Super puzzle. I found this was made tricky by the definitions, not always the obvious ones I was looking for. Thanks Brendan.
Drinks all round!
| Across | ||
| 7 | MAQUETTE | French that’s grasped by dull artist’s model (8) |
| QUE (whay, French) in MATTE (dull) | ||
| 9 | IONIAN | Greek or Roman one found in island heading north (6) |
| I (Roman one) in IONA (island) and N (north) – I’m not sure of “heading” indicates first letter or a direction on a compass | ||
| 10 | UNIT | Ammunition centre for platoon, say (4) |
| centre of ammUNITion | ||
| 11 | ALLEGRETTO | Short charge by furry animal turning quite quickly (10) |
| ALLEGe (charge, short) then OTTER (furry animal) reversed | ||
| 12 | RESCUE | Make safe and secure at sea (6) |
| anagram (at sea) of secure | ||
| 14 | SPELLING | Relieving pressure, going outside (8) |
| SELLING (going. eg “going cheap”) containing P (pressure) | ||
| 15 | SUNDRY | Divers, after second, wet? (6) |
| UN-DRY (wet) following S (second) | ||
| 17 | DRINKS | Finally agreed bowling area’s reason to halt cricket (6) |
| agreeD (final letter of) then RINK’S (bowling area’s) | ||
| 20 | ALL-ROUND | Comprehensive in which a couple of learners do run amok (3-5) |
| anagram (amok) of A LL (couple of learners) and DO RUN | ||
| 22 | FADING | Sweet girl, initially sound as a bell, becoming pale (6) |
| FA (Fanny Adams, sweet girl, initial letters) then DING (sound as a bell) | ||
| 23 | ETHERISING | Employing number in East before the revolt (10) |
| E (east) then THE RISING (revolt) – making one numb | ||
| 24 | WIFI | Facility for communication either way in show, if I want (2-2) |
| found inside shoW IF I want, and also show IF I Want reversed | ||
| 25 | TINCAN | Team leader filmed, that’s full of beans, perhaps (3,3) |
| Team (leading letter of) then IN CAN (filmed) | ||
| 26 | THREATEN | Mad Hatter and neighbours at table are menacing (8) |
| anagram of HATTER then E and N (neighbours at the bridge table) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RAINLESS | Dry and dull, first off (8) |
| bRAINLESS (dull) missing first letter | ||
| 2 | YURT | Why you are, before tea, announced in tent (4) |
| sounds (announced) like Y, U, R before T | ||
| 3 | ETHANE | Stupidly heat neon or other gas (6) |
| anagram (stupidly) of HEAT then NE (neon) | ||
| 4 | KINGLEAR | Awful regal family’s on top in this tragedy (4,4) |
| anagram (awful) of REGAL following KIN (family) | ||
| 5 | INTERLINED | Shut up about learner, one absorbed in text (10) |
| INTERNED (shut up) contains L (learner) and I (one) | ||
| 6 | RATTAN | Cane despicable chap — beat on bottom (6) |
| RAT (dispicable chap) on top of TAN (beat) | ||
| 8 | ENLIST | Join forces with soldiers wanting leader on border (6) |
| mEN (soldiers) missing leading etter then LIST (border, a hem etc). list=border was new to me, apparently also the derivation of list=joust, along border posts | ||
| 13 | CONGRUENCE | Huge concern, husband being missing, ruined match (10) |
| anagram (ruined) of hUGE CONCERN missing H (husband) | ||
| 16 | REUNIONS | Meetings one ruins, being out of order (8) |
| anagram (out of order) of ONE RUINS | ||
| 18 | SAND FLEA | Jumper found on beach, also key left nearby? (4,4) |
| AND (also) F (key, music) L (left) in SEA (nearby, to the aformentioned beach) | ||
| 19 | ADDICT | Little change once in a definitive work abridged for user (6) |
| D (a penny pre-1971, little change once) in A DICT (dictionary, work containing definitions, abridged) | ||
| 21 | LATVIA | Endlessly delayed travelling through part of EU (6) |
| LATe (deleayed, endless) then VIA (travelling through) | ||
| 22 | FIGURE | Work out, in shape (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 24 | WEAL | Set up regulation about drug producing mark on skin (4) |
| LAW (regulation) contains E (drug) reversed (set up) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
I completely missed the drinks but now see that they are clued in 14, 15, 17, 20
I sometimes have a tough time getting on with a Brendan. So I was happy to reel off the first third of this; and really liked 3d ETHANE.
