I’m tired and shagged out from a long TLS (1140 by Talos: once again highly recommended by me, and of a similar or slightly lower difficulty level to this puzzle, so you’ve no excuse for avoiding it unless you really hate books) that so I’m not going to tarry long for a change. But thanks to the excellent setter! I will just say in parting that I almost came a cropper at 25ac, on the grounds that AZUL seemed plausibly blue and a Zulu is *almost certainly* some kind of bike… but fortunately another possibility occurred before the fatal submit button could be pressed. How did the rest of you fare today?
Across
1 Vehicle reversing with weight of gems is a chancy enterprise (8)
BACCARAT – CAB [vehicle] reversing with CARAT [weight of gems]
9 Coarse stuff witch squeezed into powder (8)
ROUGHAGE – HAG [witch] squeezed into ROUGE [powder]
10 Not that good a place of entertainment (4)
FAIR – double definition
11 Fond creature struggling in race (4,2,6)
TOUR DE FRANCE – (FOND CREATURE*)
13 Ad-lib regularly about keeping pet (6)
GERBIL – hidden reverse in {ad-}LIB REG{ularly}
14 Close up part of church on Hebridean island (8)
COLLAPSE – APSE [part of church] on COLL [Hebridean island]
15 Stationary traffic at main road around island (7)
JAMAICA – JAM [stationary traffic] at A1 [main road] + CA [around]
16 Short rope network, a way to catch one (7)
LANIARD – LAN A RD [network | a | way] “to catch” I [one]
20 The London Eye? (5,3)
MINCE PIE – cryptic definition; “mince pie” being Cockney rhyming slang for an eye
22 Losing energy, predator is in waterway (6)
TIGRIS – TIG{E}R [“losing energy”, predator] + IS
23 One trying to hear what deciduous tree is misses the start (12)
EAVESDROPPER – A deciduous tree being a LEAVES-DROPPER, remove the first letter.
25 Finish off a sort of bike in pale blue (4)
AQUA – A QUAD being a sort of bike, take away the last letter
26 Keeping son away from jail, taking advantage of revolution (8)
UPRISING – PRI{son} [“son away from” jail] kept by USING [taking advantage of]
27 Endures travelling, and departs for Split (8)
SUNDERED – (ENDURES*) + D [departs]
Down
2 Hate a man becoming this? (8)
ANATHEMA – (HATE A MAN*), semi-&lit
3 No restrictions here as church is set in converted tabernacle (5,7)
CARTE BLANCHE – CH [church] set in (TABERNACLE*)
4 Bar shut by priest in Catholic Venice once, say (8)
REPUBLIC – PUB [bar] “shut by” ELI [priest] in R.C. [Catholic]
5 Defame jazz function in speech (7)
TRADUCE – TRAD [jazz] + homophone of USE [function “in speech”]
6 Coarse fabric no use with felt in the middle (6)
DUFFEL – DUFF [no use] + {f}EL{t}
7 Hand on tradition, ultimately giving pledge (4)
PAWN – PAW [hand] on {traditio}N
8 So-called priest has to tear round all the time (8)
REVEREND – REND [to tear] round EVER [all the time]
12 Hymn sensational cricketer (7,5)
AMAZING GRACE – AMAZING [sensational] + GRACE [cricketer W.G.]
15 Started from chair, appearing arrogant (6,2)
JUMPED UP – double def
17 Presumably favouring genuine short hymn (8)
ANTIPHON – ANTI PHONY would be “presumably favouring genuine”; dock the last letter
18 Don’t agree, being around at home, to make another brew? (8)
REINFUSE – REFUSE [don’t agree], being around IN [at home]
19 Take ages, having small fits (7)
BELONGS – BE LONG [take ages], having S [small]
21 Language of particular concern heard (6)
PIDGIN – homophone of PIGEON, which I did not previously know means: “a person’s particular responsibility or business”
24 Manage to avoid missing a green (4)
VERT – {a}VERT [manage to avoid “missing a”]
… so double the time it took yesterday… An excellent puzzle.
FOI was BACCARAT (love it when that happens!), LOI: PIDGIN, biffed, as I too was unfamiliar with the requisite meaning of pigeon.
