Solving time: 26 minutes
Mostly straightforward although I have a query at 1ac.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Post spy outside English royal house (11) |
| PLANTAGENET | |
| PLANT (post), AGENT (spy) containing [outside] E (English). The line of English kings from Henry II (1154) to the death of Richard III (1485). Now that I’ve come to write the blog I can’t think of an example where ‘post’ and ‘plant’ are interchangeable. Can anyone help me out please? | |
| 7 | Nip backwards and forwards serving fizzy drink (3) |
| POP | |
| POP (nip) either way [backwards and forwards]. One nips / pops into or out of places. | |
| 9 | Tailored thing you and I regularly assume at first when retiring (9) |
| NIGHTWEAR | |
| Anagram [tailored] of THING, WE (you and I) then R{egularly} + A{ssume} [at first] reversed [when retiring]. &lit. | |
| 10 | Headland backing on east German city (5) |
| ESSEN | |
| E (east), NESS (headland) reversed [backing] | |
| 11 | Ideal article on posh tropical headgear (7) |
| UTOPIAN | |
| U (posh), TOPI (tropical headgear), AN (article). The helmet gets a mention in Noël Coward’s song Mad Dogs and Englishmen. | |
| 12 | Diabolical cast in a play (7) |
| SATANIC | |
| Anagram [play] of CAST IN A | |
| 13 | Buccaneer finally turned libertine (5) |
| DRAKE | |
| {trune}D [finally], RAKE (libertine). I thought he was supposed to be a hero but perhaps it depends on one’s point of view and such ideas are unfashionable these days. | |
| 15 | A new piece of advice regarding hors d’oeuvre (9) |
| ANTIPASTO | |
| A, N (new), TIP (piece of advice), AS TO (regarding) | |
| 17 | Wide boy in poem always after tennis equipment (9) |
| RACKETEER | |
| RACKET (tennis equipment), E’ER (in poem ‘always’) | |
| 19 | Silence about limits of unusual prison (5) |
| GULAG | |
| GAG (silence) containing [about] U{nusua}L [limits of…] | |
| 20 | Child in game extremely curious about boxer’s slanting script (7) |
| ITALICS | |
| IT (child in game) + C{uriou}S [extremely] containing [about] ALI (boxer). In a game of tag, ‘It’ is the child whose turn it is to chase and try to touch another. | |
| 22 | Key singers upset following lines using celebs only (3-4) |
| ALL-STAR | |
| A (key), L+L (lines), then RATS (singers – informers) reversed [upset] | |
| 24 | African country reflecting about mother’s ruin (5) |
| NIGER | |
| RE (about) + GIN (mother’s ruin) reversed [reflecting] | |
| 25 | Like protective layer originally required to stop widespread disease (9) |
| EPIDERMIC | |
| R{equired} [originally] contained by [to stop] EPIDEMIC (widespread disease). Referring to a protective layer of skin or tissue. | |
| 27 | Pulse ideally occurring at periodic intervals (3) |
| DAL | |
| {i}D{e}A{l}L{y} [occurring at periodic intervals] | |
| 28 | Acerbic representation of Maori cousin (11) |
| ACRIMONIOUS | |
| Anagram [re-presentation] of MAORI COUSIN | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Time to abandon bet? That’s a joke (3) |
| PUN | |
| PUN{t} (bet) [time to abandon] | |
| 2 | Trouble in the past overwhelming centre of Zagreb (5) |
| AGGRO | |
| AGO (in the past] containing [overwhelming] {Za}GR{eb} [centre of…] | |
| 3 | Birds ultimately flaunt it over rodents (7) |
| TITMICE | |
| {flaun}T [ultimately], IT, MICE (rodents) | |
| 4 | Good to get involved again: it should bear fruit (9) |
| GREENGAGE | |
| G (good), RE-ENGAGE (get involved again) | |
| 5 | Scandinavian goddesses, and not Poles (5) |
| NORNS | |
| NOR (and not), N+S (Poles). Three virgin goddesses of fate, who predestine the lives of gods and humans. | |
| 6 | Support premier accepting Republican crown (7) |
| TREETOP | |
| TEE (support) + TOP (premier) containing [accepting] R (Republican) | |
| 7 | So a plant’s unexpectedly situated behind a hooter (9) |
| POSTNASAL | |
