The presence of three (3!) homophone clues distinguishes this worthy offering as much as anything else. There was some discussion about such things here last week, but these examples will surely be noncontroversial.
I worked this, unusually, online, being ensconced in a hotel in Chicago for the Socialism 2025 Conference.
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | EP cut by Arctic Monkeys in rehearsal (8) |
| PRACTICE EP backward sliced by (Arctic)*—the anagrind pertains to EP as well, as there is no separate indicator for the reversal. …Slick trick |
|
| 5 | State of abnor{mal i}nsentience (4) |
| MALI Hidden |
|
| 8 | Singer in Welsh service holding note (4) |
| WREN W(elsh) + R(E)N, RN being the Royal Navy …Had to note the absence of any WN initialization for a “Welsh service” before it dawned on me that E is a note as well as RE! |
|
| 9 | Very popular star I’m mean about (10) …He’s so sappy, I just can’t help it! |
| MAINSTREAM (star I’m mean)* |
|
| 11 | Where my butt might end up if horse bolts off path (6) |
| ASTRAY AS |
|
| 13 | Do nothing, say, to retain a good name (8) |
| STAGNATE ST(A)(G)(N)ATE |
|
| 14 | European chaps bursting into number by Air (8) |
| ARMENIAN ARIA, “air,” interrupted by MEN, “chaps” + N(umber) |
|
| 16 | German tunes concertmaster’s radioed (6) |
| LIEDER “leader” |
|
| 17 | Change one might spell using an S prefix (6) |
| SWITCH S + WITCH |
|
| 19 | Going through copy, submit material (8) |
| APPOSITE AP(POSIT)E |
|
| 21 | Structural support or brass moulding on tap (8) |
| CROSSBAR C, for the C(old) “tap” + (or brass)* …This only took me two days to parse! I had the definition, though, and assume it must refer to the so-named part of a bicycle. A “crossbeam” more obviously supports a structure. |
|
| 22 | Sausage eater apparently holding in a fat gut (6) |
| PAUNCH P(A)UNCH …Today, I learned that sausages are a recurring prop in Punch and Judy shows, a string of them typically appearing when dinner is announced. Took the connection on faith when working this. |
|
| 23 | Tax too much on small caravan (10) |
| OVERSTRAIN OVER, “on” + S(mall) + TRAIN, “caravan” |
|
| 24 | Judge issued a penalty in hearing (4) |
| FIND “fined” |
|
| 26 | During power outage, old maid becomes naughty (4) |
| RUDE |
|
| 27 | Billions with torment about privation and depression (5,3) |
| BLACK DOG B(illions) + LACK, “deprivation” + DOG, “torment” |
|
| DOWN | |
| 1 | Old man close to bar will get usual (3) |
| PAR PA, “Old man” + |
|
| 2 | Track a box, perhaps, filled with indium (7) |
| AINTREE A + IN(dium) + TREE, “box, perhaps” …Thanks, Quadrophenia! |
|
| 3 | Soldier in play collects military medal (5) |
| TOMMY TO(MM)Y |
|
| 4 | Red edges covered in blue, perhaps (7) |
| CRIMSON C(RIMS)ON A CONservative might indeed be a Tory (“blue”). |
|
| 6 | Pencil in a compass you’ve picked up (7) |
| ARRANGE “a range” The answer doesn’t so much as nod at an essential aspect of the definition in the clue; pencil marks can be erased, so what is thus ARRANGEd is tentative. But the wordplay is clear enough. |
|
| 7 | I teach unit around about November for mock (11) |
| INAUTHENTIC I + (teach unit)* surrounding N(ovember) |
|
| 10 | Bit of seafood ring scoffed by foolish person (7) |
| SCALLOP S(CALL)OP …We don’t have this definition for SOP in America. |
|
| 12 | Second company frogman picking up oyster finally in drink (11) |
| SCREWDRIVER S(econd) + CREW, “company” + D(R)IVER |
|
| 15 | People soon to take husband (7) |
| INHABIT IN (H) A BIT |
|
| 18 | Hit with police weapon deters a criminal (7) |
| TASERED (deters a)* |
|
| 19 | Letters arriving out of the blue? (7) |
| AIRMAIL CD |
|
| 20 | Material getting my boss frustrated? (7) |
| STUFFED STUFF, “material” + ED(itor), “my boss” |
|
| 22 | Large earl bailing from jet, one caught in tailspin (5) |
| PANIC P |
|
| 25 | The type that goes on horse (3) |
| NAG DD, if you will, the first a bit oblique and jocular |
|
I seem to remember a discussion a year or two back about how many different ways INHABIT could be clued. Liked this and found some bits easy and others quite tricky. CROSSBAR had to be but the parsing was another thing before I finally remembered that H and C are the abbreviations for taps and then saw the anagrist with ‘brass or C’, the answer had already gone in and I thought maybe the crossbar might also refer to the horizontal bar of a goal. Had no idea what was going on with the sausages in PAUNCH, but the answer was guessable. I noticed two distinctly British answers in 2 and 3d with AINTREE and TOMMY, Liverpool is my stomping ground from my youth so the racecourse was a write-in. Guy, it’s Indium for IN in A TREE. Liked ‘the type that goes on’ for NAG.
