Hello again. This crossword I thought was about average difficulty, so easier than some we’ve had recently, and a very pleasant outing. No nho’s, and only one or two less familiar words. What did you think?
I use the standard conventions like underlining the definition, CD for cryptic definition, DD for a double one, *(anargam) and so forth. Nho = “not heard of” and in case of need, the Glossary is always handy
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | More than one criminal child is involved in creative pursuits (9) |
| ARSONISTS – SON IS, in the ARTS, creative pursuits | |
| 6 | Down-and-out old boy entering house (4) |
| HOBO – OB (old boy) in HO(use) | |
| 8 | Head of academic staff welcomes street preacher (7) |
| APOSTLE – A(cademic) + ST(reet) in POLE | |
| 9 | Cold Italian region identical to English one (7) |
| CUMBRIA – C(old) + UMBRIA, your Italian region. Not sure how it’s identical to Cumbria, think I must be missing something here. | |
| 11 | One faced with predicament in row? This could offer some illumination (5,8) |
| STRIP LIGHTING – I + PLIGHT (predicament) in STRING, row. | |
| 13 | Vegetable foodstuff essential to bones? (6) |
| MARROW – as in bone marrow. Mine has been causing problems this year. The bone marrow biopsy was excruciatingly painful, avoid them if you can. | |
| 14 | Manage after form of therapy to get hold of huge medical instrument (8) |
| OTOSCOPE – OT (occupational therapy) + OS (huge, outsize) + COPE, manage. | |
| 17 | There may be a cafe here, by the way (8) |
| ROADSIDE – another slightly strange clue, but indeed there are roadside cafés, I suppose. | |
| 19 | Phone back about computer program and flap (6) |
| LAPPET – APP, a computer program, in TEL (phone) reversed. A word I knew from that seminal work, The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter. | |
| 22 | Member of cabinet revised payroll, somehow dismissing aide finally (4,5,4) |
| LORD PRIVY SEAL – *(REVISED PAYROLL), less the (aid)E. Wikipedia has a complete list of the incumbents going back to 1306, but it has been a sinecure for many years and I bet you can’t name the current one.. whenever I see the term, I think of The Frost Report.. | |
| 25 | Like leader of Samurai, say, with first-class sharp weapon (7) |
| ASSEGAI – AS (like) + S(amurai) + EG (say) + AI, first class. | |
| 26 | Problem with concentration? Maybe this is needed for the solution (7) |
| THINNER – A CD I think, the idea being that a solution that is overconcentrated is too thick and needs thinners, white spirit perhaps if it’s an oil-based paint. | |
| 27 | Food enthusiast needing large input (4) |
| FLAN – L(arge) in FAN, an enthusiast | |
| 28 | Rude man is wrong person to be looking after children (9) |
| NURSEMAID – *(RUDE MAN IS). | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Passage under a home? No (4) |
| AWAY – A + WAY, a passage. An away match, not a home one… | |
| 2 | Society in need engaging partners at table who will provide cash (7) |
| SPONSOR – S(ociety) + NS (partners, at the bridge table) in POOR, in need. | |
| 3 | No errant suitor embraces love like Don Juan? (9) |
| NOTORIOUS – NO, + O in *(SUITOR). Don Juan is a fictional womaniser who appears in a number of poems etc and in one of Mozart’s operas, Don Giovanni. | |
| 4 | Plain stage, place emptied out (6) |
| STEPPE – STEP (stage) + P(lac)E | |
| 5 | Holy soldiers lament having interred one saint somewhere inside church (8) |
| SACRISTY – SA (the Salvation Army, holy soldiers), + I S(ain)T in CRY, lament. I found this tricky to parse! But shouldn’t have. My father always had a soft spot for the Sally Army; he said that during the war (ie WWII) they would do anything, go anywhere to support the war effort. | |
| 6 | I’m confused having accepted politician’s expression of discontent (5) |
| HUMPH – MP (politician) in HUH. Huh: “an exclamation of derision, bewilderment, inquiry, etc.,” though not one I ever remember using. | |
| 7 | Item of food — it goes into bottomless hole (7) |
| BURRITO – IT, in BURRO(w). A burrito is also a small donkey, though they are seldom an ingredient, so I understand. | |
| 10 | Elaborate embellishment involving funny tiger and tea (8) |
