Thankfully a reasonably kind first challenge for us on fifteensquared.
The cluing was absolutely fair, with some easier ones to establish a beachhead. Not sure yet how much we enjoyed it – the feeling is still one of overwhelming relief at not showing ourselves up! However, that’s down to us, not the crossword. Our favourite was 26 across. Thanks to Bradman for a very fair (and not in the sense of indifferent) puzzle, and to Gaufrid for the opportunity to do this.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HERBARIA |
The woman’s pub, one with a collection of plants (8)
HER (the woman’s) BAR (pub) I (one) A (a) is the plural of herbarium. |
| 6 | HAGGIS |
Soldier entertained by ugly women providing dish in a bag (6)
GI (soldier) inside (entertained by) HAGS (ugly women). |
| 9 | HEAD ON |
The man encountering an academic face to face (4-2)
He (the man) meets A DON (academic). |
| 10 | HOMESICK |
Countryman has some trembling within, wanting to be elsewhere (8)
HICK (countryman or bumpkin) has SOME jumbled up or (trembling) inside. |
| 11 | LIEN |
Right policy when half of it is tweaked (4)
A lien is a legal right to hold onto someone else’s property. A line (as in party line) is a policy. You get from line to lien by tweaking its rear half. |
| 12 | WRONGDOING |
Evil dingo possibly by implication? (10)
WRONG (evil) plus DOING (an anagram of dingo) is evil (as in axis of …). |
| 14 | OBSOLETE |
Fancy lace bootees? Not ace – antiquated! (8)
An anagram (fancy) of lace, minus ace, and bootees. |
| 16 | EXIT |
The thing taken by discarded lover? (4)
IT (the thing) plus EX (discarded lover). A discarded lover takes the exit. |
| 18 | BIKE |
Bishop and president once in vehicle (4)
B for bishop plus IKE, the nickname of President Eisenhower. As a British policeman told a four year-old girl a week or so ago, a bike is a vehicle and must not be ridden on the pavement. |
| 19, 25 | NORTH SEA OIL |
Source of energy in one place is also in other ground (5,3,3)
NORTH SEA OIL is a source of energy and it is also a rearrangement (ground) of the letters making up also in another. |
| 21 | COLLEAGUES |
Use legal manoeuvring when backing company associates (10)
COLLEAGUES are associates. COLLEAGUES comprises CO (company) plus an anagram (manoeuvring) of use legal. |
| 22 | ARCH |
Cunning architectural construction (4)
ARCH has several meanings, including cunning as an adjective as well as the architectural constructions Flanagan and Allen sang about. |
| 24 | CAROLINE |
Daughter of Rainier or of Charles (8)
Princess Caroline is the daughter of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco.Caroline can also be used to refer to the period in English history covering the reign of Charles I of England (1625–1649) |
| 26 | IRISES |
Pupils are surrounded by these plants (6)
A double definition. The iris of the eye is the area around the pupil. An iris is a plant. |
| 27 | MERLIN |
Bird seen in summer, lingering (6)
A merlin is a bird. It is hidden in the phrase summer lingering. |
| 28 | MANAGING |
Fellow getting on, coping (8)
MAN (fellow), plus AGING (getting on, or getting old) makes MANAGING (coping) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ELEMI |
Sticky stuff from lime tree finally dissolved (5)
According to Wikipedia, Elemi resin is a pale yellow substance, of honey-like consistency, so it could well be described as sticky stuff. It is an anagram (dissolved) of lime and the letter e (the final letter of tree, or tree finally). |
| 3 | BADEN POWELL |
Lieutenant-General warning perhaps about a wicked place, soldier in Colditz? (5-6)
“Bell” general warning around“a den” wicked place and “POW” stands for Prisoner of War, a captured soldier in Colditz. Robert Baden Powell, the founder of the Scout movement, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army. |
| 4 | RENOWNED |
Famous children, not one of them acknowledged (8)
“Children” minus “child” plus owned=acknowledged |
| 5 | ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM |
