I liked this crossword but I didn’t find it easy. The top half went in OK but the rest needed a second session to finish off. Midrange, I would say, which is just how I like it. 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 | Book magazine for mature audience runs out of merchandise (3,4,7) |
| THE GOOD SOLDIER – GOODS (merchandise) in THE OLDIE + R(uns). The “out of” is partly there for the surface reading, but it works, it is outside the goods. Usually a reference to a book by Ford Madox Ford, which I haven’t read, though my father always praised The Good Soldier, by Field Marshal Wavell, which I have. A book which is hard to find, these days, though still very relevant to soldiering… The Good Soldier Schweik is different again but also a very good and amusing read. | |
| 9 | University backed faculty boss checking papers without staff? (7) |
| UNAIDED – U + DEAN, rev. with ID in it. Staff are really useful. Everyone should have some. | |
| 10 | Intend secret to be kept from family (7) |
| DESTINE – (clan)DESTINE. Clan = family, and this took me a while to parse! Why does the word look so strange? Does anyone ever use it? As opposed to destined, which is common. We need a word to describe words only ever used in crosswords: cruciwords! is this a cruciverb? I daresay there are crucinouns, too.. | |
| 11 | Safe seat finally accepted by member of House of Lords (5) |
| PETER – (sea)T in PEER. Another cruciword, assuming you are not a habitual criminal. Peter = safe. I like peterman, a safebreaker. | |
| 12 | Bold study reflected uncertainty and evidence of impact (9) |
| CONFIDENT – CON (study) + IF rev., + DENT, evidence of impact. My car has several of those. | |
| 13 | Mad race around island involves flying boat performing stunts (9) |
| AEROBATIC – Well it is *(BOAT) + I(sland), all inside *(RACE). Hope that helps! I got part way there and then just wrote it in. Having discarded acrobatic, that is. | |
| 16 | Television also broadcast fight (3-2) |
| SET-TO – SET (TV) + TO, sounds like “too.” | |
| 18 | Gave drugs to note first signs of side effects directly (5) |
| DOSED – DO (a note. Do, a deer, a female deer..) + S(ide) E(ffects) D(irectly). | |
| 20 | Childhood implies those cases presenting as most depressed superficially? (9) |
| DIMPLIEST – one of those I would call a DD, one jocular. (But as Galspray points out below, I would be wrong! It is a hidden, as above). And yet another cruciword, I fear. | |
| 22 | Union member doing fine in correctional facility (9) |
| BRIDEWELL – BRIDE (union member, ha ha) + WELL. Originally a palace, later it became one of London’s many interesting prisons. How many of its inmates were ever “corrected” is open to debate. | |
| 24 | Important piece of music that man encountered when cycling (5) |
| THEME – HE MET, with the T “cycled.” Like it or not, it is here to stay 🙂 .. | |
| 25 | Advertisement reinvented retail therapy essentially (7) |
| TRAILER – *(RETAIL), + (the)R(apy). A trailer for your favourite sitcom, perhaps.. | |
| 26 | Threatening to incarcerate Liberal in protective housing (7) |
| COWLING – L(iberal) in COWING (threatening) | |
| 27 | Novel exploit restricted to most of these hosts (7,3,4) |
| BETWEEN THE ACTS – ACT (exploit) in BETWEEN (restricted to) THES(e). My loi, not being aware of this, Virginia Woolf’s final (and posthumously published) novel. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Eccentric president introduces advantageous measure (5,4) |
| TRUMP CARD – TRUMP (president) + CARD (eccentric). ’nuff said. Let’s please not go there.. | |
| 2 | One demanding money from former company employee (7) |
| EXACTOR – EX ACTOR, ah, that sort of company.. | |
| 3 | Religious group summons state of harmony (5) |
| ORDER – a TD, triple definition | |
| 4 | Diligent editor in charge of obsolete presses (9) |
| DEDICATED – ED(itor) + IC, in charge of, inside DATED, obsolete. | |
| 5 | Former blonde wanting bleach primarily for new style (5) |
| OLDEN – *(BLONDE), less the B(leach). | |
| 6 | Notice society girl in The Face (9) |