In fact I finished with quite a few in the SW: PIDGIN, UPRISING (couldn’t parse, couldn’t get past ‘s’ for ‘son’ doh! Thanks, V) and MINCE PIE, which I don’t really like at all…
Oh, and TIGRIS was the R Eaglis until ANTIPHON made me rethink.
Last in PIDGIN. I think we’ve had this meaning of ‘pigeon’ before but it took a long while for that faint bell to ring. Narrow escape similar to Verlaine’s with a near-biffed azul.
And I agree — it has to be MINCE PIE. Thanks setter and blogger.
This marks the very first time I’ve completed each of the five daily crosswords in under 30 minutes, and error-free. Thank you linesmen, thank you ballboys.
Nice way to finish the week. Thought MINCE PIE was perfect, a real Gestalt Switch type of clue.
Well done setter and V. Have a good weekend everyone.
Oh, in golf terms, two over par today, one over for the tournament, so thanks also to Ulaca for allowing me to adjust my handicap!
I’d also managed to botch LARIARD (from a short lariat, plus RD), which, given I’d never heard of the alternative spelling of LANIARD seemed fair enough. Also, where does the “I” in LANIARD come from?
I gave up coffee a couple of weeks ago, and I don’t think I’ve completed a weekday puzzle since. Can’t be a coincidence, can it? I wonder if this is a temporary withdrawal symptom…
Edited at 2016-09-23 07:35 am (UTC)
PIDGIN was my last in. I didn’t know the ‘concern’ meaning either so I dithered a bit. The study of these and creoles, their offspring, was perhaps the single most fascinating thing I covered at university.
The GERBIL reminded me of our discussion about dwarf hamsters the other day. I had some of these creatures when I was a kid too. I had learned my lesson from the hamster incident, so they were well fed, but unfortunately my security arrangements proved inadequate against a very determined cat.
Edited at 2016-09-23 07:45 am (UTC)
The one I didn’t know was LANIARD with an I (rather than a Y) but I trusted the wordplay and got it right. COLL is a Hebridean island that has not come to my attention before, yet I’m usually quite good on those.
Edited at 2016-09-23 07:26 am (UTC)
(Is hymn a verb?), 14A (close up = collapse?). Took ages to get pidgin as I assumed the language must end in ‘c’. Also I thought pidgin was only a language if associated with English.
Ho hum. Just me, I guess.
I recall singing “..While angels delight to hymn thee above…” in one of the verses but almost all of the versions on Google have “…while angels delight to worship above…”. Maybe that was in a bygone age.
I was another who wasted time (in NE) looking for an X after getting Q and Z, and being helped by J.
Spelling of 16ac unfamiliar, but wordplay is clear enough.
May I strongly recommend today’s QC as a good one for regular 15×15 solvers to test themselves on? There’s an interesting blog too.
Once I got it I liked ANTIPHON, and my COD is between that and EAVESDROPPER, both of which I thought to be neat devices.
Enjoyed this one, whizzed along appreciating the wit and ingenuity, but got stymied by 20a and 21d at the end; had to look up words in **D*I* looking for the language, so cheated, and once I had the P the penny dropped on 20a and I had a groan for not seeing it sooner.
Like others, not seen LANIARD without a Y but trusted the word play.
Well done Keriothe on your turn of speed.
21dn PIDGIN was well-known and I was somewhat surprised that ‘buiness’ English was generaly not known. My time in Hong Kong, where I think the word derives from, was not in vain.
COD 20ac MINCE PIE was excellent CRS.
FOI 1ac BACCARAT WOD 17 dn ANTIPHON
Nearly put PROLAPSE for COLLAPSE. You know, that Hebridean island PROL out beyond EIGG, MUCK, CANNA and RUM. Then I remembered COLL (and TIREE).
All in all, I thought this was a little gem of a puzzle – my thanks to the setter and, as always, to our blogger.
With the C and L of 14ac in place, I wasted a stupid amount of time trying desperately to fit COLONSAY to the wordplay. And I took ages over MINCE PIE (without the P of PIDGIN to help me), which I agree is an excellent clue.
All in all, a very fine puzzle.
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