But then I hit the wall and really struggled. Reached for the aids and did another third. But ultimately got tired of the slog and gave up.
I can’t really understand why, seeing the solutions now, but this just didn’t work for me.
Brendan is always enjoyable and this was at the tougher end of his range. SPELLING was last in and it took me a while to convince myself it was right. Was always looking for a Nina given the setter and the grid.
Thanks to Brendan and PeeDee
This is much cleverer than I realised and too clever for me – and especially as l didn’t even clock the extra PeeDee included in his introduction until brownphel pointed it out.
I set off at good pace and got about a third of the way through thinking “this is unusually straightforward for Brendan” and then ground to a halt. After that solutions came very slowly and sporadically.
Like PeeDee said I found some of the definitions tricky and I wasn’t convinced I’d got the right answer as I couldn’t parse them. 14a I still don’t get – why is spelling relieving? 23a I didn’t solve – and is now my favourite clue – “number” demonstrating both the delights and obtuseness of the English language.
List as a border is new to me, interlined I only know in the garment making context and maquette a completely new word.
Many thanks Brendan for a stretching and educative puzzle (in the setter’s art as well as the knowledge gained) and PeeDee for an illuminating blog that helped me see it all.
17 DRINKS = reason to halt cricket? Why especially cricket? I’d halt (nearly) any activity for a drink!
14 SPELLING = going – way too vague for my taste.
Nothing special about the rest for me.
Sorry – 14 . SELLING = going
This was enjoyable but took a while.
I completely missed the theme words around the edges of the grid, despite the clues as pointed out by brownphel@1. What a clever way to hide the theme, Brendan!
Favourite was 23a ETHERISING. Number was a great distractor in the definition.
Thanks to Brendan and PeeDee.
Interesting that @2 had exactly the same experience – our entries crossed as I was writing my essay slowly on my phone.
Apologies for repetition of what others have said, as I was typing when comments 3-6 came in.
And your comment too, WhiteKing – when I was typing my second remark – we were in the same boat!
Thanks PeeDee. I completely missed the drinks all round too but found that most of the answers wrote themselves in quite readily. I never did explain SAND FLEA though so thanks for that; in sea = nearby was just too abstruse for me.
mikilad @5 – stopping for drinks is specified in the laws of cricket. From Wikipedia:
Drinks intervals are agreed at the start of each day, but are not taken during the last hour of the match. Drinks intervals are particularly important when the game is played in hot climates. Games being played in heat of 40 degrees Celsius and above are not unknown. Drinks intervals may not last for more than 5 minutes.
More detail on intervals in The Laws of Cricket…
🙂 Julie. Please can someone help me understand relieving=spelling?
WhiteKing – I didn’t understand spelling either and had to look it up in Chambers. Spelling is taking turn at a job, so you are relieving the person currently working.
Always a joy to find a Brendan puzzle and I’m pleased to report that I noticed the 17a’s round the side too
Many thanks to setter and blogger too
Everyone don’t apologise… it’s pleasing to know that I wasn’t the only one who was un-effortlessy, un-working it out!!
I’m just selling outside for a walk.
Thank you Brendan and PeeDee.
All great fun. Spotted the SUNDRY DRINKS ALL-ROUND, but failed on SPELLING and did not fully parse SAND FLEA or ENLIST.
