Time: 43 minutes. Very enjoyable, but I lost momentum part way through and took a while to get things going again.
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 | Student going further out grasped at rocks (12) |
| POSTGRADUATE – Anagram [rocks] of OUT GRASPED AT | |
| 8 | Gold coin supply initially offering liquidity within South American banks? (7) |
| ORINOCO – OR, (gold), anagram [supply] of COIN, then O{ffering} [initially] is the wordplay followed by a somewhat cryptic definition. | |
| 9 | Leader not in mood for beheaded king (7) |
| EMPEROR – {t}EMPER (mood) [leader not in…], {f}OR [beheaded] | |
| 11 | Left apple perhaps containing hard material (7) |
| LEATHER – L (left), EAT⁁ER (apple perhaps) containing H (hard) | |
| 12 | Language is difficult to begin with — it takes up half a lecture (7) |
| DIALECT – D{ifficult} [to begin with], then I⁁T contains [takes up] A + LEC{ture} [half]. A is part of the count. | |
| 13 | Handle strong joint when touring India (5) |
| WIELD – W⁁ELD (strong joint) containing [touring] I (India) | |
| 14 | Hairdo’s damp swimming with duck in stream (9) |
| POMPADOUR – Anagram [swimming] of DAMP + O (duck) contained by [in] PO⁁UR (stream) | |
| 16 | Be first to sympathise, bandaging servant’s facial injuries (5,4) |
| BLACK EYES – B⁁E + S{ympathise} [first to…] containing [bandaging] LACKEY (servant) | |
| 19 | Footwear’s unpleasant smell during day (5) |
| SABOT – BO (unpleasant smell) contained by [during] SA⁁T (day) | |
| 21 | Retired gangster secures daggers for border resident (7) |
| LOBELIA – AL (gangster – Capone) reversed [retired] contains [secures] OBELI (daggers – ††). A bedding plant of the bellflower family. | |
| 23 | Billions invested in base in charge of autonomous machines (7) |
| ROBOTIC – B (billions) contained by [invested in] RO⁁OT (base), then IC (in charge) | |
| 24 | Scored Barcelona’s opener — son was emotional about it (7) |
| SCRIBED – S (son), CRI⁁ED (was emotional) containing [about] B{arcelona’s} [opener]. ‘It’ in the clue refers back to Barcelona’s opener. Collins: scribe (verb) – to score a line on (a surface) with a pointed instrument, as in metalworking. I didn’t know this meaning. | |
| 25 | Capital Radio’s focus is boring live band (7) |
| BRIGADE – RIGA (capital) + {ra}D{io} [’s focus] contained by [is boring] BE (live) | |
| 26 | Jabber sometimes confused things with crew (12) |
| WELTERWEIGHT – WELTER (confused things), W (with), EIGHT (crew – rowing). ODE: welter – a confused mass. | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | A third of prize fund Victor had not overlooked (7) |
| PRIVATE – PRI{ze fund} [a third of…], V (Victor), ATE (had). Along with 12ac, that’s twice in this puzzle that we’ve been required to count the letters of two adjacent words to work out how many letters to delete. | |
| 2 | Second old drunk gulping sherry, half-cut — or worse (7) |
| SLOSHED – S (second) anagram [drunk] of OLD containing [gulping] SHE{rry} [half-cut]. The definition ‘worse’ refers back to ‘half-cut’ which is slang for drunk. ‘Sloshed’ by comparison is more likely to mean very drunk. | |
| 3 | Scientific study hugely lacking content — below average effort, say, all round (9) |
| GEOGRAPHY – PAR (average) + GO (effort) + EG (say) all reversed [all round], then H{ugel}Y [lacking content] sits below it in the grid | |
| 4 | First-class doctor introducing energy and new remedy (5) |
| AMEND – A (first-class), M⁁D (doctor) containing [introducing] E (energy) + N (new) | |
| 5 | City University starts to promote professors in review, unfortunately (7) |
| UPPSALA – U (university), P{romote} + P {rofessors} [starts to…], then ALAS (unfortunately) reversed [in review]. A city in Sweden that caught me out last time it appeared with less friendly wordplay. | |
| 6 | Weapon excessively constrains communist holding power (7) |
| TORPEDO – TO⁁O (excessively) contains [constrains] R⁁ED (communist) itself containing [holding] P (power) | |
