I still don’t feel like I necessarily understand a few of the clues, so this blog might have to turn into a joint effort in the morning: 5ac and 24dn being the main victors over my tired brain. Hmm: while there were some interesting constructions that I very much enjoyed, primarily my COD 6dn for its differentness, but also 16dn (but will it be judged too Libertarian by some? I’ll be interested to see), overall there wasn’t much here for my personal taste in crosswords to latch onto. Scant literary/historical references, no real jokes, arguably no really beautiful surfaces. Plus bits of sporting terminology e.g. 14ac where I knew exactly what I was looking for but couldn’t bring the technical term to mind for ages, though I appreciate that I only have myself to blame here for misspending my youth in all the wrong ways.
Oh well, you can’t love them all! I expect others will have found this the most foursquare and commendable puzzle in ages. Thanks to the setter for giving me a proper run for my money this Friday!
Across | |
1 | GRUB UP – double def of: time to eat / root out of the earth |
5 | KICKBACK – bribe: does a footballer retaliate by “kicking back”? |
9 | APPARENT – (it’s) clear: APP [program] comes with A RENT [a | charge] |
10 | REGENT – not quite king: “not much” of {mo}RE GENT{leman} |
11 | RAGTAG – masses: RAG TAG [paper | to follow closely] |
12 | HOLD GOOD – apply: GOLD HOOD [top-quality cover] for the good Reverend Spooner |
14 | STOPPAGE TIME – double def of: whistle expected soon now (in a sporting event) / when all will be on strike? (in a time of stoppage, i.e. workers downing tools) |
17 | UNDER PROTEST – complaining: (PRETENDS TOUR*) [“is a shambles”] |
20 | SUPPLANT – replace: UP PLAN [improve | scheme] “to widen” ST [street] |
22 | TREMOR – shake: reverse of ROME RT [Holy See (with) right “turn”] |
23 | LAPTOP – LO [look] “to install” APT [appropriate] + P{rogram} [“initially”], for this semi-&lit device |
25 | ABALONES – sea food: ({r}EASONABL{y}*) [“head and tail removed” … “cooked”] |
26 | TEMPLATE – pattern: AT (which) TEMPLE [church] “retains” |
27 | EUSTON – terminus: reverse of NOTE [memo “about”] “taking possession of” US [American] |
Down | |
2 | REPEAL – cancel: R{esolv}E [“heartless”] + PEAL [laughter] |
3 | BEAUTY SLEEP – restoration period: BEAUTY [fine example] + reverse of PEEL’S [PM’s “picked up”] |
4 | PEER GROUP – those of similar age: PEER [look] + GRO{w} UP [to become adult, “not with” (i.e. minus W)] |
5 | KETCHUP – sauce: KETCH UP [boat | finished] |
6 | CAROL – song: that would be a different song, i.e. a {BAR}CAROL{E}, in BARE surroundings |
7 | BIG – massive: reverse of GIB [rock “turns up”] |
8 | CONSOMMÉ – it’s clear to eat: CON [not in favour] before SOMME [battle] |
13 | GO TO THE DOGS – decline: or, to visit track, i.e. go to the dog racing |
15 | GREAT DANE – pet: (A TAD GREEN*) [“indisposed, may appear…”] |
16 | INCUBATE – develop: CUBA [island] in {w}INTE{r} [“mid”winter] |
18 | OUTRAGE – appalled reaction: R [king] “overwhelmed by” OUTAGE [loss of power] |
19 | FOREGO – get ahead: FOR [as] “having” EGO [self-esteem] |
21 | ALPHA – high mark: AHA [expression of surprise] about LP [record] |
24 | TIP – double def of: wrinkle (see aphis99‘s useful explanation, if you’re as confused as I was) / part of one’s nose: |
Funny sort of puzzle. No real obscurities, but I was thrown by some of the definitions, eg masses = RAGTAG, and FOREGO meaning to get ahead (I only think of it as to go without).
Still, no specific complaints. About what I’d expect on a Friday. COD to BEAUTY SLEEP for the nice definition.
Thanks setter and Verlaine.
One thing I do know is that FORWENT is about my favourite word to choose when playing Hangman with people. No one ever sees it…
As for KICKBACK, I assumed the BACK was the footballer, but still can’t quite get this one to gel.
BACK did seem to have potential for the footballer but I just couldn’t make it work.
35 mins with little traction in the SE corner initially.
FOI 13dn GO TO THE DOGS LOI 26AC TEMPLATE as I don’t necessarily think of a temple as a church per se, however…
COD 16dn INCUBATE
horryd Shanghai
I also wasted a lot of time with variations of ‘pi see’ backwards, and anagrams of ‘see’ + ‘r’ following ‘pi’, before I saw the obvious.