| AIGRETTE – *(TIGER + TEA). “a long plume worn on hats or as a headdress, esp one of long egret feathers.” I expect we all have one, don’t we, tucked away at the back of a cupboard or somewhere.. | |
| 12 | All-encompassing means of stopping undesirable elements? (8) |
| UMBRELLA – A DD. An umbrella organisation comprises or represents many others. | |
| 15 | Concept of modern physics raised issues involving velocity (5-4) |
| SPACE-TIME – PACE (velocity) in EMITS (issues), reversed. If we are talking physics, pace does not strictly equal velocity. Speed yes, but not velocity which is a vector quantity. | |
| 16 | A divine Italian home including old extension (8) |
| ADDITION – A DD (doctor of divinity) + IT(alian) + O(ld) in IN, home. | |
| 18 | Dispenser of perfume? Loos are transformed (7) |
| AEROSOL – *(LOOS ARE) . Today’s quickie escapee. | |
| 20 | Doughy grub? Dad eats nothing when fasting is fashionable (7) |
| POLENTA – O + LENT in PA, dad. Polenta is cornmeal. It is nice sprinkled over chips, before cooking them in the airfryer.. | |
| 21 | Seafood bringing some regrets, you being upset (6) |
| OYSTER – hidden, rev., as above | |
| 23 | Face tackling a good heathen (5) |
| PAGAN – A G(ood), in PAN. Meaning no. 11 in Collins is “a slang word for face.” News to me. | |
| 24 | Feature of crossword — hard work with any number to be got out (4) |
| GRID – GRI(n)D | |
About 15′ for this interesting puzzle. Nho AIGRETTE, just about formulated LAPPET, and LOI AWAY.
I agree with Jerry re velocity, but I’ve never really understood space-time, despite decades of reading sci-fi. FLAN and ROADSIDE weak clues imo, BURRITO something to do with a band (?), and have known ASSEGAI ever since seeing Zulu for the first time.
And why am I first to post?
Thanks Jerry and setter.
Perhaps The Flying Burrito Brothers, a late 60’s Californian folk rock band of whom I remember nothing.
Great country rock band which at its peak featured the doomed but brilliant Gram Parsons. They regularly get an outing on my iplayer.
40 minutes for all but three answers. I gave up and used aids for LAPPET which I didn’t know although it has appeared once before, and only last year, when I also didn’t know it.
I really liked AWAY, not so keen on AIGRETTE or ARGIETTE where I was left high and dry by the setter.
20 mins but the NHOs were out in full force, I’m afraid to say . Good to get them all out the way in one go, I suppose. The gruesome trio of LAPPET, AIGRETTE and SACRISTY all went in on wordplay alone. Lawks. COD to THINNER.
I think that the idea with CUMBRIA is simply that C(old) + UMBRIA is the same as CUMBRIA.
Another fun crossword I thought with some unknowns with helpful wordplay: AIGRETTE, ASSEGAI, LAPPET, although I think I’ve heard of the last one, yes, 24/10/24, blogged by ulaca. Liked THINNER once I saw what was going on. UMBRELLA was very good. STRIP LIGHTING took me some time as I thought the ‘row’ would be ‘fighting’ holding ‘predicament’, saw it once SPONSOR went in.
Not looking forward to tricky Thursday after three friendly offerings.
Thanks Jerry and setter.
DNK AIGRETTE, but guessed it from the anagram, and miraculously knew LAPPET. Completed all but UMBRELLA in 20 mins, then stared at the missing letters for a further 20. Gave up. Now furious with myself for missing what was a really rather obvious answer.
24:34. Middling puzzle. NHO LAPPET, ASSEGAI nor LOI AIGRETTE where a coin-toss to finish was unsatisfying.
COD THINNER, not a wealth of candidates. Thanks to Jerry, esp. for the polenta + chips idea and to setter.
– cut chips (I like them quite thin) and leave in a bowl of water for 20 mins
– dry chips in a teatowel, and bowl, then stir chips round with a tablespoon or so of olive oil
– sprinkle a tbs or so of polenta over, stir round
– 12 mins at 160degC, then 12 at 200degC in the airfryer
Perfect chips …
About 15 minutes.
– Nearly bunged in a silly SCRAP LIGHTING after seeing ‘row’ in the clue, but eventually saw how it had to be STRIP LIGHTING
– Relied on the wordplay for the unknown LAPPET
– Didn’t know who Don Juan was, but was happy to trust he was NOTORIOUS
– Also didn’t know AIGRETTE, but I’ve heard of vinaigrette so it sounded plausible (even though by the looks of it they’re completely unrelated)
Thanks Jerry and setter.
