Time: 40 minutes. I made good progress but was slowed by at least four answers I didn’t know.
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 caret 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 | All the best working dogs went (8) |
| GODSPEED – Anagram [working] of DOGS, then PEED (went) | |
| 6 | Blunder, almost hugging new primate (6) |
| BONOBO – BO⁁O–BO{o} (blunder) [almost] containing [hugging] N (new). I count this as a ‘never heard of’ although it has appeared here a couple of times previously | |
| 9 | Perplexed, makes up for deficiencies with shortened broadcast (2,4,4,3) |
| AT ONES WITS END – ATONES (makes up for deficiencies), WIT{h} [shortened], SEND (broadcast) | |
| 10 | Rebellious, throw to the left, then throw to the right (6) |
| BOLSHY – LOB (throw) reversed [to the left], then SHY (throw) not reversed [to the right] | |
| 11 | Dull lecture announced extinct bird (5,3) |
| GREAT AUK – Aural wordplay [announced]: “grey talk” (dull lecture) | |
| 13 | Work at probing every Republican in charge of different geographical areas (10) |
| ALLOPATRIC – OP (work) + AT contained by [probing] ALL (every)⁁ R (Republican), IC (in charge). Truly unknown this time, the answer is making its first appearance in the TfTT era. | |
| 15 | Problem of teenagers in north contained by expert (4) |
| ACNE – N (north) contained by AC⁁E (expert) | |
| 16 | Lacking in energy, male stops backchat (4) |
| LIMP – M (male) is contained by [stops] LI⁁P (backchat) | |
| 18 | Cops kept up with malfunctioning toy (4,6) |
| SOCK PUPPET – Anagram [malfunctioning] of COPS KEPT UP | |
| 21 | State is backed and supported by hatred (8) |
| AVERSION – AVER (state), IS reversed [backed], ON (supported by) | |
| 22 | Fat reduced by half in round rice cake (6) |
| ECLAIR – LA{rd} (fat) [reduced by half] contained by [in] anagram [round] of RICE | |
| 23 | Horrific Icelandic mess in economics? (6,7) |
| DISMAL SCIENCE – Anagram [horrific] of ICELANDIC MESS. Wikipedia: “The dismal science” is a derogatory name for the science of economics, coined by Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle in 1849. It contrasts with “the gay science”, a then-current name for poetry. |
|
| 25 | Meddles close to first minister (6) |
| PRIEST – PRIES (meddles), {firs}T [close to…] | |
| 26 | Current price of copper is precise (8) |
| ACCURATE – AC (current), CU RATE (price of copper) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Respect part in audition experiencing continuing success (2,1,4) |
| ON A ROLL – Aural wordplay [in audition]: ON A / “honour” (respect) + ROLL / “role” (part), | |
| 3 | Rows with pet shop about spectacular event (11) |
| SHOWSTOPPER – Anagram [about] of ROWS PET SHOP | |
| 4 | Heading north, cavalrymen easily suppressing hostile forces (5) |
| ENEMY – Hidden [suppressing] and reversed [heading north] in {cavalr}YMEN E{asily} | |
| 5 | Make bet for wealthy old lady (7) |
| DOWAGER – DO (make), WAGER (bet) | |
| 6 | Part of seat higher for broadcast, which is a bloomer (9) |
| BUTTERCUP – Aural wordplay [for broadcast] BUTTERC / “buttock” (part of seat), then UP (higher). Easy for me as I remembered this piece from A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1990). | |
| 7 | Engage regularly? In Perth, no (3) |
| NAE – {e}N{g}A{g}E [regularly] | |
| 8 | Nomad’s become settled around Oxford University (7) |
| BEDOUIN – BED⁁IN (become settled) containing [around] OU (Oxford University) | |
| 12 | Bouncer’s two modes of transport across river (11) |
| TRAMPOLINER – TRAM ⁁ LINER (two modes of transport) containing [across] PO (river). If I ever had the need to refer to such a person I’d be more like to say ‘trampolinist’. | |
| 14 | Attacker of creature, one with six feet, having internal trouble (9) |
| ASSAILANT – ASS (creature) ⁁ ANT (one with six feet) containing [having internal] AIL (trouble) | |
| 17 | Vice-admiral blocking popular article from German aggressor (7) |
| INVADER – VA (Vice-admiral) contained by [blocking] IN (popular) ⁁ DER (article from German) | |
| 19 | John thanks nurses when playing card game (7) |
| CANASTA – CAN (John – loo) ⁁ TA (thanks) contains [nurses] AS (when) | |
| 20 | Important and valuable source found in English books (7) |
| EMINENT – MINE (valuable source) contained by [found in] E (English) ⁁ NT (books – New Testament). This completes a run of SIX consecutive containment clues! | |
| 22 | Essentially, sent kid back for early computer (5) |
| ENIAC – {s}EN{t} + {k}I{d} + {b}AC{k} [essentially]. NHO this. It appeared once in a 15×15 10 years ago, but otherwise only in Mephistos and Monthy Specials. | |
| 24 | Witness search for missing king (3) |
| SEE – SEE{k} (search for) [missing king] | |
I liked Bolshy and Godspeed best.
