At the looser end of things, but fun once I got into it…
…There were a few repeated tricks with first/last letters and left/right, but I haven’t been able to spot a deeper link. Favourites were 9ac and 12ac – thanks, Philistine.
| Across | ||
| 1, 27 | ABSOLUTE MAJORITY | Most people get to try Beaujolais Nouveau round the beginning of March (8,8) |
| Anagram/”Nouveau” of (to try Beaujolais)*; around the beginning of M[arch] | ||
| 5 | BAFFLE | Fox starts to frolic freely in hay? (6) |
| First letters of/”starts to” F[rolic] F[reely], inside BALE=”hay?” | ||
| 9 | UNTENABLE | Ridiculous nylon trousers, earrings, necklaces and tops in shocking blue (9) |
| First letters/”tops” of N[ylon] T[rousers] E[arrings] N[ecklaces] A[nd]; all inside an anagram/”shocking” of (blue)* | ||
| 11 | OGLES | Monsters switching hands and eyes (5) |
| OG[r]ES=”Monsters”; with r[ight] switching hands to L[eft] | ||
| 12 | DISENCHANTED | Disappointed Ed — his wench wanted to go topless (12) |
| First letters removed from/”topless” [E]D [h]IS [w]ENCH [w]ANTED | ||
| 15 | NEAT | Steer straight (4) |
| double definition: =”Steer” as in cattle; =”straight” as in a spirit without mixer | ||
| 16 | APOCALYPSE | Imitate round dance, finally leads to disaster (10) |
| APE=”Imitate”, going round: CALYPSO=”dance”, rearranged so that the final O takes the lead | ||
| 18 | UNORTHODOX | Starting up or down round pole, steer away from tradition (10) |
| “Starting” letters of U[p] O[r] D[own]; round NORTH=geographic/magnetic “pole”; plus OX=”steer” | ||
| 19 | SEMI | Sometime soon, back home (4) |
| =a semi-detached house. Hidden/”Some” and reversed/”back” in [t]IME S[oon]. “Sometime” needs to be read as ‘Some / time’. Edit thanks to gwep | ||
| 21 | GO UP IN FLAMES | Group has no right to change sides as paintings in a gallery burn (2,2,2,6) |
| G[r]OUP has no R[ight]; plus IN F[r]AMES=”as paintings [are] in a gallery”, with the r[ight] changing sides to L[eft] | ||
| 24 | NERVE | Type of gas that is never right to get promoted (5) |
| NEVER, with the R[ight] “promoted” or moved towards the front of the word | ||
| 25 | LODESTONE | At a loose end, but not as loose as a possessor of natural magnetism (9) |
| Anagram/”loose” of: ([A]t [a] loose end)*, where the A and a are removed because of the instruction “but not a‘s” | ||
| 26 | ERSATZ | Substitute queen took her place on the throne last (6) |
| E[lizabeth] R[egina]=”queen”, plus SAT=”took her place on the throne”, plus Z=”last” | ||
| 27 | See 1 | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | AGUE | Maladie de la guerre (4) |
| Hidden in – “de” means ‘of’ – [l]A GUE[rre]. French surface literally reads: ‘Disease of the war’ | ||
| 2 | SETT | Almost see faint light at the end of the tunnel (4) |
| SE[e], plus the final letters of/”at the end of” [fain]T [ligh]T | ||
| 3 | LENTIL | Discombobulated, half intelligible and in the soup? (6) |
| Anagram/”Discombobulated” of half of INTELL[igible] | ||
| 4 | TABLESPOONFUL | This measure proposes having fun, swimming where one can (13) |
| TABLES=”proposes”; plus an anagram/”swimming” of (fun)* inside POOL=”where one can [swim]” | ||
| 6 | ADORABLE | Delightful and productive drinks party (8) |
| ARABLE=”productive”, around/”drinks” DO=”party” | ||
| 7 | FELT TIP PEN | Writer considered trading in Porsche, originally open-topped (4-3,3) |
| FELT=”considered”; plus the first letters of/”originally” T[rading] I[n] P[orsche]; plus [o]PEN “topped” or with its top O removed | ||
