A number of unknowns and vaguely-heard-ofs, not to mention, the dreaded anagram of a foreign word, made this a much stiffer test than one normally is given on a Monday. Even following the instructions may therefore not be enough.
I’m not sure what I thought about this one, so I will await with interest the reaction from the floor. Will Waldorf and Statler drown out the voices of those who are enchanted by it?
Will Reggie Perrin prevail over the Great/Supers?
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dicky waits round university for dance (6) |
| WATUSI – U in anagram* of WAITS; a short-lived 1960s dance craze named after a tribe featuring in a couple of films inspired by Rider Haggard’s book King Solomon’s Mines, the second of which, released in 1959, was called Watusi. Watusi was a word for those now known as Tutsi.
If you don’t know the word, different arrangements of the vowels are very plausible. |
|
| 4 | Teacher turned offensive when bored by Roman statesman (8) |
| EDUCATOR – CATO in RUDE reversed | |
| 9 | Backing separate sink — it keeps things fresher (3,4) |
| GAS TRAP – reversal of PART SAG; a drain/sewer trap, or an apparatus for separating natural gas from the petroleum in which it is dissolved, so I am told | |
| 11 | Soiled article brought to pawnbroker (7) |
| UNCLEAN – UNCLE AN | |
| 12 | One in set following European writer (5) |
| ELIOT – E I in LOT; I once met a person who enjoyed reading Eliot | |
| 13 | What was the Left? Rather mean and a bit cowardly? (9) |
| YELLOWISH – YE (archaic spelling of definite article, i.e. ‘what was the’) L (left) LOWISH (rather mean) | |
| 14 | Overlooked point he’s had emphasised to some extent (2,3,5) |
| IN THE SHADE – the first of two (yes, two – shock horror!) hiddens | |
| 16 | Baby boomer’s delight consuming Ecstasy (4) |
| JOEY – E in JOY | |
| 19 | A Christmas Carol — heartless story (4) |
| NOEL – NO |
|
| 20 | Liver in flames looking bloody unfortunately flipped when chap’s interrupted (10) |
| SALAMANDER – MAN in reversal of RED ALAS | |
| 22 | An emperor overthrown by unusually fair religious follower (9) |
| RASTAFARI – reversal of TSAR of FAIR* | |
| 23 | A large number of birds without beak (5) |
| GROSS – I’m a bit confused by this one and welcome contributions from the gallery – is it the very rarely seen ‘grossbill’ without its bill/beak? I somewhat doubt it. A gross is 12 dozen. That, I know. [thanks to K for pointing out that it’s the lesser spotted GROSSBEAK, without its ‘beak’] | |
| 25 | I’m forty — moving cause to feel humiliated (7) |
| MORTIFY – IM FORTY* | |
| 26 | Medal being presented by current Italian dramatist (7) |
| GOLDONI – GOLD (medal) ON (presented by) I (current) | |
| 27 | Outrage at first of redevelopments to old urban centre (8) |
| ATROCITY – AT R~ O CITY | |
| 28 | A nerd or a kagoule? One of the two there will do! (6) |
| ANORAK – [thanks to keriothe for the wordplay] ‘one [letter, the first one] of the two [words ‘nerd’ and ‘anorak’] will do’ to give you A N OR A K; a coat and someone who is boring because he devotes too much time to a particular hobby or interest. None on this site, so far as I am aware… | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Who’s beginning to anticipate a new Ring in development? (9) |
| WAGNERIAN – A |
|
| 2 | Excerpt from Rigoletto stirred composer (5) |
| TOSTI – Sir (sic) Francesco Paolo Tosti was an Italian composer and teacher (now best known fof his songs), who became a British citizen and was knighted in 1908 by his friend, King Edward VIII. | |
| 3 | Drink salesmen turning up outside hotel (8) |
| SPRITZER – RITZ in REPS reversed | |
| 5 | Deceit upped London borough by 100 per cent (6-7) |
| DOUBLE-DEALING – the setter has ‘doubled Ealing’ | |
| 6 | What’s about in our land that bird call introduces? (6) |
| CUCKOO – C (circa, about) in UK in COO (bird call); unless I’m missing something (always the safest bet), ‘introducing’ would suggest that COO comes before UCK, rather than encompassing it. Another all-in-one | |
