Many favourites, including 10ac, 24ac and 10dn. Thanks, Philistine.
| Across | ||
| 1, 11 | THE NAKED LUNCH | Salad without a dressing? That’s novel (3,5,5) |
| =novel by William S Burroughs. “Salad without [a] dressing” could be THE NAKED LUNCH | ||
| 5 | HARD UP | Poor pre-election period, back with a change of heart (4,2) |
| =”Poor”. PURDAH=”pre-election period”, reversed/”back”, with the “heart” R and D switched around | ||
| 9 | SURGEON | Doctor and nurse go out (7) |
| =”Doctor”. (nurse go)* | ||
| 10 | FUNFAIR | Blonde allegedly gets more of this blonde’s pleasure zone (7) |
| =”pleasure zone”. Blondes allegedly have more FUN, plus FAIR=”blonde” | ||
| 11 | See 1 | |
| 12 | TAVISTOCK | Tax return compiler holds in Devon (9) |
| =a town in Devon. VAT=”tax”, reversed/”return”; plus I STOCK=”compiler holds” | ||
| 13 | ASTI SPUMANTE | Bubbly chap having disturbed siesta, put out (4,8) |
| =a sparkling wine=”Bubbly”. MAN=”chap, with (siesta put)* outside it | ||
| 17 | CHEFS D’OEUVRE | Cook overused ingredients to create masterpieces (5-7) |
| =masterpieces. CHEF=”Cook” plus (overused)* | ||
| 20 | TOLERATED | Gave information about tree, a crashing bore (9) |
| =”bore”. TOLD=”gave information”, around (a tree)* | ||
| 22 | See 4 | |
| 23 | RETINUE | Get back together with leader at the end backing train (7) |
| =”train”. REUNITE=”get back together”, with the leader R moved to the end, and then reversed/”backing” | ||
| 24 | OIL LAMP | Light palm product (twice) (3,4) |
| =”Light”. OIL=”palm product”, and also LAMP=(palm)*=”palm product” as a cryptic instruction | ||
| 25 | See 19 | |
| 26 | FEAST DAY | Perhaps safety poster held back an annual celebration (5,3) |
| =”annual celebration” (safety)* holding AD=”poster” reversed/”back” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TUSSLE | Finally get you, spineless as usual, inside fight (6) |
| =”fight”. Final letters of “geT yoU spinelesS aS usuaL insidE” | ||
| 2 | ERRAND | Slip with task (6) |
| =”task”. ERR=”Slip” plus AND=”with” | ||
| 3 | AMETHYSTS | Covering your mess at Rolling Stones (9) |
| =”Stones”. THY=”your”, covered by (mess at)* | ||
| 4, 22 | EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH | A German follows a German saint, the one Bach composed for opera (8,2,3,5) |
| =”opera” by Philip Glass. EIN=”A [in] German”, following EIN plus ST=”saint”, plus (the one Bach)* | ||
| 6, 14 | ANNUS MIRABILIS | Good time girl, American one Blairism corrupted (5,9) |
| =”Good time”. ANN=”girl”, plus US=”American”, plus (I Blairism)* in which I=”one” | ||
| 7 | DRAGOONS | Women’s clothing soon to be distributed to soldiers (8) |
| =”soldiers”. DRAG=”Women’s clothing”, plus (soon)* | ||
| 8 | PARAKEET | A libertine favourite caged bird (8) |
| =”bird”. A plus RAKE=”libertine”, all caged by PET=”favourite” | ||
| 10 | FIVE POUND NOTE | Lady Godiva’s possible cover for honeypot and purse? (4-5,4) |
| =”Lady Godiva”, rhyming slang for ‘fiver’. Reference to Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussy-cat, who “took some honey and plenty of money, / Wrapped up in a FIVE POUND NOTE” | ||
| 14 | See 6 | |
| 15 | SCOT-FREE | The SNP’s UK vision unharmed? (4-4) |
| =”unharmed”. The SNP campaign for Scottish independence, or for the UK to be SCOT-FREE | ||
| 16 | DEFLATED | Indeed, home lost value (8) |
| =”lost value”. FLAT=”home”, in/DEED | ||
| 18 | HAZARD | A final letter in severe danger (6) |
| =”danger”. A, plus Z=”final letter”, both inside HARD=”severe” | ||
| 19, 25 | A HAPPY ENDING | A clue to why we hear the conclusion of a fairy tale? (1,5,6) |
| =”the conclusion of a fairy tale”. A, plus HAPPY ENDING which would be a cryptic “clue” for Y as the end letter of ‘happy’ – and Y sounds like ‘why’ and therefore gives “why we hear” | ||
| 21 | RUN IN | Handle, say, a new car dispute (3,2) |
| Double definition: =”Handle, say, a new car” gently while the parts wear in to each other; also =”dispute” | ||
Thanks manehi and Philistine.
