(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 Goldilocks cryptic, not too hard and not too easy for me. Thanks to Brummie. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Hit triads dumping eastern heroin (6)
THRESH : “threes”(groups of threes;triads) minus(dumping) “e”(abbrev. for “eastern”) + H(abbrev. for “heroin”).
4 One large display of snowdrops without roots? (6)
ADRIFT : A(one;a singular article) + DRIFT(a snowbank;a large accumulation of snowdrops on the ground).
9 See 25
10 Worker wants small animal with temper as a variety act prop (4,6)
HAND PUPPET : HAND(a worker, especially a manual one) + PUP(a small dog) + PET(a fit of temper).
11 Performer sounded low note (6)
TENNER : Homophone of(… sounded) “tenor”.
Defn: … of a denomination of 10 pounds Sterling.
12 Defaulter, I organised housing beyond a certain point (8)
ULTERIOR : Hidden in(… housing) “Defaulter, I organised “.
13 Pseudo-technical jargon: “Drone verbal contention” (9)
BUZZWORDS : BUZZ(a drone;a low pitched continuous sound) + WORDS(a verbal contention;confrontation, as in “to have words with your opponent”).
15, 23 Which calls for show of hands from boss, Rod (4,5)
STUD POKER : STUD(a boss;a protuberance, like a knob, projecting from a surface) + POKER(a rod for, well, poking the fire).
Defn: Gambling game which calls for two or more players to show the cards they hold to determine the winner.
16 See 7
17 In respectful dread of one-way furrow (9)
AWESTRUCK : A(one;a singular article) + WEST(a way;a direction to move to) + RUCK(a furrow;a wrinkle in the skin, especially of the forehead).
21 Ground delays besetting team — Reading awkward with this (8)
DYSLEXIA : Anagram of(Ground) DELAYS containing(besetting) XI(Roman numerals for “eleven”, a sporting team of 11 players).
22 Down with family consumer protection! (6)
NAPKIN : NAP(down;a soft fuzzy coating) plus(with) KIN(family;relations).
Defn: That which protects a diner’s clothes from food spillage.
24 Junk‘s fish concession round barrier (10)
CODSWALLOP : COD(a food fish) + SOP(a concession;an incentive given to placate) containing(round) WALL(an erected barrier to movement).
25, 9 Part of truss delivered by Royal Mail (4,4)
KING POST : KING(the main royal) + POST(mail;written correspondence).
Not the truss you wear but:
26 Pop’s spiked with most of whiskey spirits (6)
DRYADS : DAD(the one you might also call “Pop”, informally)‘S containing(spiked with) “rye”(a whiskey made from, well, rye grain) minus its last letter(most of …).
Defn: Wood nymphs.
27 Reverse the unravelling and settle? (6)
DEFRAY : DE-(prefix indicating the reverse of an action, as in “defrock”) FRAY(the unravelling;a spot where the threads in a fabric have become tattered through wear).
Defn: … expenses.
Down
1 Embracing Aristotle’s conclusion, author turned philosopher (7)
THOREAU : The last letter of(…’s conclusion) “Aristotle” contained in(Embracing …) anagram of(… turned) AUTHOR.
Answer: Henry David, American philosopher, and author, poet, historian, etc.
2 Betray in no way a king ascendant (3,2)
RAT ON : Reversal of(… ascendant, in a down clue) [ NOT(no way!) + A + R(abbrev. for “Rex”;king)].
3 Southern pop singer needs backing of Australian movement (7)
SCHERZO : S(abbrev. for “southern”) + CHER(female pop singer) plus(needs) reversal of(backing of) OZ(slang for things Australian).
Defn: A lively movement in a piece of classical music.
5 Delegate gets stuck into British comic (6)
DEPUTE : PUT(gets stuck on to something, as in “the magnet is put on the fridge door”) contained in() DEE(Jack, the British comedian).
Defn: As a verb. I read it as a noun and got it wrong – no British comedian named Dey.
6 Monkey transformed to rear commander (9)
IMPERATOR : IMP(a monkey;a michievious child) + anagram of(transformed) TO REAR.
Defn: … of the Roman Republic of old.
7, 16 across Shamelessly go to bed with Hook — a basis for many an oath (3,4,4)
THE GOOD BOOK : Anagram of(Shamelessly) [GO TO BED plus(with) HOOK].
Defn: … viz. what one puts one’s hand on while swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
8 Not at all susceptible to gibes like 16 across, if absorbing (13)
UNPUTDOWNABLE : Cryptic defn: How you might describe one who won’t be affected; put down by gibes;cutting remarks.
14 Tissue transplant operation — developed lazy stoop (9)
ZOOPLASTY : Anagram of(developed) LAZY STOOP.
Defn: … from an animal to a human.
