An enteratining puzzle from Philistine with a theme of nautical terminology.
Across
1. Where to conduct fight or flight may be patio to a real 11! (7)
COCKPIT
Definitions: “Where to conduct fight or flight” (refers to a cockpit being for cock fights and the cockpit of a plane being where the pilot sits) and “may be a patio to a real [LANDLUBBER]!” (I think the idea is that a “real landlubber” might think that the decking of the cockpit on a ship is something like a patio, since wooden decking is frequently used for patios?)
5. The Bible says have sex with naughty nun outside X? (7)
UNKNOWN
KNOW = “The bible says have sex with” (the “biblical sense” of “to know” is “to have sex with”) in (NUN)*
Definition: “X?” (a definition by example – X might be an unknown value in algebra)
9. Paternal dedication: 5 across is a gem (5)
TOPAZ
“TO PA” = “Paternal dedication” (like the dedication in the front of a book) followed by Z = “[UKNOWN]” again referring to Z being a common name for unknowns in equations
Definition: “a gem”
10. Press readers to take wine for promotion (9)
REPORTERS
READERS with PORT = “wine” instead of AD = “promotion”
Definition: “Press”
11. Put down heart for clubs, first to bid with queen but no jack (10)
LANDLUBBER
LAND = “Put down” (e.g. an aircraft) + [c]LUB[s] = “heart for clubs” + B[id] = “first to bid” + ER = “queen”
Definition: “no jack” (“jack” as in “sailor”)
12. Reverse into parking? Unspeakably tight (4)
SNUG
Hidden reversed in “[parkin]G UNS[peakably]”
Definition: “tight”
14. Infirm state takes thin end of staircase to 11 (12)
COMPANIONWAY
You have to split “infirm”: in COMPANY = “firm” put IOWA = “state” around N = “[thi]N” = “thin end”
Definition: “staircase to [LANDLUBBER]”
18. Cupboard is bare when one’s eaten out of this (5,3,4)
HOUSE AND HOME
Definition: cryptic definition, referring to the expression “to be eaten out of house and home”
22. Assisted departure in Europe in comparison with another continent (10)
EUTHANASIA
EU = “Europe” + THAN = “in compaarison with” + ASIA = “another continent”
Definition: “Assisted departure”
25. Trivialize pool game, having lost the first half playing the accuser (5,4)
EMILE ZOLA
([trivi]ALIZE + [po]OL + [ga]ME)*
Definition: “the accuser”, referring to Emile Zola’s famous letter “J’accuse …!”
26. Crush seen in the sequel, Love Actually (5)
QUELL
Hidden in “[se]QUEL L[ove]”
Definition: “Crush”
27. Seafood and tea, possibly for shipmaster (7)
SHRIMPS
A compound anagram: (SHIPMASTER)* is (SHRIMPS + TEA)
Definition: “Seafood”
28,21. Fleet Street hacker weeded stony ground (7,4)
SWEENEY TODD
(WEEDED STONY)*
Definition:”Fleet Street hacker” (a rather gruesome definition!)
Down
1. One with fiddle let off a group of moon jumpers? (6)
CATTLE
CAT = “One with fiddle” in the nursery rhyme
Definition: “a group of moon jumpers?” also referring to the same nursery rhyme, wherein “the cow jumped over the moon”
2. Kinda saw Bobby in Golf (6)
COPING
COP = “Bobby” + IN + G = “Golf” (from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet)
Definition: “Kinda saw” (“a kind of saw”) – referring to a coping saw
3. Be perplexed by Bill quietly, not loudly, getting sweetheart to embrace sweetheart (6,4)
PUZZLE OVER
FUZZ = “Bill”, but with P = “quietly” instead of F = “loudly” + LOVER = “sweetheart” around E = “[sw]E[et]” = “sweetheart”
Definition: “Be perplexed by”
4. Heath Robinson’s component beat (5)
THROB
Hidden in “[hea]TH ROB[inson]”
Definition: “beat” (as in “heart beat”)
5. Certainly not the first or last to swim up the net, struggling (9)
UMPTEENTH
(M UP THE NET)* – the M in the anagram fodder is from “last to [swi]M”
Definition: “Certainly not the first”
6. Looking for sex, crawl after this silly berk (4)
KERB
(BERK)*
Definition: “Looking for sex, crawl after this” referring to “kerb-crawling”
7. Fifty percent of cattle found down here in coping situation (3,2,3)
ONE IN TWO
ONE (down) = where “cattle” is “found down here” in this puzzle + IN + TWO (down) = the “situation” of COPING in this puzzle
Definition: “Fifty percent”
8. Goes off among those against flowers (8)
NOSEGAY
(GOES)* in NAYS = “those against”
Definition: “flowers”
13. Message without a comma, most unusual (10)
COMMUNIQUE
COMM[a] = “without a comma” + UNIQUE = “most unusual”
Definition: “Message”
15. Writer with two performers around left us dangling (9)
PENDULOUS
PEN = “writer” + DUO = “two performers” around L = “Left” + US
Definition: “dangling”
16. Talk at first to each leaseholder selling property (8)
CHATTELS
CHAT = “Talk” followed by T[o] E[ach] L[easeholder] S[elling] (the first letters of each of those words)
Definition: “property”
17. More lovable copper solving riddle (8)
CUDDLIER
CU = “copper” + (RIDDLE)*
Definition: “More lovable”
19. To 11 backward oriental topped … (6)
ASTERN
[e]ASTERN = “oriental topped”
Definition: “To [LANDLUBBER] backward”
20. … 5 across on legal reform of kitchen to 11 … (6)
GALLEY
Y = “[UNKNOWN]” after (LEGAL)*
Definition: “kitchen to [LANDLUBBER]”
23. … leads John to 11 … (5)
HEADS
Double definition: “leads” and “John to [LANDLUBBER]” (“John” is US slang for a toilet, and on a ship the HEADS are the toilets (as in “I gotta hit the head”))
24. … and leaving troubled area, wheel to 11 (4)
HELM
HELMAND = “troubled area” without AND
Definition: “wheel to [LANDLUBBER]”
Thanks mhl (perhaps you could add let = lte in 1d). Enjoyed this puzzle and surprised myself by knowing all the nautical terms. And thanks, Philistine, for yet another great crossword.
