A combination of some very straightforward clues [eg 5ac, 16ac, 24ac, 4dn], a number of anagrams, including two excellent ones, and, unusually for Pasquale, only one word, I think, that could be called at all out of the ordinary. Some nice surfaces, too. Thanks, Pasquale, for the puzzle.
[Definitions are underlined and italicised.]
Across
1 Ran down tail? (7)
BACKBIT
BACK BIT [tail] – I think I’ve only ever seen this verb in its gerund form: backbiting
5 Pet in northeast town? Fashion to be avoided (7)
DARLING
DARLING[ton] [northeast town minus ‘ton’ – fashion] – very nice, as a sweetheart would be called ‘Pet’ in Darlington
9 He’s a cool customer, almost ridiculously sweet (9,6)
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
Excellent anagram [ridiculously] of HE’S A COOL CUSTOME[r]
10 Producer starts with most actors keen entering rehearsals (5)
MAKER
First letters [starts] of Most Actors Keen Entering Rehearsals
11 Every six months or less, a term that’s flexible (9)
SEMESTRAL
Anagram [flexible] of LESS A TERM: this is rather clever, as a semester these days seems to be a very flexible ‘term’!
12 Prize exhibit women kept in store that is next to church (9)
SHOWPIECE
W [women] in SHOP [store] + IE [that is] + CE [church]
14 Term for old German covers master race’s member (5)
HUMAN
HUN [term for old German] round MA [master]
15 Embarrassed about sexes sitting next to each other, ensconced on sofa? (5)
COMFY
COY [embarrassed] round M F – sexes sitting next to each other
16 Sailor getting damaged kept dry (9)
ABSTAINED
AB [sailor] + STAINED [damaged]
18 Like burglars one’s seen outside home very briefly (9)
UNINVITED
UNITED [one] round IN [home] V[ery]
21 Dog competition in which one slips a place (5)
TRAIL
TRIAL [competition, with the I moved forward] – ‘slips’ would have worked better in a down clue, I think
22 Bad boy at school would have had to be hard to prevail against (4,4,7)
TAKE SOME BEATING
Double definition
23 A “grubby” person coming to the party? (7)
CATERER
Cryptic definition: a caterer would provide grub – food
24 Quaint boy sent a message (7)
TWEETED
TWEE [quaint] + TED [boy]
Down
1 Types to buzz around firm, primarily managers or “suits” (7)
BECOMES
BEES [types to buzz] round CO [firm] + M[anagers]
2 Paper produced after rags have been collected (9,6)
CLOAKROOM TICKET
Cryptic definition – I think I’ve only seen clothes referred to as ‘rags’ in expressions like ‘the rag trade’ and ‘glad rags’; surely the ticket has to be produced first?
3 Book from past — I love plot concealed (9)
BIOGRAPHY
I O [I love] + GRAPH [plot] in BY [past]
4 Farm animal in street overturned vehicles (5)
TRAMS
RAM [farm animal] in a reversal [overturned] of ST [street]
5 Male odd in female attire — is that not conjuring up a picture? (9)
DREAMLESS
Anagram [odd] of MALE in DRESS [female attire]
6 Modern miss with jumper on shares accommodation (5)
ROOMS
MS [modern miss – not really] with ROO [jumper] on [in a down clue]
7 Player, inert, transformed with stimulants (15)
INSTRUMENTALIST
Another excellent anagram [transformed] – of INERT and STIMULANTS
8 Girl mixing with men is a mischievous sort (7)
GREMLIN
Anagram [mixing] of GIRL and MEN
13 Material obtainable from ores — metal (9)
ELASTOMER
Anagram [obtainable from] ORES and METAL
14 Rather shattered at end of exercise — with this going up? (5,4)
HEART RATE
Anagram [shattered] of RATHER + AT + exercisE
15 A cut is nasty, cut initially stinging (7)
CAUSTIC
Another anagram [nasty] of A CUT IS + C[ut]
17 Action in which bear making great effort is drowned (7)
DELUGED
LUG [bear making great effort] in DEED [action] – my favourite clue, I think
19 Screen guest with the thing being hidden (5)
VISOR
VIS[it]OR minus ‘it’ – the thing
20 Left-side entry made by old-fashioned socialite with sex appeal (5)
DEBIT
DEB [old-fashioned socialite] + IT [sex appeal]
Was it SEMESTRAL or ELASTOMER that was the one out of the ordinary word? I got both of those fairly early and was afraid more of the same was in store, but happily not.
