Tricky and fun from Arachne today. I groaned at 3dn, especially liked 18ac, 25ac and 23dn, and loved the definition for 2dn.
Across
1 Juggling trick, extremely skilful 8 (7)
SLEIGHT
=”Juggling trick”. S[kilfu]L=”extremely skilful” plus EIGHT
5 Two women refused to grow up and wed as ordered (7)
GROUPED
=”ordered”. GRO[w] UP and [w]ED, with “Two women refused”
9 Time loosely constituting something incomplete (5)
TORSO
=”something incomplete” – Chambers gives “anything incomplete or unfinished”. T[ime] plus OR SO=approximately=”loosely constituting”.
10 It’s used in building 8 (3-2-4)
TWO-BY-FOUR
=”It’s used in building”; =”8″=2×4
11 Urge parent to circulate exciting book (4-6)
PAGE-TURNER
=”exciting book”. (Urge parent)*
12 Seconds of pie and onions in pub (3)
INN
=”pub”. Second letters of [p]I[e] [a]N[d] [o]N[ions]
14 Colour of cat pee, formerly (8,4)
PRUSSIAN BLUE
=”Colour”. RUSSIAN BLUE=”cat”, with P[ee] ahead of it
18 It’s treated by gastroenterologists, strangely, not opticians (12)
CONSTIPATION
=”It’s treated by gastroenterologists”. (not opticians)*
21 Be indebted to nameless Welshman (3)
OWE
=”Be indebted to”. OWE[n]=”Welshman”, but nameless
22 Travel round African country, northeastern gem (10)
TOURMALINE
=”gem”. TOUR=”Travel round” plus MALI=”African country” plus N[orth]E[astern]
25 To show pain is hard and a bit cowardly (9)
YELLOWISH
=”a bit cowardly”. YELL OW=”To show pain” plus IS plus H[ard]
26 Still upset (but not very) (5)
INERT
=”Still”. IN[v]ERT=”upset (but not very)”
27 Told police about male meeting bishop for affair (7)
SHEBANG
=”affair”. SANG=”Told police”, about HE=”male” plus B[ishop]
28 Female entering, cause of misery (7)
BANSHEE
=”Female… cause of misery”. SHE=”Female”, entering BANE=”cause of misery”
Down
1 Starts to surprise indolent mates with exercises (3-3)
SIT-UPS
=”exercises”. Starts to S[urprise] I[ndolent], plus TUPS=”mates” (of a ram with a ewe)
2 Spray a green bug on a large scale (6)
ENRAGE
=”bug on a large scale”. (a green)*
3 Give up crime in Oz, reportedly, and wield pen anonymously (10)
GHOSTWRITE
=”wield pen anonymously”. Sounds a bit like ‘go straight’=”Give up crime” in an Australian accent.
4 Coach knocking back rough alcohol half-heartedly (5)
TUTOR
=”Coach”. Reversal (“knocking back”) of ROT[g]UT=”rough alcohol”, “half-heartedly” losing one of the two middle letters
5 Surveyor finally finding excuse to stop (9)
GEODESIST
=”Surveyor”. Final letters of [findin]G [excus]E [t]O plus DESIST=”stop”
6 Stone axes one cut in advance (4)
ONYX
=”Stone”. Y and X are axes on a graph, with ON[e] cut in advance
7 Professional lady accepting kiss with a lot of tongue (8)
PROLIXLY
=”with a lot of tongue”=wordily. PRO[fessionaly] plus LILY=”lady” around X=”kiss”
8 Ditheringly dredge — and mostly in the wrong place (8)
DERANGED
=”in the wrong place”. (dredge an[d])*
13 Keen on people chanting (10)
INTONATION
=”chanting”. INTO=”Keen on” plus NATION=”people”
15 What if drinking carries no risks, ultimately? (9)
SUPPOSING
=”What if”. SUPPING=”drinking” around [n]O [risk]S
16 Malcontent may scorn Oxfam, Unicef etc (8)
ACRONYMS
=”Oxfam, Unicef etc”. (may scorn)*
17 Be behind subordinate’s false statement (8)
UNDERLIE
=”Be behind”. UNDER=”subordinate” plus LIE=”false statement”
19 Couple adopting European design style (2-4)
HI-TECH
=”design style”. HITCH=”Couple” around E[uropean]
20 Livingstone perhaps keeping newt in lounge (6)
LEFTIE
=[Ken] Livingstone of the political left. EFT=”newt” or lizard, inside LIE=”lounge”
23 It’s essential to cure habit (5)
REHAB
&lit. Hidden in (essential to) [cu]RE HAB[it]
24 Letter to Socrates written up in patois (4)
IOTA
=”Letter to Socrates” as part of the Greek alphabet. Hidden reversed in [p]ATOI[s]
Thanks, manehi. The usual trickiness that we’ve come to expect (and admire) from Arachne but, unless there are references that go over my head, it seemed to be lacking her trademark politics – apart from Ken’s cameo appearance near the end.