Found this hard and came up here for parsing of HARD UP and FIVE-POUND NOTE.
Thanks Philistine and manehi
iluppu @1 – exactly the same here; in fact I still don’t see why “pre-election period” is “purdah”. These two went in easily enough from the definition and crossers, though.
I struggled in the NW, as the allusive THE NAKED LUNCH escaped me for a long time. Favourite was the simple but neat OIL LAMP.
@muffin: see wiki link for purdah
muffin: Purdah refers to the convention that the Civil Service doesn’t do anything too drastic or controversial in the run-up to an election: see here
Thanks to Philistine and manehi.
btw probably everyone has heard part of “Einstein on the beach”, as this has been used in adverts.
Thanks manehi and Andrew on “purdah” – that meaning isn’t in my Chambers!
muffin @ 2: I also struggled in the NW corner, but eventually got AMETHYST, which helped with THE NAKED LUNCH and ERRAND. I’d never heard of CHEF’S D’OEUVRE. But all in all a very nice puzzle. Favourites were EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH, AMETHYSTS and RETINUE. Many thanks to Philistine and manehi.
I enjoyed this solve and thank Philistine and Manehi for the puzzle and the blog respectively. 5a HARD-UP (as it related to PURDAH), 12a TAVISTOCK, 10d FIVE-POUND NOTE and 15d SCOT-FREE were all challenging for someone from the colonies like me, but I enjoyed them nevertheless. Can I say I only previously knew “purdah” in the sense of “going to purdah” as regards Indian women. I only got it because of defining “poor” as “hard up” so thank you to Manehi and other folk who have posted for the enlightenment on this one. Favourite was SURGEON 5a and LOI was DEPLETED 16d. In fact for a while I must admit I was really screwed in that SE corner because I filled in REUNITE for 23a. Two weekly puzzles down, three to go! Yay!
BTW, I liked the link between “THE NAKED LUNCH” (1a and 11a) and “Lady Godiva” in the clue for 10d. Coincidental but raised a smile just the same.
Two days, two crosswords. Yesterday was a teeth-pulling struggle that needed a mini-cheat to finish, from a setter often regarded as one of the most straightforward in the canon. Today, a single-sitting breeze from someone generally seen as far more tough.
It helped that the two long titles went in almost from their enumeration – the opera aided by the likely EIN to start. I entered it with AT the beach not ON which caused a bit of a delay with CHEFS-D’OEUVRE but that was pretty much the only complication. Despite my heritage, didn’t know Godiva = fiver, so blog needed for parsing FIVE-POUND COIN.
Don’t know whether I’m happy or sad not to have savoured the clues longer – DRAGOONS my favourite.
Julie in Australia @ 8: I just noticed that you put in DEPLETED for 16d. Is by any chance a flat also called a plet in Australia?!
drofile@11-could be a flet in NZ.
Thanks Philistine & manehi.
Good puzzle; I liked the good time girl being corrupted by Blairism, and the Rolling Stones (LOI)
Thanks to Philistine and manehi. I had great difficulty getting started but the EINSTEIN opera, ANNUS MIRABILIS, and the Burroughs novel finally got me going. I needed help parsing A HAPPY ENDING and, as usual, had to use Google to get a connection between Lady Godiva and a fiver. RUN IN was my last in. Definitely a challenge for me.
I found this puzzle easier to solve than to parse – I could not parse 10a, 10d, 23a, 1d, 5a, 19/25, 12a.
I did not know that “Purdah is the pre-election period in the United Kingdom, specifically the time between an announced election and the final election results.” I thought that it is “1 the seclusion or veiling of women from public view. 2 a curtain or screen used to seclude women.“
Tavistock was also new for me.
My favourites were THE NAKED LUNCH, TOLERATED.
Thanks Philistine and manehi
Thank you Philistine and manehi.
A lovely puzzle. Not having heard of the novel, THE NAKED LUNCH brought one of Manet’s CHEFS-D’OEUVRE, “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe”, to my mind, a very pleasant memory. The parliamentary term “purdah” was also unknown to me.
