A leisurely 28.07, with quite a lot of it spent fruitlessly looking at one clue which ended up being thrown in regardless. There’s a rare example of a definition in the middle of its clue, and an impression (maybe unjustified) of a high quota of emptied, first and last latter bits of wordplay. Nothing too strenuous, but I’ve been hampered by a rapidly developing streamer of a cold.
Definitions underlined in italics, deleted or excluded letters are shown in [square brackets], the rest looks OK to me.
| Across | |
| 1 | Board is liable to be damaged when picked up (8) |
| WOODCHIP – Picked up by the ear, “would chip”, liable to be damaged. | |
| 6 | Malcontent gambler cleared out with pained expression (6) |
| GROUCH – First and last (cleared out) of G[amble]R with OUCH as your pained expression | |
| 9 | Teetotal workmates eschewing opening spirits (6) |
| DRYADS – I’ve gone with LADS for the workmates losing its opening letter, following on DRY for teetotal. These are wood nymphs. | |
| 10 | Pigeon very casually ignored swallows (8) |
| RINGDOVE – Regular visitors to my bird table, though I say they’re collared doves. Of the pigeon family, and nearly as unpleasant. V[ery] is swallowed by an anagram (casually) of IGNORED. | |
| 11 | Girl rejected Spandex trousers (4) |
| EDNA – Trousers here is a containment indicator. The required girl is reversed in SpANDEx | |
| 12 | Nameless boozer masters flayed (10) |
| INNOMINATE – This was the one which caused me most concern, partly because the definition looks like one of those words you make up to impress with your erudition, and partly because, other than INN for the boozer, I couldn’t make sense of the clue. However, if you take flayed as “stripped the skin from”, you end up with [d]OMINATE[s]. | |
| 14 | Settler’s arrival met with displeasure (8) |
| ARRANGER – ARR is an accepted abbreviation for arrival, and displeasure a rather feeble synonym for ANGER. | |
| 16 | They’re found with keys from bus regularly (4) |
| FOBS – Odd letters (regularly) of FrOm BuS. | |
| 18 | Exploratory procedure cut short (4) |
| SCAN – SCAN[t] for short loses its last. | |
| 19 | Shut away at home, became vocal (8) |
| INTERNED – IN for at home is common enough, then we have the sound of (vocal) turned for became (the weather turned nasty). | |
| 21 | Welcome king hosted by uncomplaining prior (10) |
| HISTORICAL – HI is the welcome, STOICAL is uncomplaining taking R[ex] for king in. | |
| 22 | As soon as feasible, empty case (4) |
| ONCE – Feasible gives ON, as in a win for Spurs is feasible/on in the Europa Cup tonight*. Add the outside bits of C[as]E
*Sorry, possibly not the best example… |
|
| 24 | Jaguar groomed with it’s tongue (8) |
| GUJARATI – The “groomed” anagram fodder, JAGUAR and IT, helped make sure I got the spelling right, one U, two As. | |
| 26 | One displaces equestrian in tournament, taking the lead (6) |
| OUSTER – One in tournament is a JOUSTER: remove the lead letter. | |
| 27 | Dull animal’s home beside meadow (6) |
| LEADEN – Meadow is LEA, and animal’s home is a DEN | |
| 28 | All truly concerning in banks of Europe (8) |
| EVERYONE – ON makes a swift return, this time standing in for concerning (“On the Origin of Species”). Truly gives VERY, and the banks of E[urop]E contain the ensemble. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Extremely old ferries are fitted with propellers (5) |
| OARED – Easier than I thought it was – once again first and last letters of O[l]D contain ARE in plain sight. Ferries the containment indicator. | |
| 3 | Really con agent with Dadaist fake (just one time) (4,7) |
| DEAD AGAINST – Con in its role as against, rather than diddle. An anagram (fake) of AGENT and DADAIST but with one T[ime] removed. | |