| DISMISSAL – S(ociety) + MISS, in DIAL, your face. Hands up those who, like me, spent ages trying to fit DEB in there somewhere.. | |
| 7 | Great rapper failing to hold last note regularly (7) |
| EMINENT – EMINE(m) + N(o)T(e). Well done setter, for referencing the one and only rapper I’ve actually heard of. Though I suppose I will now need to add Mr Bad Bunny to that list. Apparently Feb. 8th has been officially named Bad Bunny Day. | |
| 8 | Faculty originally translated nunc est bibendum the wrong way (4) |
| BENT – T(ranslated) N(unc) E(st) B(ibendum), reversed. Collins: Bent – personal inclination, propensity, or aptitude. | |
| 14 | Associate academic finishes teaching course (9) |
| BEDFELLOW – B.ED (teaching course) + FELLOW (academic) | |
| 15 | Firm sanctioned about member involved in dodgy deals? (9) |
| COMPLICIT – MP (member) in CO(mpany) + LICIT (legal, sanctioned) | |
| 17 | Overcomes unacceptable methods of Speaker (9) |
| OUTWEIGHS – OUT (unacceptable) + WEIGHS, sounds like “Ways,” methods | |
| 19 | Benefit surrounding success mushrooms (7) |
| SHITAKE – HIT (a success) in SAKE, a benefit as in “I did it for her sake/benefit” | |
| 21 | Opening of epic Gaelic novel written in verse form (7) |
| ELEGIAC – E(pic) + *(GAELIC). I initially wrote ELEGAIC, not for the first time, which made 26ac tricky.. | |
| 22 | Flyers typically seen in night clubs (4) |
| BATS – A very neat DD. A fine clue. And bats are great, one of our most interesting mammals. | |
| 23 | English nation turning strangely frightening (5) |
| EERIE – E(nglish), + EIRE rev. | |
| 24 | What may be used to flog waste ground (5) |
| TAWSE – *(WASTE), another neat clue. Tawse, a leather strap cut into strips at one end. Painful, don’t ask me how I know this but Calday Grammar School, I’m thinking of you. (Though Mr Thraves usually preferred a cane). | |
A toughie! Thanks for the blog, and even more for the neologism!
DIMPLIEST is a hidden Jerry. Perhaps too well hidden!
So it is! Thanks, Gallers!
I enjoyed solving this but it took me one minute under an hour. I was glad the E of DESTINE was checked as I never heard of the word.
I thought I knew THE GOOD SOLDIER from a TV adaptation by Tom Stoppard that aired in 2012, and I had bought the book as a result, but on checking today I was reminded that the series was called Parade’s End and was taken from four other novels by Ford Madox Ford, not including THE GOOD SOLDIER. Although I had quite enjoyed the TV series I found the Ford’s style of writing impenetrable and gave up on it, maybe before I even got to the end of the first novel.
68 minutes. I was going along steadily enough until I came up against D_S_I_E at 10a to finish off, but by the time I’d worked out the wordplay and considered the NHO word, the hour was well and truly up. The books along the top and bottom of the grid weren’t obvious either and I had to rely on crossers for the half-recognised TAWSE.
Favourite was DIMPLIEST, both for being well and truly hidden and for being a silly word (in the nicest way).
I have seen that vile name in too many crosswords lately (not just here). Test solvers kept even an allusion to… the thing it alludes to from appearing in a future Out of Left Field entry.
You might enjoy Dawn Oberg’s “Nothing Rhymes with Orange”. Musically it’s nothing great, but lyrically it’s still as fresh as it was 9 years ago
https://open.spotify.com/album/6aglte5eYX3DD6eYWzn0kI
I don’t think this is the place for such comments. We all have our opinions, and our favourite, and non-favourite, politicians, but this is not the place to air such opinions.
How is Guy’s reference to Eminem political?
I didn’t think any sane person would complain.
Have an uptick, Guy.
I looked at this with mounting alarm, unable to find even the narrowest toehold, and thinking I might have a complete blank, until I lighted with relief on PETER and DOSED. From there it was quite slow but steady progress and I eventually finished in 32.47. To your list of cruciwords I might add the contrived EXACTOR.
The scene: a shipboard Court Martial. Presiding officer: “Who brought these allegations?” Chief Petty Officer: “I am the allegator, sir!”
Thanks Jerry and setter.
