A super puzzle: varied, challenging and entertaining. There is one solution I cannot explain, any help appreciated. Thank you Julius.
| Across | ||
| 9 | HIGHER EDUCATION | Open University hired teaching labour to provide this (6,9) |
| anagram (labour) of OU (open University) and HIRED TEACHING – the definition “to provide this” refers back to the clue: what is provided by the Open University etc… | ||
| 10 | RAITA | Indian side rejecting a pitch hosting international (5) |
| A TAR (pitch) reversed (rejecting) and containing (hosting) I (international) – a side dish | ||
| 11 | ALL SQUARE | Going round playing Even Stevens (3,6) |
| I can’t explain this one. | ||
| 12 | HANSOM CAB | Outstripping ET, Macbeth’s on a roll; it’s just below Taxi Driver (6,3) |
| anagram (roll) of MACBetH’S ON A missing (outstripping) ET | ||
| 14 | OVARY | Flaubert’s Emma goes topless for female part (5) |
| Madamme bOVARY (Flaubert’s Emma, topless) | ||
| 16 | AUTOBIOGRAPHERS | If they’re being honest, they’ve never seen a ghost in their lives (15) |
| cryptic definition – if someone honestly writes an autobiography (their life) then the book has not seen a ghost writer | ||
| 19 | DUSTY | Scot assumes Scotland’s crown, lifeless (5) |
| DUTY (scot, tax) contains (assumes) Scotland (first letter, crown of) – And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death… (also 15 down) | ||
| 21 | SOYA SAUCE | Twain’s hero’s ‘unter reportedly served in Asian restaurant (4,5) |
| SOYA’S AUCE sounds like (reportedly) Sawyer’s ‘orse (Twain’s hero and his hunter=horse) | ||
| 23 | INFURIATE | I wore my mink at dinner to provoke anger (9) |
| IN FUR I ATE could be read as “I wore mink at dinner” | ||
| 25 | IMBED | Put in position, I have a qualification to work in 9 (5) |
| I’M BED – I am a Bachelor of Education, I have a qualification to work in Higher Education | ||
| 26 | THE SCOTTISH PLAY | Heads of Tottenham Hotspur and Everton join City to splash out for second title (3,8,4) |
| first letters (heads) of Tottenham Hotspur and Everton with anagram (out) of CITY TO SPLASH – alternative name for Macbeth. In acting tradition it is considered unlucky to mention the name Macbeth inside a theatre, so the play is referred to as The Scottish Play | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHURCHYARD | Ashes to Ashes plot overlooked by 7? (10) |
| cryptic definition – where people are buried. Is this really all there is to it? I feel like I must have missed something. UPDATE: Ashes to Ashes was a British TV program aired 2008-2010, so had a plot. | ||
| 2 | UGRIAN | As some Europeans withdraw advertisement, Grauniad goes bust (6) |
| anagram (goes bust) of GRAUNIad missing (withdraw) AD (adverisement) – a division of European language and culture | ||
| 3 | HECATOMB | Macbeth cast, clutching Oscar: “it was quite a sacrifice” (8) |
| anagram (cast) of MACBETH and O (oscar, from phonetic alphabet) – originally a Roman sacrifice of a hundred oxen | ||
| 4 | HERA | Goddess glimpsed in the raw (4) |
| found inside (glimpsed in) tHE RAw | ||
| 5 | HURLY-BURLY | Tumultuous, sturdy support for Chuck Yeager’s debut (5-5) |
| BURLY (sturdy) below (support ofr) HURL (chuck) and Yeager (debut, first letter of) | ||
| 6 | BANQUO | RBS misery allegedly finished off old Scottish general (6) |
| BANQUO sounds like (allegedly) “bank woe” – in Macbeth Banquo is a general in the king’s army who is murdered (finished off) on Macbeth’s orders. RBS is the Royal Bank of Scotland. | ||
| 7 | VICARAGE | Served up some vinegar? A civilised house! (8) |
| found reversed inside (served up some) vinEGAR A CIVilised | ||
| 8 | KNEE | On a poetic evening, knight rolled a joint (4) |
| E’EN (evening, poetical) and K (knight) all reversed (rolled, turned over) | ||
| 13 | CROISSANTS | Angry workers hold Julius hostage; they’re quite flaky (10) |
| CROSS ANTS (angry workers) contains I (Julius, the setter) | ||
| 15 | YESTERDAYS | The old way The Queen’s received Sir Robin in the recent past (10) |
| YE (the, old fashioned) ST (street) then ER’S (The Queen’s) contains (received) DAY (Sir Robin Day, broadcaster) | ||
| 17 | TEST-FLEW | Exam passed quickly (as did Chuck Yeager) (4-4) |