Yes thanks mhl. I enjoyed the puzzle, not perhaps the most difficult of prize puzzles, but I don’t fully understand 1A either.
Thanks mhl. I thought in 1a that a patio and a cockpit were both just outdoor spaces adjacent to a dwelling and to the cabin of a boat respectively. 7 was my LOI and I stared at it for a long time before enlightenment dawned. Rather clever.
Thanks, but I still don’t understand: surely the various themed words would be used by seafarers rather than landlubbers? Will someone please enlighten me?
Thanks all
The unusual enjoyment from this compiler.
Quite an easy solve although I failed to get Emile Zola
Please omit in!!
A strange mixture of clues. Some trivial some interesting and some dodgy.
Not sure 18a is cryptic.
I only got 25A from the crossers and then reversed engineered the parsing. Possibly “their first half” would be a better indication although this would change the clue from almost impenetrable to trivial!
Overall I enjoyed this and at least it offered some kind of a challenge for the weekend. (Which I personally think a “prize” should)
Thanks to mhl and Philistine.
MH @4
The themed clues define the nautical terms as how a “landlubber” may see them. e.g. a companionway might be described as a staircase.
Thanks for the blog. I raced through this one… but got it into my head that 11a was the name or type of a ship… so landlubber was almost my last in.
LOI was 7d which had to be ONE IN TWO but I just couldn’t parse it. I still don’t fully understand patio in 1a either.
I’m glad I’m not the only one to find the “patio” bit of 1a mysterious.
@Mark Hayden: To [a] LANDLUBBER, GALLEY is kitchen, COMPANIONWAY is staircase, etc.
Thanks Philistine and mhl.
Enjoyed this puzzle. Could not parse COMPANIONWAY
1a. I agree with Biggles A @3, the word cockpit is now applied to small sailing vessels, and it usually has seating for people to sit outside, as does a patio.
I thought the second half of the clue to 1a was superfluous (once I had got the answer).
I got 7d wrong. I realised this but forgot to go back to it. Had I done so I would not have got it and still do not understand the clue.
8d has an “s” on the end.
Took me a long time to do the LHS as I should have got topaz but did not until the end. Also took a long time before I got Emile Zola even though I realised the construction.
Nice puzzle and was pleased to (almost) complete it. Thanks for your blog.
Ah! I see that it refers to 1d and 2d. I thought it was funny to have the answer to one clue occurring in another.
Even so I do not fully understand the construction.
Brianjp @ 11. 7d ONE IN TWO, cattle (a cow) is found in 1d, and cattle (a bobby calf) is found in 2d. (A bobby calf is an unweaned calf slaughtered for veal – I never eat veal.) Not sure if this is what is implied.
@13. Perhaps 7d. ONE (down) = where cattle is found + IN + TWO (down) = where bobby is in a coping situation (old form of cope, to meet in battle). The bobby calves are often tied up to the farm fence and left to wait for the abattoir lorry.
@14. The paysan French farmer often takes the bobby to the abattoir in the car, that is one of the reasons why the old Peugeot 404 was so poular.
I think at 1 across the cockpit is the flight deck and a patio is also a deck – bit tenuous I thought !
Liked this especially EMILE ZOLA which took me an age to get.
Thanks Philistine
@14, still no one has given any ideas here, bobby calves are male, i.e. 50% of cattle……
Cookie: I don’t understand what you’re asking, I’m afraid – it’s as simple as “cattle” being found at ONE and “coping” being found at TWO, I think, so nothing to do with the “Bobby” in the clue for 2d.
mhl @13, thank you, so kind to reply. Just unfortunate that Philistine used bobby in the clue.
Thanks Philistine and mhl
As usual a week late getting to this puzzle. Finished it off in the wee hours of this morning when couldn’t sleep.
7d was also my last in … and although I saw COPING was referring to TWO (down) for some reason it took ages to realise that CATTLE was at 1d to complete it.
Ended up not parsing either of 10a or 14a … Liked the theme and thanks to the folk that explained why they were the nautical terms for the words of a LANDLUBBER.
SWEENEY TODD was new to me!
Even later for me, but I thought I’d just add a quick note to say how enjoyable this was, not really difficult but challenging enough in places.
Thanks to Philistine and mhl