Nicely clued and quickly solved for the most part, held up by a few obscurities. Favourite was 2dn – thanks, Pasquale.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISENFRANCHISE | Shires financed unfairly, put beyond the possibility of democratic participation (14) |
| (Shires financed)* | ||
| 8 | LOCUM | Deputy officer in charge like Scottish chimney sweep (5) |
| OC=abbreviation of “officer in charge”; in LUM=”like Scottish chimney sweep”, as LUM is a Scottish word for chimney | ||
| 9 | BERATING | Rogue captured by person pulling up (8) |
| RAT=”Rogue” inside BEING=”person” | ||
| 11 | TROTTER | The baddy — not he who operated as market trader? (7) |
| definition refers to Only Fools and Horses [wiki] The ROTTER=”The baddy”, minus “he“ |
||
| 12 | AMNESTY | Little woman should keep home — pardon? (7) |
| AMY=”Little woman”, from Little Women [wiki]; around NEST=”home” | ||
| 13 | ALGID | Cold? It’s good to wear a hat (5) |
| G[ood] inside A LID=”a hat” | ||
| 15 | HEADPIECE | Item of armour wasn’t disturbed, we hear (9) |
| sounds like ‘had peace’=”wasn’t disturbed” | ||
| 17 | TWIN-SCREW | Heavenly pair work ship with two propellers (4-5) |
| TWINS=”Heavenly pair” referring to the constellation Gemini; plus CREW=”work ship” | ||
| 20 | NOT ON | 12 — time held to be impracticable (3,2) |
| NOON=”12″, around T[ime] | ||
| 21 | SUSPEND | Delay with our lot trapped in shed (7) |
| US=”our lot” in SPEND=”shed” | ||
| 23 | LAMARCK | Naturalist to attack feature of Genesis flood story, audibly (7) |
| =early evolutionary theorist [wiki] LAM=”attack”, plus ARCK as a homophone of ‘ark’=”feature of Genesis flood story” |
||
| 25 | INDICATE | Show home to fail as accommodation for pet (8) |
| IN=[at] “home”; plus DIE=”fail” around CAT=”pet” | ||
| 26 | HAUSA | Africans only half loathe America (5) |
| =an ethnic group, mainly living in Nigeria HA[te]=”only half loathe” plus USA=”America” |
||
| 27 | HOUSING ESTATES | What the state sector is doing, providing residential areas (7,7) |
| “the state sector” is HOUSING ESTATES | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DILETTANTISH | Pretty girl, embracing one Latvian worker, is like an amateur (12) |
| DISH=”Pretty girl”, around all of: I=”one” plus LETT=”Latvian” plus ANT=”worker” | ||
| 2 | SICKO | Thus floor a perverted person (5) |
| SIC=”Thus”, plus KO=knockout=”floor” | ||
| 3 | NEMATODES | Worms army chaps pulled up — poetic things (9) |
| T[erritorial] A[rmy] MEN=”army chaps”, reversed/”pulled up”; plus ODES=”poetic things” | ||
| 4 | REBIRTH | What could make one brighter, with suffering finally gone? (7) |
| REBIRTH could make – i.e. is an anagram of – “brighter” once the last letter of suffering is removed | ||
| 5 | NIRVANA | Grandma around one beginning to rest, very blissful state (7) |
| NANA=”Grandma”, around all of: I=”one”, the beginning of R[est], and V[ery] | ||
| 6 | HIT ON | Flirt greeting the fashionistas! (3,2) |
| HI=”greeting” plus TON=fashion or fashionable people=”the fashionistas” | ||
| 7 | SENESCENT | Seen to be dotty, having whiff, getting old (9) |
| (Seen)* plus SCENT=”whiff” | ||
| 10 | MYLEENE KLASS | “The thin form I have!”, said lingerie model (7,5) |
| =not a name I’ve heard in a while, and then only as a pop singer [wiki] sounds like ‘my lean class’=”The thin form I have” |
||
| 14 | GLISSANDO | Lad is struggling with song that has rapid succession of notes (9) |
| (Lad is song)* | ||
| 16 | PANAMA HAT | An Asian nurse in simple summer head covering (6,3) |
| AN plus AMAH=”Asian nurse”; inside PAT=”simple” | ||
| 18 | REDRAWN | Constituency boundaries will be — bloody harsh on Corbyn, ultimately? (7) |
| =referring to plans to change UK electoral constituencies in 2018 [wiki], expected to unfavourably affect Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party RED=”bloody” plus RAW=”harsh” plus [Corby]N |
||
| 19 | WALLEYE | Fish in passage you and I must catch (7) |
| ALLEY=”passage” inside WE=”you and I” | ||
| 22 | EVILS | Wicked folk losing head and what they are capable of (5) |
| [d]EVILS | ||
| 24 | ROUST | Head of state in defeat creating stir (5) |
| S[tate] in ROUT=”defeat” | ||
A few things to look up for confirmation today – ALGID, LAMARCK and HAUSA. Not heard of AMAH in PANAMA HAT.
