These succinct clues deploy deviously subtle tricks to hide the definitions and blend the wordplay, including the occasional anagrind, into seamless surfaces. I didn’t notice until after solving that the top and bottom rows both make sensible phrases.
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Unravelling very fast (8) |
| CRACKING DD |
|
| 5 | Start working without training (4) |
| OPEN O(PE)N |
|
| 10 | Short race arranged for pit workers (9) |
| ORCHESTRA (Short race)* |
|
| 11 | Mozambique’s back country bovid (5) |
| ELAND |
|
| 12 | Some lotio{n, a sal}ve for your nose (5) |
| NASAL Hidden |
|
| 13 | They sharpen colours on paintings (9) |
| OILSTONES OILS, “paintings” + TONES, “colors” A whetstone used with oil …NHO! |
|
| 14 | Clear box housing old set of drawings (5,7) |
| STRIP CARTOON STRIP, “Clear” + CARTO(O)N |
|
| 18 | Non-frozen spread for Pancake Day? (7,5) |
| MOVABLE FEAST MOVABLE, “Non-frozen” + FEAST, “spread” Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the final day of Shrovetide, and the end of the pre-Lenten season. The precise dates vary year by year, of course, like Easter Sunday. |
|
| 21 | Ironic, small label outside East Berlin landmark (9) |
| REICHSTAG R(E)ICH(S)TAG |
|
| 22 | Principal keeping one in step (5) |
| STAIR STA(I)R |
|
| 23 | After batting, turn first to the bar (5) |
| INGOT IN, “batting” (cricket) + GO, “turn” (noun) + T |
|
| 24 | Polish migrant able to speak at length (9) |
| ELABORATE (able)* + ORATE, “speak at length” …Been a while since I awarded a Creative Anagrind Prize! |
|
| 25 | Sport of cane twirling (4) |
| GOLF FLOG<=“twirling” |
|
| 26 | York’s first-rate defender (8) |
| CHAMPION DD, the first being particular to Northern England |
|
| DOWN | |
| 1 | Zany fellow dismissed by Nemo? (8) |
| CLOWNISH CLOWN |
|
| 2 | Wizards seek to recruit new blood (8) |
| ANCESTRY A(N)CES TRY |
|
| 3 | Ring sounding a little Dickensian (5) |
| KNELL “Nell” |
|
| 4 | A man that line dances with no country music (8,6) |
| NATIONAL ANTHEM (A man that line, no)* |
|
| 6 | On board, men catching rare sea creatures (6) |
| PRAWNS P(R)AWNS |
|
| 7 | Camper, perhaps, who can barely relax (6) |
| NUDIST CD …The most common way, by far, to clue this word is with a CD, which makes sense: Any added wordplay would still need a definition that has to be somewhat specific without being too obvious. |
|
| 8 | Organ cleaner supported by wire (5,9) |
| DAILY TELEGRAPH DAILY, “cleaner” + TELEGRAPH, “wire” |
|
| 9 | Dish composed of a metal (8) |
| MEATLOAF (of a metal)* |
|
| 15 | They claim to forecast earnings for auditors (8) |
| PROPHETS “profits” |
|
| 16 | Harry, a short story writer’s city (8) |
| NAGASAKI NAG, “Harry” + A + SAKI, “short story writer” (H.H. Munro, 1870–1916) |
|
| 17 | Way to goad fish (8) |
| STURGEON ST(reet), “Way” + URGE ON, “to goad” |
|
| 19 | Run, declining drinks, becoming parched (6) |
| DRYING D(R)YING The word order is deceptive! |
|
| 20 | A poet’s girl enlivened by sex (6) |
| VIRGIL VI, six, “sex” in Latin + (girl)* |
|
| 22 | Narrative cut short with maiden under attack (5) |
| STORM STOR |
|
Just one sensible phrase really – the puzzle appeared on the last day of the British Open golf championship.
Pedants will tell you that it is just “the open golf championship” with no “British” since there was only one when it was created so it didn’t need qualification. Like how the UK does not put the name of the country on its stamps since there were no stamps in other countries at the time.
Yes, but in the context of explaining for someone who apparently missed the connection between Open and champion, the equivalent of “Times of London” seemed appropriate.
Well, the Open was far from cracking, more like a coronation as none of the pursuers could make anything like a charge.
CRACKING OPEN is a sensible phrase in itself, separate from (OPEN) GOLF CHAMPION, which, somehow (go figure), I am not in the least ashamed of not having seen in its full glory.
I liked this, especially “country music” for NATIONAL ANTHEM. Pancake Tuesday is known as Mardi Gras in many places, most notably New Orleans (or Nouvelle Orléans if you want to keep the French thing going). Supposedly because you are meant to use up all your fat (gras) before Lent, but pancakes use a bit of milk but are not really full of fat.
