Some tricky clues here. Thanks to Philistine. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
I can’t make a connection (there probably is one) to the numerical answers: hundred and one, thousand, and eleven. That could be 101,011 which doesn’t ring a bell, whether in decimal or binary form (43 in decimal). Or that could be 1112, which doesn’t mean anything to me either.
Across
1, 12 Underhand scheme finished Dalmatians (7,3,3)
HUNDRED AND ONE : Anagram of(… scheme) UNDERHAND + DONE(finished).
Defn: Cryptic reference to the book and later films (one animation and one live-action) based on the book.
5 Cleaner‘s quiet constitutional? (7)
SHAMPOO : SH!(an interjection requesting quiet) + [A.M. POO](what you might call a morning bowel movement, euphemised as a “morning constitutional”).
Interestingly, this sense of the phrase is derived from the original “constitutional” (a walk that is good for your health), in times past when you had to literally walk to the outhouse toilet to do something good for your constitution.
10 Ponder almost getting slim (4)
THIN : “think”(to ponder) minus its last letter(almost).
11 Don overwhelmed by weapons and oaths (10)
SWEARWORDS : WEAR(to don, say, clothes) contained in(overwhelmed by) SWORDS(weapons).
12 See 1 and 13
13, 12 Nights of joiners in house not for refurbishment (8,3,3)
THOUSAND AND ONE : [ AND(a conjunction;a word joining clauses in a sentence) twice(…s) ] contained in(in) anagram of(… for refurbishment)HOUSE NOT.
Defn: Cryptic reference to the collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic, and also called The Arabian Nights.
14 Represent each boy provided with untimely end (9)
PERSONIFY : PER(each, as in “…$ per hour”) + SON(used by an older person to address a boy) + IF(provided;in the event that) plus(with) the last letter of(… end) “untimely“.
16 Walk down this to Get A Man? (5)
AISLE : Cryptic defn: What a bride walks down in church to get wed to or to get a man. A + ISLE(an example of which is Man in the Irish Sea).
17 Lucky German agreement may finally cover Muslim extremists (5)
JAMMY : [ JA(German for “yes”;in agreement) + the last letter of(… finally) “may” ] containing(cover) the 1st and last letters of(… extremists) “Muslim“.
19 Sporadic incursion of tiger, possibly into desert settlement (9)
SCATTERED : CAT(an example of which;possibly is a tiger) contained in(incursion … into) anagram of(… settlement) . DESERT
23 Better economic growth finally welcomed by intended trader (8)
MERCHANT : The last letters, respectively, of(… finally) “Better economic growth” contained in(welcomed by) MEANT(intended, as in “a gift meant to placate”).
24 Never let backs go round the team (6)
ELEVEN : Reversal of(… round) “Never let” minus the last letters, respectively(backs go).
Defn: … in, say, cricket or football.
26 15-cc turbo-assisted bike initially gets rickety on slope (10)
TABLESPOON : The 1st letters, respectively, of(… initially) “turbo-assisted bike” plus(gets) anagram of(rickety) ON SLOPE.
Defn: 15 cubic centimetres or millilitres, the volume of a tablespoonful of liquid.
27 Try to manage fruitful copper extraction (4)
FEND : “fecund”(fruitful;highly fertile) minus(… extraction) “Cu”(chemical symbol for the element, copper).
Defn: To look after oneself without the help of others.
28 18 is French and most cruel (7)
MEANEST : MEAN(an average, answer to 18 down) + EST(French for “is”).
29 Slumber wrap (7)
SWADDLE : S… + WADDLE(to lumber;to walk clumsily).
Down
2 Dement having broken machine gun with no weather protection (7)
UNHINGE : Anagram of(broken) “machine gun” minus(with no) “mac”(a mackintosh;a waterproof coat protecting one from bad weather).
3 Dog in wild (5)
DINGO : Anagram of(… wild) DOG IN.
Defn: A wild dog found in Australia. A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition).
4 Sweetheart seen with backward Oriental (7)
EASTERN : The central letter of(…heart) “Sweet” plus(seen with) ASTERN(in the backward direction on a ship or aircraft).
6 Fear of God doesn’t begin with rhyme or reason originally (6)
HORROR : “Thor”(a god in Norse mythology) minus its 1st letter(doesn’t begin) plus(with) the 1st letters, respectively, of(… originally) “rhyme or reason“.
7 Drunk homes in on this (9)
MOONSHINE : Anagram of(Drunk) HOMES IN ON.
Defn: Illegally distilled or smuggled liquor. Another WIWD clue.
8 Part of crossword in a language book (7)
ORDINAL : Hidden in(Part of) “crossword in a language“.
Defn: … giving the various church services.
9 You finally quit cosmetic enhancement? That’s a great blessing! (13)
BEATIFICATION : The last letter of(… finally) “You” deleted from(quit) “beautification”(cosmetic enhancement).
