Well, I have to say I made a real pig’s ear of this one and put it down to a bad day at the office. I would be telling porkies if I said I found it easy – at my usual target time, the grid was still littered with unsolved answers. There was a lot of grunt work to grind out some answers (including the two hiddens) and there was a sting in the curly tail when I just couldn’t see loi 22ac until the ‘vacation’ clicked. I, naturally, now expect everyone to say how easy it was. For me it was hats off to Oink who left a calling card at 20dn. 18 (long) minutes it took in the end. COD 7dn.
So let’s chop to the chase and see the answers.
ACROSS
1. No one charged for this public brawl? (4-3-3)
FREE-FOR-ALL – if no one is charged then it’s free for all.
8. A foolish person going round Brazil? (7)
NUTCASE – a nutcase goes round a Brazil nut.
9. One who photographs Her Majesty for The Times perhaps (5)
PAPER – one who photographs (PAP – paparazzi), Her Majesty (ER).
10. Sailor posed outside front of library (4)
SALT – posed (SAT) outside (L)ibrary.
11. Pudding confusion at posh boy’s school (4,4)
ETON MESS – confusion (MESS) at posh boy’s school (ETON). The strawberries I’d have but not the cream or meringue.
13. Maybe mum or dad given monthly payment (6)
PARENT – dad (PA), monthly payment (RENT).
14. Finds time for healthy activity vicar doesn’t like? (4,2)
FITS IN – healthy (FIT), activity vicar doesn’t like (SIN). I couldn’t separated healthy and activity for some time and the definition didn’t seem at all obvious.
17. Revolution helping to protect religious books (8)
ROTATION – helping (RATION) to protect religious books (OT).
19. Raised money for the speaker (4)
BRED – homophonone (for the speaker) of money=bread. I’m at a loss as to why I couldn’t see this for ages. I suspect I was having one of those days.
21. Manage to return, reaching hotel in time (5)
EPOCH – manage – cope – to return (EPOC), hotel (H).
22. Moan about a lady on vacation- something not quite right? (7)
ANOMALY – anagram (about) of MOAN, a (A), lady on vacation (L)ad(Y) – well, of course it is!
23. Farmers opt mistakenly for unsuitable agricultural terrain (10)
PERMAFROST – anagram (mistakenly) of FARMERS OPT.
DOWN
2. Unnerve Republican who’s got a nasty bite? (7)
RATTLER – unnerve (RATTLE), Republican (R).
3. Departed, heading north with others (2,2)
ET AL – departed – late – heading northe in this down clue (ET AL).
4. Newcomer talks, getting round code of silence (6)
OMERTA – the first two words’ get round’ the answer – nec(OMER TA)lks.
Dnk this but absolutely nothing made any sense at all so I found the hidden in the end – Collins has a conspiracy of silence.
5. Bit at end of book that might be taken out? (8)
APPENDIX – the organ may be removed if you’re unlucky.
6. LSE admitting a professor’s first mistake (5)
LAPSE – LSE (LSE) admitting a (A) (P)rofessor’s
7. Contemporary description of Dec 25th? (7-3).
PRESENT DAY – a rather wonderful double definition which I got from ‘contemporary’ (PRESENT DAY) and wondered if the puzzle was meant to have been published a few weeks ago. Writing up the blog, I relished the full pleasure of the second definition (day on which presents are given – PRESENT DAY). I do feel as if my brain can’t have been on during this solve.
8. Koreans pry awfully – and so do I! (4,6)
NOSY PARKER – anagram (awfully) of KOREANS PRY. Partial &lit where the subject of the definition pries awfully.
12. One grabbing chest ran off (8)
SNATCHER – anagram (off) of CHEST RAN.
15. Almost certain to go top (7)
SURPASS – almost certain (SUR)e, go (PASS).
16. Some tracks on a tape and a work by Mozart? (6)
SONATA – another hidden (some) in track(S ON A TA)pe.
18. Soldiers having miserable time in retreat (5)
TROOP – miserable (POOR) – and time (T) backwards – in retreat.