Found this puzzle to be both reasonably challenging but more importantly very entertaining. Had a real chuckle at 10ac ORCHESTRA (‘pit workers’ indeed! – once seen), and 4d NATIONAL ANTHEM (we’ve got both kinds).
Honourable mentions to 3d KNELL and 6d PRAWNS for brevity of wit.
My dad (now long passed on) used to sing a little ditty involving the STURGEON 17d which is appropriate to the clue.
Not so fussed on RICH for ‘ironic’ 21ac, GO for ‘turn’ 23ac and CRACKING for ‘unravelling’ 1ac.
Sorry for being uneducated, but what does the CD mean in the blog for 7d – which was another good and subtle clue.
Also still not quite understanding how 26ac becomes CHAMPION. I/we got there by my finding a famous footballer of that name (York area) who was a midfielder, and the word fitted the crossers and a meaning of ‘defender’.
Big thank you setter, and Guy.
Well, we do have a glossary, and CD is in it:
https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/glossary
It’s my turn/go.
Unravelling/cracking the code — or wordplay.
Champion/defend a cause.
Champion as in a Yorkshireman’s ‘Ee, by gum lad, that’s champion/great’.
When you CRACK a code or a cryptic clue, you might also say you “unravelled” it.
CD means “cryptic definition,” an all-in-one clue that typically plays on ambiguous and deliberately misleading phrasing. Similar definitions can also be part of more complex clues, as “pit workers” here.
Using CHAMPION as an adjective is said by dictionaries to be most common in York and thereabouts.
Thanks again, and apologies for not checking glossary.
“York and thereabouts” = something like the Northern 40% of England.
As I would assume (approximately). The clue said “York.” My note said “Northern England.”
Problem?
Not in the note. “York and thereabouts” is in a comment.
This is a thread.
I presumed that the person to whom I was responding has a memory longer than that erroneously ascribed to the goldfish.
I hope I’m never seen to suggest that someone capable of solving cryptic crosswords has that kind of memory. In my experience, people who may be coming back to a thread hours after first looking at it do not remember everything that has been previously said and use it to deduce that something said later is not what you meant.
I discovered this afternoon that I had forgotten to do this puzzle (I was watching The Open Championship on Sunday).
So I used it for an afternoon solve on the deck. I thought it might give trouble, but it didn’t – Latin sex, the clownfish, Nagasaki, the chestnut sturgeon were all obvious to me. I saw Telegraph, but couldn’t get daily for a while. Moveable feast was my LOI – of course!
Time: 24:12
Was minor chuffed about seeing the sex – Latin – Roman connection in that one.
31:09
I knew Nemo was a fish, but nothing more, so I didn’t get 1d. I had a ? at CHAMPION, but coming here I realized I’d seen it: Quiggin (Dance to the Music of Time), a Northerner, speaks of Mona’s champion looks. Liked OPEN, ELABORATE, FLOG, ANCESTRY, DRYING. Guy, your (N) is misplaced in ANCESTRY.
Glad you always show up here early!
One of Robert’s tougher ones I felt. 18a – my take on Pancake Day was that as pancakes are tossed in the pan to turn them over ( at least that’s what my mother used to do ) in that way they are ‘movable’.
65 minutes, quite a long solve but very enjoyable. One query re 6dn, in what context is ‘r’ an abbreviation of ‘rare’? I note that it’s in Collins but not in Chambers or the Oxfords, so it can’t be very common.
I believe from his past comments that this setter has an aversion to unnecessary use of the indefinite article in clues so I was surprised to see A poet’s girl… in 20dn. But perhaps I have misunderstood?
Remembering my years in hotels and restaurants, orders for steaks were written with either R, MR, M, MW, WD, for rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, well-done, as well as bleu. That was my take on the clue anyway.
I thought it may be along those lines but discounted it because it wouldn’t be on a menu. Abbreviations on waiters’ notepads seems an odd source of reference for lexicographers to consult, but you may well be right.
Robert has included “a” in similar definitions before, as such can appear in dictionaries and do not seem to occasion any confusion regarding wordplay.
Well it can do, which I understood was his objection to it, and whatever the reasoning, he’s complained about it here on a number of occasions in puzzles by other setters. But since he’s of this parish so to speak, perhaps we shall hear from him later. It may be that his objection is more nuanced than I had understood. For example it may be necessary sometimes to facilitate the surface reading, but I can’t see that’s the case in the clue under discussion.
Remember the St. Patrick’s Day puzzle (Sunday Times Cryptic No 5155)?