| Anagram [unexpectedly] of SO A PLANT’S. ‘Hooter’ is slang for the nose. According to SOED this dates from the mid 20th century and I wonder if it was coined by Galton & Simpson in the 1950s when they started writing for Tony Hancock, as that’s where I first heard it. |
|
| 8 | Spreader of alarm, one who sells grass? (11) |
| PANICMONGER | |
| PANIC (grass), MONGER (one who sells). ‘Panic grass’ is something I know only from crosswords. | |
| 11 | Subscriber runs in without a plan? (11) |
| UNDERSIGNED | |
| R (runs) contained by [in] UNDESIGNED (without a plan). ‘Subscriber’ as a signatory to a document. | |
| 14 | A modification accepted by both sides in Russian port (9) |
| ARCHANGEL | |
| A, then CHANGE (modification) contained [accepted] by R + L (both sides) | |
| 16 | Soak up air circulating in strange animal enclosure (9) |
| TERRARIUM | |
| RET (soak in liquid) reversed [up], then anagram [circulating] of AIR contained by [in] RUM (strange) | |
| 18 | European king in ceremony connected to American state (7) |
| ERITREA | |
| E (European), then R (king) contained by [in] RITE (ceremony), A (American) | |
| 19 | Sailing ship in strong wind about to cross lake (7) |
| GALLEON | |
| GALE (strong wind) + ON (about) containing [to cross] L (lake) | |
| 21 | Direct course of ox, perhaps (5) |
| STEER | |
| Two meanings | |
| 23 | Encountered going north, work up speed (5) |
| TEMPO | |
| MET (reversed) [going north}, then OP (work) reversed [up] | |
| 26 | Healthy food: price reduced by 25 per cent (3) |
| COS | |
| COS{t} (price) [reduced by 25 per cent]. Lettuce. | |
1ac: plant/post someone at the back gate to watch out for ?
Plant agent around e
I had the same query about plant/post and assumed that ‘plant agent’ was supposed to equate to ‘post spy’. This was more fun than yesterday’s, where I had to reveal lots through lack of knowledge and tricky wordplay, I’m looking at you, peace pipe. I found the clues today pretty easy to follow and really just a case of assembly. NIGHTWEAR had me confused as to how the ‘a & r’ were reversed. I also fell for 12a being an anagram of ‘cast in a’ and assumed the anagrind was diabolical, so was looking for a play. Didn’t know the meaning of ‘wide boy’. I’m not liking ‘A’ for America two days in a row, but I suppose it must be correct.
Thanks Jack.
12:01
I thought of post/plant as in branch’s example. Biffed ITALICS, TERRARIUM, & ARCHANGEL (not many choices for ‘Russian port’), parsed post-submission.
You can probably add Odesa shortly if things keep going the way they are.
I always associate ARCHANGEL with Murmansk, another destination for the WWII Arctic convoys which sailed from Loch Ewe in Scotland.
Once I got a few of the shorter ones, I was off to the races, biffing away. I nearly put grenadine before seeing how the cryptic worked – I was just trying to use the cryptic to get the correct spelling! Racketeer also needed the cryptic to give my guess a bit of a boost. I ended up with Plantagenet and nightwear, both unparsed – those must be the answers, and they were.
Time: 12:47
I think “post” and “plant” are especially synonymous when referring to a spy!
18:11, crawling to the finish after untangling a horrible mess in the south-west. All caused by convincing myself that RACHANGEL was very likely a Russian port and not taking the extra half-second it should have taken to spot the obvious. Not helped by wondering how a definition for “subscriber” at 11dn could possibly end in “ed”. Nice clue as it turns out.
Points decision to the setter, well played. And thanks for the blog Jack. I like Quadrophenia’s explanation of 1ac but accept that other parsings are available.
Nice puzzle, 22.31. Thanks Jack, I never did figure out what the hat ref was in UTOPIAN. I was pleased to gets NORNS but thought POSTNASAL looked like another word with its T replaced by an S. Still not sure what was happening with PANICMONGER/grass and I didn’t know a TERRARIUM could contain animals.
