Phew what a scorcher, the temperature this weekend, not my time, which was a respectable 9:52. Stay cool, everyone.
Juji has a series of great surfaces which read like normal phrases.
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions in curly brackets}, [directions in square ones], anagrams like this (anagrist)*. The caret ^ shows an insertion point in containment clues. Hidden words are bold and underlined. Parentheses are used for synonyms.
Across
| 1 | Section of road unusable without first being fixed (3,4) |
| BUS LANE – ({U}NUSABLE )* [being fixed]
Tricky one for 1A, needing an operation on the anagrist first. And “unusable” looked like an anagram indicator as well. |
|
| 5 | Shape aluminium on old anvil’s centre (4) |
| OVAL – O (old) + {an}V{il} (anvil’s centre) + AL (aluminium)
We mathematicians go on about ellipses which are well defined, but there is no mathematical definition of an Oval. Shape of a cricket ground works for me. |
|
| 7 | In burrow, start to obtain shade (6) |
| INDIGO – IN (In) + DIG (burrow) + O{btain}
The only time I ever heard this colour is the “I” in rainbow. It was Newton who decided that there must be seven colours in a spectrun, one of his weird alchemy beliefs. Apparently our modern definition of “blue” and “indigo” has shifted. what Newton called “blue” was likely closer to what we call cyan or a light sky blue. Therefore, what he called “indigo” was actually just standard, deep navy blue. |
|
| 8 | Season some sauerkraut? Um, no! (6) |
| AUTUMN – Hidden in “sauerkraut um no” [some] | |
| 9 | App, number one in recruitment, draws in those learning trades (11) |
| APPRENTICES – APP (App) + R{ecruitment} (number one in) + ENTICES (draws in) | |
| 10 | Poet turned to actress (6) |
| BARDOT – BARD (Poet) + TO reversed [turned]
Brigitte Bardot of course. |
|
| 12 | Game chat (6) |
| RABBIT – double definition (Game / chat)
This is the slang “rabbit” for chatting, generally somewhat dismissive, as a teacher might stay to their pupils. And of course there isn’t a game called “rabbit”, it’s the other meaning of “game”, meat that is not farmed. I had it for the first time in Malta last month. Not a fan of hacking up another mammal on the plate. |
|
| 14 | African lion mauled American (11) |
| Nice surface and nice anagram.
CALIFORNIAN – (AFRICAN LION)* [mauled] |
|
| 17 | Provided backing, established a carnival (6) |
| FIESTA – IF (Provided) reversed [backing] + EST. (established) + A | |
| 18 | At home, kid told to eat (6) |
| INGEST – IN (At home) + GEST (homophone of ‘jest’ (kid)), with “told” the indicator | |
| 20 | Move around prison (4) |
| STIR – double definition
Comes up a lot in crosswords, but I think not actually in use so much these days. Like much crim argot it comes from Romany. As do nark, chav, shiv, cosh, barney and gaff. And of course “posh”. |
|
| 21 | Longed to have new editor after period of time (7) |
| YEARNED – YEAR (period of time) + N (new) + ED (editor) |
Down
| 1 | Outlaw runs out of farm building (3) |
| BAN – BA{r}N (farm building) | |
| 2 | Slept after last of classes is missed (7) |
| SKIPPED – S (last of classeS) + KIPPED (Slept)
This was my LOI. There were so many words that fitted the framework. S/NAPPED, S/LIPPED, S/HIPPED, S/TAMPED etc |
|
| 3 | Love superhero darning up masks (5) |
| ADORE – Hidden in “superhero darning” reversed [up]
This is the only surface that falls below the high standard. Although “up” can follow just about any verb, I’m not sure “darning up” works. |
|
| 4 | Cast care not for performer (7) |
| ENACTOR – (CARE NOT)* [Cast]
This caused trouble, I thought an ENACTOR is someone who officially puts a law, decree, system, or process into action. So, not really a “performer”, which is why we have separate words for ACTOR and ENACTOR. |
|
| 5 | Work on regularly observed twitch of eye (5) |