I sincerely hope that Allopatric’s debut is also its swan song.
The light finally dawns on BUTTERCUP!
I meant to post this in the blog. I shall add it there now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5gI11Gk8x4
Excellent!
16 minutes for me, which is or is close to a PB. Like I’m sure almost everyone I had NHO ALLOPATRIC but luckily the wordplay was generous. As a computer scientist, no problem with ENIAC (although I did wonder if it might be EDSAC until I looked at the wordplay carefully). I couldn’t see how BUTTERCUP worked since I assumed BUTT was the “part of seat” which left some letters unaccounted for, although I was sure it was the right answer.
Some of these homonym clues are really tricky for Yankees like me. I would pronounce “buttock up” and “buttercup” distinctly because I use a rhotic “r”. So in addition to the wordplay, I’m obliged to roleplay too! Fortunately, the checking letters bailed me out on this one so the wordplay wasn’t load-bearing today.
Around 30 minutes which is as fast as I have ever done.
15:16
I bunged in ALLOTROPIC (DNK), which I only actually looked at when DOWAGER forced me to; then corrected it to also DNK ALLOPATRIC. Biffed GREAT AUK, ECLAIR, ON A ROLL, DISMAL SCIENCE, parsed post-submission. Biffed BUTTERCUP, had no idea how it worked (‘butterc’ would never have occurred to rhotic moi).
How does a Frenchman greet an Irishman? (10)
I didn’t know the answer either, but the the cryptic is explicit, and it means in other homelands in Greek. Clue solved! I had more difficulty with eclair and bonobo, thinking that error = boob. But I suddenly saw it must be boo-boo, and triumphantly entered the final O. I did do a fair amount of biffing in the middle of my solve, but the grid invites it.
Time: 20:04
6:44 for my fastest ever weekday solve.
Thank you linesmen, thank you ballboys.
🔥
Wd
Wow! 😮
Disgracefully quick…
Wow
14.45 but WOE: it turns out that the middle of BONOBO contains an O, not an A, so with that bit of carelessness I mucked up what was a quick solve for me. Same unknowns as everyone else though the wordplay was helpful. My LOI was PRIEST where I got into a muddle over the definition. Thank you Jack and well done Galspray!
From Visions of Johanna:
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We SEE this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes everything’s been returned which was owed
On the back of a fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys in the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain
7:25. Or about 1.1 galsprays, to use the new standard measure.
I don’t remember seeing ALLOPATRIC before but ENIAC rang a bell.
Enjoyed BUTTERCUP.
27:51 for me, although I typoed canAsta as canIsta, annoyingly. I didn’t parse BUTTERCUP but it doesn’t quite work with the way I’d pronounce buttock anyway. ALLOPATRIC I knew but it took me ages to come up with. Nice puzzle, thanks setter and Jackkt — and also thanks to the link to that superb Stephen Fry sketch! There’s so much packed into those hundred seconds of genius.
Fairly quick today. Nho allopatric but it didn’t matter. I would say hatred is a much stronger word than a mere aversion. I have an aversion to baked beans, but I don’t hate them.
Familiar with ENIAC, which Wikipedia wrongly claims as the first programmable digital computer. The correct answer is Colossus, for which Wiki makes the same claim, this time correctly…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer
Having laboriously sorted ALLOPATRIC and ENIAC with crossed fingers, I then missed out on the fun, failing to parse the brilliant BUTTERCUP. Good puzzle.Thank you Jack and setter.
17 minutes. ALLOPATRIC – who knew? Ah, Dr Jack I now see – about the only one. The parsing of BUTTERCUP was almost as mystifying; thanks for the explanation and link. I agree that TRAMPOLINER looks/sounds odd but it’s in the usual places as an alternative to TRAMPOLINIST. I hadn’t heard of DISMAL SCIENCE for ‘economics’ either – a good description.
39 mins but I had to look up the computer, not seeing the inclusion indicator. Bah.
Missed the parsing of BUTTERCUP too which is a shame, great clue. Worked out BOBOBO, ALLOPATRIC & DISMAL SCIENCE from wp, all NHO’s.
Thanks Jack and setter.
13.30
Glad I wasn’t the only one never to have heard of ALLOPATRIC.
