45 minutes, but a technical DNF. Much of this was straightforward and I had all but four answers within my half-hour target but I had to grind out three of the remainder and look up the fourth.
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 now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Wine added to menu at a fancy gastropub perhaps (11) |
| PORTMANTEAU | |
| PORT (wine), anagram [fancy] of MENU AT A. Gastropub is an example of a portmanteau word, i.e. one which blends the sounds and meanings of two others, in this case ‘gastronomy’ (relating to good food) and ‘pub’. | |
| 7 | Venomous sort, privileged American leaving wife (3) |
| ASP | |
| {W}ASP (privileged American) [leaving wife]. Let’s move on … | |
| 9 | Guru a bad actor backing Sunak? (9) |
| MAHARISHI | |
| A + HAM (bad actor) reversed [backing], RISHI (Sunak – former PM) | |
| 10 | Some constables sit around smoking in van (5) |
| POSSE | |
| POS~E (sit) containing [around] S{moking} [in van – upfront] | |
| 11 | Writer backtracks during sport discussion online (7) |
| WEBINAR | |
| NIB (writer) reversed [backtracks] contained by [during] WE~AR (sport) | |
| 12 | Leak stopper ready to check a computer network (7) |
| SEALANT | |
| SE~T (ready) contains [to check – as in ‘hold in check’ ) A + LAN (computer network) | |
| 13 | Romeo recovered from relationship with wanderer (5) |
| ROVER | |
| R (Romeo – phonetic alphabet), OVER (recovered from relationship with) | |
| 15 | Head coach wasting time — trivial problem (2-7) |
| NO-BRAINER | |
| NOB (head), {t}RAINER (coach) [wasting time – t] | |
| 17 | One wearing this, also tattered, and repellent pants? (9) |
| HALITOSIS | |
| I (one) contained by [wearing] anagram [tattered] of THIS ALSO. And breathe out… | |
| 19 | Sound wheel on German vehicle? (5) |
| AUDIO | |
| AUDI (German vehicle), O (wheel) | |
| 20 | Suspension of legal action established many new cases (7) |
| AMNESTY | |
| Anagram [new] of MAN~Y contains [cases] EST (established) | |
| 22 | Used head in familiar address (3,4) |
| OLD BEAN | |
| OLD (used), BEAN (head). A variant of ‘old boy’, ‘old chap’ etc. | |
| 24 | Caught fierce Siberian beast in its habitat? (5) |
| TAIGA | |
| Oral wordplay [caught] TAIGA (its habitat) / “tiger” (fierce Siberian beast). Taiga is the swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes, especially that between the tundra and steppes of Siberia. I didn’t know that tigers live there but they do, sometimes referred to as the Siberian tiger, or more commonly, the Amur tiger. The definition refers back. | |
| 25 | Disaffected by article aide lent out (9) |
| ALIENATED | |
| A (indefinite article} contained by anagram [out] of AIDE LENT | |
| 27 | Female finally able to avoid boomerangs (3) |
| DOE | |
| {abl}E + {t}O + {avoi}D [finally] is reversed [boomerangs]. A female deer, but not how the musical note is spelt. | |
| 28 | What might be Cox’s first offence? (6,5) |
| EATING APPLE | |
| Two definitions of sorts. Cox (more fully, Cox’s orange pippin) is a classic English eating apple (as opposed to cooking apple). According to some accounts of life in Garden of Eden, Eve committed the first recorded sin / offence by eating an apple, although the Bible only mentions ‘forbidden fruit’ and ‘fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil’. | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Dog and Duck opening in the afternoon (3) |
| POM | |
| 0 (duck – nil / zero) contained by [opening] P~M (in the afternoon). Pomeranian. | |
| 2 | Alcohol treatment centre male in pub recalled? (5) |
| REHAB | |
| HE (male) contained by [in] BA~R (pub) all reversed [recalled] | |
| 3 | Seafarer, one carried by a British fleet into French sea (7) |
| MARINER | |
| I (one) contained [carried] by A + R~N (British fleet – Royal Navy) all contained by [into] M~ER (French for ‘sea’) | |
| 4 | Sinners go crazy for in-your-face jewellery (4-5) |
| NOSE-RINGS | |
| Anagram [crazy] of SINNERS GO | |
| 5 | Greek fellow travelled by ship to north, avoiding delta (5) |