40:56. POI the very well hidden DIMPLIEST. LOI DESTINE where I had been juggling with tribe and kin, but as soon as I tried clan it clicked into place. Enjoyable and satisfying to finish, but a bit of a grind with no stand-out COD. No, hang on, I did like BATS.
Super blog Jerry
DESTINE was a bung and pray as it fitted the crossers and had *some* connection to intend but it’s nho and I was nowhere near spotting the parse. 32 minutes but a DNF as I stupidly failed to check the anagram fodder well enough and entered ACROBATIC instead of AEROBATIC. Quite a tough puzzle until I started to see what kind of construction the setter favoured and things began to fall into place more smoothly.
I agree with BletchleyReject that DIMPLIEST is a ridiculous word but how beautifully hidden it is. Is PETER = safe also a cruciword?
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I did suggest PETER as a cruciword in the blog, but perhaps we are just moving in the wrong circles… I have seen it in print, it pops up in sherlock Holmes, Raffles, books like that.
My apologies. So you did.
19:34
Tricky, especially DESTINE and the book at the bottom. I was also tricked by mushrooms being actual mushrooms. I spent ages trying to justify SPIRALS.
Lots of single errors on the leaderboard, I wonder how many are acrobats?
Thanks Jerry.
Well beaten. NHO THE GOOD SOLDIER or BETWEEN THE ACTS. Must read more 20c classics, I guess.
DNF, making a total pig’s ear of the bottom. A misspelt ELEGAIC made COWLING impossible. I’d forgotten the mushroom if I ever knew it. I didn’t spot the hidden. But I did guess the Virginia Woolf correctly from crossers and I have read Ford Madox whichever one he is, apostrophe S, The Good Soldier.So I’m warmed up for the TLS. Thank you Jerry and setter. Too good for me today.
27:23 with 11 of those on my last 4, finishing with an unparsed and uncertain DESTINE after a couple of alphabet trawls. I was going quite well… until I wasn’t. NHO the Virginia Woolfe book and couldn’t parse THE GOOD SOLDIER. BATS was very nice. Thanks Jerry and setter.
DNF after about 45. TL;DE – Too long; didn’t enjoy. Was missing DESTINE and turns out I had not checked AcROBATIC properly.
It was the 2 NHO books trickily clued so requiring all the crossers that made it really hard work.
Bright spots in BATS, DIMPLIEST and EMINENT.
Thanks to setter and Jerry. This was a day where the blog is more fun than the puzzle.
I started off with TRUMP SCAM, which was eventually corrected by DOSED and AEROBATIC (which was originally ACROBATIC until I double checked the anagrist). THE GOOD SOLDIER was only partially parsed, but it seemed to fit the checkers. DIMPLIEST came from the definition and checkers before I spotted the hidden. BETWEEN THE ACTS was NHO and constructed from wordplay. I had COWLING in place before solving ELEGIAC, but having been caught out by ELEGAIC before, remembered the correct spelling anyway. The NE corner gave most trouble, but EMINEM, strangely enough, came to the rescue and CONFIDENT, DISMISSAL (what no DEB?), and finally DESTINE (spotted CLAN afterwards) popped into place. A bit of a workout. 29:53. Thanks setter and Jerry.
47:21
Guess it makes a change to have some novels that I’ve barely/never heard of – while the first was fairly guessable, the second was more difficult without the first checker – SHITAKE only solved when I had no other remaining clues to deflect my attention. Narrowly avoided the ACROBATIC bear trap, and unconvinced by DESTINE, but I did like DISMISSAL and DIMPLIEST.
Thanks Jerry and setter
22.18. My GOOD SOLDIER is Švejk (many spellings available!), as I have more East European connections than acquaintance with Ford Maddox Ford. The Woolf I don’t know, but having got THE ACTS I picked BETWEEN from the rather few alternatives as most likely. DESTINE and BENT were my other latecomers; I often struggle when an entire word is dismissed to create the entry as in the former, and I was distracted from the latter by Carmina Burana’s “in taberna quando sumus” which the male voices love so much (!), not to be attempted after too much bibendum.
I kind of agree the TRUMP CARD clue skates close to political commentary: perhaps we’ll get sued for another $10b.
Jerry’s suggestion of “cruciwords” merits attention! Thanks!
DNF. A fine puzzle but I was beaten by DIMPLIEST , DESTINE and EMINENT,.