5 News journalist’s guide about a US President (7)
KENNEDY KE(N)(N)(ED)Y JFK, the first Irish-Catholic US president
And this is from No 5131:
11 An actor’s month playing London without underwear (6,6)
MARLON BRANDO MAR(ch), “month” + (London)* covering BRA, “underwear”
Yes, I’m aware it’s happened before but I didn’t query it. Today I did.
Hi Jack. I like to apply the “is” test. Virgil ‘is’ (or was) “a poet”. Whereas, if the answer had been a synonym of poet, e.g. versifier, then “a poet” is “a versifier” and the extra “a” would be what I call a ‘dangler’.
I try my best to be consistent. If you ever see “a painter” you can expect it to be a painter, e.g. Degas, rather than “painter”, e.g. Artist.
Sometimes it is not possible to add the helpful extra “a”. For example, if the answer is “a novel”, e.g. War and Peace, but I want novel to look like an adjective in the surface, then the helpful “a” has to be dropped.
Thanks for posting. Yes, that makes perfect sense. As I had suspected and mentioned above, your objection and policy when setting is more nuanced than I had considered. I have saved your explanation for future reference.
A year or two ago, I checked with another setter usually averse to strictly unnecessary A’s, about an apparent slip into bad habits in a clue. The answer I got was that it’s acceptable in a definition but not in wordplay. I looked for any mention of this in books about clue rules, but couldn’t find it. I’m pretty sure that long ago I solved many puzzles where you needed to decide whether grammatical “articles” were strictly necessary or not, just as you had to make choices like whether “gold” meant AU or OR, and I don’t think I’d ever insist on removing one, as it often makes the surface reading seem a shade less natural.
Thanks, Peter, it would never have occurred to me that there might be a ruling on the matter but I thought it may be a feature of the Ximenean code I was not aware of.
Perhaps I should have started my first comment by saying I have no particular problem with surplus A’s because I meet them almost daily in The Times or elsewhere, and my only reason for raising it today (not having done so on previous occasions) was that the setter has in the past expressed his dislike of the practice.
Never would have thought ‘migrant’ would be an anagrind, but it had to be. Took a while to see what was going on with MOVEABLE FEAST and had to wait for checkers to see it. Thought NATIONAL ANTHEM was very clever. Was glad to remember ‘sex’ is not always ‘it’ or ‘sa’ to see VIRGIL. ANCESTRY took some time. Liked ‘organ’ for DAILY TELEGRAPH.
Thanks Guy and setter.
Yes. I wondered whether ‘migrate’ would have been better in that clue if not too obvious. Also interesting that neither word appears as an anagrind in Chambers (even 4th Ed) – although I would be the first to agree dictionaries are not God.
I found this particularly hard, and when solving failed to parse VIRGIL – an excellent surface that misled me entirely into thinking it was something to do with ‘virgin’ changing. MOVABLE FEAST was another that held me up for ages. As for OILSTONES, NHO. Like CLOWNISH, though that too was hard to come by.
Multiple goes needed
– Not familiar with OILSTONES but the wordplay and checkers were very helpful
– Took ages to get CLOWNISH as I was thinking of the literary Nemo (which I think we’ve had recently) rather than the Disney one
– Was going to ask about rare=R as needed for PRAWNS, but I see it has been asked and answered above
– NHO Saki the short story writer but NAGASAKI had to be
Thanks Guy ad Robert.
FOI Nasal
LOI Strip cartoon
COD Ancestry
Well, it’s not that easy to escape from the Disney Corporation’s tentacles. It made Jules Verne’s science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea into a very successful 1954 movie starring James Mason(Nemo), along with Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre.
I’ve lost my copy of this, but remember it a bit.
LOI 25a Golf, with a PDM. Funny how hard the short ones are.
1d Clown(f)ish. Haven’t seen Finding Nemo, and thought it might have something to do with 20,000 leagues under the sea, but no. Fortunately my daughters did have it, on DVD I suppose, and I must have a very slight memory of it.
8d Daily Telegraph, unusual to see a non News Corp title.
16d Nagasaki (again!)
My thanks to Robert Price and Guy du Sable
18.17
Even though I like a toughie thank goodness for this setter after Friday’s puzzle.
No real problems. Liked MOVABLE FEAST.
Thanks Guy and Robert
13:24. No major problems with this excellent puzzle. I had a bit of a panic at the end over the MOVABLE FEAST, where I had no idea what was going on, but then the penny dropped.
Thanks Robert and Guy
Testing puzzle for me, starting it on my Saturday morning cafe visit and not progressing far – then needed three additional sittings to finish it off. Lots to like though where there were many clues that had no sensible answer … until they did, making one think “why didn’t I see that way before now ?” The ‘pit workers’ definition had to make ORCHESTRA my favourite clue.
Finished in the SW corner with DRYING, GOLF and VIRGIL that all took a great deal of prising out from the clue.