Many thanks to PeeDee and Brendan. This was a lot of fun.
I did see the perimeter drinks but not the clever signposting of them.
Although I could see that SPELLING had to be the answer at 14ac, it was the last one to be written in: the combination of the unknown – in that sense – SPELL and SELL = go was just too much. It’s my least favourite clue!
I took the ‘Roman’ in 9ac as the indicator for I, rather than part of the definition.
As others have said,some of this was very straightforward-KING LEAR, some quite tricky-DRINKS, and then there was SPELLING,which I didn’t like when I finally decided to bung it in, and still don’t like now -the Chambers explanation notwithstanding!
Quite enjoyed most of it though.
Thanks Brendan.
SPELLING was also my least favourite clue.
I’m glad it wasn’t just me!
14 ac – I had SWELLING (something that relieves internal pressure by going outside the body) . I think that’s at least a good answer as SPELLING.
Thanks PeeDee and Brendan
Is there a buried cricket theme, subsidiary to the drinks one? SUNDRY [Australian term for an extra] – DRINKS [interval – as in the clue] – ALL-ROUND, as in a cricketing all-rounder. And SPELLING, for giving a rest to a bowler by putting a new one on, is still sometimes used, by Australians especially. Exactly in the sense that the OED quotes from Walter Raleigh in 1595: “Euery gentleman and others taking their turns to row, and to spell one the other”. Great puzzle anyway, and thanks to Pee Dee for a commentary (and grid) worthy of it.
Fabulous stuff. Fired off thanks to the Guardian as soon as it was finished. For the most part, it was standard fare, and then when I finished it, I saw it all before me. What an achievement, and a hugely enjoyable solve and reveal.
Thanks both. Great prize puzzle. Struggled with SPELLING but then remembered “going for a song” = selling for a low price
Thanks for the explanation PeeDee which sheds light – but no “aha” moment of pleasure accompanies the understanding so I join others in being underwhelmed by it. As queenbarrow mentions, I have heard of spelling in the cricket context, and Ant’s selling out for a walk is most amusing.
Thanks PeterO and Brendan.
Brendan always has some indication of something hidden (or some other feature), so I always look for one. I didn’t see anything in the clued answers, but noticed RYE and KIR, and thought “drinks” which helped me, pleased as punch, fill in the periphery, which in turn helped solve some of the later answers.
Then I saw DRINKS ALL ROUND, wondered about its asymmetry, but missed entirely SPELLING SUNDRY.
Completely missed the nina and the clues pointing to it, but managed to finish it anyway. I had trouble with SPELLING, too (LOI), but after finding the appropriate meaning of spell in Chambers (and catching on to “going” as SELLING), I’m entirely satisfied with the clue.
@PeeDee
IONIAN doesn’t mean “Greek or Roman”, just “Greek”: “Roman” goes with “one” (Roman one (I) in island). Nice misdirection, as “Greek or Roman” is so easily taken as a semantic unit.
Also, to split hairs, letters for ALL aren’t necessarily part of the anagram fodder: they come first, before (DO RUN)*.
Great puzzle.
Romans and Greeks back in their right places. Thanks to all who pointed out the error.
Thanks to Brendan and Peedee. Unlike others I did not have trouble with SPELLING but was stymied by the combination of INTERLINED, DRINKS, and IONIAN.
Thanks PeeDee and Brendan! What a treat!
Tough in the top half. 4d was a new word, last but one.
Got 14a SPELLING my LOI in on second sitting after a good night’s sleep.
Have been reading Charles Todd mysteries – set in c 1914-18. The detective, Doctor or Rector uses the word spell in the sense of relieve .. which was a new usage to me.
Enjoyed the libations offered by Brendan, having gone around in circles to solve this!
15 and 17 are great clues.
Thanks all
Favourite was hurt.
Although I entered it early based on definition I too did not know list as border,
These pesky spell checkers!Of course it is yurt,