| 4 | Coastal town contains smart parts (8) |
| HASTINGS – Contains is HAS, and STING for smart parts the last two letters. | |
| 5 | Accomplices run to catch up as crossing border (8,2,5) |
| PARTNERS IN CRIME – Congratulations if you dallied to parse this one. It’s R[un] plus ENTRAP for catch reversed (up) and SINCE for as containing/crossing RIM for border. | |
| 6 | Fabulous being in possession of European person’s make-up (6) |
| GENOME – Fabulous being is a GNOME, insert E[uropean] | |
| 7 | Raising two daughters nothing unusual (3) |
| ODD – Two daughters DD, nothing, O, raised. | |
| 8 | Attractive man on board (9) |
| COVETABLE – Not the most obvious synonym. But man is COVE and board is TABLE. | |
| 13 | Badly misrepresented yourself in penning article (11) |
| NEFARIOUSLY – Not the most likely looking anagram, but it is (misrepresented) of YOURSELF IN and A the only article it can be. | |
| 15 | Vulgar tackling church over singer’s morality (9) |
| RECTITUDE – Vulgar is RUDE, insert EC for a reversed (over) C[hurch of] E[ngland] and an avian, singing TIT. | |
| 17 | Player seems tall on Everton’s flanks (8) |
| STALLONE – NDY, but buried in seemS TALL ON Everton’s | |
| 20 | Establish new radio is faulty (6) |
| ORDAIN – An anagram (faulty) of N[ew] RADIO. | |
| 23 | Inoffensive note received by family (5) |
| CLEAN – The note (pick any one from seven) in CLAN for family. | |
| 25 | Men accepting such charity would be new (3) |
| AID – If AID was inserted into MEN it would give MAIDEN, here in its meaning of new. | |
Yes. Devices to indicate removal of first/last letters are used so often that compilers seem to struggle for pleasingly deceptive indicators. ‘Flayed’ is particularly vicious (shades of Marsyas) without resulting in a surface that makes much sense.
Had to reveal many of the answers today, but pleased to see the parsing in everything. PARTNERS IN CRIME was my FOI which gave me lots of crossers. INNOMINATE was a NHO but managed to see ‘dominates flayed’. I read ‘smart’ in 4D HASTINGS as ‘small’ and wondered why I didn’t see the ‘sting’. Liked INTERNED and the convoluted DEAD AGAINST. So much harder than yesterday, but I suppose that’s why it’s called Tricky Thursday.
Thanks Z and setter.
Ditto SMALL, so also couldn’t parse it.
One of those days where I missed a lot of anagram indicators in particular making the puzzle much harder than it was. I only saw the indicators after I found the words (a lot with aids). FOI PARTNERS IN CRIME found quickly and others gave me hope that it wasn’t Tricky Thursday.
Thanks Z
60 minutes. I gave up overnight with 58 minutes on the clock and 17dn and 18ac outstanding. As so often it was intersecting clues that stumped me. Returning to it this morning STALLONE jumped out at me as a hidden answer and OUSTER came easily with its final checker in place.
INNOMINATE has appeared once (2023) as part of the answer INNOMNATE BONE, but otherwise this is its first outing and I felt I had never seen it before.
Tough challenge – and for me, one of those rare outliers where the hidden answer was the last clue to fall. A Rocky road to completion in 56:28. – thanks Z and setter
I saw what you did there; very Sly. (Sorry).
First blood to the setter then 😉
Made life harder than it need be by misreading the enumeration for DEAD AGAINST as 7,4 and getting into all sorts of strife. There were some tough clues here and I thank Z for explaining HASTINGS, OUSTER and AID. Pleased to finish and did so in a little under 40.
From Like A Rolling Stone:
ONCE upon a time you dressed so fine,
Threw the bums a dime in your prime
Didn’t you?
DNF but enjoyed ‘Really con’.
