A highly enjoyable and (in overall terms) not particularly taxing offering from Jeff this week, but with (at least for me) a sting in the tail at 11dn which took me an age to rumble.
Some lovely clues, particularly the theatrically themed 5ac and 22dn, the latter just pipping the former as my clue of the day. Thanks as always to our setter.
Not much else to add – here’s how I think it all plays out…
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Shrub grew on pitch (8) |
| ROCKROSE – ROSE (grew) goes ‘on’ ROCK (pitch) | |
| 5 | Quick to help the erring player (6) |
| PROMPT – DD, the second somewhat cryptically (and very nicely) referring to assisting the forgetful actor going “err…” | |
| 9 | Conservative politician breaking laws breaks down (8) |
| CRUMPLES – C (Conservative) + RULES (breaking laws) with MP (politician) inside | |
| 10 | Mother carries batty aunt’s old gown (6) |
| MANTUA – MA (mother) wraps around (carries) *(AUNT), with “batty” signalling the anagram. Being a bit light on expertise regarding C18th courtly fashion, this was an unknown – but fortunately the wordplay was generous. | |
| 12 | Sacks, say, for endless waffle (5) |
| RABBI – RABBI{t} (endless waffle) gives us Lord Jonathan Sacks, formerly Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and well known to most listeners (of whatever faith or lack thereof) to BBC Radio for his thought-provoking homilies. Whether he will be equally well known to our pals outside the UK remains to be seen… | |
| 13 | Some fish and leafy vegetable served in beer (9) |
| PILCHARDS – CHARD (leafy vegetable) in PILS (beer) | |
| 14 | Players might brave a hostile reception (4,3,5) |
| FACE THE MUSIC – Cryptic definition turning on ‘players’ being musicians | |
| 18 | Out of one’s sight, and mind? (5,3,4) |
| ROUND THE BEND – Another cryptic definition reflecting two uses of the phrase, one literal and one the slang expression. I’m reminded of the legendary simultaneous translation gaffe at some EU conference where the Italian Finance Minister’s assertion that “the Italian economy is turning the corner” was relayed to non-Italian speaking delegates through the headphones as “the Italian economy is going round the bend”. | |
| 21 | Dessert inn served, short of small plates etc (6,3) |
| DINNER SET – *(DES{S}ERT INN) with “served” signposting the anagram and “short of small’ telling us to remove an S | |
| 23 | Balm left in store (5) |
| SALVE – L (left) ‘in’ SAVE (store) | |
| 24 | Try to contain one excessive painter (6) |
| GIOTTO – GO (try) ‘contains’ I OTT (one excessive – i.e. over the top) giving us the early Renaissance master | |
| 25 | Meticulous account by clergyman (8) |
| ACCURATE – AC (account) + CURATE (clergyman) | |
| 26 | Secure gold carriage (6) |
| LANDAU – LAND (secure) + AU (gold – chemical symbol) | |
| 27 | Touring east a devotee acquires a 23? (4,4) |
| ALOE VERA – A LOVER (a devotee) goes round (tours) E (east) and also ‘acquires A’ at the end, giving a type of salve (23 across) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Best ever album chart entry (6) |
| RECORD – I originally had this as a DD (as indicated), but on writing up the blog I’m not so sure: maybe it’s just an overall cryptic definition with the “best ever” bit leading us to the concept of a “record”. Either way, it went in easily enough… On Edit: thanks to Vinyl and Keriothe for pointing out below this is actually either a triple or quadruple definition | |
| 2 | Affectionate mate’s after cold stout (6) |
| CHUBBY – HUBBY (affectionate mate – i.e. endearing term for the spouse) ‘after’ C (cold) | |
| 3 | Primer damaged centre of grandma’s carpet (9) |
| REPRIMAND – *(PRIMER) – with “damaged” indicating the anagram – + AND (centre of grANDma) | |
| 4 | Switzerland entered into expensive contract for event (12) |
| STEEPLECHASE – CH (Switzerland) ‘entered into’ STEEP LEASE (expensive contract) for the horseracing or athletics event | |
