I found this to be somewhat easier than some of Brummie’s previous offerings so it was over fairly quickly, which is just as well because I need to get this post published before a builder arrives to re-point the garage. An enjoyable solve which got the day off to a good start (and I hope it remains that way).
Across
1 Solver texted eastern princess using mains leads element (7)
URANIUM – U (solver texted) RANI (eastern princess) U[sing] M[ains] (using mains leads)
5 Military state rigged trial (7)
MARTIAL – MA (state {Massachusetts}) plus an anagram (rigged) of TRIAL
9 Masseurs often do lack sound (5)
KNEAD – a homophone (sound) of ‘need’ (lack)
10 Catechism failed as a plan (9)
SCHEMATIC – an anagram (failed) of CATECHISM
11 A bit of a joke, first year plan: “Remove tree and grind up” (10)
PLEASANTRY – an anagram (grind up) of [fir]ST YEAR PLAN
12 Clown’s opening daily bluff? (4)
CRAG – C[lown] (clown’s opening) RAG (daily {newspaper})
14 A force for revival piqued Etruscans to accept use of modern technology (11)
RESUSCITANT – an anagram (piqued) of ETRUSCANS around (to accept) IT (use of modern technology)
18 Mundane experiment to restrict boob treatment that’s controversial (11)
TERRESTRIAL – TRIAL (experiment) around (to restrict) ERR (boob) EST (treatment that’s controversial)
21 Maybe five of Henry’s energy oats (rounded) (4)
EXES – E (energy) plus SEX (oats) reversed (rounded)
22 Green foundation’s ordinary union members? (5,5)
GRASS ROOTS – GRASS (green) ROOTS (foundation)
25 Like famous Freddie‘s / medicinal preparation? (9)
MERCURIAL – double def., the first cryptic
26 Question the origin of Gulf Stream (5)
GRILL – G[ulf] (the origin of Gulf) RILL (stream)
27 Trainee’s mobile imaging aids (7)
RETINAE – an anagram (mobile) of TRAINEE
28 Old banger‘s / a windy threat in Arizona, say (7)
RATTLER – double def., the second a cryptic reference to an American snake
Down
1 Scruffy medium’s rejected and abandoned (6)
UNKEPT – UNKE[m]PT (scruffy medium’s rejected)
2 Ancestors revealing the last word in exercise? Other way round (6)
APEMEN – PE (exercise) in AMEN (last word)
3 Not wise, moving inside etc to cross over river (10)
INDISCREET – an anagram (moving) of INSIDE ETC around (to cross over) R (river)
4 Sub-atomic particle is consequently in pieces (5)
MESON – SO (consequently) in MEN (pieces)
5 One hot knight, a joint revolutionary spiritual leader (9)
MAHARISHI – I (one) H (hot) SIR (knight) A HAM (a joint) all reversed (revolutionary)
6 Seat of power to the east of Scottish island (4)
RUMP – RUM (Scottish island) P (power)
7 Break up WC (put in ground first) (8)
INTERVAL – INTER (put in ground) plus LAV (WC) reversed (up)
8 Coffin’s possible resting place, reviving the unfinished legacy (8)
LYCHGATE – an anagram (reviving) of TH[e] LEGACY
13 Power clamps will, when adjusted by right craftsman (10)
MILLWRIGHT – MIGHT (power) around (clamps) an anagram (when adjusted) of WILL plus R (right)
15 Beset by stormy sea, go to bed dark and brooding (9)
SATURNINE – TURN IN (go to bed) in (beset by) an anagram (stormy) of SEA
16 Cold-sufferer’s nose, / an element of Christmas festivities? (8)
STREAMER – double def.
