Time: 46 minutes. Very enjoyable with a few tricky words, meanings and pieces of wordplay but enough easier clues to keep things moving along.
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 | Opposes detective breaking agreements (11) |
| CONTRADICTS – DI (detective inspector), contained by [breaking] CONTRACTS (agreements) | |
| 9 | Player’s very short attack (5) |
| ASSAI – ASSAI{l} (attack) [short]. Player’s because it’s often seen in musical directions e.g. allegro assai – very fast | |
| 10 | Lethargy — it is evident in girl of the upper classes half dead (9) |
| LASSITUDE – IT contained by [is evident in] LASS (girl) ~ U (of the upper classes), then DE{ad} [half] | |
| 11 | Lift female unwell with minimal cash (6) |
| FILLIP – F (female), ILL (unwell), 1P (minimal cash) | |
| 12 | Abandoned gaol is accommodating former monarch’s wives and mistresses (8) |
| SERAGLIO -Anagram [abandoned] of GAOL IS containing [accommodating] ER (former monarch) | |
| 14 | Learner always “getting on” financed by loans (9) |
| LEVERAGED – L (learner), EVER (always), AGED (“getting on”). I didn’t know this meaning. | |
| 15 | Look, a pig somewhat larger than this animal (5) |
| OKAPI – Hidden in [somewhat] {lo}OK A PI{g}. Larger by weight perhaps. | |
| 17 | Form rough judgement of people at party wasting time (5) |
| GUESS – GUES{t}S (people at party) [wasting time] | |
| 19 | Star writer with silver-lined vehicle (9) |
| PENTAGRAM – PEN (writer), T~RAM (vehicle) containing [lined / with] AG (silver) | |
| 21 | Desire to appear with band in silky fabric (8) |
| LUSTRING – LUST (desire), RING (band). I learnt this word very recently when it appeared in a crossword, but not here apparently. | |
| 23 | Drink knocked back by river where students live and work (6) |
| CAMPUS – CAM (river), then SUP (drink) reversed [knocked back] | |
| 26 | Areas in very fast vehicle out of this world (9) |
| SPACESHIP – SPACES (areas), HIP (in fashion) | |
| 27 | Presumably rendered able to move round, this writer took initiative (5) |
| OILED – O (round), I (this writer), LED (took initiative) | |
| 28 | Performing artists get digitally immersed, as Spooner might roughly say? (11) |
| FOLKSINGERS – Aural wordplay [as Spooner might roughly say]: “soak fingers” (get digitally immersed) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Ruined castle — contest message of acceptance? (4,2,3) |
| C’EST LA VIE – Anagram [ruined] of CASTLE, then VIE (contest) | |
| 2 | Snooper interrupted more than once by one more vociferous (7) |
| NOISIER – NO~S~ER (snooper) containing [interrupted…by] I I (one, more than once) | |
| 3 | Function of lowly commoner, not leader (4) |
| ROLE – {p}ROLE (lowly commoner) [not leader] | |
| 4 | One in a sort of tree but not atop it (10) |
| DESCENDANT – Cryptic with reference to a family tree | |
| 5 | Smart attempt to capture a city (7) |
| CHICAGO – CHIC (smart) ~ GO (attempt) containing [to capture) A | |
| 6 | Head of sailing to pick member of crew (5) |
| SCULL – S{ailing} [head of…], CULL (pick). ODE has cull – select from a large quantity; obtain from a variety of sources. | |
| 7 | Islamic ruler sacrificing one young animal (4) |
| CALF – CAL{i}F (Islamic ruler) [sacrificing one] | |
| 8 | Lecturer is into cannabis, endlessly looking for kicks? (8) |
| HEDONISM – DON (lecturer) + IS contained by [into] HE~M{p} (cannabis) [endlessly] | |
| 13 | An opening accordingly accommodates a new garden plant (10) |
| AGAPANTHUS – A (an), GAP (opening) ~THUS (accordingly) contains [accommodates] A + N (new) | |
| 14 | Girl is fitted into space module that allows no room for flexibility (8) |
| LEGALISM – GAL (girl) + IS contained by [fitted into] LE~M (space module – lunar excursion module). ODE: excessive adherence to law or formula. | |
| 16 | A new silo for storing what is harvested — impressive building (9) |
| ACROPOLIS – A~ anagram [new] of SILO containing [storing] CROP (what is harvested) | |
| 18 | Fantastic tail-ender for county dismissed for a half-century (7) |
| SURREAL – SURRE{y} (county) [tail-ender…dismissed) and replaced by [for] A + L (half-century – 50) | |
| 20 | Sailor, an isolated marine inhabitant (7) |
| ABALONE – AB (sailor), ALONE (isolated) | |
| 22 | Good person leading a very loud workforce (5) |
| STAFF – ST (good person – saint), A, FF (very loud – fortissimo) | |
| 24 | A party’s served up fizzy drink (4) |
| SODA – A + DO’S (party’s) reversed [served up] | |
| 25 | Propaganda something wicked? Must keep quiet (4) |
| SPIN – S~IN (something wicked) contains [must keep] P (quiet) | |
NHO LUSTRING POI.
