The last couple slowed me down, otherwise a nice one from Screw, to whom thanks. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Kids grabbing parent’s front or back (7)
SPONSOR : SONS(kids;children) containing(grabbing) the 1st letter of(…’s front) “parent” + OR.
Defn: …, say, financially.
5 In September, the dog’s tied up (7)
BERTHED : Hidden in(In) “September, the dog’s“.
9 Bury Football Club (5)
INTER : Double defn: 2nd: Short for Inter Milan, or F.C. Internazionale Milano, the Italian football club.
10 She’s abandoned for driving surprise sell in recession, papers assumed (4,5)
GOLF WIDOW : Reversal of(… in recession) [ WOW!(an exclamation of surprise) + FLOG(to sell) ] containing(… assumed) ID(identification papers).
Defn: One left at home when husband goes driving (off the tee) on the golf course.
11 Investigator playing every tape first for impact (7,3)
PRIVATE EYE : Anagram of(playing) EVERY TAPE + the 1st letter of(first for) “impact“.
12 Dated briefly, making move (4)
PASS : “passé”(dated;no longer fashionable) minus its last letter(briefly).
Defn: A move on;a sexual advance or overture made to someone.
14 Media editor not oddly involved in his work (3,9)
OLD MACDONALD : “Media editor” minus its 1st, 3rd, 5th, and so on, letters(not oddly).
Defn: He whose work was his farm, in the nursery rhyme which has the recurring line “E-I-E-I-O”.
18 Perfect example of sequence isn’t complex (12)
QUINTESSENCE : Anagram of(… complex) SEQUENCE ISN’T.
21 More than one viewer is heard (4)
EYES : Homophone of(… heard) “Is“(more than one I).
22 Associating bum-wiggling ban with one extremely moved (10)
NETWORKING : [ NO TWERKING](ban on twerking;bum-wiggling to music) with the 1st and last letters of(… extremely) “one” changing positions(moved).
25 My whitewash is embraced by Labour leader losing election in the end (3,6)
COR BLIMEY : LIME(to whitewash;to paint or cover a surface with a mixture of lime, a white alkaline compound and water) contained in(is embraced by) Corbyn(Jeremy, British Labour Party leader) minus(losing) the last letter of(… in the end) “election“.
Defn: An expression of surprise.
Answer: A corruption of “God blind me”.
26 Filmed orphan taking relatives inside (5)
ANNIE : The inner letters of(taking … inside) “nannies” or “grannies”(children’s words for grandmothers, close relatives).
Defn: Name of the main character in filmed adaptations of the Broadway musical based on the comic strip, Little Orphan Annie.
27 Gave up (did bear?) (7)
YIELDED : Double defn.
28 They can’t bear young European students grouped round church (7)
EUNUCHS : EU(abbrev. for “European”) + NUS(abbrev. for the National Union of Students, the student group in the UK) containing(round) CH(abbrev. for “church”).
Down
1 Aired jumper on box (notice rest splitting) (6)
SKIPPY : SPY(to notice) containing(… splitting) KIP(to rest;to take a nap).
Defn: Name of the bush kangaroo;jumper in the series aired on television;the box.
2 Clothes not in the closet match (6)
OUTFIT : OUT(no longer in the closet but out in the open;made public, in reference to, say, homosexuality) + FIT(to match;to correspond to).
3 Small runners struggle in last metres (10)
STREAMLETS : Anagram of(struggle in) LAST METRES.
4 Con man‘s side-splitting accents (5)
ROGUE : “brogues”(broad gentle-sounding accents, especially that of the Irish speaking English) minus(…-splitting;leaving) its 1st and last letters(side-).
5 With short boat, beauty catches carp (9)
BELLYACHE : “yacht”(a boat used for pleasure cruising, racing, etc) minus its last letter(… short) contained in(… catches) BELLE(a beautiful girl or woman).
6 Noises from 19th group back? (4)
ROWS : Starting from Row A at the front of, say, a theatre, the 19th group of seats going back, is ROW S.
7 Husband’s theory: road leads to escape (8)
HIDEAWAY : H(abbrev. for “husband”) + IDEA(a theory;a hypothesis) + WAY(a road).
8 Drawback of wind does for resort (8)
DOWNSIDE : Anagram of(… for resort) WIND DOES.
13 Army, perhaps, taking time in bad weather? Definitely! (3,7)
FOR CERTAIN : FORCE(a military example;perhaps, is an army) plus(taking) [ T(abbrev. for “time” contained in(in) RAIN(bad weather) ].