20. Acorn eater rather a dull chap, I hear (4)
BOAR – homophone (I hear) of dull chap – bore
Edited at 2021-01-19 08:04 am (UTC)
From Collins:
11. VERB
If you pass through a stage of development or a period of time, you experience it.
The country was passing through a grave crisis.
Collins thesaurus:
2 (verb) in the sense of go
Definition
to move onwards or over
I passed through the doorway to ward B.
Synonyms
go
move
travel
roll
progress
flow
proceed
move onwards
Thanks Chris and Oink
Cedric
So, remove the “ad” and you are left with the exterior, LY.
Thanks to previous posters for explaining it to me here some time ago.
It roughly translates as manhood (similar to macho) I.e. deal with things your self not call in authorities
Incidentally the mafia owes its origins to the British navy, its understanding that lack of vitamin C caused scurvy made previously useless sour scicilian oranges suddenly valuable as they are a rich source. The gangs that the orange grove owners set up to stop them being stolen became the mafia.
FOI ETON MESS – M&S used to do it – ‘scrumdiferous’ It is traditionally served at the Eton v Harrow cricket at Lords. The ‘Lancing Mess’ is served with bananas. (Merangue is not entirely traditional.)
This cricket match is one of the world’s oldest sporting team events (since 1805). (The Epsom Derby was first run in 1780.) In 1914 nearly 40,000 spectators were present at Lords over the two days in late May.
‘Eton mess’ has been used to describe political infighting within the Tory Party over Brexit et al.
(LOI) 19ac BRED
COD 5dn APPENDIX I originallly put in ADDENDUM but had to have my appendix put in after the PAPER arrived at 9ac.
WOD 8dn NOSY PARKER – Paul Pry
Edited at 2021-01-19 09:24 am (UTC)
Thanks to Chris
And that was after some real struggles even for the clues I did get: Rattler for rattlesnake is not a shortening I have met, I was very slow to see the hidden in 4D Omerta (“getting round” is a new one to me for indicating a hidden), and the long anagram at 23A Permafrost needed writing out and even then only came slowly.
So not my finest day! But at least I got Oink’s self-reference at 20D Boar fast enough.
Chapeau to Oink today, and many thanks as always to Chris for the blog.
Cedric
Loved the surfaces of 7D Present Day and 8D Nosy Parker, such nice clues!
Thanks Oink for the QC and and Chris for the blog. I shall hope for an easier one tomorrow!
I made that a lot harder for myself by confidently writing …ING-DAY at the end of 7dn on my way through the downs and then spending ages at the end wondering whether ARISING-DAY or ERASING-DAY could possibly work. Durr. Once you’ve written something in it takes real effort to decide that it’s wrong!
Lots of really good clues – loved PAPER, ROTATION and ANOMALY among others.
FOI FREE FOR ALL, LOI PRESENT-DAY, COD FITS IN, time 1.6K for a Decent Day.
Many thanks Oink and Chris (wonderful porcine blog, Chris).
Templar
FOI was FREE FOR ALL and then the next few were write-ins.
Was slow to see NUTCASE -COD for me; and had to write out the long anagrams. Bad farmland being PERMAFROST took me a while. And I had GREY ? at 20d which caused me no end of problems; had squirrels in mind. BOAR was LOI after 18:23.
An excellent challenging puzzle from Oink.
David
Edited at 2021-01-19 10:13 am (UTC)
To start with progress was slow, and it wasn’t until I finally got 8ac “Nutcase” (no idea why it took so long) and 8dn “Nosy Parker” that I started to make some headway in the bottom of the grid. 11ac got my usual tut, whilst it took all the checkers to finally fathom 23ac “Permafrost”. 4dn “Omerta” could only be a hidden word, although I confess I didn’t know it.
FOI – 3dn “Et al”
LOI – 4dn “Omerta”
COD – 15dn “Surpass”
Thanks as usual.