From Series of Dreams:
Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the time and the TEMPO fly
And there’s no exit in any direction
Except the one that you can’t see with your eyes
Wasn’t making any great connection
Wasn’t falling for any intricate scheme
Nothing that would pass inspection
Just thinking of a series of dreams
Such a stunning lyric.
27m 56s
Thank heavens for one at the easier end of the scale as I’ve been having difficulties recently.
I take it the Norns are the Norse equivalent of the Moirai/Fates from Greek mythology?
Thanks, Jack.
Yes, the Norse equivalent of the Fates. The Wiki entry for the Norns is worth a read..
Personal best time for me today by a full 10 minutes! The answers just kept popping into my head.
7.54 – all unknowns (ARCHANGEL, NORNS) deducible from wordplay, much more like it. Just ‘play’ didn’t work as an anagrind for me. I liked UNDERSIGNED.
Thanks both.
I don’t think I’ve come across Norns before and plumped for Nores. I don’t agree that it is deducible from wordplay when there is more than one option to make a sensible looking series of letters that could be a word.
The addition of ‘extreme’ or ‘opposite’ before poles would have made it better imho.
Of course, if I had guessed right …
But does anyone ever speak of the East Pole?
Winne the Pooh and Christopher Robin talk of the East & West poles in the “expotition to the North pole.”
I’ve never heard of East or West referred to as poles (I just relied on geographical poles, and NORSS didn’t look at all plausible).
If they can be, then you’re quite right, and I was saved by my own ignorance!
One of my quicker days, 12.20 after a flying start with PLANTAGENET and all the first six down clues. Thanks J and setter.
The good news is that I finished it in 5:45, so quicker than my effort on the QC earlier. The bad news is “Plantaganet” for which there is no excuse.
28 minutes., guessing correctly for NORNS. TERRARIUM needed all crossers. Has POSTNASAL got some other meaning connected with Hancock then? COD to UNDERSIGNED. Thank you Jack and setter.
I’m finding even the easy ones difficult this week taking 28 mins on this. Hard to put a finger on why, most of it looks straightforward in hindsight.
I did waste some time overthinking NOR = and not, trying to do logic gates in my head and about to get a pen out when I realised it was perfectly normal wordplay.
No probs with PLANTAGENET but another boo for A = American. Thanks both.
6:30. No problems this morning, and no unknowns. I’ve heard of ‘POSTNASAL drip’ somewhere (not willingly, mind), and the NORNS.
The poles are ‘the two antipodal points where the earth’s axis of rotation meets the earth’s surface’ (Collins), so there are only two to choose from and as Amoeba says NORSS doesn’t look likely.
Postnasal drip appears in Guys and Dolls – song by Adelaide. Just been to The Ring at York Hall in London so Norns was no problem.
Interesting. I don’t specifically remember this but I will definitely have come across it there because there was a production of Guys and Dolls at my school when I was about 17.
It’s a brilliant song, like all the others, in fact, in Guys and Dolls. They don’t make ’em like that anymore. Check out the lyrics of the title song, too.
Post nasal drip (rhymed with La Grippe) is in Adelaide’s Lament, Guys and Dolls
DNF, another NORES here as I didn’t know NORNS… I should have realised that ‘Poles’ would only indicate N and S (I think?)
– Wondered about post=plant for PLANTAGENET, but branch’s example above is a good one
– Forgot panic grass so wasn’t 100% convinced about PANICMONGER until SATANIC made sure
– Didn’t parse TERRARIUM, and I really need to remember ret=soak
Thanks Jack and setter.
COD Terrarium
11.53, as quick as I go these days. I threw in TRESTLE, EPIDERMAL and UNDERWRITER before remembering that the wordplay is supposed to work.
Me too!
11:40 and I think if I had realised at the start how easy it was I might have managed my first time under 10 minutes.
A big contrast to yesterday’s which I did last night and was really hard!
Thanks setter and blogger
Flew through this nice puzzle until almost completely stuck on UNDERSIGNED, requiring an alphabet trawl and a shift in thinking, adding three minutes to my time. POSTNASAL seems a daft word.
12’58”, thanks jack and setter.
