The puzzle can be solved online here.
Nutmeg is one of my favourite setters, who can be relied upon to provide excellent surfaces with fairness and a good sense of humour.
This was one of her (apologies to Ms Irvine, who I originally referred to as a male) easier offerings, which in part was a relief as it was my turn to blog.
I had no crosses against any clue to indicate a problem, but did tick a few, especially 10a, 14a, 25a, 6d, and 15d.
Commenters have noted a mini-them with 12a and 23a being aspects of the game at 15d, but I missed that, as I often do with themes and NINAs.
Thanks, Nutmeg
| Across | ||
| 1 | MAINSTAY | Pillar where water is drawn from river (8) |
| MAINS (“where water is drawn from”) + (“river!) TAY | ||
| 5 | DRUDGE | Menial daughter, one booked by Dickens (6) |
| D(aughter) + (Barnaby) RUDGE (title character of a Dickens novel, hence “one booked by Dickens”) | ||
| 9 | MASTODON | Head of oldest and most outlandish prehistoric beast (8) |
| *(o and most), where the O is “head of old” | ||
| 10 | ENTREE | Ash, possibly, on edges of earthen dish (6) |
| TREE (“ash, possibly”) on E(arthe)N | ||
| 12 | STICK | Jam for bear (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | LOINCLOTH | With pound coin (new design), reluctant to get minimal cover? (9) |
| L (“pound”) + *(coin) + LOTH (“reluctant”) | ||
| 14 | INCENTIVISED | Making changes in device isn’t encouraged (12) |
| *(in device isn’t) | ||
| 18 | HEART-RENDING | Dreadfully sad judge popular on social media (5-7) |
| HEAR (“judge”) + TRENDING (“popular on social media”) | ||
| 21 | PROPRIETY | Decorum — for devoutness, rector must be involved (9) |
| PRO (“for”) + PIETY (“devoutness”) with R(ector) involved | ||
| 23 | TWIST | Dickensian plot’s unexpected turn (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | HAIRDO | Mullet, say, discovered in fresh air, doomed (6) |
| Hidden in (discovered in) “fresH AIR DOomed” | ||
| 25 | BUSTARDS | Transport real and imaginary, not one for the birds (8) |
| BUS (“transport real”) + TARD(i)S (“transport imaginary”, not I (“one”)) | ||
| 26 | TRYING | Tiresome magistrates get used to it (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | STINKERS | Monkey on board creating big problems (8) |
| TINKER (“monkey”) in SS (on board (a steamship, SS)) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MIMOSA | Tree doctors aboard train heading north (6) |
| MOs (“doctors”) aboard <=AIM (“train”, heading north) | ||
| 2 | INSTIL | Introduce trendy source of booze — only one left (6) |
| IN (“trendy”) + STIL(l) (“source of booze) with only one L(eft) | ||
| 3 | STOCKINET | Material traditional in film (9) |
| STOCK (“traditional”) + IN + E.T. (“film”) | ||
| 4 | APOLLO ELEVEN | Oscar joins team after a vote for historic mission (6,6) |
| O(scar) joins ELEVEN (“team) after A POLL (“vote”) | ||
| 6 | RUNIC | Old force guarding province, symbolically described (5) |
| R.U.C. (Royal Ulster Constabulary, so “old force”) guarding N.I. (Northern Ireland, so “province”) | ||
| 7 | DORMOUSE | Party guest finds place for a nap beside river (8) |
| DORM (“place for anap”) + (“river”) OUSE | ||
| 8 | EYESHADE | Consent obtained in Beeb, essentially, for protection from glare (8) |
| YES (“consent”) + HAD (“obtained”) in (b)EE(b) | ||
| 11 | BIRTHDAY SUIT | A British duty to arrange garb for streakers? (8,4) |
| *(a british duty) | ||
| 15 | VINGT-ET-UN | Get drunk splitting French wine cask — I’m game! (5-2-2) |
| *(get) splitting VIN (“French wine”) + TUN (“cask”) | ||
| 16 | CHIP SHOT | Golfer likely to need this accompaniment to fish, fried? (4,4) |
| CHIPS (“accompaniment to fish”) + HOT (“fried”) | ||
| 17 | MAJORITY | No pressure for clemency after PM gets winning margin (8) |
| (p)ITY (“clemency” with no P(ressure)) after (John) MAJOR (“PM”) | ||
| 19 | PIERCE | Run through church chasing mole (6) |
| C.E. (“church” of England) chasing PIER (“mole”) | ||
| 20 | STASIS | Rising models like to be drawn in suspended animation (6) |
| <=SITS (rising “models) with AS (“likely”) to be drawn in | ||
| 22 | RADON | Gunners tacitly agree to lift unhealthy gas (5) |
| R.A. (Royal Artillery, thus “gunners”) + <=NOD (“tacitly agree” lifted) | ||
*anagram
I always enjoy Nutmeg’s puzzles too, and this was no exception. A couple of my favourites were the Dickens clues, 5a DRUDGE, and 23a TWIST, and I was also happy to see the “party guest” turn out to be the DORMOUSE at 7d. I appreciate literary references in crosswords – you can get the English teacher out of the classroom, but not the literature out of her head. I also favoured the sad judge at 18a, HEART-RENDING! 26a TRYING was another clever one.
