It’s incredible to me how Paul keeps up such an endless stream of excellent, witty crosswords; here’s another one…
Across
1. Idiot not entirely without feeling, shame one has quit (6)
NUMPTY
NUM[b] = “not entirely without feeling” + P[i]TY = “shame” without I = “one”
Definition: “Idiot”
4. Having rubbed out old boy, drug lord understood to be a slimy crawler (8)
ESCARGOT
ESC[ob]AR = “drug lord” with OB = “old boy” removed, followed by GOT = “understood”
Definition: “a slimy crawler”
9. Screened by fifth columnist, general dropping off (6)
SLEEPY
SPY = “fifth columnist” around LEE = “general”
Definition: “dropping off”
10. General places reflected in Indian city (8)
AGRICOLA
LOCI = “places” reversed in AGRA = “Indian city”
Definition: “General”
11. Knot tied, coveter set to be someone walking sneakily down the aisle? (5,9)
STORE DETECTIVE
(TIED COVETER SET)*
Definition: “someone walking sneakily down the aisle?” – I love the wedding surface reading here, and how aisle is referring to supermarket aisle in the cryptic reading.
13. Question clothes a nudist designed for religious festival (4,6)
WHIT SUNDAY
WHY = “Question” around (A NUDIST)*
Definition: “religious festival”
14. Test of reading and learning, primarily (4)
ORAL
O[f] R[eading] A[nd] L[earning] (“primarily” indicating first letters)
Definition: “Test”
16. Indian, post-Haydn, sounding game? (4)
SIKH
A groan-worthy clue that made us smile 🙂 – “Hadyn Sikh” sounds like “hide and seek”, a game
Definition: “Indian”
18. In leak, one stopping vehicle to obstruct legislation (10)
FILIBUSTER
FILTER = “leak” (I’m a bit unsure about this, but I suppose something might filter / leak into public consciousness, or else they’re just non watertight interfaces that liquid could get through?) around I = “one” + BUS = “stopping vehicle”
Definition: “to obstruct legislation”
21. Fiddles embracing lively sonatas, or encapsulating the ultimate in dumb instruments? (14)
CONTRABASSOONS
CONS = “fiddles” around (SONATAS OR)*, around [dum]B
Definition: “instruments”
23. Written about in almanac, I remain like 17, perhaps (8)
AMERICAN
Hidden reversed in [alman]AC I REMA[in]
Definition: “like [KENNEDY] perhaps”
24. Master on something stringed, as cellist (4,2)
YOYO MA
MA = “Master” after YO-YO = “something stringed”
Definition: “cellist” (or the whole clue)
25. Critical supporter adds quality to piano parts (8)
KEYSTONE
TONE = “quality” after KEYS = “piano parts”
Definition: “Critical supporter”
26. Capital inspiring lieder is, for starters, the capital for a composer! (6)
BERLIN
BERN = “capital” around L[ieder] I[s]
Definitions: “the capital” and “composer” (referring to Irving Berlin)
Down
1. Feature is familiar with broadcast (4)
NOSE
NOSE sounds like “knows” = “familiar”
Definition:
2. Great musicians playing sitar with me (7)
MAESTRI
(SITAR ME)*
Definition: “Great musicians”
3. Better money for big guns (3,5)
TOP BRASS
TOP = “Better” + BRASS = “money”
Definition: “big guns”
5. One of 12 with bow, as guitarist after a fiddle (11)
SAGITTARIUS
(AS GUITARIST)*
Definition: “One of 12 with bow” (12 referring to the signs of the zodiac – Sagittarius is an archer)
6. A bit of music to be shared equally (6)
APIECE
A PIECE = “A bit of music”
Definition: “to be shared equally”
7. Sticky stuff on bottom of cone in tree, more nutty (7)
GOOFIER
GOO = “Sticky stuff” followed by [con]E in FIR = “tree”
Definition: “more nutty”
8. Journeyman composer beginning to languish in winter, without success (9)
TRAVELLER
RAVEL = “composer” + L[anguish] = “beginning to languish” in [win]TER = “winter, without success”
