A smooth, straightforward offering from Nutmeg this morning.
FIlling in the first few answers, I thought this was going to be a dull, dry puzzle, but I warmed to it in the end. The dull clues such as 1d and 4a were soon forgotten as better clues popped up, with my favourites being 21a and 23d.
Thanks, Nutmeg
| Across | ||
| 1 | PIPED | Tweeted, like a wagtail quietly absorbed (5) |
| PIED (having two colours – “like a wagtail”) with P (quietly) “absorbed” | ||
| 4 | UNBROKEN | Whole global organisation not working (8) |
| U.N. (United Nations – “global organisation”) + BROKEN (not working) | ||
| 8 | TARGET PRACTICE | Surgery on butt when shots may go astray? (6,8) |
| PRACTICE (surgery) “on” TARGET (butt) | ||
| 10 | EPHEMERA | Flipping hard exercises: Nutmeg’s in time and they don’t last long (8) |
| <=H(ard) P.E. (exercises) + ME (Nutmeg) “in” ERA (time) | ||
| 11 | BUDDHA | Sign of new life had excited man of faith (6) |
| BUD (sign of new life) + *(had) | ||
| 12 | SANDBLAST | Roughly clean son, to accompaniment of cursing (9) |
| S(on) AND BLAST (cursing) | ||
| 15 | SAPID | Nice tasting bit of pork’s spoken about (5) |
| P(ork) with SAID (spoken) “about” | ||
| 17 | HYENA | Bird nipping tail of margay (a carnivore) (5) |
| HEN (bird) “nipping” (marga)Y + A | ||
| 18 | DEPOSITED | Saved, having sworn to limit sex (9) |
| DEPOSED (sworn) “to limit” IT (sex) | ||
| 19 | ELISHA | Prophet seen in chapel is harmless (6) |
| Hidden in “chapEL IS HArmless” | ||
| 21 | SEARCH ME | Misdirected letters from a schemer I don’t know (6,2) |
| *(a schemer) | ||
| 24 | SUPERIOR PLANET | Rogue star people ruin Mars, for one (8,6) |
| *(star people ruin) | ||
| 25 | WEARIEST | Ram caught in rain most thoroughly whacked (8) |
| ARIES (“ram” in astrology) “caught in” WET (rain) | ||
| 26 | STONY | Unproductive end to talks Blair pursues (5) |
| (talk)S + TONY (Blair) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | POTTERS WHEEL | Harry’s turn to find base for craftsman (7,5) |
| Harry (POTTER’S) + WHEEL (turn) | ||
| 2 | PERCHANCE | Fish with spots caught nearer the bottom, maybe (9) |
| PERCH (fish) + ANCE (ACNE (spots) with the C “nearer the bottom”) | ||
| 3 | DREAM | Fancy doctor on trial blowing kiss (5) |
| Dr. (doctor) “on” E(x)AM(trial, without the X (kiss)) | ||
| 4 | UPPER HAND | Capital case worker gets control (5,4) |
| UPPER (capital case) + HAND (worker) | ||
| 5 | BRAY | Beastly sound from noted vicar’s abode (4) |
| Double definition.
