Time: 25 minutes. Pretty straightforward but some nice wordplay and interesting surfaces made this an enjoyable solve.
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 | Illegal reproduction of photo largely blue (6) |
| PIRACY – PI{c} (photo) [largely], RACY (blue) | |
| 4 | Stone breaks pieces of glass instrument (8) |
| PANPIPES – PIP (stone) is contained by [breaks] PAN~ES (pieces of glass) | |
| 10 | Reported means of controlling verification for replacement Superbowl ticket? (9) |
| RAINCHECK – Aural wordplay [reported] RAIN / “rein” (means of controlling), then CHECK (verification) | |
| 11 | Voodoo’s back with a doll made of wood (5) |
| OAKEN – {voodo}O [’s back], A, KEN (doll – Barbie’s male counterpart) | |
| 12 | I also corrected dodgy artificial eye drops (9,5) |
| CROCODILE TEARS – Anagram [dodgy] of I ALSO CORRECTED. Great definition! | |
| 14 | Run out of large part of church (5) |
| LAPSE – L (large), APSE (part of church) | |
| 16 | Practising hobby regularly with help (9) |
| OBSERVANT – {h}O{b}B{y} [regularly], SERVANT (help) | |
| 18 | Broke in to crack den overnight, at last (9) |
| INSOLVENT – IN, SOLVE (crack). then {de}N + {overnigh}T [at last] | |
| 20 | Nerd drew after losing on buzzer round (5) |
| DWEEB – D{re}W [after losing on – re], then BEE (buzzer) reversed [round] | |
| 21 | Children bite me for changing nursery rhyme (5,5,4) |
| THREE BLIND MICE – Anagram [changing] of CHILDREN BITE ME | |
| 25 | Relish bluster by leader of opposition (5) |
| GUSTO – GUST (bluster), then O{pposition} [leader] | |
| 26 | Pit crew spoiled short race? (9) |
| ORCHESTRA – Anagram [spoiled] of SHORT RACE. Theatres have orchestra pits. | |
| 27 | After finally leaving, come in again briefly with a drink (5,3) |
| GREEN TEA – {leavin}G [finally], RE-ENTE{r} (come in again) [briefly], A | |
| 28 | Tossed coin with setter for earnings (6) |
| INCOME – Anagram [tossed] of COIN, then ME (setter) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Reduction in amount of wine is grating? (10) |
| PORTCULLIS – PORT (wine), CULL (reduction in amount of …), IS | |
| 2 | Greek’s letter to bank not out for money (5) |
| RHINO – RH~O (Greek’s letter) containing [to bank] IN (not out) | |
| 3 | Large Turner in public gallery ultimately replica? (7) |
| CYCLONE – {publi}C + {galler}Y [ultimately], CLONE (replica) | |
| 5 | Body part from an animal turned up (5) |
| ANKLE – AN, then ELK (animal) reversed [turned up] | |
| 6 | Trailblazer in seaside attraction eating sole (7) |
| PIONEER – PI~ER (seaside attraction) containing [eating] ONE (sole) | |
| 7 | Rod smashed cafe mug showing no emotion (5,4) |
| POKER FACE – POKER (rod), anagram [smashed] of CAFE | |
| 8 | All there was extra in file, conclusively (4) |
| SANE – {wa}S + {extr}A + {i}N + {fil}E [conclusively] | |
| 9 | What will get you half-way from A to B? (8) |
| SEMITONE – Cryptic with reference to the diatonic scale in music | |
| 13 | Nag colleague to declare hosting capable maiden? (10) |
| STABLEMATE – ST~ATE (declare) containing [hosting] ABLE (capable) + M (maiden) | |
| 15 | Dash to the pass very quickly (9) |
| POSTHASTE – Anagram [dash] of TO THE PASS | |
| 17 | Bit of stage scenery in corner, perhaps (3,5) |
| SET PIECE – A cryptic hint precedes the main definition. A set piece is a carefully organized and practised move in a team game by which the ball is returned to play, as at a scrum, a free kick, or as in this clue, a corner. | |
| 19 | Wasn’t honest to have short rest? (3,4) |
| LIE DOWN – LIED (wasn’t honest), OWN (have). I think there’s a slight problem here in that LIE DOWN is verbal and ‘short rest’ is nounal. To put things right and avoid ‘have’ doing double-duty the enumeration needs to be (3-4). | |
| 20 | Resentment once golf stops guy working (7) |