| 7 | Rage engulfs business circle in Black Sea port once (9) |
| TREBIZOND – BIZ O in TREND; old name for modern Trabzon | |
| 8 | Billions lost from local railway station in Australia (5) |
| RANCH – |
|
| 10 | A sly sycophant possibly who understands when person’s lying? (13) |
| PSYCHOANALYST – A SLY SYCOPHANT*; another all-in-one, but a less felicitous one, as one doesn’t associate psychoanalysts with sycophancy; [on edit, thanks to galspray] actually, my explanation is somewhat infelicitous, as the shrink does his stuff, stereotypically, when the patient’s on the couch | |
| 15 | Deal mostly with less dubious accountant? (9) |
| TREASURER – TREA |
|
| 17 | More than one American garden parasite produces scale (9) |
| YARDSTICK – YARDS (more than one American garden) TICK (parasite) | |
| 18 | Trafficked mammal’s long suffering during distress (8) |
| PANGOLIN – LONG* in PAIN; mammals trafficked in large numbers from west Africa to China | |
| 21 | Mother raised money as source of meal (6) |
| MANIOC – MA COIN reversed; another name for cassava | |
| 22 | Questionable degree in Afro-Cuban music (5) |
| RUMBA – RUM BA | |
| 24 | Social event smothered by everybody’s scent (5) |
| ODOUR – DO in OUR | |
16:30. I was very surprised to see no pink squares here: WATUSI was a guess – how on earth does a clue like that survive the editorial process? – and I had no idea what was going on with 23ac. Having looked it up I think it’s GROSBEAKS without the middle bit.
U, you are missing the wordplay in 28ac: it’s ‘one [letter, the first one] of the two [words ‘nerd’ and ‘anorak’] will do’ to give you A N OR A K.
NHO TOSTI, TREBIZOND only ringing faint bells.
I enjoy reading ELIOT. Just don’t get me started on ELIOT.
What’s wrong with WATUSI?
Obscurity clued with an anagram.
Can’t be obscure, I’ve heard of it!
I’m not exactly a dance aficionado, but it was rife in popular culture in the 60’s, maybe just before your time. Brings back memories of Dobey Gillis and I was going to say Batman, but apparently that was his own version, the Batusi.
It also appeared in multiple Elvis movies, and Google gives you the choice of watching Elvis perform it with Ann-Margret or Tina Turner (!).
I’m too young to have watched an Elvis movie 😉
I didn’t watch them because they were crap. When asked why that was the case, Colonel Tom Parker answered: “When I first met Elvis, he had a million dollars worth of talent. Now he has a million dollars.” An early example of monetising the assets?
Definitely not that obscure. I know it from its mention in The Beatles’ ‘Revolution 9’, amongst other places.
A song I have never even heard of.
It’s famous for being unlistenable (or ‘experimental’, if you prefer), and forming a core part of the ‘Paul is dead’ conspiracy.
I’ve heard it, but don’t remember any of it!
the only reason I know the word is because of its appearance in “Hunting Tigers out in ‘Indiah'” by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. It went straight in as a result!
Watusi got a mention in Blues Brothers, from memory – Ray Charles’s song? And one of the Beatles songs, maybe Revolution # 9 on the White album? But I knew it as a dance apart from those examples, and I don’t know many dances – probably fewer than birds. Grossbeak? Not in any of my dictionaries spelled like that!
Edit: and having read further down it’s grosbeaks, not grossbeak. Not that such obscurities make me any happier.
WATUSI appears in the lyrics of Wilson Pickett’s ‘Land of 1000 Dances’ – the only place I have ever heard of it
Gross: I’m reminded of the man who was in court accused of exposing himself at a bus stop and asked for 143 other offences to be taken into consideration. He was convicted of gross indecency.
15:52 Agree that this didn’t feel like a Monday, with TREBIZOND comfortably beyond my ken. Thought WAGNERIAN was very good.
