Always good to see Raich giving us a puzzle. There was much to enjoy here, although I must say that I found a few of the surfaces a bit clunky by this setter’s standards.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Dreamt up knockout maths quantity?
IMAGINARY NUMBER
A charade of IMAGINARY for ‘dreamt up’ and NUMBER in its anaesthetic sense. An IMAGINARY NUMBER is a mathematical concept which involves i, the square root of -1. I think. I need a mathematician to explain it properly.
9 Limited study time
SCANT
A charade of SCAN and T.
10 Leslie who’s made Saint? Rich stare, confounded
CHARTERIS
(RICH STARE)* Leslie CHARTERIS wrote the thrillers featuring Simon Templar, The Saint. They were adapted for TV in the sixties, with Roger Moore in the starring role.
11 Intend, after review, at last to investigate tooth tissue
DENTINE
(INTEND)* plus E for the last letter of ‘investigate’.
12 Artillery in push firing this?
BARRAGE
RA for Royal Artillery in BARGE.
13 Means to get to work earlier?
RAT RUN
A cd.
14 Business starts to manage major utility needing aid, later used by all
COMMUNAL
A charade of CO for company or ‘business’ and the first letters of manage major utility needing aid later.
17 Logical Scot unwrapped present – books
COHERENT
If you ‘unwrap’ [S]CO[T] you’ve got CO; then you need HERE for ‘present’ and NT for New Testament or ‘books’.
18 Domestic fashionable network linked with Duke
INLAND
I couldn’t see this for ages. It’s a charade of IN for ‘fashionable’, LAN for local area ‘network’, and D for ‘duke’. The ‘domestic’ definition threw me, but it’s probably best known in INLAND REVENUE, except they’re not called that any more. It’s now HMRC, but in my experience it’s still staffed by foetuses who don’t know what they’re talking about.
21 Construction system in holy city? Out of the question!
MECCANO
Another sixties flashback. MECCA plus NO.
23 Response one second out possibly for starters
OPENERS
(RE[S]PONSE)* or (RESPON[S]E)* You choose.
24 Beatle’s companion at home party returned alone
ON ONE’S TOD
Yoko ONO, NEST and DO reversed.
25 Boring home game, last in series
OMEGA
Hidden in hOME GAme. It’s an open secret that Raich is a Sunderland fan (why is his moniker Raich?) so he’s probably seen quite a few boring home games this season. Although possibly not last Saturday.
26 Assumed ‘great’ often drank unfortunately
TAKEN FOR GRANTED
(GREAT OFTEN DRANK)*
Down
1 One with exclusive information speaking in drink?
INSIDER
Sounds like (‘speaking’) IN CIDER.
2 Under time pressure like sundial fans maybe?
AGAINST THE CLOCK
A cd cum dd.
3 He plots during maths class initially using ruler
INTRIGUER
Bit of an odd word and a difficult one to parse, so not my favourite ever Raich clue. A charade of IN, TRIG for trigonometry or ‘maths class’, U for the first letter of ‘using’ and ER for Brenda, our beloved ‘ruler’.
4 Sign writer
ARCHER
A dd. The ‘sign’ of the Zodiac is Sagittarius, who is represented as an ARCHER; and Jeffrey ARCHER, the ‘writer’. An arrogant, dissembling felon and the subject of one of the most quoted clues in cruciverbal history.
5 One appears regularly to show disapproval in the old sanctuary
YEARBOOK
An insertion of BOO in YE and ARK.
6 Topless club, say?
UTTER
[P]UTTER. Perhaps this one needs to be quietly taken to a retirement home.
7 Cut-price area where pub profit low – intended, it’s said
BARGAIN BASEMENT
A charade of BAR, GAIN, BASE and a homophone of ‘meant’.
8 Be in demand as support for Republican – transatlantic philosopher
RUSSELL
Since it’s a down clue, it’s SELL ‘supporting’ R and US. Bertrand RUSSELL, the philosopher perhaps best known for A History of Western Philosophy, although his celestial teapot is a favourite among atheists.
15 State nominates eccentric?
MINNESOTA
(NOMINATES)* Although I’m certain it wasn’t the setter’s intention, this put an image of Herr Trump into my head.
16 A few finding owner too slippery
ONE OR TWO
(OWNER TOO)*
17 Reveal at last where in France celestial body can be seen outside
COME OUT
An insertion of OÙ for the French word for ‘where’ in COMET. I guess this phrase is mostly used in the context of revealing one’s sexuality after having hidden it for some time, hence ‘at last’.
