Most of my recent 15×15 solves have taken me well beyond my 30 minute target and this one at 50 minutes is yet another example. I found the top easier than the lower half where I had some difficulty establishing a foothold. One word completely unknown to me and clued by a reference to football held me up for ages at the end but I worked it out from wordplay eventually.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Person goading Republican after image trouble (7) |
| PICADOR – PIC (image), ADO (trouble), R (Republican). In bullfighting he’s the twat on the horse who goads the bull with a lance. | |
| 5 | Fire started by phosphorous in match (4-3) |
| PLAY-OFF – P (phosphorous), LAY OFF (fire – from a job) | |
| 9 | One not wanting to leave, accepting day’s rest (9) |
| REMAINDER – REMAINER (one not wanting to leave) containing [accepting] D (day). SOED need to revise their entry for this word following the Brexit campaign and referendum : remainer – noun (rare) a person who remains or stays. The clue on the other hand is spot on and in line with current usage. | |
| 10 | In no sense upstanding! (5) |
| LYING – Two meanings | |
| 11 | Out in public, having done time (5) |
| OVERT – OVER (done), T (time) | |
| 12 | Released a single, plugging covers of acoustic number (9) |
| ANALGESIC – Anagram [released] of A SINGLE contained by [plugging] [covers of] A{cousti}C | |
| 13 | Politician‘s failing here probed by papers (4,9) |
| VICE PRESIDENT – VICE (failing), PRESENT containing [probed by] ID (papers) | |
| 17 | Forged coins, not concealing wrongdoing by one twisted individual (13) |
| CONTORTIONIST – Anagram [forged] of COINS NOT containing [concealing] TORT (wrongdoing) + I (one) | |
| 21 | Instruction for players, both sides admitting a poor quarter (9) |
| LARGHETTO – L and R (both sides) containing [admitting] A, GHETTO (poor quarter). Largo is perhaps a more widely known word for ‘slow’ in music; larghetto is a just shade faster than that. | |
| 24 | Strain of uncut narcotic (5) |
| PUREE – PURE (uncut), E (narcotic). In cookery this means to reduce food to a pulp. In my book ‘puree’ is not the same as ‘strain’ which means to separate solids from liquid. It’s true that pureeing is sometimes done by forcing food through a sieve or strainer, but I don’t think that justifies the definition in the clue. | |
| 25 | Throw out a slippery customer, pocketing ten pence (5) |
| EXPEL – EEL (slippery customer) containing [pocketing] X (ten) + P (pence) | |
| 26 | Scrub best clothing, note: not available (9) |
| ELIMINATE – ELITE (best) containing [clothing] MI (note) + NA (not available) | |
| 27 | How far, say, a vehicle must reverse (7) |
| YARDAGE – EG (say) + A + DRAY (vehicle) reversed | |
| 28 | A site with no ground or land (7) |
| ESTONIA – Anagram [ground] of A SITE NO | |
| Down | |
| 1 | I didn’t catch that mafioso after a number of shots (6) |
| PARDON – PAR (number of shots – golf), DON (mafioso) | |
| 2 | Less macho military leaders moving home (6,3) |
| CAMPER VAN – CAMPER (less macho), VAN (military leaders) which can be defined as the foremost division or detachment of a military force when set in order for advancing | |
| 3 | Like believers quoted about saving lives (7) |
| DEISTIC – CITED (quoted) reversed [about] containing [saving] IS (lives) | |
| 4 | Northern town favoured one grand welcome (3,6) |
| RED CARPET – REDCAR (Northern town), PET (favoured one) | |
| 5 | Parents crossing river in provincial capital (5) |
| PARMA – PA + MA (parents) containing [crossing] R (river). The Italian province is also called Parma. | |
| 6 | Tempo cut by current composer (7) |
| ALLEGRI – ALLEGR{o} (tempo) [cut], I (current). Gregorio Allegri (c1582-1652) may not be known to all as his fame rests almost entirely on the popularity of one choral work, his ‘Miserere, mei Deus’. | |
| 7 | Trimmed blossom: it spread leaves out (5) |
| OMITS – Hidden in {bloss}OM IT S{pread} [trimmed] | |
| 8 | In terms of footballing, United tops a rival for passing quality (8) |
