Hello all. I was a bit surprised to find this was a Trelawney because it took me a bit longer than usual for a Monday. But not that surprised because I enjoyed it. It didn’t seem so hard when writing it up, so maybe I was just having a slow day. I can’t really choose a favourite clue, but if pushed I will vote for the hero holding back the monster in 21a. Thanks Trelawney!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Slippery item beginning to bother a relative’s family (6,4) |
| BANANA SKIN — The first letter of (beginning to) Bother + A + NANA’S (relative’s) + KIN (family) | |
| 8a | Period of time immediately before altercation (3-2) |
| RUN-IN — Two definitions | |
| 9a | Assemble most of currency for rubber? (7) |
| MASSEUR — MASS (assemble) + most of EURo (currency) | |
| 10a | Had learnt to move around central region (9) |
| HEARTLAND — HAD LEARNT is to be anagrammed (to move around) | |
| 12a | Total is small? Let me think … (3) |
| SUM — S (small) + UM (let me think …) | |
| 13a | Disney princess returns outside one part of church (5) |
| AISLE — ELSA (Disney princess) goes backwards (returns) around (outside) I (one) | |
| 15a | Trousers belonging to Sibelius, perhaps? (5) |
| JEANS — JEAN’S (belonging to Sibelius, perhaps?) | |
| 17a | Title of father shortened (3) |
| SIR — SIRe (father) without the last letter (shortened) | |
| 18a | Celebrity committee is at sea, right? (9) |
| STARBOARD — STAR (celebrity) + BOARD (committee) | |
| 20a | Opposite of fashionable poetry (7) |
| INVERSE — IN (fashionable) + VERSE (poetry) | |
| 21a | Foolhardy hero holding back monster (5) |
| HYDRA — FoolhARDY Hero is holding back the answer | |
| 22a | Dad borrows terribly big chopper (10) |
| BROADSWORD — An anagram of (… terribly) DAD BORROWS | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Lady Godiva’s attire represented a British duty (8,4) |
| BIRTHDAY SUIT — An anagram of (represented – re-presented) A BRITISH DUTY | |
| 2d | Masked warrior partially hidden in Jakarta (5) |
| NINJA — Partially hiddeN IN JAkarta | |
| 3d | Sister needed up north primarily (3) |
| NUN — Initial letters of (… primarily) Needed Up North | |
| 4d | Pacific islander as upset over complaint (6) |
| SAMOAN — AS reversed (upset, in a down entry) over MOAN (complaint) | |
| 5d | Position in prison for certain kind of crime? (6,3) |
| INSIDE JOB — An INSIDE JOB could be a job inside: a position in prison | |
| 6d | Aspire to change ancient empire (6) |
| PERSIA — ASPIRE needs to be anagrammed (to change) | |
| 7d | Dance is with editor to secure perfect location? (8,4) |
| PROMISED LAND — PROM (dance) + IS + ED (editor) + LAND (to secure) | |
| 11d | Money manager, initially tight, certain to cut back (9) |
| TREASURER — The first letter of (initially) Tight + SURE (certain) going inside (to cut) REAR (back) | |
| 14d | Try hard with new rivets (6) |
| STRIVE — An anagram of (new) RIVETS | |
| 16d | Setter put into vehicle with a picture taker (6) |
| CAMERA — ME (setter) put into CAR (vehicle) + A | |
| 19d | Car with zero sound (5) |
| AUDIO — AUDI (car) + O (zero) | |
| 21d | Owns shears regularly (3) |
| HAS — Alternate letters of (… regularly) sHeArS | |
Biffed a bunch, parsed post-submission or sooner. It took me a moment or two to remember Sibelius’s given name. 6:16
10 minutes. I didn’t know the Disney princess but AISLE was in no doubt. When I googled Elsa afterwards I discovered there is some dispute online as to whether or not she is actually a princess, not that it’s of any relevance here.
I’d let that go if I were you….
😵
….never bothered me anyway
🙂
😂😂😂
And good to see that setters are appealing to the youth audience.
Very good!
very good
I consider myself something of an authority on the matter insofar as my daughter was a huge fan. Our apartment walls in Cairo were covered with them. No, you’re absolutely correct. Elsa is not a Disney Princess. Poor form from Telawney today!
She may not be an “an Official Disney Princess” but I learned that “Unofficial Disney Princesses can be anyone who you find deserving of the title.” Apparently it was deemed she and Anna were more valuable in marketing merchandise as part of the lucrative Frozen franchise rather than the Disney Princesses one.
