Solving Time: About 40 minutes, but I’m not feeling good today having done something painful to my back. You only discover just how many activities involve bending, when you no longer can. The crossword did feel a bit harder than average to me, interested to see how others found it. Sorry if the blog’s a bit sketchy, especially as I think there are some absolutely first class clues here – very entertaining stuff indeed
Incidentally, for anyone who missed Araucaria’s appearance on Newsnight last night, and is interested (and is UK based, or is using a site like Expat Shield).. then you can watch it again here.
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”
ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online
Across | |
---|---|
1 |
by jove – *(JOB VE |
4 |
Augusta – A + U + GUSTA |
9 | court – dd |
10 | arresting – remains = REST in A RING. The def. being “Running in.” |
11 | sunbather – red top = SUN + “to go in” = BAT + HER. Cricketing reference du jour, but a neat clue nonetheless |
12 |
elfin – E |
13 | axle – “AXEL.” What skaters do |
14 | slug pellet – dd |
18 | Galsworthy – misses = GALS + WORTHY = VIP |
20 | glum – large = L in GUM |
23 | demon – assume = DON containing ME rev. |
24 | Agnes Grey – A + G + *(ENERGYS). The (governess) titular heroine of what is perhaps not the best known (Anne) Bronte novel, but a Bronte novel nonetheless – and as such, a pillar of English literature |
25 |
warmonger – close to finding = WARM + |
26 |
pilau – beer = PIL |
27 | lay into – *(IT ONLY A), a nicely hidden anagram |
28 | unpick – Parisian one = UN + PICK, a “ground-breaking article,” ha ha |
Down | |
1 | back slang – second’s = BACKS + delay = LAG containing N, an unspecified number. Back slang, cant, verlan etc. are fascinating forms of language |
2 |
journal – O URN in JA |
3 |
vatman – See = V |
4 |
airer – |
5 |
gas meter – *(M |
6 | skinful – SKILFUL, with the central L changed to N to get what you have if you sink a lot (of alcohol) |
7 |
argon – AR |
8 | bachelor – composer = BACH + something played = ROLE, rev. |
15 |
go hungry – GO HUNG |
16 |
tummy tuck – T + |
17 | twin town – just a cd, I suppose. Do they have twinning everywhere, or is that a European thing? |
19 | lamprey – batter = LAM + (a hunter’s) PREY. Very peculiar fish indeed, your Lamprey |
21 | legends = LORE + floral LEI. Lovely def., “rock singer.” The Lorelei rock is a World Heritage site |
22 |
ash pan – when = AS + HP = hire purchase, = never-never, + |
23 |
dowel – DO WEL |
24 | aggro – gross = gr in earlier = AGO |
At 13ac, I get ‘spring’ but not ‘on blades’. Is that also a ballet term or are we in ice-skating or roller-blading territory?
I think John Galsworthy is primarily remembered as a novelist rather than a dramatist although of course he was that too. AGNES GREY exposed a gap in my literary knowledge.
I couldn’t untangle 22dn having solved it correctly as I assumed that ‘never-never land’ had to be connected in some way to (Peter) PAN. I’m old enough to remember the arrival of “the never-never” so I should have spotted it.
I’m afraid I do get a bit tired of puzzles so full of wordy clues of which we have had an abundance of late and this is yet another example. To illustrate the point, for years I had my browser printer setting at 95% but I recently had to reduce it to 90% to prevent clues dropping off the bottom of the page almost every other day.
Edited at 2013-02-06 02:48 am (UTC)
I suspect there is something more to the Ipswich clue, but I’m not certain what.
COD the ‘ash pan’, but ‘tummy tuck’ and ‘gas meter’ were also good. This seems to be a UK-themed puzzle, I’m not sure how other overseas solvers will do on ‘hire purchase’ and ‘tuck’.
As for Vatman, he’s a UK hero, right? He roars up in his huge Vatmobile to some innocent shopkeeper’s store, and demands to see all the transaction records for the past six months! I can hear the theme music now….
Edited at 2013-02-06 09:20 am (UTC)
I’d put this one aside for a few days and am very glad I did, as it needed a good couple of hours attention to crack
I’m always in awe of those wordy clues which at first appear to have just too much going on to fit into the enumeration given but when solved, are so elegant and perfectly-formed
A belated thankyou to The Setter for a very enjoyable evening
JB
Found this quite tough, though seeing a host of lengthy clues tends to put me off from the start.
Thanks for the Araucaria link Jerry and feel better.
Edited at 2013-02-06 10:47 am (UTC)
I also had 9A as described by mohn2. Not quite sure why back slang should be associated with yobs or what the function of “on” is in 8D.
