Well this one was certainly a challenge! I printed it out on my way to bed last night (or rather early this morning) and, as usual, had a quick run through the clues before retiring. The grid remained empty because nothing jumped out at me.
Fortunately after a night’s sleep, and the pleasure of a bright, sunny morning, I was able to make some sense of the clues and began to fill the grid, albeit rather more slowly than I usually do. My first entry was 9ac, which led me to the use of ellipses to indicate that the clue number, when converted into 8dn, formed part of the wordplay in several clues.
Some of the parsing caused a bit of head-scratching but I got there in the end (I think!). This was a little different and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, thanks Brendan.
Across
1 Do well, taking fee back from 35 (6)
THRIVE – THR[ee f]IVE – ‘fee’ reversed (back) removed (taken) from 3 5
4 … interrupting calls from Spain providing source of oil (6)
OLIVES – IV (4) in (interrupting) OLES (calls from Spain)
9 Calm resulting from savage having leader overthrown (4)
MILD – wILD (savage) with its first letter upside down (having leader overthrown)
10 Dancers on stage / refrain, in part (6,4)
CHORUS LINE – double def.
11 … between two states, a state that borders Texas (6)
MEXICO – XI (11) in (between) ME CO (two {American} states)
12 ie a floor redesigned for wing, say (8)
AEROFOIL – an anagram (redesigned) of IE A FLOOR
13 Unintentionally revealing carrier, in essence (9)
BETRAYING – TRAY (carrier) in BEING (essence)
15 Plant 9, first reduced by 50%, finally by 90% (4)
DILL – the answer at 9 is MILD, reduce its first letter by 50% and you get DILD then reduce its last letter (finally) by 90% to give DILL – the calculations being done in 8dn.
16 Sign of don intermittently showing intelligence (4)
INFO – [s]I[g]N [o]F [d]O[n] (sign of don intermittently)
17 Ace faces wild animals, not a good idea (1,4,4)
A MUG’S GAME – A (ace) MUGS (faces) GAME (wild animals)
21 Midpoint of Romeo and Juliet on radio (8)
NOVEMBER – Romeo and Juliet are the letters R and J in the phonetic alphabet. Halfway between them (midpoint) is N which in the phonetic alphabet is the grid entry.
22 High-class crew returned, having lost little time (2,4)
DE LUXE – EXUL[t]ED (crew returned, having lost little time)
24 Musical system that can be revised for solo, in fact (5,3-2)
TONIC SOL-FA – an anagram (that can be revised for) SOLO, IN FACT
25 One over eight, in front of a joint (4)
COXA – COX (one over eight {rowing}) A – the proximal joint of an arthropod’s leg (Chambers)
26 Tips about the writer making changes for the better (6)
EMENDS – ENDS (tips) around (about) ME (the writer)
27 Points, one repeated, about sex and sins, in a way (6)
ENVIES – E N E S (points {of the compass}, one repeated) around (about) VI (sex {six in Latin})
Down
1 Exhaust my energy crossing river in rowing boat (7)
TRIREME – TIRE ME (exhaust my energy) around (crossing) R (river)
2 … under way, disposing of old bones (5)
RADII – II (2) under R[o]AD (way, disposing of old)
3 Win against one Conservative after another (7)
VICTORY – V (against) I (one) plus TORY (Conservative) after C (another {Conservative})
5 … dividing 50 euro mislaid in museum (6)
LOUVRE – V (5) in (dividing) L (50) and an anagram (mislaid) of EURO
6 … being dishonest about condition — that’s insulting (9)
VILIFYING – VI (6) LYING (being dishonest) around (about) IF (condition)
7 For daytime viewers, alternative to watch (7)
SUNDIAL – cryptic def.
8 Starting with 16 down, they’re found in 9 and on 7 (5,8)
ROMAN NUMERALS – 16dn is I FOR ONE which it is in Roman numerals, 9ac is MILD in which every letter is a Roman numeral and a SUNDIAL (7) could have Roman numerals on it.