Probably my best effort to date. Delayed only by UNDERSIGNED for which I had originally entered underwriter.
Surprised that I had not come across NORNS before as it would seem excellent crossword fodder .
Good to add PANIC to my grass bank.
Thanks to setter for a gentle start to the day.
26 mins.
Nice puzzle. NHO norns, but the wordplay was generous.
Thanks, jack.
As quick as it gets for me, in 14 mins. A biff-fest. Only the NHO NORNS made me think a bit.
20a Italics. Ah, that kind of IT.
22a All-star. Missed the rats. Rats!
5d Norns, NHO (actually had forgot about them.) But remembered Yggdrasil that they look after because Spike Milligan mentioned it in Puckoon (highly recommended.) I wonder if it will suffer from Ash die-back?
7d Postnasal, NHO but gettable.
16d Terrarium biffed.
Thanks jackkt and setter.
I don’t think I was at my peak today.
Nothing seemed to go straight in but the puzzle flowed when I worked on the clues. Think this would have been a quick one if I had had a better nights sleep.
Assumed I hadn’t heard of the Russian Port but RACHANGEL sounded plausible. Which made the rather straightforward DRAKE just that bit more difficult. Finally corrected with UNDERSIGNED last in after convincing myself it must be UN____TIONED and failing to think of anything.
A bit of an in-joke with my wife but the country was finally ERITREA. She always says it in jest when I ask her if she can think of a country that matches certain checking letters.
I quite liked the use of post for plant especially in the context of spies.
COD: TERRARIUM
Very quick on this as well as the quickie! Many clues straight in. No unknowns, no problem with 1a, as I read the clue as integral – ‘post spy’ as being ‘plant agent’. Bit slow on parsing NIGHTWEAR, is all. COD to that!
No problems today really, 25 minutes. For a while I thought ‘circulating’ meant ‘reversed’ in the TERRARIUM clue and I had terruriam, which was fine with the wordplay and was, I imagined, something I hadn’t heard of. Like POSTNASAL, which the anagram found for me. NHO it.
16:20 – no unknowns – and even able to dredge up the NORNS from some dusty corner – but LOI UNDERSIGNED took a while to see.
25 minutes – I enjoyed this puzzle.
My CODs to Greengage and Undersigned.
I agree with rv1 – no problems with Plantagenet but I don’t like A = American.
I can just about accept A = America (as in USA) but American?
24 minutes. Yesterday CALUMETS held me up at the end, today (like RobR and Pelforth) it was UNDERSIGNED, for which I was tempted to put in UNDERPINNED until I saw how the wordplay worked. Otherwise, no major problems except for having forgotten the PANIC sense of ‘grass’ and just about mixing up my ‘birds’ and ‘rodents’ in TITMICE.
I was flying along until LOI, UNDERSIGNED, which accounted for around four minutes of my time. Sadly, when I did get it, I discovered my carelessly biffed, and not reconciled with the wordplay TERRANIUM, had a pink square. Drat! 14,02 but WOE is me. Thanks setter and Jack.
Pretty nippy time for me finishing in 21.51. Never heard of NORNS, but avoided the trap of putting in an alternative compass point. My very first thought for 1ac was PLANTAGENET, but like others had trouble parsing it. In the end my first thought became my LOI, as I struggled to work out how PLANT could be an alternative for POST. Having read the discussions above, I favour Quadrophenia’s explanation that Plant Agent equates to Post Spy.
25′ or so (should really have been quicker), much more Mondayish and like others the few NHOs were very gettable. Didn’t pick up on the “IT” for child in a game. Happy with plant and post in connection with spies/agents. Thanks Jack and setter.
Revealed LOI UNDERSIGNED (doh), otherwise filled the grid fairly steadily. Wasn’t expecting play to be an anagram indicator so slow to see SATANIC . Only VHO NORNS but wordplay generous. Didn’t know ARCHANGEL but it seemed to fit. Liked GREENGAGE. Many thanks setter and Jack.
14.10 but a bit of a flutter over italics till I saw Ali. I’d forgotten about being it in tick!
Other than that, pretty straightforward today.
18’30”
POPped out of the stalls and somehow kept up the same pace.
