This seemed on the easier end of the Dean spectrum. Still a smashing time, cracking open dense nuggets to get the prize inside.
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Credit card — thing that shops may charge for (7,3) I use cash at such places! |
| PLASTIC BAG PLASTIC, “credit card” + BAG, “thing” as in “crosswords are my thing!” |
|
| 6 | Floor cracked by one large weight (4) |
| KILO K(I)(L)O |
|
| 10 | Old amplifier at full volume in “Working Girl” (8,7) |
| SPEAKING TRUMPET S(PEAKING)TRUMPET |
|
| 11 | Firm’s staff probing corrupt data (7) |
| ADAMANT MAN, “staff” inside (data)* |
|
| 12 | One fly’s not the first problem for this plant (7) |
| ALYSSUM A, “One” + |
|
| 13 | House almost set by busy road (4) |
| SEMI SE |
|
| 14 | Thick old Peruvian cries at night (2,7) |
| IN CAHOOTS INCA, “old Peruvian” + HOOTS, “cries at night” as from a hoot owl “Thick”… as thieves! |
|
| 17 | Are they still cohabiting? (9) |
| FLATMATES CD, playing on “still,” which is the same as FLAT in referring to non-sparkling water or wine |
|
| 19 | Kid in house given a kiss (4) |
| HOAX HO(use) + A + X, “kiss” |
|
| 22 | Unreal sound from cool cat (7) |
| PHANTOM “fan” + TOM, “cat” |
|
| 24 | A rising of workers perhaps (7) |
| ANTHILL CD |
|
| 25 | Senses things too absurd to aim for (3,4,6,2) |
| SET ONES SIGHTS ON (Senses things too)* |
|
| 26 | Make listener finally listen (4) |
| EARN EAR, “listener” + |
|
| 27 | Go with guys heading for the field (10) |
| DEPARTMENT DEPART, “Go” + MEN, “guys” + T |
|
| DOWN | |
| 1 | Unit of pressure in three states (6) |
| PASCAL PA (Pennsylvania), SC (South Carolina), ALabama |
|
| 2 | Typical hail storm (7) |
| AVERAGE AVE, “hail” + RAGE, “storm” |
|
| 3 | Insist one company opens appropriate base (4,1,4,5) |
| TAKE A FIRM STAND TAKE, “appropriate” + A FIRM, “one company” + STAND, “base” |
|
| 4 | Study exact limit (9) |
| CONSTRICT CON, “Study” + STRICT, “exact” |
|
| 5 | Cavities in an upturned craft (5) |
| ANTRA AN + ART<=“upturned” |
|
| 7 | I’ve reached P for Painting (7) |
| IMPASTO I’M PAST O |
|
| 8 | Choose one film I’ll view, hopefully (8) |
| OPTIMIST OPT, “Choose” + I, “one” + MIST, “film” |
|
| 9 | He cut her by that crooked end row (4,3,7) |
| BURY THE HATCHET (He cut her by that)* |
|
| 15 | Lead, with another one, around country (5,4) |
| COSTA RICA COSTAR, “Lead, with another” + I, “one” + CA, circa, “around” |
|
| 16 | Such runs may be fine in spite of straying (3-5) |
| OFF-PISTE (f[ine] + in spite of)* |
|
| 18 | Plug fitting or linking device (7) |
| ADAPTOR AD, “Plug” + APT, “fitting” + OR |
|
| 20 | Disputed a lot of lies? (2,5) |
| AT ISSUE A TISSUE “of lies” |
|
| 21 | Body temperature beneath surface (6) |
| PLANET PLANE, “surface” + T(emperature) |
|
| 23 | Flock Earl shot down (5) |
| MASSE MASS, “Flock” + E(arl) The MASSE or “massé” billiard stroke (or “massé shot”) is described by Collins as one “made by hitting the cue ball off centre with the cue held nearly vertically, esp so as to make the ball move in a curve around another ball before hitting the object ball” (emphasis added)—which indicates why it may be called a “shot down.” The word is from the French “masser to hit from above with a hammer, from masse sledgehammer, from Old French mace.” |
|
Duh! Couldn’t understand where bag came from in PLASTIC BAG, so simple when you read the blog. Love this crossword. I knew the old amplifier at 10a but had to think a bit to come up with the second word ‘trumpet’ but got it when I saw the ‘working girl’. IN CAHOOTS was very good for ‘thick’. Didn’t know MASSE but have played the shot many times in my misspent youth on snooker tables. Also liked IMPASTO, FLATMATES, ANTHILL and COD to COSTA RICA.
Thanks Guy. Minor thing, you need to add the ‘n’ in the parsing of EARN at 26a.
Merci !
28m 01s but misspelled CAHOOTS.
I did like IM PAST O . Made oi larf!
