Well, here’s a surprise – Pasquale rather than Rufus in the Monday slot. This should cause some discussion. 😉
More of a challenge than usual for the beginning of the week but not so tough as Pasquale can be, I thought. I also found solving it more fun than usual with this setter, with some witty clues and amusing story-telling surfaces. IÂ particularly liked 13, 18 and 25ac and 5,20dn is a classic.
As to be expected, there are some less familiar words but – also as expected – these are fairly clued and not too difficult to parse, making for an enjoyable solve overall.
Thanks to Pasquale.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 After disturbance, centre court’s crowd finally gets composed again (13)
RECONSTRUCTED
Anagram [after disturbance] of CENTRE COURT’S [crow]D
10 Fixer to note: this is lacking muscle tone (9)
HYPOTONIC
HYPO [fixer – Chambers: ‘short for hyposulphate, in the sense of sodium thiosulphate, used as a fixing agent’] + TONIC [note] – a little weak, in that ‘tone’ and ‘tonic’ are from the same root, or ‘water from the same well’, as Uncle Yap used to say
11 Prank on the Queen makes one very cross (5)
RAGER
RAG [prank] + ER [the Queen]
12 Nest I had established in student organisation (5)
NIDUS
I’D [I had] in N[ational] U[nion] of S[tudents]
13 Only for blokes, girl shows sluggishness (9)
STAGNANCY
STAG [only for blokes] + NANCY [girl]
14 After meal, left university to tidy up (7)
UNEATEN
U [university] + NEATEN [tidy up] – the definition’s a little inelegant, but clear
16 Editor turning to drink, one with last word? (7)
DECIDER
A reversal [turning] of ED [editor] + CIDER [drink]
18 More than one saw some tot misbehaving (7)
MOTTOES
Anagram [misbehaving] of SOME TOT
20 End of term, when book’s to be returned? (3,4)
DUE DATE
Double definition, ‘term’ referring to pregnancy
21 Revolting man, who’s a bit of a game (9)
JACKSTRAW
JACK STRAW [revolting man] – not a slur on the former Labour politician : this ‘revolting man’ was one of the leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt – see here for the game of jackstraws
23 Corn — that which is full of energy? (5)
WHEAT
WHAT [that which] round E [energy]
24 Graduate school first to get low grade (5)
GAMMA
GAM [school – of whales – which we had on Friday] + MA [Master of Arts – graduate]
25 Sea god, grabbing English princess, attempted seduction (5,2,2)
TRIED IT ON
TRITON [sea god] round E [English] DI [princess]
26 Where a summary may be found, theoretically (2,3,8)
IN THE ABSTRACT
Double definition
Down
2 No longer taking exercise, one in depression needed to get fit (9)
EXPEDIENT
EX [no longer] + PE [exercise] + I [one] in DENT [depression]
3 Conspirator established a ring for revolution (5)
OATES
A reversal [for revolution] of SET [established] A O [a ring]: Titus Oates fabricated the Popish Plot against Charles II
4 King, consumed by evils, becomes understood (5,2)
SINKS IN
K [king] in SIN SIN [evils]
5,20 Might he be cruelly construed as Darwin’s arch kid? (7,7)
RICHARD DAWKINS
Clever allusive anagram [cruelly construed] of DARWIN’S ARCH KID
6 Story of church fellow in charge, having drink, losing head (9)
CHRONICLE
CH [church] + RON [fellow] + IC [in charge] + [a]LE [drink]
7 English spirit? Little left in a Scottish place (5)
ELGIN
L [little left] in E [English] GIN [spirit]
8 Unnamed items, poor devices getting sticky inside (13)
THINGUMMYJIGS
GUMMY [sticky] inside THIN [poor] JIGS [devices]
9 Style me angrier type in religious get-together (6,7)
PRAYER MEETING
Anagram [style] of ME ANGRIER TYPE
15 Irish chief has philosophical principal one gets to see through, not right (9)
TAOISEACH
TAO [philosophical principle!] + I [one] + SEA[r]CH [see through, minus r – right] – I now have a mnemonic for the spelling of the title of the Irish prime minister, should I ever need it again
17 System of reasoning set up has frantic hospital missing out (9)
DIALECTIC
A reversal [up] of LAID [set] + [h]ECTIC [frantic, minus h – hospital]
19 Musical passage starts to sound terrific, really exciting to the audience (7)
STRETTA
Initial letters [starts] of Sound Terrific Really Exciting To The Audience
22 Endless manure thrown over home plant (5)
CUMIN
A reversal [thrown] of MUC[k] [endless manure] + IN [home]
23 Sort of bird to deviate, missing north (5)
WADER
WA[n]DER [deviate] missing n [north]
I groaned when I saw this setters name but as you say Eileen, not as tough as he can be.
