Solving time : 20:32 on the club timer with more than half of it unraveling that bottom left hand side, mostly held up by the honking great cryptic definition of a word I’d never heard of at 22 across. At the finish I had to go check and it is in both Collins and Chambers, but to me it’s a word too obscure to clue using a cryptic definition.
I was also caught out by one of the older tricks in the book at 15 down and was kicking myself there. At the end of things I was second on the leaderboard, so I suspect I am not going to be the only one pulled in to the tricks of the setter.
Away we go…
Across | |
---|---|
1 | REPAST: PA in REST |
4 | WREATHES: (WEATHERS)* |
10 | AMARYLLIS: A MARY, then SILL reversed |
11 | TON(fashion),ER(head lady, the Queen) |
12 | LOO |
13 | ON THE SQUARE: double definition, which reminded me of “Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life” |
14 | TIPCAT: 1,PC in T |
16 | TEACH-IN: EACH in TIN |
19 | ALMANAC: MAN(chap) in AL(gangster),AC(bill) |
20 | BUYOUT: YOU in BUT |
22 | PETRODOLLAR: cryptic definition |
25 | E,GO: GO was very popular amongst students at Melbourne Uni in the late 80s |
26 | GENOA: double definition (it’s also a type of salami) |
27 |
|
28 | ROAD TEST: (TREATS,DO)* |
29 | INFEST: sounds like INN, then FEAST without the A |
Down | |
1 | REALLY: E in RALLY – as an expression of sarcasm |
2 | PLATONISM: TO in PLAN, then IS, M |
3 | SAY-SO: hidden |
5 | RESPECT,ABILITY |
6 | ANTIQUARY: A,(QUAINT)*,RY |
7 | HENNA: HEN(layer, of eggs), over N |
8 | SERGE,ANT |
9 | PLATE TECTONICS: 1 in (LATEST,CONCEPT)* |
15 | CONSONANT: since I is not a consonant, it’s a vowel |
17 | HOUSEMATE: (MOUSE)* in HATE |
18 | RAMPAGER: RAGER grabbing A,MP |
21 | HOLD IT: OLD in HIT |
23 | TANKA: sounds like TANKER |
24 | REGAN: take the A out of REAGAN for Lear’s daughter |
LOI: INFEST.
Edited at 2014-02-27 03:04 am (UTC)
Another unknown was INTEGRAND and also PLATE TECTONICS, though I had heard of tectonic plates so it was no big deal to shuffle the words a bit. PETRODOLLAR was no problem for me.
I can’t say that ON THE SQUARE sounded particularly familiar (I’d tend to say “on the level”) but it’s in the books so I’ve no complaint. Interestingly in Brewer’s, the first place I checked it, its only meaning is a reference to being a Freemason.
Edited at 2014-02-27 06:00 am (UTC)
Oh, the puzzle. I took over an hour, and needed a little help at the end to clean up the SW.
Would you say that ‘a MP’ = ‘a military policeman’. That was my take, but I don’t think that abbreviation is much used in the UK.
Couldn’t help but wonder if the setter had originally also had FORESAIL as a clue for 26A, but decided not to inflame the argument between the landlubbers/lexicographers and those that actually go out in sailing boats (or have retired from doing so).
TIPCAT from the generous enough wordplay, but sparking one of those distracting trains of thought which chuntered on in the background calling to mind an antique occupation which turned out to be Tipstaff.
Things I learned today.
TONER is a cosmetic used by women (and surely quite a few men?) though I would have thought it would leave black smudges,
EURODOLLAR doesn’t have enough letters
How to spell AMARYLLIS (cheers setter)
INTEGRAND is another acceptable mathematical gerundive.
You should always make a copy of your entry if LJ looks like it’s playing up.
CoD to CONSONANT please Rachel – excellent surface
ON THE SQUARE called to mind the Kipling short turned into an epic and rather wonderful film in The Man Who Would Be King, so definitely masonic.
Edited at 2014-02-27 09:39 am (UTC)
Unknowns Teach-in and On The Square from wordplay.
The egg laying hen made me smile.
FOI WREATHES, LOI the wretched TIPCAT, COD CONSONANT.