Loved the &littish BANSHEE and REHAB.
A very nice puzzle indeed. Thank you both.
I had a moment of (erroneous) deja vu with 23d, it’s such a good clue I was convinced I’d seen it before but a bit of a search proves otherwise. Quite remarkable to come up with it for what seems quite a common answer.
One tiny whinge, UK buildings use four-by-twos, this is dreadfully important 😉
Thanks Arachne & manehi. This was fun and seemed easyish compared to yesterday! Last in were BANSHEE and LEFTIE (the last very obvious in hindsight!)
Regarding DERANGED, I took “in the wrong place” to be the anagram indicator and DITHERINGLY the definition. I usually understand dithering as indecisive but it seems that in US usage it means agitated – and hence deranged?
Thanks manehi. As usual with this setter, you get the feel she’s having fun: the cat pee and the constipation, and the surfaces, the whole 27A. Bottom right corner was the only really tricky bit though.
I love Arachne’s puzzles, but didn’t enjoy this one too much. As usual, very clever clues, but, for my personal taste, too characteristic of the Guardian style that so many contributors enjoy but doesn’t appeal to me.
Yesterday I had quite a ‘grumpy’ crossword solving day – today is quite another matter – a lovely Arachne being the second puzzle solved this morning to leave me with a big smile on my face and a piece of paper with quite a few stars by my ‘favourites’. Thanks to her and manehi too.
Thanks, manehi. I got going swimmingly with this one, but ground to a halt with about half-a-dozen to go. TOURMALINE is a new one on me, and having convinced myself that it ended in STONE, I couldn’t see it. PRUSSIAN BLUE I put in just because it fitted (don’t like cats) and GHOSTWRITE made me laugh (I think it sounds a lot like GO STRAIGHT in an Oz accent). But I disentangled myself from the web in the end.
And bless me Father, for I have sinned … I said a bad word (in fact, three words, including one bad one) when I finally twigged the parsing of GROUPED.
If I may add to sidey’s tiny whinge, because this is dreadfully important too, I wouldn’t count Oxfam or Unicef as acronyms, because they’re not made up of the initial letters of what they stand for. I’d describe them as abbreviations. I’ll crawl back under me stone now.
Thanks to the Spiderlady as always.
K’s Dad @7. I had the same qualms as you about acronyms, but Chambers says “A word formed from or based on the intial letters or syllables of other words”
Very nice – crunchy and witty – as always.
I was convinced that “lounge” was the def for 20d giving SETTEE and looked up newts in wikipedia confidently expecting to find that they, like badgers, lived in setts.
Had they done so someone who allowed them to do that in their sitting room would cryptically have been a settee. I suppose if setters set puzzles then that makes settees of us all – or should that be the puzzles themselves. The motive was there – the M.O. too – all I needed was a body. Not to be.
Then the penny dropped.
The Torygraph’s preferred spelling seems to be LEFTY but they accept both. Actually I don’t think they have sub-editors any more anyway, so who’s to say.
Plus – thanks for the blog M.
Thanks, Blaise. The setter’s off the hook, then. But Chambers also says that a millipede is an insect.
I meant to mention before that I did like LEFTIE, because Red Ken Livingstone is known for his love of amphibians.
Thanks, manehi, for the blog, and Arachne for another super puzzle.
Busy morning, so all I’ll say now is that I share all manehi’s favourites, plus 26ac and 15, 16 and 24dn.
Every clue a favourite, though I came here for the parsing of 14a having never heard of the Russian Blue (neither has Chambers).
Neil@1, newt-fancier Red Ken is not the only political allusion – one of my favourites was 8d, for its reference to the images during the recent flooding of politicians helplessly floundering around while the elements make a mockery of us all.
After grumbling yesterday about Nutmeg I am glad to say today that Arachne hit the Goldilocks spot for me.
I agree with David Mop @14 – this was exactly what I needed after yesterday’s travails. I thought this was Arachne’s easiest for some time (by which I mean relatively easy but still challenging in places), and full of the now familiar wit and invention. I particularly enjoyed ACRONYMS, YELLOWISH and LEFTIE. Last in was GEODESIST – a new word to me which had to be right from the crossers and the wordplay.
Thanks to Arachne and manehi
… and I also liked the positioning of SHEBANG and BANSHEE together on the bottom row.
Thanks manehi and Arachne, a really super puzzle. GHOSTWRITE, REHAB and YELLOWISH my favourites.
I worked for a shopfitting company years ago and can confirm sidey’s whinge: although 2×4 is a standard American lumber size I have never seen anything other than 4×2 used in the UK.
Thanks, manehi.
Another good day for arachnophiles.
Nice constructions and surfaces, with smiles along the way, as we have come to expect. A lot of good clues, but I particularly liked GROUPED (ingenious construction/surface), LEFTIE (as K’sD commented, Ken was notorious as a newt fancier) and PRUSSIAN BLUE (snigger here – and nice to get an airing for the wonderful ferric hexacyanoferrate). The &lit at 23d is beautifully succinct.