| 7 | Stomach ache convulsed bellboy with scowl (12) |
| COLLYWOBBLES – Anagram [convulsed] of BELLBOY SCOWL | |
| 10 | It’ll get you back on time — vessel, flash and extremely elegant (6,6) |
| RETURN TICKET – RE (on), T (time), URN (vessel), TICK (flash), E{legan}T [extremely] | |
| 15 | In some measure, uncovers upset and melancholy (9) |
| MISERABLE – BARES (uncovers) reversed [upset] contained by [in] MI⁁LE (some measure) | |
| 17 | Plant-based food abandoned by popular French eatery (7) |
| AUBERGE – AUBERG{in}E (plant-based food) [abandoned by popular – in] | |
| 18 | I throw cutting equipment in storage unit (7) |
| KILOBIT – I + LOB (throw) contained by [cutting] KIT (equipment) | |
| 19 | Relative’s medical suspension to include iodine and boron (7) |
| SIBLING – S⁁LING (medical suspension) containing [to include] I (iodine) + B (boron) | |
| 20 | Without Hollywood’s backing, Brad Pitt plays minor role (3,4) |
| BIT PART – Anagram [plays] of BRA{d}PITT [without Hollywood’s backing – d] | |
| 22 | Tree in Hampshire town — photograph is taken (5) |
| ALDER – ALDER{shot} (Hampshire town) [photograph is taken] | |
DIALECT and EMPEROR were not difficult, but I found the parsing quite hard. Don’t think I’ve seen the two words divided before in a clue. And for EMPEROR I wrongly took the literal to be ‘leader’ with the king (R) as the final letter in the answer. I think we had POMPADOUR recently, so that was a write-in otherwise I’d never have known it. Didn’t know the required meaning of ‘welter’ in WELTERWEIGHT but with all checkers in place it had to be. Liked COLLYWOBBLES.
Thanks Jack and setter.
LOI PRIVATE, with the definition as elusive as the two-word count in the wordplay. Checked that definition for SCRIBE.
It took me ages to understand the very clever definition of PRIVATE! Wonderful!
23:21
Biff City; never did parse GEOGRAPHY. It took me some time to twig to A LEC and PRI. DNK SCRIBED. DNK that Aldershot is in Hampshire, and ‘shot’ took me some time to come up with.
One hint for solvers: if you put the answer for 8 across in the space for 6 down, your solve will be very slow. No idea how that happened. Even after correcting, I couldn’t parse emperor or dialect. Is a king an emperor? I also spent ages trying to remember the UK word collywobbles.
Time: 41:31
Queen Victoria was granted the additional title of Empress of India in 1876. Each of her successors on the throne had the title of Emperor of India until the British Raj was dissolved in 1947.
10:31 – I found this one fairly tricky and WELTERWEIGHT was my last in based on definition.
My LOI was PRIVATE. I also had a MER at “king” and EMPEROR being the same. Also AUBERGE means an inn rather than a restaurant, although many inns have restaurants too. I didn’t know that meaning of WELTER but it was the only WEIGHT for boxing that woould fit so in it went.
Historically king and emperor can be the same but the titles are also interchangeable (along with many other titles) when used colloquially to describe a powerful person. As so often with crosswords, meanings don’t need to be identical in every situation.
10:51 for an enjoyable outing. Took a while at the end to see the parsing of BRIGADE.
COLLYWOBBLES has an entirely different meaning in Australian football. It refers to the propensity of the Collingwood Magpies to find ways not to win a title in the period from 1958 to 1990. Consequently it’s a word that evokes pleasure rather than distress!
Some great clues here, starting with POSTGRADUATE. Also liked the use of “jabber” and “medical suspension”.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Steady solve today, slight mer at King= emperor, but indeed they are interchangeable eg “In my own garden I am king/emperor of all i survey.” Also at auberge = restaurant. It is an inn, though i suppose most can be used as a restaurant. I dare say if you put the word into TripAdvisor a load of eateries would come up.