Felt very tough to me, 35:57. Sorry to say I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the clues or the solve itself, although I always like a linguistic reference (Gujarati today) and wish they popped up more often.
Stallone is still with us – I last encountered him in an Athlean-X cameo during lockdown. I wonder how many not-yet-departed notables there’ve been in total now?
Thanks all.
I’ve seen him in Tulsa King lately. His face doesn’t move much!
18.50
Tricky enough, but enjoyable. Does the “it’s” in 24ac work?
When I was studying anatomy I always felt the decision to group the ilium, ischium and pubis together as the INNOMINATE bone was a bit of a Friday-afternoon “Oh, that’ll do” job. Similarly the clue for DEAD AGAINST.
LOI SCAN
COD NEFARIOUS
There’s an INNOMINATE Tarn in the Lake District on Haystacks, and Wainright wished to be buried there.
It’s a shortening of S, not a possessive, and in the cryptic grammar applies to all of the preceding instructions: [Jaguar groomed with it] IS GUJARATI.
‘It’s’ with an apostrophe doesn’t work in the surface though, surely (?)
Yes fair point! I have over-trained myself not to notice surface readings.
Surface readings often use non-standard language, though so why not non-standard spelling, I guess?
37 minutes. The usual few minutes to get started in the NW then slow going for the rest. I was stuck at the end staring at 26a O_S_E_, itching to put in OYSTER, but before sending out a mayday call, the correct sense of ‘tournament’ came to mind. I knew INNOMINATE as another ‘name’ for the brachiocephalic artery.
COVETABLE as a word is very UNCOVETABLE, unlike my favourite today, NEFARIOUSLY.
17’37”, I did pause to parse PARTNERS IN CRIME and INNOMINATE.
Does anyone go to HASTINGS as a resort anymore? And how many girls nowadays are called EDNA? I’ve seen SCANT very recently, do crossword editors confer?
Not moaning really, thought DEAD AGAINST was a fabulous clue.
Thanks z and setter.
FOI was OARED, LOI COVETABLE, although I did pause to parse INNOMINATE before submitting. It was a relief to spot (d)OMINATE(s). PARTNERS IN CRIME went straight in from definition and enumeration, but it was much later that I saw the parsing. WOODCHIP was a long time coming. I liked DEAD AGAINST. 33:47. Thanks setter and Z.
Too good for me today.
Failed on several clues which now seem eminently gettable.
One of my dim days.
Does not bode well for the morrow.
Thanks to Z and setter.
That sums up my experience with this one.
DNF today, didn’t get the STALLONE/OUSTER nexus. Some good clues, though I didnt parse everything. Thanks Zabadak and setter.
Didn’t get on well with this one, despite the splendid hidden, and I was interrupted, but I was about an hour. Who’s your money on, Big Dunc or Rambo? LOI the unknown INNOMINATE. Thank you Z and setter
50 mins.
Tough challenge but got through it. LOI Stallone – as Denise says, it’s unusual not to see the hidden until the end.
Thanks, Z.
44:58 with LOI WOODCHIP. Thought it must be SHIP or SHOP.
I greatly enjoyed the Stallone clue (Player seems tall on Everton’s flanks), partly because the answer was far from easy to spot – but the clever wording threw up all sorts of possibilities. Was FLANKS a containment indicator, or just the first and last letters of Everton? Was ON a position indicator, or did it stand for RE or similar? None of these – good work, setter
Am I missing something? folks here seems to really like DEAD AGAINST but I think its quite clunky. The definition is good but the wordplay is convoluted, “fake” is an unconvincing anagrind and for the life of me I can’t figure out what the surface is even supposed to mean…
I thought WOODCHIP was very elegant and HISTORICAL had excellent misdirection.
“Of the pigeon family, and nearly as unpleasant”
What a bizarre thing to say. Collared doves are beautiful.
And pigeons are delicious 😉
According to Wiki a ringdove is domesticated from an African bird, not our collar dove. Our collar doves are too small to be worth eating IMHO, big fat wood pigeon better.
