A new year but Rufus is still going strong, lower than usual count of CD and DD clues I felt.
The usual mix of stuff, was thinking there weren’t any anagrams as I went through the acrosses, in honour of 9a and Rufus today’s clues are set in Navy blue 🙂
Across
7 A course people follow (9)
RACETRACK
RACE (people) TRACK (follow)
8 Anything that sounds obligatory (5)
AUGHT
Hom of OUGHT but checking on the initial letter would have helped.
9 Seaman yachting, say, or coming down rope (9)
ABSEILING
A.B. & hom of SAILING
10 Quick — it’s cold! (5)
NIPPY
Double Def
12 Call attention to 24-hour period of prosperity (6)
HEYDAY
HEY & DAY
13 Around noon, top fighter pilots attempt descent (8)
ANCESTRY
N(oon) in ACES & TRY
14 Appeal when vehicle has to retire in a race (7)
ATTRACT
CART rev in A T.T. (I.O.M. race)
17 A following letter employing harsh language (7)
ABUSING
A & B (the next letter in the alphabet) & USING, using appears to be on double duty unless I’m mistaken
20 A woman‘s resignation (8)
PATIENCE
Double def
22 Make provision for volumes put aside (6)
SHELVE
Double def, first a bit cryptic
24 Expect a hold-up (5)
AWAIT
A & WAIT (delay)
25 They go hunting and shooting among the rich and famous (9)
PAPARAZZI
Cryptic def
26 Welcome cry up North (5)
GREET
Double def, northern English/Scottish for weep
27 Is to alter arrangement — for the better? (9)
TOTALISER
[IS TO ALTER]* and a cryptic-ish def more often referred to as the Tote
Down
1 A pretty useless object (6)
BAUBLE
Cryptic cum double def rolled into one
2 Challenged champion‘s delay about the final (8)
DEFENDER
DEFER around END
3 Surprise expressed to mass meeting in words (6)
ORALLY
Hom of OH & RALLY
4 Shocking subject for play school? (7)
SCANDAL
As in School for Scandal
5 Blunder upset students (6)
PUPILS
SLIP UP rev
6 Broken car phone in Escort (8)
CHAPERON
[CAR PHONE]*
11 He continues to work for Southern Transport (4)
SCAB
S(outhern) & CAB
15 Sideline co-operation (8)
TEAMWORK
TEAM (side) & WORK (line as in What’s Your Line)
16 Once set it may hold ice-cream (4)
CONE
[ONCE]*
18 Involved in a score or film story (8)
SCENARIO
[IN A SCORE]*
19 It’s not a stone to be lifted — it’s a heavy weight (7)
MEGATON
NOT A GEM reversed
21 Is about to revolt, but flags (6)
IRISES
RISE in IS, def is the flowers aka flags
22 Way a convict adapted in a German prison once (6)
STALAG
ST(reet) A LAG
23 Old court official — namely one standing over the Queen (6)
VIZIER
VIZ (namely) & 1 & E.R.
*anagram, rev Reversed
Thanks flashling and Rufus
I enjoyed this, though the “four mini-puzzles” layout made the NW and then the SW tricky.
Particularly liked SHELVE and TOTALISER (great misdirection!) and the old favourite PUPILS.
I didn’t like “adapted” in 22dn. I’m sure that a better wording was possible – “Way a convict found a German prison once?” maybe?
All o.k. , and, like muffin, I enjoyed this. I thought that 15d was a ver neat clue.
Oops, should read ‘very’.
Someone once bought me a book of Daily Mail crosswords. I only did two, but I am convinced they were set by Rufus…
Actually, I thought 4d was rather cunning and 22a rather good.
Thanks flashling and Rufus
Enjoyable enough. Last in was ‘greet’. I missed the full parsing and hastily thought the northern part was a N.E. form of ‘great!’ celebrating something good.
I agree with flashling re 8a. Aught seemed more likely given the ‘sounds’ but either spelling is OK in itself.
tupu @5
I entered OUGHT for 8a, but on reflection I think AUGHT is suggested a bit more strongly.
Despite the unhelpful grid I found this to be easier than some of Rufus’s other puzzles. I didn’t have a problem with AUGHT because I thought the way the clue was worded was unambiguous. IRISES was my LOI after PATIENCE.
Thanks Rufus and flashing
Enjoyed this more than usual for Rufus – but was another where he drew the error with AUGHT (and oughtn’t when looking at the clue again!!). He is the one setter that I regularly finish off the quickest, but I reckon that he’s the one that I get a wrong answer more often than any other setter.
Maybe it’s just a call to show more respect than haste!
Back to aught/ought. Chambers gives ought(1) a variant of aught; also an illiterate corruption of naught……so the clue could be a double definition for “ought”?
(It isn’t, though – I’ve “checked”.)
Enjoyed this. Thanks Rufus and Flashling. Fave paparazzi, LOI greet.
Thanks Rufus & Flashling.
Very enjoyable with sufficient twists and turns. In addition to those mentioned above, I particularly liked SCANDAL, ABUSING and ABSEILING.
I didn’t have any trouble with AUGHT after a moment of reflection. 💡
Brucew @8 – talking of drawing the error, I had BARBIE for 1d (BAUBLE is obviously better but since it was last in I didn’t think of it), but I agree that there was less ambiguity today than there often is with Rufus.
I enjoyed this – thank you. I had ought but on reflection it should be aught. Perhaps it is my northern upbringing – owt = anything = ought. I very much prefer beeryhiker’s answer of barbie for 1d.
My wife and I prefer Barbie too! Wish I’d thought of it for the blog:-)
Thanks all
Very much more enjoyable than the usual Monday offer. In other words it held me up long enough to admire one or two clues, especially in the NW corner. I had ‘ought’, should I be ashamed at such thOUGHTlessness?
Rufus, if you read this blog, this was your best puzzle in ages! I mean that in a good way. Hard to start, difficult grid, but most clues wonderfully honest with great surfaces. I think I ticked off 13a, and in the Downs, 3, 5, 11, and 15. Never really understood 4d despite the blog. Thanks to Rufus for a splendid outing and to every one else for a great blog!
Thanks flashling and Rufus.
You didn’t actually explain the bizarre “totaliser”. I loved this, very few DD/CD clues, very nice work by Rufus.