| DUDGEON – G (golf) is contained by [stops] DUD~E (guy), then ON (working). ‘Once’ because the word is very old-fashioned and really only survives in the expression ‘high dudgeon’. | |
| 22 | Spirits possibly live outside madhouse to the north (5) |
| BOOZE – BE (live) contains [outside] ZOO (madhouse) reversed [to the north] | |
| 23 | Prelude featured in fortnightly retrospective? (5) |
| INTRO – Hidden [featured] and reversed [retrospective] in {f}ORTNI{ghtly} | |
| 24 | Eager to leave silver plates (4) |
| AGOG – A~G (solver) contains [plates] GO (leave | |
16:06. A really nice puzzle. PORTCULLIS and SEMITONE were great clues. I agree that ‘lie-down’ needs a hyphen. ‘Dudgeon’ may only survive in ‘high dudgeon’, but what a survival! That phrase also feels like it means something else – ‘high spirits’, no doubt influenced by the phrase ‘in high spirits’ itself. (BTW, Wiktionary tells me that ‘dudgeon’ also meant ‘a kind of wood used especially in the handles of knives; the root of the box tree’ or the hilt itself, as used in Macbeth.)
I liked it, especially the clever definitions. I’ve been putting puzzles like this one aside for a couple friends who are interested and trying to learn – all the tricks are here and are well executed, but it was still approachable.
But I am obliged to say that gridiron football is never ever cancelled for weather. Baseball is. World Series (baseball championship) raincheck, possible. Superbowl (gridiron football championship) raincheck, a meaningless impossibility.
Thanks, jack
Was going to say that, too! ‘Football weather’! Apparently the possibility of a Super Bowl raincheck has been discussed, but is unlikely to ever happen.
What is a raincheck in this context please?
If it starts to rain (and the rain doesn’t look to stop) before a baseball game is a bit more than half completed, the game is halted and is re-played later, usually starting over from the beginning and with no score. Sometimes the re-play is tomorrow, more often it is later in the season. When that happens,spectators are given a “rain check” which admits them to the re-play.
25:15 WOE
I overlooked a typo (I’m pretty good at that) and had BABPIPES; of course, it would have been wrong anyway (never thought of PANPIPES until I saw the pink squares). I didn’t understand SET PIECE, but biffed from the checkers. Loved CROCODILE TEARS.
I really liked this as well, even though I wasn’t that quick on it. As with others, I loved CROCODILE TEARS and SEMITONE, but also STABLEMATE. SANE was great for an all-starting-letter clue. Thanks, setter and Jack.
I didn’t find this too hard, but there was a lot of biffing: crocodile tears, insolvent, posthaste, poker face, pioneer, stablemate. I couldn’t make anything of set piece, but that was the obvious answer. Cyclone was my LOI, one of those that should have been obvious, but I looked at the wrong way entirely.
Time: 21:41
Yes some good clues but unfortunately I put bagpipes not panpipes. I did wonder what bages were! But looking for a different instrument sadly never occurred to me.
I liked 24ac, it must be very hard thinking of new ways to clue “orchestra.” Assuming this is new, of course..
I think we’ve seen the anagram before and possibly “pit crew”.
A very pleasant puzzle with LOI RAINCHECK. They don’t give those at the Toughsheet. I biffed OAKEN. COD to CROCODILE TEARS. Thank you Jack and setter.
DNF with BAGPIPES. I didn’t know what BAGES were but thought they could be some cheap pieces of jewellery…
loved this otherwise, A to B was very clever, and had all kinds of ideas for body parts like TIBIA until an ANKLE was revealed (gasp!)
Doh! Another who bunged in BAGPIPES without thinking what a BAGE might be. Shame really because I enjoyed this one, particularly PORTCULLIS, POKER FACE & CROCODILE TEARS, great anagram.
Thanks Jack and setter.
I found this very tough to get started and like others ended WOE in BAGPIPES. As soon as I saw the pink squares the penny dropped.
