My initial feeling was that this week would produce some fast times. At the time of posting, I see that on the leaderboard the 100th best time was over 22 minutes compared with the usual 15 minutes or so on an easy Saturday – so it does look like it was still a little harder than usual.
Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined. Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised. Then there’s the answer IN BOLD, followed by [the parsing of the wordplay]. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’, {deletions are in curly brackets}.
Across
1. Cries, opening post: lucky win here? (10)
SWEEPSTAKE: WEEPS [cries] in STAKE [post].
6. Elegant fowl has no range (4)
CHIC: CHIC{ken} [chicken=fowl, minus ken=range]. Only got that while writing the blog! I was stuck trying to take a “K” off “CHICK” insted of taking off a whole word from the end.
9. Going into a Bible story, teacher is not to be condemned (10)
PARDONABLE: DON in PARABLE.
10. Hamburger perhaps almost a deception (4)
FRAU: FRAU{d} [deception, almost]. A German woman, from Hamburg or elsewhere.
12. Woman and others collect fuel for robbers’ sanctuary (8,6)
SHERWOOD FOREST: SHE [woman] and REST [others] collecting WOOD FOR. I’d have thought outlaws rather than robbers, but near enough.
14. Doctor breaks tool in tricky operation (6)
FIDDLE: DD in FILE.
15. Ham, for one, and egg — crazy about it (8)
PEGGOTTY: POTTY around EGG. Ham Peggotty, I may once have briefly known, was the nephew of Clara Peggotty. She was David Copperfield’s family housekeeper in the Dickens novel. Nicely deceptive definition!
17. In the long run, earl’s child follows revolutionary (8)
MARATHON: MARAT [revolutionary … not Che for once!] HON [earl’s child].
19. Conscious about daughter that’s liable to pop up (6)
ADWARE: D [daughter] in AWARE. That annoying stuff that pops up on your computer screen when you’re about to find what you were looking for.
22. Instinctive representation of feet as hot? (4-2-3-5)
SEAT-OF-THE-PANTS: One of those reverse thingies where the answer thinks it’s the clue. Looking that way round, “PANTS” is the anagram indicator, (SEAT OF THE*) is the fodder, giving a representation of “FEET AS HOT”.
24. Keen, suggesting a tanner? (4)
AVID: A VI [six] D [old penny]. I suppose tanner automatically means six old pence, not new pence, so the clue covers it all.
25. Donate books in attractive cover to intimate (4,6)
GIVE NOTICE: GIVE [donate] OT [books] in NICE [attractive].
26. Wetland plant has no small advantage (4)
EDGE: I didn’t know sedge was (often) a wetland plant, but obvious enough.
27. Man will wheel camera platform, getting hit on stage (5,5)
HELLO DOLLY: HE’LL [man will] O [wheel] DOLLY [camera platform]. 1964 Broadway musical, 1969 film.
Down
1. Bribes singers briefly (4)
SOPS: abbreviation for sopranos.
2. Hear the district nurses got to ground safely (7)
EARTHED: hidden word. The reference is to electrical wiring.
3. Dependant’s pathetic story? (4,8)
POOR RELATION: double definition.
4. Child hides each panic originally — it pours out (6)
TEAPOT: EA [each] P{anic} in TOT [child].
5. Shoot sweet-sounding plover (8)
KILLDEER: KILL [shoot] DEER [sounds like “dear”]. This one I’m pretty sure I never knew.
7. Crop top beneath fur? Not I! (7)
HARVEST: HA{i}R [fur] VEST [top].
8. Who comes after the Romans? Some rural types (10)
COUNTRYMEN: with the “C” at the top. I immediately thought CORINTHIANS, but of course that doesn’t fit.
Wikipedia: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” is the first line of that speech by Mark Antony in the play Julius Caesar. Act III, scene II.
11. Hoodlum, one in a suit, who may be better than he appears (5,7)
ROUGH DIAMOND: rough = hoodlum, one in a suit = diamond in this case.
13. Undisciplined, disliking untidiness? Grow up! (3-7)
OFF MESSAGE: OFF MESS [disliking untidiness] AGE [grow up].
16. One that kept leading Achilles by the ears was our master (8)
TORTOISE: Depending on the speaker, may or may not sound like [by the ears] TAUGHT US [“was our master”].
The reference is to Zeno’s paradox, in which Achilles, fleet of foot, supposedly never catches the lumbering tortoise because by the time Achilles has run to where the tortoise last was, the tortoise has run a bit further. In the expectation that some eyes are rolling and the mathematicians are nodding, ‘nuff said!
18. Very keen to assume English parents’ duties (7)
REARING: E [English] in RARING [ as in “raring to go”].
20. An excitement as queen leaves nest (7)
ANTHILL: AN THRILL [excitement] minus R [queen]. Always tricky when your subconscious automatically tries to change “an” in front of an E to “a” in front of a “T”.