And then there is brigade = band!
Clever stuff. Thanks all.
12’25”, nearly breezeblocked on BRIGADE, which is thousands of soldiers……OK, band of brothers springs to mind.
‘AUBERGE de jeunesse’ is French for a youth hostel, where the food cannot be described as in an eatery.
Loved COLLYWOBBLES, fantastic word now sadly out of use.
Thanks jack and setter.
20.41 – could have been under 20 but I was extremely keen to make sure I checked the spellings on this one. Very enjoyable it was, too. COD to LOBELIA. That type of border, d’oh …
50:49
Needed an aid for AUBERGE, as wasn’t convinced about LOBELIA (OBELI, wow, that’s obscure)
LOI BRIGADE. Didn’t understand “radios focus” meant central letter, thought it was first letter, hence either BRIGARE, or the more likely BLIMARE.
SCRIBED late in as I wanted something with SOBBED (was emotional)
PDM when figured that jabber=boxer.
Also had the made up BELLYWOBBLES, after being convinced it must start with belly=stomach. Now I think about it, it’s an excellent word for an upset stomach.
21 minutes. Came as a great relief after a series of failures where I seemed to have a relatively good start but was stymied by clues which, after a visit here, should have been attainable. Perhaps it’s a wavelength thing or just old age.
Nice to get the COLLYWOBBLES for once, wouldn’t like to guess how long since that word occurred to me. PRIVATE was LOI as a result of forgetting the I before E rule for WIELD , thankfully I actually looked at the word and saw the error. Almost forgot that POMPADOUR was a hairdo too. KILOBIT also had me pondering.
Grateful thanks to a kindly setter and jackkt.
WOE, a silly EMPoReR after 35 ish. Really didn’t enjoy this one much at all. Tried to reverse engineer everything and managed all but WELTER but it was painful at times. COD and FOI POSTGRADUATE, downhill from there to BRIGADE. Roll on tomorrow. Thanks jackkt and setter.
10:11. A few tricky bits in here.
I thought that COLLYWOBBLES just meant nerves, I didn’t know it had this more physical meaning.
MER at ‘plant-based food’. An AUBERGINE is a plant, it isn’t ‘based on’ one.
13.25, so not slow, but the sort of crossword where you want to sort out the wordplay, not just to get the answer right, but to acknowledge the trouble the setter has gone to to produce it. Most of the clue stocked a considerable welter of words, and it was actually fun to untangle everything.
I know she wasn’t a king, but Victoria was RI, which at least shows you can be both, even if the one is not the same as the other. The title persisted until 1947.
“I’d like a return ticket”. “Where too, sir?” “Back here, of course”.
About 20′ again but not as enjoyable as yesterday’s I’d say. A couple came much quicker than I’d expect, AUBERGE, ORINOCO and POMPADOUR. But despite having K_L _, I did hover over a few “units” (eg ton?) before realising “storage unit ” was the clue.
I was also looking for anagram fodder for the boxing weight, not seeing “welter” within the definition.
Thanks Jack and setter
Nah. Gave up on the hour with PRIVATE, ORINOCO, UPPSALA & POMPADOUR all missing. I had run out of steam by that time . Shame because there were some great clues and I didn’t make the best of it.
COD WELTERWEIGHT.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Just under 15 minutes.
– Got ORINOCO some time before I figured out the parsing
– Likewise only parsed EMPEROR post-submission
– Biffed DIALECT once I had the checkers
– Couldn’t tell you exactly what kind of hairstyle a POMPADOUR is
– Didn’t know the specific stomach ache sense of COLLYWOBBLES
– Trusted the wordplay to get AUBERGE
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Collywobbles
LOI Emperor
COD Brigade
35 mins.
Good challenge.
Thanks, jack.