14 … gripped by broken feeler, turned back on itself (9)
REFLEXIVE – XIV (14) in (gripped by) an anagram (broken) of FEELER
16 Brendan at least provided more money, apart from tips (1,3,3)
I FOR ONE – IF (provided) [m]OR[e] [m]ONE[y] (more money, apart from tips)
18 Accursed Englishman’s midday companion going up North (7)
GODDAMN – MAD DOG (Englishman’s midday companion) reversed (going up) N (north)
19 … in line for joining up, Brazilian dances (7)
MAXIXES – XIX (19) in SEAM (line for joining) reversed (up)
20 Humbled since caught in a plot (6)
ABASED – AS (since) in (caught in) A BED (a plot)
23 Left duo holding check for fare from China (5)
LICHI – L (left) II (duo) around (holding) CH (check)
MC² + 6 + 50
Too tough for me to enjoy the experience, though obviously many did, judging from comments elsewhere. A couple of new words for me – coxa and maxixes.
blaise @ 1 – 50 + O + 50 !
Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid. An unusual and thought-provoking challenge. Thoroughly enjoyable although I’d never have parsed 15A without coming here.
A challenge indeed, thanks Gaufrid and Brendan.
My first entry was 16 down, from which I surmised what 8 might be from the enumeration. After that a slow but steady working through, with many a touch of the forelock to Brendan along the way.
18 reminded me of Ezra Pound’s
Winter is Icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm
Three unrecogniseable foreign words intercrossing in the SE corner was pretty unfair but the rest of the clues were delightfully ingenious.
I found this very hard and unfortunately had to give up with only three-quarters of the grid complete (and that was hard going). So thank you Gaufrid; it was good to read about your solve experience and your insightful explanations of the solutions.
The SE was particularly problematic for me. I couldn’t see 15a DILL, 22a DE LUXE, 27a ENVIES or 18d GODDAMN. Meanwhile I had not heard of 25a COXA, 19d MAXIXES, or the particular spelling of 23d LICHI (I am familiar with the latter as LYCHEE).
I did derive some small pleasures through spotting some of the ROMAN NUMERALS, which gave me the helpful crossers from 8d. I also enjoyed other clues: the phonetic alphabet used to crack 21a NOVEMBER, and the clever construction that led to 14d REFLEXIVE.
Thanks to Brendan (That One).
Pardon the repetition; other comments appeared when I was typing, so we crossed.
Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.
Phew! – how brilliant was that? I did exactly the same – a quick look at 00.02, with no result, then shut-eye, hoping light would dawn later in both respects.
My way in was the easy cryptic SUNDIAL, which, with I FOR ONE, led fairly rapidly to 8dn – but it took a bit longer for me to see the significance of the dots. When I did, I really enjoyed filling in the remainder of the themed answers, marvelling at Brendan’s cleverness in the process.
Apart from the theme, there was more to admire: my favourites were DE LUXE, A MUG’S GAME, NOVEMBER, VICTORY and GODDAMN.
Huge thanks to Brendan for a super start to the day – I just loved it!
Thanks, Gaufrid, really enjoyed this.
Failed to fully parse ENVIES through missing 6 = sex in Latin. Seems a bit unfair to invoke a random language with no indicator, but all’s fair in war and crosswords I suppose.
Also got in a tangle thinking 35 = thirty-five not three, five.
Some wicked stuff going on and I ticked A MUGS GAME, SUNDIAL, DILL, & I FOR ONE.
Brendan has gone up a notch in the evil stakes.
Nice week, all.
I thought this was a cracker – and unknown words in SE corner were so unequivocally clued I didn’t even check them. I started off with 4 and 5, which led me swiftly to the numeral links; LOI was ENVIES. Many thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid.
Thanks, Gaufrid. I really enjoyed this, happily seeing the significance of the ellipsis straight away at 2dn, since there was none at the end of 1dn.
It’s a minor achievement, that I assume is deliberate, but I don’t think is mentioned above, that every entry in the grid includes at least one Roman numeral.
Typical brilliance from Brendan – the master of the themed crossword IMHO.
8d – is, I think, particularly good; I’ve seen Brendan give (what I thought was) this type of hint before and, with IN and ON often being used to hint that other answers include or start/end with common components, was surprised that I then counted a lot more than ‘found IN 9’ and more than ‘ON 7’ – completely on the wrong track of course, as I realised Brendan wouldn’t make that mistake. Great moment when the penny dropped.
Thanks Gaufrid and, of course, Brendan who has long been my favourite setter – he is now one of my two favourites but remains my top male setter 😉
Brilliant implementation of the 8dn theme, Brendan – and thanks Gaufrid for elucidating some of the wordplay.
William@9 – the theme should be a sufficient indication that Latin was likely to be used.
Thank you Brendan and Gaufrid for a brilliant puzzle and a brilliant blog.