15 Set dimmer switches labelled incorrectly (9)
MISTERMED : Anagram of(… switches) SET DIMMER.
16 Wet starts to summers quite upsetting — everyone loves comparatively hot years (8)
SQUELCHY : The 1st letter, respectively, of(starts to) “summers quite upsetting — everyone loves comparatively hot years“.
17 Want 3 down by hotel that’s seen in forest (4,4)
PINE TREE : PINE(to want;to long for) + “three”(3) minus(down by;to decrease by) “h”(letter represented by “hotel” in the phonetic alphabet).
19 British couple carrying on about superhuman (6)
BIONIC : B(abbrev. for “British”) + [ II(Roman numeral for “two”, a couple) containing(carrying) ON] + C(abbrev. for “circa”;about;approximately when refering to dates).
20 Grease monkeys in suits (6)
AGREES : Anagram of(… monkeys) GREASE.
Defn: Fits.
23 Name of chap going up the A1? (5)
WAYNE : The A1 motorway is one WAY to Edinburgh, in the North-East;NE of Great Britain.
24 50 like peas in clump (4)
PLOD : L(Roman numeral for “fifty”) contained in(like peas in a…) POD.
Defn: To walk heavily and clumsily.
Great puzzle and blog. I didnt know “twerking” so that was unparsed-and I missed the parsing of the TREE in PINE TREE.Thanks
My alternative parsing for EYES: it’s how “is” is heard when spelt out (eye S).
23D is very loose using A1 as a description of “way (to the) NE”. It doesn’t head in a northeasterly direction, and even if you arbitrarily define Edinburgh (or Tyneside) as the NE, there are many ways to it, e.g. M8 or M9. It only really works if you assume that we are all starting from somewhere suitable, e.g. London.
It took a bit of guesswork and use of the check button to finish this. Thanks for parsing 14 and 22 ac both of which eluded me and are very nice clues. 17 d is another beauty. Overall I found this fairly tough but entertaining. Thanks to both setter and blogger
Thanks Screw and scchua
Despite some gems – INTER and SKIPPY for example – I didn’t enjoy this much. It seemed rather loose and contrived in many places. Take EUNUCHS for instance. Yes, they can’t “bear young”, but the same applies to half the human population – more if you count infertile women. “taking relatives inside” for ANNIE is another example of looseness.
The “correct” expression is Gor blimey, not “cor” – it’s a euphemism for “God blind me”.
Stephen B @3 makes a good point about WAYNE. We tend to picture Britain as orientated N/S; this is far from accurate. Edinburgh is actually a long way west of London. Quiz question: if you fly a direct course from John O’Groats to Lands End, how many English counties do you fly over?
Thanks to Screw and scchua.
An enjoyable challenge but failed at the last (again!) on 12a PASS, which I just could not see no matter how I tried. Smiled when I read the blog explanation.
Several guesses including 14a OLD MACDONALD (eieio – ha ha!), 28a EUNUCHS, 17d PINE TREE and 23d WAYNE. Good to have these confirmed and explained by scchua.
Many favourites including 10a GOLF WIDOW, 22a NETWORKING, 25a COR BLIMEY, 1d SKIPPY (naturally), 5d BELLYACHE and 13d FOR CERTAIN.
P.S. Have we seen a similar clue for OLD MACDONALD recently or was it for E I E I O? I’ve a vague memory of the latter figuring somehow.
Sorry, some crossing with hillwalker@4 and muffin@5 by the time I finished typing onto the device!
Thanks scchua, without your blog I could never have passed ANNIE – I biffed it in from the def and crossers. I agree with muffin that that clue wasn’t easily parsed, a mild quibble however I really enjoyed most of the rest – especially the sublime NETWORKING which I never would have got without the Miley Cyrus controversy from a couple of years ago. OLD MACDONALD was very similar to a recent Anto clue. I remember tut tutting at the time as I thought it too difficult for a Quiptic but here, today, it was yet another wonderful pdm. Thanks to screw and scchua.
Thanks matrixmania. The clue was
Deliver iron regularly — for this farmer, obviously? (3,8)
Re 28 across: I don’t think that eunuchs, being male, can bear young (ie give birth) even before they become eunuchs.
Thanks. This was fun. The only one that I could not parse was OLD MACDONALD, but it is very good now that you have explained it. NETWORKING was amazing when the penny dropped! Amazingly, twerking seems to be a regular feature in crosswords these days. On the other hand, ANNIE does not work because nannies are not relatives and the inside of grannies would be rannie!
Hard work for me today and the early blog was much needed, so thank you very much for that, scchua. Like Muffin@5 I found some of the clues to be very loose, notably 26 & 28ac.
