This was the sort of puzzle that I think of as very Roganesque (though I stress I have no inside information to lead me to believe it’s by the editor himself) – highly intricate construction leading to smoothly deceptive surfaces of remarkable concision. A bunch of the down clues in particular caught my eye: 2dn, 4dn, 5dn, 15dn are all very very clever and the surfaces are beautiful. 8ac also gets an honourable mention just for having caught me, fair and square, in its trap: (1) “That’s not a US town!” (2) “Okay, I guess it is a US town too, but hmm anyway.” (3) “D’oh!”
There has been some discussion on the club forum already about whether 18dn might be too much of a stretch, and I think I would, in my professional capacity, tend to concur that a GUI is not the act of interfacing with the graphics by the user, but the graphics that are being interfaced with. But it’s still quite early and perhaps I have no idea what I’m talking about. So I’ll just say thanks to the setter, plus ask them, what have you got against the NHS? 7dn + 17dn + 14ac, don’t try to claim there wasn’t some kind of agenda here!
Across
1 In this sort of voting, job often involves delivery (6,6)
POSTAL BALLOT – POST [job] + A LOT [often] involves BALL [delivery]
8 One housed in semi: feller in US town (7)
HALIFAX – I [one] housed in HALF [semi] + AX [feller in US]
9 Description of playful Sir Hugo? (7)
ROGUISH – (SIR HUGO*) [“playful”], semi-&lit
11 Presentation of image less stuffy — almost plain (7)
PRAIRIE – P.R. [presentation of image] + AIRIE{r} [less stuffy, “almost”]
12 Sweat-covered man in middle of field finding shamrock? (7)
TREFOIL – REF [man in middle of field], covered by TOIL [sweat]
13 Confirm demise of vessel after shelling (3,2)
INK IN – {s}INKIN{g}
14 Random opium use not ultimately causing rash (9)
IMPETUOUS – (OPIUM USE {no}T*) [“randomly”]
16 Dolphins enjoy poking elderly relative affectionately (9)
GRAMPUSES – USE [enjoy] poking GRAMPS [elderly relative, affectionately]
19 Some knocked back tea — one guzzled port (5)
GENOA – reverse hidden in {te}A ONE G{uzzled}
21 Jumbo the setter’s set mostly to trap people (7)
IMMENSE – I’M [the setter’s] + SE{t}, to trap MEN [people]
23 Husband welcome, since brave (4-1-2)
HAVE-A-GO – H AVE AGO [husband | welcome | since]
24 Sailor who Roman knight would make legendary king (7)
TARQUIN – TAR [sailor] + QUI [who, “Roman”] + N [knight]. Lucky this didn’t begin “sailor whom Roman”, or it would have had to be TARQUEMN
25 Defiant remark: it follows comforting one (2,5)
SO THERE – SO [it follows] + THERE [comforting remark, as in “there, there”]
26 Young stand-in priest, purged of sin, insincere fellow (6,6)
PRINCE REGENT – PR [priest] + IN{sin}CERE + GENT [fellow]
Down
1 Fish appearing in dock reversed shortage (7)
POLLACK – LOP [dock] reversed + LACK [shortage]
2 Son with slight temperature avoids food colouring (7)
SAFFRON – S [son] + AFFRON{t} [slight (that) T for temperature “avoids”]
3 Tensions exist in a European novel (9)
ANXIETIES – (EXIST IN A E*) [“novel”]
4 Overenthusiastically toasted end of graduation in Lancaster? (5)
BURNT – {graduatio}N in BURT [Lancaster, actor]
5 Cut grey lining in case where pins are laid (3-4)
LEG-REST – GRE{y} lining LEST [in case]
6 Regularly used coercion, force, on foreign banker (7)
ORINOCO – {c}O{e}R{c}I{o}N {f}O{r}C{e} O{n}
7 Polish GP isn’t, unfortunately, everything you’d wish for (8,4)
SHOPPING LIST – (POLISH GP ISN’T*) [“unfortunately”]
10 Asserts much more than control (4,4,4)
HOLD SWAY OVER – HOLDS [asserts] + WAY OVER [much more than]
15 Quickly giving compere stick if introductions mixed up (9)
POSTHASTE – HOST PASTE [compere | stick] Spoonerised
17 One who digs dirt concealed by a doctor (7)
ADMIRER – MIRE [dirt] concealed by A DR
18 Swan interacting with mouse? New for a bird! (7)
PENGUIN – PEN [swan] + GUI [interacting with mouse, in a G{raphical} U{ser} I{nterface}] + N [new]
19 Dance music in Lent is too much (7)
GAVOTTE – in GAVE [Lent] is O.T.T. [too much]
20 Rat seen moving extremely close (7)
NEAREST – (RAT SEEN*) [“moving”]
22 German I note raised boy (5)
ERNIE – EIN RE [German I | note] raised
I had the same thought about HALIFAX, but moved on before I got to the ‘doh!’ stage.
