71:52. Yes, I finished it. Yes, I napped for a bit in the middle of it. This didn’t quite feel worth the effort to me, if I’m being honest. The words at the end that tripped me up were not particularly satisfying when I finally found them. I have the sense that if I’d had a bit more knowledge, this one might not have been quite so difficult.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cover up in shower? Not after nurses turn round (6) |
| BROLLY – BY (not after) around (nurses) ROLL (turn round)
I just didn’t know this word, which made it nearly impossible. (I think it took me 15 minutes.) BY for ‘not after’ was quite hard to find, although if you think of due dates, it’s quite clear. Of course, ‘turn round’ is exceedingly misleading if you don’t know the word (and maybe even if you do). |
|
| 4 | Twit copying antique with pine, mostly (8) |
| REPROACH – REPRO (copying antique) + (with) ACH{e} (pine, mostly)
I did not know the term REPRO, nor the requisite meaning of TWIT, so this was another that took me ages. |
|
| 10 | Flatter track takes very little time (5-4) |
| SWEET-TALK – STALK (track) around (takes) WEE (very little) T (time) | |
| 11 | Come by five, do you mean? (5) |
| VISIT – V (five) IS IT (do you mean?)
An easy starter! |
|
| 12 | Concerning sight [as] head of office IT struggles with PC (5) |
| OPTIC – first letter (head) of OFFICE + IT anagrammed (struggles) with PC | |
| 13 | Moderate movement also opposed to one referendum option (9) |
| ANDANTINO – AND (also) ANTi (opposed to) I (one) NO (referendum option)
If this wasn’t a write-in, you haven’t done enough crossword puzzles. 😛 |
|
| 15 | Live singer with a costume representative of her country (12) |
| AMBASSADRESS – AM (live) BASS (singer) + (with) A DRESS (costume)
This took me quite some time because I am too conditioned for ‘live’ = BE. |
|
| 19 | Are cold kissers coming inside only when it’s dark? (5,7) |
| SOLAR ECLIPSE – ARE C (cold) LIPS (kissers) in (coming inside) SOLE (only) | |
| 22 | Friend taking minute to finish piano exam out of time (9) |
| ATEMPORAL – MATE (friend) with M moved to the end (taking minute to finish) + P (piano) ORAL (exam) | |
| 24 | Couple taken with second sight of Florence? (5) |
| DUOMO – DUO (couple) + (taken with) MO (second) | |
| 25 | Urge removal of line from silly speech (5) |
| DRIVE – remove L (line) from DRIVEL (silly speech) | |
| 26 | Turn bench back in street exposed to blasts (9) |
| WINDSWEPT – WIND (turn) + PEW (bench) reversed (back) in ST (street) | |
| 27 | See Dogma remade [as] massive hit (8) |
| MEGADOSE – anagram (remade) of SEE DOGMA | |
| 28 | Tsar’s like, roughly level after revolution (6) |
| CAESAR – CA (roughly) + RASE (level) reversed (after revolution)
‘Tsar’ and ‘Caesar’ are, of course, two words for the same kind of salad. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | See boss bungle work (6) |
| BISHOP – BISH (bungle) OP (work)
This is perhaps the only clue of the puzzle which delights me. |
|
| 2 | Crooked old mater — which strongly suggests criminal is mum (6) |
| OMERTÀ – anagram of (crooked) O (old) MATER
Code of silence in the mafia. |
|
| 3 | One missing initially, admitted to Electra with some upheaval? (9) |
| LATECOMER – first letters of (initially) ONE MISSING in (admitted to) ELECTRA anagrammed (with some upheaval)
This is a very good clue. It does not delight me, but it is very good. |
|
| 5 | A lot of sharp turns, I’m afraid (3) |
| EEK – KEE{n} (a lot of ‘sharp’) reversed (turns) | |
| 6 | Any number after dance party are starving (5) |
| RAVEN – N (any number) after RAVE (dance party) | |
| 7 | Summits welcoming American patronage (8) |
| AUSPICES – APICES (summits) around (welcoming) US (American)
My mathematical research deals with ‘apices’ of a certain sort. |
|
| 8 | Steamy in here, but you must wear socks (8) |
| HOTHOUSE – THO (but) U (you) in (must wear) HOSE (socks) | |
| 9 | State coach for Turkish leader who’s out to lunch? (10) |
| MADAGASCAR – MAD AGA’S CAR
This is also quite good. |
|
| 14 | Photos I had mounted cover the inside of school (10) |
| DISCIPLINE – PICS (photos) I’D (I had) reversed (mounted) LINE (cover the inside of)
This definition of LINE is very good. |
|
| 16 | Arab robe ad has misrepresented with superior beauty (9) |
| DISHDASHA – AD HAS (anagrammed) under (with superior) DISH (beauty) | |
| 17 | Embankment architect lengthened with cob? (5,3) |
| ASWAN DAM – ADAM (architect) around (lengthened with) SWAN (cob?)