LOI LEGALISM
More fun than yesterday’s (because harder).
Yes, a pretty easy but nonetheless enjoyable puzzle. Liked the ‘acceptance’ in the clue for c’est la vie. The ‘finger-soaking’ in 28a had me stumped for a while, I don’t really enjoy Spooner clues. NHO LUSTRING but the wordplay and checkers helped. Not that it matters, but I saw the phrase ‘Look, a pig’ to be larger than the contained OKAPI. Wasn’t sure about ‘cull’ for pick but in it went. Lovely Tuesday-ish clues throughout. CODs to OILED and SURREAL.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Couldn’t post yesterday as still getting the ‘too many requests’ message even though it was my first attempt. I know folks are working on it, just mentioning, and thanks for your work.
I’m getting that message sometimes, too. But after waiting an hour or so and trying again, got through OK.
I like your okapi explanation.
That’s how I read OKAPI too. (Read the blog too fast.)
23:25
DNK LUSTRING, AGAPANTHUS. For what it’s worth, pigs range from 140-300 kg, okapi 200-350 kg, says Wikipedia.
‘I’m a g-nu, spelt GNU,
Call me okapi or bison and I’ll sue.’
47′ for this – so still very much in semi-doped recovery mode.
CONTRADICTS takes me back 15 years to my El Al flight from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv. Ten hours of mayhem, with passengers standing and shouting at each other (including me). The first person to contradict me was the flight attendant, who disputed the finding in that day’s Jerusalem Post that divorce rates had broken past the 50% barrier. As it turned out, an invaluable introduction to my two-week stay in the country…
bison or okapi
Meter!
I worked the cryptics and was rewarded. As you might expect, agapanthus and lustring were unknown, but agapanthus consists of two common Greek roots and is highly like to be correct. I was worried about lustring, but I couldn’t think of anything better.
I agree ‘somewhat larger’ refers to the size of the words and not the size of the animals they refer to. After all, it is words we deal in.
Time: 23:28
Like others, never heard of LUSTRING. I don’t think that I’ve seen Calif spelled like that before, but its the sort of word that has multiple spellings so I didn’t doubt that my reverse engineering from CALF was correct. I’m sure it has come up before but I had forgotten that ASSAI is a musical term for very (but I hadn’t forgotten assail for attack so no problem).
The spelling of “Calif” is indeed unusual, but I was prompted by the memory of a slogan on a wall in southern Spain: “Viva Al-Andalus, Califato Independiente!”
All the regions in Spain want independence. So long as they still keep getting money from the central govt.
Like saying to a no longer wanted spouse “clear out, but leave your wallet on the table!”
46:08
Had to look up DESCENDANT to check spelling, DESCENDENT looked ok as well.
LOI was SCULL, where I wasn’t sure of either meaning.
The Spooner clue was particularly hard, needed all the checkers and didn’t parse it even when completed.
NHO LUSTRING or ASSAI.
COD CEST LA VIE
21.54, though I (ahem) ‘used aids’ to check the spelling of DESCENDANT and the existence of LUSTRING. Everything seemed to flow along quite nicely. I know the trip from SOAK FINGERS to FOLKSINGERS is not a pleasant one but I don’t mind that kind of quirkiness in a crossie. Thanks Jack, especially for explaining WTH was going on with ASSAI.
From Idiot Wind:
Someone’s got it in for me
They’re planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they’d cut it out quick
But when they will I can only GUESS
30 minutes. I remembered having seen LUSTRING somewhere before and the one that I had trouble with was OKAPI, which I couldn’t get my head around until I realised that ‘somewhat larger’ functions as an unusual hidden indicator, as others above have said. The long defs for SPACESHIP, OILED and LEGALISM also took some working out; I don’t know what a Millennial would make of LEM for ‘space module’.
