My solve was interrupted more than once and I lost track of time. I struggled through some of it so I doubt that I came home in under an hour.
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 | Extremely nervous cricketers approaching ton (8) |
| WINDIEST – WINDIES (cricketers – West Indies), T (ton) | |
| 5 | Old flame giving up nothing for one who wanted more (6) |
| OLIVER – O (old), then LOVER (flame) becomes LIVER when giving up nothing (0) for one (I). Oliver Twist famously asked for more, and the same reference came up in a QC clue last Wednesday. | |
| 9 | Man unleashing tackles, essentially to shock winger (8) |
| NIGHTJAR – {k}NIGHT (man – chess piece) [unleashing tackles, essentially], JAR (shock). Winger as in bird. | |
| 10 | Cold vermouth, full-flavoured but short of lemon (6) |
| CITRIC – C (cold), IT (vermouth – Italian), RIC{h} (full-flavoured) [short]. ‘Gin and It’ was very fashionable back in the day and may still be for all I know. | |
| 12 | Might one find fish fresher in Billingsgate Market? (5) |
| OTTER -Aural wordplay [in Billingsgate Market – cockney indicator): {h}OTTER (fresher). Otters eat fish. Billingsgate is a fish market in the City of London. | |
| 13 | Enduring evening of poetry, run into extreme bores (9) |
| EVERGREEN – R (run) contained by [into] VERG~E (extreme), is all contained by [bores] E~EN (evening, of poetry] | |
| 14 | I, for one, spread normal manure (5,7) |
| ROMAN NUMERAL – Anagram [spread] of NORMAL MANURE. The first of several definitions by example in this grid. |
|
| 18 | Being Frank Spencer, maybe handling spanner calamitously (12) |
| TRANSPARENCY – TRA~CY (Spencer, maybe – another DBE) containing [handling] anagram [calamitously] of SPANNER. For the surface, Frank Spencer was a hapless character played by Michael Crawford in a TV sitcom I can’t bring myself to name. | |
| 21 | Driving away, individual avoided reversing fast (9) |
| REPELLENT – LEPER (individual avoided) [reversing], LENT (fast) | |
| 23 | Race diary is periodically quiet (5) |
| IRISH – {d}I{a}T{y} I{s} [periodically] SH (quiet) | |
| 24 | Artisan wine and beer finally introduced by supermarket (6) |
| COOPER – CO-OP (supermarket), {win}E + [bee}R [finally] | |
| 25 | Contradictory beliefs present opposing views lacking focus (8) |
| HERESIES – HERE (present), SI{d}ES (opposing views) [lacking focus – i.e. the central letter of ‘sides’, D]. I took forever to work out the parsing of the second part whilst writing the blog. | |
| 26 | Faced with series of games, support Chesterfield? (6) |
| SETTEE – SET (series of games – tennis), TEE (support – golf) | |
| 27 | Component of plastic heel, new yet needing repair (8) |
| ETHYLENE -Anagram [needing repair] of HEEL YET N (new) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Opening batting, Cook parts with wickets (6) |
| WINDOW – IN (batting) + DO (cook) is contained by [parts] W (with) ~ W (wickets) | |
| 2 | Deny entry to bear regularly seen around (6) |
| NEGATE – {s}E{e}N [regularly] reversed [around], GATE (entry). ‘To bear’ indicates position in this Down clue. | |
| 3 | Domestic scenes at home, rioters upset (9) |
| INTERIORS – IN (at home), anagram [upset] of RIOTERS | |
| 4 | Contrived French artist about to install magenta bust (5-7) |
| STAGE-MANAGED – DEGA~S (French artist) reversed [about] containing [to install] anagram [bust] of MAGENTA | |
| 6 | Whitefly in greenhouse to some extent remaining (5) |
| LYING – Hidden in [to some extent] {Whitef}LY IN G{reenhouse} | |
| 7 | Plucky Dublin broadcaster cycled back, partly (8) |
| VERTEBRA – BRA/VE (plucky) + RTE (Dublin broadcaster) is ‘cycled’ to give us VERTEBRA. It’s the Irish public service broadcaster. | |
| 8 | Money deposited in bank just yesterday? (8) |
| RECENTLY – CENT (money) contained by [deposited in] RELY (bank) | |
| 11 | Funds put back into business to check kit for office? (12) |