17 Western tiger hurt badly with hard going (4,4)
TRUE GRIT – an anagram (badly) of TIGER [h]URT
19 Cheery little woman has bottle (6)
JOVIAL – JO (little woman) VIAL (bottle)
20 Stone block, hardwood and softwood — check out (6)
ASHLAR – ASH (hardwood) LAR[ch] (softwood — check out)
23 Struggling also-ran’s prime sort of power (5)
SOLAR – an anagram (struggling) of ALSO R[an]
24 Heartless one gets article ready (4)
YUAN – Y[o]U (heartless one) AN (article) – the standard monetary unit of the People’s Republic of China (100 fen) (also called renminbi)
Lovely stuff, but I wildly messed up 21a. The oat genus is avena, which I rounded off to give even. Even so, I had my doubts, as I couldn’t work out where Henry came in.
Solved 9ac as kneAd.
Thanks Brummie and Gaufrid
I got URANIUM quickly (despite trying DI for the princess first), thenw rote in APMEN, INDISCREET and MUSIC for 4d. This almost works – MU could be a subatomic particle (MU-MESON or “MUON”), SIC is “so” or possibly “consequently”, and MUSIC could be “pieces”. IT was even “confirmed” by SCHEMATIC.
I had another problem when I put the C in the wrong place in RESUSCITANT. I gave up on 21 when “checking” showed EVEN was wrong. I needed Google to confirm YUAN.
I particularly liked MARTIAL; also INTERVAL and SATURNINE.
There were two I didn’t like. It was unfortunate that both TERRESTRIAL and MILLWRIGHT ended in words that were intended cryptically – i.e. TRIAL in the former was meant to contain the rest (and why is “est” controversial?), and RIGHT is supposed to indicate R in the latter.
Typo in 9a, Gaufrid – KNEAD.
Thanks, Gaufrid and Brummie.
Some nice clues – I particularly liked Henry’s exes and SATURNINE.
I was going to say that, in 10ac ‘as’ should be part of the definition but [I should have known better] I find in Chambers that schematic can be a noun – the definition given is ‘a schematic diagram’!
Did 8dn start life as an across clue? It surely doesn’t make sense as it is?
Sorry, I meant 6dn.
[P.S.according to QI, Henry VIII only had one (at most) “ex” – his marriages to Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard, for various reasons, were never valid. This leaves Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr; as the former predeceased him, could she be an “ex”?]
PPS I have given the wrong impression by saying “Why is “est” controversial?”. I didn’t mean that it isn’t controversial – I meant “what is it?” Presumably E… S… Treatment, but what do the first two stand for? I’ve only found ECT.
Muffin @3, EST is Erhard Seminars Training — if you’re old enough to remember it, you probably recall the controversy.
Thanks Ian @8.
I am old enough, but it entirely passed me by.
Though the more I think about it, the more I think ElectroShock Therapy (as ECT was originally known) is more likely.
Hi Ian SW3 @10
That’s the way I took it.
There’s a ghost theme: SOLAR, MERCURIAL, TERRESTRIAL, MARTIAL, JOVIAL, SATURNINE and URANIUM. Are there any more?
Thanks muffin @3, typo corrected.
According to Chambers, EST is Electric Shock Treatment.
Thanks Brummie & Gaufrid.
I didn’t find this all that easy. I’m not sure why ASHLAR was used; I’m assuming most people don’t know it, whereas ostler would have been a lot more well known. Maybe the setter just liked his clue for ASHLAR.
I agree with Eileen @4/5 that 6d looks like a misplaced across clue. I liked RATTLER although I think it would have been pretty difficult to get without some crossers.
Thanks Brummie and Gaufrid.
Quite hard going for me after yesterday’s relatively easy crosswords here and in the FT. I had to check out famous Freddie and EST.
PLEASANTRY, TERRESTRIAL and SATURNINE among others were good.
I had no trouble with RUMP, just assumed the P was on the east side of the word. ASHLAR came up recently somewhere.
I struggled with this, particularly the SW. I couldn’t fully parse PLEASANTRY. I saw that the ST from “first” could complete the anagram and yet still missed “fir”=”tree” – argh! I was also stuck on 18a, not recognising EST as an alternative to ECT.