| ELIAS | |
| SAILE{d} (travelled by ship) [avoiding delta – d] reversed [to the north]. Elias is the Greek name for the biblical prophet Elijah who is a significant figure in Greek Orthodox Christianity and culture. | |
| 6 | City University wing housing ministerial aide (7) |
| UPPSALA | |
| U (university) ~ ALA (wing) containing [housing] PPS (ministerial aid – Parliamentary Private Secretary). This was the one that did for me. I didn’t know the Swedish city although it has come up before with more user-friendly wordplay. I also didn’t know ALA as a wing-like structure in botany and zoology, so I was stymied whichever way I approached the clue. | |
| 7 | A bishop in disgrace made Lenten observance? (9) |
| ABSTAINED | |
| A, B (bishop), STAINED (in disgrace). In Christianity it’s a custom to deprive oneself of something usually pleasurable during Lent. | |
| 8 | Legendary ruler runs into trouble with gents across the pond? (7,4) |
| PRESTER JOHN | |
| R (runs – cricket) contained by [into] PESTER (trouble), JOHN (gents across the pond). Another that gave me trouble but I got there eventually. A mythical king of the Orient from the time of the crusades. He’s come up here three times before, most recently in 2017. | |
| 11 | Sympathetic what with dreamer being devastated (4-7) |
| WARM-HEARTED | |
| Anagram [being devastated] of WHAT DREAMER | |
| 14 | One secretly adored servant enclosing note, in love at last (9) |
| VALENTINE | |
| VALE~T (servant) containing [enclosing] N (note), then IN, {lov}E [at last] | |
| 16 | Croatian neighbour welcoming to New Englander (9) |
| BOSTONIAN | |
| BOS~NIAN (Croatian neighbour) containing [welcoming] TO | |
| 18 | With a will the nation gives up heroin (7) |
| TESTATE | |
| T{h}E + STATE (nation) [gives up heroin – h] | |
| 19 | Norse work returned and revised for supplements (7) |
| ADDENDA | |
| EDDA (Norse work) reversed [returned], anagram [revised] of AND. I knew EDDA from previous puzzles. |
|
| 21 | Arsenic brought in still something bakers use? (5) |
| YEAST | |
| AS (Arsenic) contained by [brought in] YE~T (still) | |
| 23 | Finish your food warm, not hot (3,2) |
| EAT UP | |
| {h}EAT UP (warm) [not hot]. For once a setter has spared us the sound of Bow bells! | |
| 26 | What may colour out-of-body experience somewhat (3) |
| DYE | |
| Hidden in [somewhat] {out-of-bo}DY E{xperience} | |
Nice puzzle. FOI NO-BRAINER was just that. Loved OLD BEAN, HALITOSIS and TAIGA. Got most of it out reasonably quickly but slowed to a crawl in the SE corner by BOSTONIAN, OLD BEAN and EATING APPLE.
Thanks Jack.
I pur in UPPSALA under the assumption that the unparsed parts of the word were initials for the job at the church. The apple seemed vaguely familiar. As for the supposed original infraction in the fable, it seems particularly pertinent in the United States today to point out that blind obedience is not mature moral behavior. That could be the real, esoteric point of the tale (O felix culpa!, Joyce’s refrain in Finnegans Wake)…
I didn’t really have any difficulty, other than trying to remember taiga and how to spell it. Uppsala was obvious from the wings, and I knew Prester John. Here in the US, john is no longer current slang, and younger people won’t know it. Portmanteau was my last in, and I was relieved I didn’t need a word meaning a fancy gastropub.
Time: 15:29
8:23. No major problems.
I was caught out the first time I encountered this clue for (the then unknown) TAIGA but never since.
I’ve actually been to UPPSALA – or rather through it, on the way to even less well-known places further north.
19 minutes. Fortunately UPPSALA materialised after having the U for ‘University’ and then getting POSSE but the parsing had to come later. I only knew PRESTER JOHN from schooldays as a novel by John Buchan and not as a ‘Legendary ruler’.
I liked (sort of) the ‘repellent pants?’ def and the apt surfaces for PORTMANTEAU and TAIGA.
Ditto re Prester John – remembered from 67 years ago.