Thanks Guy and setter.
31:13
I couldn’t parse CROSSBAR or PANIC. Assumed that sausages had something to do with Punch and Judy. I had a ? at STUFFED=frustrated. And I wrote ‘def?’ at ARRANGE, but I see that ODE sv ‘pencil sthg in’, ‘arrange, forecast, or note down something provisionally’. COD to ASTRAY.
How is ARMENIAN European? The references I have say Asian.
Yes, though sometimes Eurasia.
Good question.
Guy, I added to my post about AINTREE but maybe you missed it.
Well, of course! I tout court is iodine, after all. And iridium, which I hallucinated, is Ir. I’d never heard of indium! Corrected.
Apologies for not spotting the slip with Armenian. I think it might have counted as European when Armenia was part of the USSR and west of the Urals.
But isn’t Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest? I’ve always taken that as gospel as to where the dividing line is
On edit – I see Jackkt got there first!
Well, Australia and Israel are in the contest too and I’m pretty sure neither are in Europe.
A minor detail!
Participants in Eurovision include Israel, Morocco and Australia!
36 minutes with several clues left over to be parsed later. Not the sausages though, I knew that one.
Whilst, as acknowledged by the editor, Armenia is geographically not in Europe, it’s not hard to find a degree of support on line for its being more politically and culturally aligned with Europe than with Asia. For instance the Wiki has: While Armenia is geographically located in the South Caucasus, Armenia views itself as part of Europe and is generally considered geopolitically European.
And from elsewhere: Armenia is a member of the Council of Europe and has a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the European Union, fostering closer political and economic ties. There’s also a strong public sentiment in Armenia favouring closer integration with the EU, with the Armenian parliament recently adopting a bill to launch the process of accession to the European Union. Armenia has deep historical and cultural connections that align with European civilization, including its early adoption of Christianity.
Someone did mention that Armenia’s football team play in the European championship (qualifying rounds only, so far).
More importantly, Armenia participates in the Eurovision Song Contest!
They made their debut in 2006 and have been quite successful, often reaching the Grand Final and achieving top 10 finishes on several occasions. Their best results have been two fourth-place finishes in 2008 and 2014.
No terrors here for me, a leisurely 34 mins all d&d – apparently (Armenia). COD 25d for its neatness and wit.
15.05
Usual high Sunday standard. Liked SWITCH amongst others
Thanks Guy/setter
My only problem was self inflicted at 5ac where I was convinced that ‘state’ was a homophone indicator for abnormal (waki? – no it never really worked). The answer staring me in the face was chastening. I thought football (soccer) goals for ‘crossbar’ but the bike one probably works better.
7:50. No problems with this one.
Unless I’m missing something I don’t think the wordplay for 1ac works. There is no indication that EP should be reversed and grammatically I don’t think the anagrind can apply to it.
I had a great vacation and was in a tolerant frame of mind. Even after my hellish delayed return flight to Newark and sweat-soaked Escape From New Jersey.
However, the anagrind comes after the entire phrase “EP cut by Arctic,” so it seems that it would arguably apply to that, if anyone wanted to make that argument. It would be left to the solver to prise anagrist from instruction about the placement of two of the letters, but it seems this kind of thing, essentially, happens frequently: instructions to jumble one set of words around another, telling you the latter is not at the beginning or end of the answer.
About 30 minutes, with everything parsed bar AINTREE and PANIC.
Thanks Guy and setter.
FOI Mali
LOI Aintree
COD Nag
Yes, NAG is quite neat, isn’t it? But my COD goes to ASTRAY because I stared at it for ages before the penny dropped ( didn’t see the double-definition in “butt”, but). The rest went in without too many hiccups (had a hard time equating STUFFED with frustrated), and didn’t see the obvious pRUDE for ages. All up, a typically enjoyable Sunday workout: thanks to blogger and setter.
21ac was a doddle for me – “structural support” = BRASTRAP, of course! I did
realise and correct my error before completing the puzzle. Maybe female solvers (such as I) were more likely to make this blunder!
Thanks David and Guy
Did this one yesterday in a single session under my normal solve time, so it must have been on the gentle side for this setter. Still some neat clues, as with NAG and ASHTRAY and some novel or tricky word play, as in PANIC and AINTREE (tricky unknown element for me).
Didn’t unpick WREN properly, being fixated on RE (note) and WN (some non-existent Welsh Navy). Finished all over the place with INAUTHENTIC, PAUNCH (having to look up the relevance of ‘sausages’ with Punch) and PANIC (with its unusual wordplay) the last on in.