Two DNFs in a row and it’s been raining steadily for four weeks here. “Well lah di dah!” as someone once said.
Thanks to Jerry and the setter
I gave up on this, it was just really irritating me and this hobby is supposed to be enjoyable.
I have a degree in English Literature but have never heard of either of these books, and the wordplay – as in most of this puzzle – is impenetrable. I managed to get them but it was just a matter of bunging in words that looked feasible and reverse-engineering. This sort of solving is no fun and I just got fed up with it.
Seconded. Also knew neither novel, and didn’t bother to guess. A time-waster today.
I really agree – also gave up. NHO either of the novels, which rendered this not enjoyable.
I was left with three clues, having guessed the Solider novel (unable to parse).
Can I agree with all the above, please.
My thanks to JerryW and setter.
Well, not at all easy, and I cheated quite a lot.
It didn’t help that I NHO either of the books at 1 and 27 across. I came here to get 1a, and finally decided 27a had to be Between The _c_s which could reasonably only be Acts. I didn’t seriously try to parse it.
Oh well at least I learned something; I had always assumed that Ford Madox Ford was American; Brits don’t go in for barmy names. How wrong I was.
32.35
Glad I wasn’t blogging this one – well done Jerry. I did finish it, even all parsed but struggled with both books though I did at least know THE GOOD SOLDIER. Tend to agree with Keriothe for those two clues but a number of others I liked such as OLDEN and the very cleverly hidden DIMPLIEST.
Thanks setter/Jerry
33:28 with the opposite experience to the blogger in terms of difficult halves. Maybe because I knew the southern most book but not the northern most one.
LOI THE GOOD SOLDIER which I couldn’t parse but could see various parts that matched the clue (sold, old, goods etc) just couldn’t see what was doing what.
Thanks blogger and setter
About 40′, hard work and a long time staring at and trawling for LOI DESTINE which, like Postmark, was NHO and the only array of letters that had some relation to the clue (via “destined”). Once I thought of “oldie” THE GOOD SOLDIER came to mind, but NHO the Wolfe effort. Almost fell into the acrobat error and generally found this a fairly humourless slog (sorry setter..).
Thanks Jerry for the fun blog and to the setter.
Trouble with my tablet today (time to get a new one: mine is quite old and warned me at 15% that it needed charging, then skipped straight to 0% and it’s now very slowly charging up) and I had to solve it on screen at my desktop, not enjoyed much. But the DIMPLIEST hidden made it worth it.
They, apple, upgraded my operating system last weekend (their choice not mine!) since when every day now I am automatically logged out of The Times and TfTT. What a pain.
31:30 – would have been faster if solving on paper, but probably not by much. OLDEN was one of several I couldn’t understand because I was looking at the wrong end of the clue for the well hidden definition.
“This is the saddest story I have ever heard.”
Which is a pretty good opening sentence. I am reminded to add The Good Soldier to my mental list of books that I should re-read one day.
Two goes needed.
– Had to trust that THE GOOD SOLDIER and BETWEEN THE ACTS are books/novels
– Missed that ORDER was a triple definition
– Didn’t know TAWSE
Thanks Jerry and setter.
FOI Set-to
LOI Tawse
CODs The Good Soldier / Bedfellow
I knew tawse only too well at my Motherwell school where at least one of the many enthusiastically sadistic teachers felt obligated to belt me almost every day. They often had good reason mind you…
Struggled with “destine”. It may be a cruciverb, but that’s because it’s most common in the past tense. None of us would have had a problem with “destined”
I didn’t know either book (though I did know THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK by Jaroslav Hasek), so biffed and hoped. Thanks for parsing BETWEEN THE ACTS Jerry – I nearly went for “aces”, such was my lack of knowledge. I didn’t have much trouble otherwise though.
FOI PETER
LOI SHITAKE (only one “I”?)
COD OUTWEIGHS
TIME 10:13
Literature was no help with the 2 literary clues but did give me TAWSE from A.N. Wilson’s very entertaining novel Incline Our Hearts in which the prep school headmaster (the usual “deviated prevert”) calls his instrument of chastisement Tammy.
Thought I was well read until I tried to do this one today. Not getting the two long novels ratcheted up the degree of difficulty and I was strangely pleased to see how high the snitch was.