| REINVESTMENT – REIN (check), VESTMENT (kit for office – clothing worn by some members of the priesthood) | |
| 15 | Plant, contrary woman planted across ridge (9) |
| MACHINERY – MA~RY (contrary woman in a nursery rhyme), contains [planted across] CHINE (ridge). I only knew chine as a cut of meat but it’s also a mountain ridge. | |
| 16 | Proclaim a booklet’s charms (8) |
| ATTRACTS – Aural wordplay [proclaim]: “A tract’s” (booklet’s) | |
| 17 | Pillar of the community highlighting hit job (8) |
| LAMPPOST – LAMP (hit), POST (job). Best definition of the day! | |
| 19 | Setter cracking grin, beaming like a Cheshire cat? (6) |
| SIMILE – I (setter) contained by [cracking] S~MILE (grin). By example again. | |
| 20 | Pure Charlie? It’s superior to speed (6) |
| CHASTE – C (Charlie), HASTE (speed). ‘Superior’ indicates posiiton. | |
| 22 | City under feudal tenure (5) |
| LIEGE – two meanings. Liege – of or relating to the relationship between liege lord and liegeman in feudal times. | |
I didn’t twig why “Windies” are cricketers nor could I parse NIGHTJAR, distracted by the presence of anagrist for NIGHT in the middle of “unleashing tackles”…! D’oh! Took the Irish broadcaster on faith.
The West Indies are a test-playing cricket side, abbreviated to the W. Indies, hence the obvious colloquial name for them.
Really enjoyed this one with its well hidden literals.
Was I the only one to try ‘wickiest’ at 1 across?
Probably.
37:55
Not the only one!
A real struggle and I ended up failing on VERTEBRA so a CNF in about 46. I got lucky with several where the cryptic eluded me totally, like NIGHTJAR and EVERGREEN, but was pleased to get THAT French painter (they usually start with M) and finally twig who the cricketers were. Didn’t know that meaning of WINDIEST, nor that hot = fresh, and the only chine I’ve heard of relates to the hull of a boat. Thank you Jack, not an easy day.
From Blind Willie McTell:
Well God is in his heaven, and we all want what’s his
But power and greed, and corruptible seed, seem to be all that there is
And I’m gazing out the WINDOW, of the St James hotel
And I know no-one can sing the blues like
Blind Willie McTell
55:05. Tough for Tuesday, but made more difficult by doing it in the middle of the night. LOI a BIFD VERTEBRA. For MACHINERY, I knew the meat meaning of chine (more vertebrae) but I also know a chine as a ravine – the opposite of a ridge. There are some on the south coast near Bournemouth. I liked STAGE-MANAGED and WINDOW
Very hard. I had to do this in several stages so don’t have a time, but it would have been well over an hour. VERTEBRA as LOI with lots of hard ones including NIGHTJAR and WINDIEST among others, along the way.
I have no problem in naming the sitcom in which Michael Crawford appeared as Frank Spencer as Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. Yes, it was uneven but the flying lesson episode is one of the classics of British comedy; “There are old pilots…”. I’ve never looked but it could well be on YouTube nowadays.
Thanks to Jack and setter
Gosh, what a super puzzle. Tough but fair, with some really lovely surfaces and malicious synonyms. SIMILE and LAMPPOST stood out in particular, although I did have to look up the Irish broadcaster.
22.05
Excellent, though requiring a few biffs. “Being Frank Spencer” made me LOL.
We shall be dining at Fish Central tomorrow, closer to Smithfield than where Billingsgate is now but the fish should still be fresh.
COD TRANSPARENCY
LOI VERTEBRA (I hate cycling, of either sort)
Decided to have a go at this one – on the basis that Tuesday should be not so bad. Spent an hour or so and got four (4) correct answers.
Can see that some clues were fair enough based on the parsing by skilled blogger, but thought many were arcane and/or beyond my skill or desire.
Sorry but did not enjoy that exercise. Thank you jackkt.
If it’s any consolation, this ancient solver found this almost impenetrable. Goes that way sometimes.
Thank U for the kind thought, Z.
