20 minutes on blogging day so not too difficult. No poets, painters or authors but an unrecognised statistician. No obscure words but one possibly questionable homophone.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | RANCID – DI-C(N)AR all reversed; DI=cop; N from (sire)N; “off” is deinition; |
5 | BRAINBOX – BR-A-IN-BOX; answer=A; TV=BOX (old slang); Henry Kissenger perhapse whose birthday is today; |
9 | SPEARMAN – SPE-ARM-AN; S(a)P(p)E(r); Charles SPEARMAN 1863-1945 was a famous statistician – pity he didn’t warrant a mention; |
10 | REBUFF – RE-BUFF; RE=Religious Education; BUFF=expert; what European electorate has just done to EU status quo; |
11 | CALL,IN – C(hallenging)-ALL-IN; |
12 | ATROPINE – A-(protein)*; drug with various medical applications; |
14 | MACHINATIONS – MA-CHI(NATION)S; Baldrick rides again; |
17 | DRAG,ONES,FEET – (often greased)*; sometimes useful negotiating 14A; |
20 | VALENCIA – VA(LEN)C-I-A; 40 days=LEN(t); island=I; large container port on the Med and home of paella; |
22 | DONE,IN – D-ON-EIN; D=old penny=copper; |
23 | LITTER – two meanings; |
25 | KEEL,OVER – KEEL “over” = LEEK; the Liberal Democrat vote last Thursday; |
26 | SHIPMATE – (hates)* surrounds I-PM; |
27 | TETHER – TE(THE)R(n); Nick Clegg could be at the end of his; |
Down | |
2 | APPEAR – PA reversed-PEAR; a conference is a type of pear; |
3 | CHARLEMAGNE – C(HARLEM)A-ENG reversed; first Emperor of W Europe Charles the Great 748-814; |
4 | DOMINICAN – DO(MINI-CA)N; taxi=MINICA(b); cigar magnate Jose Blanco no doubt; |
5 | BENGALI – BEN-GAL-I; Satyendra Nath Bose perhaps after whom the boson particle is named; |
6 | AIRER – to some sounds like Eire; |
7 | NIB – B-IN all reversed; supposedly mightier than the sword; |
8 | OFF,ON,ONE – two meanings; |
13 | POINTING,OUT – and again; |
15 | AMENDMENT – A(MEN)D(MEN)T; “cheers”=thanks=TA; the US Second one continues to give rise to problems; |
16 | FREAKISH – FRE(A-KI)SH; a family losing its name=KI(n); |
18 | SHACKLE – S(HACK)LE(aze); |
19 | RIB,EYE – (b)RIBE-YE; delicious steak cut; |
21 | CARLA – hidden reversed (tek)CAR-LA(gelli); infamous hurricane; |
24 | TIP – T(hose)-I(n)-P(ower); |
COD … RANCID for the cleverly disguised definition.
And … tomorrow will be my last blog on this site.
Sorry to learn you are leaving us – hope you’ll still be around to comment
Many thanks.
Just that my sub runs out and one Murdoch (the university named after Sir Walter) is refusing to pay me for about 2 days a week worth of work; while another Murdoch wants the money I consequently don’t have.
Edited at 2014-05-27 08:33 am (UTC)
Jimbo you need Kissinger not Kissenger.
Edited at 2014-05-27 02:06 pm (UTC)
Enjoyed it today, despite taking nearly an hour and having the momble ‘atripone’.
Didn’t parse DOMINICAN, so thanks for that.
loi: APPEAR
Why so McT? Will you still be contributing?
Otherwise a steady enough solve, with the excellent KEEL OVER my fave of the day.
Does absence of pointing give rise to an urgent need for repairs? My garden wall’s been like that since we moved here, 17 years ago..
Sad news, MC..
As has already been mentioned, the clue for RANCID falls into the above category, as do the ones for APPEAR and my LOI, RIB-EYE.
Thanks for parsing of 14ac – with CHINA for the country, I couldn’t see how the Greek character came in. Never heard the expression at 8dn, so it had to go in from enumeration and checkers.
Initially had Call In as Call On before reconsidering.
I agree strongly with the complaints about 3D. “Governor” as a synonym for “emperor”, though not strictly inaccurate, seems to me absurdly loose. “Governor”, after all, could be used of anyone who is in charge of or who heads or directs or has responsibility for anything.
I seemed to find many red herrings in this. For the cunning schemes at 14A I was trying to fit in something to do with Machiavelli, I was trying to start 22A with DEN as one of the many German words for the and I was convinced the foot of mountain in 5D was the letter N. I do like indirection in a crossword, intended or otherwise, so for me this was a good puzzle.
Otherwise most enjoyable, if tricky and not at all obvious.
No great problems with “governor” = one in authority, it is a crossword after all, and as far as old titles go, HM is “Supreme Governor” of the CofE. And lovely misdirection in the clueing, had me looking of “ex” and “HE”, until the checkers blazed out the solution.
FOI TIP, LOI OFF ON ONE. My COD goes to RIB-EYE (a) for holding me up more than somewhat, (b) because I really fancy one about now.
Sorry you’re ceasing blogging, mctext. I hope you’ll still be around.
Edited at 2014-05-27 08:18 pm (UTC)
Sorry, Londiniensis, but if your posting ends up at Pedant Central (ie here) you will hear that the Supreme Governor of the CofE is HM, rather than HRH.
Very sorry to learn that you will not be blogging mctext; all the bloggers have been inspirational to me.
As I have said before, I solve on paper (or treeware as I must now learn to call it) and since News International hiked the weekday price by 20% I am buying the title less frequently, so revenue has undoubtedly dropped in my case. The attitude seems to be ‘force the beggars into taking out a subscription, and sucker them in by making it obligatory to pay by variable direct debit’, knowing that inertia selling may stink, but it works.
I kept getting the wrong end of the stick, imagining that the “country” in 14ac (MACHINATIONS) was CHINA and, even worse, somehow getting it into my head that the “holiday island” in 20ac (VALENCIA) might be BALI and wondering if BALENCIA could be an alternative spelling of VALENCIA (c.f. the Duke of Alba/Alva).
Like others I wasn’t too keen on “governor” for CHARLEMAGNE and I’ve never come across OFF ON ONE = “angry” before. I’d obviously have enjoyed this puzzle more if I’d been feeling less tired, but I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it all that much.
from collins
spearman
n, pl -men
1. (Military) a soldier armed with a spear