I think 18dn is OK. The idea that a GUI is just ‘the graphics being interfaced with’ doesn’t make sense to me: surely the interface is the whole point? So it’s a description of a system for human-computer interaction, as is ‘interacting with mouse’. Mind you I’m about as far from being an expert on this as it’s possible to be.
I raised an eyebrow a bit at the descripton of SAFFRON as a ‘food colouring’. If I just wanted to make food yellow I would use something with a less pervasive flavour, and much, much cheaper.
Edited at 2017-02-24 08:57 am (UTC)
Edited at 2017-02-24 06:41 pm (UTC)
15 would be my COD, though I wonder if the wordplay works for the one-word version of POSTHASTE? How can it have two introductions?
36 minutes for an excellent Friday puzzle.
2dn SAFFRON to me is an essential food colouring for the old paella.
FOI 9ac ROGUISH LOI 22dn ERENIE
Did not fuully parse 18dn PENGUIN as GUI was unknown but it seemed to follow the aquatic themette.
WOD 1dn POLLACK who oftentimes comes on as a sub for Cod in Bird’s Eyes Fish Fingers.
The INK IN clue is a thing of beauty. Nice finish to a nice week of puzzle. Thanks, all.
No problem with GUI – no need surely to get too technical. Thought INK IN and ANXIETIES the best of a really good bunch. Thank you setter and well blogged V
Probably about 40mins or so, very satisfying to finish. GUI the only unknown here, so PENGUIN went in with a shrug, and GRAMPUSES sort of half-known. Great misdirections all around: the ‘One who digs’=’minor’ trap, and the ‘slight temperature’=’1F’ one held me up for some time.
There were times when I felt none of the clues made sense or were open to parsing. GUI and its meaning, whatever it technically means, made no attempt to collide in the solving part of my brain. ERNIE I sort of got, wondering how I in German got to be EIN (via Latin, as it turns out).
On the other hand, lent and gave have often turned out to be the same in my experience, much to the depletion of Z8 resources.
Edited at 2017-02-24 12:31 pm (UTC)
Things that didn’t help: Not knowing who TARQUIN was, and never having heard of GRAMPUSES or POLLACKs.
Things that helped: remembering GAVOTTE from a previous appearance.
Thanks to setter and blogger. A nice way to finish a week.
Edited at 2017-02-24 12:54 pm (UTC)
‘Grampuses’ was the only thing I didn’t know, although I was afraid 22 was going to turn out to be the American Indian hero of some poem I was unfamiliar with.
Edited at 2017-02-24 03:19 pm (UTC)
Like others I was badly held up by HALF SEAS OVER. I thought of this with just the H and L of the first word in place, and assumed that the other checked letters would eliminate it in due course. When they didn’t, I wasted a ridiculous amount of time trying to justify it.
PS (written after looking at the puzzle again when a lot less tired):
Another first-rate puzzle. I only wish I hadn’t been so ruddy tired on Friday as I’d have enjoyed it so much more then – but at least I was able to go back to it today.
However, I still suspect this wasn’t one of RR’s puzzles. In fact I think I recognise the fine Italian hand of another Times setter (whose identity I sadly don’t know). Just a feeling in my water – I could be quite wrong.
Edited at 2017-02-26 11:51 am (UTC)