I was interrupted twice while doing this one so can’t give an exact time, but I would guess it took 15-20 minutes. The SE corner went in at lightning speed, the NE and SW went in at a steady rate, but I made very heavy weather of the NW corner, 9A, 3D and 14A being the culprits. None of these was really all that difficult – just couldn’t seem to get my mind going along the right tracks.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
|
1
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OBERON (anagram of Borneo) – King of the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. | |
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5
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PA(DD)LING – “paling” here being wooden fencing. | |
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9
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USEFULLY – if you use something (e.g. a resource) fully you exhaust it. Took me a while to see this even with the S in place and L-Y at the end. | |
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10
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NUB,BIN – “roll over ” is BUN, reversed, and “discard” a verb meaning to throw away. I never really knew what a nubbin was until now; it’s a small lump or a small stunted ear of corn. Bound to come in useful one day. | |
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11
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CELLOPHANE – was led astray trying to figure out the wordplay by the fact that Americans call mobile phones cell phones. “Mobile” is actually an anagram indicator, and the wordplay is (phone call)* around E (Monroe’s last). | |
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13
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T,ASK = the T is “this”, started. | |
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14
|
PIU,S – this stayed blank almost till the end. I really wanted it to be LISP, but couldn’t begin to justify the definition. I finally got to the answer in a roundabout way – the last letter of 3D (the only other unsolved clue) might be S if the definition was “draws” – this hypothesis gave me _I_S, at which point it dawned on me to try Pope names, and that was that. “Più” is the word for “more” in a musical score, and S is the South Pole. | |
|
18
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A,FRI(CA ST)AR = CAST=throw, inside A FRIAR. The Africa Star was a medal awarded in WW2. | |
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20
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CITE, sounding like “sight”. | |
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21
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UTAH. After a brief diversion trying to find a way to include MIN or UTE, I realised that these were the second letters of the 2nd-5th words of the clue. | |
|
25
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CRIME,A – “war zone” feels like a modern term so didn’t think of this straight away. | |
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26
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MOUSS,AKA – MOUSS(e) is the unfinished dessert, and AKA = “also known as”. | |
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28
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GOINGS-ON – SON=child, with GOING (departure) before it. | |
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29
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END,URE – the URE is an enduringly popular river amongst crossword setters. | |
| Down | ||
|
2
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B(AS, -R)ELIEF (a technique in sculpting). AS=like, R=cobbler’s last, all inside BELIEF (trust). Got this from the 3-6, though I had only the vaguest idea what it actually was. | |
|
3
|
RAF,FLES – Douglas Bader‘s outfit is the RAF, followed by FLIES (is operational) without the I (“no one” is an instruction to remove it). This was my last clue solved – I was hopelessly blind to the fairly obvious RAF, distracted, as so often, by thoughts of prosthetic legs. | |
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4
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NIL(e) – another popular river turns up here. | |
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5
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PHYLA – very cunning, this, for the kingdom in question is the animal kingdom. The answer is neatly hidden in “geograPHY LAcking. | |
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6
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DON,KEY,DERBY – DON=put on, DERBY=hat, and KEY=main – leaving the definition, which is just “event at fête , perhaps”. | |
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7
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LOBSTER – take a mobster, and replace the M (start of meal) with an L (left). | |
|
8
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NAILS – double meaning. | |
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12
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PAM,PAS, GRASS – the GRASS bit was obvious, and with only the M in the first word I was tempted by bamboo grass and mimosa grass (neither of which actually exist). The rest of the wordplay is PAM=female, PA’S= governor’s (governor in the sense of father). | |
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16
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APT, abbreviation for “apartment” in small ads. | |
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17
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N(IT P)ICKER – the first letters of “is tickled pink” inside NICKER, an uncommon slang term for a police officer (who nicks, or arrests, suspects). | |
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19
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INHUMAN – “Bury, short” is INHUM(e), followed by AN (article). | |
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20
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CORPS,ED – a ballet company is a corps de ballet, and ED are the outside (extreme) letters of “excited”. An actor is said to corpse on stage if they forget their lines or are laughing too much to speak them. | |
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24
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AM(M)AN – at least I hope so, for Amman is the capital of Jordan, but I don’t really get the wordplay. M is obviously millions, is the rest a reference to the Burns poem “A Man’s A Man For A’ That“.? It’s the best I can do, but it doesn’t seem quite to work. I toyed with ADMEN for a while, but Aden isn’t the capital of anywhere…. | |
I did not understand the cryptic for ‘pampas grass’ trying to remember a female governor from Hellenistic or Roman history. Fortunately, I instantly remembered who Douglas Bader was, being a WWII history buff.
