(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) A warm-up to tomorrow’s prize challenge. Solved this in patches. Thanks to Nutmeg. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Country tavern bathed in antiquity? (8)
REPUBLIC : PUB(a tavern) contained in(bathed in) RELIC(an antiquity, an object belonging or dating from ancient times).
5 Emissary almost gets over smoothly (6)
LEGATO : “legate”(an official emissary, say, one representing the Pope) minus its last letter(almost) plus(gets) O(abbrev. for “over”, in cricket scores).
Defn: … played, per the musical direction.
9 Express search for weapon (3,5)
AIR RIFLE : AIR(to express;to make known) + RIFLE(to search thoroughly).
10 Gathering in (2-4)
AT-HOME : [AT HOME](in one’s home).
Defn: A social gathering held in one’s home.
12 Metric unit returns wrong temperature (not Fahrenheit) (5)
TESLA : Reversal of(returns) [ “false”(wrong) + T(abbrev. for “tempterature”) minus(not) “F”(abbrev. for Fahrenheit) ].
Defn: … of measurement of magnetic flux density, named after Nikola Tesla.
13 Spooner’s old horse set forth but couldn’t get moving (9)
STAGNATED : Spoonerism of[“nag”(an old horse) + “stated”(set forth;expressed in words) ].
14 Like a bigot actively enjoying vigorous net rally (12)
INTOLERANTLY : INTO(enjoying;keenly interested in) + anagram of(vigorous) NET RALLY.
Defn: How a bigot acts;behaves.
18 Change to services in exclusive diners (12)
INSECTIVORES : Anagram of(Change) TO SERVICES IN.
Defn: Mammals that include moles and hedgehogs that have a specific diet.
21 Drop in state benefit, small part of large range (9)
DOLOMITES : OMIT(to drop;not to consider) contained in(in) DOLE(state benefit for the unemployed) + S(abbrev. for “small”).
Defn: A mountain range that is part of the Alps, the larger range.
23 A spoken opening to worship (5)
ADORE : A + homophone of(spoken) “door”(an opening into an enclosure).
24 Applicant‘s hostile answer struck out in court (6)
CLIENT : “alien”(hostile;opposed to) minus(… struck out) “a”(abbrev. for “answer) contained in(in) CT(abbrev. for “court”, a short street).
Defn: One who applies for, or requests, say, advice from a professional person.
25 Setting about ‘eadgear to protect aviator (6,2)
FLYING AT : [FLYING “hat”](whimsically, headgear to protect one who is flying;an aviator) minus its aspirate(as in “‘eadgear“).
Defn: Attacking fiercely.
26 Drunkard’s put up with familiar routine (6)
SHTICK : A drunkard’s way of pronouncing “stick”(put up with, as in “… was willing to stick with her …”).
Defn: …;act of a comedian.
27 Sharpness in Greek cooking not good for rice dish (8)
KEDGEREE : EDGE(a sharpness;a thin edge suitable for cutting) contained in(in) anagram of(… cooking) “Greek” minus(not) “g”(abbrev. for “good”).
Down
1 Tailor working in Venice area (6)
RIALTO : Anagram of(… working) TAILOR.
2 Bite the dust like a snake, six having escaped (6)
PERISH : “viperish”(like a viper, the snake) minus(… having escaped) “VI”(Roman numeral for “six”).
3 This country’s beer lacks content – I like tea! (9)
BRITANNIC : “beer” minus its inner letters(lacks content) + I + TANNIC(like tea;containing tannins).
Defn: Of this country, Britain.
4 Tricksters briefly oppress faithful patriots, pinching capital (12)
ILLUSIONISTS : “ill-use”(to oppress;to treat badly) minus its last letter(briefly …) + “Zionists”(faithful patriots of Zionism) minus its1st letter(pinching capital).
6 Defeated leader’s taken off and put away (5)
EATEN : “beaten”(defeated) minus its 1st letter(leader’s taken off).
Defn: … into one’s stomach.
7 Germany’s fifth column worried traitor (8)
APOSTATE : The 5th letter of(…’s fifth) “Germany ” + POST(a column) + ATE(worried, as in “his guilt ate at him”).
8 Nothing makes money round terminus when we can look round (4,4)
OPEN DAYS : O(letter signifying zero;nothing) + PAYS(makes money, as in “a pension plan that pays him”) containing(round) END(the terminus, say, of a bus route).