The Vicar of Bray is a traditional satirical song about the lengths a vicar goes to to ensure that he stays on the rigt side of his church’s changes. For more, see The Vicar of Bray |
||
| 6 | OUTBURSTS | Tirades from Brutus, lost without Latin for translation (9) |
| *(brutus ost) where the OST is LOST without L(atin) | ||
| 7 | EL CID | Hazard hampering Leander’s first return to see Hero (2,3) |
| <=DICE (hazard) “hampering” L(eander)
The name given by the Moors to Rodrigo, an 11th century Castilian hero. |
||
| 9 | LANDED GENTRY | Eg lairds arrived gradually, going from left to right (6,6) |
| LANDED (arrived) + GENT(l)(R)Y (gradually with the L(eft) replaced by R(ight)) | ||
| 13 | BEACHWEAR | Every woman’s put up with clothing habits at the seaside (9) |
| BEAR (put up with) “clothing” EACH (every) W(oman) | ||
| 14 | TOP SECRET | Note penned by leading faction for minimal circulation (3,6) |
| RE (musical “note”) “penned by” TOP (leading) + SECT (faction) | ||
| 16 | PITCH INTO | Make a start on horse, astride it with child behind (5,4) |
| PINTO (horse) “astride” IT + CH(ild) | ||
| 20 | IN USE | Operating without losing initial energy (2,3) |
| (m)INUS (without, “losing initial”) + E(nergy) | ||
| 22 | ROLLS | Bread, a status symbol for the rich? (5) |
| Double definition, the second refering to a Rolls Royce. | ||
| 23 | FIVE | Cardinal has predecessor cast in iron (4) |
| IV (four, so “predecessor” to five, the answer) “cast in Fe. (iron) | ||
*anagram
Lots to enjoy, as always with this setter. If I had to pick one clue, I think PERCHANCE was the highlight.
Thanks, Nutmeg and loonapick.
Quite an enjoyable solve in which I set myself the goal of not using any online aids. As someone said earlier in the week, applying just one’s own brainpower certainly makes for a more satisfying solve.
I saw 1d POTTERS WHEEL when I was printing off the puzzle, so it was good to start with that rather than follow the usual numerical order. I took far too long than I should have over 12a SANDBLAST and 23d FIVE. I had not heard of Mars as being categorised as a 24a “SUPERIOR” PLANET, but that was all it could be from the anagram, and I was unfamiliar with the vicar and his song, so 5d BRAY was a guess. The latter and UNBROKEN at 4a were my LOIs (or should that be LOsI?).
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick.
I think my earlier comment disappeared into the ether. I enjoyed this one but found it a little easier than most of Nutmeg’s recent puzzles, though a couple of the parsings needed more thought. Liked LANDED GENTRY
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick
Thanks for the blog, loonapick and Nutmeg for another elegant and enjoyable puzzle.
I particularly liked the surface of 7dn, with its reference to the story of Hero and Leander https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_and_Leander and enjoyed revisiting The Vicar of Bray [well worth following loonapick’s link – and the annotations – Julie @2].
I also liked LANDED GENTRY and SEARCH ME.
Lovely puzzle, all very enjoyable. Got confused by putting in BURSTOUTS rather than OUTBURSTS, but eventually sorted it out. Favourites were EPHEMERA, LANDED GENTRY and PIPED. Not sure that BUDDHA is strictly speaking a man of faith, but I suppose people have faith in him. Many thanks to N and l.
Thank you Nutmeg and loonapick.
I found this most enjoyable, in particular the clues for FIVE, EL CID, SEARCH ME, PERCHANCE, TOP SECRET and I could continue.
The concept of SUPERIOR PLANETs, and inferior planets, was new to me.
Like Brummie yesterday, Nutmeg is a setter I can struggle with, but this went smoothly – until a long time spent staring at 4a / 5d. I feared I might have had a delay like yesterday’s, but I did the Sudoku and came back to an immediate UNBROKEN and hence dimly-remembered BRAY.
BEACHWEAR favourite, but maybe that’s just because it’s a lovely day.
FIVE – clue of the week!
Lovely puzzle, many thanks both.
Slightly held up by my perennial inability to sort out practise/practice. Can someone remind me of a simple mnemonic for that?
Failed on FIVE – lovely clue.
Nice week, all.
William @9, practice ends with ice which is a noun, practise is the verb, the same goes for advice and advise , device and devise and perhaps others (the problem is that Americans use practice as a verb, so things get confusing).
Thanks both.
I liked ‘five’.
It’s wISE to practISE so do your practICE twICE.
Oi’ll give it foive!
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick. Very enjoyable. I knew about the Vicar of Bray but not about SUPERIOR PLANET (though the cluing was sufficient) but had trouble parsing DREAM (I missed exam=trial) and IN USE (I did not spot the (m)inus).