Difficult. Was just glad to finish, albeit in a shade under the hour. Liked OUSTER and OARED, but still don’t quite understand HASTINGS.
Re HASTINGS, I think Z was on the money. ‘Contains’ = HAS, ‘smart’ = STING, and that is inserted into (parts) HAS to give us the coastal town.
Had to come back to this so I won’t post a time.
I felt quite confident once the helpful PARTNERS IN CRIME fell quickly but really struggled with the left hand side
WOODCHIP was last in. ‘Could’ kept coming to mind but not ‘would’. Anagram of DEAD AGAINST held out until I had more crossers. Really should have got that earlier. ARRANGER was another that seemed straightforward in hindsight but fooled by the sneaky definition.
I had HASTINGS in early but removed it after missing the full parsing and being unable to get the crossing words.
Slow, but little that I think was overly difficult (maybe WOODCHIP) in hindsight.
Surprised to see Pigeon actually meaning the bird in a cryptic crossword. Trying to be too smart slowed me down there.
COD: EVERYONE
Only positive was I got AID on the first pass when last time such a clue came up I was completely flummoxed.
Astonished, to see you dissing collared doves, Z.
Collared doves mate for life and are very sweet. We have a pair that have been around our garden for years. They are the attractive face of the pigeon family; and saying things like that tends to make one wonder what else you are completely wrong about..
Oh yes; nice crossword.
Collared doves, like pigeons, are territorial and aggressive towards smaller birds. I assume that’s what z8 means in referring to his bird table.
Might be just my collared doves, but they more than hold their own against the violent pigeons, who chase other birds off the table even if they’re not interested in eating.
Do your doves chase other birds off? Perhaps I’m maligning them!
They certainly do, though usually only to get at the food. The pigeons seem do it just to keep other birds away, then sit defying any others to come near.
We have no such problems here, either with the doves or pigeons. We are surrounded by farmland, which might make the pigeons behave differently perhaps.
The bird table thugs here are robins, which will attack anything including each other.
If you’re surrounded by arable farmland the pigeons have plenty of other stuff to eat!
Our experience is very different ..
Where we are the big local bullies are the parakeets.
Sarf London? Daughter has a flat in Herne Hill next to Brockwell Park where the whole neighbourhood is terrorised by gangs of parakeets .. bloody foreign birds, coming over here… 🙂
Putney. There are hundreds of them in Richmond Park too.
One of my favourite weeks of all time was when someone was interviewed on the Today program about how to contribute to the yearly bird census, and referred to pigeons as “bully birds”. In the pejorative use of the word ‘bully’. Same time slot the next morning there was a pigeon fancier on with a provocative response. Things escalated, day by day, from there. My recollection is that cat lovers tried to crash the party at one point (bird counts are down because of pigeons, not because of cats), but I might be mis-remembering that bit of fun.
I tried to use the unusual ‘gryfin’ spelling for the fabulous creature at 6d, and it was all downhill from there. A lot of slightly off-my-usual-usage definitions didn’t help me out any, either.
10:45. I enjoyed this one, some nicely chewy bits.
I’m not sure about ‘workmates’ for LADS. Chambers has it, but Chambers has lots of weird and wonderful stuff. In the usual dictionaries you can only get there via the plural: ‘a group of men sharing recreational, working, or other interests’ (ODE). This feels a little bit tenuous to me. I really hesitated over this one.
9s Dryads. I thought (L)ads was rather unlikely so I delayed entering this.
12a Innominate. Biffed. Oh, thanks Z that’s how we should have got there.
18a Scan. Oh well if you say then scant=short.
5d Partners… biffed, but I did see the rim.
Thanks Zabadak & setter.
