20 minutes and not a lot to say really. The bird may be unknown to some but I expect some fast times today.
On edit: clearly I got that wrong. Luckily I was in tune with the setter because most others have found this quite hard so I’ve changed the heading from “Vanilla Flavour”
Across | |
---|---|
1 | EMPHATIC – CITE reversed (from East) surrounds MP-HA(s); |
9 | LIES,DOWN – the suggestion is that if lies are down truth is up – as it’s not a zero sum game it’s not strictly correct; |
10 | INTRIGUE – IE=that is surrounds (turning – n)*; n=indefinite number (algebra); |
11 | APOPLEXY – A-PO(peo-PLE)XY; |
12 | HOUSE,BOUND – H-OUSE(l)-BOUND; is this the bird that flies in ever decreasing circles?; |
14 | WIKI – WI-K-I; WI=Women’s Institute; on-line encyclopedia; |
15 | MELDING – M-(g)ELDING; |
17 | KINSMAN – KIN(g)S-MAN; grand=1,000=g; |
21 | NICK – two meanings, the second refering to the police force as NICK is slang for arrest. On edit – and for the police station; |
22 | DEHYDRATED – DE(H-TARDY reversed)ED; |
23 | STOCK,CAR – (cost)*-RACK reversed; |
25 | TAX,HAVEN – TAX-HAVE-(o)N; Man is not strictly short for Isle of Man, the correct abbreviation being IOM; |
26 | INSECURE – picnic=easy job=sinecure then move the s=son; |
27 | NONSENSE – NO-NS-(seen)*; (Japanese) drama=NO; (bridge) partners=NS; |
Down | |
2 | MONGOOSE – MOOSE surrounds (gon)*; |
3 | HARASSED – HAR(ASS)ED; |
4 | TOGA – TO(n)GA; I had a Latin mater who used to turn up wearing a TOGA – completley mad; |
5 | CLEAR,UP – C(LEAR)UP; |
6 | SECOND.WIND – back=SECOND; turn=WIND; |
7 | SOLECISM – SOLE-(M-SIC reversed); |
8 | ENDYMION – (nnoyed + im)*; today’s Greek mythology and Keat’s poetry; |
13 | BENEDICTUS – BENEDICT(in-e)+US; a canticle; |
15 | MONASTIC – M-ON-ASTI-C; brother=monk; |
16 | LACROSSE – L(ACROSS)E; |
18 | STAGNATE – ST-AG(N)ATE; N=newton=unit of force; |
19 | ATELIERS – landlords=hoteliers then change ho=house to A(rtists); |
20 | SHORTEN – (southern – u)*; |
24 | OXEN – O(X-E)N; running=ON; by=multiplied by=X; E from (statu)E; |
I thought OXEN was a cracking entry.
I think I have the same professional background as Dorsetjimbo – he was probably much better at that too!
I trained as an actuary but never practiced. I was sucked into computer programming circa 1962 – wrote an actuarial valuation in ICL 1301 code – and ended up as part of a consultancy dealing with IT manufacturers and financial services companies.
At least 90 minutes with SE corner giving me a lot of problems.
Not my sort of puzzle I guess.
Jim, I think that the bird you are looking for is the Oozlum bird. It appears amongst other places in the old Rugby Song “We’re off to see the Wild West Show” along with other notables including the vertically-challenged Fukawi tribe (don’t ask).
You are correct about Man v IOM but in crosswordland I always consider the island when I see Man.
The leader board had nothing under 25 minutes with several around 40 minutes on the front page when I looked early this morning and all the comments at that stage remarked on the toughness of the puzzle, so it seems our esteemed blogger is out of step on this one, and good for him!
I required the best part of 2 hours with considerable resort to aids once the first hour was past. It took me 14 minutes to find my first answer.
Leaving aside the weekend puzzles (both on the easy side for once) I’ve averaged about 90 minutes over my last three weekday solves, which considering yesterday’s doddle is pretty disastrous.
Edited at 2014-03-04 09:24 am (UTC)
I thought there were many rattling good clues, too: so good that I thought in relief that ATELIERS, my last in, had to be a cryptic definition. Your revelation of the wordplay puts it up several notches in my book.
NICK for me was not the arrest but the police station, making more sense of the clue.
And just a thought. Don’t you think IOM (or even Isle of Man)at the beginning of the clue for 25ac would have been a bit of a giveaway? “Man” gave the clue a (sort of) superficial fluidity and is, at least among the solving community, a familiar enough convention.
I enjoyed this one – chewy (for me) but gettable, well disguised definitions and wordplay. Plenty to trap the “spot the definition, dam’ the wordplay” experts – ?MELANGE, at 15ac ?CHEER UP at 5 for two.
