Another one of those puzzles, for me, where you struggle along and take an age, then afterwards reviewing the clues you wonder why you found it hard. Perhaps I just wasn’t on the wavelength, or it’s because I was trying to watch the tennis at the same time. Nevertheless, a fine test, a few quirky but not hugely obscure words, and a GK leaning towards our transatlantic colleagues. 2d was a word I didn’t know but assumed it was a parallel term from PODCAST. My CoD was the elegant 3d. I don’t fully understand 12d. And it’s another pangram.
| Across | |
| 1 | Tax done by the book? (8) |
| OVERWORK – OVER = done, and a WORK can be a book. | |
| 6 | Champion oarsmen eclipsing a slightly larger crew? (6) |
| FAVOUR – A crew of FOUR has A V = five included. | |
| 9 | Very old date skins, hard leaves (4) |
| IDES – HIDES = skins loses its H. | |
| 10 | One’s descent in a plane? (6,4) |
| FAMILY TREE – Humourous effort, a plane being a species of tree. Time was wasted on FLYING and FALLEN once the initial F appeared. | |
| 11 | Sparkling set Americanism a Jordanian uses (5,5) |
| CANIS MAJOR – Nicely hidden words for the constellation, in AMERI(CANISM A JOR)DANIAN. | |
| 13 | Relinquish saw erroneously picked up (4) |
| CEDE – I think ‘erroneously’ means it sounds like SEED which would be wrong, if used as the past tense of SEE, instead of SAW. | |
| 14 | One would be respectful to this national anthem — or mean (5,3) |
| STAND FOR – Double definition. I don’t quite understand the exact sense of the ‘THIS natioanl anthem’ bit. One would be respectful by standing for an anthem, but THIS and NATIONAL ANTHEM seem tautologous. Or am I making too much of it? EDIT as the first commenter below points out, the definition is “this” and you substitute it with STAND FOR. | |
| 16 | He sang especially for God (6) |
| GANESH – Anagram of HE SANG, Hindu God, usually spelt GANESHA the one with the head of an elephant. | |
| 18 | Substitute monarch posed with Zulu (6) |
| ERSATZ – ER = monarch, SAT = posed, Z for Zulu. | |
| 20 | Fitting term’s test material around seminars at first (3,5) |
| MOT JUSTE – I believe an MOT test (acronym ofr Ministry of Tranport, originally?) is the UK equivalent of a vehicle’s Controle Technique here in mot-juste-land. JUTE is a sacking-like material, insert the S from seminars at first. | |
| 22 | Britain’s ready for something to chew on (4) |
| QUID – Slang for the pound, and stuff you chew e.g. tobacco. | |
| 24 | What French can put in report is entertaining on grand scale (10) |
| BANQUETING – QUE is French for what, (and for which, whom, that and than). So, put QUE and TIN (=can) and IN into BANG = report. | |
| 26 | Enigmatic husband in extra large lace trousers (10) |
| SPHINXLIKE – Lace = SPIKE, as in a drink, trousers i.e. contains, H, IN, XL. | |
| 28 | Chap appearing every so often in Kiev court (4) |
| IVOR – Alternate letters of k I e V c O u R t, a Ukrainian chap presumably. | |
| 29 | Cream mostly containing syrup: there’s port here (6) |
| BRUGES – BES(T) = cream mostly, insert RUG = wig = syrup (of fig, CRS). Place in Belgium we keep meaning to visit for a weekend but not made it yet. | |
| 30 | Interprets fresh comments on promotion campaign? (3-5) |
| LIP-READS – LIP could be ‘fresh’ i.e. cheeky comments, RE = on, ADS. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Video maker misrepresented card votes (9) |
| VODCASTER – (CARD VOTES)*. Not a word I knew but it does exist. | |
| 3 | In which DA gives consent (7) |
| RUSSIAN – &lit; DA being Russian for yes. No lawyers needed. | |
| 4 | Steer celebrity away from European charity (5) |
| OXFAM – OX = steer, FAME = celebrity, loses its E. For the word play it ought to read ‘ … European away from celebrity’ really, but that would be gibberish. | |
| 5 | Boy or girl one announcer holds up briefly (3) |
| KIM – MIKE is the announcer, loses E, reversed; a name for either gender. Or as many genders as there are these days. | |