DREAMLESS took much longer than it should have done because of misinterpreting “male odd” as ML – kicked myself when I finally twigged where the EA had come from.
Very enjoyable, thanks – especially liked BACKBIT, COMFY and TWEETED – and some impressive anagrams. Thanks.
Hi gladys
SEMESTRAL, I think – I only mentioned it because Pasquale is well known for introducing us to less common, not to say obscure, words. [I didn’t actually say it was out of the ordinary. 😉 ]
Pretty much what one has come to expect from the Don: elegant clues, accuracy and some less familiar words that can be deduced from the clues. Although there was nothing particularly outstanding for me, I did enjoy ‘comfy’.
A pleasant start to the day, so thanks to the setter and, as always, to Eileen.
Nice – I finished half quite quickly and then was stuck for a long time in the SW corner. I particularly liked visor, comfy and debit.
Re cloakroom ticket, I read it as the rags being first collected by the cloakroom assistant before he or she produces the ticket.
Thanks Pasquale & Eileen
George, have a look at Redshank’s 18ac in the FT. 😉
I’m going out to lead a walk now, so any corrections will have to wait until I come back this afternoon.
Thanks, Eileen. Knowing you’re not always his biggest fan, it was nice to see that you evidently enjoyed this. 🙂
I had the same reservations as you about CLOAKROOM TICKET and admiration for INSTRUMENTALIST and DELUGED.
Thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you Eileen and of course Pasquale. Usually a non- completion setter for me so all the more pleasurable to be up to the task.
Crossing posts mean I now have to retract and agree that Alan R @4 is right!
Hello Eileen,
@5, Isn’t that an astonishing coincidence.
I rarely tackle the FT puzzle as I usually solve the Grauniad online and either (grudgingly) buy the Times or solve the crossword from a donated copy. (I resent putting money into Murdoch’s coffers, and think that many of the Times’s feature writers are abysmal).
I would attempt the FT more often if I had (1) easier access to a printer than I have and, particularly, (2) if I could discover how to print the puzzle and clues at a larger size. (My computing skills are fairly basic).
George @ 9
This link http://www.ft.com/life-arts/crossword will take you to the index page for FT puzzles: click on the one you want and (certainly in my case) a pdf then opens up in my pdf reader – it may open in your browser depending on your settings.
If you then choose the print option there should be a way to make the printout fit the size of paper you’re using (in my reader there’s a ‘scale’ option which does that), and bob’s your uncle. When I print the FT it comes out larger than the graun!
hth
@George- if I do the FT, I normally make the size 130% before actually printing.
Really enjoyed it this morning. I am normally a reader of comments rather than a contributor, but why is ‘ton’ fashion in 5a? Hope you have a good walk Eileen, the weather is perfect here.
Thank you for the blog, pet lamb. Yer a canny lass.
Enjoyed all of this, even the dreadful pun in CATERER. Some lovely and elegant anagrams, as others have said.
Parky, welcome if this is your first comment. TON is a French word meaning ‘fashion’ that I have never heard used outside of crosswords.
Parky – ton comes from French “le bon ton” meaning fashion, good taste.
Thanks Eileen. I was happy with the order in CLOAKROOM TICKET (hand over your coat etc, get a ticket in return) and TRAIL (things can slip in any direction). Perhaps I misunderstood you.
I too have never heard of anyone claiming to have (or have been) BACKBIT in conversation. But I suppose that this is not a reason for it to be excluded from a cryptic crossword. This was my guess at your “out of the ordinary” word.
“Backbit” was very apt in view of the URU-ITA game.