Enjoyed this one. Thanks
I loved 5/20- a nice change on a monday morn. Thanks to Eileen and pasquale.
Thanks, Eileen and Pasquale.
I too was surprised at a P on a Monday, but, as you say, not to difficult and entertaining in places.
I though there was a mistake in 4d (a missing word for “in”), but your explanation cleared that up, and making it a decent clue.
NIDUS (though I didn’t think I knew the word) was FOI.
Thank you for saving me from a lot of typing Eileen – your blog put my thoughts into words exactly!
Thanks to Pasquale for the enjoyable challenge.
Thanks Pasquale and Eileen.
Yes a different sort of Monday – good for a change, even though I spent longer solving than I usually would at the beginning of the week.
The long 13 letter clues around the edges were fun and helpful for the crossers. I agree, Eileen, I also liked 13a STAGNANCY and 18a MOTTOES. 26a IN THE ABSTRACT was another one I circled. However, the anagram for 5d,20d RICHARD DAWKINS, was definitely my favourite, so I was with you on that one, copmus and Eileen. 12a NIDUS and 21a JACKSTRAW were unfamiliar but gettable. Just one niggle – I was very iffy about corn as the definition for WHEAT, 23a, as I thought they were entirely different grains, but maybe I’m missing something?
Aplogies for PRINCIPAL instead of PRINCIPLE and the double verb usage at 15D, despite many many checks of the clues. Very annoying — very sorry
Hi Julie @5
I thought CORN might cause problems: I’ve always thought of it as a collective word but I knew it had different connotations in different parts of the world. Collins: ‘1. any of various cereal plants, especially the predominant crop of a region, such as wheat in England and oats in Scotland…2. the usual US , Canadian, Australian and NZ name for maize…’
I knew NIDUS as Latin for nest but didn’t know of its English usage.
[Thanks for dropping in, Pasquale.]
Pasquale @6: Aplogies? what are those? 🙂
Julie in Australia@5: CORN can refer to any kind of hard grain or seed, cf. peppercorn, barleycorn etc. When I was growing up (in Ireland) we often saw “cornfields” that were actually wheat. Nowadays of course it mainly means maize, following American usage.
Very enjoyable, thank you Pasquale and Eileen.
I struggled in the SW corner as I had SHADE (S + HAD + E) for 24ac even though the parsing was a bit dodgy.
Mrs D and I had a discussion last week about the difference between wheat and corn – plenty on the subject in Google.
Corn is a common word for wheat in British English. ‘Fair waved the golden corn in Canaan’s pleasant land’ as the hymn has it. American English does not use the word in this sense and clearly nor does Australian English.
This was perhaps a bit difficult for the Monday slot, but I managed to get there despite the obscurities. I hadn’t heard of NIDUS but it had to be that. I put in GAMMA but couldn’t parse it, even though we did have GAM just last week! Must repeat to myself “GAM = school”!
I agree that 5d, 20d was really good.
Eileen, I thought “thrown over” was the reversal indicator in 22d. “Thrown” by itself seems to suggest an anagram rather than reversal.
JimS @11
I did wonder about that, then decided – probably wrongly – that ‘over’ [in a down clue] clue indicated ‘before’.
[I’m going out now, so any more quibbles must wait till mid-afternoon.]
Thank you Pasquale and Eileen.
I guess people on holiday will have been happy to get a more challenging crossword than the usual Monday ones. I really enjoyed it, my favourite clue was that for RICHARD DAWKINS.
Thanks to Eileen and others for that “corn” explanation. I did wonder whether there may be a different usage in the UK from Australia and the US.
[i appreciated the apology from Pasquale too. I must say I did have a little smile at your use of the “red pen” in your solve of 15d TAOISEACH, Eileen.]
Repeal of the Corn Laws 1846. the great turning point of British history. all about wheat.
BUT surely it’s stretto, not stretta?