Defn: Times when we, the public, can look round an institution, eg. a school.
11 Miss cheese, served up with wine about one (12)
MADEMOISELLE : Reversal of(…, served up) EDAM(a Dutch cheese) plus(with) MOSELLE(a German light white wine) containing(about) I(Roman numeral for “one’).
Defn: The French equivalent of the English “miss”, a young unmarried girl or woman. A multinational clue.
15 Getting mean, incensed by Catholic petition (9)
AVERAGING : RAGING(incensed with anger) placed below(by, in a down clue) AVE(short for “Ave Maria”, the Catholic prayer petitioning the Virgin Mary).
16 Raised routes through Cape adopted by northbound boss (8)
VIADUCTS : VIA(through;by way of) + [ C(abbrev. for “cape” in geography) contained in(adopted by) reversal of(northbound, in a down clue) STUD(a boss;a circular rounded protuberance) ].
17 Traditionally, David‘s son taken in by seer (8)
PSALMIST : S(abbrev. for “son”) contained in(taken in by) PALMIST(a professed seer who reads palms).
Defn: The biblical King David to whom was traditionally attributed many of the Psalms in the Bible.
19 Fish suitable for tea dance, say (6)
CONGER : Homophone of(…, say) “conga”(a dance originating in Cuba).
Defn: …, some species of which are used as food, for tea perhaps.
20 Project to scuttle bombardier, potentially (6)
BEETLE : Triple defn: 1st: To project;to overhang; and 2nd: To scuttle;to scurry; and 3rd: An example of which;potentially, is the bombardier.
22 Obsessive turning up in Scotsman’s clothing (5)
MANIC : Reversal of(turning up) IN contained in(…’s clothing) MAC(Gaelic for “son”, used as a prefix in many Scottish surnames).
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua – you cleared up a couple of parsings that I had missed – CLIENT and the first two definitions of BEETLE).
I enjoyed this, with favourites BRITANNIC and PSALMIST (which I tried to work ABSALOM into, then an angram of ABSALOM into, when the first no longer fitted). The top went in quickly, but for some time I only had MADEMOISELLE and INSECTIVORES (two others I particularly liked) projecting into the bottm half.
Not sure about the “tea” in 19d. I think conger is very rarely eaten, and certianly not for tea. I mentally put the “tea” with “dance”, but still wondered why it was needed.
Some lovely clues in here, as ever with Nutmeg.
Client/alien and ‘suitable for tea’ seemed a bit hmmm though, and I completely failed to see BEETLE.
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua (you’ve got a slight misprint in the red definition of TESLA).
Thanks Limeni, misprint corrected.
muffin, there is a species of conger eel served as sushi. I used “tea” in the sense of the main evening meal, and I concluded that “tea dance” was a misdirection, as it’s unlikely for a conga to be performed at a tea dance.
scchua @3
Yes, the vision of a conga at a tea-dance is rather boggling! However I think that anyone who calls the main evening meal “tea” is most unlikely to eat sushi.
It’s a pleasant change to see AT HOME clued by “in” instead of the other way around. Thanks for sorting out ILLUSIONISTS, and thank you Nutmeg for an enjoyable puzzle. I did eventually remember that TESLA was some kind of unit of something-or-other, but it took a while.
me @4
I should have added a 🙂 at the end!
muffin@4, in the go-go days of Nick Leeson and ilk, they might have. 🙂
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua.
This was a pleasant solve after some of the torture earlier in the week. I needed help to parse CLIENT, alien = hostile did not enter my mind.
I did like STAGNATED and CONGER, there are several recipes on the web.
Thanks, scchua, what a relief…I can still do crosswords. I was beginning to wonder this week.
Enjoyed this, best clue was SCHTICK which I failed on!
Include me in the ‘tea’ problem in CONGER, perhaps the compiler will drop in to elucidate.
Thank you Nutmeg, blessed relief. It’s not that it was easier, just that the clues were derivable and a pleasure to solve.
Nice weekend, all.
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
Tough going but most enjoyable – I particularly liked 18ac and 20dn (not just because my nickname is respectively a target and an example). Like muffin I spent some time trying to work Absalom into 17dn.
