Took my time on this one, finishing in 32.21, though with all of the early runners and riders being in double figures that may be quite a decent time and suggest the puzzle is on the chewy side. Plenty of room for the kind of enjoyable side-issue debates that grace these pages, such as how can anything that starts with episode 4 be a trilogy, and what entomological boxes do ticks tick, if any? Just because you can form a superlative by adding -est, and an agent noun by adding -er, should you? Susie?
Early Scrabble high scorers suggested this might have all 26 variations in the set, but J and Z are conspicuous by their absence
Using clue, definition and SOLUTION, I present my findings. Be excellent to one another.
Across
1 Having split, flies very quickly (2,3,5)
IN TWO TICKS Anything that is split is at least IN TWO, and flies are TICKS, “the sheep-ked and similar degenerate bloodsucking Diptera parasitic on cattle and horses, etc”. I looked it up because I think of ticks as being not flies but similar to lice. Turns out the ked/tick is a wingless fly. Surely that’s a walk? Open to the floor
6 Vegetable that’s small and sweet (4)
SPUD The humble potato, which consists of Small PUDdings
9 Greeting, very loud, in deception that one can see through? (7)
CHIFFON very thin material that therefore hides nothing, woven from greeting: HI, very loud: FF (music) contained in deception: CON
10 Reckoning further cure not working (7)
RECOUNT a (re)working of CURE NOT
12 Ancient structure to drag into tour of all bases (5,5)
ROUND TOWER Take your pick from Windsor Castle, several Irish examples and many, many more across the planet and decide which one qualifies as ancient. A tour of all bases is a ROUNDER (“home run” from rounders’ much younger sibling doesn’t work). Insert TOW for drag
13 Old-fashioned message that’s dispatched with passion (3)
IRE Keep a look out for clues where the “with” is there for its W. Dispatch W from an elderly message WIRE and you have your answer.
15 Old Yankee taken in by slip of a youth (6)
BOYISH The first of our NATO visitors today. Yankee gives you the Y, old the O, and slip the BISH. Arrange suitably.
16 Outspoken person responsible for dispatch rider in winter? (8)
SLEIGHER A soundalike derived from person responsible for dispatch: SLAYER. I’m ok with tobogganer, but sleigher looks less authentic.
18 State of antagonism ultimately leaves a bitter taste with one (8)
MISSOURI Took a while to break this down post solve. Antagonism finally is just the M, leaves a bitter taste IS SOUR and one I
20 Female, a reliable sort, endlessly felt for one (6)
FABRIC F for female, BRICK for reliable sort, minus its end, give our answer of which felt is an example.
23 Money-grubbing to hold back such a tip? (3)
NIB Reverse hidden in grubBINg
24 Use a fake King and Queen to move like Castle? (10)
KAFKAESQUE (The) Castle is one of Franz Kafka’s most impenetrable works, which even he gave up on, but is a fine example of the style of writing that produces the adjective we have here. It’s an anagram (moving) of USE A FAKE K(ing) and Q(ueen). K, the book’s enigmatic protagonist, appears 5 times in this puzzle.
26 Exit bar after upsetting female (7)
BEATRIX An anagram (after upsetting) of EXIT BAR
27 Version of Bible that is most zealous (7)
AVIDEST I’m sure we would normally write “most avid”. The A(uthorised) V(ersion)of the Bible is the one you need, and “that” is gives you the ID EST if you translate back into Latin.
28 A reminder that prejudice holds in Romeo and Juliet (4)
ECHO Not two but three visitors from NATO. Look closely and you’ll see that in pREJudice Romeo and Juliet hold Echo. Bravo
29 What we should have done perhaps with car tax once (6,4)
ESTATE DUTY In the UK, now mutated via Capital Transfer Tax into Inheritance Tax, the Government’s collaboration with the Eternal Revenue to ensure you really can’t take it with you when you die. DUTY, what we should do and ESTATE for car. Some of you might like to think station wagon or (d’un certain âge) Woodie or shooting break.
Down
1 Long hold-up — hours wasted (4)
ITCH hold-up hitch with one of the Hours wasted
2 In experiment I saw sections from original Star Wars? (7)
TRILOGY I think this is I LOG (saw sections, i.e. a piece of sawn tree) inserted into TRY “experiment”. Research suggest that the original conception for Star Wars was one, three, nine or 12 “episodes”, but hey, after Jar Jar Binks, who’s counting?
3 Presumably no longer taken with music fan out to lunch? (3,4,6)
OFF ONE’S ROCKER A sort of double definition.
4 Taken in by local native (6)
INNATE “Taken in” gives you ATE if you squint and avoid grammar, and local gives you the INN, as in pub.
5 Spooner’s job to visit Orkneys town (8)
KIRKWALL The good Speverend Rooner might say “work call” as a rough parallel to job and visit. Spoonerisms don’t have to be spelt the same.
7 Girl to serve as old maid? (7)
PRUDISH Our girl is PRU, and she serves when she DISHes up.
8 Work as a magician? (2,3,5)
DO THE TRICK A rather laconic double definition, with “work” being used twice. Works for me.