I spluttered a bit when I saw “station in Australia” = RANCH, but then realised you have to approach it backwards, ie what we call a station in Australia is known as a ranch in some other parts of the anglosphere. End of splutter.
Thanks for the blog U. FWIW I had the definition of PSYCHOANALYST as “who understands when person’s lying”, with lying suggesting reclining on a couch.
I had a lot of question marks in the margins, but all correct in about a half-hour, so I’ve nothing really to complain about. It’s possible the WATUSI also crop up in She as I seemed to be at least vaguely familiar with the word but I’ve not got around to King Solomon’s Mines yet. I did know the plight of the PANGOLIN, which was helpful to correct my initial GONGONI!
I think 23 is grosbeaks without the beak
Got through it somehow with guesswork and a few resorts to aids. Too much obscurity for a Monday morning for me, two of them alternatives to other obscurities, MANIOC (cassava) and TREBIZOND (Trabzon, which I’ve also never heard of).
I’m spluttering. Two missing, GOLDONI and TREBIZOND, and two where I’ve no idea why, GROSS and SALAMANDER. Not a good start to the week. The LHS was fine apart from WATUSI where the vowels could have gone in several different ways. Thank you U and setter.
Rather surprised to complete without error in about 35 minutes.
Admittedly biffed GROSS and CUCKOO. Don’t know where I dredged up TREBIZOND from but relieved to find it was correct, similarly GOLDONI and TOSTI although had to overcome a feeling that the latter was a conductor. RANCH finally found after I realised it was YELLOWISH rather than yellowest.
I got PSYCHOANALIST from a prone position as I was still abed.
Thanks to setter and u.
17.20
I knew the WATUSI as one of Wilson Pickett’s ‘1000 Dances’ (“Do the watusi, like my little Lucy”) and MANIOC from ‘Down with Skool!’ (Q. What is manioc? A. Now you’re asking. But who else would hav asked all these stupid q’s eh?)
Vaguely heard of TOSTI and GOLDONI, possibly TREBIZOND.
LOI GROSS
COD SALAMANDER
37 mins. I spent 3 hours across a lazy Sunday doing the Mephisto yesterday, I don’t want it on a Monday morning. Too many NHOs, pure guesswork to finish. Thanks and well done to Ulaca.
Plus lots of help!
Speaking of which, the definition for JOEY is baby boomer.
7d was familiar from The Towers of Trebizond, by Rose Macaulay, which may have fallen into obscurity. It has the great opening line:
“Take my camel, dear”, said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.
Oh my gosh, what a philistine I am! I got it through the football team, Trabzonspor!
Ah! That’s where I remembered it from, thanks.
Often included in quizzes on famous first lines. That’s how l knew it.
Found this rather harder than a standard Monday am. I did know the watusi, from Mr Pickett’s song already mentioned. Since I never ever dance it was no more difficult than naming any other dance would be .. also knew Trebizond, didn’t know its name had changed. Nho Tosti or Goldoni, Philistine that I am.
No idea what was going on with the grosbeaks, not a common bird.. I just put gross in as it was a large(ish) number .. googol, now there’s a large number.
Last two in were Joey and yardstick, which look easier after solving than before..
25.40 so no real complaints for a chewier than average Monday, but NHO TOSTI and only very faintly aware of grosbeaks.
FOI WATUSI
LOI SALAMANDER
COD DOUBLE-DEALING
Thanks U and setter
Yuk. Why resort to words like WATUSI, GROSSBEAK and TREBIZOND? At last JOEY was a brilliant clue. I’ve gradually reconciled myself to obscure vocabulary, but only when it’s gettable from wordplay.
If we never used unusual words it would be a poor crossword indeed. I knew all those mentioned.. one man’s “obscurity” etc etc..
26:03
Tricky for a Monday.
COD: EDUCATOR
Thanks to ulaca and our setter
A DNF. Amongst lots of uncertainties, I came a cropper on the NHO ‘Italian dramatist’ for which I put GOLDOFI. Annoying, but I was lucky with a couple of puzzles last week so was due a pink square sooner or later.
