A remarkable construction today, with lots of multi-light answers, forming a symmetrical pattern in the grid. This leads to a smaller number of clues than usual, so it was bit harder to get started, but once a few answers are in then there are plenty of checking letters. I had the most trouble with the 4-letter pairs at 10,2 and 24,24, where there were only two crossing letters.
I found some of the clueing a bit weak, e.g. the second definition in 7,9, and the cryptic reading of BELIEF in 12,22, but otherwise an enjoyable challenge. Thanks to Imogen
| Across | ||||||||
| 7,9. | MAN IN THE STREET | No one in particular risking being run over? (3,2,3,6) Double definition, with “in the street” meaning “walking in the middle of the road”, I suppose, though it doesn’t really have that connotation for me |
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| 10,2. | HEAD WIND | Be editor of Independent, admitting wife is no friend of cyclists (4,4) W in HEAD IND |
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| 11. | MICRONESIA | Small car to tour one’s island, or islands (10) ONE’S I in [Nissan] MICRA |
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| 12,22. | BEGGAR BELIEF | Be hard to swallow, as snack in pub: conviction follows (6,6) EGG in BAR + BELIEF (conviction) – not keen on this, as BELIEF has pretty much the same meaning in the cryptic reading and the answer |
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| 14. | REDWOODS | They’re the world’s biggest: word does get round (8) (WORD DOES)* |
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| 15,17. | THE DIE IS CAST | Remarkable Edith Evans in the lead gets awarded part that can’t be changed (3,3,2,4) EDITH* + E[vans] + IS CAST (= gets a part) – from Julius Caesar’s (alleged) phrase, Alea iacta est |
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| 20. | SWAN LAKE | Russian notes endless desire to take litre in hard liquor (4,4) WAN[T] + L in SAKE – ballet with music by Tchaikovsky, hence “Russian notes” |
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| 23. | INVALIDATE | Discredit popular girl I go out with (10) IN (popular) + VAL + I DATE |
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| 25,26. | HOW THE LAND LIES | The situation: what a lot of whoppers our country tells! (3,3,4,4) Double definition |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1,21. | CASEMENT WINDOW | Setter accepts a second opportunity: it opens out (8,6) A S in CEMENT (a “setter”) + WINDOW (opportunity) |
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| 3. | STUMER | Wicketkeeper quietly dropped for silly mistake (6) STUMPER (as a wicketkeeper might be) less P – not sure whether I’ve seen this word before: it can mean a counterfeit note, a failure, or a horse sure to lose, as well as a silly mistake, as here |
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| 4. | AS GOOD AS | Virtually — gold? (2,4,2) Definition + hint |
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| 5. | FREE-FOR-ALL | Fight to keep the NHS so? (4-3-3) Double definition |
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| 6,18. | BEHIND THE TIMES | Old-fashioned bum paper (6,3,5) BEHIND (bottom, bum) + THE TIMES |
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| 8. | ENCORE | I want more from officer before coming round (6) NCO in ERE (before) |
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| 13. | GREEN PARTY | Saviours of the planet like Kermit to have fun (5,5) GREEN (like Kermit the Frog) + PARTY (have fun) |
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| 16. | IMAGINED | Thought: I don’t run the paper on whisky! (8) I’M A GIN ED[itor] |
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| 19. | RECALL | Heartily destroy every memory (6) [w]REC[k] + ALL |
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| 22. | BOEING | Sound of bouncing around tail of the plane (6) [th]E in BOING |
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| 24,24 ac. | MILKMAID | Exploit soundly-built farm girl (8) MILK (to exploit) + homophone of “made” (built) |
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Thanks Imogen and Andrew
Good fun, with IMAGINED, MILK MAID and LOI HEAD WIND favourites.
STUMER was new to me – Scots dialect, apparently.
I was a bit surprised to see sake being described as “hard liquor” – it’s no more than 20% alcohol.
Took me a while to get on Imogen’s wavelength but got there. Also didn’t know stumer but had to be. 4dn i think works, but what kind of clueing do you call that?
Got stumer only because it appears in a P. G. Wodehouse story (The Great Sermon Handicap, if memory serves).