| FUGACITY – U (united) in [terms of] F{ootballin}G, A, CITY (rival – to Manchester United). I’ve never heard of this word from ‘fugacious’ meaning ‘fleeting’ and I’m automatically resistant to football references so it was no surprise that this was my last one in. According to a Google search of TftT, neither word has ever come up before. | |
| 14 | Frenetic come-on, that is ensnaring second husband (9) |
| ECONOMISE – Anagram [frenetic] of COME ON, IE (that is) containing [ensnaring] S (second). ‘Husband’ in the sense of managing resources economically. | |
| 15 | Host‘s put in metal fencing area (9) |
| ENTERTAIN – ENTER (put in), TIN (metal) containing [fencing] A (area) | |
| 16 | Row extremely raucously outside English servants’ room (8) |
| SCULLERY – SCULL (row), E (English), R{aucousl}Y [extremely]. It’s a separate room or area of an old kitchen in which dishes were washed, perhaps by servants. | |
| 18 | Tragic figure in work by essayist stealing hearts (7) |
| OPHELIA – OP (work) + ELIA (essayist – Charles Lamb) containing [stealing] H (hearts) | |
| 19 | The author’s right to drown in beer, creating depression (7) |
| IMPRINT – I’M (the author’s), R (right) contained by [to drown in] PINT (beer). In expressions ‘going for a pint’ and ‘having a pint’, beer is taken to be the drink in question. | |
| 20 | Prunella, Vanessa and others in the information age (6) |
| GENERA – GEN (information), ERA (age). I assume these are plants of the same genus. Edit: Thanks to Ulaca for advising that, whilst I was correct about ‘prunella’, ‘vanessa’ is a genus of butterfly so we have here a definition by two examples from different areas of knowledge. | |
| 22 | Perhaps cowboy’s well-behaved, doffing cap (5) |
| ROPER – {p}ROPER (well-behaved) [doffing cap]. A person who uses a lasso. | |
| 23 | Place for opera’s unfinished melody (5) |
| THEME – THE ME{t} (place for opera) [unfinished]. The Metropolitan, colloquially referred to as The Met, is the world-famous opera house in New York City. | |
Amazingly, the setter managed to come up with a composer I had never heard of, which is quite a feat.
The Wiki article is interesting regarding attempts by the Vatican to limit its availability for performance other than in the Sistine Chapel, which were confounded by the teenage Mozart who heard it there on a visit and transcribed it from memory. This then led to it being heard more widely across Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miserere_(Allegri)
It’s sheer ethereal beauty is timeless in my view.
Edited at 2017-09-26 08:15 am (UTC)
Allegri may be a bit of a one-hit wonder, but what a great hit it was
Edited at 2017-09-26 08:43 am (UTC)
Fugacity unparsed (pesky ‘terms’), so thanks to Jack for that. We used to have a scullery in our 60s-built house – basically, just a passage leading to the garage with the washing machine, a clothes horse and various bits and pieces.
I don’t see any problem with E clued as ‘narcotic’, given that the word is commonly used to mean any kind of illegal drug.
I guess “strain” for PUREE is pushing it, but I didn’t notice at the time. And I’ve long since stopped worrying that all drugs seem to be called narcotics, even cocaine and meth, which if anything are the opposite.
It mattered little, though, as while I had the rest of the top half, including the unknown composer, I only had about half of the bottom, stymied by not getting the “tort” of wrongdoing nor the definition in 17a, missing the “ghetto” and not knowing the Italian term in 21, though knowing I was looking for one, and so on. I was close in a couple of places—I’d even thought of “gen” in 20, “Met” in 23, “pint” in 19, “tin” in 15—but hadn’t put everything together.
Basically, so far off the wavelength that it wasn’t funny, plus lacking in GK. Glad I could come here to be put out of my misery, and at least I know how OPHELIA works now… Thanks to setter and blogger. Let’s hope the rest of my day goes better.
Thanks for the enlightenment, both! I shall have to try and remember “terms” for when it’s deployed in the future…
Edited at 2017-09-26 01:16 pm (UTC)
I am ashamed to have left 1ac/2dn to the end – despite knowing that trouble is so often Ado. I was looking for a goader with an ..er ending – that’s my excuse.
Mostly I liked the very camp van and the fleeting football.
Thanks intriguing setter and Jack.