POSTGRADUATE rolled off the fingers as I read the clue, but the NW downs from it didn’t. The NE populated nicely and RETURN TICKET gave a lot of handy crossers. WELTERWEIGHT came after I stopped looking for anagrist in the clue and saw EIGHT as the crew. WIELD and BLACK EYES provided the W and B which were enough to provoke the COLLYWOBBLES. 25a was LOI and its parsing took a while. 21:16. Thanks setter and Jack.
23:16, but I had to look up POMPADOUR, which I’ve never heard of and couldn’t parse from the pretty abstruse cryptic.
I spent about 8 minutes on three clues: BRIGADE, MISERABLE and POMPADOUR. Other than that, it was actually relatively fast.
I thought it was a great puzzle, COD to the brilliantly funny ORINOCO.
21:31 a bit difficult getting started on this but then it seemed to flow. Not helped by an incorrectly spelt semi-biff of pompadore
I would like to thank the setter for not clueing ORINOCO as ‘Wimbledon resident’ or ‘rubbish collector’ as much as I used to love the Wombles.
Not heard COLLYWOBBLES since I was a kid and slowed down by thinking it ended -BELLY.
Only other trouble was the crossing NHO of LOBELIA and AUBERGE where plant-based food had me thinking along the lines of Quorn and tofu.
COD ORINOCO
Thanks blogger and setter.
‘Plant-based food’ had me thinking along the same lines (and I think it’s inaccurate for that reason) but Quorn is based on a fungus!
BRIGADE took up more than half of my 35 min solve. The rest fell in place fairly easily, though I had no idea what was going on with MISERABLE and LOBELIA. I see the latter was the obscurest of the obscure.
My thanks to jackkt and setter.
I found it easier to guess the answers than to parse the sometimes convoluted wordplay. Interesting exercise.
9a Emperor. Up to 1946 British coins had “Ind Imp” as part of the monarch’s title. It meant emperor of India in Latin, hence an example of king=emperor.
25 Brigade; easy to see, hard to spot Riga.
26a Welterweight. Never did work out that jabber=boxer, DOH!
7d Collywobbles, lovely clue. I always took it to be diarrhoea rather than tummy ache, but Wiktionary supports the setter.
18d Kilobit was a bit confusing. Traditionally comms speeds are counted in bits, but storage units are always in bytes.
22:55
No issues other than being unable to parse MISERABLE, BRIGADE, and the unknown WELTER. I agree with andyf that comms speeds are traditionally counted in bits, and storage units in bytes. Though there are 8 bits in a byte, you’d always use a multiple of bytes (kilo-, mega-, giga-, etc.) when talking about large amounts of storage.
Thanks Jack and setter
EMPEROR at 9ac confused me with the parsing and I wasn’t sure of the definition. But Jack is clearly right. In the BRIGADE clue I reckoned a capital city was the definition, and having failed to think of one and because it was my LOI I went to a list of capital cities without success, then gave up and used an electronic aid. No need really as it was straightforward enough. Riga often appears.
18.45
Also held up at the end with BRIGADE. Nice clue.
Keriothe’s comment about “plant-based” caused a guffaw here. Perhaps we can now expect to see chicken described as “meat-based nutrition”.
No complaints though – enjoyed the puzzle.
Not for the first time, I am thwarted by a flower( or a bird).Vaguely recalled OBELI for daggers, but thought it was obili.
Agree with those who remember COLLYWOBBLES as meaning nerves or shakes, but then again I am going back to the middle of the last century…
35:51 – there were a couple that were a stretch for me. MER at aubergine being plant based food; and I didn’t equate COLLYWOBBLES to stomach upsets. Generally enjoyed it though and it has helped pass a very delayed train journey!
does melancholy = miserable or Misery?
Yes! (it can be an adjective or a noun)
Thanks Amoeba. I did not know that.
After my initial survey I thought this one was going to be very hard but COLLYWOBBLES saved the day and opened up the left side – 26 mins, but that included three or four mins contemplating the clue to BRIGADE, deciding which end of the clue the definition was and whether there was a capital city that would fit; I thought that BRIGADE = ‘band’ was a bit loose, but I expect Chambers justifies it. Didn’t know SCRIBED = Scored or WELTER = confused things. Liked Jabber = WELTERWEIGHT. First in was SCRIBED and last BRIGADE. Favourite three clues: to POSTGRADUATE, BLACK EYES and PRIVATE. Thank you Setter and Blogger.