| 8 | EASY DOES IT | Be careful playing with seaside toy (4,4,2) |
| Anagram of/”playing with” (seaside toy)* | ||
| 10 | ENCYCLOPAEDIA | Assistant comes up bearing clean copy version for reference (13) |
| AIDE=”Assistant”, reversed/”comes up” and around/”bearing” an anagram/”version” of (clean copy)* | ||
| 13 | INDULGENCE | Folly of cause interrupted by extremely long explanation (10) |
| INDUCE=”cause”, around/”interrupted” by the extreme/outer letters of L[on]G E[xplanatio]N | ||
| 14 | MANOEUVRES | Exercises can make me ravenous (10) |
| Anagram of/”can make” (me ravenous)* | ||
| 17 | STRIDENT | Dispatched to cover up gossip that’s demanding to be heard (8) |
| SENT=”Dispatched”, around/”to cover” a reversal/”up” of DIRT=”gossip” | ||
| 20 | LETS GO | Dismisses junction 11 to turn round? Come on! (4,2) |
| Two definitions, and: T=type of “junction”, with an anagram of/”to turn” OGLES=”11 [across]” around it | ||
| 22 | FOCI | Points raised in public office (4) |
| Reversed/”raised” and hidden/”in” [publ]IC OF[fice] | ||
| 23 | BEVY | Girls Aloud drink (4) |
| =a group of “Girls”. Sounds/”Aloud” like ‘bevvy’=beverage=”drink”, though I’ve also seen this spelled as ‘bevy’?
Maybe “Girls Aloud” as a ‘girl group’ is an indirect definition, with “drink” being the direct definition? |
||
An enjoyable solve. Thanks to Philistine and manehi.
I enjoyed the anagrams 1a 27a ABSOLUTE MAJORITY, 10d ENCYCLOPAEDIA and 14d MANOEUVRES for their 15a NEAT surfaces.
Speaking of 15a, this was a guess for me, as I have not heard of a steer being called (a) NEAT?
The double-up with the use of “steer” in that clue as well as for the OX part of 18A UNORTHODOX was a bit unfortunate.
Favourite was 16a APOCALYPSE.
I took far too long to get 2d, SETT, my LOI. For a while that particular light at the end of that particular tunnel proved very elusive.
Looking forward to hearing the impressions of fellow contributors to the forum.
Thanks manehi for a very clear and detailed blog – and especial thanks to Philistine for what was, IMHO, an absolutely brilliant crossword.
I agree with Julie @1 regarding her favourites – but then I thought they were all great. If I had to pick one it would probably be 12ac Disenchanted.
24ac Nerve would have been even better as a ‘down’ clue.
I enjoyed this enormously, many thanks to Philistine and manehi. Like @Julie, SETT was my LOI and took quite some time to see.
Brilliant clue for ABSOLUTE MAJORITY, among others, and I also like very much the idea in 4d.
Quite a challenge for me today, but none the worse for that. Some lovely surfaces, if fiendish at times. Like baerchen, I enjoyed “absolute majority” and “tablespoonful” particularly.
Thanks to Philistine and manehi.
Thanks for parsing of SETT and ADORABLE. Another goodie from Philistine.
Great puzzle! I echo JuneG’s comment (“Quite a challenge for me today, but none the worse for that.’) I was befuddled by ABSOLUTE MAJORITY for some time, although I had the anagram letters, and it was almost my LOI. Loved APOCALYPSE, LETS GO, LENTIL and TABLESPOONFUL. Many thanks to Philisatine and manehi.
I found this easier to solve than to parse, and I gave up on solving 20d and 2d. I could not parse 13d, 1/27 6d, 16a.
I liked tablespoonsful.
Thanks s&b
Thank you, manehi, needed your blog to untangle the LODESTONE anagram (which I began to think was a mistake) and GO UP IN FLAMES which is readily solvable but not so easy to parse.