Helped towards COD 6d by memory of the Two Ronnies’ musical item with the Pinafore parody “Dear little BUTTERCUP, lift your left buttock up”.
LOI AVERSION
About 20 minutes.
– Like many others it seems, didn’t know ALLOPATRIC so had to construct it from wordplay
– Needed all the checkers before I got the unfamiliar DISMAL SCIENCE
– Hesitated over NAE as I was fixated on the Australian Perth rather than the Scottish one
– Relied on the wordplay to get ENIAC
One tiny thing: I think the anagrind for SOCK PUPPET is “with malfunctioning”, not just “malfunctioning”.
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Enemy
LOI Bedouin
COD Sock puppet
I found the “with malfunctioning” indicator a little wordy, but I suppose sorting through an unnecessarily cryptic clue is the name of the game!
11’08”, no issues apart from a Cockney greeting Mr. Swayze (vinyl was first).
BUTTERCUP was a brilliant clue. GREAT AUK could have been (tweeting no longer?). Nho DISMAL SCIENCE, I prefer to think of economics as guesswork.
Thanks jack and setter.
17:05. Lots of biffing and some entertainingly dodgy homophones. Made a bit of a meal of the SE but otherwise a piece of cake. Which an ECLAIR isn’t in my book.
BONOBOs remembered from wildlife programmes for their habit of having sex as a means of saying “hello”. Well humans seem to have moved from shaking hands to hugging all the time, whatever next?
Thanks jackkt and setter.
An eclair is cake, but only in crossword puzzles!
Put in the wrong ROLE! Idiot that I am. Spoiled the end because I spent minutes wondering if PEROPATRIC existed — before deciding it couldn’t and spotting my error. 20’47”
14:58
I got off to a flier and felt that I might be heading for a ‘Galspray’ but then got a bit stuck with about 2/3 of the puzzle done.
COD: Buttercup.
Thanks to jack and our setter.
21:08
ALLOPATRIC also a NHO for me and went in with some reservation.
Only solved BUTTERCUP from the checking letters. I could see BUTT but didn’t extend it.
Wasted time on BONOBO not remembering which were As (turns out there wasn’t any) and Os and Boo-boo wasn’t coming to mind.
COD BOLSHY
Thanks blogger and setter.
Just under 20′ which is always a good time for me. The two NHOs (ALLOPATRIC and DISMAL) were easily clued. I only remember seeing BOLSHY spelt with an “ie” at the end though both are acceptable. Otherwise all straightforward.
Thanks Jackkt and setter
EDIT just noticed the parsing of BUTTERCUP which like others above I had missed. For me “butterc” is about as far away from “buttock” as I’ve seen in a homophone on these pages, and that’s saying something!!
29.24 with the last three clues (PRIEST, ECLAIR and ENIAC) taking me too much time to unravel. NHO ALLOPATRIC but pleased to have got it through parsing.
Liked BUTTERCUP. The music teacher at my children’s school was a Yorkshireman who when trying to get the choir to hit the high notes would call out “clench yer boottocks, sopranos!”
Thanks Jack and setter.
15.45, thinking this wasn’t especially easy, with careful attention needed.
I shan’t be able to hear GODSPEED in the future without thinking of Baal “covering his feet” (there’s erudition for you from the Queen of Sciences). I thought BUTTERCUP was a bit of a bum deal until checking my answers and seeing the homophon (as an almost soundalike should be called). I had TRAMPOLINES (“bouncer’s”) thinking the two rails for a tram were/was a bit of a stretch, until the CURATE intervened. I knew ENIAC well enough: I’ll take it on trust it’s not been in a 15 for ages – it’s come up often enough in the puzzles I do. ALLOPATRIC, on the other hand must have been introduced to Chambers recently: I can’t believe it’s been there before. DISMAL SCIENCE with a grin.
Thanks for the blog, Jack: I’ll let you know when I’ve worked out how to enter ⁁ !
The distinction between allopatric and sympatric speciation was expected to be known by A-level biologists studying evolution in the 70s. Allopatric was a fancy way of saying isolated, I think.
I grinned too. Pseudoscience, surely?
I read somewhere that the only purpose of economic forecasts is to make astrology look respectable.
🤣
Very good
Good puzzle all correctly completed bar “bonobo” which I gave in to after some minutes.
Enjoyed the homophones (especially the dodgier ones) and constructed “allopatric” from the wordplay.
“ENIAC” rang a bell and sure has come up this year somewhere (assume from these parts as part of a clue as wouldn’t have known it otherwise and remember looking it up at the time).
Thanks for the excellent blog and to our setter for a fun solve.
