The usual gentle start to the week from Rufus, with some fun clues especially at 25ac, 3dn and 7dn.
Across
1 On the rocks, in the sun and air (9)
INSOLVENT
=”On the rocks”. IN plus SOL=”sun” (Latin) plus VENT=”wind” (French)
6 It needs a key first for opening (4)
ADIT
the entrance to a mine, =”opening”. IT, with A plus D=[piano?] “key” both in front or “first”
8 Deceive and attract scorn (8)
CONTEMPT
=”scorn”. CON=”Deceive” plus TEMPT=”attract”
9 School batting first with cricket, say (6)
INSECT
=”cricket, say”. SECT=”School” plus IN=”batting” in cricket
10 Company car (6)
ESCORT
=”Company”; =[a Ford] “car”
11 Beats in child’s game, we hear (8)
CONQUERS
=”Beats”. Sounds like ‘conkers’=”child’s game, we hear”
12 Writer, a good man, seen inside foreign restaurant (6)
BISTRO
=”foreign restaurant”. BIRO=”writer” with ST=’saint’=”a good man” inside it
15 Key mixture (8)
SOLUTION
=”Key” as in an answer; =a liquid “mixture”
16 Calamity — can’t dice bananas (8)
ACCIDENT
=”Calamity”. (can’t dice)*
19 Strain to find way about the ship (6)
STRESS
=”Strain”. ST[reet]=”way” plus RE=”about” plus SS=”ship”
21 Elegant braid one may make (8)
DEBONAIR
=”Elegant”. (braid one)*
22 A loose relation (6)
AUNTIE
=”relation”. A plus UNTIE=”loose”
24 African soldier to request change of air (6)
ASKARI
=”African soldier”. ASK=”request” plus (air)*
25 Cut short acrimony — compromise (8)
ENDANGER
=”compromise”. END=”Cut short” plus ANGER=”acrimony”
26 Land in Paris (Le Bourget) (4)
ISLE
=”Land”. Hidden in “[Par]IS LE[ Bourget]”
27 Out to make one uneasy? (3,2,4)
NOT AT HOME
=”Out”. [To feel] NOT AT HOME=”uneasy”
Down
1 People are clapped in these clubs (5)
IRONS
=”People are clapped in these”; =[golf] “clubs”
2 Is stout perhaps, so doesn’t dance (4,3)
SITS OUT
=”doesn’t dance”. (Is stout)*
3 I’m fired about restrictive practice (5)
LIMIT
=”restrictive practice”. I’M, with LIT=”fired” around it, i.e. “about”
4 Draws dissected Eastern insect (7)
ENTICES
=”Draws”. (E[astern] insect)*
5 What figures neat girls may display (9)
TRIANGLES
=”…figures”. (neat girls)*
6 Attack by a saint about one who became one (7)
ASSAULT
=”Attack”. A plus ST=”saint” about SAUL, who became Saint Paul
7 Get into debts without interest (9)
INCURIOUS
=”without interest”. INCUR=”Get into” plus I.O.U’S=”debts”
13 Gets bigger, though all screwed up (9)
INCREASES
=”Gets bigger”. IN CREASES=”all screwed up”
14 Medical treatment in battle (9)
OPERATION
=”Medical treatment”; =”battle”
17 One extremely behind schedule is cut off (7)
ISOLATE
=”cut off”. I=”One” plus SO LATE=”extremely behind schedule”
18 Flood discloses gold in river (7)
TORRENT
=”Flood”. OR=”gold” inside TRENT=”river”
20 Met king, head of new nation (3,4)
RAN INTO
=”Met”. R[ex]=”king”, ahead of (nation)*
22 Examination necessitating a lot of bookwork (5)
AUDIT
cryptic clue hinting at scholarly instead of financial meanings of “Examination” and “book”
23 She shows anger with heartless nurse (5)
IRENE
=”She”. IRE=”anger” plus N[urs]E
Thanks, manehi.
Two words new to me: ASKARI was easy enough to get from the wordplay and crossing lights; ADIT not so much, since the letter clued vaguely with “key” is unchecked.
Thanks, manehi.
We have had a series of Rufus crosswords without that awful grid and they have been much more enjoyable as a consequence.
miche, ADIT is a bit of a favourite with compilers – it crops up quite freqently.
Fairly straightforward I thought, though, as mentioned already, ‘Askari’ and ‘adit’ may be unfamiliar to newcomers. Even so, I think this puzzle could, once again, be suitable for a Quiptic.
Thanks manehi and Rufus
I found the SE a bit of a struggle, in fact. (Thanks for explaining NOT AT HOME in particular.)
I liked INSOLVENT and IRONS. The clue for AUDIT was a bit wordy, perhaps? A little unfortunate that INSECT appears as both a solution and in a clue.
[On a very technical point, “stress” and “strain”, although related, aren’t the same. The “strain” is the deformation caused by an applied force or “stress” on a solid material. The ratio between the two is a characteristic of the material and is called “Young’s modulus”.]
I agree it was a gentle start to the week. ADIT – the only one I needed help with – was new to me too.
Thanks, Rufus and manehi.
[muffin @4, I’d remembered from A-level physics in the distant past that ‘stress’ and ‘strain’ aren’t the same thing. I’d forgotten about Young’s modulus though.]
[Another memory from A-level physics: our teacher was Arthur Barnes. He wasn’t much good, so we consoled ourselves with the thought that: “Arf a Barnes is better than none.”]