I found this one hard too. And I’m more ancient than Z, so I reckon 🙂
I was up early this morning. It was as well as I’ve been well more than the hour on this. I knew the Irish broadcaster but I kept trying to recycle just them and not the whole. COD jointly between REINVESTMENT and LAMPPOST. Challenging but enjoyable. Thank you Jack and setter.
Stopped after half an hour with six undone. 🙁
A pity after the hard and satisfying work…..
Thanks jack and setter.
48 mins. Found this utterly impenetrable at first but eventually homed in on a setter light years from my wavelength.
All fair though, nothing we haven’t seen before just all artfully contrived in original and unfamiliar ways. Worthy of a Thu/Fri though.
Thanks to both setter and jackkt.
DNF. Gave up after 28 mins with VERTEBRA unsolved. It was the only word I had spotted that fitted but I dismissed it as I couldn’t see how it worked. I should have just bunged it in.
COD: SIMILE. Made me grin.
Thanks to jack and our setter.
Another puzzle where you have to spot the definition and then reverse-engineer over-elaborate wordplay. I got to the point where I just couldn’t be bothered any more (I think EVERGREEN was the straw that broke the camel’s back) so didn’t finish it. We seem to be seeing an awful lot of this kind of thing at the moment.
Father Ted had it right: ‘Down with this sort of thing!’ 🤣
😀
I agree.
31:11. That was tough and I was misled plenty of times, not least with my LOI VERTEBRA where I took ages to see the definition was “back, partly”. Some great clues with clever wordplay. COD to 1A, though, for the super surface. Thanks Jackkt and setter.
34.19, though with some help. The wavelength for me was in the far distance.
24:17 but feel the time doesn’t reflect the difficulty of this (or there may be a very small chance I am getting better). My heart dropped briefly when the first two clues I read involved cricket but thankfully not too much specialist knowledge required.
LOI MACHINERY which I left until last in line with my waiting for all the checking letters before attempting horticultural clues strategy. Although in line with a lot of the puzzle that proved not to be the case.
A couple not fully parsed.
COD HERESIES
Thanks blogger and setter.
36:10
Worked my way around the grid fairly smoothly until I got back to the NW corner where I had only 3d and 4d. After some minutes thought, I pencilled in WINDOW without understanding it fully, that gave NIGHTJAR and OTTER, which in turn, led to NEGATE. I don’t think I would have got WINDIEST without all of the checkers – being a superlative, in my opinion, the definition ‘Extremely nervous’ doesn’t work as well as ‘Most nervous’, but fits the surface better…
Thanks Jack and setter
I agree completely about WINDIEST: the clue is, for me, the one weak one in an otherwise excellent puzzle. I got there in two stages: 50% or thereabouts in 25 mins, a break for an early dinner and the other half in a further 18 minutes for a 43 minute total. I liked TRANSPARENCY and, once I’d parsed the second part, HERESIES. Thanks to setter and blogger.
A bit of a chore ground out eventually. From OLIVER to VERTEBRA, with major holdups at the end caused by COOPER, LAMPPOST, WINDIEST, WINDOW, NEGATE and finally the aforementioned VERTEBRA. A 51:57 slog. Thanks setter and Jack.
For once I was on form, completed in 25 minutes, ending with the WINDOW / NIGHTJAR bit. Didn’t think much of ‘OTTER for fresher, these cockney clues should be outlawed. How can hotter, not cooler, mean fresher?
Some very good clues, I liked VERTEBRA and the contrary woman, quite a few famous CHINES in Bournemouth where I grew up.
I think in the sense ‘trendy’. So in this case ‘hotter’ and ‘cooler’ are synonymous!
Granted. I was probably on a fishy wavelength!
The expression ‘hot off the press’ would equate with fresher.
Too hard for me. Gave up on the hour with only half complete. Surprised SNITCH isn’t higher. Wouldn’t have got half a dozen of these if I’d had all the time in the world; constructing a priori from wordplay was surely pretty much impossible.
Rather hard for a Tuesday I thought, much more the sort of thing we usually have on a Wednesday or Thursday or even occasionally Friday. But full of nice clues, some of which I put in on trust and came here. I particularly liked 1dn WINDOW.
