Not easy, even with the (excellent) long clues falling quite early on, and a lot to like. I could mention almost every clue – lots of deceptive surfaces and definitions, and clever little tricks. Top three favourites: 27ac, 4dn and possibly 20dn…
…the last mostly for the light-bulb moment having stared at GMAN = ??? for an absolute age.
Across
1 Twirling journalist wearing clown’s suit (6)
SPADES
=”suit” in cards. Reversal (“Twirling”) of all of ED[itor]=”journalist” inside SAP’S=”clown’s”
5 Explorer back in country, one caught spying on royalty (8)
POLONIUS
=”one caught spying on royalty” in Hamlet. [Marco] POLO=”explorer”, plus reversal (“back”) of IN, plus U[nited] S[tates]=”country”
9 Acceptable payment to occupy empty London club (4,4)
LONG IRON
=”club” in golf. ON=”acceptable” – think of “that’s not on!” – plus GIRO=”payment”, inside LO[nd]ON L[ondo]N
10 Most of sheep in the rain? One of them (6)
WETHER
=”One of them” – a castrated ram. Most of WET HER[d]=”sheep in the rain”
11,23 Conferred with footballer needing to be paid off? (8)
BESTOWED
=”Conferred”. [George] BEST=”footballer” plus OWED=”needing to be paid off”
12 Scots bash vessels navy moored in bay (5,5)
BURNS NIGHT
=”Scots bash”. URNS=”vessels” and N[avy], both in BIGHT=”bay”
13 PM losing head in conflict with European (6)
ATTLEE
=”PM”. [B]ATTLE=”losing head in conflict”, plus E[uropean]
14 What makes baker stop (5,3)
BREAK OFF
=”stop”. In a cryptic clue, “break off” => (break)* => BAKER, therefore =”What makes baker”
16 Verbally abuse Tory minister? Party leader’s appalled (8)
DISMAYED
=”appalled”. DIS (variant spelling of ‘diss’, short for ‘disrespect’)=”Verbally abuse”, plus [Theresa] MAY=”Tory minister”, plus ED [Miliband]=”Party leader”
19 Nothing wrong with car that’s kind of blue (6)
OXFORD
=”kind of blue” – a dark blue is a sporting representative of Oxford University. O=”nothing”, plus X=a cross meaning “wrong”, plus FORD=”car”
21 Reluctant to explore a hot and steamy novel (4-2-4)
STAY-AT-HOME
=”Reluctant to explore”. (a hot steamy)*
23 See 11
BESTOWED
24 Not public school receiving royal backing (6)
SECRET
=”Not public”. SECT=”school”, around reversal (“backing”) of E[lizabeth] R[egina]=”royal”
25 Uncovered bird or rodent or mammoth (8)
ENORMOUS
=”mammoth”. [h]EN OR MOUS[e]=”Uncovered bird or rodent”
26 Farm fertiliser has stable particle (8)
STALLION
=”Farm fertiliser”. STALL=”stable”, plus ION=”particle”
27 Decline in the west has society getting soft (6)
SUNSET
=”Decline in the west”. S[ociety] plus UNSET=”soft”
Down
2 Left idea for saucy yarn’s beginning with one’s newspaper (8,2,5)
PROPERTY IS THEFT
=”Left idea”. PRO=”for” plus PERT=”saucy” plus Y[arn] plus I’S=”one’s” plus THE FT=”newspaper”
3 Like some computers? Very nearly like the whole lot! (7)
DIGITAL
=”Like some computers?”. DIG IT AL[l]=”[Very nearly] like the whole lot”
4 Flora and Johnny involved in fling (9)
SHRUBBERY
=”Flora”. RUBBER=”Johnny”, inside SHY=”fling”
5 Criticise American pressure about promoting political unity (3-4)
PAN-ARAB
=”promoting political unity”. PAN=”Criticise” plus A[merican] plus reversal (“about”) of BAR=unit of “pressure”
6 Cruciverbalist’s sidekick with some incredible wisdom (5)
LEWIS
=”Cruciverbalist’s sidekick” – Inspector Morse is the fictional cruciverbalist, and Lewis his sidekick. Hidden in “incredibLE WISdom”
7 Tip for cooking, stuffing cut carp (7)
NITPICK
=”carp”. (Tip)*, inside NICK=”cut”
8 Seek out cheerful, hazy line in futuristic picture (3,3,5,4)
USE THE FORCE LUKE
=”line in futuristic picture”. (Seek out cheerful)*
15 English wound up? In France, we could be easily aroused (9)
EROGENOUS
=”easily aroused”. Reversal (“up”) of all of E[nglish] plus GORE=”wound” as in injure, plus NOUS=’we’ in French=”In France, we”
17 After 31 days, examination of a government official (7)
MAYORAL
=”of a government official”. MAY=”31 days”, plus ORAL=”examination”
18 Teacher, with age, defends right to be a bore (5,2)
DRONE ON
=”be a bore”. DON=”Teacher”, plus EON=”age”, around R[ight]
20 Diver, turning up gold fish’s head, fed (7)
FROGMAN
=”Diver”. Reversal (“turning up”) of all of OR=”gold” plus F[ish], plus G-MAN=”fed”=federal agent, member of the FBI
22 Taunt a trio intermittently, giving musical instruction (5)
TUTTI
=”musical instruction”. T[a]U[n]T [a] T[r]I[o]
Great puzzle and a real challenge.