Needless to say another DNF here, the unknown (and obscure in the extreme IMHO) city. MANIOC also unknown but I got it and I did know the dance. GOLDONI a pure guess.
Definitely agree with others this is too difficult a start to the week. I’m exhausted already!
Thanks U and setter.
Guessed WATUSI, from the similar-sounding and presumably related WAHTUTSI, a song by the long-forgotten pub-rock band Charlie and the Wideboys. The W. Pickett song I know well, but had never spotted the WATUSI in there. Having done some research, I also discover that if you listen to the chant section in the middle of Sam Cooke’s Twistin’ the Night Away, you hear the band shout “Lean up, Lean back, Watusi!” The dance also gets a mention in Chuck Berry’s funky Club Nitty Gritty, alongside the Hully Gully and the Mess Around. SALAMANDER familiar from Fontainebleau, where as the symbol of François I it is emblazoned on much if the château. COD to WAGNERIAN which was also LOI. 18’48”. Interested to see SNITCH.
Somehow FOI, WATUSI was vaguely familiar. The same couldn’t be said of GROSBEAKS, TOSTI or GOLDONI, but they were duly contructed and inserted. YARDSTICK and SALAMANDER took a while, but LOI, the unknown TREBIZOND gave most cause for cogitation as I wondered why there was no indication of the slang BIZ for business(as is usually provided) and eventually checked it existed after construction. As noted, not your usual Monday fare. 27:05. Thanks setter and U.
27:43 Hard work and I can’t say I really enjoyed it. DNK GOLDONI, TREBIZOND or the GROSSbeak. Vaguely remembred MANIOC from crosswords past. I did like EDUCATOR, SPRITZER and NOEL.
Wilson Pickett gave me the WATUSI (and I never thanked him for it). I’m another who enjoyes reading ELIOT.
Thaks to Ulaca, particulalrly for fully explaining YELLOWISH, and the setter
64 mins!
Some atrocious surface readings: 20 across, for example.
Battled through the many NHOs, but still DNF. TREBIZOND was one too many.
Never knew the salamander-fire connection. Or that boomer was slang for kangaroo, thought only of a nuclear submarine. Also had WATSUI, GONGONI.
COD WAGNERIAN
27.25. While the clues were a little more generous than the average Mephisto, the vocab was, shall we say, reminiscent. I couldn’t recall the GROSbeakS, though I thought I could remember a GROSSbill, so eventually it went in. Guessed about the (unnecessary?) trafficked bit of PANGOLINS. Liked the baby boomer def for JOEY. Knew the WATUSI from a long ago Top of the Pops which demonstrated the Mashed Potato by fists bobbing up and down and the Watusi by some pastiche of African dancing, TRABIZOND entirely from wordplay and hope. WAGNERIAN turned out to be a decent &lit, and at least wasn’t Gallifrey. Good to know why I’ve got a GAS TRAP in my loo: more evocative than just a U-bend.
Just as well TOSTI was hidden: why wasn’t it defined as an Italian croque monsieur? Has anyone tried listening to his stuff? Don’t!
GOLDONI’s stuff I’ve seen with James Cordon hamming it up in One Man, Two Guvnors, though that’s not to say I remembered Goldoni.
Does O[DO]UR really relate to everybody? Just asking.
I liked the couch motif for the trick cyclist.
All manfully sorted out (nearly!) by the persevering Ulaca: this was a tricky one to blog. Commiserations and congratulations!
I seem to remember a track on a Dave Brubeck album in the ‘50s called ‘Watusi drums’ which helped me here, though I had to check that it was a dance in Chambers.
NHO TREBIZOND, (nor TRABZOND for that matter), so a technical DNF anyway. Also NHO the flames associated with salamanders so that delayed me.
Tricky for a Monday for sure. But why not, from time to time?
Managed to complete about three quarters of this before calling time.
“Watusi”, “Trebizond” and “manioc” were three well beyond my reach. Actually I write down “manioc” from the cryptic but dismissed it as a word that just looked too unlikely.
Thanks to our blogger for unravelling all of the intricacies of this one.