11 Problem I had raised in renting vehicles in Welsh region once (13)
CARDIGANSHIRE Originally Seisyllwg, now Ceredigion. Build it up from problem: SNAG, I had I’D reversed in renting vehicles: CAR HIRE
14 Yet needing to be with one that’s so described? (10)
ABOMINABLE Add I (one) to the needy YET to get the Himalayan creature and derive the familiar sobriquet.
17 UN etc voting on energy solutions (8)
PREFIXES Un- being an example and etc suggesting others. One version of voting is PR, energy is E, and solutions provides you with FIXES
19 Starts on shirts and blouses on wash day (7)
SABBATH Very much not a wash day, of course, unless you’ve got a shabbos goy to hand.. The first letters of Shirts And Blouses plus BATH for wash.
21 Rake fetching in large gold coin cylinder (7)
ROULEAU Careful construction needed. Rake is ROUÉ, into which you place L(arge) and then ad AU for gold.
22 One in hand — or 3 short (6)
BANANA The standard bunch of bananas is, of course, a hand 3 (see above) equally suggests bananas, but you only need one.
25 Time to visit for example? (4)
STAY Decent enough &lit, with T(ime) “visiting” SAY for for example.
Never heard of ROULEAU, and needed a full set of allen keys to assemble CARDIGANSHIRE, but very satisfying to get there in the end. Great puzzle.
Thanks setter and Z. BTW Z, I had log as “saw sections from”.
Well I (mis?) read your comment, Z, and took it that you meant it as a verb, but yes, I’ll fess up to not reading to the bottom of Gal’s comment. Soz.
There were a number of very subtle clues, including the almost impenetrable Veronese pair. Both ‘rouleau’ and ‘sleigher’ are also a bit on the tricky side.
But managed a Fibonacci style start – FOI
1ac IN TWO TICKS – followed by
1dn ITCH
2dn TRILOGY
3dn OFF ONE’S ROCKER
5dn KIRKWALL
8dn DO THE TRICK
However 13ac IRE did not materialise in so orderly a fashion.
The southerly slopes was were where I went off piste.
COD 24ac KAFKAESQUE WOD SLEIGHER
I had problems deciding on the answer at 13 but settled on IRE without understanding why until much later; however before the penny dropped I wondered if I had overlooked another possibility so I typed I?E into Chambers Word Wizard which returned IDE, IKE IRE and even I’VE, but not ICE! I had been considering ICE because of its meaning “kill” or “despatch”, but then discounted it.
Edited at 2016-11-24 07:55 am (UTC)
Ah, yes, I was wondering which of you would spot that. I’m still wondering.
Great blog, Z8. Party on, dude.
Ended with ESTATE LEVY, STAY and ROULEAU. Phew. About an hour all told.
COD: ABOMINABLE
Only a little bit though, and I did enjoy this more than a little: chewy and satisfying. Any puzzle that includes Star Wars will be looked on favourably by me, although the missed opportunity for a Buffy joke at 16ac is regrettable.
So, now I add “tick” as well as hopefully refreshing my memory on “ked”, ready for the next time…
Edited at 2016-11-24 10:12 am (UTC)
Edited at 2016-11-24 11:33 am (UTC)
I found this very tough going and biffed rather too many for my liking, ECHO, ABOMINABLE, PREFIXES but what else could they be?
Maybe it was the hangover but I certainly needed a lie down after completion, unfortunately I was sat at my desk.
My COD was SLEIGHER and my LOI.
No wish to kick a man (or an Australian) when he is down, so suffice to say Cook needs to win the toss and we should be in clover.
Edited at 2016-11-24 12:34 pm (UTC)
Echo indeed.
Alan
Personally, perhaps because I had it sussed, I thought the ECHO clue rather original and clever, but like a lot of this particular puzzle, there are clearly unusually strong variances of opinion. And I did that without mentioning Marmite!
As CS Lewis – a great fan of Kafka – put it, ‘I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of “Admin”. The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.’
Great contribution, for which many thanks. We really do have a fine community here.
Last time I gave out a general ‘good Thanksgiving wishes’ was in a famous bar in Venice. Ms paul in london suggested it in a way that left little choice if I wanted peace of mind for the next day or two, so I stood up, informed the room that if they were not aware the day was Thanksgiving, gave a little lecture on Thanksgiving, and wished the best to anyone present who was American. Three seconds of silence, then a room-wide chorus of: ‘In THIS bar, American would be pretty much everyone, wouldn’t it?’. Red face, and, as a consequence, no peace of mind for the next day or two.
Edited at 2016-11-24 03:18 pm (UTC)
In my defense, I did explain to Ms paul in london that this might not be the best idea.
I suspect that calling ticks flies was an error on the part of the setter – the fact that one type of wingless fly is sometimes called a “tick” hardly seems adequate justification.
ROULEAU came to me only because red blood cells can sometimes stick together in stacks known as “rouleaux”. I think (though the internet refuses to confirm this for me) that rouleaux are also non-spherical or non-round shapes of constant diameter – they can act as rollers, even though they appear lumpy; the 50p coin is a flat version of this – all its diameters are the same, even though it has corners. If I wasted less memory space on such useless facts, I would probably remember more important things.
Edited at 2016-11-25 12:15 am (UTC)