20d was my LOI too – brilliant material but what a clunky surface in a puzzle remarkable above all for its superb surfaces.
Was the setter intentionally avoiding “goldfish” or maybe “fish head” for the sake of “correctness”?
Otherwise an absolute tour de force.
Thanks M for the blog.
9a – just a typo – the expl is good but you want L[ondo]N – not LO[nd]ON
Thanks manehi. For me this was much more enjoyable than yesterday’s. Loved the fed=gman (no clunkiness here) and the Flora and Johnny fling. The long 8D was my penultimate even though it had to be an anagram. Many nice yes! moments, so thanks Picaroon.
I did this before sleeping last night and really enjoyed it. My light bulb moment was 5ac. I thought of it very early (did Hamlet for a-level) and then discounted it several times before the penny finally dropped!
Lots of lovely clues, especially 7d!
Thx.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
8d was LOI, guessed from the crossers, then parsed. I failed to parse FROGMAN or EROGENOUS. Some Pauline clues!
STALLION was my favourite.
I wasn’t completely happy with WETHER, initially because I thought that the “rain” was “weather”, and we had to lose the A, though the grammar doesn’t quite work. However your parsing (though probably what was intended) isn’t satisfactory either, as sheep are found in flocks rather than herds.
In 19a, “Oxford blue” is a colour in its own right – the sportsmen are called “blues” because of the colour of the shirts they wear. (I’m sure that this is what you meant, manehi.)
Thanks for the blog, manehi.
Very hard indeed to pick favourites but I’d have to add LEWIS to yours.
My instinct was to 7dn, along with muffin, about 10ac but I googled ‘herd of sheep’ and found pages!
Many thanks, Picaroon, for another absolute gem of a puzzle – I loved it!
I completed this one, though I found it no more pleasurable than yesterday’s punishment.
Some excellent clues, such as 5a, but not to my taste overall.
Apropos of yesterday’s discussion, thanks to Sil for his measured comments, and to Mr Manley.
“Pages” of hits from Google doesn’t make the usage correct, though, Eileen! (Or, continuing earlier discussions, does it?)
Tough, but fair – thank you for a real workout, Picaroon! Absolutely loved 21 – brilliant surface.
Thanks for the blog, manehi – I couldn’t parse two of the words I had got and your explanations really helped.
[Further to the sheep, I was reminded of one of my favourite Alan Bennett quotes. He is out with his mother, who is losing her memory.
“We have our sandwiches on a hill outside Weston with a vast view over Somerset. She wants to say “What a grand view,’ but her words are going too. ‘Oh’, she exclaims, ‘What a big lot of about!’ There are sheep in the field, ‘I know what they are’ she says but I don’t know what they are called’. Thus Wittgenstein is routed by my mother.”
Sorry for the off-topic post.]
Thanks to manehi for the blog. You explained a couple where I had the answer but not the parsing.
On 14a I was reminded of a couple of days ago: RANKS SNARK i.e. a reverse anagram.
I did not know the Star Wars quote but identified the anagram and got there with the use of crossers.
6d left me cold. I saw the included name but as I got rid of the TV years ago I had no clue about the cruciverbalist – I was searching for my sidekick!