My thoughts were those of beery hiker in all respects, save INERT was my last one.
Maybe I found it easier because, not being able to sleep, I started at 5.15 this morning when I was quite alert.
Thanks manehi and Arachne.
I had ‘quite’ for 26, which I think, fits well and so didn’t finish 3 in the SE corner. Otherwise very enjoyable. Thanks
Gervase @18 – your comment about ferric hexacyanoferrate got me looking at Wikipedia, where I found that Prussian Blue is related to Turnbull’s Blue. The latter is the subject of one of those lovely Chamber’s definitions: “ferrous ferricyanide (or poss ferric ferrocyanide). [From Turnbull a Glasgow manufacturing chemist (18c), not the discoverer]”
JohnM @20
You’re not alone. I also pondered QUITE (‘Quiet’ upset but not very) for 26a, but I didn’t put it in as I was uncomfortable about Arachne having used an indirect anagram and making ‘but not very’ do double duty.
I love Arachne but most unusual not to have any reference to food at all (except possibly for 11ac, but that is not in the answer).
Eft. Does anyone anywhere ever use that word in conversation?
(She put down her cup of chai and said “The eft is an amphibian, not a fish. A fish is an ide, or a ling”.)
David Mop @21: Quite right. PRUSSIAN BLUE is structurally rather complex, but certainly contains iron in two different oxidation states. Iron(III) hexacyanoferrate(II) and iron(II) hexacyanoferrate(III) would have the same theoretical formula, but in reality the compound is a hybrid with the deep blue colour attributable to electron transfer between the iron atoms.
Thanks to manehi for the blog. I had GROUPED but failed to see the parsing.
On 11 I replaced ‘parent’ with mother and tried to make something of it. No joy. Similarly father was no help. Eventually the penny dropped 🙁
Another really enjoyable puzzle from the Spiderwoman, which I found quite hard.
Thanks manehi; my aussie accent needs a bit of a review. As 2×4 seems to be in all the dictionaries without any reference to the US, I guess it must be OK. As I couldn’t solve 8d until near the end, this fooled me completely.
I did particularly enjoy PROLIXLY – makes me wonder what Arachne gets up to in her spare time. 😉
I found most of this straightforward and fun, but I got myself into a right mess in the NW by entering “tempo” at 9ac. My rationale for it was a definition of “time”, and the letters of “tempo” appear randomly in “incomplete” which seemed to fit the “loosely constituting something” part of the clue, which is very libertarian but seemed to make some kind of sense. It was only when I became completely stuck on E?M?G? for 2dn that I looked at 9ac again and saw what was really happening. With the correct checkers in place ENRAGE was my LOI and I was kicking myself for not having seen it straight away. That would have saved me quite a few brain cells.
Another lovely puzzle from the Spiderwoman.
I agree with Beery Hiker that this was her easiest for some time although I was held up for the final few. LOI in was GROUPED.
I didn’t help myself by confidently entering TILTS for 26A on the first pass. (An obvious anagram of STILL and wrong on almost every other level!)
I was also on the wrong tack for ages with 7D. I was confident this was Arachne again poking fun at all us potential sexists. With “professional, lady and kiss” in the clue it was obviously one of her trademark wind ups! However it was a PRO and a lady and a kiss! (Sometimes knowledge of the setter is a disadvantage!)
Also no problem with ACRONYMS as SOED has “A word formed from the initial letters or parts of other words”
Thanks to manehi and Arachne
Why is it that, when I see the setter is Arachne, I go weak at the knees?
Some of her clues receive my highest accolade – three ticks! 3dn is just one such. As for surfaces – they can be as staggeringly satisfying as a fresco in Santa Croce, San Lorenzo or even the Sistine?!! Take 27ac as but one brilliant example.
Perhaps that’s why the knees start to buckle – preparation for genuflection!
In awe!
Well said William F P – couldn’t agree more.
Unashamed fanboy/girl here too. Every Arachne day is a great day, and there were so many fun clues here as ever.
For the “Four-by-Two-ers”…she just said “It’s used in building..”, not “It’s used in building here in the UK…” ` 🙂
Yet again Sue and I did this in the pub.
To continue the mini theme, since we were not “12.5%”, and especially after last night’s test, we found it straightforward though not disappointingly so.
Thanks Arachne for the customary fun, manehi and all.
Very belated greetings from Spider Towers.
Thanks and big respect to Manehi for the exemplary blog. One tiny point: at 1dn “tups” = “mates with” (“the ram tups the ewe” = “the ram mates with the ewe”.
Thanks to all for comments – much appreciated.
Toodlepip,
Arachne
Thanks Arachne and manehi
Another spider fan here … loved the misdirection of 8 in both 1a and 10a. Had not seen TORSO used in this context before … but there you go!
Funny … I have never heard an Aussie with that strong twang other than movies portraying Aussies :).
TOURMALINE, PROLIXLY and GEODESIST were all new – last one in was INVERT.