Solving time 27:40. As dorsetjimbo said in a comment to the previous week’s puzzle, this one was “a different kettle of fish”. Very tricky in places, and at the end I put the last few in without understanding the wordplay. I’m still not convinced by my explanations of 8D or 14D.
| Across |
| 1 |
ARCHAISM – ARCH (chief) + S(on) inside AIM |
| 5 |
HONCHO – N(ew) C(onservative) inside HO HO. I was surprised to learn that this is from a Japanese word. |
| 9 |
CUR – last letters of exotiC menU appeaR. |
| 10 |
PRIMUS STOVE – very good cryptic definition. |
| 12 |
DOUBLE KNIT – I didn’t get the wordplay here at all when I solved the puzzle, but I’ve just figured it out now: LEKNI (alternate letters of “older kind is”) in DOUBT, where “in doubt” = unreliable. Phew! |
| 13 |
STIR – (sit)* + R(un), &lit just about. |
| 15 |
DEACON – CO in DEAN. Seen it before somewhere else quite recently, although the other one might have used “officer” instead of “firm” for the CO. |
| 16 |
EYEBALL – “I bawl”. |
| 18 |
ENGLISH – (hel(p),sign)*. Supply used as an adverb from supple for the anagrind. |
| 20 |
SPLASH – P in SLASH. |
| 23 |
AMID – A.M. (morning) + ID (papers). |
| 24 |
SMALL WHITE – ALL inside (the swim)*. One of these. |
| 26 |
HAM SANDWICH – HAM (amateur) + SANDWICH (press). |
| 27 |
SKI – SKI(n). |
| 28 |
MYRIAD – DAIRYM(aids) reversed. |
| 29 |
TEA-PARTY – another one I didn’t understand at first, but I’ve got it now: YET (but reversed) “drinks” (i.e. takes inside) APART (not included). |
| Down |
| 1 |
ACCEDE – made up of letters which are all musical notes. I’m not normally too keen on clues like this, but the great surface reading gets it off the hook. |
| 2 |
CAROUSE – O(ld) inside CAR USE. |
| 3 |
APPALACHIA – APPAL A CHI(n)A. One of the better-known Cockney rhyming slang words, china plate = mate. |
| 4 |
STICK-IN-THE-MUD – very neat and concise clue. Double definition I suppose, one of them cryptic. |
| 6 |
OAST – OATS with the T moved down. |
| 7 |
CROATIA – T.A. and O.R. reversed inside C.I.A. |
| 8 |
OVERRULE – OVER (on) + RULE (line), hence “run together” to get away with the libertarian usage. I think. Perhaps “This is not OK” is an example of an overrule. I’m just guessing really. |
| 11 |
UNIVERSAL TIME – (a rule men visit). Another name for Greenwich Mean Time. |
| 14 |
FELLOWSHIP – FELL (unloved) + (who’s)* + PI (holy) reversed. Fell doesn’t really mean unloved though, so maybe it refers to Dr. Gideon Fell, which also explains “possibly” in the clue. Not sure either way, because Gideon Fell doesn’t seem to be unloved (only going by the Wikipedia description though – I haven’t read any of the books). |
| 17 |
SERAPHIM – PARE + (cas)H inside SIM (short for simulator, a type of computer game). |
| 19 |
GRIMMER – first letters of each word from Glasses to Religious. Took me ages to spot that for some reason! |
| 21 |
SCISSOR – C(ape) inside ROSS IS reversed (the Ross Sea in Antarctica). |
| 22 |
LEVITY – IT inside LEVY. “It” is short for Italian vermouth, e.g. Cinzano or Martini Bianco. Not really wine, although it is wine-based. “Gin and It” used to be a popular drink in the 1970’s, but I bet if you asked for one these days the barman wouldn’t know what you were on about (unless he was a Times Crossword solver). |
| 25 |
PAPA – PAP + A(wards). Papa follows Oscar in the Phonetic Alphabet. |
Tom Brown (1662 – 18 June 1704) was an English translator and writer of satire, largely forgotten today save for a four-line gibe he wrote concerning Dr John Fell.
I do not love thee, Doctor Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell;
But this alone I know full well,
I do not love thee, Doctor Fell.
So FELL + WHO’S* + PI (rev.)
The first line is also the title of a short story by Robert Bloch (writer of Psycho) and I could have sworn there was a stage version put on in London but I can’t find any trace of it now.
On days like these I despair that I am not making much progress in improving my solving skills, but today I also bought the Telegraph and wrote all the answers into their prize crossword on first reading and without pause for thought, so at least I feel I’ve now progressed beyond that level of cryptic and am working at much higher standard by persevering with the Times dailies.
I like 4D because it uses an unusual meaning of switch (=stick) combined with earthed (=in the mud) to really mislead one into electric plugs etc. I had 8D as you’ve got it linxit and I think it’s fair enough. If your boss overrules you he’s saying “what you have is not OK” then the play of “on line” as against “online” – clever stuff. I didn’t mind wine=it=vermouth, perhaps because I’m so familiar with it and in fairness vermouth is white wine based with herbal additions. Thanks to Jack for the Dr Fell explanation – I just loved the running together of holy and communion in that clue.
Brilliant puzzle, thanks setter.
Very good challenging puzzle.
Really interesting and challenging material. I loved ‘in doubt’ at 12a, the first letter carnival of GRIMMER, the TEA-PARTY and the butterfly in 24a.
For (s)he’s a jolly good setter.
I had thought I understood all the word play, but I see that ‘tea party’ is not just a weak cryptic clue. I had also wrongly supposed that ‘papa’ referred to jazzman Oscar “Papa” Celestin . As in golf, just as long as the ball goes in the hole, they don’t ask how.
At least I understood ‘fellowship’ and ‘double-knit’ as I did them, actually using the cryptics to get the answer. I was strangely dull about ‘honcho’, and ‘overrule’, but the last to go in was the fiendishly clever ‘myriad’. I wasted a lot of time removing ‘rig’ from ‘farm girls’ backwards, when I thought 17 must end in ‘s’. But in the end, I saw ‘dairy maids’ – at least he didn’t clue them as healthy!
My conjecture is that “words of old” at 1ac was a hint that this was an homage to crosswords of yore. The “runs together” at 8 and the two R’s in the answer (whilst being ancillary to the cyyptic reading) reminds me of Peter’s two E’s example in a recent blog. Also the unreliable = in doubt = put stuff in doubt, might be construed as action at a distance not much seen today (not that I mind such clues). Anyway, whether or not this is just my fantasy, the excellent standard of clueing here is (fortunately for me) not often seen. It was a humbling experience.
Knowing the “Dr Fell” allusion helped a lot at 14dn. Nothing really to add to the comment. Very good puzzle.
I join Sotira in the ARCADE at 1d with BOW = ARC and notes ADE. Arcade = an array of various shops … I’ll get my coat.
The spirits SERAPHIM at 17d were beyond me. Scrape up = PARE inverted inside computer game = SIM (I understand cash at last = H) I can see how this works when it is explained. Trying to imagine how long it would have taken me to work it out is like contemplating infinity.
Likewise the DAIRYMAIDS at 28a. I did not see them despite there being lots. My only excuse is that Herefords are not dairy cattle.