Time: 37 minutes. Fairly straightforward today. My only unknown was the Beatles song.
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 now use a Caret sign ⁁ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Modern American elevated railway’s supporting pillar (5) |
| NEWEL – NEW (modern), EL (American elevated railway – especially in Chicago). A feature of many staircases, e.g. the central pillar on spiral stairs. | |
| 4 | A speed measure with current prohibition involving one Mr Toad? (9) |
| AMPHIBIAN – A, MPH (speed measure), I (current), then B⁁AN (prohibition) containing [involving] I (one) | |
| 9 | Conservative member unhappy in retreat (9) |
| CLIMBDOWN – C (Conservative), LIMB (member), DOWN (unhappy) | |
| 10 | Pressure on friend to provide dope (5) |
| CHUMP – CHUM (friend), P (pressure) | |
| 11 | Great splendour’s temptation ensnaring paragon of virtue (6) |
| LUSTRE – LU⁁RE (temptation) containing [ensnaring] ST (paragon of virtue – saint). I tend to think of lustre as a gentle sheen or glow, but Collins has ‘great splendour’ as its third definition. | |
| 12 | Good management being dear to the Beatles? (8) |
| PRUDENCE – A cryptic hint supports the main definition and refers to the Beatles song Dear Prudence which I’ve never heard of. | |
| 14 | Show less decorum chaps with tango confusion (12) |
| BEWILDERMENT – BE WILDER (show less decorum), MEN (chaps), T (tango – NATO alphabet) | |
| 17 | Purification of water in foul Ionian deltas (12) |
| DESALINATION – Anagram [foul] of IONIAN DELTAS | |
| 20 | Something plucked from within commando lines (8) |
| MANDOLIN – Hidden [within] {com}MANDO LIN{es} | |
| 21 | Unit previous to being led by a politician (6) |
| AMPERE – A, MP (politician), ERE [previous to] | |
| 23 | Affair of the heart of course that’s a short time earlier (5) |
| AMOUR – A, MO (short time), {co}UR{se} [heart of…] | |
| 24 | Memorial goes to Newcastle area (9) |
| HEADSTONE – HEADS TO (goes to), NE (Newcastle area – North East) | |
| 25 | Easy to manage fare on returning vehicle (9) |
| TRACTABLE – CART (vehicle) reversed [returning], TABLE (fare – food) | |
| 26 | Cranwell and Dartmouth establishments’ trainee, primarily? (5) |
| CADET – C{ranwell} + A{nd} + D{artmouth} + E{stablishments} + T {rainee} [primarily]. These are military training establishments, Cranwell for the RAF and Dartmouth for the Royal Navy. | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Dickens hero heard metal buzzer? (8) |
| NICKLEBY – Aural wordplay [heard]: “Nickel” (metal) + “Bee” (buzzer) | |
| 2 | What will cut party organisers was arranged (8) |
| WHIPSAWS – WHIPS (party organisers – in parliament) anagram [arranged] of WAS. A saw with a narrow blade and a handle at both ends, used typically by two people. | |
| 3 | Cordelia Lambert’s running for MP perhaps? (7,8) |
| LIBERAL DEMOCRAT – Anagram [running] of CORDELIA LAMBERT | |
| 4 | Plant singly after November’s out (4) |
| ALOE – ALO{n}E (singly) [after November’s out – NATO alphabet again) | |
| 5 | Be nosy about worker, male assistant and home help (10) |
| PANTRYMAID – P⁁RY (be nosy) containing [about] ANT (worker), then M (male), AID (assistant) | |
| 6 | Claims Indic tune in play could be this (10,5) |
| INCIDENTAL MUSIC – Anagram [in play] of CLAIMS INDIC TUNE. Indic most usually refers to language but more generally it can also mean simply ‘of India’. | |
| 7 | Island tropical nation exporting unknown reptile (6) |
| IGUANA – I (island), GU{y}ANA (tropical nation) [exporting unknown] | |
| 8 | Relative hack chasing writer up (6) |
| NEPHEW – PEN (writer) reversed [up], HEW (hack) | |
| 13 | House in China with British kitchen appliance (7,3) |
| CERAMIC HOB – HO (house) contained by [in] CERAMIC (china) ⁁B (British) | |
| 15 | What dry material is best for rebuilding wide roof (8) |
| FIREWOOD – Anagram [rebuilding] of WIDE ROOF | |
| 16 | Deep-rooted — not out there, not lacking inmost character (8) |
| INHERENT – IN HERE (not out there), N{o}T [lacking inmost character] | |
| 18 | Reveal work of mischievous children? (6) |
| IMPART – IMP ART (work of mischievous children) | |
| 19 | A new record set over a country (6) |
| ANGOLA – A, N (new), then LOG (record) reversed [set over], A | |
| 22 | Worry about being repetitive (4) |
| CARE – CA (about) + RE (about) [being repetitive] | |
Liked this very much!