Liked the introduction of cruciword- just too damn many in this one.
I’ve seen the word PETER , for safe, so often in these crosswords . Can someone please explain its derivation.
Means rock in Greek so by implication safe, solid and secure. But don’t quote me!
Thanks-I’ll take your word for it.
Didn’t enjoy this one. I persevered and finished it because I’m stubborn but it took nearly 20 min which is slow by my standards. Another who toyed with AcROBATIC but it wouldn’t parse. I usually like literary clues but the SOLDIER only VHO and the Wolfe one not at all. LOI DESTINE.
Aaaaaaargh.
27:26 and unlike most solvers today I wasn’t finding this too difficult or impenetrable. Had heard of the Maddox Ford but not the Woolf and almost went with Aces until Acts seemed a more likely fit. All good work though undermined by a thoughtless acrobatic that I just didn’t check the parsing on and wrote in having A R B as checkers.
Thx Jerry and setter
Tough I thought, justifying the high SNITCH count. 29 mins, but (carelessly) with ACROBATIC for AEROBATIC. I just about remembered THE GOOD SOLDIER but had to rely solely on the checking letters for BETWEEN THE ACTS, not having heard of it and not understanding the wordplay (thank you Blogger). DIMPLIEST made my heart sink a bit – what kind of word is that? – but it was well hidden (and it needed a good hiding!). First in was ELEGIAC and last BETWEEN THE ACTS. My favourite clue was to DESTINE. The fact that I persevered with the puzzle shows that I enjoyed it. Thank you to Setter and to Blogger.
I managed to complete this, but it was done during the longueurs in the Winter Olympic coverage, so no time recorded. Not enjoyed. I agree with others who are not enamoured of puzzles where you have to guess too many of the answers and then reverse engineer to justify them.
FOI – PETER
LOI – DESTINE
COD – no award
Thanks to Jerry and other contributors.
42 minutes.
Like the blogger I couldn’t believe that DESTINE is spelt like that … but then how else would it be spelt? So in it went, even though I never worked out the ‘clan’ bit of it.
Both book titles rang a vague bell, but I was thinking of the Jaroslav Hasek book for the first one. As for ‘Between the Acts’, I assumed it was by Graham Greene. Hem. Must read more.
I don’t know why, but this one felt like a bit of a chore.
Defeated by AEROBATICS, I’m afraid to say. Also, can I be the only one here who was staring at a rather different reading of 22D until BRIDEWELL gave BATS? Modesty forbids me from elaborating further.
Fell asleep halfway through having hit a wall, but woke up refreshed and finished it. Two novels today – what a treat! Didn’t care for The Good Soldier, but haven’t read Between the Acts though I usually like Woolf. Destine was a guess, dimpliest a laugh. Pretty Good Friday effort.
Knew the GOOD SOLDIER but not the Woolf book. And I was totally befuddled when it came to DESTINE, though of course I see now it must be a word. I resorted to aids to check both, so my 48’15” is a technical DNF. Grrr. TAWSE, though, I just came across in a new biography of Robert Louis Stephenson. He sang a song at school to lament the regular beatings they had: “Here we suffer grief and pain/ Under Mr Hendie’s cane/ If you don’t obey his laws/ He will punish with his tawse”. The book then quotes the Yeats poem Among School Children: “Aristotle played the taws/ Upon the bottom of the king of kings” (but what that means I could not say).
Only knew Tawse after remembering Alan Partridge ranting about one. This is where a private education would have been invaluable. Apart from that I was confident that I had completed correctly until I read about the aerobatics.
I resorted to aids after grinding to a halt with 5 to go. I looked up DISMISSAL, which actually I should have got, and that opened up the novel, when I realised that OLDIE fitted in the second word, and the others, ending with, you guessed it, DESTINE, though I failed to parse it. A dreadful word, but clever wordplay. I didn’t fall into the AERO/ACRO trap, and I did see the hidden. I also worked out the NHO TAWSE on the basis that the 3-letter crosser at the bottom was likely to end in E.
One of those days when I felt much better on reading the comments, having assumed it was just me.
I just did this and found it really hard, with LOI DESTINE which I came here to understand, CLAN-DESTINE, I would never have worked that out alone.
Had never heard of between the acts, and wasn’t completely sure about act for exploit, so that was hard too