Fortunately for my creaking head this was a relatively straightforward puzzle, though with a few sly little tricks up its sleeve to raise a smile. My FOIs were 8ac quickly followed by 13ac, LOI the somewhat unfamiliar 16ac. This was the kind of crossword whose hardest bits may have been a bit easier for a Literae Humaniores graduate, appropriately enough given that my alma mater appeared in the QC today. Favourite clues probably some of the smile-raising devices in e.g. down clues like 5dn, 6dn and 19dn, but actually let’s say 4dn because it turned out to be the most fun to write up the parsing for below.
Anyway I’ve got to take a shower in preparation for moving out. Hope you’re all keeping and solving well!
ACROSS
1 Advance cast picked up after rest (12)
BREAKTHROUGH – homophone of THREW [cast] after BREAK [rest]
8 Drawer retiring greengrocer gleefully stocks (2,5)
EL GRECO – hidden reversed in {greencr}OCER GLE{eefully}. “Drawer” as in “one who draws”
9 There’s no change at all in these organs (7)
OVARIES – or, looked at differently, 0 VARIES – there is no change at all
11 Corps in retreat — I note they served with honour (7)
EMERITI – reversed REME [corps] + I TI [I | note]
12 Disturb the thing set in stone (7)
AGITATE – IT [the thing] “set in” AGATE [stone]
13 One in account knocked back port (5)
EILAT – I [one] in reversed TALE [account]
14 Beg urgent reforms for pioneering pressman? (9)
GUTENBERG – (BEG URGENT*) [“reforms”]. The inventor of the printing press
16 Fought about indeed turning hawk-like (5-4)
ARGUS-EYED – ARGUED [fought] about reversed YES [indeed]
19 Hit band pocketing millions (5)
SMASH – SASH [band] “pocketing” M [millions]
21 Cool drink the setter had without flavour (7)
INSIPID – IN SIP I’D [cool | drink | the setter had]
23 Vehicle back ready for battle in part of ship (7)
YARDARM – reversed YARD [vehicle] + ARM [ready for battle]
24 Only women answer about universal entities in philosophy (7)
NOUMENA – “NO MEN” A [only women | answer] “about” U [universal]
25 Pass or cross through tip of Easter Island (7)
EXCRETE – X [cross] “through” E{aster} CRETE [island]
26 Host’s place, after dealing with criticism (12)
REMONSTRANCE – MONSTRANCE [host’s (as in holy communion) place], after RE [dealing with]
DOWN
1 So what beings periodically give people a hand? (3,4)
BIG DEAL – B{e}I{n}G{s} + DEAL [give people a hand, in Bridge say]
2 Writer, say, English are inclined to defend say (7)
ELEGIST – E LIST [English | are inclined] “to defend” EG [say]
3 Royal wrapping the present on purpose (9)
KNOWINGLY – KINGLY [royal] “wrapping” NOW [the present]
4 Cries of surprise rising in commotion (3-2)
HOO-HA – reversed AH! OOH! [cries of surprise]
5 Something in the air helping speech (7)
ORATION – O RATION [something in the air = oxygen | helping]
6 Sneer, maybe, from British king, a symbol of authority (7)
GRIMACE – GRI [British king, as in George the First] + MACE [symbol of authority]
7 Merge foolishly with Etonian group of egoists (2,10)
ME GENERATION – (MERGE + ETONIAN*) [“foolishly”]
10 Creep hard to put in jail is a big hitter (12)
SLEDGEHAMMER – EDGE H [creep | hard] “to put in” SLAMMER [jail]
15 What child may want: spin around Britain’s capital in hurry (5,4)
TEDDY BEAR – EDDY [spin around] + B{ritain} in TEAR [hurry]
17 Greet us waving, perhaps? (7)
GESTURE – (GREET US*) [“waving”], &lit
18 Big cheese and more crackers after drink (7)
SUPREMO – (MORE*) [“crackers”] after SUP [drink]
19 Old Arab people hospitalised? (7)
SARACEN – RACE [people] in SAN [ergo, laterally, “hospitalised”]
20 Sculpture made in great institutions of learning (7)
ACADEME – (MADE*) [“sculpture”] in ACE [great]
22 Play area becoming small for tots (5)
DRAMS – take DRAMA [play] and turn the final A [area] to S [small]
I think this must have been a good puzzle, as I find it hard to justify why it took me so long in hindsight. Enjoyed the 0VARIES.
Hope you have a lovely time in Northumberland, V. I loved it when I was there last year. Cragside’s good for a poke around, as I recall.
Edited at 2019-10-11 08:02 am (UTC)
Have fun on Lindisfarne, v. I just Googled ‘things to do on Lindisfarne” and the first one on Lonely Planet’s list is “Visit St Aidan’s Winery”
If this reply reaches you in time, V, I’d also recommend Pilgrim’s Coffee; they’re a roasters with their own little cafe.
COD: Remonstrance.
In that period I manged to finish about ten. But the type is so small especially when answer goes in on the grid and the number disappears- Sunday’s are hopeless terrible system. One clue contained the word ‘bum’ I had to assume, through ingrained prurience, it was ‘burn’. It wasn’t! Bummer!
So back to good old treeware!
About 50 mins.
FOI 17dn GESTURE
LOI 26ac REMONSTRANCE otherwise 40 minutes!
COD 16ac ARGUS-EYED – prey, what else would HAWK-EYED mean other than vigilant!?
WOD VPN TOKYO3
Mood double Meldrewvian
Edited at 2019-10-11 08:44 am (UTC)
As far as I’m aware, we haven’t had a REMONSTRANCE, certainly not a Grand one, since 1641. Maybe it’s about time we had another one, though directed at the Head of State’s ministers rather than the Head of State. Mind you, the US seems to be reviving the tradition. What times we do live in!
Thank you for your blog, V. And thank you, setter.
Edited at 2019-10-11 08:10 pm (UTC)
As a non-philosophical heathen I’d never heard of NOUMENA or monstrance. However, just to buck the trend, I more or less breezed through the left hand side, before struggling with the right. I should have spotted SARACEN much more quickly before the final biff.
FOI BREAKTHROUGH
LOI REMONSTRANCE
COD ACADEME
TIME 14:32
Biffing SPLIT at 13a, and trying out NOMENUA & NOMUENA, didn’t help. Ah well, got there in the end.
LOI, as for others, was REMONSTRANCE which I’d heard of but had no idea what it meant. MONSTRANCE as ‘host’ has come up before, in a Sunday Times puzzle last December, and last August in a Jumbo, both times catching me out, but I’m sorry to say that I didn’t remember it this time either.
Visited EILAT 50 years ago, and then had a bus ride to Sharm el Sheikh, (it was under Israeli occupation at the time), which was a hut. Things have changed a little since I believe.
Well blogged V as usual, under hangover conditions.
‘Noumena’ is a typical neutral middle-passive participle used as an abstract concept; as ‘phenomena’ are things seen, ‘noumena’ are things known. In classical Greek, they exist independently of anyone seeing or knowing them, which facilitated the development of philosophy and theology.
Edited at 2019-10-11 12:50 pm (UTC)
NHO EILAT, and I spent a long time trying to make “eagle-eyed” fit 16ac but, however hard I tried, I couldn’t get it to start with an “a”. In fact, the whole south-left corner was particularly troublesome, and I couldn’t for the life of me see GESTURE. In the end I did, though, which helped everything else slot into place. NOUMENA is one of the very few words I have brought back with me from my wary dip into the sordid world of philosophy. If you ever want to annoy a philosopher (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?), just ask them to list the major breakthroughs in their field over the last, oh, century or five. They’re strangely non-philosophical about that one.