An enjoyable gentle workout from Eccles today. Apart from my moans about the way that language is evolving — and some would say just live with it — there are a whole lot of pleasant simply-constructed clues here.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
It all looks straightforward enough to me and I can’t see a Nina, which isn’t to say that there isn’t one, particulary as Eimi’s justification for less than 50% checking (3dn, 14dn) tends to be a Nina.
| Across | ||
| 6 | PLUMAGE | Down and out male with pug (7) |
| (male pug)* | ||
| 7 | LEANDER | Hero worshipper is less fat without beginning to diet (7) |
| lean(d{iet})er | ||
| 9 | TRYST | Score with pious type in secret rendezvous (5) |
| try [= score, as in rugby] st [= saint, pious type] | ||
| 10 | STRIP CLUB | Band of 7 having excursion in salacious location (5,4) |
| S (trip) Club — ref. S Club 7, the pop group | ||
| 11 | HAPLESS | Unlucky, pal, she’s dodgy (7) |
| (pal she’s)* | ||
| 13 | FREEZE | Don’t move kitchen equipment right away (6) |
| freeze{r} | ||
| 15 | DRESS REHEARSALS | Show people fully clothed in these? (5,10) |
| CD, and as is my way with these things, my last one in, for which I needed aids | ||
| 17 | ABROAD | A way less travelled overseas (6) |
| A B-road | ||
| 18 | EXTREMA | The high and low points: in context, remarkable (7) |
| Hidden in contEXT, REMArkable | ||
| 21 | TRADE NAME | Exchange handle in Homebase, say (5,4) |
| trade [= exchange] name [= handle] | ||
| 22 | USE UP | Finish employment at university (3,2) |
| use [= employment] up = [at university] | ||
| 24 | ENGAGES | Occupies fruit garden, oddly abandoned (7) |
| {gre}engages, the gre being g{a}r{d}e{n} | ||
| 25 | DIAMOND | I’m working in the outskirts of Driffield, and it’s very hard (7) |
| D(I am on)d, the two d’s being D{riffiel}d | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RUBY | Wax and massage with happy ending (4) |
| rub {happ}y — ref. Ruby Wax | ||
| 2 | RATTLE | Fluster conductor (6) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 3 | PERSISTED | Carried on as a close relative almost died (9) |
| per [= a] siste{r} d | ||
| 4 | DAPPERER | Relatively smart red paper pants (8) |
| (red paper)*, pants the anagram indicator, which is becoming increasingly widespread despite the antipathy of some | ||
| 5 | ADULTERATE | Corrupt amount mature person has to pay to receive drug (10) |
| adult (E) rate | ||
| 6 | PITCHED BATTLE | Tried to sell club, then regularly stalled, leading to fierce encounter (7,6) |
| pitched [= tried to sell] bat {s}t{a}l{l}e{d} | ||
| 7 | LIRA | In Turkey, one is a bit of a pervert, it’s said (4) |
| “leerer” — a lira is a bit (a coin) in Turkey — you might think a lira was a note not a coin, but evidently in 2009 a 1 lira coin was introduced | ||
| 8 | RUBBER-STAMPED | Some bridge getting packed is approved without consideration (6-7) |
| rubbers [as in the game of bridge] tamped [= packed] | ||
| 12 | PREARRANGE | Pressure on back row to sort things out in advance (10) |
| p rear range | ||
| 14 | REFERENDA | Before and, unusually, after official polls (9) |
| ref [= official] ere (and)* — although some think it should be referendums and that referenda is a solecism based on thinking the …um ending makes it a noun that can be pluralised, whereas it’s an …endum eding, something to do with gerunds etc. But an increasingly widespread usage (alas!). | ||
| 16 | SPACE AGE | One small step in wise man’s lifetime of out-of-this-world travel (5,3) |
| s(pace)age — referring to Neil Armstrong’s “One small step for man, …” | ||
| 19 | TOUCAN | Nearly fondle a northern bird (6) |
| touc{h} a n — though touch = fondle seems a bit of a stretch | ||
| 20 | BASS | Bishop’s bottom producing low frequency sound (4) |
| B ass — and again, as in 14dn, I suppose that if enough people use ass to mean arse then we must just shrug our shoulders and say well that’s the way things have gone and we must live with it; not long ago one might have said that ‘ass’ was such an Americanism that it should be signposted as such by the setter, but nowadays perhaps that’s no longer necessary. | ||
| 23 | EROS | Painful back for love god (4) |
| (sore)rev. | ||
*anagram
In 3D, I took ‘a’ as being ‘per’, with ‘as’ as a link word. In 8d, I parsed as rubbers + tamped.
Yes of course you’re right Mike. Blog corrected.
A fairly benign and pleasant solve, though with the usual few I couldn’t parse including 10a and 24a. I’m not a great fan of ‘pants’ as an anagram indicator either, but I do like DAPPERER as a word. DRESS REHEARSALS took a while and was also my last in.
Thanks to Eccles and John.
Thanks for blogging, John.
Gentle enough (my kind of cryptic, in other words). Couldn’t solve LIRA, though. ASS for ARSE? Given up on complaining about it. We’ll be having CENTER, THEATER and GRAY without an indication that it’s American English soon. Bloody Yanks interfering with my mother tongue.
Rant over. Thanks to Jennifer Eccles too.
Enjoyable stroll from Jennifer, but with the usual couple at the end that took half as long as the rest of the puzzle (the pair at 7). Lots of nice stuff with smooth, consice and often amusing surfaces with my pick of the day being 7d – even if it was a couple of steps up in difficulty from the rest of the puzz – so many thanks to the object of Clarke or Nash’s affection for the crossie and to the Johnster for the blog.
*concise
A pleasant stroll in the park from Eccles. I must defend ‘referenda’: it is the more common form, it is etymologically unimpeachable (gerunds have plurals too; cf ‘agenda’) and is sanctioned by every dictionary – it’s hard to know how much more correctness is required or even possible. And can anyone explain what is wrong with ‘pants’ (shoddy, terrible) as an anagrind? For my money it is a wonderfully colourful piece of slang (and in modern dictionaries). I forget if I have used it but you may certainly expect it!
Struggled a bit with 7 down, not helped by the fact that I had it in my mind that the Turkish currency was the Dinar. Also couldn’t quite work out 24 – thought of gage as a fruit but not greengage. I thought 15 across was slightly questionable – does it mean the “show people” are not fully clothed in the non-dress rehearsals? Maybe “properly clothed” would have been better.
But Bottom was indeed an ass, if I remember my school Shakespeare …
Thanks to Eccles for an enjoyable puzzle, and thanks to John for the blog.
I’ve been to Gt. Driffield many times and can therefore particularly appreciate the surface of 25
I think pants is one of those fashions some setters have latched on to thinking it makes them sound ‘down wiv the yoof’. They’ll probably grow out of it.
rinsp @ 11
If setters are still using SA & IT, it may take a while…
Thank you for the blog and comments. All noted, but I’m afraid pants will be on display again soon. Young Jennifer was fairly promiscuous in songs, not just appearing in the Hollies’ song. I will now go and take my medicinal compound.