Iain McLean @15, wiki gives “in non-fugal compositions, a stretto (also sometimes spelled STRETTA) is a passage, often at the end of an aria or movement, in faster tempo.”
I only knew STRETTO too, but it’s Pasquale, so I wasn’t too bothered. Mind you, if he can get principal / principle confused, what chance is there for the rest of us? I appreciate his prompt apology.
A good puzzle, which I hope will have increased the confidence of ‘Monday only’ solvers, capped off by the classic RICHARD DAWKINS.
First time I’ve encountered Mr. Manley wearing this hat and I came completely unstuck with some down the left side. Not to worry, I enjoyed what I managed to complete, particularly 25a plus 4&23d.
Thanks to Pasquale and to Eileen for the very helpful decryption.
Took me a long time to get beyond the first few even though RICHARD DAWKINS was first in. Should have looked up NIDUS on first viewing too – that was new to me as was HYPOTONIC.
Quite an enjoyable challenge, but I’m not convinced that the Monday slot was the best place to put it.
Thanks to Eileen and Pasquale
2d was my favourite for being, um, relatable. And 21a made me laugh.
I don’t quite get how “see through” = “search” – as in “searching gaze” perhaps?
Pedantic quibble: surely Titus Oates was what we would now call a conspiracy theorist rather than a conspirator as such.
I knew STRETTA and have seen it spelt both STRETTA and STRETTO (evidently the word is meant to be gender-neutral!)
The version STRETTO has two meanings: it can be a synonym for ACCELERANDO, i.e. play gradually faster (Chopin often used this terminology) – or it can mean a passage in a fugue where the time between the entries of the two main strands gets shortened. STRETTA can only mean the latter.
Any pianists on here? I have stumbled my way though Beethoven’s A flat sonata, Op.110, which contains a fiendish Stretta in the fugue – very difficult to play!
I thought OATES was that bloke who was “just going outside, and may be some time”.
Different Oates, evidently. The Antarctic explorer was nicknamed after the earlier one.
TAOISEACH: OK Eileen you now have a mnemonic for the spelling, but have you got one for the pronunciation? 🙂
Think “teashop” says our half irish one.
I’ve never had a problem with the pronunciation, having heard it lots of times, but I’ve never had to spell it before. 😉
A quibble: surely a summary is not found IN the abstract – it IS the abstract.
Is THINGUMMYJIG normally spelt that way? Surely it is THINGAMAJIG and THINGUMMYBOB. This certainly delayed me on the West side especially as the clue for UNEATEN was a bit clunky. I can’t say I liked this much despite having learnt how to spell TAOISEACH!
Not his finest hour!
Peter Aspinwall @27, Collins Dictionary online gives for THINGUMMYJIG “another word for thingumabob”.
Hi Julie @14
Once a teacher… they just leap out, don’t they? But from Pasquale…?
A nice Monday surprise. Very enjoyable.
I enjoyed this, though I completed the E half with almost nothing in the W. Like others, my favourite was 5/20. Also, I am currently staying with my daughter, whose 20A happens to be today (though nothing doing so far….).
Thanks to Pasquale and Eileen.
Christa @31 – very best wishes! 😉
Thanks Pasquale and Eileen
Only started this after getting in from a golf day, so relieved that it was on the easier side for Pasquale. A couple I solved but didn’t parse.
UNEATEN was my favourite, in fact, for the several layers of possible misdirection. The “clunky” one for me was CHRONICLE – “having drink, losing head” is rather clumsy for LE.
[In my last few years before retiring from teaching, we were encouraged to use green pens for corrections, as red was regarded as “too aggressive”….]
Yes muffin@34 and Eileen@29; we had that objection in Australia too, that the angry red pen may knock the confidence of and cause psychological damage for the precious young minds for which we were responsible. I took to using pencil in the latter years. However I should have had rubber stamps made for
PRINCPAL: the Principal is your PAL
There is no apostrophe in possessive its or simple plurals
Belonging means you are a part of something, not “apart”
etc etc etc
Since no-one has mentioned it, let me just add that TAOISEACH is Irish for “chieftain”. It’s translation as “prime minister” is a modernism.
sorry for belated comment on this giovanni effort,quite tough for a monday.i am an avid cryptic fan from kenya.chadwick ong’ara.
Almost got there after several days but, after struggling with the spelling, entered thingummybobs instead of ..jigs so never got jackstraw and gamma.