Alehouse man’s mum transformed, a fine Oxford establishment (9,6)
The Ashmolean Museum is one of Oxford’s gems. It is an anagram of “Alehouse man’s mum”. |
| 6 | HOMAGE |
Respect house with ancient priest (6)
“Ho” for house plus “Mage” an ancient priest or wise man. Homage = respect, as in pay homage. |
| 7 | GAS |
Fuel to go down? It’s to go up! (3)
“Sag” (to go down) reversed ie up, gives “gas” a fuel. |
| 8 | INCENTIVE |
In a bit of money this person’s to find motivation (9)
“In” plus “cent” (money) plus “I’ve” (this person’s). Motivation = incentive. |
| 13 | OVERHEARING |
Picking up maiden maybe, leading to trial (11)
One of the meanings of maiden is an over in cricket in which no runs are scored. Add “hearing” as a synonym for “trial”, and the result is OVERHEARING, or “picking up”. |
| 15 | BRICOLAGE |
Work of art fashioned from a rock – in short, bilge! (9)
Bricolage (French for “tinkering”) is the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process. It is an anagram of “a” plus “roc” (rock minus the last letter, or “in short”) and “bilge”. |
| 17 | PRUSSIAN |
Quiet member of country or of kingdom once (8)
P as piano in music (quiet) plus Russian (a member of a country, Russia) gives Prussian, an adjective meaning “appertaining to Prussia”. The Kingdom of Prussia was a kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. |
| 20 | RATION |
Part of speech leader’s not used (6)
Oration (speech) without its first letter (leader) gives RATION, a part. |
| 23 | CLEAN |
Conservative not like a fat cat and free from scandal? (5)
C (conservative) plus ‘lean’ ie not fat, gives CLEAN – without a stain on character. |
| 25 |
See 19
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Rather enjoyed this one esp 3 & 5 dn. I had 12ac as a reverse anagram rather than a charade. caroline was new to me but was only daughter that would fit.
thanks to Bradman and also new bloggers!
Thanks to Bradman, and welcome to David and Linda. I enjoyed this as well.
I read 12a the same way as peterj, with ‘evil’ as the definition, and ‘dingo possibly by implication’ giving WRONG (i.e. an anagram of) DOING.
1a bothered me slightly, with HERBARIA being plural but ‘collection of plants’ being singular. The ‘a’ in the clue is obviously necessary for the wordplay, and I suppose you could argue that more than one herbarium could still be regarded as a collection of plants, but to me HERBARIA equates to ‘collections of plants’.
Thanks Tom I. You should see my plant collection — I have a nice little European herbarium near the house, an American herbarium a little further back, and…! 🙂
Welcome to our merry fold D&L. Think yesterdays Pasquale was a tad tougher but nothing to moan about. Good luck when you get a monk 🙂
Thanks Bradman and David and Linda.
I enjoyed this and found the parsing helpful, well done both of you.
OCED herbarium (pl. herbaria) 1 a systematically arranged collection of dried plants. 2 a book, room or building for these.
A person may have a collection of plants, but these could be arranged into different HERBARIA,
e.g. dicotyledons and monocotyledons.
I should have mentioned that The Natural History Museum’s plant collection is arranged into several HERBARIA in the same building.
Thanks, Cookie and flashling. Apparently Io and Monk are the ones to worry about – is the latter the reason for the expression “to get a monk on”, do you think?
Thanks Bradman and D&L
So this is when you started guys … a belated welcome !! I often do puzzles well after their published date as I don’t always have time when they are … and always try to finish them … even if there is a long elapsed time when I’ve started them.
Found this one to be one of the most benign offerings from the Don in any of his guises – taking just over a half hour … so you were a tad lucky here !!! Still some nice touches, including BADEN-POWELL, RENOWNED and my last one in, EXIT.
Agree with the guys above that 12a was just a reverse anagram of ‘dingo’ with the WRONG becoming the anagrind in the solution. Took some time to see the &lit intention of EXIT.