| 6 | Comprehensive reportedly encouraging sort of scholarship (9) |
| FULBRIGHT – FUL sounds like FULL = comprehensive; BRIGHT = encouraging, as in prospects; American international scholarship program begin in 1945 by Senator Fulbright, now with over 350,000 alumni apparently. | |
| 7 | Palace the holders, having overcome Ipswich originally (7) |
| VATICAN – Not Crystal Palace FC, they don’t hold any trophies (yet); VAT and CAN are holders, insert I for Ipswich originally. | |
| 8 | Crook in outlet in centre scrubbed intention (1-4) |
| U-BEND – UB is the central portion of scrUBbed, and END = intention. | |
| 12 | Panellist — one of twelve nailing track — a lover of pop? (7) |
| JURYMAN – RY = railway, track; presumably ‘nailed by’ JUMAN? Is JUMAN a pop festival? Or is this something to do with the old Juke Box Jury? I think not. Someone put me in the picture please.EDIT see first comment below. | |
| 15 | Musical devices featuring in hits by The Police (9) |
| FUZZBOXES – The cops in UK are sometimes called the FUZZ (why?) and hits = BOXES. A fuzzbox was / is a electronic pedal device connected to an electric guitar to make it sound ‘fuzzy’ or distorted. I wanted one for mine but I grew up before I could afford to buy it. | |
| 17 | Wrong to disown a fine cabinet maker (9) |
| SATINWOOD – (TO DISOWN A)*. I spent too long looking for a bloke like SHERATON but it’s the wood, not the chap. | |
| 19 | Going off end of April, stopping work for the summer? (7) |
| ADDLING – ADDING is work for a summer, insert L last letter of April. | |
| 21 | Separate strands of investigation commonly acquire point (7) |
| UNTWINE – ‘UNT = ‘commonly pronounced’ HUNT = investigation, WIN = acquire, E point. | |
| 23 | Part of boot for hiker? (5) |
| UPPER – Cryptic double definition. As in ‘hike up prices’. | |
| 25 | Washington-Brussels summit on peace to finish (3,2) |
| USE UP – US – EU could be Washington / Brussels, P = summit on (first letter of) peace. | |
| 27 | The trouble Chicago’s in (3) |
| ILL – Double definition I suppose; ILL = trouble, and Chicago is in Illinois. | |
A few of the clues seemed deliberately made more difficult with the addition of extraneous words. For VATICAN, the clue starts “Palace the holders.” What is that supposed to mean? Is “palace” a verb? There are two holders here, but they are not the only two in existence, so why the definite article?
For KIM, “one announcer holds up briefly,” why “one”? It looks like it should be something like DJ or MC, backward, with an “i” in the middle. Is this the reason for “one,” deliberate misdirection?
“Trousers” for “contains” was a step too far for me.
Quite enjoyable, otherwise.
As for STAND FOR, I think we’re supposed to substitute the phrase for “this” in the clue, so it reads:
“One would be respectful to STAND FOR national anthem…”
I didn’t know what was going on with the “rug” equaling “syrup”!
Edited at 2018-05-30 05:26 am (UTC)
STAND FOR well explained.
Furniture almost proved my undoing once again as I had SATINWOOD in for a while for 17dn, though fortunately le mot juste was not too long in coming. Mmm, stainwood davenports.
Reading through the blog I hadn’t fully understood 14ac’s parsing, so thanks all, and I had no idea why RUG was syrup, presumably you flattered someone by rugging them, eh. VODCASTER is a silly word though I guess I might just be jealous because Magoo is an eminent one.
A challenging crossword then for sure, with many potential sources of confusion, but a rather brilliant one I thought, in various places.
Also grateful to’ve read enough US novels to have heard of FULBRIGHT; think it probably came up in a Michael Chabon somewhere.
FOI 3d RUSSIAN LOI 22a QUID (thankfully “see a ‘U’, try a ‘Q'” finally came to my rescue.) COD hard to choose, but perhaps the very well-hidden 11a, or 19d for the “work for the summer” device…
Thanks to setter and to Pip for struggling through this one for us!