Thanks to setter and well done Jerry
– bol
– eca
– yellov
– pord tosh
– rethel ti
etc …
As I recall they mixed back slang with common english and rhyming slang. The back slang was loosly phonetic so that ease of pronounciation took precence over exact reversal of letters. I doubt they ever said TOP SPIN but my guess is that it would be POT NIPS and BACK SPIN would be CAB NIPS
We’ve been spoilt with some outstanding clues lately, and there were more here. VATMAN and GO HUNGRY the pick of the bunch for me.
Thank you, Jerry. Hope the back recovers soon.
A very tricky puzzle. I was stuck on 18 with only two letters in place and resorted to aids to get it. Not surprised at my slowness as I don’t immediately think of Galsworthy in connection with drama. I also didn’t study 6 carefully enough and entered SKILFUL.
As others have said, there were some excellent clues. Two I noted in particular were the triple definition at 9. I thought 22 could have done with an alert of some kind (exclamation mark or whatever) but it was a very witty construction (which I didn’t fully understand till coming here).
However you are absolutely right, and I think my back would be in much better shape if I did look after it, rather than just taking it for granted.. don’t get my feet started on the maintenance issue, either
Solved the SE corner reasonably quickly but from then on found it very hard going. Some wonderful definitions (Lorelei, “pick”, Ash-pan) and misdirections (did anyone else try to fit E for English into Galsworthy?).
The required meaning of Arresting was new to me. Of many excellent clues I thought Lay Into was a beauty. Thank you setter.
We can eat lamprey locally, from the Garonne – usually stewed in red wine. I don’t recommend it.
Jimbo – So now they’ll be re-defining and legislating for same-sex divorces and the lawyers make even more money?
I’m sure you’re right. The whole thing will be a minefield and thus a lawyer’s goldmine that will rattle on for years. I read one MP raised the issue of brother and sister pairings! Legislate in haste – repent at leisure.
My prime concern was the depths to which our elected representatives have sunk (expenses scandal, perverting course of justice, flouting normal parliamentary procedure) and did not intentionally contain any party political content. Having said that I suspect Mr Cameron may live to regret what he did seeing the size of the rebellion.
I quite like politicians who have a mind of their own. Heaven knows they get criticised often enough for being sheep.
Edited at 2013-02-06 03:55 pm (UTC)
Back to back slang; I’m no expert but I always thought that it was ‘utchersB(ay)’ ‘ackB(ay)’ ‘langS(ay)’ in which case boy would be ‘oyb(ay)’ or yob would be oby(ay).
John McK
As far as the right track goes, it is imho a knack, honed by lots and lots of practice (or “enjoyment,” as I prefer to call it).. learn to completely ignore the apparent “sense” of the clue, and go on from there..
A tricky but good puzzle (ELFIN I enjoyed a lot), though with some rather long clues, I think. Easier to smooth out a longer surface, I suspect, but it was, for me, 50 minutes of time well spent.
Chris.
With ash on my mind, I was looking for it again to match “remains” in 10, thinking thrashing was a possible (if unlikely) answer, but saw and filled the light eventually.
Good demonic stuff all round.
My big problem was putting in LEG PULL for 27 (double def) in SLUG BULLET for 14.
BACK-SLANG from wordplay, along with GALSWORTHY and AGNES GREY. ASH-PAN and AXLE from only getting the definition part of the clue. Phew!
Wow. I struggled mightily to find the setter’s wavelength on this and never really did. I had to leave it after 25 minutes this morning and then didn’t get a chance to look again until just now. A couple of glasses with dinner helped perhaps.
There were a few little things I wasn’t keen on in here but there were so many superb clues that I really don’t want to quibble. Time after time, a clue that I found extremely hard to crack appeared simple, elegant and obvious once I had cracked it. This is the best kind of clue. And by the end of the puzzle I was absolutely furious with the setter. This is the best kind of puzzle. The fury soon fades and admiration replaces it. Thank you setter.
I’m familiar with Verlan, but had never come across its English equivalent, BACK SLANG, which is curious.
Thanks for the blog, and for pointing out the Araucaria interview, Jerry. I am out of the UK at the moment but will certainly watch it when I’m back.
Edited at 2013-02-06 11:24 pm (UTC)
20:39 here, though I like to think I’d have been a little faster under other circumstances. A truly brilliant puzzle, that’s almost certain to get my vote for “puzzle of the month” – in fact one of the best Times crosswords I’ve ever come across. I’m not normally too fond of long clues, but 5dn (GAS-METER) and 22dn (ASH-PAN) were both beautifully constructed, and 16dn was a delight. I raise my hat to the setter (whose identity I think I can guess).