Thanks Guy especially for COSTA RICA and MASSE.
That has to be the easiest Anax puzzle I’ve ever attempted. Pity about the typo.
I m just below you on the leaderboard, earning my pink square for ADAPTeR. Unbelievable. And, as you say, such a pity
Glad to see I wasn’t alone!
I found this one enjoyable, and had a very relaxed solve. While a saw set ones sights on very quickly, I was very slow with speaking trumpet, even though I knew what kind of thing I was looking for. Dean did very cleverly disguise the chestnut Inca hoots, which I am always getting caught out on.
Time: 41:37
25 minutes, which is probably a record for me for a Sunday Times puzzle.
ANTRA went in with fingers crossed. MASSE arrived from wordplay and I then vaguely remembered hearing of it as a shot of some sort in snooker but didn’t understand ‘down’.
“Down” rather than along is the whole point of a massé shot. If you search YouTube for “masse shot snooker”, there’s an example from Jimmy White.
Peter B not logged in
Thanks. I meant I didn’t understand it when solving. I saw Guy’s explanation in the blog today and realised I knew the shot all along, just not its name.
Very enjoyable. Lots of nice things here. The equivalence of BAG and THING troubled me for a while. Didn’t know SPEAKING TRUMPET. Is EAR TRUMPET the same thing? FOI was PASCAL.
Thanks Guy
No, it’s a megaphone for speaking into rather than listening through.
Well, I was feeling pleased with myself having successfully completed one of Dean’s puzzles in under an hour- only to find that everyone here thinks it was a doddle.
It only encourages him to make them (even) more difficult.
Definitely not as difficult as some of Dean’s – and all the better for me, as it meant a completion on the day – preferable to coming back on subsequent occasions to tease out the last two or three mysteries. Completion wasn’t helped by having CONSTRAIN at 4d, holding up 14 and 17a and biffing ATRIA for 5d. ANTRA NHO, but following the cryptic got me there. I thought I must be missing something of the parsing of FLATMATES, as it seemed too weak a clue for DM and indeed I’d missed the flat/still drink association. LOI MASSE, also unknown, though I’ve seen the shot enough times watching snooker. Thanks to Guy and Dean for another great puzzle.
Had the same problems as you, alto_ego, with constrain holding things up. But this was the first ever DM crossword for me that I had a sense of achievement and flow…was into his humour, but was looking for the wrong kind of trumpet (the ear kind), and missed the chestnut OLD PERUVIAN! Apart from those, and the NHOs MASSE and ANTRA, had a good fun time as I completed the grid. CODs to IN CAHOOTS and SPEAKING TRUMPET.
A masterclass in setting IMO.
1a Plastic bag. Was less than 100% confident on Bag, but reading the blog it seems fine.
5d Antra, NHO, cheated.
15d Doh! Costar I ca. Couldn’t parse. Thanks Guy.
18d AdaptEr, careless, should have read the clue, always a good idea.
23d DNF, NHO Masse, the billiard shot. Could have guessed but couldn’t be bothered I suppose. Thanks again Guy, it was more interesting than I anticipated.
I pencilled in NEWTON at 1d wondering about Nebraska, Washington, Oregon. Wrong on several counts and the crossers put me right.
Thanks both
Agree that this was relatively straightforward for one of Dean’s puzzles.
– NHO SPEAKING TRUMPET, ALYSSUM or ANTRA but got them from from wordplay
– Was glad that the clue for ADAPTOR made clear it had to end in -or
– NHO MASSE and didn’t see how it worked, so that went in with fingers crossed
Thanks Guy and Dean
FOI Semi
LOI Masse
COD In cahoots
Dnf did not know masse
Gave up after a while and forgot to go back, apparently!
Interesting about MASSE.
I kind of knew about it from recently watching the 1961 Paul Newman/Jackie Gleason film The Hustler, where there is a sign in the pool hall “NO MASSE SHOTS ALLOWED”.
Apparently these types of signs are still common today, because the vertical “shot down” can easily damage the cloth.
In the above mentioned “SHOT OF THE CENTURY! Jimmy White’s Massé Against Ronnie O’Sullivan!” YouTube video, both players have several attempts to repeat the shot. And they both comment that they are spoiling the cloth of the demonstration table – because even as skilled professionals, repeated downward shots on the ball will be damaging the felt.
As above reply to alto_ego.
Thanks Dean and Guy
Late to this one – my partner’s birthday (no Feb 29 this year) spread over the entire weekend – so no time for puzzling. Did manage to finish under the hour and no real holdups apart from not fully understanding the BAG bit of 1a. Liked IN CAHOOTS and IMPASTO and enjoyed putting the charades for a couple of the long clues together.
Finished down the bottom with PHANTOM, DEPARTMENT and that tricky MASSE as the last one in.