A double-pangram. Is 3dn an &lit, or just a cryptic definition? Is there something else going on?
Nothing used up or worn out about this one. And it was a bit of an Odyssey.
And it is a Double pangram (if that is the right term for using all 26 twice!).
I loved it. Brilliantly mixed vocab and true originality.
Mostly I loved: the 4/5 oarsmen, Syrup! Ha, DA, the holders, US-EU and COD to the elegant Banqueting.
Thanks superb setter and Pip
PS I see Isla has already called out the double. Have we had one before? Jack might know.
Edited at 2018-05-30 07:25 am (UTC)
But unlike yesterday when I was on blogging duty, I didn’t feel the need to battle to the bitter end without resorting to aids, using them for the god at 16ac and for my LOI at 6ac. The latter would have proved impossible anyway as I didn’t know the scholarship at 6dn so had plumped for ALL (comprehensive),BRIGHT (encouraging) which gave me an incorrect checker for 6ac. I realise now that I had overlooked “reportedly” in the Down clue, but in the desperate heat of battle my answer had seem perfectly possible. Having parsed it retrospectively I think the wordplay at 6ac was a bit much, almost as much so as that at 13ac. Give us a break, for goodness sake!
Not that you raised it, but I also have no problem with ‘trouser’ as a containment indicator.
Edited at 2018-05-30 05:59 pm (UTC)
I don’t think I was helped anywhere by spotting the (double) pangram, but it added to the pleasure and to the sense of wonderment.
Thanks Pip and team for unravelling JURYMAN: I gave up trying to parse it (working though my list of Hebrew tribes, apostles, zodiacs was time consuming and useless) and settled for a 12 person jury.
BRUGES is well worth an extended visit, and is of course a port, since it includes Zeebruge within its full borders. Not very helpful to wheelchairs: the cobbles everywhere shook ours literally to bits.
Well done Pip, and everyone who strove to the end. Bravo setter.
Great puzzle, thank you.
Excellent blog, thank you.
I didn’t help myself by going for STAINWOOD for a while, plus tentatively FUZZBEATS and, for a thankfully brief period, PRAGUE. SPHINXLIKE was the LOI after 13m 40s.
Very chewy but, like our blogger, not entirely sure why in retrospect – mark of a good puzzle, I suppose. Defeated by VODCASTER, which I have never heard of, apparently backformed by people who see the need for such words, from podcast.
Of course, with each clue shouting “I’m a crossword clue”, it is actually easier to find the literal and biff the answer. So I trotted home in 50 minutes.
Edited at 2018-05-30 06:31 pm (UTC)
I thought it was very clever, but then for me Palace, holders and Ipswich were a smooth (and entirely devious) football association.
Incidentally, Palace the Full Members Cup holders, having overcome Everton 4-1 in 1991. It did happen.
So to summarise: a slightly clunky but accurate clue wins the day over an inaccurate or cheating smoothie any say 🙂
RR
No two people are ever going to agree on what makes a “good clue”.
You will have gathered that as the editor I already WILL have gone through these clues.
So plainly I think they are ok, but others will disagree. That is the beauty of it 🙂
RR.
But much of this is subjective, and indeed fun, as far as it goes
RR
On edit: And I notice not a single green on the personal snitchometer!
Edited at 2018-05-30 03:56 pm (UTC)
I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how JURYMAN worked: I gave up trying in the end and just crossed my fingers.
My CoD goes to CANIS MAJOR, for managing to camouflage itself so well; as with 7d, though, I think the clue still had a few rough edges. BRUGES had me puzzled for a while, and must have been even more puzzling for anyone not familiar with both of the slang terms for “wig”. JURYMAN was a bit too convoluted, and I decided that parsing it retrospectively wasn’t worth the effort.
LoI was 3d. Na Zdorovie.
I biffed VODCASTER on the basis that it couldn’t be “podcaster” and nothing else works.
FULBRIGHT was a total unknown. I dropped out of school at 16.
COD RUSSIAN
One whinge : it’s “mum and dad”, “ma and pa”, or “mom and pop”, so 12D didn’t quite work for me.
Two DNF in a row, so off to bed with no supper tonight.
Regds