| TEST (exam) and FLEW (passed quickly) – American Test Pilot who broke the sound barrier in 1947 | ||
| 18 | PASTICHE | In Bonn, I get taken in by fake diamond; it’s an imitation (8) |
| ICH (I in German, as poken in Bonn) inside (get taken by) PASTE (fake diamond) | ||
| 20 | YORICK | Jester informally greeting Little Richard (6) |
| YO (informally greeting) RICK (little Richard, nickname) – jester from Hamlet | ||
| 22 | UNBOLT | Open champion from Jamaica knocks out South Africa and Italy (6) |
| UsaiN BOLT (champion from Jamaica) missing (knocks out) SA (South Africa) and I (Italy) | ||
| 23 | INTO | Enthusiastic about International Open (4) |
| INT (international) and O (open) | ||
| 24 | EXIT | The death of old technology? (4) |
| EX (old) IT (example of technology) | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand feel to ask questions; chances are there are others wondering the same things.
Great stuff as usual.
Only thing I can tbink of is square pegs and round holes.If all the “rounds” are going or gone the rest must be all “square”. Best I can do I’m afraid.
Re 11ac chambers gives two different definitions for ALL SQUARE – “debts settled” and “equal score in a game”. (The latter especially golf I believe)
So “Going round playing Evens..” is the latter; and “Evens Stevens” is the former – a DD
A very enjoyable crossword with lots of variety. Thanks Julius and PD.
peterj – doesn’t that use the word “Evens” in both of the definitions? It is not something I have seen done in a double definition clue before.
Following on from peterj’s idea: perhaps this is a cryptic definition. Perhaps “going round playing” indicates that we are talking about participants in a game of golf and the score is “Even Stevens”, so the scores are equal.
If this is a cryptic definition then it is hard to see how the surface reading misdirects us from the true definition. What are we supposed to be misled by? Is there a song or singer called Even Stevens I have not heard of?
@PeeDee
Many thanks for your blog. I’m afraid the simple explanation for 11a is that it’s a rubbish clue – when a fifteensquared.net blogger doesn’t “get” something, it generally means that one has laid an egg….sorry
baerchen – never mind, the rest of the clues more than make up for it. This was still a really great puzzle.
Thanks Julius and PeeDee.
As you say, a great crossword. It took me a long time to finish it but I got there in the end.
Entertaining and challenging – as we have come to expect from Julius. RAITA was last in.
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee
Great crossword and thanks to both for the clues and the solution here.
Another great puzzle from Julius/Knut – no discernible topicality/theme this time – or did I miss it?
Biffed 11a and intended to come back to it – but forgot.
All the rest great – real slow burner for me – which is what I like, when I have the time.
16a held out until all the crossers were in – best CD in a long while.
23a I read simply as IN FUR I ATE
Many thanks to J & PD.
JS re 23a – yes what I wrote was garbled. Fixed now, thanks.
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
A tough one but a good ‘un where there seemed to be a lot of all of the arts sprinkled in both the surface readings of the clues and certainly a Shakespearean / Macbeth presence in the answers. Got there in one major sitting and a couple of snatched 5 minute sessions at the start and the end.
Lots of diversity in the clue devices which is pretty typical of this setter and no real obscurities in any of the answers.
Think that 11a has come in for a bit of over-harshness – think that the cryptic definition with the golf result is quite clear – the use of Even Stevens (US comedy television series) keeps up the fun that he was having with the arty surfaces.
Clever linking of DUSTY and YESTERDAYS with the Shakespearean passage.
Finished with INFURIATE (which I made a bit of a meal of initially writing in INFURIOSO), INTO (took a while to see the word play of it) and CROISSANTS (that became a bit easier to get after correcting 23a).
Great Crossword entertaining and challenging.