I spent too much time on STREAMER, trying to fit in some reference to Rudolph as the red-nosed cold-sufferer. Are streamers specifically “an element of Christmas festivities”? I associate that holiday with lots of things, but not streamers. Perhaps I don’t go to enough Christmas parties.
I think my favourite clue is LYCHGATE.
Thanks Brummie and Gaufrid. I hope the repointing goes smoothly.
Cookie @15
For a Down solution, it would be more usual to clue the P as to the south of RUM.
jennyk @17, precisely, that is why the clue is good.
Incidentally, I have been searching for ASHLAR on this site and cannot find i. I was looking at some adverts for houses for sale a while back, perhaps that is where I encountered the word, I distinctly remember looking it up in the dictionary.
Cookie @18
If you type ASHLAR into the search box, you will find it in Indys 8,490 [Hob], 7,684 [Tyrus] and 6,907 [Nimrod] and Guardian 24,065 [Boatman].
I’ve only ever seen it in crosswords!
Eileen, sorry, I should have been more specific. @15 I specified ‘recently’, Hob for the INDY was 2013, Boatman for the Guardian was 2010, and I started doing cryptic crosswords less than a year ago.
cyborg@12
Not so much ghosts as heavenly bodies – Sun, Mercury, Earth (Terra), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus.
Only Venus & Neptune needed to complete the set
Max @21: “Ghost theme” is a term used here that means, “a theme that isn’t obvious from the clues, and that you don’t actually have to spot to finish the puzzle, but if you’re alert (which I almost never am) you pick up on.”
No actual ghosts involved.
I imagine EST is intended as Erhard Seminar Training, now defunct apparently. It was controversial as it was tough on the participants. Quite an obscure reference, as was CH for check (to me).
I found this a bit ho-hum to be honest, with that bitty feel the Guardian often has. Some errors, but not enough to justify my list 😀
Cheers
HH
jennyk @16. I have just remembered, as a child in Wellington we used to make Christmas garlands out of STREAMERS, there were plenty available as it is a port and were always thrown to/from people on board to/from people on the quay, and of course they sadly broke when the ship set sail. You take two streamer rolls and keep folding one over the other to make the garland.
Cookie @24
Thanks for that! When I was a child, we made paper chains for parties (not just at Christmas), forming the links using short strips of coloured paper, glued at one end. Yours sound more decorative.
I didn’t find this particularly easy, though it did give way in the end. Plenty to enjoy though. Last in was EXES, which I wasn’t entirely sure about. GRASS ROOTS took far longer than it should. Liked RATTLER, MESON and RUMP.
hedgehoggy @23 – I imagined that the reference was to Electric Shock Treatment/Therapy
Thanks to Gaufrid and Brummie
Thanks to Brummie and Gaufrid. I had trouble with ASHLAR and LYCHGATE (both terms new to me), got EXES via Henry VIII without seeing “oats” as “sex,” and needed Google to link “famous Freddie” to MERCURIAL. All in all, I found this puzzle a challenge and was grateful for the parsing above (though I did recognize EST as controversial).
Thanks to Brummie and to Gaufrid
I think that 19d must be a reference to Jo March, the heroine of L.M. Alcott’s novel, ‘Little Women’.
Yes beery, though ‘treatment that’s shocking’ would have been better for that one, maybe.
I usually have trouble with Brummie but I thought this was easier than usual(mostly!). I failed on EXES- I had EVENS- and I struggled with YUAN,my LOI. I see the wordplay but does READY = MONEY? A bit tenuous or have I missed something? Otherwise quite enjoyable.
Thanks Brummie
Peter Asplnwall @30
Both “ready money” and “the readies” are common UK slang terms for money:
Wikipedia on slang terms for money
PeterA @ 30 – me too (failed on EXES, had EVENS). But all very enjoyable, although difficult in places – that’s how I like ’em. Thanks to Brummie and Gaufrid.
Lots of buildings round here built with stugged ashlar. Never used a yuan yet though.
