Or perhaps this was harder than I’m giving it credit for: certainly the phrasing of the clues seemed unusual in places, and I wasn’t entirely familiar with, e.g. the trespasser, the pony (it’s normally a dog, right?), and the office (in a clue that would have gone much more smoothly if my initial gambler’s biff of MONTEVIDEO had paid off). Classicsphobes may have found themselves stymied by the run of Latin and Greek words clustered at the start of the Downs, and hopefully none of the people who didn’t know HABAKKUK from their elbow earlier this week attempted to enter SOMINIACS, SOMANIACS or even INSOMNIACS at 4dn. Anyway I liked both the artist clues for lending this puzzle some visual colour, but I’ll award my Clue of the Day to 6dn, for the bibulousness of its theme and the well-concealed definition in “funny”. Many thanks to our setter!
Across
1 Management of image in muddle after firm gets contract (8)
COMPRESS – PR [management of image] in MESS [muddle] after CO [firm]
5 Beastly female given crown? I couldn’t care less! (2,4)
SO WHAT – SOW [beastly female] given HAT [crown]
8 A bit of time given to something in TV break? (3)
TAD – T [time] given to AD [something in TV break]
9 Small containers for drink put down beside donkeys (10)
DEMITASSES – DEMIT [put down] beside ASSES [donkeys]
10 Sailor given marks — keeps off the rum? (8)
ABSTAINS – AB [sailor] given STAINS [marks]
11 Moved slowly, being nicked, quietly led off (6)
INCHED – {p}INCHED [nicked, P (= quietly) “led off”]
12 Saint always presented as one with foresight (4)
SEER – S E’ER [saint | always]
14 Soldier is kept in old office, back in S American city (10)
VALPARAISO – PARA IS [solder | is] kept in O LAV [old | office] back
17 Course one gets on to pursue prosperity (10)
SUCCESSION – I [one] gets ON to pursue SUCCESS [prosperity]
20 Some feel Kandinsky is revolutionary artist (4)
KLEE – reverse hidden [some .. revolutionary] in {f}EEL K{andinsky}
23 Man in biological unit attached to English university (6)
EUGENE – GENE [biological unit] attached to E U [English | university]
24 Restrictive legislation was slammed by officer protecting navy (4,4)
CORN LAWS – (WAS*) [“slammed”] by COL [officer] protecting RN [navy]
25 Supplicant saying something twice, about to be dismissed with little hesitation (10)
PETITIONER – {re}PETITION [saying something twice, RE (= about) “to be dismissed”] with ER [little hesitation]
26 Tool in pit getting left abandoned (3)
HOE – HO{l}E [pit, getting L (= left) “abandoned”]
27 Baddie pinning queen by the French bed (6)
CRADLE – CAD [baddie] pinning R [queen], by LE [the French]
28 This person, a more confident ruler? (8)
MEASURER – ME A SURER [this person | a | more confident]
Down
1 Purification of member of medieval sect and little relation (9)
CATHARSIS – CATHAR [member of medieval sect] and SIS [little relation]
2 Swimmers from America in the sea, close to shore (7)
MEDUSAE – USA [America] in MED E [the sea | “close” to {shor}E]
3 A particular angle shows church lacking in brightness (6)
RADIAN – RADIAN{ce} [CE (= church) “lacking” in brightness]
4 Corrupt clergy, one hundred in a mission that’s phoney (9)
SIMONIACS – C [one hundred] in (A MISSION*) [“…that’s phoney”]
5 Toughness of floral components (7)
STAMINA – double def, STAMINA being a Latinate plural of “stamen”
6 Funny group of women like some wine on shelf (9)
WISECRACK – WI SEC [group of women | like some wine] on RACK [shelf]
7 A number of points arose, oddly neglected in explanations (7)
ANSWERS – A NSWE [a | number of points] + {a}R{o}S{e} “oddly neglected”
13 With socialist going to extremes fuss is made again (9)
RECREATED – with RED [socialist] “going to extremes”, CREATE [fuss]
15 Articulate professional, name with a bit of weight (9)
PRONOUNCE – PRO N [professional | name] with OUNCE [bit of weight]
16 Men set about Everest, unfortunately make a wrong move (9)
OVERSTEER – OR [men] set about (EVEREST*) [“unfortunately]
18 Quietly stops one taking excessive interest in trespasser (7)
USURPER – P [quietly] stops USURER [one taking excessive interest]
19 Pony incapacitated initially in inadequate accommodation? (7)
SHELTIE – I{ncapacitated} “initially” in SHELTE{r} [“inadequate” accommodation]
21 Hide in state of agitation with prince finally entering (7)
LEATHER – LATHER [state of agitation] with {princ}E “finally” entering
22 Painter missing the bottom bit of entrance (6)
INGRES – INGRES{S} [“missing the bottom bit of” entrance]
For example, I’ve heard of “lav” for “office” before, but only once, in another crossword, and I’ve never heard of VALPARAISO itself, so even with only a few letters missing I didn’t get there. Plenty else beyond my ken, like INGRES, the cathars, both “demit” and DEMITASSES, SIMONIACS and so on.
At this stage in my solving career, I think there were just a few too many unknowns in both the wordplay and the answers for me to make progress. Oh well, some you win…
Edited at 2017-08-18 07:23 am (UTC)
Mostly I liked the artists. Thanks erudite setter and V.