Is this a reference to Robert Adam? He seems fairly famous but gosh this seems obscure. |
|
| 18 | Fugitive[’s] attempt to escape upset good egg (8) |
| FLEETING – FLEE (attempt to escape) + reversal of (upset) G (good) NIT (egg)
I would not normally describe FLEE as ‘attempt to escape’, but rather just ‘escape’. |
|
| 20 | Many academics divided by gender-neutral pronoun (6) |
| DOZENS – DONS (academics) around (divided by) ZE (gender-neutral pronoun)
Living somewhere between HE and SHE on the phonetic spectrum, one presumes. |
|
| 21 | Sailor in the doldrums relatively OK for tobacco? (3-3) |
| LOW-TAR – LOW (in the doldrums) TAR (sailor) | |
| 23 | Pretend authority raised undue spending limits (5) |
| PSEUD – hidden (limits) reversed (raised) in UNDUE SPENDING | |
| 26 | In Republican’s absence, conflicts happened (3) |
| WAS – WARS (conflicts) – R (in Republican’s absence) | |
I thought the general reaction would be that this wasn’t the expected Friday toughie.
Though if they had all been like the last few I got… DISHDASHA took some guesswork, and that gave me CAESAR, and then I went back to the top for another go at REPROACH. My conviction was firm that it had to end in ACH, but the relevant meaning of “twit” eluded me for the longest time. The answer is the only word that fits the crossers!
But then there was ZE, in DOZENS, which I’ve certainly never encountered before. It’s not in Merriam-Webster, the American dictionary. Guess it must be more familiar to folks in the UK.
Ze was invented by an American author and remains unusual in blighty too, but it appears in the OED and in Collins (although not in Chambers).
DNF in around 70 minutes, with DISHDASHA (the closest I got was ‘dolldasha’) and, obviously, SOLAR ECLIPSE missing. Rather enjoyed the torture, though, with REPROACH ticking all the boxes for me. BROLLY made me smile. Lots of other top-class clues too.
The execrable ZE known from crosswords, where it was added a few years ago.
77 minutes. Not unreasonably hard, for a Friday anyway but I was just too slow in getting the relatively easy ones like OMERTÀ and even BISHOP. Didn’t parse ATEMPORAL and HOTHOUSE properly and completely missed the PSEUD reversed hidden. My thought about ANDANTINO while solving was ‘opposed to’ as a positional indicator and ANTI NO as ‘one referendum option’; looks a bit dodgy now and there’s still that extra ‘one’ to account for.
BROLLY very familiar as a word, even if we never have to use one here anymore. Had forgotten the relevant sense of ‘twit’ for my LOI REPROACH and didn’t initially consider ‘fugitive’ as an adjective. Maybe Jeremy is pulling our leg but I’ve NHO ‘Tsar’ as a salad and thought the similarity with CAESAR is just that they are both leaders.