Thanks, Imogen, for an intriguing challenge this morning and Andrew for the review above. I agree it’s an unusual construction but I seemed to find myself on the all important ‘setter’s wavelength’ today and this turned out to be a reasonably straightforward solve. Strange how the mind works: for instance, I read the first two words of the clue for 20a and flirted, for a bare microsecond, with roubles before wondering whether Russian notes might be a piece of music – which lead to the solve. Dozens of other times, I suspect, my mind wouldn’t have jumped to that less obvious interpretation but today it did.
Favourites include FOI – MAN IN THE STREET (I was OK with the second definition), BEGGARS BELIEF, HEAD WIND, HOW THE LAND LIES, CASEMENT WINDOW
COTD, because it made me laugh (whilst possibly incorporating a dig at the ever expanding Murdoch empire) is BEHIND THE TIMES
This was a beautifully constructed grid. I could not get ‘beggars belief’, though, because I have been saying ‘begs belief’ all of my life, never knowing that it was incorrect! Thanks, Imogen and Andrew.
I put on instead of in and just couldn’t see head wind as a result. Silly Dutchman. But thanks Imogen.
I really enjoyed this. STUMER seemed vaguely familiar but I don’t know from where. BEHIND THE TIMES was my favourite.
Rewolf @2: I think 4d and 5d are similar sorts of clue, the question marks at the end suggesting that they’re a bit whimsical. Sometimes this type of clue seems to work well and sometimes not – I thought both of these were good, both having clear definitions (“virtually” and “fight”), with the wordplay being a bit, well, whimsical (I can’t think of another word). It’s when you can’t really identify a definition that such clues are maybe less satisfactory (IMHO of course).
Rewolf @2 and JimS @7: I’m wondering if you’re reading more into the wordplay than am I. I took 4d to be ‘Virtually’ = definition and ‘- gold’ simply meant the answer could substitute for the dash giving ‘As good as gold’. I agree with JimS it would be hard to work back to the answer purely from ‘- gold’, though the indicated enumeration would enable a decent guess.
Thank you for the blog, Andrew. I agree that this was hard to get into but, once I was started, I found much to like – even the clues which you thought weak. 16d took me longest for some reason which I can’t fathom now, unless it was because of the earliness of the hour when I was solving – anyway, it was a good one!
Thank you, Imogen.
I looked a “stumer” and for some reason my inner ear heard Shtumer. According to my German dictionary, “stummer” means silent or dumb. There might well be a connection.
I would have been happier with “tallest” in 14a. The biggest is another California species once clued something like “five owls in a tree”.
Thank you Imogen and Andrew.
Great fun, especially the clues for IMAGINED, BEHIND THE TIMES, FREE FOR ALL and HEAD WIND, and my 25 year old car got a mention at 11a. STUMER was new for me, but easily got from the clue.
Found this a little tricky to get started on, but once I had a few longer solutions the rest dropped out fairly easily, with RECALL last in. STUMER was new to me too – I thought of it immediately but initially rejected it as sounding too implausible, and only looked it up when all the crossers were in place.
Thanks to Andrew and Imogen
What a beautiful pattern! I don’t recall a puzzle with one like it. Thanks, Imogen and Andrew.
Stumer was a new one on me, as on many, and so was Micra, where I seem to be alone.
“Every” doesn’t equal “all”: you can’t write a sentence that uses both in the same position. “Every” takes singular and “all” takes plural.
A google search for “Stumer” and “Wodehouse” led me to “Comrade Bingo” and a story called either “Not George Washington” or “In the Soup.” But then I find that “Not George Washington” is a novel and there is a story called “Strychnine in the Soup,” but not “In the Soup.” Okay, I give up.
STUMER was an act of faith for me too, but with the wordplay could be nothing else, in the best traditions of clueing unfamiliar words.
Congratulations to Imogen on shoehorning in all these phrases. The puzzle just about matched his inventiveness, I thought – there were certainly chuckles for IMAGINED and BEHIND THE TIMES, and a tinge of nostalgia at FREE-FOR-ALL. The Micra was a bit naughty though.
Thanks both,
‘Stumer’ was a new one on me. OED doesn’t have it quite in the sense of a stupid mistake. I stared at 11a for a long time trying variants on ‘mini’ so it was particularly satisfying when the penny finally dropped. LOI was ‘milk maid’
You are right about the impressive grid construction Andrew, in fact this puzzle’s 20 clues equalled the record low in the Guardian archive! The previous three were Fawley 21912, Araucaria 22369 and Paul 25718.