I was a bit chagrined by ‘Crimea’, since a similar clue has been used fairly recently. Everything else seemed fairly original, if along the usual lines.
My last in were ‘usefully’ and ‘phyla’, which, as usual, should have been the most obvious ones.
Perhaps I might take this opportunity to say what fun it’s been since joining five months ago. Having dabbled with the Telegraph when I was a teenager and then done the Times in the local rag on and off (more off) for many years, this blog gave me the spur finally to realise my potential. As Barry once said, the corner is turned at that moment when you no longer print the puzzle out thinking “I’ll have a bash at this, but I won’t finish”, but with a confidence that you will finish it.
Undemanding solve but a fair bit to check out (my preference being to check unknowns during the solve) ie NUBBIN, AFRICA STAR, PHYLA, that brad is a nail and piu is a score instruction. Also spent some time with Chambers to see if aan or aman was a Scots word, but guessed it must be from a poem. All gettable so perfectly fair, if unsatisfactory for this solver with limited GK.
If CELL for mobile was deliberate rather than accidental then it gets my COD despite being easy to solve.
It did take me a while to remember it, but I had looked it up before.
Like Vinyl1 I started in the NW and found it reasonably straightforward.
Several answers went in on definition alone plus checking letters, AFRICA STAR and NIT PICKER for example, and I worried about the wordplay later. I didn’t know PHYLA but it fitted as a hidden word so I took a chance on it.
My only major delay was at the very end at the intersection of 10ac and 8dn where I had put NUBBLE but then couldn’t solve the Down clue. So I reconsidered the wordplay and eventually decided that NUBBIN was a better fit and it also allowed NAILS at 8dn. On checking Collins I find that NUBBLE is defined as ‘a small lump’ whereas for NUBBIN it doesn’t mention lumps at all, just the ear of corn thing. COED however does justify the clue.
Sabine’s remark about actors forgetting their lines sent me to the dictionaries as I have always had a keen interest in things theatrical yet I have never heard of ‘corpse’ in this context refer to anything other than laughing on stage. Collins agrees with this but both Chambers and COED have forgetting lines as an alternative. Everybody I have known and read on theatre terms that ‘drying’. But one lives and learns!
An excellent puzzle, full of ingenuity and good deception. I particularly liked USEFULLY and PAMPAS GRASS.
Not troubled by the Burns clue unless there’s something else in Burns to fit XXXX’s XXXX.
Last two for me were 10A and 7D – L?B?T?R looks well-nigh impossible if you don’t see the answer quickly.
Slightly surprised not to see any grumbles about religious=FRIAR in 18 – maybe everyone else knows about religious=a person bound by monastic vows.
I’m a little saddened that so many haven’t heard of the Africa Star, a medal my father wore with pride having been with Monty right across North Africa. it shows how quickly these things are forgotten as times moves relentlessly on.
I also thought that to corpse was to choke with suppressed laughter and that to dry was to be unable to speak learned lines. I know so few Burns poems that “a man ….” came swiftly to mind. I think the religious=friar link has appeared here before in the not too distant past.
I’m with Jimbo on the Africa Star. My father had one too. I think he told me that it was for being General Alexander’s cook but it’s too late to check with him now.
Never heard of NUBBIN, struggled for a while with RAFFLES but COD to PHYLA which I had to check after solving (never heard of that either!).
I hope tomorrow’s compares favourable with this.
I did think “extremely excited” was a bit weak for “ED” in CORPSED but “ED” is a tricky bit to clue without falling back on references to leading journalists, etc.
1.
Is there for honest poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that?
The coward slave, we pass him by —
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Our toils obscure, an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that.
2.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a’ that?
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine —
A MAN’S A MAN for a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that,
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
3.
Ye see yon birkie ca’d ‘a lord,’
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that?
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a cuif for a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that,
The man o’ independent mind,
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
4.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that!
But an honest man’s aboon his might —
Guid faith, he mauna fa’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities, an’ a’ that,
The pith o’ sense an’ pride o’ worth
Are higher rank than a’ that.
5.
Then let us pray that come it may
(As come it will for a’ that)
That Sense and Worth o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That man to man the world o’er
Shall brithers be for a’ that.