I knew PETRODOLLAR (must be a generation thing – time was folk in the City talked of little else – pity about the silly clue. Guessed TIPCAT from cryptic
Must agree with Jack. “perfectly fair” is “on the level”. ON THE SQUARE means membership of a Masonic Lodge
I don’t think ON THE SQUARE is used today in any sense other the Masonic one. “on the level” or “square deal” or “square and above board” all mean equitable.
The Masonic connection is I think well known enough to not rank it as obscure
Edited at 2014-02-27 02:25 pm (UTC)
on the square 1: (informal) honest; straightforward.
I looked up petrodollar on Wiki, to discover there’s now a petroeuro. Now there’s a word that had better never turn up in one of these!
Edited at 2014-02-27 10:47 am (UTC)
I agree that the SW was indeed quite tricky. Like z8 I was also considering Jaffa for 26ac but I didn’t think that 18dn was going to end J?R. I didn’t like the clue for PETRODOLLAR although I didn’t think the word itself was that obscure. It was only after I got it that I thought of TANKA for 23dn, which in turn led to GENOA and RAMPAGER.
I only solved INTEGRAND from the wordplay.
The outgoing editor no doubt left behind a good stock of puzzles. I wonder whether we will notice when the stock runs out and new management takes over.
Not a bad crossword, enjoyable outing.
Nairobi Wallah
TIPCAT and TANKA not encountered since the last time they popped up in crosswords. Mostly this puzzle made me grumpy, so I’ll say no more.
It took a bit of thought but not too long to make the jump from “one-a-cat” which I knew to “tipcat” which I didn’t (same game I believe). I think it must be a precursor of baseball, no matter what may have been claimed for Abner Doubleday.
24.17 after my attention wandered in the TANKA/GENOA axis.
I’ve never come across ON THE SQUARE meaning anything, so I was spared any Masonic concerns. I did remember TIPCAT from a past puzzle, and PETRODOLLAR was no problem for me in spite of being born in 1972. Working in the city helped there no doubt.
I put in JAFFA (it had to be!), which slowed me down, but thankfully the J looked unlikely in 18dn so I reconsidered.
TANKA rang a vague bell.
No prizes for guessing which corner I had blank (despite the helpful tips yesterday) … but I did manage to work out TIPCAT and INTEGRAND (both unknowns), so I suspected the last ones were going to be more obscurities and gave up after an hour or so …
Looking forward to seeing REGAN et al on 1 May when NT Live are screening the National’s Sam Mendes/Simon Russell Beale version. My fave Shakespeare, having studied it many moons ago for A-level.
Today was one of the latter. Although with hindsight Petrodollar rings a bell there was no way I would have dragged it from memory. In its absence the SW corner was never going to be finished. Roll on tomorrow!
The clue to solving these things consistently is aquiring the ability to figure out stuff you don’t know from other bits of the clue, and this is just a question of practice. In my experience, if you take a little bit of time every day to engage with this forum you can improve very quickly.
It is somehow entirely appropriate that the only constructive observation I can make is to assist chrisw91 a propos the erroneous JAFFA, and the Only Fools and Horses reference. “Seedless, innit?”
The policeman being military in 18d threw me as well, and I’d never have got TANKA in a million years.
I’d always assumed
All Eastern verse was “haiku”.
Apparently not.
(Wikipedia
informs me that a Tanka
is like a Haiku,
but with two additional
lines bolted on at the end.)
On the other hand, I appreciated PLATE TECTONICS (which was controversial when I did geology O-level back in the Cretaceous), and was quite comfortable with PETRODOLLARS – surely not such an uncommon word?
Anyway, with today’s miserable performance I have no right being here, but I have nowhere else to go at present. For reasons that have never been made clear to me, the new management frown upon ones being on duty for more than 18 hours at a stretch, at least once you have a bit of alphabet after your name. It’s this kind of attitude that’s ruining the NHS.
z8b8d8k is quite right about ON THE SQUARE: the Times crossword has never been solely about “actual modern English usage”, though it’s good that it includes that as well.
Another nice puzzle.
Tipcat, or ‘tippycat’ was popular in my childhood days in Tottenham, when it was possible for crowds of children to play street games. Watch out for ‘kingy’ which was a Tottenham specialty. By the way, a scratchy win for the White Hart Lane team tonight, but we’ll take it, especially after last weekend’s miserable performanve.