I did know the meaning of ‘wrinkle’ that the setter used.
I didn’t know ‘RAGTAG’ as ‘the masses’ and actually it doesn’t appear directly as such in any of the usual sources, though I suppose ‘rabble’ and ‘common people’ cover it.
I’m amongst those confused by thinking of FOREGO as ‘go without’ and in fact SOED at least has this as an alternative spelling of ‘forgo’. However if one thinks of the expression ‘foregone conclusion’ the required meaning should never have been in doubt.
9dn CAROL was biffed but to go back to it later and decipher how it worked was very rewarding and for that reason it gets my vote as COD. But I’m not entirely convinced by 5ac I’m afraid, and if there’s nothing more to it than has already been suggested I think it needed a question mark to improve its secondary definition.
I’d no problem at all with wrinkle/tip and the surface reading’s rather good reminding me of the lyric to the wonderfully romantic song ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern sung in the film ‘Swing Time’ by Fred Astaire to Ginger Rogers in a facepack.
Edited at 2016-02-19 05:54 am (UTC)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag,_Tag_and_Bobtail.
That phrase and the other words I mentioned above are all the same territory as ‘masses’ so I’m not really quibbling, but it is unusual not to have a word for word definition of an answer in one of the usual sources so I tend to mention that fact when I notice it.
I always find it incongruous that the film (Swing Time) with the best dance sequence (to “Pick Yourself Up”) and the best song has quite one of the silliest plots.
Le voilà! La vie de l’humble domestique, mon amie.
Edited at 2016-02-19 06:45 pm (UTC)
I don’t know whether it’s a good or bad puzzle that trips up different people with different clues.
A very undistinguished 50 minutes.
My wife tells me that while the number of gins I drank last night was easily countable, they might have been… a little stronger than usual. I feel like I might have been nobbled! Sore-headed apologies to the setter for any lack of appreciativeness my alcohol-fuelled Mr Hyde may have demonstrated in the wee small hours.
I took RAGTAG (after staring at the checkers for ages – some ungrammatical German newspaper perhaps, Das Tag?) to be one of those dictionary three point turns via rabble or some such.
Much confusion with FOREGO, including wondering how forge for “get ahead” fitted in with the wordplay. Chambers’ entries on for(e)go seem as confused as I’ve ever seen in the BRB.
ABALONE (without the S) is a mental shortcut for me to one of the most off-the-wall films ever made, The Seven Faces of Dr Lao
BARCAROLE excellent
Edited at 2016-02-19 09:08 am (UTC)
Edited at 2016-02-19 11:52 am (UTC)
About 20m up until that point, and I found it a bit of a slog. I rather lost faith in the setter after the strange 5ac and never really felt I was on the wavelength. And for the record I have not had a drink since Tuesday, so I can’t even blame that.
On edit It was of course Picture Book on Monday so that makes RT&B Thursday. These things are important!
Edited at 2016-02-19 12:18 pm (UTC)
PS do they have glens in Nottingham?
Edited at 2016-02-19 04:06 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2016-02-19 04:17 pm (UTC)
Tricky all round really.
Edited at 2016-02-19 02:11 pm (UTC)
I’ve also been wallowing in nostalgia with the comments on Watch with Mother. It’s radio equivalent Listen with Mother floated into my head too: ‘are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin!’
My big brother, living in Perth WA for 40 + years still gathers his clan to the table with a stentorian ‘Grub up!’ So that was a write in for me!
Thanks to setter and to the less-than-usually-affable-over ginned V for the blog.
Interestingly, rugby has an external time-keeper (like American football, I believe), so the game essentially ends when the game reaches its end (though the current ‘play’ must be completed). Dear old football, which is stone-age in many ways, gives the referee discretion to add time. He communicates this to his assistant on the sidelines, who theatrically holds up an LED board towards the end of each half of the match, saying how many additional minutes there will be.
Edited at 2016-02-20 03:17 pm (UTC)
Insulate can also mean develop an island, so once I saw that I stopped looking for another island! Dennis
I wasted time assuming that BACK was going to be the first half of 5ac: I agree with jackkt that the clue would have been better with a question mark – Ximenes would have demanded one!
Apart from those, I had no real problems, in particular CAROL, SUPPLANT and TIP all went in more or less straight away.
An interesting and enjoyable puzzle.
I found the whole thing a bit of a slow grind (and not in a good way), and then failed utterly to get RAGTAG. Oh dear.
I parsed 24dn by applying the question mark to PITFALL, which is a wrinkle, and falls nicely to generate a TIP.
I expect that’s where TIP derived its less famous meaning from, back in the day somewhen.