PS The Ophelia clue was very TLS
Edited at 2017-09-26 07:56 am (UTC)
Solved 8D Mephisto style – concoct a word from wordplay and then consult dictionary to see if word exists! Agree about PUREE but not so worried by loose use of E – its common usage whilst strictly inaccurate is well known
Thank you setter and great job by Jack
A non-PC chuckle over CAMPER VAN, a nice penny-drop moment with RED CARPET, and a purr of contentment over FUGACITY, a lovely word.
Thanks, jackkt, especially for the education about Allegri’s ‘hit’ (love the Mozart story), which I didn’t know I knew until I went to the YouTube video of the King’s College choir performing it. Hard to argue with your assessment of the music – https://youtu.be/4lC7V8hG198
But lets not debate it too much, in case Katherine Jenkins finds out and decides to do it as a solo, which would then become the most played version on Classic fm, at which point the whining noise you would here would be Allegri, Mozart and probably Mendelssohn spinning vigorously in their graves.
But it seems she already has released her version of the Allegri – can’t check it because some sort of divine intervention has removed it from YouTube.
FUGACITY a new word which I will probably never see or use again, but trusted the wordplay.
Now then, when I puree something, I reduce it to a pulp. The only strain involved is that I don’t possess a liquidiser, but I doubt that’s what the setter had in mind.
We haven’t employed a scullery maid for years, and neither the butler nor the upstairs maid will fill in, so we’ve converted the scullery to a downstairs loo. Servants, eh?!
strain = puree, is that one of they pesky dbe thingies? Since one can puree in more ways than the one.. otoh if you strain something it is definitely a puree that results
Edited at 2017-09-26 09:11 am (UTC)
I actually think this is one of those very rare examples where you can say that one of the dictionaries has got something unambiguously wrong. The Collins definition implies that a PUREE is always sieved, which simply isn’t the case.
I wondered about ‘strain’ for PUREE. Collins defines the noun as ‘a smooth thick pulp of cooked and sieved fruit, vegetables, meat, or fish’ so perhaps we can let the setter off the hook and take it up with them.
‘Narcotic’ for E is fine. There is a specialised technical meaning and more general one. There are countless words like this.
Manchester City fans live in Manchester United fans do not! They live everywhere – including Shnaghai – as I am a Red Diehard. The old joke used to be:-
Q. How do you know when United are playing at home?
A. There are tail-backs on the King’s Road (Chelsea)!!
There are far more Man United fans living in London than in Manchester. There is no red-half of Manchester, just a red-quarter!
FOI 7dn OMITS LOI 24ac PUREE
fyi Senor Ulaca – Vanessa was with us only recently!
COD 2dn CAMPER VAN WOD 6dn ALLEGRI
I believe Motzart was an intolerable brat!
Edited at 2017-09-26 09:57 am (UTC)
Edited at 2017-09-26 01:14 pm (UTC)
Just asking
Robert
Edited at 2017-09-26 11:55 am (UTC)
Managed to get FUGACITY from the wordplay. What a great word. I fully intend to use it as soon as I can, correctly or not.
Finished in about an hour over a pub lunch. I was having a 6d as it happens.
Thanks to blogger and setter.
Somewhere I still have my mother’s vintage “mouli bebe” from the 50s which both purees and strains. I think I did use it occasionally despite acquiring first a blender and then a food processor. Forgot – 21.33
Edited at 2017-09-26 01:01 pm (UTC)
FUGACITY was familiar from somewhere but, as I can’t remember where it’s possible that it only became familiar after I’d written it in. I also pondered “prodder” at 1ac for a while.
Edited at 2017-09-26 05:11 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2017-12-12 07:48 am (UTC)
Edited at 2017-12-12 08:28 am (UTC)
In this case, I’m looking at online “Free Dictionary” by Farlex (who ever they are). They say to puree is to rub through a strainer, and that to strain is to pour or pass through a sieve, filter, or strainer. It seems to me that “rub through” is a particular kind of “passing through”, so puree is indeed a particular kind of strain.
Wikipedia gives apple as an example of a puree: in this case there will be pips (and perhaps other hard flakes from the core) that don’t make it into the puree. This is a counter-example to the assertion that in a puree everything passes through.
Reminds me of seeing my mum make crab apple jelly every year, many decades ago. Thanks for the memory.
Edited at 2017-12-13 01:36 am (UTC)