Yeah, some younger folks don’t even believe man landed on the moon. Because we haven’t been back lately. They don’t understand that the USA did that as a power move, to show we could do it, and after that there wasn’t much point. And that will, apparently, be the reason if we go back again. Still, it was pretty cool.
NASA changed to just saying Lunar Module, although still using the abbreviation LEM. Some PR people thought the term “excursion” sounded too frivolous.
Or too true…
As a millennial (1992), NHO LEM. So went for LEGALIST (thinking “LET” must be the spaceship thing I didn’t know) and had one error.
It is frequently annoying to me how knowledge like this is assumed, when virtually nobody my age (or younger) would ever have heard of such a thing. It will put off younger solvers for sure.
The problem here was that the definition fits the noun and the adjective equally well, I think (at least if you treat the word “that” as being just a linking part of the clue). So if you don’t know LEM, you are tossing a coin.
You have my sympathy! I’m a gen-xer (1972) and I only know about LEMs because they’ve come up in crosswords before. This seems to be the source of most of my knowledge these days.
Also a millennial here (1989) – I hadn’t the foggiest about LEM, and was trying to make EM = ‘space’, which of course left the L unaccounted for. However, I was confident the definition had to start with “what”, which fits much better with an abstract noun than a type of person.
I agree the GK is tough, but think there is a way to resolve the ambiguity even if some of it was mysterious until looking things up later, so fair enough (but a tricky one) in my book.
I think you are probably right and I’m probably just feeling annoyed because of the pink square!
However, I think LEGALIST is an adjective (meaning the same as LEGALISTIC), and if you ignore the “that” (not “what”), LEGALIST meets the definition perfectly well on that basis. I wasn’t thinking of LEGALIST as a noun/person, although perhaps with the word “that” included it would meet that definition too.
I’m pushing 60 and don’t remember 1969. However NASA still use these acronyms and planned Mars modules follow this pattern including a MEM so an M ending seemed reasonable. Quite obscure GK though.
Now you know how I feel about the obscure birds…!
Although admittedly their frequency does seem to have diminished of late 😃
There is NASA footage of one of the LEM’s being driven erratically on the Moon where the astronauts definitely seem to be treating it like an excursion….so that charge definitely sticks.
Planned return missions to the Moon are targeting the South Pole, where they’re hoping to find frozen water in the permanently shadowed craters.
COD – SPACESHIP, obviously.
I am well over 70 and donot remember 1969 either.
21 something WOE (LEGALISE). Tough, I thought. Thanks setter and Jack.
Just right for me, this one .. perfectly pitched and some clever clues. We have agapanthus in the garden, and very attractive they are too, when in flower. And lustring a write-in, for us paid-up members of the Heyer Club…
Got there in about 35′ in between providing medicinal relief to both myself and my wife, so not the best conditions! Musical terms and garden flowers are my biggest GK gaps, but AGAPANTHUS was both reasonably clued and distantly heard of. On the other hand NHO ASSAI was a biff of ASSAIL based on all the crossers. Groaned as usual at the Spoonerism. which seemed even more contrived than usual (just don’t like ’em). But otherwise good fun, offering more sense of achievement than yesterday.
Thanks Jack and setter
ps i see the avatars are going missing again…
46 mins. Also NHO LUSTRING not LEM for lunar module. FOLKSINGERS had me pondering for inordinately long. I too dislike Spoonerism clues – but enjoyed this.
33:49 but with an error, went for DESCENDING now obvious what it was… Very enjoyable puzzle to while away a journey that seems to be taking an hour or two longer than it should!
Just LEGALISM missing, although I was very doubtful about LUSTRING. COD to the FOLKSINGERS of course. SURREAL was good too, with that Surrey swagger on show. At Lancashire, we always wished for their rainfall statistics, but I have to concede to them and the Yorkies on the longer form of the game. Good puzzle, Thank you Jack and setter.
20 minutes or so.
