Solving time 20 minutes
Yes, I could always see my hands and feet and there was no smell of sulphur! The Victorian transport may be unknown, also the fleshy fruit. Other than that no real problems. Reasonable quality standard Times puzzle.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | BLUFF – two meanings; somebody should call the Government’s bluff over its threat to read everybody’s e-mails; |
4 | QUADRUPED – QUA(DRUPE)D; a DRUPE is a pulpy fruit with a central stone such as a mango; |
9 | REFORMISM – RE-FORM-IS-M; RE=scripture; class=FORM; mark=M (soon to be reinstated German currency?); |
10 | SATYR – SAT-YR; Pan’s pipe-playing mate; |
11 | UGLILY – U-(G)-LILY; G from (do)G; an uglily word; |
12 | EGOISTIC – (cities)* surrounds GO=work; George Osborne perhaps; |
14 | HEART-RENDING – HEAR(TREND)ING; the new Granny Tax; |
17 | EMBRYOLOGIST – (bigot+sorely+m)*; “m” from M(isguided); Sir Gavin de Beer no doubt; |
20 | TRANSACT – T(RA-NS)ACT; RA=Royal Artillery; |
21 | FLORAL – F(L)OR-AL(l); common=for all; lake=L; |
23 | TIARA – IT reversed-A-RA; (sex) appeal=IT; RA=painter; |
24 | ALBATROSS – two meanings; 1=score of 3 under par on a golf hole; 2=reference Rime of the Ancient Mariner; 3=Government’s plans to tax hot but not cold pasties; |
25 | SWINEHERD – S(WINE)HE-RD; novel=SHE (again); way=road=RD; sack=WINE; a tamworth is a type of pig; |
26 | EASED – (c)EASED; |
Down | |
1 | BAROUCHE – BAR-OUCH-E(questrians); four-seater Victorian carriage; |
2 | UNFILIAL – UN-FIL(I-A)L; in Paris a=UN; charge=FILL; A=initially “as”; Ed’s relationship with Dave, perhaps; |
3 | FOR,OLD,TIMES,SAKE – FOR(OLD TIMES)SAKE; feeble excuse for generally unwise course of action; |
4 | QUIN – QUIN(ce); reference Peter Quince in Midsummer Night’s Dream; one of the Dionnes perhaps; |
5 | ARMAGEDDON – A-RM-AGED-DON; jolly=Royal Marine=RM; what Spain will soon precipitate?; |
6 | RUSSIAN,ROULETTE – cryptic definition; as seen in The Deer Hunter; |
7 | PETITE – PET-I(T)E; T from (tha)T; La Môme Piaf sans doubt; |
8 | DIRECT – two meanings, neither of which Cleggy understands; |
13 | DEPRECIATE – (rated piece)*; straight line or reducing balance; |
15 | VITREOUS – VIT(RE-O)US; St Vitus is the patron saint of dancers; |
16 | STYLISED – STY-L(IS)ED; |
18 | STATUS – S-TA-(lieutenan)T-US; (territoral) army=TA; south=S; America=US; rank is the definition; |
19 | SALAMI – ALAS reversed – MI; savoury sausage or devious “death by a thousand cuts” tactic; |
22 | ABED – ABE-D; |
Good to get an easy one. Interrupted and forgot to turn on watch again but probably something over 16 or 17 minutes. Enjoyed dj’s beady-eyed glances off. No special comments pro or con on clues: plain healthy fare.
I managed not to remember what a drupe was whilst actually eating one (with my muesli).
Pedant’s corner: it’s sulphur, not sulpher Jimbo
A couple of really ugly words: UNFILIAL looks like something Shakespeare made up to fit the pentameter, though I see he only used it once. UGLILY is just horrible, so little used that this blog turns up if you Google it with Shakespeare attached. (I need to get a life!)
Otherwise, a bit crosswording by numbers: even novel=She gets another outing, though I only parsed that one when I had the answer. No stand-out clue, but enjoyment much enhanced by the commentary de nos jours from Dorset, for which much thanks.
Also wondered if Abe did die ABED and it turns out he did. Cue tasteless joke: “What was the rest of the play like Mrs Lincoln?”
Maybe the grammaticasters can tell us the adjective-to-adverb rule that allows UGLILY, but not “kindlily”. (I know there’s no such word because Agatha Christie always writes “He smiled kindly” and so forth.)
St Vitus, the Wik tells us: “is considered the patron saint of actors, comedians, dancers, and epileptics. He is also said to protect against lightning strikes, animal attacks and oversleeping”. Shall hie me hence to the Catholic Suppository to buy his medal.
No problem with 1dn: Mrs Elton’s sister’s Barouche-Landau has always stuck in my mind. I do wish useful information would do that.
I note you stayed out of yesterday’s debate, Jim, although you refer to it in your blog title!
Edited at 2012-04-03 09:22 am (UTC)
Edited at 2012-04-03 10:25 am (UTC)
In any event I still think this has to be the explanation, anonymous, because to me “religious education form” as a phrase doesn’t make sense.
SCRIPTURE 1.e : Study of the Bible and the Christian religion as a school subject; a lesson in this. E20
IIRC RE/RI came in when the scope of lessons was expanded to included religions other than Christianity.
f. The study of the Bible and the Christian religion as a school subject; a scripture lesson.
Maybe it’s no longer needed these days so has been dropped from the others.
I wasn’t sure if ‘quin’ was correct, in the US we say ‘Quint’. I couldn’t think of the Shakespeare character until I remembered the Stevens poem.
Came unstuck and had a blank at UNFILIAL, after taking an age to get UGLILY.
Also had a stupid ‘quatriped’ (yes, really!) at 4ac, thinking that ‘tripe’ was the filler. Doh!
Some very easy clues, some less so.
Thanks, as ever, for the helpful blog.
We had Abed (similarly clued) only a week or two back. Quite a coincidence I thought but on second thoughts there are maybe only two words that fit ?B?D (Ibid being another – which we’ve also had recently).
It’s not long now until the Masters starts. How the leaders would love to score an albatross on the 13th or 15th on Sunday!
Didn’t do him much good, but (as McText might say).
Many thanks for today’s blog, particularly explanation of floral.
Trust yesterdays preperation for the Masters was successful!
Perhaps strangely we found today far harder than yesterday which attracted so much scorn. We thought yesterdays puzzle also had many more really excellent clues, compared to todays rather journeyman affair. GOLDFINGER was surely a great clue.
Best wishes
Mike ans Fay
Jane Austen scores one OED citation for “barouche” and one for “barouche-landau”. But there’s nothing from Georgette Heyer, and nothing from Daisy Ashford (perhaps because she spelled it “baroushe”).