I’ve had an exciting morning so far …
Don’t know if others have had the same difficulty, but the Indy crossword didn’t want to come out to play on Crossword Solver this morning. Plan B: download it from the Indy website. Got about halfway through it and thought ‘this is not like a Monday crossword’; check the puzzle number and realise that it is in fact tomorrow’s. Plan C: make a twelve-mile round trip to my nearest shop to buy the paper. And therein is our regular Monday setter, Quixote. Deep breath and start again. Luckily it’s Quixote’s usual accessible style, so I’m not too late on parade.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Little French bird in the water
PETITE
An insertion of a TIT in PEE, if you see what I mean …
4 Like a culprit priest in Holy Writ, one to be avoided
BLAMABLE
Another insertion, of LAMA in B[I]BLE. This spelling looks ugly; I’d always write BLAMEABLE. But since it’s Quixote, I’m not even going to check that it’s an alternative spelling.
9 Woman wants bit of love primarily – it’s what you’d expect
NORMAL
A charade of NORMA and L for the first letter of Love.
10 Like childish behaviour that could make mum irate
IMMATURE
(MUM IRATE)*
12 No longer having time, admit being away from the urban jungle?
OUT-OF-TOWN
A charade of OUT OF T and OWN for ‘admit’.
13 Trouble with mother’s blind faith
DOGMA
A charade of DOG and MA.
14 Exceptionally able and accurate? Get ‘A’ in academic qualification
BACCALAUREATE
(ABLE ACCURATE A)* with ‘exceptionally’ as the anagrind. It’s a French and – in its IB form – an international qualification. Michael Gove introduced the English Baccalaureate a few years ago, but that’s not a real qualification, in the same way that Michael Gove is not a real Secretary of State for Education.
16 Ban pesticides for destroying little things
BITS AND PIECES
(BAN PESTICIDES)* with ‘for destroying’ as the anagrind.
20 Moulding with two circles enclosing volume
OVOLO
No, I hadn’t either, but it couldn’t have been more clearly clued: VOL inserted in OO.
21 Fancy ornament placed at the back of the small unit
NANOMETRE
(ORNAMENT)* plus E for the last letter of thE.
23 A man subsequently detained as someone from foreign capital
ATHENIAN
The setter is asking you to insert THEN in A IAN.
24 Make sudden move as learner occupying seat
BLENCH
Plenty of insertions this morning: this one is L in BENCH. I’d just about heard of this word, although I was trying to get to FLINCH for ages.
25 English lord getting drunk before a party in wealthy location
ELDORADO
A charade of E, (LORD)* and A DO.
26 Agree to have some class entertainers
ASSENT
Hidden in clASS ENTertainers.
Down
1 Gasp coming to huge shows
PANTOS
Oh yes it is: a charade of PANT and OS.
2 Food had egg in it, as shown by card
TAROT
An insertion of O for ‘egg’ (because it’s O-shaped) in TART. Not sure why Quixote used the past tense here; ‘has’ would work just as well.
3 Lots of vehicles in short road, including very loud one
TRAFFIC
An insertion of I FF in TRAC[K].
5 Ointment, alas, ruined old book
LAMENTATIONS
(OINTMENT ALAS)* From the Old Testament.
6 Wind from ungenerous Leftie turning up
MEANDER
A charade of MEAN plus a reversal (‘turning up’ because it’s a down clue) of RED.
7 Left university, say, to get into money making music
BLUEGRASS
An insertion of L, U and EG in BRASS.
8 Very happy about wickedness being reduced by 50% in high place
ELEVATED
More insertion: of EV[IL] in ELATED.
11 Proceed in joint operation and show mutual affection?
GO HAND IN HAND
A cd cum dd.
14 Risky operation with rubbish – the man had to be committed somehow
BETROTHED
A charade of BET, ROT and HE’D.
15 Do away with a barrier, allowing brother in
ABROGATE
An insertion of BRO in A GATE.
17 Decorator has written out an order
ADORNER
(AN ORDER)*
18 Copper with shortage of desire, full of hesitation? A type wet inside
CUMULUS
An insertion of UM for ‘hesitation’ in CU and LUS[T]. Not many of these outside my window this morning: alogether more of the dark variety.
19 Very keen to wield the rod
RED-HOT
(THE ROD)*
22 Maybe past being edgy
TENSE
A dd. The Past, the Present and the Future walked into a bar. It was tense.
Many thanks to Quixote and all the other Indy setters for the Monday puzzles this year, and best wishes to all for 2014
Have just checked and the correct puzzle is now available on Crossword Solver.
Pierre
I also considered “flinch” for 24ac but decided in the end that if there was a type of seat called a “finch” I would have heard of it by now. I would normally associate BLENCH with turning pale, but it also appears to be an acceptable synonym for “recoil”.
Nice blog and what a slog – your morning, I mean! I am impressed that you realised you were on the wrong puzzle.
Like AndyB@2 I vaguely associated BLENCH (a word I have never used) with BLANCH, to turn white, from the same root as BLANK, but we are both wrong: it shares a root with BLINK and means just what Quixote says.
I also invented the finch seat, which didn’t help. This was a puzzle that seemed to get harder as you worked into the lower part of the grid. All good clean fun though, even 1ac.
Thanks to setter and especially to our heroic blogger.
Writinghawk@3 – there are a few different meanings of BLENCH irrespective of the root of the word. For example, MERRIAM-WEBSTER online has “bleach” as its second definition, and MACMILLAN says “to react in a way that shows you are very frightened, for example by turning pale”.
I really enjoyed 5d: a superb clue with many resonances (OOPS!).
I enjoyed this puzzle, and actually knew OVOLO which is a common shape used on skirting boards (when they’re not OGEE) – do I get a prize for that? Thought not. So I nearly didn’t come and read the blog, but I’m glad I did as several of Pierre’s comments gave me a good chuckle. Many thanks Pierre for your dedication to the job! And thanks, of course, to Quixote.
OVOLO seemed just too simple for 20ac; I guessed O—O but thought it must be something more subtle in the middle and turned to a word finder which gave me … OVOLO. That’s the trouble with solving cryptics, you start looking for subtle twists when they aren’t there!
But thanks, anyway to Quixote – and especially to Pierre for his devotion to duty.
A very late start for crossword solving this evening. We’re glad we didn’t leave it until tomorrow though as we can now sleep soundly with a smile on our faces thanks to your blog Pierre! Loved your comment on 14ac, so aptly put!
Thanks Quixote. We’ll see you next year!