FIVE POUND NOTE and SCOT FREE were my favourites.
Finished it but had to come here for a couple of the explanations. I did know “purdah” in this sense, having worked in the Civil Service, but I imagine it’s not a very widely known usage.
There were some lovely clues here. ANNUS MIRABILIS was great, and SURGEON was beautiful in its simplicity. Has it been clued in this way before?
Something deficient about 7d to my mind – DRAG can equally be men’s clothing, depending on the gender of the person wearing it.
Also outraged by muffin’s suggestion @5 that “probably everyone” visiting this site is of base enough rank that they would let themselves be exposed to advertisements. 😉
Van Winkle @18, DRAG is only given as “women’s clothes worn by men” in the OCED and Collins.
Cookie @19 – yes, but the clothing still requires the “worn by” bit to be drag. That is what I considered the main deficiency in the clue.
Van Winkle @18
You must have faster reactions than me – I try to mute the adverts, but often am not quick enough!
Van Winkle @20, I see now what you were getting at – might the to soldiers suffice? By the way, rather a shame that “drab” (dressed as boy) is not used for men’s clothing worn by women.
Another fine puzzle, plenty of mischief and humour as always. Last in was CHEFS DOUEVRE, liked that, THE NAKED LUNCH, FUNFAIR, FIVE POUND NOTE and DEFLATED. EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH was first in from the German and the enumeration.
Thanks to Philistine and manehi
Missed both references to FIVE POUND NOTE, but still filled it in from the checkers. Also missed the parsing for HARD UP. Very enjoyable, thanks Philistine and manehi
Thanks Philistine and manehi. An enjoyable solve made the more so by the fact that the crossword has moved south from yesterday and no longer goes over the fold.
I liked seeing the setters’ favourite drink getting it’s full title in 13ac.
Sorry for the apostrophe in its! I blame autocomplete, which tried to give me mane hi.
Thanks Philistine and manehi
Found this one tough – started it near the end of lunch and needed a few sittings, including the train ride home and more to get it finished. Saw HARD UP early on but didn’t write it in because I couldn’t parse it for ages – finally looked up PURDAH in the online Oxford to reveal that tricky definition. Guessed that ‘Lady Godiva’ meant fiver, but couldn’t find the cat and the owl reference – nice clue when it was explained.
Thought that Paul must have been sitting behind him when he wrote FUNBAGS at 19a (sort of worked in a way gets=bags). However the PARAKEET told me that it couldn’t be and had to revisit !!
Finished in the NE corner with AMETHYSTS, THE NAKED LUNCH (which I didn’t know – and which wouldn’t have appealed if I did!) and ERRAND as the last one in.
Hard but good fun …
I liked this. Cheated on TAVISTOCK (obscure British geography always defeats me, unless I’m in the mood to go comb a map), and like so many others, I didn’t know purdah or Lady Godiva = fiver (cockney rhyming slang is another bit of kryptonite for me). Even so, FIVE POUND NOTE and HARD UP were easily enough BIFD.
All of the long clues were lovely.
I’d always seen the Burroughs novel as just Naked Lunch, and I was all ready to come here and get all huffy about it. But apparently there have been printings (including, apparently, the first edition!) with the definite article in the title.
Thanks setter and blog.
I enjoyed this; for me it cracked at just the right pace with some, ahem, purdahs along the way.
Einstein on the beach was a nice moment, repaying somewhat my attempt to sit through a televised version – never found out what happened in the end, but hadn’t much of a clue what was going on at any point, so…
A knee-jerk PLATOONS held me up in NE for a while – why is it so difficult to admit that something is wrong, even when screamingly so?
LOI, and favourite, was AMETHYSTS.
Thoroughly enjoyed this, though (rather to my chagrin) I didn’t know the rhyming slang fiver/Godiva. Otherwise pitch-perfect and fun for me. Many thanks setter and blogger both.
My first thought was DEPLETED at 16dn but I’d never heard of PLET either! So DEFLATED it is! Yes I liked this. I’d never heard of CHEFS D’OEUVRE but managed to winkle it out.
Liked SCOT FREE and FIVE POUND NOTE.
Thanks Philistine.