Jenny@31. Had it said”readies” or “ready money” then fine- but it didn’t! Incidentally I am Uk born and bred. I still think it’s tenuous.
Peter Asplnwall @34
Dictionary definitions under ‘ready’:
Chambers: “ready money (slang; also in pl)”
Collins: “ready money, ready cash, the ready, the readies – funds for immediate use; cash”
Oxford: “readies or the ready British informal available money; cash.”
I started off very well but found the last few hard to finish.
I didn’t help myself by enetering INDISCRETE for 3D. (It used to be a correct spelling 🙂 )
Last three in were RATTLER which I didn’t like. I thought both meanings were a little esoteric. (I know they’re in the dictionary!), JOVIAL (I didn’t realise vial could describe a bottle) and ASHLAR (which I finally deduced but have never heard of it before)
Not an easy Brummie for me but still quite entertaining.
Peter. @24
Ready in the money sense was used very recently in Guardian 26,578 / Screw May 22nd, 2015 at 21A. Shame on you for not remembering! 😉
I also assumed that EST was Electro Shock Therapy (This was it’s common name in the 1960s)
Thanks to Gaufrid and Brummie
Well, I don’t want to be a drag about this but my previous comment still applies.
Thanks to Brummie for a fabulous puzzle – I barely got warmed up yesterday, got beaten to pulp the day before, but today was a very satisfying workout with excellent clues.
I parsed TERRESTRIAL as:
TEST (experiment) around (to restrict) ERR (boob) + LARI (treatment) that’s controversial (anagram) => RIAL
LARI is a laser treatment for burn scars.
And controversial is an anagram indicator, not a qualification of the treatment
that’s ‘qualifier’
Freddy @38
At least your parsing disposes of my qualms about “trial”.
…………..though LARI seems pretty obscure!
Enjoyed this.
Small query re 25ac. Are we referring to Freddy Flintoff and his known cyclothymic tendencies? Or am I missing something?
Also as a fairly new solver I have constant problems with the apostrophe ‘s’ – could somebody explain its significance in this clue. I had interpreted as a characteristic of Freddie and thus belonging to him but I see that Gaufrid hasn’t underlined it as part of the definition.
Sorry, haven’t explained that properly. Is the definition “Like famous Freddie (i)s” – ie. mercurial
Maxboyce @21 said: Not so much ghosts as heavenly bodies – Sun, Mercury, Earth (Terra), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus. Only Venus & Neptune needed to complete the set.
Pluto! Don’t forget poor little Pluto!
muffin @41: Can’t really disagree muffin, it is American after all.
I was raising an alternate parse, not necessarily the right one or a better one, myself being one who appreciates multiple parsing.
Find more info about Lari, here
Speaking directly to your point this article in the Psychiatric Times refers to Electro-Shock Treatment being the original name of the psychological application of electric shock now known (and still practised) as ECT.
Ian SW3 @8: I’m not sure what controversy visited Erhart Seminar Training. It lives on today as the Landmark Forum, popular. as ever
Jovis @ 42 / 43:
I think the reference is to the late Freddie Mercury, lead singer for Queen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mercury
Peter Asplnwall @30 and 34
I agree wholeheartedly with you.
Not one of the examples in @35 gives “ready” = “money”, the nearest is “the ready”.
Jennyk’s Wikipedia link gives “readies” and also “ready cash”, which if you take the latter to justify “ready” = “money” then you could justifiably have “sea port” = “harbour”, reduced to “sea” = “harbour”!!!
EST (Jack Rosenberg Training) was controversial indeed, cited as ‘another money-making scam’ engineered by ‘a former used-car salesman’ that was ‘primarily a business’ by various apparently worthy persons. I tend to agree, having participated in 1992, by which point Rosenberg had sold the franchise to Landmark Education after being accused of incest and tax fraud, inter alia. In any case, it is thought by some that a great deal of the profits generated by Landmark still go directly to Rosenberg under the sale deal. Lucky old Jack, who was, they say, an ex-Scientology staffer. I don’t know if he was ever subject to Ron’s ‘SP declare’ as a result!