15 Mark climbing positions beset by bad omens (9)
SEMICOLON : Reversal of(climbing, in a down clue) LOCI(positions;localities) contained in(beset by) anagram of(bad) OMENS.
Defn: … used in punctuation.
18 A border round a fair (7)
AVERAGE : A + VERGE(a border;an edge) containing(round) A.
Defn: Not outstanding or exceptional in size or amount.
20 Essentially, it’s why sea, sky and current give that in which we have information (3,4)
THE KNOW : The central letters, respectively, of(Essentially) “it’s why sea, sky” plus(and) NOW(current;the present time).
Defn: From the phrase “in the know”.
21 At four, cancelled alternative arrangement and that’s permanent (7)
ETERNAL : [ “At “+ “IV”(Roman numeral for “four”) deleted from(cancelled) anagram of(… arrangement) “alternative“.
22 What solver does breech in an afterthought (6)
PARSES : ARSE(breech;the buttocks) contained in(in) PS(abbrev. for “postscript”;an afterthought added to the bottom of a message).
Defn: …, explaining how the crossword solution is derived.
25 Used 11 and blinded? (5)
EFFED : Cryptic defn: From the phrase “eff and blind”;to use swearwords;answer to 11 across.
Thank you to both. I found this relatively straightforward in the end. I think 16a is a + isle (of Man).
My favourites were SWEARWORDS, TABLESPOON, THE KNOW, MOONSHINE.
I could not parse 5a, 23a, 22d, 25d and still do not understand 25d : Cryptic defn: From the phrase “eff and blind”; to use swearwords – even though I know what effing means. Is it something to do with being drunk on alcohol (blind drunk?)
thanks blogger and setter
In your parsing of 16a, you have neglected to mention ‘A Man’ is ‘A isle’. A good workout overall.
Great puzzle! Very witty. Favourites were SHAMPOO, JAMMY, TABLESPOON and BEATIFICATION. Many thanks to Philistine and scchua.
Really enjoyed this one – as always with Philistine there is plenty of creativity. My favourites (and the hardest to parse) were SHAMPOO and SWADDLE. FEND was last in. I parsed AISLE the same way as Norbrewer @1.
Thanks to Philistine and scchua
Scchua, I’ve been thinking about your number problem. The only suggestion I have is that they add increasing 0s: 11, 101, 1001. Can’t see any significance though.
In binary 11,101,1001 makes 3,5,17. Should this have been published yesterday?
Sorry its 3,5,9 – can’t count!
Yep. The question mark is a giveaway.
Thanks, Norbrewer, Hovis, beeryhiker re AISLE. Blog edited accordingly.
Thank you Philistine and scchua.
Enjoyed this puzzle a lot. We hadn’t come across the meaning of constitutional as used? in 5a, so thank you for the extra information.
BH there? must be similar clues to 3d, but we can’t remember one.
Michelle – without researching it further, I think “blind” here relates to the imprecation of “God blind me” (gor blimey!).
(?)
Find this quite easy, got the dalmatians/arabian nights books reference quite soon.
Favourite TABLESPOON and SHAMPOO
I was just slightly delayed by SCATTERED since I would relate sporadic to time and scattered to space.
Fascinated by the binary date hypothesis!
Thank you, scchua.
Slap bang in my Goldilocks zone, this one. Challenging enough but full of fun.
Few clues make me giggle out loud but SHAMPOO did. Ticks also at BEATIFICATION, JAMMY, SCATTERED, & TABLESPOON.
Failed to adequately parse SWADDLE but like it now, and there was a lot more going on with AISLE than I thought.
Lovely crozzie all in all, many thanks, Philistine.
Nice week, all.
PS Tricky Captcha this morning; 1 + 1 = hmm, anyone?
PPS Just realised – it’s Star Wars Day!
I’ve always thought that the blinding was a euphemism for bloody as effing is a euphemism for a much stronger word but the God blind me explanation is interesting, particularly as we still use the expression ‘swore blind’.
Thank you Philistine and sschua.
I found the ‘solving’ relatively easy, but took a long time on the parsing – failed with SHAMPOO, but remember now that at boarding school we had to walk around the garden after breakfast.
1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 9 tribonacci numbers?
I may be in a minority here – and I did enjoy and admire the crossword overall – but was bothered by the repetition of a particular device which is surely, here, overdone? In clue order: finally, finally, initially, finally, essentially. A very mechanical way of indicating a single letter within an adjacent word or words. And in 14ac, ‘end’ does the same work as ‘finally’, makimg 6 instances in all. Most setters use that device, but are wise to use it sparingly.
On the numbers – well they are the first three in the sequence 10 to the power n + 1
Jenny & Charles – can’t find one that concise – these are the previous 6 occurrences:
Taupi 21657: Beast’s plea for silence? (5)
Araucaria 21879: Dog with job of silencer? (5)
Gordius 22802: Canine wrongdoing (5)
Rufus 23335: Noise and energy seen in dog that’s wild (5)
Puck 25420: Breeding of a little dog (5)
Philistine 26189: Dog in trouble with dog (5)
By @ 19 – my maths is a bit rusty but isn’t is 2 to the power of n plus 1?