I wonder what non-UK solvers will make of TROTTER and MYLEENE KLASS.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi.
Thanks both. 15a – HEAD sounds like HAD? Not on my manor, guv!
Thanks to you both
I failed to complete as I had nosepiece for 15a (which I arrogantly think is a better homophone!)
I agree with Shirl@2! I think it must mean peace in the head.
Apart from that oddity I found it quite tricky, as is usual with Pasquale. Liked REDRAWN and HOUSING ESTATES. MYLEENE KLASS rang some vague bells. Thanks to P & m.
After the cluster of homophones in NW corner from Qaos yesterday, two dubious ones now from Pasquale. Agree with Chris @1 and manehi about the obscurity of !0d and with Shirl @2 about the queen-speak of 15a. But otherwise, all fine and enjoyable – thanks to both
I’m a UK solver, but I’d never heard of the underwear model, who rang no bells at all, even after I looked her up. I was pleased to have guessed her correctly. And I agree with Shirl that HEAD isn’t a homophone for HAD (unless you’re the queen, perhaps?). I think it’s a weak clue.
I am a non-UK solver. I have never heard of Myleene Klass or The Trotter or Only Fools and Horses. I solved 10d with the help of google.
I could not parse 2d, 27a, 11a.
New words were ALGID, MYLENE KLASS, WALLEYE.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi.
Didn’t like this one much. The homophone at 10 was poor, IMO, and the lingerie model was very oddly clued. I don’t know much about her but I thought she was at least as well known for other talents and given the odd spelling of her name it seemed particularly unfair to clue it as another homophone rather than allowing us to obtain the letters through any other device. The Asian, Eastern European, African, fish and word for cold were all unknown to me but gettable from the wordplay. By the time I was writing the last solutions in, though, I had started shaking my head in disappointment, I’m afraid.
Given the Don’s abilities, I think probably says more about me than it does him so I am missing something, I expect, or perhaps you can’t please all of the people all of the time. That’s ok too. Thanks to S&B.
Strange this: about as quick a Pasquale solve as I can remember, yet oddly unsatisfactory. If they pronounce head as had in the Don’s home town, I’d be mighty surprised.
And the good thing about his puzzles is his ability to clue obscurities fairly, but I don’t think he has done so with MYLEENE KLASS. (Interesting to ponder whether she would be classed as an obscurity in any crossword set by the Sun.) First, the unexpected spelling of both elements needs more than a homophone, surely; and second, the definition gives her less well-known occupation. It is fun to see her in the Guardian though. I wonder if she would be surprised!
Thank you Pasquale and manehi.
I have seen Only Fools and Horses and Del Boy referred to while solving crosswords, but did not know the character’s surname was TROTTER, and the WALLEYE fish was unknown to me, apparently it is a North American relative of the European Zander (pikeperch). However, I managed to get all the answers from the clues and crossers, but had to check the spelling of MYLEENE.
The clues for HOUSING ESTATES and SICKO were great!
Well, I quite like the ‘my lean class’, but despise the ‘hed (sic) peace’.
Although I’ve heard 8dn frequently on Classic FM, I had no idea that she’d been a model (or even a pop singer) so needed all the checkers before I decided that this was the required solution.
After 2 days off I was pleased to finish this but had a number I couldn’t parse: I didn’t know the meanings of LETT, LUM or TON, I used SO for THUS in 2d and got stuck. New words were HAUSA, ALGID & WALLEYE. Didn’t like the Housing reference, nor the 15a homophone. Eventually got 10d, but I bet Marks & Spencer’s & Littlewoods are upset their advertising didn’t register so well with this audience. PS:I refuse to read the Sun as well.
Thanks to Manehi for the explanations and Pasquale for the challenge.
I liked this puzzle but would have preferred an attractive man in the clue for 1 down.
Pasquale must surely have known that Myleene Klass would kick up a fuss here! I bet he’s loving it. Personally, I like it when recent names come up, so I don’t have a problem with it. But while I know Myleene from Popstars as a pianist and singer, from TV and radio as a presenter and from M&S as a model, I don’t think that she is associated with lingerie! It was an interesting puzzle overall, though, with lots of new words form me: algid, walleye, Hausa ad twin-screw.
I rather liked this – including 10. Admittedly, she is know for many other things, but setters seem to have a penchant for choosing the most obscure of a number of possible definitions in order to keep us on our toes, so why not?
