This was a puzzle of about the right level of difficulty for a weekday. It was a good one for those who aren’t keen on CDs and DDs, since there were none here. There were a few slightly controversial devices and no great humour, but overall the standard was very high. I quite liked 10 down for the general misdirection implied by the clue.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Car fitted with storage unit for one type of sub-atomic particle (6) | ||
| Lambda | MB (megabyte) in Lada | ||
| 4. | Repeatedly hit Polish journalist protecting a couple of teenagers (8) | ||
| Buffeted | Buff + ed around te[enagers] | ||
| 9/11. | To smart set, feta crumbling is what’s of great importance (7,2,5) | ||
| Matters of State | (To smart set, feta)* | ||
| 12. | Finally discover hotel with BBC channel’s French stream (5) | ||
| Rhone | [Discove]r + h(otel) + One – not sure about the legitimacy of describing of France’s major rivers as a stream (although I suppose it is literally a stream of water). | ||
| 13. | I’m surprised by king having cricketers as fanatically loyal warriors (9) | ||
| Myrmidons | My (expression of surprise) + R + mid-ons (fielding positions) | ||
| 14. | Bar with returning soldier in the balance (13) | ||
| Counterweight | Counter + w(ith) + (GI in the)< | ||
| 17. | Bear with 9 being difficult as optimism returns about Obama’s leadership (6-3-4) | ||
| Winnie the Pooh | (With nine)* (no ref to clue 9) + hope< around O[bama] | ||
| 21. | Spider play has been rejected, blocked by heartless law (6-3) | ||
| Funnel Web | Fun + been< around l[a]w | ||
| 22. | Back manager initially to make changes at Arsenal (5) | ||
| Rearm | Rear + m[anager] – a question mark at the end of the clue might have helped, since the def is a little questionable. | ||
| 24. | Essentially hoping experts will deliver a verdict (5) | ||
| Opine | Centres of [h]opin[g] and [exp]e[rts] | ||
| 25. | Arthritic mice hurt badly after swallowing dose of analgesic (9) | ||
| Rheumatic | (Mice hurt)* around a[nalgesic] | ||
| 26. | Get rid of lubrication when in the last stages of qualification (8) | ||
| Degrease | As (when) in degree | ||
| 27. | Anglo-Saxon pilot missing one of the stars (6) | ||
| Astral | A(nglo)-S(axon) + tr[i]al | ||
Down |
|||
| 1. | Fruit strain found in southwest Ireland (8) | ||
| Limerick | Lime + rick | ||
| 2. | Wearisome troubadours mostly ignored busking here? (5) | ||
| Metro | Hidden in wearisoME TROubadours | ||
| 3. | The most obscure band to back Springsteen went up first (7) | ||
| Deepest | Peed(=went)< + E St. The E Street Band is the principal backing band for The Boss. | ||
| 5. | Peacekeepers fake cataclysmic battle making a lasting impression (13) | ||
| Unforgettable | UN + forge + battle* | ||
| 6. | Massively reducing consumption quickly weighs down elected government (7) | ||
| Fasting | Fast + IN(=elected) g(overnment). | ||
| 7. | Leaves Texan city before last third of song (3,3,3) | ||
| Tea for Two | Tea(=leaves) + first two thirds of Fort Wo[rth] | ||
| 8. | Occasionally sees a spy following academic in fancy clothing (6) | ||
| Dressy | Dr + even letters of “sees a spy” – a controversial use of occasionally for some people. | ||
| 10. | American military leaders visit Russia, worried over promises of weapons for Japan (7,6) | ||
| Samurai Swords | Nothing to do with Uncle Sam, as you might suspect – it’s A[merican] m[ilitary] in Russia* + words (promises). | ||
| 15. | Having a chill victory in finance having the cap removed (9) | ||
| Unwinding | Win in [f]unding – I suppose the def refers to chill in the sense of “chilled out”. | ||
| 16. | Perhaps compound revolutionary’s revolutionary claim (8) | ||
| Chemical | Che + claim* | ||
| 18. | New York (Queens) embassy opening for former African leader(7) | ||
| Nyerere | NY + ER + ER + e[mbassy] – Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. | ||
| 19. | Politicians‘ composure disturbed following company’s withdrawal (4-3) | ||
| Euro MPs | [Co]mposure* | ||
| 20. | Have the means to remove thoroughfare from Midlands town (6) | ||
| Afford | [St]afford | ||
| 23. | Army not gracious after acting officer makes sacrifices here?(5) | ||
| Altar | A(cting) Lt + Ar[my] (My again used as an exclamation = gracious!) | ||
Kind of loose-fit Guardian-style liberties everywhere. It was passable for technique otherwise, and quite enjoyable. I did like 21 for some reason, I just wish more of the clues had been as tight.