19 Get rid of one’s vehicle – being collected by daughters
DISCARD
An insertion of I’S and CAR in DD.
20 Snack ultimately with no fault and no shortcoming
HOT DOG
The final letters (‘ultimately’) of the last six words of the clue.
22 Irish PM girl’s featured in article
AHERN
An insertion of HER in AN for one of the indefinite ‘articles’ gives you the taoiseach Bertie AHERN.
Many thanks to Raich for this morning’s entertainment.
Cruised through this but suffered a moral defeat in INTRIGUER. The subsids at the end – “initially using ruler” – suggested UR and I was smugly ready to post that there was a missing word (“extra?”) in the online edition. Like I’d never heard of ER as a sub for “ruler”. Twit.
Didn’t find this as clunky as Pierre: I think there’s always a bit of oh-get-on-with-it in Monday puzzles, so just took it for what it was; a gentle start to the week.
Thanks to Pierre and to Raich. Up the Mackems.
I enjoyed this crossword, but not the blog. I think Pierre should stick to blogging and keep his “witty” asides to himself.
Can’t let RT’s post pass uncommented.
The blog is the point of this site and, say I, the fuller and wittier the better. Pierre’s blog was fine and fun.
We post here to enjoy whimsical conversation with like-minded geeks. We are an unmalicious, non-judgmental bunch. Those who don’t find that ethos congenial should, I suggest, click away now.
Grant Baynham @3
Well said sir. Totally agree with you.
I’m sure the majority will agree – unless we have any HMRC foetuses in our midst, in which case beware, Pierre. They’ll be coming…..
Nicely judged Monday outing, and a blog to match.
Enjoyed the solve. Enjoyed the blog. Agree with Grant et al. i love this site.
G.
Fun puzzle that my dad and I solved concurrently this morning. Thanks Raich
As for the blogging standards, good stuff as always Pierre. Surprised at the criticism to be honest.
Just got back from work to find all this kerfuffle, so let this comment be the last one on it, please. Rullytully, I’m sorry you didn’t like some bits of my blog. What I like about this site is that there are setters with different styles and bloggers with different styles. If it was the same every day, we’d all get bored pretty soon. For me, cryptics are a bit of fun for word-lovers, and an exploration of how completely eccentric the English language is.
So if I find something that engages me, if I have time I’ll expand on it because I’m interested in what other solvers think; if there’s a subject that makes me grumpy or amused, I might just mention it in case it puts a smile on your face to go with the one that you got when solving. So if you don’t like the ‘asides’, then maybe just ignore them. It’s only a crossword blog, and I hope that my blogs do contain all the explanations that commenters and lurkers need.
End of. Let’s get back to Raich’s puzzle, which was a good one.
To try to answer the question in the blog; Raich Carter was a prewar footballer who played, inter alia, for the mackems. Think of the word dapper, and you’ve got him. He wouldn’t recognise the tripe that’s served up as football today.
I found the puzzle a bit of a curate’s egg, mainly because of too many distractions, and being a bit thick. Plus I’ve never heard of an imaginary number.
Minnesota always makes me think of Garrison Keillor,;much better than ‘The Donald’.
Thanks for the blog as always, and of course the puzzle.
I found this crossword fine; a nice ‘easier’ puzzle for a Monday. One or two clues took a while to see, notably OMEGA which, appropriately, was my LOI. Thanks, Raich and Pierre.
I noted on Saturday that on printing the puzzle out the black (grey, actually) squares appear on the screen but disappear when you print. The same thing happened today. I got round it by taking a screenshot but then I had to reunite the grid with the clues, which required more trickery. Has anyone else had this problem, and/or know an easy way to get round it?
happens with firefox not google chrome
Sorry to be dense (and roughly 4 years tardy) but can someone parse the dd for ‘against the clock’? “…like sundial fans maybe?” Means nothing to me and can’t find any reference to ‘fans’ on sundials anywhere. Is this another name for the gnomon? Read the thread to much amusement. I enjoy these blogs very much since the crosswords have been regurgitated into the i…. bravo Pierre!
I think the definition ‘under time pressure’ means the same as ‘against the clock’; and, cryptically, a fan of a sundial would be unlikely to support any other chronometer: hence, ‘against the clock’ (in the sense that a Luddite would be against a machine).
Yes, PT at #12, that was the intention, as commented on at #13 While it had not been queried before now, I guess, on reflection, you could also see a sundial itself as a form of clock. Thank you for your interest.