| OPTIC – OP (Work) + T{w}I{t}C{h} (regularly observed)
Clever, that “of” is what makes this an adjective. |
|
| 6 | Disclosure of commercial assignment (9) |
| ADMISSION – AD (commercial) + MISSION (assignment) | |
| 9 | Revolutionary mistaken in rash act (9) |
| ANARCHIST – (IN RASH ACT)* [mistaken]
I guess if a country was already an Anarchy, then an Anarchist wouldn’t really be a revolutionary, they’d be the “continuity candidate”. At my University, the Anarchist Society had to have elections and an AGM to receive Union funding, which they duly did. |
|
| 11 | Quarrel with an unknown woman (7) |
| TIFFANY – TIFF (Quarrel) + AN + Y (unknown)
By the late 1980s, Tiffany cracked the Top 20 most popular names in England and Wales, but it crashed out of the top 1000 recently. So If you randomly run into someone named TIFFANY in England today, there is a massive statistical probability that she will be in her 30s or 40s (a Millennial). So a “woman”, not a “girl”. |
|
| 13 | Induce good Parisian to pinch jewellery (5,2) |
| BRING ON – B^ON (“good” in French, hence Parisian) contains RING (jewellery) | |
| 15 | Left two notes on the counter for unsuccessful person (5) |
| LOSER – L (Left) + (RE (note) + SO (note)) reversed [on the counter]
These sol-fa notes are a pain to remember, especially as many of them have variant spellings. I though “lo” and “se” looked plausible before I clocked that “on the counter” was a reversal indicator. And of course ABCDEFG can be notes as well. |
|
| 16 | Shelled crab vital for side dish (5) |
| This is my favourite surface for today.
RAITA – {c}RA{b} + {v}ITA{l} [Shelled] |
|
| 19 | Nearly all leaves in salad pitiful (3) |
| SAD – SALAD (salad) minus AL (Nearly all)
That “in” bothers me a bit, I think it is superfluous to the wordplay and is just misdirection, since IN often indicates containment. |
9.12 with some very similar experiences to Merlin: head-scratching over LOI SKIPPED, a question mark over ENACTOR and a bit of a shrug over ‘darned up’. But all told a stylish and enjoyable crossie with some admirable surfaces. Merlin I will offer Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo and Dylan’s Hurricane (‘we wanna put his ass in stir’). I suppose of all the things Bardot was known for, actress was probably one. Nice work Juju and great blog M, fascinating information about Newton about whom I clearly know too little.
Considering that I found this easy I was a little surprised to find 14 minutes on the clock when I had finished, but my timings always include parsings and I may have lost a moment or two seeing how OPTIC and APPRENTICES worked.
I forgot to mention that today, like yesterday, most of the clues in the 15×15 are not too obscure so it’s worth having a crack if you don’t usually go there…
Enjoyed this puzzle, though admit to biffing in answers without parsing till the end. Very happy with 10.38. Must be the pleasant cool of the early morning…
Thanks Juji and Merlin
Attacked this early to enjoy the cool of the morning after yesterday’s scorcher, and was rewarded with a sparkling 8:11 finish.
On INDIGO, it is apparently a quirk of the English speaking world to think there are 7 colours in the rainbow, and most of Continental Europe considers there to be just 6. One of the questions asked of suspected British spies in the War was “How many colours are there in a rainbow?”, and the kneejerk answer of “Seven” gave one away immediately.
A most enjoyable puzzle all round, and an excellent blog to accompany it. Many thanks Merlin and Juji.
Russian has no word for ‘blue’; it has one word for light blue and a different word for dark blue. I wonder what their rainbow looks like. Some languages have only 5, or 6 basic color terms (English has 11; I think that’s the most that’s been found); I wonder etc.