23:14
COD: Postgraduate
Thanks to jack and our setter
24 minutes. Some interesting definitions for ORINOCO, LOBELIA, WELTERWEIGHT and PRIVATE certainly added to the challenge of this one. Like a few other commenters, I didn’t know the ‘stomach ache’ sense of COLLYWOBBLES, just thinking it meant nervousness or lack of confidence. Favourite was the surface for SLOSHED.
About 12 min. Mostly I liked this one, though I agree that “plant-based” is just wrong. Wasted some time trying to make 26ac an anagram since the fodder for weight was clearly there. WOD to COLLYWOBBLES though, like others, I initially wanted it to involve a belly. COD to BIT PART, lovely surface.
Defeated by BRIGADE- very elegant clue- but all other clues correct. Thanks for the explanation for LOBELIA, jackkt.
I liked COLLYWOBBLES and ORINOCO
Many thanks Setter
29:32 delayed at the end by AUBERGE and LOBELIA.
Thanks Jack and setter
I took this very slowly (which is not unusual) and thoroughly enjoyed working out every parsing along the way. As Jack, I needed a ‘second wind’ – for me in the SW where, eventually Auberge fell which then allowed Lobelia (I remember obeli from from some time ago – probably a crossword), Scribed and loi Kilobit. Wonderful misdirection throughout.
I found this easier than today’s QC, although I couldn’t parse some – Geography, Brigade and Sloshed. Although I knew the word. A MER at Collywobbles as I’ve always understood it to mean a case of nerves, as in ‘she’s got the collywobbles over her speech’ rather than stomach ache. But an enjoyable solve. Thanks to Jack and setter.
In response to your post and to others who expressed misgivings about COLLYWOBBLES I checked the usual sources and there’s support for all meanings discussed above other than the Australian one mentioned by Galspray. As it’s late and I’ve had a busy day I asked AI to dress them up nicely and add further info:
“The collywobbles” can mean both an upset stomach and a feeling of nervousness, especially the kind of nervousness you feel in your stomach (similar to “butterflies in the stomach”).
As for the origin, etymologists aren’t completely certain, but the leading theories are:
It was a humorous, nonsense-style formation from “colic” (intestinal pain) + “wobble.” That would make the original sense something like “wobbly from stomach cramps.”
Another possibility is that it was influenced by “cholera morbus” (an old medical term associated with severe gastrointestinal illness), which may have been reshaped by folk etymology into the more playful-sounding “collywobbles.”
The earliest recorded uses date to the early 1820s, and the word originally referred to bowel trouble or stomach upset. Over time it broadened to include the anxious, queasy feeling that often accompanies fear or anticipation.
Haven’t seen/heard COLLYWOBBLES for ages!
A fair puzzle although I didn’t like 17D much. Surely an Aubergine is a plant – not “plant-based” and I wouldn’t consider an AUBERGE as an eatery – isn’t it just an inn or hostel (stayed in several Les Auberges de la Jeunesse when I Interrailed many years ago…)?
Liquidity in country x’s banks is rather good for a river. Having appeared once though, I suppose it can’t be repeated for a while. This all went in smoothly and I completed in 18’16”. Like the BRAD PITT – BIT PART near-anagram.
28.23 That was a lovely puzzle though I skipped some of the subtlety with biffs of GEOGRAPHY, AUBERGE and LOI BRIGADE. Thanks Jack.
Much harder for me today. 37 mins with LOI brigade which I have to admit I took a punt on. COD collywobbles.
Came to this a day late, but I’m pleased to say I found it straightforward, with just the nho Welter bit of Welterweight unparsed. Collywobbles was completely unknown to me until my next door neighbour once used it to refer to an upset stomach about 30 odd years ago, and I don’t think I’ve heard it in real life since.
CoD to loi Brigade for the pdm. My thanks to Jackkt, for his customary excellent blog. Invariant