Although, at 15, I did wonder if Pasquale is either South African or related to royalty…
Easy start thanks to getting some long ones (1a and 1d) early, also for knowing NEMATODES – I guessed it as soon as I saw it and was pleasantly surprised that it parsed! The only new word for me was ALGID.
I had a mental block parsing 21 – I couldn’t see how “SPEND” could mean “SHED”, but reading manehi’s blog made it seem blindingly obvious. And I couldn’t parse 27 at all, but after reading the explanation it is one of those neat “clues within a clue” that I find very clever.
Still not sure about 8 – I got OC and LUM, but how does “like… sweep” indicate an envelope?
So thanks to Pasquale for the entertainment and to manehi for some much-needed explanations.
Thanks to Pasquale and manehi. As a US solver, MYLEENE KLASS defeated me (eventually after much experimenting I found her via Google) and I did not connect BERATING with “pulling up” but I did get TROTTER from the clues without understanding why and did know HAUSA and WALLEYE. As to ALGID (also new to me) I found the on-line comment: “Algid is a rather cold and lonely word, etymologically speaking-it’s the only word in any of the dictionaries we publish that comes from the Latin word alg?re, meaning “to feel cold.”
Sorry. The Latin verb should be printed as “algere.”
@Trismegistus
The only way I could see “like a Scottish chimneysweep” working would be for that phrase to suggest “being found in (a) lum” which (whisper it gently) suggests to me Don letting slip his inner Boatman
We enjoyed this.
@19 baerchen – Oh! Thank you! That makes sense – blindingly obvious now! 🙂
I’m surprised that some solvers thought that Myleene Klass was a bit obscure. Tramp devoted an entire Guardian crossword to her on Jan 22, 2015
Trismegistus @ 1 – “I couldn’t see how “SPEND” could mean “SHED”, but reading manehi’s blog made it seem blindingly obvious”.
How? It only seems to say that SPEND = “shed”, which I can’t see at all as synonyms.
Forgot to say that I don’t understand 4 dn at all. The whole thing is the definition? &lit then? What’s rebirth anyway?
ALGID, HAUSA and WALLEYE were all new to me, but the clues made these possible.
I had a few doubts about the way the clues worked for LOCUM, HEADPIECE, REBIRTH and HOUSING ESTATES, but all has been explained thanks to blogger and commenters.
I liked seeing the homophone for HEADPIECE described as queen-speak or South African!
13a ALGID, 1d DILETTANTISH, 2d SICKO and 18d REDRAWN were my favourites among an excellent set of clues today.
It was brave to make MYLEENE KLASS a part of this crossword. I remembered the name because it is so unusual, but I had no idea (or had simply forgotten) what she is famous for.
I had to look up a few things to complete this crossword, but it’s no bad thing to be made to do that sometimes – or even to learn new words.
Thanks to Pasquale and manehi.
I quite liked this although I was held up by a few relatively obscure words -WALLEYE and ALGID. Both fairly clued though! It’s good that MYLEENE KLASS is useful to crossword compilers: she’s quite useless at everything else! HIT ON and SICKO took me far too long but were amongst my favourites once I’d got them. My absolute favourite and FOI was LOCUM.
Thanks Pasquale.
Checking the wiki on Myleene Klass, I’m surprised that anyone was able to solve that clue regardless of residency, although she doesn’t seem to fall completely into the category of ‘famous for being famous’ like Amber Rose or the Kardashians.
I would like to blame not getting TROTTER or REDRAWN because I’m in the US but I’ve been struggling mightily with all the puzzles lately so I’m afraid I have to chalk it up to being overly 7d. And does anyone else think HEADPIECE sounds more like an item of drag rather than an item of armour?
@23 jeceris – if you spend, then you shed money (or energy…)
I don’t know why, the blog is not very explanatory on that, but it just hit me on reading it. Enlightenment, if not quite 5d. A koan?
As for 4d, not sure it is &lit either – I can’t see the definition, come to think of it. The word “one” seems to be superfluous, unless the definition is “What could make one” – i.e. rebirth could make you?
@27 BlueDot – I had the crossers K_A_S and thought, “Isn’t there a model with the surname Klass?” – which was only a short Google away from the answer. Google was essential for the spelling of Myleene…
As non-UK solvers, trotter was not a problem (close enough to runner), we had to check possible spellings for Myleene Klass, and were not fully committed to Locum until we saw the explanation here. Loved 25a.
I’m a great fan of the Don in all his guises and this puzzle was up to his usual high standards – even if, as a proud northerner, I was somewhat less than impressed by the attempted homophone at 15a. Maybe in such instances “according to upper-class twits” would be a better indicator.