I ended up getting help on LOI, VERTEBRA, which is an absurdly obscure bit of word play. It might be OK to have such a deceptive clue if the Irish broadcaster was common knowledge. I’ve never heard of it, so found this a frustrating end to a puzzle which I otherwise enjoyed.
Like Ulaca I tried WICKIEST for a while!
Nearly gave up after first ten minutes produced only a handful of answers, but then I got into the swing of things. At the end it was down to WINDOW and OTTER. For a time I considered LITER (Cockney LATER = FRESHER), thinking it might be a kind of fishing boat. Couldn’t see why the D went missing from SIDES. If it is just because FOCUS means the central letter, I find it a bit weak. But otherwise, a cracking, crackworthy puzzle which took me 34’17”. HIT JOB for LAMPPOST is excellent. WINDOW clue at 1 ac also.
Billingsgate Market was in the City of London until 1982. It moved to Canary Wharf which is further East. I’m not sure if that makes it a ‘OTTER or cooler place.
Worked in canary wharf for a number of years. Always felt it a bit of an upmarket industrial estate for bankers. Not “cool” IMO, nor “hot” for that matter!
I worked in Billingsgate for a while in the 1990s. It was a bank data centre then, and definitely cooler rather than otter!
Got there eventually, all correct – and fully parsed apart from HERESIES, a terrible clue unless I’m missing something. But this was close to the epitome of the joyless slog for me.
36.49 with a typo
Thought this was tough for a Monday (d’oh, was on holiday yesterday, back last night) or that I was just uber exhausted. Neither the case it seems. Struggled mightily with VERTEBRA but eventually twigged.
Agree with Keriothe in EVERGREEN but did manage to parse the rest.
It seems that the reaction to recent mutterings that the Thursday/Friday crosswords are becoming too tough is to make the Monday / Tuesday ones more difficult.
Thanks for that, setters..
Have to admit however that there were some fine clues herein and I particularly liked the Frank Spencer reference ( ooh Betty…!)but sadly defeated in the end by by VERTEBRA.
I’m pretty sure they just do what they do, regardless.
If they listened to the comments here, they would just reprint the Sun crossword 😉
. . .Which would probably be an improvement on current form
I found this much too difficult for a Tuesday. Had to use aids and was cheating copiously after getting only about a third of it. (No complaints, just an observation.)
Another defeated by VERTEBRA, in an enjoyable 42 minutes, FWIW. I knew the Irish broadcaster but couldn’t see any alternative to varletry and clearly that didn’t work. The triple nesting involved in the parsing of EVERGREEN was unusually inelegant, as commented on above.
Two goes needed.
– Still not quite sure how WINDIEST means ‘extremely nervous’
– No problem with OTTER – after all, something can be fresh out of the oven, when it would be hot
– Didn’t parse EVERGREEN
– Have only just realised that it’s Spencer Tracy being alluded to in the clue for TRANSPARENCY, rather than anyone called Tracy Spencer
– Didn’t know chine as a ridge for MACHINERY
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Roman numeral
LOI Lamppost
COD Chaste
Windy: slang. afraid; frightened; nervous (Collins)
That definition isn’t in question.
But WINDIEST is a superlative, so it should be ‘most nervous’. One might be ‘extremely nervous’, but not as nervous as someone who is ‘extremely, extremely nervous’. The extremely there (and in the clue) is simply a qualifying adverb.
Superlatives, like “-est” or “most.” are often used imprecisely, in expressions of subjective evaluation. “I have just met the most charming woman!” Who is going to argue with that?
“The funniest thing just happened to me…”
I found this a stimulating challenge, and fortunately revisited a clumsily biffed “transparence”. I also biffed my LOI which I couldn’t parse.
FOI CITRIC
LOI NEGATE
COD STAGE MANAGED
TIME 13:19
Down here I once randomly saw on TV a reality show featuring some dodgy chancer in Billingsgate trying to sell rotten fish. The fish police or market police or decency police descended on him and gave him a hard time, but I can’t remember if he was suitably punished. So I wouldn’t trust Billingsgate fish as far as I could spit a rat.