FOI Hobo
LOI Umbrella
COD Nursemaid
10:17. Average difficulty but I thought some of this was a bit loose. I may be missing something but if ROADSIDE and THINNER are just cryptic definitions then I think they’re pretty weak. And ‘identical to’ in 9ac is otiose and gratuitously misleading. It’s a consistent convention in crosswords that the outcome of wordplay is (or gives) the answer, to decide for the purposes of a single clue, and for the sake of the wordplay, that it’s something else is not quite cricket IMO.
I don’t think CUMBRIA works either.
42 minutes. I didn’t remember LAPPET and AIGRETTE and spent too long on my last few, including my LOI UMBRELLA. I wasn’t too keen on ROADSIDE but liked THINNER and STRIP LIGHTING. Can’t recall having come across PAN for ‘face’ before.
Found this really quite accessible and finished in around 15′ which is in PB ballpark for me.
NHO LAPPET but was a simple parsing. Vaguely (I think) heard of AIGRETTE but then I also thought I’d vaguely heard of Argiette… I plumped for the former because I thought the latter might be a place name and also made the same “vinaigrette” connection as Chris L. Bingo.
Thanks Jerry and setter
12:25. Anyone else for DILUENT for 26A? That held me up for a bit in the SE corner. DNK LAPPET but remembered AIGRETTE. I liked the “means of stopping undesirable elements”. Thanks Jerry and setter.
Just under 14 minutes, so a welcome relief after two days wondering whether I’d lost it. AIGRETTES? I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
I’ll venture that the cryptic elements in ROADSIDE, THINNER and even UMBRELLA were pretty sketchy, though the last did have two definitions, sort of. I’ll not enter the PACE-velocity debate, since my understanding of the time part is that it’s “a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff.” I know my limitations.
Thanks, Jerry, especially for the Frost Report reminder. If you didn’t, I would have. Instead I give you Churchill: “Tell His Lordship: I’m sealed on The Privy and can only deal with one sh*t at a time”.
32 mins (but an incorrect ARGIETTE) so my slowest of the week so far.
Was also confused by CUMBRIA, having been to both they are quite a bit different, but Quadrophenia’s explanation makes sense.
Liked UMBRELLA with the clue sending me down the path of quite complicated wordplay before I just went with the what fits the checking letters approach.
Thanks blogger and setter
13.52
Thought ROADSIDE a bit weak but (rare for me to disagree with the esteemed Keriothe) liked THINNER. Ditto NOTORIOUS and a few others. Remembered AIGRETTE but LAPPET was a guess from w/p.
Nice blog and thanks Setter.
From STEPPE to UMBRELLA in 16:19. Managed to construct AIGRETTE which sounded vaguely familiar, and LAPPET which sounded as though it should be something. Raised a pair of eyebrows at the suggestion that CUMBRIA and UMBIA are identical. Otherwise a pleasant interlude. Thanks setter and Jerry.
A few short, mainly in the NW.
Although I am a fan of hats, with supplemental feathers (Laird on the Strand sells very nice feathers for hats) I did not know AIGRETTE. I thought it was one of those music notes, the little ones that have odd names, so went with ARGIETTE.
14:59 but…
…cheated with NHO AIGRETTE, which could just as easily have been ARGIETTE.
Missed a few other bits:
STRIP LIGHTING – bunged in from checkers
ROADSIDE – shrug, I had PAVEMENT initially – not the finest clue
LAPPET – know of it probably only from these parts
LORD PRIVY SEAL – bunged in from enumeration and checkers
I liked the UMBRELLA DD
Thanks Jerry and setter
10:04
Pretty easy then. Lappet and Aigrette unknown. In the case of the latter I didn’t consider agri-. I think my brain decided the correct answer was close enough to both aiglet and vinaigrette to be a likely contender.
I’m on the lookout for a suitable adornment for my recently-acquired pork pie hat but an egret’s feather might be a bit OTT.
My thanks to JerryW and setter.
Slightly odd puzzle I thought with an NHO, and took a while to sort out.
11a Strip Lighting. I got desperate here as I thought it was one facing predicament in F~ighting, and that didn’t work. Never did parse it.
17a Roadside, very weak I thought and it was pencilled very lightly from a second after I read the clue until now.
10d NHO Aigrette.
19a NHO Lappet. Although jackkt says it appeared here before so not NHO but deservedly forgotten.
22a Lord Privy Seal, I think of that Frost program too. Thanks for the link.
10d Aigrette, NHO or very vaguely HO.
OK, maybe not as difficult as the last 4, but no doddle either. Foiled in the end by LAPPET ( unlikely word) and STEPPE ( step = stage?).
Solving a clue can be a two step or two stage process.