– Add me to the list of people who didn’t know LUSTRING, which luckily was kindly clued
– MER over FOLKSINGERS, because to me ‘fingers’ and ‘singers’ aren’t pronounced the same way
– Didn’t know LEM, but LEGALISM sounded right
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Contradicts
LOI Legalism
COD Surreal
WOE in DESCENDeNT after 38 mins which put the last nail in any sense of enjoyment. That was already wearing thin after more guesswork in LEGALISM, ASSAI, SCULL, LUSTRING.
To be fair I did enjoy it for about 20 mins or so: the Spoonerism, AGAPANTHUS, OILED. Probably just impatience with a puzzle not on my wavelength. Thanks to setter and jackkt.
A very high error rate this morning, which for once didn’t include me – but there are some “big names” among the failures, including Verlaine and George Heard.
I knew AGAPANTHUS, but not LUSTRING (thankfully the parsing was clear), and similarly took the lunar thingy on trust.
Fortunately, I spotted the Spoonerism immediately, but my MER was generated by thinking it should be FOLK SINGERS (4,7).
FOI FILLIP (I wish they’d learn to spell my name)
LOI LEGALISM (after careful parsing ruled out “legalese”)
COD DESCENDANT (I am persuading my granddaughter not to research my family tree until after I shake off this mortal coil. I found out at the age of 52 that I was adopted, and I’d prefer not to know!)
TIME 11:41
32:19
Enjoyed this. Good level of challenge but fair wordplay. Lustring was new to me.
Thanks, jack.
12:16. Like others DNK LUSTRING but trusted to the wordplay. I’d heard of OAR for a member of a rowing boat crew, but not SCULL for a SCULLER, nor can I find it in the dictionaries. Held up at the end by having HEDONIST rather than HEDONISM for 8D, but PENTAGRAM sorted me out. I liked the clue for OKAPI even though, as Kevin tells us, the surface is not correct. Thanks Jackkt and setter.
Unfortunately another with LEGALISE not knowing the LEM. Drat. Otherwise quite enjoyable. One or two too many extractions though.
COD to C’EST LA VIE which came quickly onve i saw the V.
Thanks Jack and setter
24 minutes, most of it spent in the lower left corner and agonising on the wrong spelling of DESCENDANT. Drat.
Cecil B De Mille was approached by NASA to help with convincingly filming the moon landings in his studios. After months of fruitlessly wrestling with the available technology he told them it was impossible, and it would just have to be done on location.
Sped through this one, only to find I had carelessly put in DESCENDING not -ANT without properly parsing it. Otherwise all good in 18 minutes.
7:39. No problems – I even knew the plant, presumably from past crosswords – but I felt very unsure about LUSTRING. It just doesn’t look like a real word, but I couldn’t think of anything better.
16 mins – Knew AGAPANTHUS but not LUSTRING, where I briefly dallied with lustrant. The LEM rang a faint lunar bell somewhere in the recesses. I’m sure I have encountered CALIF before, but it looked odd without a K or PH. Nothing too challenging besides.
42:57
CALF/CALVE seems to be word of the month – it has appeared several times over the past week or two. Some of the answers today required a considerable amount of teasing out, but occasionally one answer would open up a whole corner e.g. LASSITUDE gave me ROLE, DESCENDANT, SCULL, HEDONISM, SERAGLIO and PENTAGRAM in quick succession. I was less successful in the south-west, where having pieced together the likely AGAPANTHUS (sure that’s been seen somewhere here before), was left with GUESS which gave SURREAL, the definition-unknown LEGALISM, and completely unknown LUSTRING – these last two relying heavily on wordplay.
Thanks Jack and setter
29 minutes, with which I was quite pleased.
For some reason, I kept reading 14 dn wrongly, looking for an answer implying flexibility rather than the lack thereof. Entered LUSTRING grudgingly – a NHO for me. Also failed to spot the anagram at 12ac. On reflection, it seems a wonder I finished it at all!
COD FILLIP as it is so rarely encountered – at least by me. LOI LEGALISM.
Thanks to setter and jackkt.
Relieved to see that my avatar (the invisible man) is still up.
It all went in smoothly enough, but unbearably slowly. Exactly 60 minutes. I thought the ‘an’ in the ABALONE clue was a bit inelegant. Couldn’t get in but waited a while. And I also notice the avatars are largely missing. Mine came back a while ago but then it disappeared.
I agree. What is the “an” adding here? Or is it more “a lone” = “an isolated”?
My thanks to jackkt and setter.
A jolly puzzle.
