Solving time: 38 minutes
Not a particularly speedy solve for me, but I liked this for containing some lively and interesting clues, and even the clue I have slated at 5dn I enjoyed in a masochistic sort of way.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | One caught in face, the whole thing seen in theatre (5,4) |
| MUSIC HALL | |
| I (one) + C (caught) contained by [in] MUSH (face), ALL (the whole thing).’ Mush’ is slang for mouth or face, but either way it has to be pronounced ‘moosh’ as in ‘push’, not ‘mush’ as in ‘hush’. | |
| 6 | Animal taking look outside for snare (5) |
| LASSO | |
| LO (look) containing [outside] ASS (animal) | |
| 9 | St John’s view as he converted sectarian (8,7) |
| JEHOVAHS WITNESS | |
| Anagram [converted] of ST JOHN’S VIEW AS HE | |
| 10 | Turning to large caviare sandwiches for grub (6) |
| ROOTLE | |
| ROE (caviare) contains [sandwiches] TO reversed [turning] + L (large). Pigs hunting truffles grub or rootle about. | |
| 11 | Poison a drink back at home with MDMA (8) |
| ATROPINE | |
| A, PORT (drink) reversed [back], IN (at home), E (MDMA – ecstasy). Obtained from deadly nightshade | |
| 13 | Rock one to settle in European river (10) |
| RHINESTONE | |
| I (one) + NEST (settle) contained by [in] RHONE (European river). As in the title of the Glen Campbell hit song. | |
| 14 | Sing Bachelor Boy when daughter’s born (4) |
| BLAB | |
| B (Bachelor), then LAD (boy) becomes LAB when d (daughter) changes to b (born). The surface refers to an early Cliff Richard song from the film Summer Holiday. ‘Sing / blab’ means to inform on. | |
| 16 | Star not quite convert to compassionate eating? (4) |
| VEGA | |
| VEGA{n} (convert to compassionate eating) [not quite] | |
| 17 | 2’s paradoxical states exhibited in zombies? (6,4) |
| LIVING DEAD | |
| LIVING + DEAD (2’s paradoxical states). To be honest I only noticed the cross-reference when I came to write the blog. I know what a paradox is and that zombies are called the LIVING DEAD so the answer came quite easily. More about this at 2dn. | |
| 19 | Hard cutting cost of transport in Hannibal’s birthplace (8) |
| CARTHAGE | |
| H (hard) contained by [cutting] CARTAGE (cost of transport) | |
| 20 | Stupid or wise as Member of Parliament? (6) |
| OWLISH | |
| Cryptic. The collective noun for owls is ‘parliament’ which comes up here regularly. I’ve heard of owls described wise or solemn, but never stupid, however Chambers has it. It’s quite fitting really when one considers the quality of many members of the Westminster parliament in recent and not so recent years. | |
| 23 | Rolling cask into best clubs, do they bother in saloons? (8,7) |
| BACKSEAT DRIVERS | |
| Anagram [rolling] of CASK contained by [into] BEAT (best), DRIVERS (golf clubs). The definition is cryptic. | |
| 24 | Guard leaving southern gate (5) |
| ENTRY | |
| {s}ENTRY (guard) [leaving] S (southern) | |
| 25 | Don’t do away with Phoenician city corporation (5,4) |
| SPARE TYRE | |
| SPARE (don’t do away with), TYRE (Phoenician city). ‘Corporation’ meaning large belly annoys some of our regulars, and ‘spare tyre’ is just a variation. This answer appeared in yesterday’s 15×15 with wordplay ‘relieve ancient city’. | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Significant ruin besetting Scots sweetheart (5) |
| MAJOR | |
| MAR (ruin) containing [besetting] JO (Scots sweetheart). SOED has ‘jo’ as a Scottish word for ‘sweetheart’ going back to the early 16th century. | |
| 2 | Thought experiment good in chain store with CD-Rs distributed (12,3) |
| SCHRODINGERS CAT | |
| G (good) contained by [in] anagram [distributed] of CHAIN STORE CD-RS. I knew nothing of this but at least I’d heard the expression and the anagrist got me to the answer. The paradox cross-referenced at 17ac as explained by my AI assistant is taken on trust and reproduced here: Schrödinger’s Cat is a famous thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrödinger to illustrate the concept of quantum superposition. A cat is placed in a sealed box with a device that has a 50% chance of releasing a deadly poison. According to quantum mechanics, until the box is opened and the cat’s state is observed, the cat is considered to be both alive and dead simultaneously. This paradox highlights the strange behaviour of quantum particles, which can exist in multiple states until measured. |
|
| 3 | Incautious having wine and pork pie before run (8) |
| CAVALIER | |
| CAVA (wine), LIE (pork pie – Cockney rhyming slang), R (run) | |
| 4 | Commander horrified — good man lost (4) |
| AGHA | |
| AGHA{st} (horrified) [good man – st/saint – lost]. I don’t recall seeing this spelling of Aga before. | |
| 5 | Police Muswell Hill area: rising crime brings court action (4,6) |
| LAWN TENNIS | |