Edited at 2021-01-19 11:16 am (UTC)
FOI: 1a FREE FOR ALL
LOI: 13a PARENT
Time to Complete: DNF
Oh, what a poor week for me so far. Just like yesterday I really struggled with this one. It was a shame as I got my first one within a minute, and I thought that was a good sign. Alas, no. I was really annoyed with 3d ET AL, as I could see it was a 2 worded answer, both with two letters, and I had the first letter in place (E). How hard could it be! Unfortunately I made it impossible for myself by assuming “Departed” was the definition.
8d – NOSY PARKER: Koreans pry awfully – and so do I! – I really couldn’t see how “I” led to nosy parker, even with the blogger’s explanation. But after some deliberation it dawned on me what the blogger (and indeed the setter) were getting at.
A DNF for me on this cold and wet, miserable morning.
5d – APPENDIX. I didn’t answer this one, but on seeing it, I thought it was a great clue.
Untangling PERMAFROST and then BRED were the hold ups.
8:44.
PlayUpPompey
Permafrost needed a pen and paper to write out the letters and most of the checkers.
No problems with the rest though I was lucky BOAR hove into view
Thanks all
Zoomed smugly through top half but stuck on then finally solved SURPASS, BRED, then EPOCH which gave me TROOP, ROTATION, PERMAFROST
FOsI. FREE FOR ALL, APPENDIX (made me smile), OMERTA, ETON MESS. PRESENT DAY good too.
Really enjoyed it but disappointed I missed it by a pig’s whisker.
Thanks vm, Chris.
After my first pass through all of the clues, a process which invariably takes me 8-10 minutes (How does anyone solve the whole puzzle quicker than that?), I had only solved four – and one of those was only written in faintly. The two most crucial clues for starting letters (1a and 8d) remained unsolved until sometime after the half-hour mark. Then, I somehow contrived to mis-spell PARKER, which made it impossible to solve 17a and 21a until I spotted my error about 20 minutes later. This meant that much of the SW corner remained blank until the very late stages of my (ultimately futile) effort.
Oink is one of the few setters with whom I have had a better-than-evens solving record. Alas, however, it wasn’t to be today. Many thanks to him/her for the workout, and to chrisw91 for the explanations.
Eton again. The only school in crossword land.
Also did not see FITS IN, went with LIES IN.
COD PRESENT DAY
FOI Et al
LOI Permafrost
COD Present Day
Time 10 minutes
Thanks Oink for the fun, and Chris for the highly entertaining blog
Actually apart from that it was a good day, and I always enjoy looking for the porcine clues from Oink.
Thank you, setter and blogger.
Diana
FOI – 1ac FREE FOR ALL
LOI – 19ac remainder outstanding until I came here
COD – 7dn PRESENT DAY
FOI: free for all
LOI: lapse
COD: nosy parker
Thanks for the fun blog Chris.
And ETON MESS is easily made with yoghurt if you don’t like cream, but our esteemed blogger doesn’t even like meringues. NHO that 🙂
Edited at 2021-01-19 03:08 pm (UTC)
FOI 1a
LOI 10a
COD 14a
Thank you to Oink & Chris especially for the piggy references- we have a granddaughter who has wanted to be a pig farmer when she grows up ever since she was about 3!
Blue Stocking
How does go = pass?
11. VERB
If you pass through a stage of development or a period of time, you experience it.
The country was passing through a grave crisis.
Collins thesaurus:
2 (verb) in the sense of go
Definition
to move onwards or over
I passed through the doorway to ward B.
Synonyms
go
move
travel
roll
progress
flow
proceed
move onwards
LOI 4D: OMERTA
Enjoyable and a little tricky. Thank you, chrisw91 and Oink.
I’m surprised to be 10th fastest today at such a late hour, and being faster than Verlaine is always something I cherish.
FOI FREE-FOR-ALL
LOI EPOCH
COD FITS IN
TIME 3:18
DNF for me too today. Similar to others, I struggled with “fits in”, “bred” and “epoch”. I also DNK rattler as a snake, US usage perhaps?
Pretty sure I knew Omerta from the Godfather films!
Was looking out for a piggy clue from Oink so was happy with boar.
COD .. difficult to choose ..perhaps EPOCH
As a result a pigs ear down the west coast and a DNF. Anyone else think similar? Johnny