Definition: “Journeyman”
12. Contrarily, was evil mind a French horn player? (6,5)
DENNIS BRAIN
SINNED = “was evil”, reversed (“Contrarily”) + BRAIN = “mind”
Definition: “a French horn player” – more on Dennis Brain from Wikipedia
13. Wine not half dry, where bottles kept a joke (9)
WISECRACK
WI[ne] = “Wine not half” + SEC = “dry” + RACK = “where bottles kept”
Definition: “a joke”
15. Figure below zero turned around for everyone in economic region (8)
EUROZONE
ONE = “Figure” underneath (ZERO)* around U = “for everyone”
Definition: “economic region”
17. President as fiddler (7)
KENNEDY
Double definition: John F. Kennedy and Nigel Kennedy
19. Flipping brilliant hiding data sheets in the kitchen (7)
TINFOIL
LIT = “brilliant” (seems a bit of a stretch to me – if a surface is lit, that just means it’s illuminated, whereas brilliance is more specific – it suggests reflective qualities, like sparkling or glittering) reversed around INFO = “data”
Definition: “sheets in the kitchen”
20. God stands above bird, accepting son as the Creator (6)
ARTIST
RA = “God” reversed (“stands” in a down clue) over TIT = “bird” around S = “son”
Definition: “the Creator”
22. A shade cooler around start of winter (4)
FAWN
FAN = “cooler” around W[inter]
Definition: “A shade”
Yes, agree, Mark – this was another quality crossword.
The only niggle I have is about the enumeration in 24ac.
It should really be (2-2,2).
Thanks mhl. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve found Paul’s crosswords are becoming more difficult and this is no exception. I don’t discount the possibility that I’m becoming slower but either way I have to spend more time on them. I enjoy the challenge though. I needed help with DENNIS BRAIN and YOYO MA and I struggled with EUROZONE, my LOI.
This was tough and like Biggles A @2, I had to google famous cellists to get 24a YOYO MA and famous horn players to get 12d DENNIS BRAIN.
However I enjoyed the music theme and (eventually) uncovering answers like CONTRABASSOONS at 21a, finding RAVEL in 8d TRAVELLER and piano KEYS in 25a KEYSTONE. However there were many 1a NUMBTY moments for me along the way.
Favourites were 11a STORE DETECTIVE for its clever misdirection re tying the knot and aisles (I am a wedding celebrant) and 5d SAGITTARIUS for the bow misdirection (nothing to do with violins or other stringed musical instruments). LOI was 10a AGRICOLA, bunged in from the crossers and then googled for confirmation.
A great puzzle from Paul and an interesting blog from mhl. Thanks to both.
Thanks to Paul and mhl. I worked on this puzzle off and on throughout the week and did make headway – but slowly. I got but could not parse ESCARGOT (I missed the Escobar-drug lord) and took a long time dredging up DENNIS BRAIN. Last in were AGRICOLA and NUMPTY, a term new to me that I finally got after much experimenting with N-um-t-. A satisfying challenge.
Thanks mhl. Paul’s deft clueing helped a NUMPTY like me in matters musical enjoy this a lot, from the hide & seek 16A to the fiddling President. Only real hitch was in parsing EUROZONE, though the answer declared itself before getting any cross letters.
Thank you Paul and mhl.
A tough challenge for me, but got there in the end. I must have heard of the drug lord ESCOBAR before, but he did not come to mind, however I managed to get the answer to 4a, then googled. 18a, FILTER and “leak” are given as synonyms in the thesauri, an example given by Google is “the rain had succeeded in filtering/leaking through her jacket”.
The clues for STORE DETECTIVE and SIKH were great!