I may be wrong, but I’m sure the ubiquitous “Elsa” and “Anna” dresses that my daughter was keen on when she was young were marketed as “princess dresses”.
As an aside, it would have been amusing if the clue could have contained something like “Disney character who has let herself go” – however, probably a bit clunky and long.
I also thought this puzzle was great, many entertaining clues. 5:36.
BIRTHDAY SUIT was a good laugh. ‘Rubber’ was a good definition for MASSEUR. ‘Partially hidden in Jakarta’ was great (though easy) misleading. I briefly had TONGAN for the Pacific Islander, given TONGA discussion last week, thinking of NAG upset.
Slowish start, fast finish. All green in a nippy 7.53. Needed a moment to see how to break down the clues for RUN IN and to see how MASSEUR worked. Good stuff!
A gentle workout this morning, with the two unknown names – Jean and Elsa – being very kindly clued.
Started with BIRTHDAY SUIT and finished with HYDRA in 5.54.
Thanks to Kitty and Trelawney
10.38. Now that Kitty has explained that BIRTHDAY SUIT was an anagram and HYDRA was a reverse hidden I feel somewhat sheepish. All up an enjoyable puzzle, that PROMISED LAND was quite the construction and if you gotta have an ear worm it might as well be Chuck. Thanks to both.
A great puzzle, very enjoyable start to the week. 13:40 for me, held up with PROMISED LAND which led almost immediately to HYDRA and LOI MASSEUR. FOI and COD BANANA SKIN
Fast start and slow finish after struggling with the two long down clues. Was convinced for a while that BIRTHDAY SUIT was going to be something starting with BARE and took a similar while to see that LAND was the four letter word with A and D in it. 11:58.
Found this relatively gentle with clear cluing. NHO ELSA but with A-S-E and part of a church I didn’t think further.
Liked MASSEUR, ho ho, could only see one meaning of Run in initially but finished sub 20 mins for a good start to the puzzle week. Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
An excellent QC to start the week. All done in 10.58 but with a daft typo for NUN because I had somehow activated ‘skip filled squares’ and missed NNN for 3d when I realised what had happened and corrected the gobbledook answers for the NW corner where I had started. So a technical DNF (but an enjoyable recovery after Saturday’s offering which found me in a bad mood without the patience to deal with it).
My LOI was MASSEUR. Too many good clues to list.
Many thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
I made a right meal of this having missed the anagram indicators for BROADSWORD and BIRTHDAY SUIT (also fixated on BARE to start with).
Lots of very good clues such as NINJA and MASSEUR but COD to STARBOARD.
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
Fast today, and very enjoyable. Slightly held up at the end by AUDIO and HYDRA but toast helped. LOI MASSEUR, PDM with a groan. Also liked BIRTHDAY SUIT, HEARTLAND, STARBOARD, PROMISED LAND, INVERSE. Had to remember Elsa to parse AISLE. Granddaughter was temporarily keen on Frozen so I bought her an Elsa dress 👗- too late, her crush was so over – was obliged to return said garment to Sainsbury’s.
Thanks vm, Kitty.
Several biffed then parsed and getting BIRTHDAY SUIT helped considerably. LOI BROADSWORD. Took about 17 minutes – a bit quicker than normal for me.
8:27
Fast and enjoyable.
LOI was BROADSWORD.
Thanks Kitty and Trelawney
Like Kitty I found this a little chewier than Trelawney’s usual offerings; some great clues and a few headscratchers pushed me out to 9:05. I DK Elsa, but AISLE was clear enough, and I took time to equate Assemble with Mass for my LOI MASSEUR.
A good start to the week. Many thanks Kitty for the blog.
It took me a while to realise BIRTHDAY SUIT was an anagram, and that delayed me for a while. I pondered for a while if perhaps there was a pair of trousers called FINNS!
A good offering from The Squire which took me virtually to the limit of my target at 9.42.
Very straightforward start to the puzzling week . Raced through most of it . Liked MASSEUR.
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
For the most part I was held up by the anagrams, specifically HEARTLAND, BROADSWORD (unknown) and PERSIA. I guessed JEANS from the J checker as I didn’t know of the Finnish composer. My LOI was MASSEUR…ah that kind of rubber! 6:56 Thanks Kitty
From BANANA SKIN to BROADSWORD in 8:04. Distracted by expecting 1d to begin with BARE for a while. Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
Almost a blank on the acrosses to start with but gathered pace after that finishing in 20 minutes. I usually find Trelawney one of the easier setters so this was disappointing. Having been at Disneyland with my granddaughter earlier this year I have a thorough knowledge of Disney princesses so that posed no problem. With hindsight I’m not sure what held me up.