The SNITCH count is well reflected in my 15 mins – unusually fast for me. I’m yet another who hasn’t come across ALLOPATRIC before. First in was ON A ROLL and last BUTTERCUP (having finally sussed out the clever wordplay). My favourite clue out of a number of entertaining ones was to GODSPEED. Thank you Setter and Blogger.
DNF as NHO ENIAC but otherwise done in 21 mins. I’d actually say this was a bit easier than yesterday’s offering, despite that putting me at odds with most commenters here.
Had no idea what was going on with BUTTERCUP, so thanks for explanation. NHO ENIAC or ALLOPATRIC. The former I declined to guess, the latter I did on the assumption that the wordplay was generous and obvious (as it proved to be).
I knew ENIAC, having been an operator on large mainframes in the the late 1969’s. I found this very enjoyable until near the end. DISMAL SCIENCE was new to me, and took a couple of minutes to break down with pen and paper (which I seldom resort to except for Mephisto these days).
I’d entered “allotropic” at 13A on the first pass, and backed it out when I saw BUTTERCUP – so the NHO LOI was a 🤞 job.
FOI BONOBO
LOI ALLOPATRIC
COD GODSPEED
TIME 12:44
It struck me that some DOWAGERS might be struggling to make ends meet, but Colllins justifies the ‘wealthy’. Like many others ALLOPATRIC was a completely new experience, but the wordplay was fairly kind. Fortunate that the crossword wasn’t all that difficult so I can finish it before I go out.
18:20 – the same unknown as everyone else. Late to the ball with BUTTERCUP but I enjoyed it when I finally got there.
18:01 Short and sweet. Great fun. Only ALLOPATRIC causing a pause. COD BUTTERCUP. Like Jack I immediately thought of the Fry and Laurie sketch.
Thanks to Jack and the setter
20:05
Snitch at 61 would give me a target time of 15m30s these days. Same points already made by others – NHO ALLOPATRIC though the wordplay was generous, NHO DISMAL SCIENCE – I figured the SCIENCE part early, but couldn’t imagine that DISMAL would be the first word, even with the D and S checkers in place. I also had TRAMLINES around the PO until I solved ACCURATE.
Thanks Jack and setter
Something like 2.2 Gs. I was happy enough when I solved it, but have spiralled off into a depression since seeing the SNITCH.
All correct, 61 minutes (15 of those on not being able to parse BUTTERCUP).
BONOBOS are meant to be a friendlier version of Chimpanzees.
Enjoyed GREAT AUK and BOLSHY
Thanks to Jack and Setter
I dipped in and out of this in between meetings and lunch. I found it a pleasant solve. I had little trouble with ENIAC (being a software person), BONOBO (not sure why I knew it but it went straight in), ALLOPATRIC (worked it out from cryptic and some crossers) or DISMAL SCIENCE (once I saw the second word had to be ‘science’, it could only be ‘dismal’) which was my LOI.
I think I had maybe dredged that last one from somewhere deep in my mind but wasn’t prepared for the dark rabbit hole that looking it up on Wikipedia took me down. Clearly jackkt also went to the Wiki entry as the clarification in the blog is that article’s first paragraph.
Given the setter’s obvious liking for homophone clues, I have to say they missed an open goal with ALLOPATRIC, where was the overheard Cockney greeting the Irishman?
I enjoyed this one a lot, thanks jackkt, thanks setter.
I acknowledged in the blog that I was quoting from Wikipedia.
Had to assemble the NHO, ALLOPATRIC and DISMAL SCIENCE the hard way. Was breeze blocked by 1a at the end as I was still trying (dogswent)* until I spent a penny. Cue #facepalm! Saw part of seat and butt and didn’t bother to parse further. As I’m at 174 on the Leaderboard I guess that was a very sluggish 24:05. Thanks setter and Jack. Congrats to Galspray. Scorchio!
24:13, which must be my PB by some distance. At this rate I’ll be within shouting distance of the speedsters in, oh, maybe two hundred years or so.
Thank you for the blog, and also for the Fry and Laurie sketch, which leapt to mind as soon as I solved the clue!
I’d vaguely heard of DISMAL SCIENCE and ENIAC, although I don’t know where from, but of course ALLPATRIC was a total NHO. Thank goodness for clear cluing.
We have seen BONOBOS a few times here in the East Midlands! There’s a troop at Twycross Zoo, and the UK’s only bonobo baby was born there last autumn. A fascinating species in danger of going extinct, which are humans’ nearest relatives and a rare matriarchal society – the only great ape to live in female-led groups.
About 25 minutes, all parsed except BUTTERCUP.
Thanks setter and Jack
24.31 despite the unknown allopatric and eniac but both were helpfully clued if you took the punt. COD trampoliner.
For the first time, I beat my QC time (10:12) on the full (9:50).