16 Lout pulled up headgear for time of his life (7)
BOYHOOD : Reversal of(… pulled up) YOB(a lout;a yahoo) + HOOD(a head covering, often attached to a robe or jacket).
18 Cy sleeps soundly, which allows a nervy connection (7)
SYNAPSE : Homophone of(… soundly) [ “Cy ” + “naps”(sleeps) ].
Defn: Connection for impulses across neurons.
19 Present distributor’s access point? (7)
CHIMNEY : Cryptic defn: Reference to Santa Claus distributing presents to individual houses.
20 Not what it once was, iconic bear without a spread (6)
EXPAND : EX-(prefix indicating what once was) + “panda”(a bear species used in the logo for the World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund) minus(without) “a”.
23 See 15
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Thanks Brummie and scchua
Not “Goldilocks” for me – definitely on the “too hot” side! I found this the hardest to get started for ages, and finishing wasn’t a doddle either.
Favourite was 8d. I subconciously misread the clue and wasted time trying to fit “bible” into the answer; when the penny dropped it was a LOL moment.
I’m not sure what the “low” is doing in 11a – the clue would be better without it. Tenor isn’t a “low” male voice, and tenner isn’t th lowest note.
Re 2: rex not regina.
I also had a problem with “low note”. For me, I would describe a tenner as a medium note!
muffin 1
A tenner is perhaps a ‘low note’ compared to a hundred or thousand here in India.
Rishi @4
Are they called “tenners”? Nothing in the clue suggests India, though!
When our German friend comes to visit, she usually has been given some £50 notes in exchange for Euros; other than then I’ve never seen a note of larger denomination than a £20, so I would agree with Jason that a tenner is a “medium note”.
muffin @5
I find that the dictionary defines ‘tenner’ as ‘ten pounds, ten dollars’. No dictionary may have ‘ten rupees’ but in India we do use the word occasionally. And a ten-rupee note is certainly low. The other day a street beggar accosted me and I gave him a tenner. It may fetch him a lotah of cheap tea and two or three rupees as change.
Of course, nothing suggests India but I tend to look at it from my point of view.
I think the word-play for BOYHOOD contains the first example I have seen of reverse-engineered back-slang!
Some marvellous clues and some unique surfaces!
Thanks to Brummie and scchua
Thanks Flavia@2, blog corrected.
I guess if you split the 5, 10, 20, and 50 pound notes into 2 halves, the tenner would be a low (lower)note.
muffin and others
Just to throw a spanner in the works concerning the ‘low note’ in 11A, tenor is a low note in the realm of bellringing. The tenor bell is the largest and heaviest bell in a set of bells and has the lowest note.
Defining/indicating a tenner as a ‘low note’ does seem odd to me.
Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle and blog. This is not intended in any captious spirit, but at 6D an Imperator was a General under the Republic but, well, the Emperor of the Empire.
Thank you Brummie and scchua.
I found this hard going but enjoyable, DEFRAY the last in, a great clue. I also liked ADRIFT, CODSWALLOP, NAPKIN and CHIMNEY.
Alan @9
Yes, I remember that now from “The nine tailors” by Dorothy Sayers. I think “Tailor Paul” was the tenor bell, in fact.
Thanks to Brummie and scchua. I struggled here (and jet lag did not help). New to me were KINGS POST and ZOOPLASTY (though the cluing was clear); for DEPUTE I did not know Dee-comedian; I took a while before getting the “imp” in IMPERATOR, and I missed the Santa connection to CHIMNEY (my last in). Still, an enjoyable solve.
“Tenner” gave me pause also. Does “low” imply that Brummie is rolling in it, or rather prim?
“Tenner” gave me pause also. Does “low” imply that Brummie is rolling in it, or a bit prim?
Definitely just right for me. A masterclass in how to set difficult words.
With XYZ featuring in my start in the SW corner, I was looking for a pangram but J Q and V are missing.
Last was ADRIFT, which like many last clues promptly became a favourite. Like baerchen @7, I enjoyed reversing YOB.
Cracking diagram scchua!
baerchen @7, Screw 26,557 has a clue with reverse-engineered back-slang, boy/yob, and Imogen 26,904 has a clue for back-slang.
TENNER is one of those where TENOR could as easily be the answer. It’s only saved by the letter-count.
Enjoyed this immensely.
On a plane from Brisbane to Melbourne, so had no online references available, just my brain, and pleased to solve it before the plane touched down.
A few I couldn’t parse eg Dee for 5d DEPUTE, so thanks to scchua for the blog.
And thanks Brummie for an enjoyable solve.
[Alan Browne @ 9, interesting to see your post re the bell ringers, and Muffin’s response @12 re Dorothy L Sayers, the latter having been mentioned in dispatches over our final coffee this morning!]