LOI CARE, clever! And what an alphabet trawl that could have been!
22:44 but
a typo at 2d gave me two pink squares. I took the definition of AMOUR to be ‘affair of the heart’, which made it impossible to account for UR. DNK POI CERAMIC HOB. And I failed to see how LOI CARE worked; clever indeed.
I had IMPACT instead of IMPART which works for the cryptic but not really the definition even if ‘reveal’ can be a noun.
Easy solve but I would pronounce last syllable of NICKLEBY as bi not bee but this might be a cavil that many would reject.
18.27, a clever puzzle but not too hard. Spent a while looking at _A_E before CARE finally revealed itself, a very crafty clue. Thanks Jack, especially for explaining what was going on with AMOUR – another very good clue.
From Things Have Changed:
People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to CARE, but things have changed
33 mins here, though I confess to have parsed neither CARE nor AMOUR. Dear PRUDENCE known to me mostly through the Siouxie and the Banshees cover; I have it on vinyl on the live album Nocturne, with the Cure’s Robert Smith on guitar.
A nice gentle start to a day off, though given the forecast is for a high of 33C I might have to spend much of it sheltering indoors…
A rare example of a really good Beatles cover. Dare I say better than the original?
48:06
LOI CARE, which I sort of got, seeing CA=about, and RE=about, not clocking that I had used “about” twice.
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT anagram took ages.
Was really stuck after confidently putting HACKSAWS, I think “hacks” are political enthusiasts, so “party organisers” looked pretty good.
Only got “the EL” from the TV show ER, where it features a lot. Didn’t understand PRUDENCE, it was never released as a single, hence NHO. Fun Fact: John Lennon wrote the song in India to coax Mia Farrow’s sister, Prudence, out of her room because she was meditating so intensely she wouldn’t socialize. Lennon later noted it as one of his personal favorite songs he ever wrote.
27:00. I didn’t know Prudence either but it seemed likely. We’ve had a few helpings of RAITA recently which made that one very easy. Tried to do this sitting up in bed and 05:30, got nowhere but then I went to put the boat in the water and it all went in fairly smoothly an hour later.
Wasn’t RAITA from yesterday’s puzzle?
Some very simple clues
Some brilliant ones
Prudence or over prudence can be the antithesis to good management some would argue?! Discuss
It would be prudent not to be over-prudent..
One of my former colleagues in the investment business, a very successful stockpicker, coined the phrase “reckless conservatism” to describe this atrophy by over-caution.
Quite straightforward today, except I also put IMPACT, very careless since it really doesn’t fit the definition.
Nice to see Prudence, one of my favourite tracks from the White Album.
28 minutes. Like yesterday, not too demanding though I was starting to feel panicky at the end with CERAMIC HOB, my LOI. I thought our setter was being generous at 1a with ‘American elevated railway’ for EL which I’ve seen just clued as railway (or maybe railroad) before.
CARE was excellent – a pity in a way to deconstruct such a natural surface to solve it.
56 minutes on the train into London. NHO Beatles song either.
Thanks Jack and Setter
9.25
A second fairly simple (and fairly musical) one for this week. Knew the Beatles song, but I did consider MARTHA (My Dear) for a while.
Three long crossing anagrams made the rest more gettable.
LOI CARE
COD PRUDENCE
Just under 20 minutes. Liked CARE, AMOUR and NICKLEBY in particular.
Thanks Jack and setter.
10:25 but WOE – like Jerry a careless IMPACT that I failed to revisit. DNK the Beatles song so got PRDUEBCE from the definition and checkers. I liked NICKLEBY and HEADSTONE best. Thanks Jackkt and setter.
