Solving time: 50 minutes. This puzzle certainly had a different feel about it from the usual offerings and was quite inventive in parts, most of which worked rather well.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
| Across | |
| 1 | Pelican that’s no more, unfortunately right after feline enters (8) |
| ALCATRAS | |
| CAT (feline) + R (right) is contained by [enters] ALAS (unfortunately). I constructed this from wordplay. I knew the word only as the name of the prison (spelt with a Z) on the island in San Francisco Bay. This from Wiki gives further information and perhaps accounts for ‘no more’ in the clue: The island was named “La Isla de los Alcatraces”, which translates as “The Island of the Gannets” but is commonly believed to translate as “The Island of the Pelicans.” (Spanish for Pelicans, however is Pelícanos), from the archaic Spanish alcatraz (“pelican”). | |
| 5 | Almost defeated accepting British weakness (6) |
| FOIBLE | |
| FOILE{d} (defeated) [almost] containing [accepting] B (British) | |
| 10 | Cox wobbling a bit? (3,4,3,5) |
| ONE OVER THE EIGHT | |
| ‘One over the eight’ means ‘drunk’ so ‘wobbling a bit’, and rowing teams often consist of eight crew plus a cox, who is therefore ‘one over the eight’ in another sense. | |
| 11 | Preserve water slide around New Year (7) |
| CHUTNEY | |
| CHUTE (water slide) containing [around] N (new), then Y (year). I took a long time to get to this as I had recently learned the word ‘flume’ meaning a water slide in a previous puzzle and that was my first thought, so I constructed the word ‘flumney’ and very nearly convinced myself that it existed. | |
| 12 | An element of empty unionism on Ulster sash (7) |
| NIOBIUM | |
| NI (Ulster – Northern Ireland), OBI (sash), U{nionism}M [empty]. Tom Lehrer came to my rescue yet again with one of the lesser-known elements! The setter should perhaps have steered clear of this line of clueing given current sensitivities. We’ve only just had M. Macron asserting that Northern Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom and now here’s a suggestion that Ulster and Northern Ireland are one and the same. For those who don’t know, Ulster consists of 9 counties, of which 6 are in Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the remaining 3 are in the Republic of Eire. | |
| 13 | Game in trap with strange marks and unknown (3,5) |
| GIN RUMMY | |
| GIN (trap), RUM (strange), M (marks), Y (unknown) | |
| 15 | Riddle about whiskey for Irish dean (5) |
| SWIFT | |
| SIFT (riddle) containing [about] W (whiskey – NATO alphabet). The writer Jonathan Swift became Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and is often referred to as “Dean Swift”. SOED defines a riddle as a large coarse sieve for separating corn from chaff, sand from gravel, ashes from cinders, etc, but it’s also a verb meaning ot sieve or sift. | |
| 18 | Made his Ben Hur intrinsically so long (5) |
| ADIEU | |
| {m}AD}e {h}I{s} {b}E{n} {h}U{r}[intrinsically]. When I was taken to see Ben Hur at the Empire Leicester Square in 1960 it was the longest film I’d ever sat through. I was relieved and ready to go home when the curtains closed (remember those in cinemas?) but alas, it was only the interval. The second half really dragged. The film is famous for its chariot race in which some of the participants wore watches on their wrists and an Austin mini showed up in a long shot. I didn’t notice any of this at the time, unfortunately. | |
| 20 | What’s rude? Yell is, in church (8) |
| CHURLISH | |
| HURL (yell) + IS contained by [in] CH (church). One might hurl / yell abuse, for example. | |
| 23 | Settle advance payment before party (7) |
| SUBSIDE | |
| SUB (advance payment), SIDE (party e.g. in an argument). A sub is a loan against expected income. | |
| 25 | Ornamental plant bed mostly eaten by injured raven (7) |
| VERBENA | |
| BE{d} [mostly] contained [eaten] by anagram [injured] of RAVEN. A plant only vaguely remembered from somewhere. | |
| 26 | Our establishment‘s trendy, in rear street with headgear British and European (3,6,4,2) |
| THE POWERS THAT BE | |
| HEP (trendy) contained by [in] TOWER (rear – rise high), ST (street), HAT (headgear), B (British), E (European). Defined as the people who decide what is allowed or acceptable. These days this is not just down to the establishment as aside from our political masters and their minions telling us what to do and think we also have the combined legions of wokery. | |
| 27 | Ireland introducing minute eastern moth (6) |
| ERMINE | |
