A painless and entirely successful operation! Inspired by 14—or just for the hell of it—I’m listening (via YouTube Music) to Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s fourth studio album, whose title I’ve copped for my headline. I may concur in the clue’s judgment, but the record was quite popular at the time.
Very economical cluing, with shiny surfaces you can skate on—none of them sounding like word salad! Devices of a feather flocking together: 25 & 26 both insert an R from a man’s initial; 6 & 7D both deploy homophones; 19 and 21D are both DDs.
I indicate (G-man Sara)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Charlie’s new salary reduced pressure over work (10) |
| NINCOMPOOP — N(ew) + INCOM[-e], “salary reduced” + P(ressure) + O(ver) + OP, “work” …One of those unfortunate pejorative terms that tars a perfectly good given name. I feel sorry nowadays for all the nice women named Karen. | |
| 7 | Greet trouble with aspiration (4) |
| HAIL — H for the “aspiration” + AIL for “trouble” | |
| 9 |
Prisoners are about finished making excuses (8) …well on the way to rehabilitation… |
| CONDONES — CON(DONE)S | |
| 10 | Fast learner overwhelms Wimbledon’s second seed (6) |
| LENTIL — LENT, “fast” + L(earner) engulfing the I in “Wimbledon” | |
| 11 | National Society for Vegetables (6) |
| SWEDES — SWEDE, “National” + S(ociety) Another name for the rutabaga …If this were singular, we could simply have a DD. | |
| 13 | Advance or keep on retreating? (8) |
| RETAINER — RETAIN, “keep” + RE<= (“on”) …I don’t get much of a spark from this, because the senses of RETAIN in clue and answer are so closely related. | |
| 14 | Fans’ favourite record was ELP bizarrely (5-7) |
| CROWD-PLEASER — (record was ELP)* | |
| 17 | Stage acts of violence here? (7,2,3) |
| THEATRE OF WAR — CD | |
| 20 | Boys’ side prepared for rebels (8) |
| DISOBEYS — (Boys’ side)* | |
| 21 | Flyer beginning to suck one’s blood (6) |
| SISKIN — S[-uck] + I[’]S, “one’s” + KIN, “blood” | |
| 22 | Spinner that’s like the rest but taller (6) |
| SPIDER — The cryptic bit here relies on your knowing that the answer is also a term from billiards, snooker, pool, for a support for the cue that lifts it higher than the one called a “rest” (referred to in Friday the 15th’s 15×15). | |
| 23 | Lover of old, large (and small) illustrations (8) |
| EXAMPLES — EX, “Lover of old” + AMPLE, “large” + S(mall) | |
| 25 | Look pleased — Robert’s opening spirit bottles (4) |
| GRIN — G(R)IN | |
| 26 | Consumed by pretty girl, Romeo’s boring crush (10) |
| DISHEARTEN — The “pretty girl” is a DISH, EATEN is “Consumed,” and R (Romeo in the NATO phonetic alphabet) is digging in. | |
| DOWN | |
| 2 | Press report of sport items forged perhaps (8) |
| IRONWARE — IRON, “Press” + “wear” | |
| 3 | Clubs take too much, they get battered (3) |
| COD — C(lubs) + OD, “take too much” …referring to a way these fish are often prepared | |
| 4 | Not much harm in using less (5) |
| MINUS — Hidden | |
| 5 | Keep your eyes peeled, say (7) |
| OBSERVE — DD | |
| 6 | Etiquette of two girls in conversation (9) |
| POLITESSE — “Polly” + “Tess” | |
| 7 | Manual skills picked up, useful around boats (11) |
| HANDICRAFTS — “handy” (“useful”) + CRAFTS, “boats” | |
| 8 | Stay in central Lima in the same place as before (6) |
| IBIDEM — I(BIDE)M …most usually seen in footnotes as “Ibid.” | |
| 12 | Subdued blue and violent red don’t go together (11) |
| DOWNTRODDEN — DOWN, “blue” + (red don’t)* Brilliant surface, integrating a great anagrind, beats 14 by a hair for COD | |
| 15 |
Chosen soup finally handed over (9) …dealing with a Soup Nazi? |
| PREFERRED — [-sou]P + REFERRED, “handed over” | |
| 16 | Degree courses on English language (8) |
| BALINESE — BA, “Degree” + LINES, “courses” …Had me wondering for a minute if MALINESE is a language. | |
| 18 | Streets sporting canopies (7) |
| TESTERS — (streets)* Tied with violent in 12 for today’s Creative Anagrind Prize. I knew this from somewhere, but why does the word mean that? Collins: “ME testere < OFr testiere, headpiece, crown of a hat < teste, the head < L testa” | |
| 19 | Kid who pinches things (6) |
| NIPPER — DD | |
| 21 | Lean over (5) |
| SPARE — DD, the second being the sense of “over” defined in Collins as “remaining; surplus (often in the phrase left over).” Maybe my LOI (I can’t remember, though I worked this last night). | |
| 24 | Mean couple one’s escaped from (3) |
| PAR — PA[-i]R | |
FOI 24dn PAR
LOI 13ac RETAINER
COD & WOD 1ac NINCOMPOOP
Time: Larghetto
Still go to see Carl’s trio every tour.
as I had the first three crossers. Thus a trip round IKEA wasn’t called for, and I moved swiftly on!
Gill D
Having seen the Wimbledon theme at 10A, I wondered if LENTIL could be used as a homophone for Ivan LENDL. I also particularly liked Charlie, the blood-sucking finch, the clever snooker clue, and the excellent COD — what a clever clue for such a small word.
FOI HAIL (which could be in the offing, looking out of the window this morning)
LOI DISHEARTEN
COD DOWNTRODDEN (brilliant !)
TIME 10:35
We’re gonna give you some Brain Salad Surgery, starting off with Jerusalem, moving into a piece by Ginastera that we call Toccata …
Thanks, g.
‘a canopy or its support, or both, esp. over a bed’.
My struggles were LOI SPARE (another great clue) and TESTERS where I was unaware of that definition.
Most enjoyable and I was finished by 2.20pm.
David
“Even Pool tables should really have a short rest and/or Spider.”
https://www.mastersofgames.com/cat/billiards/billiards-rests-spiders.htm
Maybe you should set them straight.
Able to get this completed in a single session and was able to progress solidly through the grid. Seemed to be able to get the long clues quite easily with THEATRE OF WAR being the second entry. Had both ELP Works albums but couldn’t really get into Brain Salad Surgery as a youngster – been ages since I have played them.
Interestingly did an old 2019 Times puzzle over the weekend as well which had a similarly clued SISKIN in it as well – funny how serendipity like that happens.
POLITESSE was the only new term but was easy enough to deduce from the clue.
Finished in the top half with NINCOMPOOP, OBSERVE (quite a tricky dd) and RETAINER the last one in.