FOI – 17ac SIR
LOI – 19dn AUDIO
CODs – MASSEUR, STARBOARD and BIRTHDAY SUIT.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
Very sluggish this morning, despite a 1ac write-in. Birthday Suit and Masseur were almost unbelievably my last pair, and ensured an absence of window seats by the time I boarded. Still, there were some lovely parsings to reflect on, with CoD to Treasurer, though I thought the surface of Starboard was pretty good as well. Invariant
15 + 3 my best performance to date.
The three are where I half guess a letter and the second guess is right. There were others where I saw the parse immediately after revealing the word…
I’m still on the learning curve, with any luck that will last forever….
Thanks Kitty and Trelawney
Well done, good score!
Thank you, appreciated.
DNK Princess Elsa in 13a Aisle, but didn’t need to. Ditto DNK Sibelius’ given name for Jean(s).
COD 1d Birthday suit for the stunning anagram.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty
19:56 but with one error, I was desperate to avoid the SCC so put in MUSTERR (assemble) at 9a. I should have seen “rubber”, goes with “number”.
Is Sibelius the best Jean? Not Harlow or Brodie?
Struggled with Lady Godiva as it looked for sure to start BARE.
Or indeed Claude van Damme.
And Jean Alesi just appeared in one of the GK crossers IIRC.
Or Billy
Jean Valjean and Jean Moulin should get some consideration too.
Finished correctly in 55 minutes. Quite tough I thought.
6 down re Persian Empire interested me For 50 years (499 BC – 449 BC) the Persians under King Darius and Xerxes tried to conquer Greece but never succeeded. They did have a temporary success at the battle of Thermopylae but later were expelled by the Greeks. This is surprising, because getting the city states of ancient Greece together to fight was like trying to herd cats. The Spartans did not turn up to the battle of Marathon until it was all over. They decided to indulge in their religious festivals instead. At the battle of Marathon the Athenians (with the help of the Plataean tribe) beat the Persians and the story of Pheidippides the runner was born. He supposedly ran the 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory – and in full armour as well.
If the Persians had won at Marathon then probably the modern marathon would not have been
invented, and no cheap holidays to the Greek islands.
That I DNK 👍👏
13:01
Struggled with the acrosses on first pass but the downs were far more productive and once the checkers were there most of this fell into place. Failed to parse SUM or LOI HYDRA.
DNF.
Totally missed the hidden and invented a monster called HEDDA.
An enjoyable QC. Another DNK Elsa but the answer was obvious.
Thanks Kitty and Trelawney.
Good start to the week with a 12 minute solve and all (eventually) parsed. With last Friday’s first night, Proms are concerts not dances for me at present, but PROMISED LAND fitted nicely and evoked King Lear. Are masseurs rubbers or strokers? 22a was ingenious and brought to mind Where Eagles Dare – that famous tag line “Danny Boy calling Broadsword”. All in all, a fun puzzle with lots to like, and a British duty will never be the same again for me! Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
I must have failed to refresh since your comment about W.E.D. … great minds
Kneaders for sure.
Nice romp through. DNK Elsa, Jean or Mass for assemble, but all reasonably guessable. Spent ages looking at the ISED in 7d but was mentally pronouncing it as in sized not IST. Once that was in it immediately gave the currency and thence LOI 9a.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
Broadsword calling Dannyboy, broadsword calling Dannyboy … 7:28 for the solve. Second slowest Trelawney of the year which is no complaint. Particularly liked STARBOARD and INSIDE-JOB.
Thanks to Kitty and Trelawney
👏👏👏
“Bring me my BROADSWORD, and clear understanding” (Jethro Tull). The latter quality was lacking today, but I see I wasn’t alone. I can’t enter the “Elsa” debate, since I’d never heard of anyone of that name (other than the lioness in “Born Free”) and just biffed it. Like Kevin (hours ago now) I couldn’t remember Sibelius’s moniker, so it was SLOI, and I have a not unpleasant earworm of the Intermezzo from the “Karelia” suite (or the theme tune to “This Week” for the less cultured among you – should there be any).
FOI SUM
LOI PROMISED LAND*
COD BIRTHDAY SUIT
TIME 4:52
* I could yet change earworms to Chuck Berry I suppose.
Don’t worry about a dearth of the uncultured, you can always rely on me to represent the peasantry. It’s a banging theme tune!
Edit: twenty minutes later I’ve still got your earworm, so thank you for that.