All was going OK until I became utterly bogged down, no good reason really and the clues I couldn’t get were quite possible: for example I failed to see hi for welcome (thinking ‘ave’); I was slow to see settler = ARRANGER; and INNOMINATE was incomprehensible. I hadn’t helped myself by having ODk for ODD. 62 minutes, with aids that mostly didn’t help.
Strangely enough, I find (too late to help) that my local church has an upcoming concert by the innominata choir.
(17 May, £11.25 if anyone is interested. They are supposed to be good)
Clever clue for Stallone. He is an Everton fan, and did seem tall when he walked down the flanks at Goodison Park.
5’10”
Very pleased to get all bar one today (well, sort of). Revealed INTERNED which made LOI STALLONE jump out. Couldn’t parse HASTINGS. Tentatively wondered whether TINGS was a small version of ‘things’/parts! Couldn’t parse PARTNERS IN CRIME either and took a very long time to understand the definition for DEAD AGAINST (very clever). Favourite clue was WOODCHIP. Many thanks Z and setter.
Ran out of time and DNF. I liked WOOD CHIP, GENOME and HASTINGS. Doubt if I would have got ARRANGER and RECTITUDE
Thanks to Zabadak and the setter
40 mins but having spelt Gujarati with an e, the only thing I could think of 25 dn was Eid. When the pink square emerged I realised my mistake but too late for an unblemished crossword.
I found this very sticky until I got a spurt on after over 30 minutes to sort out the top left corner downwards.
Aid was small but beautifully formed!
DNF, defeated by RINGDOVE (NHO, missed that it was an anagram), INNOMINATE (got no further than ‘inn’ and never saw what ‘flayed’ was doing) and GENOME (didn’t think of gnomes).
– Got SCAN without seeing which word was being shortened
– Tried to justify BRIGHTON for 4d, thinking smart=bright
– Only parsed PARTNERS IN CRIME after I’d entered it
– Took a long time to see the hidden STALLONE
– Had no idea what was going on with AID
Thanks Zabadak and setter.
COD Hastings
My sluggishness today is exemplified by the fact that I sincerely considered RONGDIVE for some time. A minor miracle that once I actually had the N in place I saw the light.
28:29. COD: STALLONE
Yes I had GUJERATI as well, which made AID rather difficult, but i managed to spot it before submitting. 37 hard fought minutes
For a contract lawyer a contract contains “conditions”, “warranties” and “innominate” terms – so saw the word quickly, but parsing took quite a bit longer. Same issues as others – a fairly tough, but fair challenge
Tough, but all reasonable. Though I can’t imagine a sentence in which ARRANGER means SETTLER, as there’s already a perfectly good meaning of settler that doesn’t mean arranger. In bird terms to arrange/settle feathers, yes, arranger, no, as far as I know. But a minor quibble… For some reason, INNOMINATE was familiar. All parsed as I went which slowed things down.
59:15. squeaked in under the hour just! Decidedly tricksy, and had to re-re-re-read the clue for AID before submitting. As always a grumble about living people … main reason being I assume they’re dead if they’re in the crossword! thanks both!
42:57
Pleased to finish but a bit like pulling teeth towards the end. DRYADS took ages, had INTERNED pencilled in for ages and was sure that 13d prob began with IN- or UN- until I finally worked out the anagram. INNOMINATE bunged in from INN_M_N_T_ without understanding it fully…. which left OUSTER and STALLONE as my last two – very clever hidden!
Thanks Z and setter
22’05”. Several went in unparsed. Thanks.
Nearly an hour, and DNF because INNOMINATE defeated me. Certainly that would have been my preferred spelling, but since I couldn’t see the masters anywhere I decided that they might be O-MEN in some strange fantasy novel and the answer to the clue, which I have never heard of, might be spelt INNOMENATE. I liked the rest of the puzzle, though.
Same problems as the crew, especially not seeing AID ( or how to
Parse) or ORDAIN for establish. However, really liked DEAD AGAINST when I finally got it, ditto WOODCHIP and HISTORICAL. Hard work, but worth it!