I liked the Apple, didn’t know either Uppsala or ala, took Elias on faith, and would have pulled Taiga out of my memory if I hadn’t been so completely flummoxed by the clue that I didn’t know what I was looking for. thanks jack
18:26. All fun and with some great clues. What held me up was the UPPSALA/POSSE crossing. I knew UPPSALA so eventually got it, but DNK or had forgotten ALA and PPS…all I could come up with for aide was SPAD. As for POSSE, again DNK or had forgotten the sense of ‘force or body (of constables)’. I cite that definition from Chambers, which I now have access to, and which certainly makes things easier (to look up afterwards, of course!).
I can see how PORTMANTEAU would be difficult if you didn’t know what it meant.
Raced through this until I got to PRESTER JOHN that I either didn’t know or had forgotten. Got it in the end once I realized it was going to end JOHN. No problem with UPPSALA since I worked for a company once that had an office there, even though I never went there, only to Stockholm. 24 mins with about 5 on the legendary ruler or it would have been really fast (for me).
Not 15ac, but still a lot better than both the Sat and Sun specials this week.
Enough interest to make completing a modest pleasure rather than a chore.
COD for me 26ac TAIGA. Liked 17ac HALITOSIS and 16d BOSTONIAN.
Had to look up to get PRESTER for 8d which then checked with clue. Partly parsed for UPPSALA but had to look up. 5d ELIAS was parsed and then checked – but should have known.
Some unusual or innovative cluing also: Got 28ac EATING APPLE from crossers and just an inkling as to what ‘first offence’ might mean. Did not know Cox of the apple, just Brian Cox the young physicist – did not help! In 10ac ‘van’ as a selection indicator (!) and a POSSE as ‘some constables’ (maybe)? Suppose ‘boomerangs’ has been used before in this way.
Pleased to see that jackkt has his mojo back. And thank you particularly for parsing of 19d ADDENDA. Saw this from crossers and meaning only – not a clue otherwise, but should have known – EDDA was in recently.
As usual apologies for any crossings, I will read.
Thank you setter and jackkt.
14:58. Was heading for a sub-10 but slowed down by the NHO PRESTER JOHN, the NHO Cox apple and the “not really known but vaguely aware of” UPPSALA. All eventually went in on a wordplay + best guess basis, so no complaints.
I failed to spot the brilliance of the HALITOSIS definition until my post-solve review. Also liked PORTMANTEAU and for some reason EAT UP tickled my fancy.
Thanks setter and Jack.
45:58, smooth running, no aids.
Couldn’t parse ASP, thought it was to do with US leaving SPOUSE.
Also didn’t parse POSSE, not seen “in the van” to indicate initial letter.
Pleased to get PRESTER JOHN after just the initial P.
I was a bit clever with equating “treatment centre” with T, and even looked up an unknown alcoholic drink TRAMB.
NHO ALA for wing, but have seen it clued with “in the fashion of. As in “a la mode”
Tried SLOVENIAN for the Croatian neighbour but then decided definition must be the other demonym.
LOI SEALANT
COD GASTROPUB and EATING APPLE, only saw the elegance of the garden of Eden reference when came here. Very nice.
Got all but three in 15 minutes, then took another 10 minutes over UPPSALA, POSSE and ELIAS. Had no idea that the latter was a specifically Greek name. Some really clever clues today – EATING APPLE and HALITOSIS my personal favourites – along with some write-ins like ROVER and, appropriately, NO-BRAINER.
Thanks J and setter.
Some really enjoyable clues on this one, particularly enjoyed HALITOSIS (there’s a rarely read sentence!) and Gastropub. But got deeply stuck on PRESTER JOHN (NHO for me) and took too long to parse POSSE correctly, so a bright start turned into 38:42.
Rarely written, too, we very much hope.
14:21
I raced through this for the most part but then got bogged down by UPPSALA / POSSE. The City rang a faint bell but I couldn’t parse it, and POSSE went in last even though that was more straightforward.
Another Mondayish feel about this one but enjoyable all the same.
Thanks to both.
21 mins. UPPSALA was rather brutal if you hadn’t heard of it before – with equally brutal wordplay (NHO the PPS usage or ALA either). Sort of clue that just looks designed to trip people up and definitely stood out from the herd, but otherwise an enjoyable puzzle.
DNF. Like our blogger, fell at the last, well, last two really and had to use aids. UPPSALA & PRESTON JOHN (although I had the JOHN bit) NHO’S.
