keriothe and I are planning to have a crosswordy meetup on April 12th, probably at that old stalwart the George Inn near London Bridge. It is after all almost exactly the midway point between the 2016 and 2017 Championships, which means we won’t have seen a lot of people for 6 months! It would be great if you could make it and/or spread the word to any other potentially interested parties…
Anyway, to today’s business. I did this enjoyable and skilfully clued puzzle offline and in about 8.15 according to my stopwatch. Most of the surfaces are rather smooth and I particularly liked 1ac, 8dn and 20dn. I’ll make that last my Clue of the Day because a verlaine always likes a clue which could be about a drop of the hard stuff if you squint at it (and today is St Patrick’s Day, after all).
I predict 1dn will also have many admirers, though I do feel we’ve seen it clued very similarly at least once before in my lifetime as a blogger. If I were to quibble I’d say I didn’t really feel that the income in 21ac is any more useful for retaining services than its opposite? Not that that really matters I suppose but it would have been lovely if it had managed to be more &littish.
I’ve been reading the brilliant essay collection Inside The Whale all this week so 14ac should probably have been a write-in; which provides a nice segue into saying that I need to go away and catch up on the TLS puzzle that’s been blogged today and maybe you should to. A raised glass to the setter and a hearty “Sláinte” to anyone planning to partake later today!
Across
1 Rook perhaps next to knight, king or queen? (5)
CROWN – CROW [rook, perhaps] next to N [knight]
4 Novel is made complicated for radio, TV, etc (4, 5)
NEWS MEDIA – NEW [novel] + (IS MADE*) [“complicated”]
9 Immediately performing after that trouble (2, 3, 4)
ON THE NAIL – ON THEN AIL [performing | after that | trouble]
10 Gather behind strike leader, flummoxed (5)
STUCK – TUCK [gather] behind S{trike}
11 What Bren guns can do seconds after bombing (6)
STRAFE – S [seconds] + (AFTER*) [“bombing”]
12 Group of wives from Home Counties tease celebrity endlessly (8)
SERAGLIO – SE RAG LIO{n} [Home Counties | tease | celebrity, “endlessly”]
14 N African port guards fine one – evocative of repressive state? (9)
ORWELLIAN – ORAN [N African port] guards WELL I [fine | one]
16 Classify third man “to the right of left” (5)
LABEL – ABEL [third man (after Adam and Cain)] to the right of L [left]
17 Pulling over, finds records (5)
DISCS – DISC{over}S [finds, “pulling” over]
19 Stopped working outside small bar and parted company (9)
DISBANDED – DIED [stopped working] outside S BAND [small | bar]
21 The sort of income you ultimately require to retain a service (8)
UNEARNED – {yo}U NEED [require] to retain A RN [service]
22 Highland water in church that encourages growth (6)
CLOCHE – LOCH [highland water] in CE [church]
25 European airline expanding axes its currency (5)
ZLOTY – LOT [European (Polish) airline] “expanding” Z + Y [axes]
26 Pines block assistant nearby (9)
ALONGSIDE – LONGS [pines] block AIDE [assistant]
27 Tube complaint? It is on record (9)
ENTERITIS – IT IS on ENTER [record]. Tubes as in one’s intestines!
28 Circle late notice about Republican (5)
ORBIT – OBIT [late notice] about R [Republican]
Down
1 This producer’s slow, laboriously enlisting a pair of unknowns (9, 6)
CROSSWORD PUZZLE – (PRODUCER’S SLOW*) [“laboriously”], “enlisting” Z + Z [a pair of unknowns]
2 Creature that swims from pilot, terrified (5)
OTTER – hidden in {pil}OT TER{rified}
3 Injection, perhaps, to remove foreign article necessary (7)
NEEDFUL – NEED{le}FUL [injection, “removing” LE (foreign article)]
4 Bread articles placed end to end (4)
NAAN – AN reversed placed next to AN
5 Passionate about climbing headland to get the bush? (10)
WILDERNESS – WILD [passionate] + RE reversed [about, “climbing”] + NESS [headland]
6 Wrongly identify one’s car at first in London road (7)
MISCALL – I’S C{ar} in MALL [London road]
7 Dangerous section of road, maybe, nameless crash site? (6, 3)
DOUBLE BED – DOUBLE BE{n}D [dangerous section of road, “nameless”]. “Crash site” as in place to sleep!
8 Tight low-necked garment not having Queen’s acceptance (15)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT – (LOW-NECKED GA{r}MENT*) [“tight”, “not having Queen”]
13 As cryptically suggested by this conflicted region? (6, 4)
MIDDLE EAST – reverse cryptic – the middle of {e}AS{t} being “as”
15 He was swapped on party duty, stripped and exhausted (6-3)
WASHED OUT – (HE WAS*) [“swapped”] on DO [party] + {d}UT{y} [“stripped”]
18 Rose succeeded with petition (7)
SPRAYER – S [succeeded] with PRAYER [petition]
20 A couple of litres, say, run out rather fast (7)
ALLEGRO – A L L EG RO [a | litre + litre | say | run out]
23 Conservative branch to rise (5)
CLIMB – C LIMB [Conservative | branch]
24 Five missing pacifists is enough (4)
DOES – DO{v}ES [“Five missing”, pacifists]
I’m in awe of the anagram for ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Bravo. Equally admiring of the misdirection in 5d. I’m sure I wasn’t the only herbiphobe to try coming up with a shrub — I pencilled in the exotic wassennton bush for a while.