| 6 | Make contact with heads of royal estate about crown hire (5) |
| REACH – First letters (heads) of Royal Estate About Crown Hire | |
| 7 |
Being most experienced, marks a written exam about old city (8) |
| MATUREST – M (marks) + A TEST (a written exam) going around UR (old city) | |
| 8 | A game partnership invested in some land to do a deal (8) |
| TRANSACT – NS (a game partnership – bridge pair) inside (invested in) TRACT (some land) | |
| 11 | The order of chimps? (12) |
| ALPHABETICAL – Decidedly cryptic reference to the fact that the letters of C H I M P S are indeed in alphabetical order. My last one in by a country mile, having convinced myself I was looking for some kind of zoological term that I almost certainly did not know. Having stared at the six cross checkers for an age, “alphabetical” came to mind but it still took me a while for the penny to drop. I suspect this is one of those clues you either spot immediately (and feel very smug) or which drives you to several glasses of your preferred bevy before eventually getting it. | |
| 15 | Word meaning very little — it’s without cryptic clue (9) |
| MINUSCULE – MINUS (it’s without) + *(CLUE) with “cryptic” signalling the anagram | |
| 16 | Lavish glutton entertains staff on a lake (8) |
| PRODIGAL – PIG (glutton) includes (entertains) ROD (staff), with the whole lot then going ‘on’ A L (a lake) | |
| 17 | Reject blue act appearing first (4,4) |
| TURN DOWN – DOWN (blue) with TURN (act) ‘appearing first’ | |
| 19 | About to drop stick (6) |
| CLEAVE – C (about) + LEAVE (drop) | |
| 20 | Vegetable placed around firm Spanish bread, once (6) |
| PESETA – PEA (vegetable) is ‘placed round’ SET (firm) giving us the former Spanish unit of currency | |
| 22 | “More rhubarb”, might one say? (5) |
| EXTRA – Lovely supporting cryptic steer towards the theatrical ‘extra’ whose role may be limited to muttering “rhubarb” in crowd scenes. Saving the best to last, this was my clue of the day. | |
Edited at 2017-10-29 05:45 am (UTC)
Edited at 2017-10-29 07:04 am (UTC)
The wind began to switch, the house to pitch,
And then the hinges started to unhitch …
As Nick says anyone who listens regularly to Radio 4 will know Jonathan Sacks. He is at the less irritating end of the scale when it comes to Thought for the Day contributors. Which is to say that he is merely infuriating.
I also had 1dn as at least a triple definition. I want it to be a quadruple but I’m not 100% sure about ‘chart’, although the sense mentioned by vinyl1 seems close enough.
I’m sure we must have had MANTUA a few times because it went straight in and there’s no other way I’d know it.
Here’s a link to some pictures of the event with Verlaine, Harry Hoskins, John Henderson and Mark(aka Eccles) https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtISbwJlBmVWzHiNUu20YjVAkZ7d
Edited at 2017-10-29 01:18 pm (UTC)
2dn CHUBBY and then Fats Domino dies (Chubby Chequer derived his name from Fats Domino)
Spotted 11dn ALPHABETICAL straight away, an old circus trick.
I make 1dn RECORD a quadruple biparse.
COD to 12ac RABBI.
WOD 15dn MINUSCULE or MINISKIRT if you prefer.
My time was in the fifties as was Lonnie Donegan!
8, 18, 80, 88, 85, 84, 81, 87, 86, 83, 82, 11, 15, 50, 58…22, 2, 0
Of course in this context the answer is obvious, but I’ve seen PhD mathematicians come up with some of the most obscure ideas “is it the zeros of the Riemann hypothsis” or some such.
I have actually seen MINUSCULE spelt MINISCULE in the pages of the Times itself, so the question is when does a misspelling become the orthodox? Discuss.
A quick Google came up with this page which, whilst not itself comprehensive in nature, is possibly a useful platform for launching further exploration:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/english-spelling-changes
BC
BC
The Australian published an apology this week, and published the clues. 27ac reads “Touring east a devotee acquires a 237 (4,4).”
Yes, “a 237”.