Thanks to Imogen and Andrew. I usually have trouble with multi-word clues, but for some reason I latched onto the ones here quickly and much enjoyed the process. I did not know Micra and paused over STUMER (my LOI) but all worked out in the end.
We drive a 1992 Nissan Micra here on the island and it’s still going strong. Milkmaid was last in and an altogether enjoyable romp. We looked for a theme but can’t find one. Thanks to everyone.
Apart from the double definitions, this was one of those puzzles where I got the answer from the letters and then worked out the clueing. Still, got there in the end.
I liked this a lot. That’s two goodies in a row. If this is a roll, I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Along with others,STUMER was new to me but fairly obvious once the crossers were in. I particularly liked SWAN LAKE,BOEING and BEHIND THE TIMES. Great stuff!
Thanks Imogen.
Many thanks Imogen – I really appreciate it when multi-lights continue in the same row or colum – a far more pleasant solving experience results.
All went fine except for initially having WAY instead of HOW in 25a, soon corrected.
All very nice, last one in was IMAGINED, another smile there.
Many thanks Andrew for the review.
Since multi-lights are the thing today, how about this one as an appropriately seasonal clue?
“Observation that Bethlehem continues dishonesty? (3,5,2,3,4,3)
Terrific, very witty, ( esp. 16 down) very Auracaria-like, in fact, thanks!
El Ingles @23: clever and timely!
A delightful puzzle, the pairs of clues making it a somewhat different sort of solving experience. The construction was very neat, with neat clues to go with it. It was satisfying in the end to get the four four-letter words – I never spend much time on interlocked corners like that, but in this case the clues were well constructed and fair.
I found 16d IMAGINED a bit strange, but having read the blog I can now see how it is supposed to work. 3d STUMER was new to me, but the clue made this possible, and I’ve learned something. 4d AS GOOD AS was another strange one, although in this case the setter’s intention was clear.
Thanks Imogen and Andrew.
I found this very easy today. Receptive frame of mind maybe?
Favourite was 16d.
I enjoyed this. Thanks to Imogen and Andrew. 16d was LOI and a favourite. 7,9 reminded me of the Auden poem:
To the man in the street who I’m sorry to say
Is a keen observer of life
The word intellectual suggests straight away
A man who’s untrue to his wife.
Hello there- Could someone please explain 16d? I don’t see it. Thanks.
Dan Milton @ 11. I’m afraid that you are wrong. Sequoia Sempervirens (aka California or Coast Redwood) is indeed the tallest tree. However, Sequoiadendron Giganteum (aka, inter alia, Wellingtonia [in this country], the Big Tree, or (more relevantly in this context) the Giant or Sierra Redwood) is the largest/biggest tree, and in fact the biggest living thing on the planet.
Unfortunately, I have yet to work out why any of these names fits the clue “five owls in a tree”.
Nice one, Imogen. This had a different feel to it, and none the worse for that. It looked rather impenetrable at first sight, but then things fell into place albeit with a bit of aid towards the end.
Thanks to my more illustrious namesake for his elucidation of the clues, particularly ENCORE which I failed to parse. However,I disagree with the reservations expressed in the second paragraph of his introduction. And, re 12, 22 ac, when, if ever, and in what context, was “[x} has pretty much the same meaning in the cryptic reading and the answer” a valid criticism of a crossword clue?
Amongst others, I particularly like Boeing and Behind the Times; and also How the Land Lies and Imagined.
Maroon @29. I’M A GIN ED(itor) – I use gin, not whisky, to keep me going.
The definition “thought” is the past tense/past participle of the verb, not the noun.
Loved this. Posting so late – it’s all been said. Just thinking how often I nodded at the many similarities between my solving experience and that of others on the forum, especially re 3d STUMER which I missed, and 24d/a (MILKMAID) as my LOI, and also my struggle with the latter and 10a/HEAD WIND – like Alan B@26, I struggle with those four letter ones with interlocking letters. Many of the same favourites as others have mentioned.
Just to say many thanks to Imogen and Andrew, as well as to Dan Milton@11 and El Ingles@23 for giving me extra clues to ponder over during this pre-Christmas weekend (both still unsolved).
Thoroughly enjoyable. Just how I like ’em. Yet again “this setter creates no.1 gem (6)”.
Many thanks to him and Andrew, of course.