Found this very tough and gave up on DEFRAY.In retrospect it all makes sense. Oddly the only unfamiliar word ZOOPLASTY was first in, though I’m not sure I’d heard of a KING POST either
Thanks to Brummie and scchua
Thanks all
Unusually large number of solutions which I couldn’t enter since I couldn’t justify them by fully parsing. Viz: tenner, thre /ash, defray!
But enjoyable nevertheless.
Last in was kingpost which was a definition we didn’t remember until lunch was well over. 40°C in the shade doesn’t help the old brain cells function so now it’s siesta time. Thanks to everyone.
I thought TENNER Ok but, rather stupidly, I had THRASH instead of THRESH which was carelessness on my part. I was tempted by DEPUTY rather than DEPUTE for the same reason-well, the sun’s out! Otherwise I rather liked this. Favourites include STUD POKER,BOYHOOD and ZOOPLASTY. Had to check KING POST and IMPERATOR.
Thanks Brummie
Last one in was DEPUTE after trying all sorts of comedians. Great hidden ULTERIOR.
LIKED THE GOOD BOOK CODSWALLOP NAPKIN CHIMNEY (already!) and many more.
One of those puzzles that was slow to start but with the help of checkers move along at an enjoyable speed – a 2 pint puzzle.
Many thanks Brummie and scchua
Thanks to setter (becoming a favourite) and blogger.
Hesitate, believe me I do, to offer to ahem elaborate the parsing offered, but I might propose that RAT ON is a reversal of NO TA (as in “no thanks”=”no way”) combined with R for king? Otherwise “not” = “no way” and my poor brain can’t cope. Or can no way cope; I see what you mean.
A challenging puzzle for me, though enjoyable too. I did complete the grid, but …
I couldn’t fully parse AWESTRUCK. Having thought the “way” was ST for “street”, I was left with “dread” doing double duty for both AWE as an element and the whole word. I knew that must be wrong but still couldn’t see the correct parsing. I also didn’t get the DE- in DEFRAY or the parsing of RAT ON and forgot to go back to those for a final attempt before coming here.
Like other commenters, I wouldn’t call £10 a low note. Although Alan’s tenor bell is an interesting suggestion, I’m not sure I’d classify a bell as a “performer”, but perhaps the bell ringer would be referred to by his colleagues as the tenor too?
It was nice to see CODSWALLOP, a lovely word of more recent origin than I had thought. Other favourites included THOREAU, SCHERZO and CHIMNEY.
Thanks, Brummie and scchua.
Alphalpha @26
I would parse it as “in no way” = NOT rather than just “no way”. An example might be “Brummie’s puzzles are in no way easy” = “[…] are not easy”.
How very odd that so many of my estimable colleagues here found this a little tricky. I found it to be virtually a 10 minute write-in (I couldn’t drink half a pint, let alone two, that swiftly. But then, I don’t really drink alcohol – save the occasional Bailey’s at Christmas!). Perhaps I found it easy because it was so perfectly formed (save that pesky “low” tenor; I ascribed it to voice rather than currency but it gave me pause).
A most pleasing crossword. Many thanks, Brummie, and nicely blogged, Sschua, as ever.
Well William @ 28 I take my hat off to you. This was hard work for me, but fairly clued and I got there in the end.
Julie @20
What a perfect way to pass the time on a flight! I plan to do the same in a couple of days on my long-haul flight.
[Re D L Sayers: I often wonder if, like us, solvers generally were or are aficionados of the genre of the detective novel.]
I only know UNPUTDOWNABLE in the context of a good book and so, apparently, does Chambers. It could mean someone not affected by gibes but has it ever, except here, been used so?
Thanks scchua and Brummie.
Just right for me too.
I had to re-check ZOOPLASTY in the dictionary and it took a while to twig that it was DEPUTE but all good stuff.
I did also wonder about the “low” at 11ac. It doesn’t seem to add to the surface and only serves to confuse.
Is this editorial? Perhaps Brummie will pop by?
I am not sure about ‘defray’. Here in Canada we defray expenses by putting them off for another day, which is hardly the meaning of ‘settle’ – which here means to pay up what one owes, which is just the opposite: NOT settling!
Thanks Brummie and scchua
All this time later and it still took an elapsed few days to knock this one over … certainly the busy pre-Christmas lead up was a contributor, but still it wasn’t any pushover and congrats to William who thought that it was. Got stuck on the right hand side mostly.
Started off well enough by just writing in THRESH, thinking that it was a really fine clue – interesting to see a couple of folk struggle with that one. Enjoyed building up many of the other clues from the word play with a few aha moments along the way – particularly liked UNPUTDOWNABLE which took much longer than what it probably should have.
Finished in the NE corner with the cleverly hidden ULTERIOR, ADRIFT (which also took longer than it should have when one finally saw how simple a construction that it was) and DEPUTE (where I also spent time trying to find a comedian named DEY to fit with DEPUTY – finally twigged to the verb definition and managed to track down Jack DEE).