That said, there were quite a few I enjoyed, even though they took much thought and use of reference works. 23d was my favourite until I read the previous comments – had forgotten about Edinburgh for some reason. [I’m a regular traveller from Leeds to Newcastle, so the A1 is the way NE for me!]
Thank you, Screw. Greetings of the season to all.
JuneG @13
Newcastle is west of Leeds too!
I don’t enjoy subtraction clues in general and ANNIE was a pretty vague one which I got from the definition and crossers. I also share the quibble about EUNUCHS not being able to “bear” young, though I got the answer. That said, I did enjoy this one – thanks Screw.
PS: I haven’t looked at a map, but I suspect the answer to the John O’Groats question might be none?
Hi Gladys
One, if you count Cornwall.
Gor Blimey, this was a tussle! For every answer that sprang rapidly to mind, another resisted stubbornly. I don’t think my partner – new to the Guardian puzzle – was converted by this offering from Screw.
I needed assistance to land EUNUCHS – having already guessed the answer would mean ‘they can’t bear young’. I’m with those above who feel this one is rather loose. Didn’t get OLD MACDONALD and doubt if I ever would have. Rather too many others required – to my mind – clumsy or ugly rearrangements like PLOD or BIONIC (I’ve never encountered II as an alternative to ‘pair’ and I’m not sure it’s fair. Presumably any other two repeated letters could mean ‘pair’)
I’ll let ANNIE pass, though: in my family we’ve always used the prefix ‘Gran’ for the appropriate relatives on the paternal side and ‘Nan’ for those on the maternal so ‘Nannies” was just about OK.
A couple of really good ones in here, nonetheless. I liked HIDEAWAY, QUINTESSENCE and FOR CERTAIN. SKIPPY is superb.
Slightly grudging thanks to Screw and much gratitude to scchua for undertaking the unenviable task of parsing this for the rest of us.
Thank you Screw and scchua.
I found this puzzle fun, and was not caught out this time by OLD MACDONALD…
As regards ANNIE, the Oxford Dictionary online gives “nanny NOUN 2 British informal one’s grandmother.”
I agree completely with Muffin. In fact I’d go further. Eunuchs are by definition men, so their specific condition has no bearing (!) on the matter.
me, again, being pedantic – the COED gives “bear v. 3 tr. a produce, yield (fruit etc).”, I guess this could apply to men…
No it couldn’t Cookie 🙂
muffin @22, what about the fruit of one’s loins?
Hi Cookie
Yes indeed, but the man’s part in producing the fruit doesn’t involve any “bearing”!
muffin @23, the word in 28a is “bear”, it works for me, good surface…
Mostly good but 14 induced similar groaning to yesterday’s ALLOA
I enjoyed most of this, and finished without cheating, but I needed help with parsing a couple: 14a, 22a and 19d – thanks, scchua. I don’t think 28a works for the reason already mentioned several times above – trees bearing fruit is in common use but I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anyone refer to men bearing children. Anyway, thanks for the workout, Screw.
Thanks Screw and scchua. Tricky and frustrating in places, but some good ones. I thought INTER was great.
I also thought 23d was fine. The A1 is the road from London to the north east of England and of Great Britain. (Although I take people’s points that these north-easterly parts are, counter intuitively, in fact to the west of London.) And I didn’t have any problems with the clue being London-centic, and I live in Yorkshire. After all, the A1 used to be called the Great North Road.
Re 28a: the language of “bearing” children is strange, isn’t it? You would think that logically a woman “bears” (ie carries) a child during the months of pregnancy, but in fact the baby is “born” when it emerges from the womb. But could you say that the baby is “borne” before it is “born”?
JimS @28: “way NE” to me suggests direction, which is not true for the A1. To signify destination you would really have to say “way to the NE”. Also, even assuming that the clue means “way to the NE”, there are many roads which lead to the location that may be called the NE – it depends on where you start, so obviously if you were starting from Glasgow (and heading to Edinburgh) you would be mad to take the A1, whereas it would be sensible if starting from London.
As a community, we do like to split hairs, don’t we? The area around Newcastle-upon-Tyne is known as north-east England, there’s even an official Government Office Region of that name. A major road that heads through it is the A1. Ergo, the way (to the) north-east is, for many if not most road travellers is the A1. Seems OK to me.
That said, I found this Screw a bit of a curate’s egg, with some clues too clever for me. Nevertheless got there with a bit of biffing and a long delay caused by the misapprehension that 22 started with REAR.
Happy Christmas one and all!