Link to an appropriate poem here:
http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/King_David_and_King_Solomon_Led_merry,_merry_lives,_With_many,_many_lady_friends_And_many,_many_wive/6653/
Thanks for the link to the poem, Marienkaefer – nice.
If you are providing a link with a long address, it’s neater to use the “a href” HTML tag as mentioned above the reply box. Full details on the FAQs.
Re conger – there is the ‘conger golden yellow tea olive’. OTOH, Jason Conger is a member of the Tea Party. I still don’t quite get it though.
That one had a bit of a sting in the tail – probably the second hardest of the week after the Crucible, but an enjoyable challenge. The top half was mostly straightforward but I needed a bit of guess and check to finish, with PSALMIST last in after SHTICK.
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua. I need help parsing [vi]PERISH and ILLUSIONISTS but otherwise proceeded fairly quickly. Very enjoyable.
Couldn’t get SHTICK, and never would in a month of Sundays, but all very enjoyable with the reservations about the odd clue as expressed by others above. Favourites were KEDGEREE, BRITANNIC, INSECTIVORES and MADEMOISELLE. Many thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
Not exactly been an easy week has it. Though there are some nice clues here – AVERAGES, KEDGEREE, INTOLERANTLY etc – there were others where I did not know what was going on. Coming here, I should have been able to parse DOLOMITES single-handed but I’m not sure I would ever have realised why ILLUSIONISTS is correct and BEETLE was very much a hit-and-hope, having discarded an RE compound for the bombardier (just realised – that would have had to be RA anyway).
Didn’t help myself by having OPEN DOOR at 8d for a while and hence assuming 14a was a strange compound indeed.
Thanks schua and Nutmeg. I thought this was tougher than your ususal, but enjoyable none the less.
drofle@15 I had to check all vowels in the on-line version for the H in SHTICK; then mentally went through the alphabet till I met H and oops! SHTUCK followed!
scchua usual
that is
Fortunately my fishmonger sells conger eel and I’m happy to eat it any time of day. Delicious!!
And I’ve just read Muffins comment about tea! Sorry but I eat sushi and conger eel. Nor sure what sort of person that makes me??
A most enjoyable puzzle in which there was a splendid variety of types of clue, and care was evidently taken with the fairness and quality of all the clues – it could be held up as an example to others. It was a relief not to have a surfeit of single letters and subtractions in the clueing – there were some, but it was not overdone.
The only clue I had difficulty with was 20D, and, having decided that I could get it only by going through all possible words like ‘-E-T-E’ (there are barely 15 familiar ones), I thought better of it and looked it up here. I’ve never heard of BEETLE in the sense of project or scuttle, although I know of it as as a projection, as in beetle brow. So that one was just down to ignorance.
Praise to Nutmeg, and thanks to scchua for an informative blog.
Quite a week in crosswordland. I despaired when I first looked through this. I got REPUBLIC and then — nothing. Fortunately the answers emerged gradually although I got stuck in the SW corner with PSALMIST being LOI.
This was hard but by no means the hardest we’ve had this week and there was lots to enjoy here. I liked PERISH,FLYING AT and CONGER.
What will the morrow bring, I wonder?
Thanks Nutmeg.
This took me a long time. I did eventually complete the grid, my LOI being SHTICK, but ILLUSIONISTS was not parsed. I thought of Zionists at one point but the first S in the answer confused me into thinking that it would have to be the rarer alternative SIONISTS, leaving ILLU which I couldn’t resolve. The “for tea” in the clue for CONGER puzzled me too. Like Marienkaefer @10, I spent a while looking at variations on Absalom before getting PSALMIST.
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
I am getting worse. 90 long minutes.
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua
Found this one quite difficult to top off quite a tough week in the Guardian, thankfully the FT has been a bit kinder.
Took a long time to see the triple definition with BEETLE and then thought that it was quite clever. Took even longer to get any sort of foothold at all in the SW corner which only had INSECTIVORES in it for a very long time. Eventually saw VIADUCTS and it fell quite quickly then with PSALMIST, MANIC and SHTICK the last few in.
I went down the Conger Yellow Tea Olive path at 19d, but not really convincingly
Now I really must attack that Screw one !!!
Thanks scchua and Nutmeg.
Generally support all the comments above.
Couldn’t parse ILLUSIONISTS and missed the triple for BEETLE – so thanks for your help with those.
Still not convinced about CONGER for tea.