Temporarily bamboozled myself by choosing “integrals” instead of “triangles” at 5d.
Solver-friendly grid and clear clueing, making this an enjoyable if quick solve. I was slightly frustrated not to see ADIT straightaway once I had the crossers, since it’s one of those little words – like CON and EWER – which although not in daily use do crop up regularly in cryptics.
Hutchinsonic, TRIANGLE (in the singular) is one of those odd words that has a number of anagrams which are common words: INTEGRAL, RELATING, ALERTING and ALTERING. So you have an excuse (should you need one) for bamboozling yourself.
Thank you to manehi for the blog.
@4 and 5
Don’t know if you’re being entirely serious, but I don’t think we’re dealing with the scientific meaning of stress and strain here! (We’re dealing, I’d say, with the kind that shows in someone’s face : ‘Stress (2): a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. he’s obviously under a lot of stress‘)
Another intelligent, elegant offering from Rufus. As usual not too much is really hard but an amazing proportion is surprising. My only problem was “dissected” as an anagrind in 4d. I suppose when you dissect something bits do normally fall all over the place but still…
I have occasionally queried devices and terms often used by compilers to hint at wordplay, double-meanings etc, and on having them explained by old hands can see how they work. However, I am really struggling with ‘sect’ for ‘school’ – best I can do is ‘a group following a school of thought’, which hardly makes them even tenuous synonyms. There must be something else I’m missing here.
I enjoyed this a lot more than some Rufus puzzles even though it was a quick solve. The grid probably helped. If I had ever come across ASKARI before I had forgotten it, but the wordplay was clear enough. LIMIT was my LOI after ESCORT.
Thanks manehi and Rufus. 9ac: thank God a cricket has six legs and an external skeleton!
@9
“School” or “school of thought” refers both to a system or tradition of thought and the people following it (the latter presumably being the older meaning), so from your quoted definition the sect would be synonymous with the school.
The Pythagorean school, because of its combination of religious and philosophical/scientific aspects, is perhaps the clearest example of the terms being interchangeable. (It’s not the only one by any means though – the dominant Arisotelian school in medieval christianity was obviously a religious sect, but it was (and is) referred to as a school and followers were the scholastics or “schoolmen”.)
Sects are normally religious, but not necessarily (see e.g. Collins). The derivation is apparently “Middle English secte, from Old French, from Latin secta, course, school of thought, from feminine past participle of sequ?, to follow” (American Heritage Dict.)
I really don’t see anything tenuous here. A sect is a school of thought.
Herb @ 8
No, I wasn’t being entirely serious. However, even with humans the “strain” is the result of the “stress”, surely?
I’m something of a novice so I had ARIA for 6a, since a ria is an inlet of the sea, and an aria needs a key (which would be A of course 🙂
Thanks Rufus and Manehi. Good fun, with ‘askari’ new to me but gettable easily enough.
Hi Herb @ 12. Don’t you feel that ‘sect’ carries a connotation of being a minority – and a minority with rather odd views at that? (E.g. the Moonies?) Given that there was effectively only one Grand Narrative in the Latin Middle Ages, it seems to me that Thomism and Scotism could be thought of precisely as schools that weren’t just sects. Just a thought.
Thanks Herb @ 12 for your thoughts on this, but I respectfully can’t completely go along with what you say. The examples given of ‘schools of thought’ may have made their followers members of sects, but it seems an overly particular and forced example. For another example, those whose school of thought is that decriminalisation of controlled drugs would be beneficial (or otherwise) would not be described as belonging to a sect. Simply believing in or practising something does not automatically make one a member of a sect, although it obviously indicates (following) a common school of thought.
Not much to add – ASKARI was new to me too, last in was ENDANGER and I liked ASSAULT. I think calamity as a definition of ACCIDENT is a looser than strain for STRESS – there is an overlap but an accident is rarely a calamity and a calamity is not always accidental (though I’m sure the dictionaries will disagree).
I’d convinced myself that 6ac was HOLE as in (KEY)HOLE
Thanks all
There is a sect of pedants on this board who frequently put me under extreme strain.
RCW @ 19
I think you mean “extreme stress” – you are strained as a result!
The Guardian 225 blog is the spiritual home of pedantry, RCW. Embrace it and be grateful, otherwise you might well have been forever branded an arthropod after the weekend puzzle.
Another Monday – another Rufus!
Re ADIT. I recently read the very popular book “Goldscope and the Mines of Derwent Fells” by Ian Tyler. If books were rated on the basis of number of times “adit” was used per thousand words this book would certainly be in the top ten.
So 6A was my COD. (The rest I found a little dull 😉 )
Thanks to manehi and Rufus
Brendan @22 – it’s interesting that you should mention the Derwent Fells in connection with adits – I was familiar with the word from A. Wainwright and his guides to the Lakeland Fells, and Wainwright gave a whole page (Hindscarth 5) to Goldscope Mine, though I think his adits were elsewhere.
If I am one of the pedants who are upsetting RCW, I apologise.
I first came across “adit” in Arthur Ransome’s “Pigeon Post” – it’s a horizontal entrance to a mine (in contrast to a vertical ” shaft”).
First I enjoyed solving the cryptic. Then I enjoyed the discussion here about stress and strain, sect and school. Thanks.
Thanks manehi and Rufus
I am with muffin on the distinction between stress and strain, but whatever. It’s only a crossword. Why be pedantic?