Another Epsom Dash, but this time with near perfect top of the ground going. All parsed en route and a Nitch of 50, but this plater’s too long in the tooth to get past the three-year-olds these days.
Great, albeit brief, fun; thank you setter and Jack.
16:25
Started slowly but finished at a canter. Found this much more straightforward than yesterday’s. NORNS and POSTNASAL were new to me. I liked PLANTAGENET and NIGHTWEAR.
Thanks to Jack and the setter.
Crikey, outside the top 100 with a time under 15 mins. If I hadn’t biffed NORSE for Scandinavian from the N and the R, I would have done better I think. LOI SATANIC after fixing the biff.
I’ll have a shameful WITCH I expect.
14:48
16.17
Happy enough though clearly at the easier end and a few took longer than they should have. Another NORSE until it couldnt be. UNDERSIGNED was v good.
Much easier than yesterday’s. Robert Harris wrote a novel called Archangel.
23:20
Slow by comparison due to a careless pea. I then spent an age in the SW, unable to find 11d ending in p.
LOI and COD UNDERSIGNED.
Nice puzzle, thanks all.
19:34
Under my old target (Snitch 60 = 20 mins) but over my new target (60 = 15 mins), I thought this was easy in places, but missed a few bits:
Failed to (fully) parse:
PANICMONGER – didn’t recall PANIC grass
ALL-STAR – didn’t think that ‘lines’ might actually be two Ls, so wondered how an anagram of LSTAR might be defined by rats
TERRARIUM – forgot about RET
NORNS was a guess, though maybe heard of it before?
Thanks Jack and setter
Surprised no-one has queried the description of terrarium as an animal enclosure. It is used only for small plants as far as I’m aware and given the size of it, it would have to contain exceptionally small animals!
The very first definition of TERRARIUM in POD (Premium Oxford Dictionary) is: a vivarium for smaller land animals, especially reptiles, amphibians, or terrestrial invertebrates, typically in the form of a glass-fronted case.
Collins has your meaning second:
1. an enclosure for keeping small land animals
2. a glass container, often a globe, in which plants are grown
19:44
GREENGAGE being defined as “it should bear fruit” is very apt: I planted one in 2019, and it has yet to bear any fruit. The damson planted at the same time has produced some fruit.
LOI was ERITREA where I fell for the misdirection.
COD UNDERSIGNED.
Thanks Jack and setter
16:42 for an enjoyable crossword, albeit with one or two unknowns (NORNS, PANIC). Thanks setter and Jack.
I had everything done in less than 45 minutes or so, bar 11d. Couldn’t see it, left it, and when I came home, bunged in UNDERPINNED. Kicked myself. A much more friendlier puzzle than yesterday’s though. Liked the medical clues, and wondered whether the Setter is an ENT or plastic surgeon.
Thanks Jack.
Really struggled today for no clear reason. Thanks for explanations of my biffs
An enjoyable experience for one who has yet to complete 15 x 15 and working my way up via QC. Two thirds on my own today. The blog is invaluable to one who is learning. Many thanks Jack and setter.
21 mins, a respectable time for me! Rather Mondayish, I thought – whereas yesterday’s was more Tuesdayish. I agree that A for American is a bit loose, but presumably it’s dictionary-kosher.
I thought this must have been the puzzle we didn’t get yesterday. The answers all flowed in from generally standard clueing, and it was all done in 17 minutes, just short of my target of 15 minutes. NHO NORNS or TERRARIUM, but the clueing in each case left no alternative. Not only had I heard of POSTNASAL in connection with DRIP but I was actually diagnosed as having it back in the day (1980s I think) when it was fashionable.
FOI – PLANTAGENET
LOI – TERRARIUM
COD – UNDERSIGNED
Thanks to jackkt and other contributors.
27 across could have been PEA. The letters appear regularly, and I very nearly put it in. Was that a clever red herring put in by the setter. One of my favourite books is The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden. A hotel in provincial France in the 20’s, complete with greengage orchard, teenage children left to fend for themselves, a charming Englishman who takes them under his wing, and a murder. 15’13”. Would have been quicker, but was held up by UNDERSIGNED — a clever clue.