Re Chris in France @1: Is there any reason why we should care about what non-UK solvers might think? I can’t say I’ve ever noticed LAT or NYT setters making cultural concessions to non-US solvers.
Re baerchen @19: It seems, every now and then, the Don likes to slip what we might call an experimental clue into his puzzles. 8a is a case in point and provides further evidence that there’s always scope for originality within a Ximenean framework. Boatman, I’m afraid, just isn’t in the same league and never will be.
Thanks to Pasquale for this one and to manehi for the blog.
I agree this was one of the Don’s more gentle solves, but I rather liked it.
I enjoyed MYLEENE KLASS (who I gather is an accomplished pianist, and nobody’s fool; there’s no clear reason why she wouldn’t be a Guardian crossword solver for all we know!) and the surface for REDRAWN was fun. But my favourite by a mile, and this proves how our tastes vary, was REBIRTH which I thought was an outstanding, even profound, &lit. Of course, now I’ve read others’ comments, I’m questioning myself – is it ‘only’ an &littish (whatever that is!) or one of those WIWD, a term coined/used by at least one of our bloggers… It makes no difference to me – I will stand by my conviction and gut feeling – I loved it. Two ticks worth and almost the reason I came here, to see what others felt. Oh well!
Many thanks to Pasquale and manehi
William F P @31
Good call with regard to Myleene Klass – this forum can be so broadening. I imagined her as ‘just a celeb’, but she can play the piano better than I can, and I don’t play the violin or harp at all.
Thanks both,
Finally got there. It’s wonderful what a bit of peace and a glass of Laphroig can do.
A surprisingly quick solve for me as well. The top half went in almost too easily,apart from ALGID which needed checking. The bottom half fell several hours later after the grandchildren had left! I was held up by having TWIN STARS rather than SCREW, but as usual I’ve only myself to blame. I did know of Myleene’s diverse careers, but was surprised to find her here. WALLEYE was new to me as well. Thanks to Pasquale and manehi.
I mostly enjoyed this, but totally agree with others that the homophone in 15a just doesn’t work. I also think “heavenly pair” is a clumsy clue for “twins” when “pair” would work just as well. Perhaps it was an attempt at misdirection, but if so it was an awkward one. I had to cheat 10d, though I have a vague recollection of seeing it in a Guardian cryptic before.
If this had been a Boatman puzzle, I have now doubt that people would be falling over themselves to remark on the ingenious use of the royal we to indicate that it is the Queen that is doing the hearing in 15a. I have no problem with the clue – it is obviously a “sounds like” rather than a “sounds the same as” clue and not a claim to homophonia.
The usual Pasquale technique of using ridiculously obscure words in the grid. (There are other ways of making a clue difficult Mr P!!!!)
However this time he spiced the whole thing up with some awful cluing and a two or three crap definitions.
Well done to him and our absent editor. 😉
IMHO of course 🙂
Dear friend, when is your first proper crossword going to appear?
BNTO, it is clear that you didn’t like this puzzle – fine by me [there are puzzles that I don’t like (but then others do)].
I also know that you’re not a Huge fan of Hugh.
But what is actually the point of posting a comment like this?
Sil @ 38
Agreed! And, of course, “ridiculously obsure” just means “I haven’t heard of it”. Reflection on solver, not setter.
My comments about LOCUM and REBIRTH have already appeared (I googled ALGID to make sure I hadn’t made it up).
When I googled MYLEENE KLASS, never having heard of her, her google entry had plenty of photos of her modeling in lingerie. (A word I will write but not speak, because I can’t stand “lonjaray” and nobody would understand me if I pronounced it right. So I pronounce it “underwear.”)
I looked up LAMARCK to see if I could make any connection between his famous theory of acquired traits being inherited and Noah’s Ark. What I found instead was a great respect for him from other scientists, including Darwin, because although he was wrong about acquiring inherited traits, he was right about the change in organisms being very slow and a response to the changing environment. The idea that plants and animals had changed over time was around long before Darwin; he was just the one who finally could explain how it happened.
It is now Thursday. I’ve been working on 10dn since Friday hoping that a bell would ring. Ended up with Mylenne K?a?s.
In my opinion, this was not a fair clue.
Across the pond I didn’t have trouble once I had the crossers for 10; first I googled “kraus ‘lingerie model'” and found several, but no single one very famous; then I tried “klass ‘lingerie model'” and there she was. Likewise for 11, “trotter ‘market trader'” turned him up. However, I wasn’t able to confirm “lam” for “attack” in 23; usually “lam” means “run away” over here. Loved 8 and 27.
“Myleen Klass”? Give me a break! Even Google had trouble finding this!