| LAW (police), N TEN (Muswell Hill area – London N10 postal district), then SIN (crime) reversed [rising]. The police are often referred to as ‘The Law’ e.g. ‘I’ll set the law on you’. Last week we had comments when Notting Hill appeared but at least that’s quite well-known outside the UK because of the popular / infamous [delete as applicable] film starring Hugh Grant. However Muswell Hill, an area of north London that includes bits of Hampstead and Highgate must surely be more difficult for overseas solvers, and knowing that its postal district is N10 is even more of a challenge. I didn’t know it myself even though I was born and raised 9 miles away. On top of all that, the solver has to change N10 to N TEN, something you will never ever see. Definitely a clue best suited to biffing and moving on unless you are the unfortunate person on blogging duty! | |
| 6 | Around over time, cat’s getting cream (6) |
| LOTION | |
| LION (cat) containing [around) O (over) + T (time) | |
| 7 | Volunteer officer with Labour offering faster service (7,8) |
| SPECIAL DELIVERY | |
| SPECIAL (volunteer officer – more police e.g. special constable), DELIVERY (labour – childbirth) | |
| 8 | BEF endlessly destroy supply ships — in Pearl Harbour? (6-3) |
| OYSTER-BED | |
| Anagram [supply] of DESTROY contains [ships] BE{f} [endlessly]. The definition is pleasantly whimsical. The surface reading is less pleasant with its evocations of wars in which the UK sent British Expeditionary Forces to fight in Europe. As for the idea of them being in Pearl Harbour attacking, presumably American, supply ships, that’s very odd! | |
| 12 | Fish with line and instrument for deep sound (6,4) |
| STRING BASS | |
| STRING (line), BASS (fish). The string bass aka double bass is the lowest pitched member of the string section of an orchestra. | |
| 13 | Island insurance recalled as subject to cancellation? (9) |
| REVOCABLE | |
| ELBA (island – the site of Napoleon’s first exile) + COVER (insurance) reversed [recalled]. I know ‘irrevocable’ but for the opposite meaning I would write ‘revokable’. Both are valid along with ‘revokeable’ but the ‘k’ spellings are pronounced differently from the one with the ‘c’. Also you can’t put ‘ir-‘ in front of the ‘k’ versions. All very strange, but perhaps there a logic to it somewhere. | |
| 15 | Meringue ingredient for example affected weight (3,5) |
| EGG WHITE | |
| EG (for example), anagram [affected] of WEIGHT | |
| 18 | Beater at Murthly finally getting dram (6) |
| WHISKY | |
| WHISK (beater), {Murthl}Y [finally]. Murthly is a village in Perthshire I never heard of and judging by its Wiki page doesn’t seem to have a lot going for it as its featured picture is of an ugly garage on a main road. | |
| 21 | Be unable to stand, necking last of Chablis in hurry (5) |
| HASTE | |
| HATE (be unable to stand) containing [necking] {Chabli}S [last of…] | |
| 22 | Middleman oddly ignored hypothesis (4) |
| IDEA | |
| {m}I{d}D{l}E{l}A{n} [oddly ignored] | |
16’09”. Lots of write-ins. Like it that WEIGHT is an anagram of -G White. Thanks
All done in 18:50, what fun. Many thanks, Jack.
18:57
On ‘phone. Though I’m a Londoner and have heard of Muswell Hill, I couldn’t have guessed it was in N10. Didn’t know JO as a Scots sweetheart either. Otherwise, much enjoyed.
Thanks Jack and setter
35:52. Good fun. I know that Muswell Hll is N10. I lived there for a while. As I wrote the answer in I did think it wouldn’t work like that for everyone
35 minutes, so actually not too hard for me, but it was a lot of fun. My only objection would be to the misspelling of Schrödinger, but in an English puzzle, what is one to do? Of course I biffed LAWN TENNIS, but saw immediately how it worked. I knew Muswell Hill is in north London, so the N TEN seemed plausible in any event. In 20 ac, I first thought “stupid” was an anagrind, but anagrams of “or wise” weren’t leading anywhere so I did eventually settle on OWLISH, delighted at the strange (and often fairly old) words English has for groups of animals.
18.20 and I confess to looking up the spelling of the cat owner. LOI rootle, never thought of owls being stupid, I thought owlish was concerned with patient or wearing spectacles.
Liked revocable and blab on reading how it was put together.
Nice puzzle thx setter and blogger.
I really enjoyed this despite getting BLAB wrong. The link between 2 and 17 was particularly enjoyable. I too wondered which way Schroedinger was going to be spelled. This brought back memories of 1975 when I took a module in quantum mechanics as part of my maths degree. We actually derived Schroedinger’s equation but I don’t think any of us understood it in any deep sense.
A quick google on N10 confirmed the Muswell Hill reference – another great clue. I don’t normally do the weekday crosswords, but I’m glad I chose to do this one.
If anyone’s curious about Schroedinger and his cat then I can recommend Schroedinger’s Cat and the sequel Schroedinger’s Kittens by John Gribben.
How is a solver in Oregon, Brisbane or Timbucto0 supposed to know that Muswell Hill is in London N10? I didn’t remember that and I used to live in East Finchley!
Thanks for all the help. As an Australian I know London quite well, but Muswell Hill was a bit far. Luckily I got the tennis court.
Thanks for explanation of major. My Scottish is not so good.
29:56. COD: JEHOVAH’S WITNESS