Similarly high quality clues as yesterday but more cryptics and humour. Excellent puzzle and humbling to see anyone finding it straightforward.
Thanks Jackkt and setter.
Just over 20 minutes. Not familiar with RAINCHECK as a replacement ticket (though I’ve heard of ‘taking a raincheck’ to mean postponing plans), but no other major issues.
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Piracy
LOI Semitone
COD Portcullis
11:56. Nice puzzle. I stared at the checkers for PANPIPES for a while before I saw it. COD to LOI SEMITONE which reminded me of the excellent clue for DEFLATED recently. Thanks Jackkt and setter.
13’44”. In 19d , if the definition is ‘to have short rest’, the clue works. Frisson of MER, as always, at SEMITONE being associated with halfway. (The mathematics is very interesting). PANPIPES was LOI after careful thinking.
Thanks jack and setter.
If that’s the definition, the OWN bit comes out of nowhere.
I thought SEMITONE was a bit weak too. Does A to B via b flat exist on any major or minor scale?
Why is that relevant?
25:08
Agree with Chris Lutton – I don’t really understand my LOI 10a, just bunged it in from the checkers. What has a RAINCHECK got to do with ‘replacement Superbowl ticket?’
Otherwise, not a bad puzzle, though slowed down in the NW at the end, needing both PORTCULLIS and PIRACY to get CYCLONE and my LOI.
Thanks Jack and setter
That’s just what it means! Although apparently it actually never happens in American Football (see Paul’s comment above). See Collins: ‘a ticket stub for a baseball or other game that allows readmission on a future date if the event is cancelled because of rain’. The more commonly used meaning in the UK (a postponement of plans) is just a figurative version of this meaning.
I didn’t know that literal source, thanks! Always assumed it was just a weather related phrase.
Same here, for most of my life! I don’t remember when or how I learned the literal meaning. Probably from a crossword!
Thanks for the clarification – every day’s a schoolday 🙂
As said by others, a super puzzle, taking 25 minutes with SANE my LOI. RAINCHECK was a biff, thinking it was rather clumsy. Liked CYCLONE and DUDGEON.
178.56, agreeing that this is a pleasant puzzle to solve with some very good definitions to throw us off the track. My last in was CYCLONE, knowing I might as well ignore the capital T but still left with a bewildering array of things that turn and no Tate for the gallery. Cyclone has had a recent outing, I think, probably in a puzzle yet to be blogged.
ORCHESTRA has to be the most anagram-friendly word in the dictionary. Whether today’s was a newcomer I don’t know, but it was well executed.
I hesitated long enough over BAGES for bits of glass to go Peruvian rather than Scottish: which produces the better sound is a matter for some debate.
9:49. Lots of fun today, lovely puzzle. Glad to have somehow escaped the BAGPIPES trap, the sort of thing that will get me much more often than it should. Fortunately PANES for ‘pieces of glass’ occurred to me before any particular instrument and the P stuck.
I said the other day that I regard the use of one/two words and hyphens as largely a matter of taste – and I stick to that view – but here I agree that LIE DOWN needs a hyphen to be a noun.
DNF in 23:13. Very good puzzle only spoiled by myself. SEMINOTE (music isn’t my strong point) and a lazy BAGPIPES attracting pink squares. A lesson in parsing your answers.
COD OAKEN
Thanks blogger and setter
My thanks to jackkt and setter.
A jolly puzzle but DNF; could not find 4a Panpipes nor 8d Sane.
10a as a few others I was unaware of that definition of raincheck, so NHO and biffed. I did know the definition of refusing to commit to a date, or postponement sine die. Also totally unaware it was originally basketball specific, and never happens at the Superbowl, so I’ve learnt two things.
20d Dudgeon; hadn’t realised it is archaic, and clearly high dudgeon isn’t.
Baseball-specific; basketball games are seldom rained out.
27.49, slowed by several minutes until an alphabet trawl suggested PANPIPES
I am familiar with the phrase ‘ have a lie down’ – very colloquial, but does make it a noun.
No time as I solved before bed while watching the morning Ashes session, but like others found it both fun and approachable. LOI SANE, I couldn’t decide on the various possible options until I finally understood the clue, doh! Really liked CROCODILE TEARS. Didn’t know the source of RAINCHECK till Keriothe’s explanation above, so now it works much better, though as others have said, Superbowl is maybe not the best example…
Only know RHINO as money in crosswordland, but at least I remembered it. Thanks Jack and setter.