Thanks to Jeremy and setter
TSAR and “Caesar” are essentially the same word. The Russian is a translation of the Latin.
But there’s no such thing as a Tsar salad. Or rather there is, but it just seems to be a little-used term for a Russian salad, which isn’t remotely the same as a Caesar salad. I think +J is joking!
I biffed Kaiser and although annoyed with myself for not persevering I don’t feel so daft after seeing your comments and then discovering the word has the same Roman origin.
Too much time spent on this already without spending more commenting on it.
Ditto!
21:57. I thought it was very hard, also thought it was absolutely brilliant. Great surfaces and witty wordplay throughout.
Cover up, flatter track, sharp turns, concerning sight…just a few examples.
Bravo setter and thanks for the blog Jeremy.
Collins online cites an American dictionary for the definition of FLEE as “to run away or try to escape from.”
We missed the hidden, putting in PLEAD instead, figuring LEA for authority and given the number of unknown words already encountered I was happy to conclude there was some way DP could mean undue spending. Ah well, happy to get the rest on a tough puzzle. I particularly liked DOZENS and LOW-TAR.
Yes, I found it in Collins. Not in Merriam-Webster!
I didn’t think this was as hard as some Fridays, though not easy, and I enjoyed it. If you haven’t heard of a (quintessentially English) brolly, or of repro you may find it harder, I guess! With dishdasha I was luckier, having relatives living in Doha where they are ubiquitous. My only nho was RASE, which I have never seen spelt other than RAZE.
As for flee, the OED’s main definition is “to take flight; to try to escape or seek safety by flight.” But neither Chambers nor Collins says as much except as Guy mentions, above.
I enjoyed this. Just enough difficulty to be able to solve in the time I had before moving on to other things and I learnt new words and definitions – ze, reproach, dishdasha and fugitive.
Whilst solving, I thought latecomer was a particularly poor clue being an anagram of Electra and some with the first letters missing but that is not what the clue was telling one to do! Many thanks to Jeremy for explaining it and my apologies to the setter.
52 mins. A few genuine stinkers but more that I felt were just my own slow wittedness: LATECOMER, SWEET TALK, DISCIPLINE.
Must have been 8-10 mins on LOI REPROACH. After ages trying YEAR(n)… I wondered if it might be some new term for retweeting. Not so but the RE worked.
COD: MADAGASCAR. A spark of humour to go with the plentiful cleverness.
Thanks to Jeremy and setter.
After a bit of a slog to teach the last two, I eventually entered FLEETING reluctantly but had no idea about the Arab or his/ her robe, whichever of the two it was. COD to the ASWAN DAM, greatly assisted by this being Robert Adam benefit week in crosswordland. A decent challenge otherwise. Thank you Jeremy and setter.
17:29. A tricky but very satisfying solve, I thought. I got badly stuck at the end with AUSPICES (‘apices’ isn’t exactly obvious) and REPROACH. I have never come across this meaning of ‘twit’ and ‘copying antique’ is obvious once you see it but very much not obvious up to that point.
28.02. Recent Fridays have taken me beyond 30, even 40, so I suppose this must count as more benign, but I liked it a lot, not least because of the genuinely funny MAD AGA’S CAR. I feared it would be a state I’d never heard of, and nearly attempted CAR AGA GAGA, so there was relief mixed with the giggle.
DISHDASHA I happily guessed, along with ZE, which might also have been a French article for those who know Mam’zelle Dupont of Malory Towers.
We were fortunate in having ADAM just a couple of days ago, though I spotted him only once the ASWAN DAM had been entered.
Great stuff, and well tackled PJ!
DNF.
Managed about 75 % of this and thought there were some excellent clues but decided, rightly as it turned out, that the rest were way above my paygrade. One learns, one learns.