A reasonable challenge for a Monday I thought. I had the usual number of entries that went in from the letters I had, eg 10D, because I couldn’t be bothered to parse properly. For some odd reason I particularly liked 7D. It’s probably something to do with the cha-chas of my youth.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Yes, rather off-beat puzzle, but some good wordplay, particularly liked MYRMIDONS, UNFORGETTABLE and SAMURAI SWORDS.
Thanks to Alchemi and NealH.
I found this a decent challenge for a Monday. I finished back in the NW with the LAMBDA/LIMERICK crossers after I finally saw the wordplay for DEEPEST. I hadn’t helped myself earlier in the puzzle by confidently entering MATTERS OF TASTE, and I didn’t revisit it until I saw that 7dn had to be TEA FOR TWO.
Excellent cluing – all very tight – great surfaces and plenty of smiles.
I think we have to accept “regularly”, “occasionally” and the like as alternate letter indicators. “Evenly” and “oddly” and the rest soon get worn out and are rather obvious. I seem to remember reading that Araucaria disliked “regularly” in that role. I can’t think why – and that’s just about the only time I recall his having expressed a view on any of the endless cryptic grammar arguments that the self-appointed pedants insist on boring us with.
Came late to this one – attracted by the preamble.
Many thanks to S&B.
Not sure when ‘revolutionary’ became ‘= anagrammatise’. It used to be ‘turn the other way’.
Thanks Neal and alchemi, rather enjoyed it. Is chemical c & hemical* and thus self referential?
Another good puzzle by Alchemi.
Perhaps, it sounds patronising [but I’m far from that kind of], but he’s becoming better and better.
“Kind of loose-fit Guardian-style liberties everywhere” (hedgehoggy @1), where are these liberties?
That said, I have three questions about things that I found unsatisfactory.
24ac: “Essentially” is twice applied but in two different ways (all the middle letters, then just the couple in the centre). Not great, methinks.
In 3d I think “The” is completely superfluous and therefore shouldn’t be there.
Then 6d: where is “fast” coming from? “Quickly weighs down”? Or?
Good crossword.
I’m not sure I understand your difficulty with 6d. I interpreted as fast (=quickly e.g. he ran fast) weighs down (i.e. sits on top of) IN g.
Thanks to blogger and commenters.
@flashling I’m glad to have received the Seal of Disapproval again. CHEMICAL wasn’t self-referential. I admit that I thought about it as I put the word in, but it was about the only decent word I could put there which made 22a a decent word.
@Sil A nice compliment, you patronising old git 🙂
Like NealH, I don’t understand your not understanding FASTING.
On the duplicate “essentially”s, it’s a fair cop: my feeble defence is that there aren’t many acknowledged ways of indicating “just the middle of this string” but it’s definitely a weakness in my cluing which I’m aware of and am trying to improve.
On the possibly redundant article in DEEPEST, I had a conversation with Arachne about 3 years ago in which we agreed that clues ought to be written in English rather than crosswordese and that definite/indefinite articles should be included where English requires them even if Ximenes says otherwise. I don’t think that the article changes the meaning significantly enough for it to be unfair in this case (though I recognise that in some circumstances it could), so I’m inclined to the let’s-just-agree-to-differ line.
NealH and Alchemi, me not fully understanding 6d is me not fully being integrated in the English language, me being a bloody foreigner (though me not being a bloody tourist). Yo Man!
And, Alchemi, my problem with DEEPEST is that the underlined definition (The most obscure) does not equal DEEPEST.
In my opinion, ‘the most obscure’ = ‘the deepest’.
Or is the English language letting me down once again?
Finally, I am not against using ‘essentially’ in two distinct ways but perhaps you should have looked for an extra word to make that clear. To be fair to you, I cannot see one at this very moment and as I had no problem whatsoever to find (and parse) the answer: let’s call it quits.
Do we see you in Cambridge, late April?
Am doing a Sat morning catch up on week’s G and I puzzles (painfully busy week!) so able to appraise well. Found this puzzle nicely fluent. Thanks to S and B.