I would not describe The Forum as ‘popular’, but as ‘a cult’ that rips you off in all sorts of ways. But that is just my opinion.
don @47
“Not one of the examples in @35 gives “ready” = “money”, the nearest is “the ready”.”
As I stated, these are all dictionary definitions under ‘ready’. I am sure you will agree that ‘cash’=money. As an example, ‘do you have the cash/money/ready to buy this?’.
Thanks Brummie and Gaufrid
I failed to solve 2d and 21a, and needed help to parse 4d. New words for me were LYCHGATE and MILLWRIGHT.
My favourites were 14a, 5d, 11a.
I agree with Eileen and Robi – For 6d I was puzzled by the use of “to the east of” – should it have been “to the south of”?
Like Gaufrid, I wondered about 20d. I thought that LARCH is a tree with tough timber, so why was it clued as “softwood”?
For EST – I was one of those who thought of it being Erhard Seminars Training. EST-now-ECT did not occur to me, but I agree it is also controversial
I’m with Gaufrid on ‘ready’.
Though I admire the, typically kind and creative, way that Cookie justifies 6dn, it seems to me that it was intended as an across clue…
I enjoyed this; though the top half was a write-in, I found the SW a fair challenge (didn’t equate STREAMER with Christmas particularly; until I had MERCURIAL and EXES, my thinking was very much on stuffing – nasal colds and turkeys!)
I was a little put off by ‘right’ being in both clue and solution for 17dn and also assumed that JOVIAL referenced “Little Women”. I hadn’t realised ’til I visited here that I too had misspelt KNEAD (see – I really am with Gaufrid!)
My favourite clue – EXES, which foxed me for a while, but was lovely.
Many thanks to Brummie and Gaufrid.
Thanks, Slipstream. Of course, Freddie Mercury! Pop music is not my forte but at least I’ve heard of him.
I still don’t get the apostrophe in the clue and why it’s not part of the definition.
Michelle @ 50
Hard and soft woods aren’t defined by whether or not they ‘feel’ hard or soft. I can’t remember the precise method of classification, but a counter-intuitive example is that balsa is actually a hardwood.
hth
Re READY
I stand by my comment.
Simon S @53
I think softwoods come from conifers (fir, pine, etc.), while hardwoods from Angiosperm trees.
Of course “readies” comes under “ready”, just as “dogs” comes under “dog”, but you wouldn’t say ” That place has gone to the dog”. And I would expect to hear “Do you have the cash/money/readIES to buy this?’.
Under “ready”, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary gives: noun (readies) colloq short form of ready money … .
I’m sure others besides Peter Asplnwall and me disagree with “ready” = “cash”, but if it suits the setter … .
Collins gives ‘the ready’ and ‘readies’ both as short forms of ‘ready money’, as stated above. I was more aggrieved about the YOU = ONE, but that’s in Collins too.
There is a common usage where you=one
“how are you supposed to know that” / “how is one supposed to know that”
Yes, but you need to swap IS and ARE to get the grammar.
Collins gives (I think) ‘you can’t tell the girls from the boys’, which may be a better example of the required usage.
Thanks Brummie and Gaufrid
Actually ‘finished’ this one on Sunday, but with my parsing run through I kept getting stuck trying to justify ROME (given that it is the ‘seat of power’ for the RC church – beautifully misdirected) with respect to the Scottish island – just couldn’t find one called EMOR or E MOR. Eventually this morning, I discovered RUM and all was light again !! TERRESTRIAL was another that took a long time to work out the parsing, until the penny dropped with EST (electric shock treatment). I overlooked the parsing of my last one in, MESON, altogether.
Liked the clever reversal of MAHARISHI and to a certain extent the half similar INTERVAL. Thought the ‘windy threat in Arizona’ was also very good.
LYCHGATE was a new word.