| ERIN (Ireland) containing [introducing] M (minute), then E (eastern). The moth was unknown to me. | |
| 28 | Barnet fixer is hard character to control (8) |
| HAIRGRIP | |
| H (hard), AIR (character), GRIP (to control). ‘Barnet Fair’ is CRS for ‘hair, which seems a little odd as Barnet is some distance from Cockerneyland. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Five pence out of pocket under a guarantee that’s expired (6) |
| AVOUCH | |
| A, V (five), {p}OUCH (pocket) [pence – p – out of…]. Not a word I knew. | |
| 2 | One of the composers, ie, in Bruch, Brahms and Liszt (9) |
| CHERUBINI | |
| Anagram [Brahms and Liszt – CRS ‘pissed’ – drunk] of IE IN BRUCH. Cherubini was an Italian-born French composer who lived 1760-1842. I’m afraid that despite my fairly extensive knowledge of music from that era I’m unable to recall a single one of his many compositions. | |
| 3 | Composer put in octave nervously (7) |
| TAVENER | |
| Hidden [put in] {oc}TAVE NER{vously}. Another lesser-known composer, this time from the modern era (1944-2013). He taught composition at my college in the late 1960s / early 1970s and I saw him around the place occasionally but I had no dealings with him. | |
| 4 | Arranged quite a display (5) |
| ARRAY | |
| ARR (arranged), AY (quite – yes) | |
| 6 | Difficult individual to wake up without something in tea and coffee (7) |
| ONEROUS | |
| ONE (individual), ROUS{e} (wake up) [without something in tea and coffee – i.e. ‘e’]. It makes for a good surface reading but this is not a very welcome device when applied as vaguely as here. | |
| 7 | Mine gold initially in a lot of bedrock (4,1) |
| BAGS I | |
| G{old} [initially] contained by [in] BASI{s} (bedrock – foundation) [a lot of…]. Bags I this — it’s mine! | |
| 8 | Reckon one’s travelling by car? (8) |
| ESTIMATE | |
| I’M (one’s) contained [travelling] by ESTATE (car) | |
| 9 | One appreciates what you did to a hunky cast (8) |
| THANKYOU | |
| Anagram [cast] of TO A HUNKY | |
| 14 | Fish thrash, rising both sides of flowing creek (8) |
| MACKEREL | |
| LAM (thrash) reversed [rising] containing [both sides of] anagram [flowing] of CREEK | |
| 16 | Wexford perhaps sent cop around in Ireland (9) |
| INSPECTOR | |
| Anagram [around] of SENT COP contained by [in] IR (Ireland). DCI Reg Wexford featured in 24 novels by Ruth Rendell, many of which were adapted for TV starring George Baker. I enjoyed these, but much preferred her psychological mysteries. | |
| 17 | Gang in class which might be playing noisily? (8) |
| CASSETTE | |
| SET (gang) contained by in] CASTE (class). The setter revealing his age here; we’ll be having references to 8-track cartridges next! | |
| 19 | Hackneyed college stuff maybe is something not seen in the real world (7) |
| UNICORN | |
| UNI (college), CORN (hackneyed…stuff). Echoes of the Brexit debate! | |
| 21 | One using bait to trap chief hunting dog (7) |
| LURCHER | |
| LURER (one using bait) containing [to trap] CH (chief) | |
| 22 | Stop sleeping at college after fire (4,2) |
| WAKE UP | |
| WAKE (fire – excite), UP (at college). You have to ‘go up’ to university so that if you behave badly you can be ‘sent down’. | |
| 24 | Ray providing home for river fish (5) |
| BREAM | |
| BEAM (ray) containing [providing home for] R (river) | |
| 25 | Prospect of official document — and time to fill it (5) |
| VISTA | |
| VISA (official document) containing [to fill it] T (time) | |
Edited at 2021-06-22 01:05 pm (UTC)
That said, having done all the hard work, the straightforward ONEROUS held me up for ages because with the other slightly obscure answers I convinced myself it was some chemical compound starting with OX (‘difficult individual’).
Despite these obscurities I sort of staggered my way through and enjoyed the challenge of a slightly quirky puzzle, my mood helped by being in the garden in the sunshine this afternoon.
LOI 1 ac “alcatras” which seemed to take ages to parse.
COD 11 ac “Chutney” — like Jack I was trying to work with another word rather than “chute” for a water course, in my case “sluice” which didn’t help.
Thanks to Jack for a most comprehensive blog and to setter
1a “Alcatras” also took me ages even though the “cat” was obvious.
You know the setter’s prepared something tricky when 1a and 1d are your last two clues.
Enjoyable puzzle despite being defeated.
Many thanks for the blog.
“Before my God, I might not this believe, were it not for the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes.”
A line suitably pregnant with the very concerns that the play has yet to unfold.