21a NHO Lustring, but I expect I said that last time. Easy to biff, not so easy to believe in it.
28a Folksingers, Spoonerisms take me a while to get.
6d Scull, MER at scull as a rower, as pointed out above by Johninterred; not in my dictionary it isn’t, it is an oar of some kind, or the boat.
14d Legalism, delayed a bit by essaying legalist, but a let is not a space module.
A very careless typo, C’SET LA VIE, in the eary stages negated all my efforts. Otherwise from FILLIP to SURREAL in nineteen twenty two. PENTAGRAM was held up by a HEDONIST. Liked FOLKSINGERS. Drat and botheration!! Thanks setter and Jack.
After 45 enjoyable minutes, fell at the last by opting for LEGALESE, having no idea how a space module was involved in the clue. Like others LUSTRING was new to me, and I was a bit uneasy about SCULL.
21:11 similar to yesterday with a few chewier bits to push the time up.
NHO SERAGLIO but thankfully that looked the most likely word.
Spent far too long trying to get the word play to work for DESCENDANT before the penny dropped. Got a bit focussed on it beginning DIS
Also put in the made-up FUNKSINGERS (dunk fingers) before the more obvious answer came to mind.
LOI LEGALISM I didn’t know the LEM so had to consider carefully between the E, T and M at the end.
COD HEDONISM
Thanks blogger and setter
Really enjoyed this – excellent and fair wordplay for the obscures. Delighted to have somehow dragged seraglio and agapanthus from the old grey cells but regrettably pink squared after 22:30 on legalism. I failed to account for the space module
– and would not have recalled LEM – so went for a dubious let as space to get legalist.
Thx Jack and setter
27:52 Good fun.
LUSTRING a new word for me -sounds like something one (though obviously not one here) might buy in an Ann Summers shop. COD SURREAL
Thanks to Jack and the setter.
Dnk ASSAI or SERAGLIO but the cluing was instructive. I did fail on LEGALISM
though, not knowing the correct initials for the space module. Otherwise this all flowed in very pleasantly. COD to PENTAGRAM – oh, that kind of star.
I don’t think I am being unduly pedantic to point out that, even though it was easy to get, ‘acropolis’ is not an impressive building. It is a citadel. Citadels may have buildings on them, impressive or otherwise, but in themselves they are generally fortified hilltops.
Just over 30 minutes and very enjoyable. Like almost everyone else, I entered LUSTRING mostly on trust, but otherwise there were no real problems. I actually remember watching the first moon landing in the Student Union at the University of Coventry, where I was attending a conference or summer school, so no problem with LEM, but I also often wonder how younger solvers manage to cope with the often geriatric clues. But then, I cope with cricket references and other things I have absolutely no idea about. I actually like Spooner clues and today’s is quite good. I also liked OILED. My LOI was DESCENDANT, once I saw that “deciduous” as a type of tree was never going to fit. I tend to munch on an apple while looking at the last clue or two I am getting nowhere with, and that worked again today.
DNF Completely bamboozled by folksingers. Annoying really as the rest was reasonably straightforward, though I thought calif was a bit dodgy.
I really hate Spooner.
Good challenge but share the antipathy to Spoonerisms especially, as in this case, when it is a stretch too far : the use of ‘roughly’ is a cop out.
This 60-something didn’t know the lunar module either, hence the desperate stab at LEGALIST. Everything else correct in just under 47 mins and enjoyed myself despite the error.
This friendly puzzle took less than half an hour. LUSTRING was a guess based on the wordplay. Luckily we have AGAPANTHUS in our garden. My two favourite clues were to HEDONISM and SURREAL. Thank you to Setter and Blogger.
16D: The ACROPOLIS isn’t really a building as clued, its a rocky outcrop topped by a citadel that comprises several buildings, notably the Parthenon which is certainly impressive.
Maybe not millennial-1944 – but never heard of LEM
Lots to enjoy except for LEM which was too obscure and poor judgementby the setter. I was 8 in 1969 and remember the landing vividly.
Enjoyed this overall but was also stumped by LUSTRING and LEGALISM. I remember the moon landing vividly but NHO a LEM.
I got ASSAI and AGAPANTHUS easily from GK (thank goodness no cricketing terms today.)
11ac FILLIP and 26ac SPACESHIP were clever. Like many others, not a fan of Spoonerisms!
Thanks again to setter and blogger and all who contribute to this.