Thanks Pasquale & Eileen. The anagrams certainly helped with the solve.
BACKBIT is in Collins, so I guess it’s OK. I RATHER liked the clue for HEART RATE. I also saw the CLOAKROOM TICKET clue the wrong way round, although I now see it from the perspective of AlanR @4. Perhaps ‘deposited’ would have been clearer than ‘collected.’
Thanks Eileen and Pasquale
An enjoyable puzzle with well-constructed and accessible clues.
Thanks Pasquale and Eileen
I didn’t see the “grubby” in 23a, so needed that explaining (though only one word fitted, I think).
BACKBIT was one of my last, and my favourite – I liked a tail being described as the “back bit”.
Yes, this was fairly straightforward by the Don’s standards. Last in was HUMAN after INSTRUMENTALISTS – it did take me a while to think of the right kind of players. I’m with gladys @1 in thinking that ELASTOMER is just as obscure as SEMESTRAL, though I was dimly aware of both.
Thanks to Eileen and Pasquale
Thanks to Eileen for the blog.
On the matter of fashion=ton: this term crops up fairly often in the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer. It seems to have been a common speech usage in that period.
Thanks all
I really enjoyed this one.
Favourites included 22ac and 14 d. Last in was ‘semestral’, a new variation on semester.
Thanks Simon S @10 and copmus @11. I will try again to get a larger print out, then I will be able to idle away even more time trying to solve crosswords (better half permitting).
Another excellent puzzle from the Don IMHO, even though I probably finished it a little quicker than some of his other Guardian offerings. BECOMES was my LOI after BACKBIT. I have no problem at all with the use of “collected” in 2dn. It is a cryptic crossword and we shouldn’t expect to be spoon-fed the answers.
I agree with Eileen’s quibble about CLOAKROOM TICKET. The attendant doesn’t really ‘collect’ things. ‘Paper produced when rags are collected’ would be fine.
I think the idea may have been to misdirect; for a while it did me. In bygone days rag-and-bone men collected rags to be used in the making of quality paper, known as rag or cotton paper. When I were a lad a “rag-and-bone” man would regularly come round with a horse and cart, crying “ragabones”. By then, of course, what he wanted was anything we didn’t, except bones.
An enjoyable if fairly straightforward offering from the “Don”. (and no “silly” words 😉 )
Of course a cloakroom attendant collects things. (i.e. clothes)
as in the SOED
…
verb trans. Get or receive (money, contributions, etc.) from a number of people. m17.
Thanks to Eileen and Pasquale
Very well clued. Thanks for the explanations. Engineer, so “elastomer” is known to me. Silly putty is perhaps the most widely seen and touched elastomer. Coy is not embarrassed in my book, shy, demure, may be coquettish, but not embarrassed.
B(nto) @25: The other day a charity collected some “etc”, in the form of clothes, from me. Unlike a cloakroom attendant the charity worker came to me and is not required to return the clothes. Your citation from the SOED justifies, rather than negates, Eileen’s objection.
Thanks Pasquale and Eileen
A bit late with this one … and like most, enjoyed it a lot.
Agree that there is a wrong sense of timing with the CLOAKROOM TICKET. New words with SEMESTRAL and ELASTOMER. Thought that BACKBIT was very clever.
The Bon Ton is (or was when we lived there) a chain of clothes stores in the US. I never knew what it meant until Ton started turning up in crossword clues recently.
Once again I am later than late as I take the xwords from the Guardian Weekly. Nevertheless regards to all, not least Pasquale.
We’ll, I’m even later, my Weekly doesn’t usually even turn up until the Friday, and it’s often the weekend before I tackle it. This was rather nice, with a number to enjoy. I slowed myself down by thinking 8 down was MINGLER which would have been a girl who mixed, possibly with men, and which I thought made for quite a ‘mischievous’ anagram (sort). And it started with M which would fit something to do with Durham for 4ac. I thought Gremlin was a much more pedestrian answer! Thanks Pasquale, and thanks too Eileen – probably the only person who’ll actually see this comment… I really must move to doing these on line…