My first in were OLIVES and LOUVRE, but it took a while to fully realise what was going on. MAXIXES were new to me, but I see that the name of the dance is derived from the MAXIXE, the Portuguese name for a type of gherkin. I had COXA for the hip joint, surprised Chambers does not give this as the first definition, the COED does.
Thanks to Brendan and to Geoff for explaining DILL. It amazes me that the Romans ever managed to calculate anything with a number system like that.
PeterM @13 Yes, it should, I agree. I was scrabbling around for self-justification.
Cookie @14
The first definition for ‘coxa’in Chambers is “the hip bone” which is why I chose the second. However, I now see that Collins and Oxford both give “hip bone or hip joint”.
NeilW @11 My goodness, so there is. Well spotted, Neil.
Very clever but perhaps too clever in a some places, e.g. NOVEMBER is half-way between ROMEO and JULIET? Only if the alphabet wraps around, but there is no indication of this in the clue.
poc @19, you have me confused again, if the alphabet wrapped around, would not the halfway point be Alpha?
Excellent crossword – although I missed November. That was a tough one. The Roman Numeral theme was very well done.
Wow! All a bit too much for me – I had about five clues left unsolved. But clever theme and very enjoyable. Loved GODDAMN and A MUGS GAME. Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid.
This puzzle tested me a lot, and I loved it. There was a lot of ingenuity in the clues, and not only in the themed ones. I guessed 15a DILL and 27a ENVIES, not wishing to spend any more time on them, but I see now how they come about. 25a COXA and 19d MAXIXES were both new to me, but just two obscure words in one puzzle is not at all bad.
Many thanks to both Brendan and Gaufrid.
The usual Brendan brilliance. Nice to see … that actually mean something in a clue.
Thanks to Brendan for the mind-stretching entertainment and Gaufrid for the explanations.
Thanks both.
All but the SE corner went in very quickly over breakfast but I had to wait until lunch to complete it, even then I had to use the check button to get ‘envies’. Excellent crossword, I liked ‘dell’ a lot.
Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid. I caught on to the … and ROMAN NUMERALS early on but still needed help parsing DILL and especially NOVEMBER. Like others above COXA and MAXIXES were new to me (though the clues were sufficient), and I knew TONIC SOL-FA from a previous puzzle. As I move backwards through the archives, Brendan has emerged as one of my favorite setters – and this puzzle is typical.
Thanks, Brendan and Gaufrid. I laughed out loud when I realised the significance of the ellipses, and I loved all the surprises from start to finish. This one goes into my small collection of all-time favourites.
Great stuff. A proper head-scratcher for a while, and then a complete re-think of everything I’d already assumed.
poc @ 19 Halfway between two points is independent of direction. So 14(n) being halfway between 18(r) and 10(j) works just fine.
As usual from Brendan, a very clever grid-fill, with a few more obscure solutions than usual. The crossing LICHI and COXA were both unfamiliar, but annoyingly in retrospect BETRAYING was last in.
Thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid
PeeDee @15
My understanding is that the Romans did not have a numbering system and therefor they did not have the zero. All that came from the East. The Romans used the abacus for calculating which does not need the zero.
As a relative newcomer to the Guardian Cryptic can someone please explain the meaning of certain clues beginning “…” followed by text? Know this to be an indicator of sorts but once thought it was a link to another.Thanks in anticipation.
Joe @31 – the “…” is a device to show that the clue number (in Roman numerals) is itself part of the clue.
Thanks Brendan and Gaufrid
Very clever and lots of fun, but it took me far longer than usual, despite getting all the ellipsis clues fairly quickly. (I remember maxixes from a fairly recent crossword, but the site search doesn’t find it.) I was pleased when I completed the grid; I didn’t parse MILD or DILL, though.
Does BETRAYING need the “Unintentionally”? It could as easily be deliberate!
(Oh, I didn’t parse THRIVE either. In fact it confused me, as it seemed to be a “Roman numeral” one, but without the ellipsis, and with the wrong number!)
Quite excellent and very challenging even though I had MILL for DILL. I didnt know LICHI in this spelling but it had to be right. I found NOVEMBER quite ingenious and was very glad that SUNDIAL was so easy because without that I doubt if I’d have got started at all. But,for my money, the best puzzle for ages!
Thanks Brendan.
I completely ignored the ellipses as I usually do which was my downfall today. It’s a surprise that I managed to complete as much as I did – about three quarters – before giving up. I wish I’d been more attentive as it was a really clever concept. Well done to Brendan and thank you to Gaufrid.