13 mins – entertaining and nothing too knotty
I might have been a bit distracted, but I really struggled with this, having to grind out the last several clues (mostly in the NW) like it was a Friday toughie. Which would have been fine if it was, but it feels rather less rewarding when you’ve already checked and it’s a bright green 80-something on the snitch. Limped home in 45 minutes. Just one of those days when you are on the wrong end of everything. Roll on tomorrow!
Enjoyed this very much. Found a different route to 8d: an extra is an SA (supporting artist) on a film set and then the last letters of ‘in file’. I prefer it even if it’s wrong!
27.25
Thats the ticket: much better than yesterday. Thaanks for this one people
I arrived at SANE via Chambers telling me that SAN was ‘a discarded letter of the Greek alphabet’ (hence ‘was extra’), with ‘file conclusively’ for the ‘E’. Well, it got me there, and I might even be right!
I couldn’t see what BAGES were so I had to check the G. As soon as I found it wasn’t G but N the correct instrument was obvious! Annoying not to have seen it.
Nice puzzle. Don’t have a time, as I solved it over a couple of sessions. I didn’t fall into the bagpipes trap – I usually blunder straight in.
Thanks, jack.
Saw panes before entering 4a so avoided the wailing instrument. From PIRACY to SEMITOE in 19:20. Liked CROCODILE TEARS, ORHESTRA and STABLEMATE. Thanks setter and Jack.
50 minutes. I seem to have found this harder than most others. 3/4 went in in straightforward fashion but I was held up by the NW corner. I agree there were some inventive definitions.
I solved this one in 28 mins. I got CYCLONE quickly as I seem to have seen it a couple of times in recent puzzles; I liked its definition ‘Large Turner’. My favourite clues were to THREE BLIND MICE, which made me laugh, and PORTCULLIS. I also liked the , not seen before, definition ‘Pit crew’ for ORCHESTRA. Thanks to Setter for a fun puzzle and to jackkt.
25:09 A classy puzzle with some elegant cluing. I particularly liked PORTCULLIS, STABLEMATE and CROCODILE TEARS. Musical notation is all Greek to me but the crossers made it easy.
Thanks to Jack and the setter
I enjoyed this, though it took me 36 minutes, and turned out to be a DNF as I had joined the orchestra of BAGPIPERS. I thought a lot of these clues were very clever. I had no problem with 19dn. I read LIE DOWN as the definition, meaning to have a short rest, and the first part of the clue as providing the required letters in the right order, without any need for this to be a grammatical equivalent.
FOI – OBSERVANT
LOI – BOOZE
COD – SEMITONE
Thanks to jackkt and other contributors.
Excellent crossword I thought. My occasional longeurs were caused not by any unsoundness but simply by general weakness. 50 minutes, which should have been far less. Agree that LIE DOWN should be (3-4), which I hadn’t noticed: all I did notice was that for some reason I’d missed this completely until quite a late stage. Perhaps that’s an argument for going through all the clues first.
So much to love in this puzzle, but A to B my favourite for its simplicity
Thank goodness for 3 BLIND MICE as my first two passes got me nowhere. Then off to the races and some great clues. Didn’t like the Super Bowl reference one bit and RAINCHECK , as pointed out, means something entirely different this side of the Atlantic.
Early on I put in CARTHORSE instead of ORCHESTRA on the basis that perhaps cart horses were used as ‘pit ponies’ and hence not only matched the anagram but also fitted with ‘pit crew’!
Messed up by putting OBSERVING rather than OBSERVANT at first, as the clue was practising
Greatly enjoyed half way from A to B!
Fairly straightforward solve finishing in 28.14, although I did get a little bogged down in the nw corner. RAINCHECK got me going again, with PIRACY my LOI.
DNF. I am one of the many who hoped that BAGES were bits of glass.
Did this a day late, but posting, as it was such a joy of a puzzle. I kind of assumed RAINCHECK meant what it does in the US, and PAN PIPES went in fine. Last, embarrassingly, was SEMITONE – no idea why the music ones always cause me trouble!