Thanks to Jeremy and the setter
My first time using this site and I thought the comment for 13A was harsh and not very welcoming to those looking for hints. The irony also is that the hinter appears to be in error as the opposed gives ANTI including the I and the one referendum option is the NO. Perhaps the clue wasn’t such a write in.
Welcome, KhunNick. In a former life I was a musician and teacher and I’ve certainly done thousands and thousands of crosswords (including blogging more than 1000 here) but ANDANTINO wasn’t a write-in for me. I parsed the clue as you did.
I was flummoxed by (nho) dishdasha even when I had the last 5/9ths. But for me not the worst of the fiendish Fridays and it had more than its fair share of cleverly disguised definitions. These are more pleasing than clues which depend on tortuous cryptic constructions.
21:11
Tricky, as we’ve come to expect, but not as hard as recent Fridays, for me at least.
My main panic was at 3d where the presence of Electra in the clue had me thinking this was going to be an &Lit with the answer being some nonsense made-up mythology character I hadn’t heard of.
Good puzzle, thanks setter and +J
Finished as the hour came up. Surprised to, frankly – this is supposed to be harder than yesterday’s, which utterly defeated me. The answers came pretty easily today. Only SOLAR ECLIPSE and REPROACH really held me up.
28’51”, having been ready to concede until it all came together. Nho DISHDASHA, liked the mention of ZE, thought MEGADOSE a stupid word. COD to BROLLY.
Thanks jeremy and setter.
Crept in under the 40 minute mark, with a hefty delay at the end on BROLLY, BISHOP and AUSPICES, in that order – earlier on I’d had an unparsable, variant spelling of APENINES, before VISIT put paid to that. Mistake of the day however was DASHDASHA, where DASH = beauty seemed unquestionable while solving, but that didn’t spoil a most enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks to setter and Jeremy (never did see the BY bit in brolly).
My thanks to plusjeremy and setter.
Hmmm, steamy Friday. Congrats to plusjeremy, I DNF, got stuck a lot.
4a Reproach, no.
19a Solar Eclipse. I failed to parse this and going on it being dark plumped for Lunar eclipse which stopped 17 & 18d until I cheated.
9d Madagascar, COD. I’ll always call this country mad aga’s car in future.
16d Dishdasha NHO, but I HHO dishdash and checked dishdasha and dishdashi which both are acceptable versions.
28a Caesar, didn’t get, which prevented 21d Low Tar. Rase (Raze) is the only antiphone I wot of, being the antonym and homophone of Raise.
8d Hothouse, biffed, seeing neither Thou nor Hose.
Oh well maybe Monday will be doable.
40:40 – Convinced myself I had heard of DISHDASHA, never managed to parse BROLLY and spent much of the time staring forlornly at a gappy SW corner. One of those toughies that keeps feeding out just enough of the lifeline to keep you engaged. Lovely stuff.
Two goes needed to solve what I thought was a very high-quality and entertaining puzzle.
– Didn’t know the ‘twit’ meaning of REPROACH but pieced it together from wordplay
– Not familiar with ‘rase’ (like others, I’d expect to see ‘raze’) as used in CAESAR
– Only vaguely remembered RAVEN meaning to be starving, though the word ‘ravenous’ makes it clear
– NHO DISHDASHA but got there from wordplay as it sounded plausible
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
FOI Was
LOI + COD Madagascar (with honourable mentions to OPTIC for its surface, BISHOP and LOW-TAR)
Although at first, with one or two fairly easy clues, I thought the new policy of easing up on the Friday crosswords was beginning, it soon became clear that it hasn’t yet. Some very nice clues despite my incredibly long time, but a few things irritated me: low for in the doldrums at 21dn; attempt to escape instead of just escape at 18ac; vague definition (caesar/tsar) at 28ac; by for not after, and roll for turn round, at 1ac. Many if not all of these can no doubt be justified by the dictionaries, but it did make it especially hard, even without the NHO DISHDASHA.