CoDs from among APOPLEXY (POXY for substandard absolutely fair but not an immediate association) INSECURE (picnic, indeed!) and INTRIGUE for using an anagrind (turning) as the anagrist.
Don’t understand why I’m quicker than most – must just have been a good day
I don’t think a WIKI is just an online encyclopedia, Jim. I’m no expert in these matters but I believe WIKI refers to the software…er, system… er, stuff that allows users to edit the… er, thing rather than just a… um, webmaster or something. Hence “result of online cooperation”. Wikipedia is just one example.
Edited at 2014-03-04 10:33 am (UTC)
… and that error was ATELIERS (where I had abetters for the same reason that ulaca had it!)
Found it very tough going, but persevered by coming back to it once or twice with a fresh eye. Lots of unknown vocab today: ENDYMION, SINECURE, OUSEL.
COD to APOPLEXY
Agree with z8 that NICK refers to the police station
Didn’t see anything at first until CLEAR UP made some sense. LEAR will one day appear as a fine painter of birds. (I have an original print.) And then we shall hear of his encounter with Queen Victoria as her art teacher. An amazing chap.
NICK is the cop shop. And WIKIs are collaborative web compendia of all sorts.
I ask this to help me learn and most certainly not to be a smart arse, but isn’t police station the second meaning of NICK (21) as in the (police) force work there?
Thanks, setter, for an enjoyable hour.
I had only about a quarter of the answers after 45 minutes, so I called my mother and chatted for a bit. When I came back, I found I could proceed much more rapidly, and I solved another half in about 15 minutes. The SE was tough, and ‘ateliers’ was my last one in. I thought it was either a cryptic definition or a letter-substitution clue I didn’t get – it turned out to be the latter.
I kind of suspected Jim would say what he said. He is so hardened from solving Mephisto he doesn’t even notice difficulty in these conventional cryptics.
I needed a lucky guess at 8 as the only handsome youths I know of are Adonis, me and the One Direction boys.
COD to oxen but with an appreciative nod, as Z8 mentioned, towards having turning as the fodder in 10. Nasty indeed.
Can someone help me with the ‘on’ in monastic – the m Asti c makes sense.
I think it’s if you’re ‘taking’ drugs, you can be said to be ‘on’ drugs.
There was some very chewy cluing indeed, but the grid didn’t help with eight answers having double unchecked letters in them. Having said that, it took me way too long to see some answers, such as CLEAR UP and MELDING. I finished in the NE with ENDYMION after APOPLEXY.
Biggest problems were in the SW where TAX HAVEN, SHORTEN, OXEN and NONSENSE all had me flummoxed for a good while, especially as I felt sure that 20d was CHARTER.
Many top notch clues, but MONASTIC made me smile with the image and the penny-drop moment. Thank you, setter, and well done, jimbo.
Collins has “Man” as an abbreviation for the Isle of Man.
I listened to some Finzi this morning. Not being a classical music aficionado I can’t judge its relative merit, but suffice to say I enjoyed it and will listen again.
Well, I managed to finish it after I don’t know how many light years; it wasn’t too bad in the end but didn’t parse things like Endymion and oxen. In fact didn’t really parse many until after they had gone in on a wing and a prayer. Liked the clue for apoplexy the best.
Nairobi Wallah
Would you mind getting involved in a discussion on an earlier crossword? The issue is homophones and how using it in clues does not work with various local accents. Can you describe how you would pronounce ‘raita’ , the yogourty accompanyment to certain dishes?
For some of the clues, I was just on the wrong wavelength and should have got them. BENEDICTUS, ATELIER and ENDYMION were just on the fuzzy borders of my consciousness (got ENDYMION, failed on the other two).
Also not helped by having ACCURSED for 3d (which parses fine if you equate ACED with “sped”, which perhaps you don’t).
All in all, I was left feeling a little NFN and glad to see that others found this one tricky.
A first-rate crossword, though. My compliments to the setter.
In any case I stupidly put in Dock which held uo monastic for ages and then still had to struggle with the SE. Trying now to keep in mind that Man = Island, NS are bridge partners, by = X and landlords are hoteliers. Without these to mind this puzzle took yesterday breakfast, a drive to London and this morning to finish. Phew!
I’ve always known of High Force but hadn’t considered this to be a generic term for waterfall – there are others: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Force
In any case I stupidly put in Dock for cut which held up monastic for ages, then I had to deal with then SE. I must remember Man = Island, NS are bridge partners, x=by, and landlords can be hoteliers. Without these to mind this took all of yesterday and this morning separate by a drive to London.