No – forget that – I’m thinking of 1 3 9 – the binary equivalent – you are quite right
I’ll get me coat
Thanks Philistine; good crossword, slow going at the beginning but got there in the end.
Thanks scchua; there is a 1001 carpet SHAMPOO, but maybe that’s irrelevant. ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED is the same as ELEVEN HUNDRED; maybe clutching at straws! I can’t see any SCATTERED SWEARWORDS, but perhaps they’re there?
Nice constitutional and TABLESPOON.
I knew constitutional = walk but not the version here – I’d flirted with (SH)AMBLE but not strongly enough to enter it.
101 and 1001 really should have been write-ins but seeing the obvious hasn’t always been my strong point. By contrast the lift-and-separate in SWADDLE came naturally.
Thanks BH.
Apologies for the random question marks in our first post.
15 cubic centimetres or centilitres
Cubic centimetres are the same (nearly) as millilitres, centilitres are ten times bigger.
Beery @19 thanks. For n = 3, one could have fun with a clue like: 17 shifted to second base (3,8,3,3) especially if the setter could contrive some misdirect at 17 also.
…should have said n = 4 of course.
Thanks both,
Ultimately defeated because I had ‘personate’ for 14a parsed as PER SON (l)ATE.
Thanks to Philistine and scchua. Lots of fun. I parsed AISLE correctly but not SHAMPOO, SWADDLE, or FEND, and JAMMY and eff and blind were new to me.
Much enjoyment here. aisle reminded of a song a pal wrote about an old girlfriend getting married. Entitled
‘Aisle Altar Hymn’
As an aside and coincidence both answers AISLE and MERCHANT are clued in the Times today.
I enjoyed this but I had -and still have- no idea what the numbers were all about and I’m not sure I want to know! My favourite was FEND, which was also my LOI, and I liked SWEARWORDS and SHAMPOO.
Thanks Philistine.
Thanks all
I thought this one was amongst the easier efforts from P.
I could not entirely parse ,”eleven.
Sorry, sidey@25. Yes, I meant ml and not cl.
Chambers’ Thesaurus lists swaddle as a meaning of slumber, though I like s-waddle better.
17 is the next number in the series, and 17 is the Star Tarot card which is considered ‘Lucky’ – as William @15 points out today is Star Wars Day.
PS, Noorbrewer @6 series is probably the relevant one, 10001 giving 17.
Lovely puzzle! I haven’t enjoyed a crossword so much in years!
I was about to give up with 3 to go, but 19 was the antepenultimate and I liked it so much I decided to keep going. LOI was 26, and I admit to cheating a little – I Googled 15-cc, but I’d only got as far as “5 cc is a teaspoonful” when the penny dropped. Though it was more like a cascade of pennies. 1,001 pennies perhaps.
And then I come to 225 to check my answers, and find that there is another puzzle to solve! Regarding the number theory, I think the sequence may be 1 (from 12), 11 (from 24), 101 (from 1,12) and 1001 (from 13,12). These can be arranged on 4 lines to form a triangle, which my memory vaguely tells me may be significant – sort of a binary Pascal’s Triangle, perhaps, but beyond that I have no recollection.
Thanks to Philistine for a sometimes tough but ultimately very rewarding puzzle, and to scchua for setting me right on some of the parsings.
SHAMPOO obviously funny for those who knew that meaning of constitutional, but absolutely incomprehensible to those who didn’t.
Never mind, the rest was good fun.
Quenbarrow at 18. The ‘ultimate’ and similar devices have indeed become overused. I remarked on it a few years ago. Setter Paul (whom I admire) can be guaranteed to use it more than most.
Embarrassing confession: I realized early on that 15cc was about a tablespoon and assumed that some abbreviation for “tablespoon” would form part of the wordplay. I could not manage to see that “tablespoon” itself might be the answer, making it my LOI.
I didn’t know the expression “eff and blind”, so I couldn’t parse 25d. I didn’t know that “breech” could refer to the butt of a person as well as a gun. I also failed to parse 5a and 29a, but upon learning how it works I now think 5a is brilliant.
Ted @ 41
Think of breeches as a sort of trousers, or breeches buoy, in which the rescuee sits.
hth
A good workout and fun, but like quenbarrow I thought there was an overuse of the “initially/essentially/finally” device. Big smile at SHAMPOO, liked TABLESPOON and needed the blog to parse SWADDLE and ETERNAL. Thanks to Philistine and schuaa.
Brilliant puzzle.
I thought it was just the “AND ONE” connection and didn’t bring ELEVEN into the reckoning.
They seem to have got the software to support this sort of thing now – so that’s a step forward.
Either way it was the cluing that made it – I think these clever-clever things like ninas and pangrams are just a seeding strategy to overcome the curse of the blank canvas and get started on a gridfill without any other clear intention in mind.