Thanks setter and Verlaine.
Good puzzle, though. I thought 21ac was very neat: of course strictly speaking you could retain a service with earned income but it’s nicely evocative of the idle rentier classes.
Thanks setter and blogger, a good weekend to all, and hopefully see some of you on the 12th.
Edited at 2017-03-17 08:14 am (UTC)
I thought we might be in the realms of a band of colour but couldn’t equate it with bar. Thanks.
All over in 33 minutes so much improvemnt on yestrday.
LOI 9ac ON THE NAIL (though I had the unparseable ON THE BALL for ages.)
COD 14ac OREWLLIAN WOD SERAGLIO
Verlaine – your new avatar (Art Tatum) does not have the imposing air of your original V. – Meldrew
and don’t forget ART TATUM!
… as I chucked in ‘lots’ in desperation at 24dn. Oops. dnp DISCS either, but I was luckier there…
I completely missed the parsing of 15 and 17, I didn’t know that LOT was a Polish airline (though I guessed an Aeroflot connection?), and I couldn’t quite see “band” for “bar” in 18—but I could see “ban”, which confused me.
So, given that I had so many which I was certain were right but couldn’t quite see the through line, I never went back to 9a. Curses! Ironic, given that I’m about a mile away from the (likely apocryphal) “nail”. Everyone in Bristol knows it’s true, whatever the research says.
50m DNF for me, therefore. FOI 2d, LOI 27a, COD 1d. Thanks to setter and blogger!
In what sense is ROSE SPRAYER – would UKians call a shower rose what OZians would call a shower head? Wrote it in, then consulted the dictionaries but still flummoxed.
Never seen tight as an anagram indicator – after writing in the obvious answer took a bit to work out the parsing. Lucky to know zloty and Lot; knew cloche & seraglio as words but not their meanings. Liked the puzzle, COD to strafe.
I found it very difficult to get past the “hat” sense of the word CLOCHE. Typical crosswords, clues are always botanical when you don’t want them to be, and not botanical when you do.
Edited at 2017-03-17 10:08 am (UTC)
I’ve fired a Bren gun – a very accurate light machine gun. Men who had used it in combat told me it was if anything too accurate rather than providing a wider field of fire
At 14 we did a year of basic army training including stripping, cleaning, reassembling and firing rifles and a Bren gun as well outdoor survival.
At 15 I did 3 years in the RAF where I learned to be morse code radio operator, navigator and to control an aircraft in level flight in the air (not landing or taking off).
I believe youngsters today would benefit from similar training and discipline
Edited at 2017-03-17 02:12 pm (UTC)
If a needle (injection) loses it’s foreign article (le) it becomes simply need. How does the clue help with attaching the “ful”?
If a needle (injection) loses it’s foreign article (le) it becomes simply need. How does the clue help with attaching the “ful”?
Ulaca (for it is I)
Once again, I claim the longest time for a complete and correct grid!
Edited at 2017-03-18 01:07 am (UTC)
Thank you to setter and blogger.
Edited at 2017-03-17 01:04 pm (UTC)
Many people are sympathising with you.
Oh, what terribly sad news. They are so brave these pets of ours, and as you say they give back so much more than they take. I will never forget the look in our old flat coat’s eyes as he was given his final injection. He seemed to be saying: “…. I’m sorry I’m being such a nuisance….” as we all bawled our eyes out. Heartfelt condolences to you and yours. Janie x
Was actually a big help to me in getting through it.
Much of it went in unparsed, so particular thanks to Rimbaud’s mate for the explanations. Thanks also to setter.
Many commiserations to boltonwanderer – I have also made that trip and it never gets any easier. However, the pain will ease and the memories will stay with you.
Dave.
Edited at 2017-03-17 02:01 pm (UTC)
Johnhmproctor
Joining the CCF was effectively compulsory at Dotheboys (you could join the scouts instead, but as most of them only did so because they were flat-footed, it wasn’t regarded as a proper alternative). After basic training (Parts 1 and 2), you could choose between Officers’ Cadre (mostly for those aspiring to a career in the army and hoping to go on to Sandhurst), Artillery (who got to fire the school’s field gun and Bren gun) and Signals (which I joined as being a comparatively cushy number and which has proved useful subsequently mainly because I learned the phonetic alphabet – but does mean that, unlike dorsetjimbo, I’ve never fired a Bren).
In my final year I became bandmaster, and (as the only full-time bandsman) on corps afternoons when the band wasn’t practising for the Remembrance Day Parade or “General Salute and March Past”, skived off to a music room and listened to records. Happy days!