11:06. A delightful puzzle from Robert this week, full of perfectly elegant clues with seamless surface readings. Great stuff.
As has become customary there is punnish phrase in the top and bottom rows, on this occasion very apt for the season.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, deletions like this, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Rising temperature, fan reversed |
| REVOLT – reversal of T, LOVER. | |
| 4 | Tenants dressed like monks |
| INHABITS – IN HABITS. | |
| 9 | Mass meetings not run to make friends |
| ALLIES – |
|
| 10 | A taxi stopping spilt lime cordial |
| AMICABLE – A, (LIME)* containing CAB. | |
| 12 | Stays in reliable establishments on vacation |
| STAUNCHES – STAUNCH, E |
|
| 13 | Material influenced by a vocalist |
| SUEDE – sounds like ‘swayed’. | |
| 14 | With many stresses last month, basically shattered |
| DECASYLLABIC – DEC (last month), (BASICALLY)*. | |
| 18 | Quiz score? |
| QUESTION MARK – |
|
| 21 | Leave embarrassed from a party |
| ABASH – A, BASH. | |
| 22 | Metal vessel with a small problem carrying current |
| POTASSIUM – POT, A, S, S(I)UM. | |
| 24 | Widespread alarm about sea receding |
| PANDEMIC – PANIC containing MED reversed. | |
| 25 | British family in Fiji oddly lacking swimwear |
| BIKINI – B, |
|
| 26 | Did the same crossword as previously decided |
| RESOLVED – DD. I hesitated about whether to call the first half of this clue a cryptic hint but ‘solve again’ is a perfectly valid meaning of the word ‘resolve’. Indeed you can do this with almost any verb. | |
| 27 | PA finally ready before the deadline |
| YEARLY – |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | On the verge of verbal attack, the leader’s left |
| ROADSIDE – |
|
| 2 | One with bedside material about heroism |
| VALIANCE – VAL(I)ANCE. | |
| 3 | Sleep on vehicle regularly returning home |
| LIE IN – reversal of |
|
| 5 | It’s a sum arranged with mints who deal in coins |
| NUMISMATISTS – (ITS A SUM MINTS)*. A word I only know because of crosswords. | |
| 6 | Taking office in so scenic a complex |
| ACCESSION – (SO SCENIC A)*. | |
| 7 | Being retired around mid-forty is natural |
| INBRED – IN B( |
|
| 8 | Music player over before empty tapes turned up |
| STEREO – reversal (turned up) of O, ERE, T |
|
| 11 | Man and son, in love with girl, act Platonically |
| PHILOSOPHISE – PHIL, O, SOPHI(S)E. | |
| 15 | English poet martyred expertly by a Pole |
| SOUTHWELL – SOUTH (a pole), WELL (expertly). A Jesuit priest and poet executed in the reign of Elizabeth I. Unknown to me, or more likely forgotten. | |
| 16 | Two notes, one that’s not true or friendly |
| FAMILIAR – FA, MI, LIAR. | |
| 17 | Glance at one interrupting exercise in a mean way |
| SKIMPILY – SKIM, P(I)LY. | |
| 19 | Plan to raise a baby |
| PAMPER – reversal of MAP, PER (a). ‘Baby’ as a verb. | |
| 20 | Seaside resort overlooking the Isle of Dogs |
| CANNES – CAN |
|
| 23 | Arrest a number of Parisians |
| SEIZE – sixteen in French. | |
32:15
Another terrific one from Myrtilus. (Though 5d is hardly seamless, its surface hardly elegant.) DNK SOUTHWELL, didn’t understand CANNES, which I biffed.
40 minutes, but used aids at the end for PHILOSOPHISE and the NHO SOUTHWELL.
Yes, a nice puzzle. QUESTION MARK was very good although I parsed it as question=quiz and mark=score with the definition being the single question mark at the end of the clue. Didn’t know the poet but the wordplay helped. Liked ROADSIDE. Thought PAMPER was clever too as I’d never heard it used as a verb but it makes sense. Put in Cannes but never parsed it, so thanks.
Thanks K and setter.
Ah yes, much better parsing! Too clever for me.
Aha! re QUESTION MARK
The answers in the bottom row of the grid are RESOLVED YEARLY.
ha yeah I was not looking at the grid when I absent-mindedly wrote that.
Just remembered not getting the pun when I solved.
Obvious now, but… “resolved against” seems more apt.
15 minutes or so. No real issues – SOUTHWELL was the only unknown, and it sounded plausible, was kindly clued and had helpful checkers. I smiled at the intersection of BIKINI and SKIMPILY.
Thanks keriothe and Robert.
FOI Lie in
LOI Staunches
COD Pamper
Once again I missed ‘a’ for ‘per’- just can’t get it into my head.
One of Robert’s tougher ones I think with SOUTHWELL not the first poet I would have thought of.
DNF. Completely blanked on CANNES which Mrs rv later spotted in about 2 secs. Good clue, bad solver.
Good puzzle all round from my favourite Sunday setter.
Some very nice clues this week.
PAMPER, CANNES, SOUTHWELL and QUESTION MARK were among the best.
I did wonder at the equivalence of pandemic with widespread, but having looked at the etymology I’m ok with it.
No need to study the etymology (which can in any case be misleading): any ordinary dictionary will do!
As usual, very elegant. I had a MER over ABASH = leave embarrassed, but now that I think of it it’s fine.
40 minutes for this wonderful puzzle. I am always amazed by the elegance of Robert’s clues — there’s always a little twist before everything falls naturally into place. PAMPER, PHILOSOPHISE and FAMILIAR are prime examples. I always look forward to Sundays, because the puzzles are in a class of their own.
Thoroughly enjoyed both this and its weekend-mate last Saturday, both being challenging enough yet doable. And I even got the full subtlety of QUESTION MARK! Feeling chuffed.
This was an enjoyable and not too taxing solve, with everything except the poet and NUMIS-thingy being known, at least partly, though DECASYLLABIC took quite a bit of working out. I enjoyed REVOLT and QUESTION MARK – without the former I doubt if I’d ever have got VALIANCE – excellent clue.
25.06
Great stuff. CANNES and QUESTION MARK my faves.
Thanks RP and Keriothe.
As others have said: “Great stuff”. And I too look forward to Robert’s crossword on Sundays, as I know they’ll be a mixture of fun and cleverness. FOI INHABITS (though at first thought it might be too simple); which led me nicely into STEREO , and the rest of the NE corner fell quickly. Bit of a hiatus before my next :DECASYLLABIC, which helped with 1 and 2d. Really liked POTASSIUM, as I rarely get these science ones, and SOUTHWELL was NHO, but doable. QUESTION MARK my favourite, as I understood the mark itself to be the answer.
Thanks Robert and keriothe
As others have said a neat puzzle that I only got to on Monday – taking a single session and an hour and a quarter, but all answered correctly and fully parsed. Do like those clues where the setter uses the actual punctuation mark as the definition – was right on to it this time and was in the first half of the solve.
Was careless with 5d and originally penned in ASCENSION for some reason which only got fixed when SUEDE disabused it. Not sure whether I have seen VALIANCE before, SOUTHWELL was on the periphery of memory and DECASYLLABIC was new without being surprising.
Finished in the SW corner with PAMPER (really nice clue – especially using ‘baby’ as a verb), ABASH (simple but effective) and CANNES the last one in after a very enjoyable tussle.