19:20 despite a brain fart to start with by putting in Copperby for 1d, I think a combination in my mind of the correct character and another one from Dickens. Thankfully the puzzle was kind so it could be corrected.
I usually struggle with plants but thankfully put on some ALOE vera this morning after overdoing the sun yesterday.
COD CERAMIC HOB
Thanks blogger and setter.
Finished eventually with the WHIPSAWS/NEWEL crosser. COD to BEWILDERMENT. The site isn’t recognising me again. It’s very hurtful after all these years. Thank you Jack and setter.
15 minutes. Must confess that I’m shocked to see the number of people here who haven’t heard of Dear Prudence, but I suppose it’s a case of “One person’s general knowledge…”
– Was surprised to see the ‘el’ in the unfamiliar NEWEL clued by ‘American elevated railway’, and it had me trying to fit A or US into the answer for a while
– Didn’t parse AMOUR
– Took a while to see that ‘not out there’ has to be read together for INHERENT
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Prudence
LOI Inherent
COD Liberal Democrat (Cordelia Lambert is quite a Lib Dem-sounding name!)
On-wavelength at 13:59. Slight pause over LOI CARE which on another day might have added 5 minutes. Still found time to enjoy BE WILDER, NICKLEBY and PRUDENCE and to dislike EL. I know we’ve had it before but it crosses the line of too obscure IMO.
Thanks jackkt and setter.
14.42, so maybe getting my mojo back after a few rather lengthy solves.
The anagram seemed to make INCIDENTAL MUSIC possible: just as well it was too long.
I suspect that those of us who remember Dear Prudence have yet to catch up with CERAMIC HOBs, so I think a tip of the hat to the setter for a broad appeal.
I don’t remember Dear Prudence, but I did know the song, and my reflection on CERAMIC HOBS was that they are effectively obsolete now that induction is an alternative!
Did you mean something other than INCIDENTAL MUSIC (which is the answer!)?
Oops, another IMPACT here. Oh well. Otherwise very enjoyable.
I liked PRUDENCE, for once remembering the song.
Thanks Jack and setter.
I’m baffled. I am sure I typed ALOE but when I submitted I got the dreaded pink’un for ALON. How these clever chaps manage to type in the full correct solution in 2 or 3 minutes baffles me – as does the question of why they do it.
Otherwise it was a game of three halves for me. Got stuck on NEWEL, looking for something more substantial than a wooden post. Then on dear PRUDENCE, surely one of the more obscure of the oeuvre. Finally couldn’t persuade analog out of my head in favour of its anagram. But on reflection, a rather jolly puzzle.
Thanks to setter and jackkt.
I also am staggered that Dear Prudence is so little known. From memory, it’s the second track on the White Album after Back in the USSR.
The puzzle was a steady solve, avoiding the ‘impact’ possibility. CARE was LOI having previously made up ‘caca’ and ‘rere’.
Nicholas NICKLEBY excoriates the schools where rich men sent their illegitimate sons, out of sight, out of mind, and being minimally paid for.
14’07”, thanks jack and setter.
17:52 so either I found it easier than yesterday or I was more on form or something
But I had a stupid pink square for IBCIDENTAL it’s so easy on the phone to mix these neighbouring characters
I have Dear Prudence going round in my mind now
6:36. No real problems but I slowed myself down a little bit by putting in NICKELBY. I think my brain somehow managed to apply the homophone instruction to ‘nickel’ twice. Today was also one of those rare occasions where taking the time to check my answers paid off: I managed to spot a rogue NUPHEW.
No problem with the song. It predates me by a few years but my wife is obsessed with The Beatles so I have been exposed to all of their stuff over the years.
The LIBERAL DEMOCRAT clue seemed wrong because of the silly failure to notice that the definition was just ‘MP, perhaps’, and didn’t include ‘running for’. The Beatles song was unknown to me: if it had been a Beatles song from an earlier era it probably wouldn’t have been a problem — we all remember the “music” that was around in our youth. Otherwise fairly straightforward.
All done apart the word preceding hob, which was not forthcoming, so I walked to the barbers and on the way back ceramic popped into my head, a relief- as was me spelling PRUDENCE correctly. Following yesterday’s success whilst waiting at Eurostar check in, dare I hope for more success tomorrow as well.
Thanks to blogger and setter.