Another top-notch performance from Robert… no surprise there! I don’t remember being hung up too long anywhere. Sometimes the difficulty of a puzzle can depend a bit on the order in which you attack the clues. I count only one somewhat unusual word but there was one definition of a clue word that definitely gave me pause.
As for the top and bottom rows, well… my teeth have all been false since my Appalachian teenage years, so no gaps there, but I do hate to get a seed under the lower plate. I’ve now learned the technical term for seed-bearing plants — spermatophytes! — but could not come up with a joke.
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Intervals of quiet amid chatter (4) |
| GAPS GA(P)S |
|
| 3 | Crater’s inside hardens and contracts (10) |
| INDENTURES IN(DENT)URES |
|
| 10 | Start needing a meal (5) |
| LUNCH L |
|
| 11 | Sponging relations housed by soldiers in charge (9) |
| PARASITIC PARAS. “soldiers” + IT, “relations” (nudge, nudge, say no more) + I(n) C(harge) |
|
| 12 | Perhaps two clergymen leading politicians (5,9) |
| PRIME MINISTERS PRIME, “Perhaps [the number] two” + MINISTERS, “clergymen” |
|
| 14 | Insights grasped by newsp{aper cus}tomers (7) |
| APERCUS Hidden No cedillas in crosswords! |
|
| 15 | Runner one must keep going after (7) |
| RUBICON CD, “Runner” being common puzzle code for “river” The idiom “cross the Rubicon” is well-known and its origin far from obscure. Wikipedia: « In 49 BC…Julius Caesar led a single legion…south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to make his way to Rome. In doing so, he deliberately broke the law limiting his imperium, making armed conflict inevitable.… According to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase alea iacta est (‘the die is cast’) upon crossing the Rubicon, signifying that his action was irreversible. » Don’t look back! |
|
| 17 | Losing capital, blames guarantees (7) |
| ENSURES |
|
| 19 | Virus regularly on BBC treated like the plague (7) |
| BUBONIC (vIrUs, on BBC)* |
|
| 20 | Difficulty of acrobatics leads to big lumps in footwear (9,5) |
| STUMBLING BLOCK S(TUMBLING) (B)(L)OCK |
|
| 23 | Great apes involved in his doom (9) |
| HOMINOIDS (in his doom)* …That’s our gang, folks! |
|
| 24 | A democrat wearing the First Lady’s skirt (5) |
| EVADE EV(AD)E |
|
| 25 | Patient meant to be carried (10) |
| FORBEARING FOR BEARING |
|
| 26 | Children surrender when caught (4) |
| SEED “cede” |
|
| DOWN | |
| 1 | Grand antique dish lastly edged in gilt (4-6) |
| GOLD-PLATED G(rand) + OLD, “antique” + PLATE, “dish” + |
|
| 2 | Authors crossing river, small and stony (9) |
| PENNILESS PEN(NILE)(S)S |
|
| 4 | Pile family’s linen on the table (7) |
| NAPKINS NAP, “Pile” + KINS, “family’s” |
|
| 5 | Former noble that is first to retire (7) |
| EARLIER EARL, “noble” + IE, “that is” + R |
|
| 6 | Issue created by returned egg deliveries (4-4,6) |
| TEST-TUBE BABIES CD, “Issue” being a person’s offspring (plural)… or “seed” (see above!) |
|
| 7 | Blade that turns both ways (5) |
| ROTOR palindromic …A few days later, in Times Cryptic No 29530, we had the same word clued as “Blade whirling either way.” Won’t be the last time you see this. |
|
| 8 | Boot bag (4) |
| SACK DD, verb and noun |
|
| 9 | Con artist’s trick, men traced to her shuffles (5-4,5) |
| THREE-CARD MONTE (men traced to her)* …What a great anagrind for this phrase! |
|
| 13 | With members turning in work, we hear strike is over (5-5) |
| KNOCK-KNEED “knead” under KNOCK, “strike” |
|
| 16 | Rallying can end on a volley (9) |
| CANNONADE (can end on a)* |
|
| 18 | Classic song, maybe sister keeps private? (7) |
| SOLDIER S(OLDIE)R SR being an abbreviation for Sister, i.e., a nun |
|
| 19 | Meat’s first cut after bishop gives blessing (7) |
| BENISON B(ishop) + |
|
| 21 | Watch terms of reference being written up (5) |
| TIMER REMIT<= “being written up” The second noun definition for “remit” in Chambers is “Scope, terms of reference.” …In case you were wondering! |
|
| 22 | Revolutionary starter from flamboyant cook (4) |
| CHEF CHE, “Revolutionary” Guevara + F |
|
I did this in 23 minutes, which is fast for me and means I found it easy. I think EDENTURES was the only word I didn’t know but the wordplay was pretty clear. A most enjoyable crossword.
That’s INDENTURES, actually (sorry for the typo).
16:48 WOE
I glanced at the anagrist in 23ac and bunged in HOMINIDS. That’s one letter short, but I had typed ‘hominnids’ and didn’t notice until after submitting. I liked PRIME MINISTERS, SEED, SOLDIER, but COD to KNOCK-KNEED.
35 minutes but a DNF as I was unable to come up with INDENTURES, a word I am completely familiar with and really should have got it.
Another beauty from Robert. Heard of 3 card trick before, but never 3 card MONTE.
3a was tricky and I’m not convinced that DENT is really a synonym for crater. Surely they are not remotely similar in size- certainly I have never had a crater on my car after a minor collision.
I really dislike CDs on the whole. I spend far too much time worrying about whether I’m missing some really cryptic wordplay as was the case this week. I still wonder whether 6d isn’t a DD or possibly a double crypic definition: one being DELIVERIES= test-tube babies? Or else DELIVERIES is redundant.
14:20. Nice one.
I don’t remember coming across the word HOMINOID before: HOMINID, which is more familiar, appears to be a subset of it.
25 minutes
– Can’t recall coming across HOMINOIDS before
– I’m sure we’ve had pile=nap before, but it hasn’t stuck with me (though NAPKINS was clear enough)
– Had to trust the anagrist to get THREE-CARD MONTE
Thanks Guy and Robert.
FOI Gaps
LOI Cannonade
COD Knock-kneed
I enjoyed all of this, particularly the two Cryptic Definition clues (RUBICON and TEST-TUBE BABIES): both terms I sort of knew about, but unravelling the clues increased my understanding.
I became horribly stuck in the bottom half, as a quick check of the anagrist for 3d revealed THREE CARD and I bunged in TRICK without checking, thus making 3 across clues impossible to solve. I eventually twigged and constructed MONTE from the remaining letters. As I’m currently in the Aegean, it was completed on a tablet, so I have no notes to fall back on, but I don’t think there were any other issues.
i knew 3 card trick and follow the lady but had forgotten Monte, so looked it up. otherwise straightforward.