About 30 mins, with a few purely constructed from wordplay, such as MANIOC, the Port and the Italian composer. I had heard of the Watusi dance, but I was the youngest in my family… lots to endure.
Had to be ANORAK but I didn’t fully understand the wordplay. Enjoyable though not the best clueing I thought, and not Mondayish.
Thanks Ulaca and setter.
Not at all Mondayish. I really dislike clues where the answer is some obscure proper name (TREBIZOND, GOLDONI). The very vague on = presented by in the GOLDONI clue didn’t help, as well as the fact that I was hooked on GONG. This took me ages.
25:40 – at least half a dozen where I was in educated guess territory but the the wordplay was kind, although WATUSI felt like only the slightly less improbable of six possibles.
29:01
Plenty of unknowns here – do you trust the wordplay or check before submitting?
WATUSI – as stated elsewhere, I’ve only ever heard of this in Wilson Pickett’s ‘Land of 1000 Dances’. Very tricky to arrange the vowels if you’ve never heard of it.
GOLDONI – NHO
TOSTI – NHO
MANIOC – NHO
TREBIZOND – heard somewhere before but couldn’t have told you what it was
Thanks U and setter
29:58. I really enjoyed this one – was on the wavelength a bit I suppose, but I didn’t know either of the composers or the bird missing a beak.
1:11:48, on and off. I followed the instructions and trusted the wordplay for TREBIZOND and MANIOC, but less successfully with what turned out not to be WITASU and GONGONI. Biffed several without really understanding what was going on (JOEY – not sure what the boomer’s doing? – GROSS, ANORAK and CUCKOO).
Thank you for the sorely-needed blog!
Biffed half a dozen just-about-knewits, didn’t get Gross, but what else? In all, maybe 10 or 12 mins.
My thanks to ulaca and setter.
I enjoyed it but was confused by the large number of odd clues and NHOs.
1a NHO Watusi guessed.
9a NHO Gas trap AFAIK. If it is the natural gas thing then it doesn’t keep anything fresh. I see Zabadak thinks it is the U bend on the loo which does keep things fresher.
13a Yellowish biffed.
14a In the shade – well hidden!
26a Goldoni, had forgotten Carlo. I tried GONGONI as did gothick.
2d NHO Tosti, but I have because he is in Cheating Machine.
6d Cuckoo guessed, it doesn’t really work does it?
7d Trebizond MER. Even its current name is NHO, why would we know its old name?
COD 1d Wagnerian.
That other noted paedophile (also dead, so can’t sue) Rolf Harris: “Six white boomers, snow white boomers, racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.”
Trabzon heard of, probably from Trabzonspor like Ulaca. Managed to construct the NHO alternative without recognising its provenance.
Manioc known of as edible, without knowing exactly what it.
Goldoni from previous puzzles, and it sounds like an Italian name, other options don’t.
Z’s Welsh rabbit bloke Tosti NHO.
Grossbill was my bird, more power to AstroNowt to get rid of words like grosbeaks.
Got to Ras Tafari backwards, he was the emperor before I managed to parse it.
Finished eventually, but didn’t much enjoy the last part of the journey. Liked WAGNERIAN, JOEY and YELLOWISH.
DNF, defeated by the unknown TREBIZOND. I forgot business=biz, but even if I hadn’t, and even if I’d gone further with my thought of places (= football clubs, knowing me) in Turkey, I don’t think I’d have figured it out.
– Guessed the vowels for WATUSI
– GROSS went in with a shrug as I didn’t know the bird
– Had to trust the wordplay for GOLDONI, with the same doubt as Wil Ransome above over the ‘on’ bit
– ANORAK felt a little too clever for its own good (and how is the ‘one’ in the clue enough to indicate the first letters?)
– Was glad the unknown TOSTI was a hidden
– Disagree with some of the comments on CUCKOO – surely ‘introducing’ meaning ‘inserting’ is OK?
– NHO MANIOC, so again relied on the wordplay
Very tough for a Monday (payback for Fridays being a bit easier?) – thanks ulaca and setter.
COD Joey