Trailman @30
Yes, cryptic crosswords by their very nature attract hair-splitters. It’s all part of the fun. I did enjoy the crossword too!
Thanks to Screw and scchua. Given my erratic knowledge of UK geography, I was defeated by WAYNE. SKIPPY was new to me (though I could parse it), ANNIE was clear from the definition though I did not parse it, and NETWORKING was great fun when I finally saw it.
Thanks scchua and Screw, who gave us a puzzle which I found easier than some of his previous offerings.
As I seem to have wandered into pedants’ corner, I will add to the pile: 24D PLOD is ambiguous. The answer could also be CLOD, same parsing.
PeterO@33
What’s a pea cod?
Very enjoyable and innovative as always from screw. Particularly liked OLD MACDONALD, but there were several other gems here.
Thanks to Screw and scchua
Rullytully @34
Same as a pea pod. Look it up.
PeterO@36
Thanks. I bow to your knowledge of archaic English and forgive me for doubting you.
The WAYNE clue reminds me of one I once wrote for a puzzle I co-wrote with a friend: “Duke’s Head: on road to Maine, in Connecticut (4,5)”, which cures the ambiguities people are talking about there–and also puts the entire thing already in the northeast (of a different country, admittedly) (and in New England, also sometimes abbreviated NE).
Another clue I once wrote that this puzzle reminded me about: “Plenty of twerking? (9)”
I had not heard of Skippy, today’s “guess you gotta be British” clue. I failed to parse Old MacDonald. Others were difficult but fun. Thanks to blogger and setter.
Thanks Screw and scchua
mrpenney @ 38: Skippy was an Australian TV series, which did in factv get shown in the UK.
Skippy was an Australian series, mrp (unsurprisingly!). He got namechesked in the fisrt Crocodile Dundee film.
A sitcom series in Britain, starring a quartet of Indian comics, called “Goodness Gracious Me”, had “Skipinder”, a kangaroo who was of no use to anyone.
I thought this excellent but it certainly wasn’t a quick solve. WAYNE was LOI but I don’t see anything wrong with the clue, or the clue for EUNUCHS for that matter. My favorite was SKIPPY which made me smile.
This has been a good week.
Thanks Screw.
Fine crossword.
I’m a bit puzzled by 4. I’d have thought it should be “Con man’s side-splitting accent” since only one side is splitting.
Stephen B, I don’t understand your objections to 23. The clue tells us the road to use (A1) and the direction to use it (up), so giving the WAY (to the) NE.
Thanks, Screw and scchua
phitonelly @42
Which way is up? If we discount vertical, by convention, up is towards London.
I suppose that with the way the UK is oriented (sic), the North East refers to the eastern side of The North. It’s definitely north of the whole of The South so once you have established that, the longitudinal relationship to London or in fact anywhere else is irrelevant.
Actually that only really applies to England, not the UK; but as previously observed, The North East is a defined area [of the UK]. Therefore even if you travelled in a south-easterly direction on the A1 from Edinburgh you would be heading for The North East!
Tim Phillips @44
Both are correct (sic) – check your Chambers.
…though I forgot to add that “orientated” is obviously better, as it is derived from the verb “to orientate”, rather than “to orient”…..
Hmmm… finished this in the end, can’t say I enjoyed it much – 6 clues had ? against them, meaning I couldn’t parse them. Maybe I’m just not clever enough, but I like to think “of course – it had to be that!” even if I’ve spent ages struggling over a clue, not “I suppose it must be, no idea why”.
A Screw too loose, IMO…
muffin @43
I know “up” is sometimes used for going to London, especially wrt train lines, but it’s also commonly used when talking geographically of going north, hence the phrases “up north” and “down south”. I find it difficult to believe that someone driving south to London would say for example, “I’m going up the A1 to London”
Besides, Waylon Don doesn’t fit in the grid ;o )
Very enjoyable. 14 across gave a lovely moment when I found myself reading out e i e i o. Nearly as good as allo allo allo yesterday.Will look forward to Screw’s next contribution.
A very enjoyable puzzle, as ever, from Screw. Some fun constructions – had me puzzling to the end. I thought COR BLIMEY and PINE TREE were superb and my own favourite was OLD MACDONALD – fabulous!
Many thanks Screw!
And to scchua – many congrats for yet another great blog – spot on in every detail – which must be the perfect guide for solvers at all levels. And thanks to you – and all our blogging team for their selfless efforts week after week….. and particular thanks to Gaufrid for his very kind, and most dignified, service.
And from me, to all who contribute here in whatever way…..
HAPPY CHRISTMAS! x