This is a well-constructed puzzle, it’s not so easy to fit so many long words into a grid.
A couple of things I’m not keen on: Z for last is a bit weak and I’m not sure what get is doing in the ABSOLUTE MAJORITY clue.
Lovely misdirect of steer in UNORTHODOX and (last one in) SETT was clever.
Nice job, Philistine, many thanks.
Nice week, all.
Thank you Philistine and manehi.
This was fun, but I found it easier to solve than to parse – not a complaint! 21a, I was trying to think of a gallery with an F, Ufizzi was the only one that came to my mind apart from Lafayette…
So many good clues, especially that for ABSOLUTE MAJORITY, but I liked the one for BAFFLE best.
Thanks Philistine & manehi.
Good, enjoyable solve although the parsing of LODESTONE escaped me. I did like DISENCHANTED; that is a device often used by the spiderwoman. ABSOLUTE MAJORITY was another great clue.
William re the Z: that was part of the reason I took a second look at all the first/last/outer letter indicators in the puzzle – are we expected to mentally add the implied ‘letter’ onto “last” after reading “starts”/”Starting” as ‘starting letters’, “tops”/”top[less]” as ‘top letters’, “at the end” as ‘letters at the end’ etc? Probably too far of a stretch.
Thanks to Philistine and manehi. Very enjoyable. I took a while before getting ERSATZ (I was trying to put ER at the end) and the FELT in FELT-TIPPED PEN and had trouble with BEVY (my last in) but I did know SETT from previous puzzles.
Very many thanks Philistine for a tip top puzzle and to manehi for a whole raft of clues which I needed help to fully parse!! Does anybody else agree that it is refreshing to have a puzzle with no utterly naff themes, such as yesterday’s eminently forgettable Roald Dahl extravaganza?
Favourite clue was APOCALYPSE!!
Not done a Philistine before, entertaining once I managed to get on the wavelength.
You have the brackets [] misplaced in 19A
Thanks to Philistine and Manehi.
Enjoyed this immensely
I missed SETT and didn’t see the parsing for UNTENABLE, so thank you Manehi
I thought ‘but not as’ for losing the a’s in LODESTONE was pretty devious – but a nice penny drop moment that had me writing out the anagram.
Many thanks Philistine
Thanks Philistine and manehi
Well, the clues all worked to give the solutions, but I can’t agree about the surfaces – several were nonsense to a greater or lesser extent (16, 18, 22, 25, 3, 4, 13, 20 and 23). The wordplay tricks also seemed a bit repetitive.
You might gather that I didn’t enjoy this as much as some, although I was quite pleased to complete without any access to electronic aids.
A good solve over my lunch break – challenging but do-able in my allotted time.
LOsI in were SETT and BEVY and wasn’t quite sure how to parse BEVY.
Unbelievably I failed to fully parse UNORTHODOX – had N for north even though NORTH was staring me in the face!
Now if only I could finish the “Quick” crossword.
Thanks to P&M.
Thanks both.
I was beaten by sett and felt a bit as muffin@16 does half way through, but warmed to it towards the end as some of the more difficult partings became clear. I think 16 was my favourite.
Very much enjoyed this. I might have been off Nutmeg’s wavelength yesterday, but no such problems with Philistine today. Strange isn’t it.
I loved this. Many solutions jumped off the page- DISENCHANTED,ENCYCLOPEDIA and GO UP IN FLAMES- to be parsed after the event, others took a little longer until I got into the swing of it. I liked BAFFLE and ERSATZ. SEMI was my LOI.
Great fun!
Thanks Philistine
Thanks all
I thought this was getting back to his best.
Last in was sett.
Favourites were 15 and 25 ac and 2 d.
Yup–another who enjoyed this despite several answers being in the “solve then parse” category.
In today’s adventures in “divided by a common language,” the unadorned word SEMI here is almost invariably a semi-tractor-trailer rig (i.e., a truck of the kind that Wikipedia tells me is an “articulated lorry” over there). A semi-detached house is usually called a duplex here.