08:20. Fairly smooth solve, but definitely not sailing through (like yesterday’s) – BUS LANE I found particularly tricky. v enjoyable. thanks!
What is ‘crim argot’ please. (Supporting notes for 20a above)
Slang used by a criminal underclass.
Fairly easy going this morning.
I briefly chucked ‘snapped’ in at 2d but couldn’t see how it meant missed and ENACTOR went in with a shrug.
Started with OVAL and finished with RABBIT in 6.26.
Thanks to Merlin and Juji
4:21 – a straightforward solve of a very smooth set of clues. Very enjoyable. COD to CALIFORNIAN.
Super crossword
Saw bus lane straight off which helped an enjoyable leisurely solve, while also entertaining our 5 year old grandson, so probably would have finished in less than the 19.10 on the clock.
As said by Merlin, some very smooth surfaces with Californian our favourite.
Thanks Juji and Merlin. Interesting stuff about Newton and I’m intrigued by Cedric’s info on continental rainbows. All part of the rich tapestry we so enjoy in this community 😀
12 mins…
Fairly straightforward for Juji – although I confess to not really parsing 15dn “Loser”. Thankfully, 10ac “Bardot” came to me quickly and I didn’t have to resort to some kind of alphabetic actress trawl.
FOI – 1dn “Ban”
LOI – 3dn “Adore”
COD – 13dn “Bring On”
Thanks as usual!
10 minutes. I couldn’t work out BUS LANE until near the end and then only with the crossing letters but the rest went in at about my usual leisurely pace. I liked the surface of the AUTUMN hidden and the American mauled by the African lion for CALIFORNIAN.
Thanks to Merlin for explaining the parsing and for the extra information on INDIGO, STIR and TIFFANY and to Juji
I found this quite hard today… thanks to setter and blogger!
Just a couple of points:
– I took ENACTORS to be those who PERFORM reconstructions of historical events, such as the Sealed Knot society, who like dressing up to re-enact English Civil War battles: https://www.thesealedknot.org.uk/.
– If you’re interested in the way different colours are perceived, and haven’t yet come across it, the debate about what Homer’s ‘wine-dark sea’ actually looked like is fun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine-dark_sea.
A relaxed pace through an enjoyable puzzle. 15:02
Pi ❤️
Enjoyable puzzle, solved at a medium pace while thinking about the parsing. A little slower in the NW until PDM with BUS LANE. LOI ENACTOR.
I liked INDIGO, BRING ON, BARDOT and FIESTA, among others. Oh, and SKIPPED.
Biffed APPRENTICES and LOSER.
Thanks to Merlin for informative blog and to others above for input.
4:49. Held up by SKIPPED at the end. Nice puzzle. I enjoyed BAN and CALIFORNIAN most. Thank-you Juji for that and thanks Merlin for the blog.
Enjoyable and uncharacteristically straightforward for a Juji QC. My last few Jujis took me 2 or 3 times as long as my 10.56 today. A good night’s sleep helped, perhaps, but I just felt I was ‘on wavelength’ for a change. The anagrams dropped out very quickly.
My likes and semi-biffs seemed to chime with those of Countrywoman (above) apart from my LOI, FIESTA.
Thanks to Juji and Merlin.
A lovely puzzle, though I didn’t care much for ENACTOR. BARDOT was excellent and my LOI (first up I thought the reversed “to” for “ot” meant that this was going to involve TS Eliot).
I don’t agree with Merlin’s arbitrary attempt to impose age limits on who can be a girl. As Collins says of “girl” – “4. (informal) a woman of any age”. Don’t listen to him, Tiffany – you go, girl!
All done in a brisk 05:46 in a lovely air conditioned train. Many thanks Merlin and Juji.
Denim jeans are traditionally dyed with indigo
Indigo dye was first made thousands of years ago in ancient India, Peru, and China by extracting and fermenting the leaves of plants from the Indigofera genus (primarily Indigofera tinctoria)
Now, of course it is synthetic