I’m tired and a bit under the weather and found it very tough, but judging from my solve other solvers’ comments I would have found it tough in peak health and peak form, too. Some great off-piste definitions, but perhaps too many clues where you had to guess the answer and see if you could reverse-engineer the wordplay. e.g. failed to figure out evergreen. COD goes to LAMPPOST, brilliant, but it had competition.
OTTER confused me. Fresher, I
thought, was cooler.
Just under the hour after a golf game. Got there in the end but a few went in only half-parsed (for instance I knew ‘een’ but didn’t see verge; saw the wickets but not do=cook, etc etc).
I know Chines from childhood holidays in IOW, great days. Thought there was a bit too much cycling going on in VERTEBRA once I worked out the definition.
Bit of a mixed bag, maybe I still had a few missed putts on my mind!
Thanks Jack and setter.
Had to read the explanation of VERTEBRA about 3 times before I understood it. Otherwise ok. Can’t put a time on it as I was following the cricket. I think the setter was too, with 1a and 1d.
However, I received a £20 voucher this morning for last Saturday’s prize crossword, so all is forgiven.
Congratulations on the prize win.
59:00. Needlessly tricky for a Tuesday! I did enjoy it though…
Been trying to post this since lunchtime and been told something about an URL not being found, then went to a farewell party. Anyway, an excellent puzzle but I found it tough -34 mins, several of which were spent wrestling with VERTEBRA. Some of the wordplay was, I thought, a bit too intricate; thanks Blogger for explaining STAGE-MANAGED and CHASTE, and for trying to explain EVERGREEN (still a bit of a mystery). No problem with hot = fresh, as in ‘hot off the press’ or ‘hot news’, but how many cockneys live in Canary Wharf? My first one in was WINDOW, last VERTEBRA. Favourite clues: to WINDIEST, ACETIC, VERTEBRA and SIMILE. Thank you to Setter and Blogger.
I struggled through until I couldn’t do any more, being becalmed, like Mike Harper, in the NW corner, with only 3 and 4d. In the end I looked up 1d, WINDOW, and that gave the necessary crossers to complete the corner straight away. But still VERTEBRAE eluded me. I knew RTE alright, but couldn’t work out the rest of the clue, still convinced the answer was ‘plucky’ and trying to cycle ‘reversed’ backwards! I failed to parse EVERGREEEN, as I thought poetic evening was ‘eve’. Some great clues, though – TRANSPARENCY, MACHINERY and CHASTE were particularly good.
Another 50-minuter
The last week or so seems to have been consistently on the hard side, though it could equally be me being stupid!
Pleased with a sub-30 on this one. Nice puzzle 😁
LOI VERTEBRA
Old solvers like me benefit from having seen the Irish broadcaster RTE used in clues before.
My parents took me to the tourist attraction at Blackgang Chine on the IOW when I was a kid. I recall a ravine, not a ridge.
Defeated by this today with half a dozen unsolved and some I did solve not parsed.
Just one point for CHASTE – I parsed it as C for Charlie then Haste as superior to speed as in more haste, less speed. Was that intended or was superior just a position indicator as Jack suggests?
Anyway, an Enjoyable contest that I lost.
Thx Jack and setter
I felt happy, once I saw the SNITCH, to get about three quarters of this puzzle, including a half-parsed LAMPPOST, but please, how does “hit” clue “lamp”?
Thanks setter and jack.
That’s interesting, as I assumed ‘lamp’ in that sense was in general use. It may well be, but it’s not in Collins. It is in the Oxfords though as ‘to hit or beat someone (mainly in northern England)’ and in Chambers as ‘to punch or thump’.
‘Lamp’ is extremely widely used in the Midlands and there are also quotes from Manchester (Northern England) and Kilmarnock (central(ish) Scotland) on the Wiktionary page. I’ve read that it’s an allusion to putting someone’s lights (‘lamps’) out but it seems possible to me that it’s a portmanteau of ‘lam’ and ‘thump’ but I always think of it before the vastly rarer similar word ‘lam’ that appears often in these crosswords. It sees that it’s the first time it’s made an appearance here though and I’m very glad it has, long may it continue to be used!
Thanks, I like the lam/thump idea. “Lam” is well known to me but not “lamp”.
Thank you!
Heresies – Focus in ophthalmology is measured in D (diopters) apparently.