Also, we only spell ENCYCLOPEDIA with the extra A in it when we’re feeling all British and pretentious. (Yes, in this case those two things go together. Americans consciously using British spelling are almost invariably trying to be pretentious.)
Not that either of these things held me up any.
I parsed LET’S GO as two definitions and an anagram (to turn) of T (junction) + LEGS (11) + O (round). Not sure whether Philistine intended this or the use of OGLES from clue 11, as in the blog. Perhaps both!
Challenging puzzle with a number of fine clues. Favourites were ABSOLUTE MAJORITY and TABLESPOONFUL.
Thanks, manehi and Philistine
This was a most enjoyable solve, completed while sitting in the glorious surroundings of the gardens of Leeds Castle in Kent.
Like Julie @1, I admired 1a/27a ABSOLUTE MAJORITY, 10d ENCYCLOPAEDIA and 14d MANOEUVRES, but I also had at least half a dozen others with ticks against them to indicate my ‘approval’. The anagram in 1a/27a, with its neat indicator (‘nouveau’), was brilliant.
I had the same slight misgivings as William @8 concerning ‘get’ in 1a/27a and ‘last’ (for Z) in 26a ERSATZ, but these were not enough to detract from the overall quality of the crossword in my estimation. I agree also with William that to make up a grid of this design with such a good helping of long words was a feat in itself.
Many thanks to Philistine and manehi.
Many thanks to Philistine for yet another of his wonderful offerings.
‘Easy Does It’ – does anybody remember Eartha Kitt’s 1954 recording of this great song ? Very suggestive: it was banned when it first came out. She, like Philistine, spoke excellent French (C’est Si Bon’, etc.).
S Panza @13
This is a bit late – you may not see it – but here goes. You asked “Does anybody else agree that it is refreshing to have a puzzle with no utterly naff themes, such as yesterday’s eminently forgettable Roald Dahl extravaganza?”
I agree it’s good to have a themeless crossword, and I like to have more of those than themed ones, but I thought yesterday’s themed puzzle was OK. What I don’t like are crosswords that depend on the theme too much, so that you are unlikely to enjoy it, or get very far, if you don’t know it. Yesterday’s was a good test in that respect because I didn’t know much about the theme, but although that could have held me up on a couple of answers it didn’t in fact do so – the clues and a few crossers made them easy enough.
Obviously you didn’t like yesterday’s theme, but here we’re getting into subjective territory – which I’ll happily occupy for a moment! I too detest a theme that is totally boring, and if it’s woven into the crossword to an extent matching or exceeding yesterday’s I just put it down, however pleasant the non-themed parts might be. This has happened only twice in living memory (well, a year or two, let’s say).
Calypso is not a dance, it’s a song.
I always feel that a theme is more for the self glorification of the setter rather than the enjoyment of the solver.
@mrpenney – another Yank here, I was quick to add an extra “A” because a) it worked with the anagram and b) I knew I was doing a UK puzzle. Makes you twitch sometimes keeping everything straight.
Ditto comments on SEMI-trailers.
SETT is a new word to me. Used an online helper to get a few, but was able to parse most after the fact.
Did Not Finish, I find this site invaluable for help with too-tough puzzles so, many thanks from the Yanks.
Quite clever, quite enjoyable, but I have to point out that “calypso” is NOT a dance, it’s a West Indian folk song. So the clue is faulty. Shouldn’t the crossword editor be catching this kind of thing?
Thanks Philistine and manehi
Good to get back to another Guardian puzzle. Had the ‘repetitive device feeling’ with the single letter tricks, but in a nice way ! It formed a sort of theme of devices rather than a theme of answers in a different approach.
Liked the long anagrams, but the subtraction of a’s at 25a was too good for me.
Could not find a dictionary equivalent of INDULGENCE for ‘folly’ although I don’t have a Chambers – it was the only real stretch for me. Collins certainly had a dance definition for CALYPSO.
Like a few others SETT was my last in and thought that I was going to have to give up on it a couple of times until the penny dropped.