and I thought that was a clever clue.
I thought this was an enjoyable puzzle – except for scut!
Thanks setter and blogger
35 minute DNF. I never figured out what the HALF was doing in 1a and delayed myself by biffing FREEMAN DYSON for the polymath. HANDSPRING and LORD took a while and I gave up with SCUT unsolved. A nice clue wasted on me. Thanks William.
Needed aids for Prolegomenon and Handspring and entered Scat.
Enjoyed the puzzle despite these failings.
Onwards and upwards.
Finished 5 clues short, with NEWSWORTHY, PERLEGOMENON and HANDSPRING, ANIMADvERT and UNKIND unsolved.
Having seen the comments I didn’t feel too bad about it now.
I see from “Cracking the cryptic ” this is the crossword editor himself’s puzzle.