Thanks alI usually struggle with Meg’s efforts but found this slightly easier.
Best clue for five, lovely.
I was held up by the need to convince myself that sworn (to) = deposed, still not convinced!
Cookie @10 & Tyngewick @11 Both excellent, many thanks.
Thanks Nutmeg & loonapick
RCW @ 14: it’s in the sense of a sworn statement/affidavit, or deposition.
hth
One of the Guardian’s best compilers I think. Surfaces that convey a meaning that’s believable, grammatically sound, and there’s a pleasing consistency across the piece.
FIVE I thought a nice idea, though made difficult by the use of ‘cast’ as part of the insertion instructions.
A straightforward but very satisfying puzzle. I particularly enjoyed 23d.
drofle @ 5: I took “man of faith” to mean “man associated with a faith”, which is a reasonable fit for the Buddha.
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick
Thanks Nutmeg and loonapick
Very pleasant without any outstanding clues for me – BUDDHA and BRAY were favourites. Unusually for a Nutmeg puzzle, a couple of things I didn’t like – “bit of pork” for P in SAPID, and EXAM = “trial” in 3d (“test” would have been better).
1d POTTERS WHEEL was not an immediate solve for me like it was for Julie @2 – when I see ‘Harry’ I don’t think of ‘Potter’ like I should – but it was straightforward enough when three crossers came along.
I found the puzzle as a whole not too easy but very satisfying, the standard of clueing being at a high level as I always find with Nutmeg. That made 4a UNBROKEN stand out, the wordplay being UN + BROKEN, but nearly all the remaining clues were exemplary. I failed to parse, or fully parse, four of the clues, but the explanations here show that I was to blame.
I particularly liked 1a PIPED, 26a STONY, 21a SEARCH ME and 23d FIVE.
Many thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick.
Excellent puzzle. As has been remarked, not too hard. Standout clues for me FIVE, PERCHANCE, BUDDHA, IN USE, ROLLS. Thanks, Nutmeg and loonapick.
[Just to clarify, “pied” generally means “black and white”. There is a species of black and white wagtail called the “Pied Wagtail”]
Quite a nice puzzle which I solved in a leisurely fashion while sitting in the garden enjoying the sunshine. I liked SAPID and TARGET PRACTICE. POTTERS WHEEL took a while but became obvious once the crossers were in. Bit easier than usual? Perhaps it was the sunshine!
Thanks Nutmeg.
Peter @23
I didn’t like SAPID because “bit of pork” might also have been O, R or K. “Bit of rump steak” might have been more amusing!
Not too tricky from Nutmeg and no major hold-ups – think it took me just under an hour which is pretty good by my standards!
I have a problem with 15 SAPID. Don’t like that “bit of pork”. Would have been better clued, IMO, as “Nice tasting starter of pork’s……” etc.
Maybe there is too much use of initial letters in this puzzle? 13d BEACHWEAR using W for Woman is also suspect in my view. It’s of course OK when the letters are in common use in the language, like L and R for Left and Right. But is W a common abbreviation for ‘Woman’?
Sorry to be rather critical, but after all this is a feedback site.
Thankyou Simon S.
Why does cardinal mean five? 23d
Paula, Cardinal is ‘five’ because five is an example of a cardinal number (one, two, three, etc) as opposed to an ordinal number (first, second, third). Hope that helps.
Simpler mnemonic? Advise, advice
At school, we were told it was “C the noun, S the verb” (doesn’t work in America, mind you)
Thank you, Kathryn’s Dad!
FirmlyDirac @25, my only quibble in an otherwise fine puzzle was also the use of W (in 13d).
I am surprised to see Nutmeg using W = woman, and even more surprised to see that virtually nobody objected.
Some will always come up with some kind of justification.
But, for me, it is ‘suspect’ too.
W = women, isn’t it?
Very enjoyable. Like a breath of fresh air, after struggling with a Screw puzzle a week or two ago.
Why is “ch” = child in 16d?