A typical Monday Rufus, with no difficulties apart from the obscure word at 24dn. The usual smattering of cryptic definitions, none of which particularly grabbed me, but there are two nice &lits at 14ac and (especially) 27ac.
Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | BRASSIE | BRASS + I.E., and it’s a golf club, specifically a 2 wood. | ||||||
| 5. | BELTS UP | dd – “Clunk, click, every trip!” | ||||||
| 9. | AGREE | EAGER* | ||||||
| 10. | PAGEANTRY | AGE in PANTRY | ||||||
| 11. | CAPITULATE | (CATAPULT I.E.)* | ||||||
| 12. | POLO | dd – the explorer is Marco Polo | ||||||
| 14. | SCHOOLMASTER | (SOME SCHOLAR T[erm])* &lit. Very nice, but perhaps spoiled a little by the closeness of SCHOOL and SCHOLAR. | ||||||
| 18. | MAIDEN SPEECH | (CHAP SEEMED IN)* | ||||||
| 21. | AIDA | AID A | ||||||
| 22. | BIRTHMARKS | cd | ||||||
| 25. | REARGUARD | cd | ||||||
| 26. | KENDO | END in K.O. Japanese swordfighting. | ||||||
| 27. | DISROBE | R in BODIES* &lit. A great clue. | ||||||
| 28. | SURFACE | SURF ACE | ||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | BRANCH | A definition-and-a-half | ||||||
| 2. | ABRUPT | [afte]R[noon] in AB + PUT* | ||||||
| 3. | SPECTACLES | dd | ||||||
| 4. | EXPEL | cd | ||||||
| 5. | BAGATELLE | GATE in BALL + [gam]E | ||||||
| 6. | LOAD | O in LAD | ||||||
| 7. | SET FORTH | dd | ||||||
| 8. | PAY COURT | Rather a strange one – you would “meet a fine” by “paying the court”, and the whole clue is another definition. | ||||||
| 13. | MATCHMAKER | cd | ||||||
| 15. | OBSTINATE | (STAIN TO BE)* | ||||||
| 16. | IMPAIRED | I’M PAIRED – pairing is an arrangement by MPs of opposite parties where they are both absent for a vote, and so don’t affect the result. | ||||||
| 17. | WINDLASS | WIND LASS | ||||||
| 19. | BRENDA | END in BRA | ||||||
| 20. | ASLOPE | AS (like) LOPE | ||||||
| 23. | TIDES | cd | ||||||
| 24. | AGIO | IAGO* – as the clue says, a charge for changing money, which I’ve never heard of. It’s from Italian aggio, meaning ease, and also occurs in the musical term adagio, which literally means “at ease”. | ||||||
thank you andrew
sailed through this, then suddenly got stuck on two clues. have no idea why – 25a and 23d – then i got rearguard, and hence tides.
however i did, fortunately, know “agio” from previous crosswords. all pretty straightforward with some nice clueing. i quite enjoyed this one.
Many thanks, Andrew, an enjoyable romp from Rufus as always.
Having spent much of my life in Commerce, I already knew AGIO.
Thanks Andrew.
I think 5d is GATE in BALL + [th]E. Game is the definition.
Thanks jvh, that’s what I meant! Blame the late-night brain-fade…
Enjoyable start to the week with some very sound clueing. Still not sure where the attractive lady fits into 8dn though.
The usual smattering of clever clues inc. 27dn and 28dn
Thanks, Andrew. I didn’t know AGIO, but guessed it from the checking letters. Good clues and excellent surfaces — especially SURFACE! But I thought 8dn was strange…
Thanks, Andrew.
WINDLASS [especially], DISROBE and IMPAIRED made me smile.
RE Eileen @ #8
Virgilius also clued windlass elegantly on the 2nd January – obviously one of those special crossword words.
Re 8 dn: PAY COURT. Surprised not to find this in Chambers.
Collins has, under COURT 7: “Flattering attention, or amorous approaches (esp.in the phrase “pay court to someone””.
I was hoping that one meaning of “meet fine” could be “to pay a court a fine” and the other, an &Lit, i.e. To “meet fine, attractive lady giving reason to do this”= ‘pay court’.
Perhaps the phrase is, like me, a bit dated.
Rufus, thanks for the clarification – that is pretty much how I read the clue, but perhaps my explanation wasn’t clear. I would have thought that the expression “pay court to someone” was reasonably well known, though perhaps unlikely to be used other than in a historical context. If the court-paying was successful, you might end up saying 16dn!
>>If the court-paying was successful, you might end up saying 16dn!
After she’d made her final 18a, perhaps?
Just to say that, we thought, 15d (OBSTINATE) deserves a special mentioning.
Two uses of ‘stubborn’, of which one forms a natural combination with ‘stain’,
which is subsequently part of the anagram.
Although I doubt that everyone finds ‘removed’ a legitimate anagrind,
this was a chance not be missed – and Rufus took it. Great clue.
Only one (minor) about this gentle crossword: 26ac & 19d.
Both words, KENDO and BRENDA have the same construction with even the same word (‘end’ inside something else) – and they cross …….
Re #13: Only one (minor) quibble …
[I meant, of course]
Some good clues as mentioned, but I hardly think 4d is a cd. To me, it’s one of those clues that often appear on a Monday which is a straightforward definition ostensibly made ‘cryptic’ by the addition of a question mark.
Yes, nice puzzle. Thanks for that and the blog. 28a and 16d very good.
(Altogether much more ‘accessible’ than last week! Or rather, I could get into it this time…)
I thought “pay court” too obscure. Disliked Agio, also obscure, i thought.
“Pay court [to someone]” (in the sense “to woo or flatter”) was not new to me.
That is perhaps because my knowledge of the English language is bookish and I must have come across the expression in some novel of decades or even centuries ago.
As Rufus observes, “pay court to” is not in the Chambers dictionary but it is in the electronic version on my machine.
I really struggled with this one. I guess my self tutoring has only got me so far! Probably put into a negative mind set with the first clue. Golf! Bah!
I’m skipping tomorrow’s and I’ll see how I am for the rest of the week in terms of time – teachers do work hard you know!
Carolyn, I know teachers work hard (I am one myself), but please take some time off for today’s Orlando. He’s worth it!