Re 10a
Collins has
herd (h??d)
1. (Zoology) a large group of mammals living and feeding together, esp a group of cattle, sheep, etc.
(as any shepflock could have told you…)
PS ignore the “h??d”, the pronunciation part of the Collins entry got garbled in pasting.
If I may NITPICK, Star Wars is set “long ago, in a galaxy far, far away”, so not strictly futuristic 🙂
Thanks for the blog manehi. I really enjoyed this. Picaroon is a setter that I’m increasingly looking forward to.
Very nice. Thanks to Picaroon and manehi. My favourites ENORMOUS, OXFORD and SUNSET.
Thanks, manehi.
So I am the only one to find this very hard – only six done after an hour, before resorting to cheating with the on-line version?
The 10 ac herd or flock debate reminds me of this:
Elmer: I’ve just seen a flock of cows.
Homer: Herd of cows Elmer, – herd of cows!
Elmer: Of course I’ve heard of cows. I’ve just seen a flock of them.
Thanks manehi and picaroon
Very enjoyable. I failed to parse 10a, which I thought must be referring by ‘most of’ to the incomplete state of a castrated ram.
Sorry. My new iPad wants to call me Tupi!
I thought that this one was definitely towards the harder end of Picaroon’s spectrum, but it was an excellent puzzle IMHO. I managed to complete it without aids but the RHS was a real struggle. It took me ages to get 8dn despite having seen the film many times. As far as Poc@14’s quibble is concerned, “futuristic” can mean something that appears to be from the future to modern eyes, and the technology in the film certainly qualifies as futuristic for the most part irrespective of where and when the film was set. OXFORD was my LOI and it took much longer to see than it should have done, even with all the checkers in place.
This was almost as hard as yesterday’s Boatman, but much more to enjoy, and much less controversy. Some of it defeated us in the pub after work, and there were a couple I couldn’t parse. Last in was BESTOWED, partly because there are just so many possible “footballers” to choose from (particularly for those of us with shorter memories) that it took ages to think of the right one, and partly because I didn’t think of the right meaning of confer. I did like BREAK OFF, DISMAYED, STAY-AT-HOME, and the Pauline SHRUBBERY.
Thanks to Picaroon and manehi
Thanks Picaroon and manehi. Very tricky in places. Agree with the compliments. STALLION was
my favorite.
Cheers…
Late to the party today, but what a masterly crossword! Absolutely loved it.
And many thanks, manehi…I’d missed the subtlety of the WET HERD (lovely).
Mmmm…the clues get better every time you re-read them.
Thanks all
A pleasant solve down the LHS and centre but spoiled by ‘use the force Luke’,
Is this a known phtase. am I supposed to know it, I know ‘may the force be with you’.
Way above my level. Glad I got many. After looking at explanations I see that many were simply ungettable. Well, shows how far I have to go. Good exercise.
I agree RCW. Although from the fodder I saw LUKE and FORCE as possibilities, it didn’t connect, though I do now dimly recall the phrase coming from the TV while I did something else. We’ve had a run of rather impenetrable puzzles of late, giving varying degrees of satisfaction for me. Although some here contrast them, I’ve found them somewhat of a kind, with the exception of Paul’s sparkle-lifted one.
Many thanks all.
Late comment from me as I’ve just finished the prize and got round to completing this too.
I enjoyed it but found it difficult in places.
I also thought the “Star Wars” quote a little unfair as I have never seen any of the films. (I don’t watch children’s films or read their literature. (So no Harry Potter references please setters 😉 ))
I couldn’t parse a couple but now see that I should have been able to! I always think it’s a compliment to the setter when one spends ages on a clue and when the solution finally dawns one’s reaction is “Why didn’t I see that”. A lot of those in this.
Thanks to manehi and Picaroon
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
Wow, this one was tough (for the second day in a row)- only started this on Sunday morning and took me own and off until early this morning to get it finished with ATTLEE, LONG IRON and SPADES the last few in.
Didn’t know either of the long down clues and a number of other terms such as DIS, GIRO and JOHNNY (as a condom). Also Theresa MAY was a new politician to me.
So needed a lot of electronic help to find the answers with many still requiring further work to determine to unravel the cryptic part of them.
Very enjoyable all the same and some new learning along the way !