I didn’t get FIVE POUND NOTE despite having lived in East London for ten years, and was distracted by the thought of navy panty hose. Also ANNUS MIRABILIS passed me by and I had to look them both up before I could finish the SW corner. BTW can anyone tell me how to do caps lock on a tablet? It’s very laborious doing it one letter at a time.
PS. AGNES MEATBALLS was also one of my sillier ideas but I couldn’t find any such person in Google.
An excellent crossword. Unfortunately I had to leave it unfinished in the NW corner because I have never heard of The Naked Lunch and couldn’t guess it. I haven’t heard of Einstein on the Beach either, but at least that was gettable and was one of my first few in.
I found this quite challenging – and all the better for that. I also found it entertaining, and there was some inventive clueing to appreciate.
Many thanks to Philistine and manehi.
After staring at this fruitlessly for a while it all slotted in breezily except northwest corner where eventually realised Philistine had added ‘The’ to ‘Naked Lunch’ – the H of which allowed me to get over my obsession with using ‘Rolling’ as an anagrind… Really enjoyed today – thanks Philistine and Manehi!
Apologies – manehi!
Apologies – manehi…
The Guardian website puts in in upper case for you, so you don’t need caps lock.
Julie @8
I’ve just noticed your comment about 23A (RETINUE/REUNITE). Both answers are equally good – the crossers force one and not the other.
This may or may not have been intended by the setter. I think it’s a bit of a blemish, but I know that many solvers think it’s ok for dual answers to be determined by crossers, just as in a non-cryptic crossword.
I found this quite tough, as I do most Philistine cryptics. I don’t think I had come across CHEFS D’OEUVRE and I’d forgotten that ”Lady Godiva” can be rhyming slang, but I eventually saw both. Favourites were SURGEON, OIL LAMP, FIVE POUND NOTE and A HAPPY ENDING.
Thanks, Philistine and manehi.
I fell at the fence of 1A, wanting it to be THE GREEN ?????.
I must say, salad as a synonym for lunch is a bit naff. Who does Philistine think we are, a bunch of dieting secretaries?
An overall nice puzzle by Philistine which we finished without being able to parse HARD UP and FIVE POUND NOTE.
We thought there had to be something like ‘purdah’ but our naked lady was more of a problem.
So, thanks manehi for explaining.
We had a different take on the bubbly one in 13ac.
We saw it as MAN going inside (‘having disturbed’, ie ‘having interrupted’ [meaning #1 in Chambers]) the anagram indicated by ‘out’.
That said, I am not fully convinced by ‘having disturbed’ as insertion indicator but I do not like just adding ‘out’ to tell me something goes outside either.
Just like in a recent Goliath crossword (FT, same setter) I question the use of the past tense in 8d.
In my opinion, ‘caged’ should have been ‘cages’.
As it is, it can even suggest that PET goes inside A+RAKE instead of the other way around.
Apparently, Philistine has the joined the choir that put thumbs up for half-definitions like ‘in Devon’ (12ac).
In A HAPPY ENDING (19,25) we immediately had to think of Paul.
He has done these things (and perhaps, this thing) before.
EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH (4d) was one of our first entries – quite handy, such a long one.
But what a strange surface.
Despite what others might think, in general, we find that Philistine does not care enough for his surfaces.
But then, did Araucaria?
We decided (just like JimS @17) that SURGEON (9ac) was the Gem of the Day.
Could have been a Rufus clue as Rufus has a nose for these kind of things.
Enjoyable crossword, yet on a couple of occasions annoying (12ac, 8d).
Coming back late. Yes couldn’t parse DEPLETED and skimmed over it somehow when checking the blog. Whoops! Drofle@11, I would like to say “plet” is an Australianism, but no, sadly, in my rush to finish I crashed and burned at the last! Feeling quite “DEFLATED” and red-faced now!
Not such A HAPPY ENDING. Still if there’s one thing cryptics have taught me it’s humility! And yes I agree with Alphalpha’s comment (sorry numbers for the comments don’t come up on my phone), it goes against the grain to change an answer when I think it is clever and complete. Just sharpening my pencil for the next attempt!
Julie @ 43: I can assure you that I have done similar things myself in the past!
Thank you SB.
Thanks manehi and Philistine.
I enjoyed this but did need to do some research to get the William Burroughs novel and Philip Glass opera as well as the expression CHEFS-D’OEUVRE (new to me).
All elegantly clued and not too obscure so a pleasure rather than a grind to research.
Really liked A HAPPY ENDING and FIVE POUND NOTE.