Otherwise a pleasant romp. I liked PORTMANTEAU, NO BRAINER & OLD BEAN best.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Finished but with one error in 24 minutes, DOE eluded me so I entered DIE in despair. Had heard of PRESTER JOHN but, as happens more frequently as I move into my dotage, no idea where or when. ELIAS also surfaced from the black lagoon of my memory but the wordplay left no real alternative and much the same goes for TAIGA.
A fair and friendly puzzle. Thanks to setter and jackkt.
10’26”, no issues today. Not been to Sweden, but O level Geography helped.
HALITOSIS a clever clue for a word made up by people wanting to sell things. (The word was popularized in the 1920s by Listerine advertisements to describe bad breath as a medical condition, which significantly increased sales of their mouthwash).
Really liked EATING APPLE.
Thanks jack and setter.
About 20 minutes.
– Didn’t know how exactly ELIAS was a Greek name, but got there from wordplay
– Had heard of UPPSALA, although I thought it was in Finland
– Trusted the wordplay for the unknown PRESTER JOHN
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Pom
LOI Prester John
COD Bostonian
2 Mondays this week and 2 sub-20s in a row, 18:40 today. Lots to biff here but parsing to confirm was hard work in places.
NHO ALA or ELIAS, vaguely HO PRESTER JOHN but no idea who he was.
LOI OLD BEAN
COD PORTMANTEAU which I constructed without understanding but now jackkt has explained it I see the light. Thanks. And to setter.
NHO PRESTER JOHN, and didn’t want to guess, so DNF. The rest of this was mostly easy, though OLD BEAN held me up for a while.
From POM to BOSTONIAN in 16:39. PRESTER JOHN rang a faint bell after I’d assembled him. Wasted time with a SPAD in UPPSALA, where the wing was an unknown and although I vaguely knew the city, forgot it had 2 Ps until PPS occured to me. HALITOSIS rained a chuckle. An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks setter and Jack.
Nice time post, jd
Thanks Paul 😊
13.27
Very enjoyable. Stayed in UPPSALA and been to the far north from there as well. Highly recommended. NHO PRESTER JOHN but the w/p was helpful.
Thanks Jackkt/Setter
13:04. I took a while to remember the vaguely known PRESTER JOHN and to parse my LOI, DOE. I liked EATING APPLE. Thanks Jackkt and setter.
14:38.
COD: HALITOSIS. Repellant pants.😀
6d Uppsala, I’ve been there, but couldn’t fully parse it. It is famous for its old university. I was trying to shoehorn a SPAD in there somewhere. HHO Ala as a wing type structure but never thought of it.
My thanks to jackkt and setter.
It says a lot about the rate of the world going to hell that we all thought immediatly of the odious SPAD, and took a while to twig the traditional, often useful, and more often than not honourable PPS.
Umm, good point.
The PPSs also have to win an election, whereas the SPADs only have to convince a minister.
27:26 mins. I thought I was on for a PB with the NW finished in under two minutes and powering through the rest of the grid but a handful accounted for the vast majority of time
UPPSALA and PRESTER JOHN were in my brain but not near the top of the list of cities and rulers but they came after a lot of staring.
BOSTONIAN also took an age. Trying some play on Baltic/Baltimore before it dawning on me I was in the wrong state. Baltimorean was apparently what I was after and didn’t fit anyway.
HALITOSIS I could see the anagram but just couldn’t get the letters into a word.
TAIGA went in with a shrug so pleased to see pink squares.
COD: WEBINAR
Thanks blogger and setter
36:36. LOI being PRESTER JOHN who was new to me. I particularly liked HALITOSIS – I think I’ve seen it before similarly clued but it’s still funny (as are the BO references). UTRECHT was my first guess at the city, but thankfully I spent a bit more time looking for the wordplay. TAIGA I knew from David Attenborough. Good fun – thanks!
23 mins. I put in UPPSALA as the only city I could think of with a U and 7letters and moved on. Never even thought about the parsing! Tx
The definition in 1ac defeated me although it shouldn’t have, and the very nice definition in 17ac did also at the time. PRESTER JOHN only heard of from a novel by John Buchan and I thought he was probably a legendary ruler. Does anyone call someone else ‘OLD BEAN’ nowadays? Certainly nobody of even my generation does. 33 minutes.
I do it quite frequently with a particular group of friends. It started ironically 30 years ago and just stuck.
Glad to hear it! The English language is full of such charming, colourful expressions and as long as they are harmless like OLD BEAN it would be very dull if there were some sort of statute of limitations that precluded their use in crosswords.