24 minutes, an unusually quick solve for me. I think both the THINNER and the ROADSIDE clues are CDs: the THINNER one is obvious, and the ROADSIDE one just relies on ‘by the way’ being interpreted in two different ways. Not the world’s greatest, but then in my opinion few CDs are. NHO LAPPET.
That thought occurred to me too. According to some, all CDs are weak, by definition, as it were.. personally I think they do have their place.
Just under target at 44.43 but with one wrong. As others have said, the ‘elaborate embellishment’ was unknown to me, and I entered ARGIETTE. I somehow managed not to arrange the letters to give me the correct answer as an option, and had I done so I might have preferred it. My LOI was LAPPET which I was surprised to find was right, thinking that a reversed TEL for ring was a bit weak.
13:20 -pleased with my time for what felt like a slightly more complicated offering than the usual midweek. Same unknowns as others and same misgivings about loose CDs as Keriothe.
5:54. Nothing too taxing but parsed SACRISTY after finishing. I’m another with the same comments as Keriothe above.
As you say, @jerry, a middling and enjoyable puzzle, nothing scary, 15 minutes, thanks for the blog. I am enjoying my retirement.
DNF. Had all done except Aigrette and Lappet in 12 mins. Couldn’t come up with Tel for phone. Doh!
Thanks to Jerry and our setter.
30:57.
A decent puzzle but both THINNER and ROADSIDE seemed a bit weak. I have put an AIGRETTE on my Christmas list.
Thanks to the setter and to Jerry, particularly for the illuminating pace/speed snippet at 15. I don’t understand it but intend to learn it by heart and drop it into conversations whenever possible
Maybe there are so few comments because the site has been inaccessible for some at times. I was getting another Too Many Requests error message a little while ago.
I finished Tuesday’s puzzle last night before doing this one, which wasn’t as much fun but a bit easier.
29:55, with ARSONISTS and AWAY my last two in.
Vaguely heard of AIGRETTE, possibly from previous crosswords.
Biffed SPACE TIME without stopping to consider the distinction between scalars and vectors, but happy to be less than strict with the synonyms.
Thanks Jerry and setter
Can’t give a time as a slab of work intervened, but it was certainly easier than yesterday’s. Like others, I didn’t think much of ROADSIDE, or THINNER.
Thanks to setter and blogger
PAN as face is probably most commonly seen as DEADPAN.
Much happier today than yesterday (sorry if I was overly grumpy then). A gentle 28 mins today before venturing out to this evening’s concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, always a midweek treat. Thanks to setter, blogger and all who quietly put up with yesterday’s grumbles.
9ac I think this is the way it works:
The letters in C-Umbria are identical to those in Cumbria. It has nothing to do with the regions being like each other.
Three in a row that I found impossible due to ignorance of odd words in each. I much prefer to be beaten by clever clues than just obscure words.
HUMPH makes me think of Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz-band supremo. Am currently reading the wonderful letters sent between his Dad, George, and the publisher Rupert Hart-Davis. Only yesterday, but a different world. Found this quite easy and finished in 14’51 — good news for the old average. Further to my comment above, let’s hear it for the FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS — country rock at its finest.
Hence the blog title 🙂
Damn – missed that! Thanks!
18:26. My resolution to have a go at the Big Boy on the train home regardless of Snitch seems to be showing a slow improvement.
LOI CUMBRIA, which I really hesitated over. Thanks, Jerry.
I was pleased to finish this one. Some of it was gentle, but I got a bit bogged down on three or four and had to take a break to clear my head – then I came back back and the last few quickly fell into place.
So imagine my chagrin when I checked my answers with Jerry’s blog and realised that I had carelessly written ASSAGAI rather than ASSEGAI….
I found this more accessible than this morning’s Quickie, and certainly more fun. Enough easy answers to get the required crossers and apart from a hold up over the space time thingy and THINNER it was relatively quick. LOI was AWAY! AIGRETTE and LAPPET NHO, but solvable.
16.50. Of late, I’ve found Wednesday puzzles more difficult than the norm. Today’s was much more user friendly. Checked aigrette which was a NHO , everything else pretty straightforward.
Why does one get this ‘Too many requests’ page? I haven’t posted more than once or twice today, not so many as some.
40 minutes. I was greatly held up by the crossing unknowns LAPPET and AIGRETTE and misguessed the latter as AEGRETTI. Thanks Jerry.
28:36. LOIs AIGRETTE and LAPPET, with fingers crossed, both NHOs. I liked the UMBRELLA, stopping undesirable elements. Very late posting today; lots of “Too Many Requests” error messages, to which my response is to try again and again and again and ….