Like others we found this an excellent challenge. WE started with mild and dill, and then the roman numerals theme was fairly obvious. We needed Gaufrid to explain November. The SE corner looked impossible, until we invented maxixes, then looked it up in Collins. Like others we checked the new spelling of lychee. But how satisfying to finish. Thanks Brendan and Gaufrid.
Thankyou so much, that was driving me crazy as i had 4a, knew was right but couldn’t parse it. Live and learn.
muffin @33
A site search does reveal the singular MAXIXE in two Guardian puzzles by Crucible: 20 March 2010 and 9 September 2009. I know you said ‘fairly recent’, but perhaps time has flown!
Thanks Alan – yes I found those. The one I’m thinking of was definitely more recent though, and I think it might have been a Bank Holiday one.
Thanks gaufrid and indeed Brendan.
It is interesting to read how varied are solvers’ FOIs; mine was AEROFOIL, followed by TONIC SOL-FA, and knowing Brendan’s propensity for unusual themes, thought FOIL must figure large. But, of course not.
Took me ages to spot the theme and the point of the ellipses. (Joe@31 today’s use are rather unusual. Ellipses usually mean two clues have some loose connection, in the clues themselves, or possibly in the solutions, and their usage is often very vague)
Peter@35 “very glad that SUNDIAL was so easy” Not for me it wasn’t – this was one of my later entries.
muffin@40..yes..I added ‘maxixe’ to the entry: ‘dances’ in my CxwdD…more recently than 2010! A Paul puzzle?
I confidently wrote in NEVADA at 11a and REFLECTED at 14d – both seemed to fit the clues (though I may have got my US state abbreviations muddled up a little!), and it was only when I got the obvious TONIC SOL FA that the penny dropped. Like others I struggled in the SE corner, though I was familiar with LICHI and got COXA from the wordplay. I’m afraid MAXIXES and sex = VI were a step too far for me, though that’s not intended as a criticism of the setter. Chapeau, Brendan.
I have to say I’m envious of Gaufrid and Eileen, starting on the crossword after midnight, getting a good night’s sleep and then finishing it off before 10am. What’s the secret?
Muffin @40, the most recent maxixe was Maskarade in puzzle 26842 in April.
An outstanding puzzle from my namesake.
Re betraying & Muffin @ 33, I’m a bit surprised that no one has mentioned that “bewray” means (as a Wordfinder revealed to me) ” reveal espec. inadvertently” (Chambers) . So I assumed, without bothering to look it up, that wray was an obscure word for carrier. Perhaps an unintended ambiguity on the part of the setter?
Apart from that, many thanks to Brendan for an ingenious and entertaining puzzle, and to Gaufrid for parsing the ones that I couldn’t.
Cookie@20 and MarkN@28, you are both right of course. Can’t imagine what I was thinking.
A lovely challenge and very enjoyable. Many thanks. “I for one” was key, so I made things harder for myself by not getting that early on, failing to parse it and missing the Roman Numeral allusion!
Alan, muffin, Louise – between you, you have found all of the MAXIXEs in my list – there are none earlier than Crucible. I remembered it from the Maskarade. EMEND was discussed in York at the weekend as one of those words that gets a setter out of a tight corner, but has only appeared once as a plural. COXA was a first and LICHI has two previous appearances:
Rufus 24404: Chilli left out, resorting to fruit (5)
Enigmatist 25122: Left the first person in Germany one fruit tree (5)
Joe @ 31.
Yes it usually indicates connection to the previous clue (although often I don’t see it).
This is the first time I have seen it used as answered by VW in 32.
Didn’t understand the parsing of 22ac with “crew” being equivalent to exulted. Grateful if someone could explain.
simonc @51
To crow and to exalt both mean to triumph over. Crew (or crowed) is the past tense of crow so is the same as exulted.
Thanks all
Simon, I think crew is past tense of crow ( or crowed) possibly
Super crossword. Enjoyed the theme.
This was brilliant – some very ingenious & unusual clues – Romeo & Juliet required mthe most lateral (literal?) thinking….
Joyful!
(Luckily, I have been able to savour this at my leisure – today being a Saturday. If I’d had to blog it to a deadline some of the joy might have been diluted. But that may just reflect my own shortcomings. In any case, I too tip my lid to Sir G!)
And heartfelt thanks to Brendan – I shall certainly be harvesting the Guardian archive for any of his earlier fruits that I may have missed….
Late to the party as usual. Loved this puzzle! Failed to parse 1a and 27a…
Nice work and thanks to Brendan and Gaufrid from over here across the pond