I thought this was superb. I haven’t enjoyed a puzzle so much for ages. I
expect DENNIS BRAIN and YOYO MA will have fixed some non-musos but no problem
for me. Loved it all but AGRICOLA and NUMPTY were particular favourites.
Thanks Paul.
An enjoyable challenge. I was stuck on 3 clues in the NE corner last weekend, but they seemed much easier this morning. The lack of a hyphen for YO-YO MA was my only quibble. Favourites included NUMPTY, SIKH and TRAVELLER,
Thanks, Paul and mhl.
This was very enjoyable and at one point, I thought it was beyond me. I sat looking at it for ages and couldn’t see a single thing, so I forgot about it for a few days. When I returned to it, I started to make in-roads and finally finished it on Thursday evening.
Like others, I needed help with DENNIS BRAIN and YO-YO MA. I was convinced that the former was an anagram of
‘was evil mind’ and came up with Denvil for the first name. Yes there are people with that name.
I couldn’t parse ESCARGOT but the rest were OK. Favourites were SLEEPY, SIKH (wonderful hide ‘n’) and MAESTRI for the great surface.
Thanks to mhl (you have Hadyn instead of Haydn) and Paul.
All very pleasant as always from Paul. I’d never heard of Dennis Brain but that was the obvious thing to check. Thanks to Paul and mhl.
Lovely crossword, DENNIS BRAIN was new to me too but it all fell into place. In 13d I took ‘dry’ to be TT so struggled for a while with ‘witticism’ or similar. Favourites must be SIKH and STORE DETECTIVE.
Thanks Paul and mhl.
A nice one from a setter I always seem to enjoy. Mostly just to echo what others have said already: I was quite pleased with myself for getting Yoyo Ma on the first pass, and then ended up having to Google Dennis Brain, someone I too had not heard of. And I took a long time to think of Nigel Kennedy, so clearly my musical knowledge is patchy. Like Gonzo @ 11 I tried to force witticism in and failed, and – once I saw how it worked – I really liked SIKH.
Thanks mhl, and of course thanks to Paul.
I got Dennis Brain easily but just due to luck: my father’s favourite record was Dennis Brain playing the Mozart Horn concertos. This is the only way that I know him. My initial reaction was: “Dennis Brain fits but surely we are not expected to know him?”. So, I did not immediately enter it.
I guess that there is no limit on the obscurity of what we need to know. Sometimes we are lucky (me this time) and other times we are not. The 1966 England football team took me much longer and I needed Google, it didn’t help that I got Wilson first and was thinking of prime ministers. In retrospect, the 11 should have been a clue but my interest in football is so low that 11 did not immediately suggest a football team.
I think that Yoyo Ma was comparatively fair, his name crops up occasionally and I had no doubt about that.
Thanks mhl and Paul.
Yet another brilliantly creative offering from Paul with lots of wit and aha moments.
I learned to play the French Horn many years ago so knew if Dennis Brain and also recall encountering Yo-Yo Ma in a previous puzzle.
I got FILIBUSTER quite early but couldn’t bring myself to enter it till the end. Not only because of Filter/Leak but also because I was fixated on the “stopping” being an inclusion indicator rather than descriptive of the vehicle.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks all
See my: is it possible that Paul runs a xword factory manned by very bright teenagers,illlegal immigrants from Eastern Europe.
There are plenty to choose from in Calais,
Watch out for any effect of Brexit!
Thanks Paul and mhl
Did this one on Christmas morning before all of the hustle and bustle started, taking just over the hour – not without electronic help though for all of the musicians except Yo-Yo Ma who as Hamish remarked had been made known is another puzzle. It inspired me to listen to a couple of his performances on YouTube, including an amazing performance with his sister when he was only 7 years old !!
Lots of his usual wit and cleverness in the constructions of the word play of many clues which made for a really enjoyable start to the day.
Finished down in the SW corner with DOUBLEBASSOONS (which I had not come across before), the clever ARTIST and KEYSTONE (which took a little while to sort our the word play).