21. Extremely coarse, proper grass (6)
CEREAL: C{oars}E [“extremely” coarse] REAL [proper].
23. Don’t accept fate: it’s about to be rejected (4)
DENY: DESTINY [fate] less STI [it’s, rejected].
Zenos Paradox could also be seen as obscure. . As it happens I had heard of it. It is rubbish in that it is trying to force a relationship between two entities that have none.
JerryW, not signed in
“We called him Tortoise because he taught us”.
There’s an equally egregious pun on “lesson” and “lessen” a further down from there.
Enjoyed the rest, actually used wordplay to get 22 ac, couldn’t bring the phrase to mind. 28 minutes with the one wrong, so quite hard on my scale.
I thought this to be about as hard as it gets on a Saturday, and commented at the time that there were no single digit times, though that was before the competition entry crowd came in.
AS noted above, the TORTOISE clue divides us spectacularly into those who know Dodgson the Alice creator and those who know Dodgson the logician. He’d have made a fantastic setter and, I’m sure, a joyous solver.
Perhaps 15a isn’t ambiguous if you read it correctly, but there were so many possibilities in my mind—is “crazy” an anagram indicator? Is “egg” just an “O”? What kinds of ham are there? Could “for one” indicate “e.g.”, or “per”?—that I couldn’t conjure this odd-looking surname. 5d also being ambiguous didn’t help.
As a relative beginner, I still don’t feel bad enough about my failure to put “read the entire works of Dickens, just in case” on my to-do list yet…
LOI 22ac SEAT OF THE PANTS. FOI 21dn CEREAL
15ac PEGGOTTY was a write-in and 5dn KILLDEER was fairly clued – my COD.
WOD TORTOISE!! which I waited a week for! I shall be writing to my MP.
Edited at 2017-03-18 01:26 pm (UTC)
I don’t have a problem with either KILLDEER or TORTOISE. Are they obscure? As always it’s a matter of opinion, but as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t matter as long as the setter gives us an alternative route to the answer.
Edited at 2017-03-18 02:29 pm (UTC)
I also say porp-oise not porp-us and perhaps like you I say gar-aage and not gar-ridge!
Miss Mitford and Lucy Clayton would turn in their graves.
“It’s obvious that nobody here (USA) has heard all British pronunciations of the word. Toytoyce is not too uncommon. I say “tortus”. Mike Collins
‘Tortoiz is used in Derbyshire’.
I am from Lincolnshire.
I note the French is tort-oise
Keroithe – don’t you folk use turtle anyway!?
Edited at 2017-03-18 04:27 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2017-03-18 09:52 pm (UTC)
Homophones have before brought contention with which I have never been involved.
Fowler’s Modern English Usage points out the problem. He notes the alternative -oiz or ois to be found in some modern dictionaries and states that are are a ‘less agreeable’ result of the ‘speak-as-you-spell’ movement. What self-opinionated rot!
My mater’s side of the family all said tort-oise my pater’s tort-us.
Thus it was far deeper rooted than Fowler suggests and comes from the French pronunciation tort-oise as I earlier indicated.
Tort-us is non-U – and tortoise is U – thus all the dictionaries should recognise there is an alternative.
Yes, I have heard it pronounced tort-us but I was taught that it was incorrect!
Are you happy with garridge? I know Brian Sewell wasn’t
As for the ‘correct’ pronunciation, I’m afraid whoever taught you this sold you a pup. There is no such thing.
I don’t say ‘garridge’ myself but am entirely happy with the fact that some people do, and I wouldn’t dream of telling them they’re wrong.
Don’t get me started on Nancy Mitford.
Edited at 2017-03-19 01:14 pm (UTC)
In the end I was left with several unsolved.
15a could not see what was needed, jotted Peggitty and Heggitty
16d -no idea, Contrite fitted.
I see I got 18d wrong -I put Craving (Caring + V);seemed weak at the time. This conflicted with Marathon.
I worked out Killdeer.
I have complained about obscurities before and know the arguments. I don’t think either 15a or 16d were good clues, particularly when you do not have the first letter. David
However, this puzzle prompted me to query the absolute accuracy of the clues. 10ac, for example:— can FRAU really be a “Hamburger” (as opposed to a Hamburgerin?) And shouldn’t the clue to 8dn have asked “Who come…”, rather than “Who comes…”?
Minor points, I know, amidst bigger Tortoise/Ham controversies, but I always thought clueing accuracy was part of the art of the setter. For my part, I’m sure it’s more sour grapes than anything else, but I wondered what more experienced crosswordsters might think.
“Who” can be singular or plural, depending on whom it represents. (Let the ones who disagree argue among themselves!)
If here the setter wants it to represent “countrymen”, well yes it’s plural so should be followed by the plural form of the verb. Even so, I don’t think that minor detail helped or hindered me in getting to the answer.