PS I think the only anagrams were: “Everest was a mission.”
Edited at 2017-08-18 07:32 am (UTC)
FOI 14ac VALPARAISO(philately gets you everywhere!)a large port and second city of Chile.
SOI 20ac KLEE I used to work with his photgrapher son Thom in Switzerland and Germany many years ago.
13dn CREATE was one of my dear mother’s words.
LOI 27ac CRADLE.
COD INGRES (as per w.notlob).
WOD 4dn SIMONIACS which I DNK.
Hey Mr. Tangerine Man! Au Bonne Maman Damson preserve – swipe me how the other half live! Solid silver spoon required no doubt. I shall be making Spanish geengage jam on the week-end.
I managed three small croissants – one with Marmite one with
Bonne Maman Bitter Orange Marmalade and last with Spanish Acacia honey (cloudy). All accomapied by Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (Tranquility village of course).
Edited at 2017-08-18 09:19 am (UTC)
Let us know how the greengage jam turns out. You weren’t very forthcoming on your pink grapefruit.
If I knew SIMONIACS I didn’t know I knew it, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out once I’d finally untangled 1a COMPRESS (very clever clue).
COD to SUCCESSION … thanks setter and verlaine
Edited at 2017-08-18 07:42 am (UTC)
Edited at 2017-08-18 07:47 am (UTC)
intransitive verb (slang)
To make a fuss
Edited at 2017-08-18 08:09 am (UTC)
f. intr. colloq. To make a fuss, grumble, complain; (also occasionally) to shout. Also with about, at.
1919 Athenæum 8 Aug. 729/1 ‘Creating’ is presumably an abbreviation of ‘creating (or making) a fuss’.
1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xviii. 250 Create! I thought ‘e’d ‘ave to be picked off the ceiling.
1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xviii. 251 ‘E always creates at me something awful when I’ve finished telling ‘im anything spiteful.
1955 ‘E. C. R. Lorac’ Ask Policeman viii. 92 The old lady came and created about her nephew living here.
1959 M. Hastings Hour-glass to Eternity i. iii. 87 What does he do but come aboard and start creating about the loss of time!
1987 M. Nabb Marshal & Murderer v. 82 She used to be shouting and creating until all hours.
Thanks, everybody, for trying to straighten me out. It can be difficult at times.
Ch. Queribus and Ch. Peyrepertuse, very atmospheric Cathar castles. And it was the Abbot of Citeaux who said “Kill them all, God will know his own” when asked how to tell Cathars and Catholics apart, at the siege of Beziers. It was no fun being a Cathar…
Tough day at the office. Took a long time over VALPARAISO, DEMITASSES, SUCCESSION, RECREATED and USURPER. And not long enough over the artist apparently.
Nice meaty challenge. Thanks setter and V.
After about 45 mins had blanks at VALPARAISO and SIMONIACS. Too tricky. Almost worked out the corrupt clergy, and almost got the town, but the office could so easily have been con, den mod, etc … Have found most of them tricky this week. Maybe I left my mojo in Scotland last week…
I so nearly parsed VALPARAISO, getting everything except the bog standard LAV for office, because I got fixated on the office being OVAL with the Old somehow displaced by the wordplay.
I’m prepared to concede there were some obscurities in this one, especially since I would have spelt CATHARSIS with a K. We’ve had SIMONY before, but not, as far as I can see, its derived offender. And I took on trust that STAMINA was an acceptable plural of STAMEN.
But I’m not annoyed. Only La Grande Odalisque looks back in Ingres.
Not cryptic but incorrect usage.
Well over 30 minutes, right off the wavelength, NW impenetrable.
I felt I had really achieved something by constructing the unknown VALPARAISO and SIMONIAC from wordplay so it was disappointing to end up with one wrong letter.
Edited at 2017-08-18 09:10 am (UTC)
No complaints though: unlike some other puzzles I could mention, all of the obscurities in this one are indicated by proper cryptic clues. You might argue that 4dn is a bit unfair but SOMINIACS looked considerably less likely to me even before I had thought of simony.
My last in was DEMITASSES: a word I definitely did know, but like others I couldn’t get the idea that it would end in GLASSES out of my mind, even after concluding that it couldn’t possibly.
Edited at 2017-08-18 09:36 am (UTC)
I considered several other things: I’ve had a ZZ Top Cheap Sunglasses earworm since doing the puzzle.
Edited at 2017-08-18 12:21 pm (UTC)
BTW there is a minor error in the blog post. You have INCHES for 11A instead of INCHED (although the exposition makes it clear that you meant INCHED).
But I remember from my French lessons at school that a “Violon D’Ingres” is a hobby. So he’s a painter I’ve always had in mind – who presumably liked the violin. David
Ingres was supposedly more proud of his violin playing than his painting, so visitors to his studio to see the latter would instead be subjected to the former, which was of a markedly less exalted standard. So a ‘violon d’Ingres’ refers specifically to an artistic or similar pursuit that someone talented in something else practices badly, but with more interest and/or pride.
Edited at 2017-08-18 06:50 pm (UTC)
http://www.ballinagree.freeservers.com/valparaiso.html
And is simony like pauly, petery and johnny only different?
I’m now back from holiday, and enjoying a bit of proper English drizzle.
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