It took me longer than it should have to get all four quadrants though – one of those grids with fewer crossers provided to help.
I was helped by a couple of the old chestnuts Nutmeg included – ET for the film in 3D STOCKINET, and DaveMc’s favourites – the popular Crosswordland rivers, the TAY In 1a MAINSTAY, and the OUSE in the aforementioned 7d DORMOUSE.
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick.
Another wonderful puzzle from Nutmeg. A contributor on the Grauniad site has pointed out three linked solutions, which I missed totally. In times gone by, 15d and 17d could also have been linked. Thanks for a good start to the day.
Beautiful clues throughout. I expect it was a pleasure to blog.
“Apologies for some random capitals in that post,” confesses shame-faced retired English teacher.
BTW, I laughed out loud at the anagram of “A British Duty” at 11d.
Sorry loonapick, but Nutmeg is one of our brilliant female setters.
Thanks Nutmeg and loonapick
Very nice, with BUSTARDS and BIRTHDAY SUIT favourites. Not quite clear how AIM in 1d comes from “train”?
Oh, to “train a gun” is to aim it.
George C.@2 – I can’t see the three linked solutions??? Only two Dickens and they are flagged in the clues. Sorry if I am being obtuse. JinA
JinA
Two solutions are linked with the game “vingt-et-un” (or “pontoon”, as we call it).
Oops, George – of course you’re right. Will edit when next at a compooter.
I didn’t see a link – can you enlighten me please?
Thanks, loonapick, for a great blog.
What JinA @1 said, more or less. Having the D from DRUDGE for the first letter of 7dn, I confidently, in my head, entered the familiar DO for ‘party’, then chortled when I saw how I’d been misled – lovely clue. The whole puzzle provides a Masterclass in setting.
I agree with favourites mentioned so far and would add MAJORITY, for both construction and surface.
Many thanks, Nutmeg, as ever, for a lovely puzzle.
Just wanted to join in the praise for this most enjoyable puzzle. Some very imaginative & amusing surfaces with plenty of food for thought; favourite clues were definitely 7 & 11d.
Thank you very much for a great start to another sunny day, Nutmeg. Thanks too to loonapick.
Me too! I thought this was great, particularly HEART-RENDING, BUSTARDS and CHIP SHOT. Many thanks to N & l.
Deserved kudos!
I’ve often wondered…is there a term in crosswordese for a clue that seems designed to deliberately lead you astray when trying to parse what clearly must be the answer? Today’s example was MAJORITY. I saw PM, which clicked with MAY, and wasted 5 minutes trying to fit JORIT to the wordplay. Possibly because with the other Dickens characters I was thinking of Little dORITt, which I’d forgotten how to spell.
Julie @8
Hello Julie,
As muffin @9 has hinted, the linked solutions are 12a and 23a. I hope that this isn’t too much of a spoiler for anyone who still hasn’t seen the link, but in pontoon (Vingt et un) stick or twist are terms used to indicate whether the player will rest content with the cards he or she has, or ask the dealer for another card. If the player twists, and takes another card, and the total value of the hand he or she then holds exceeds twenty-one, they are ‘bust’.
Lovely puzzle. Disappointed I missed the STICK/TWIST/PONTOON link. Neatly done.
INCENTIVISED & DISINCENTIVE are mutual anagrams of which I chose, inevitably, the wrong one first!
As Eileen commented – a masterclass in setting.
Many thanks, Madame, more please.
Nice week, all.
This was almost old-fashioned in its clever fair and well clued nesses! Every one read well. Excellent!
Blaise @14: Not that I know of, but there jolly well should be. Any suggestions?
I can only agree with the praise already given. Elegantly clued throughout – a fine example of the setters’ art. Many ticks, but particularly liked the linking of RUC & NI in 6d.
Thanks for the fun, Nutmeg, and good blog, loonapick.
Marvellous entertainment. I too tried to fit MAY into 17d. (Or TRESemmé as we call her in our house).
I was trying to think of an obscure Dickensian rather than the obvious TWIST. No degree in literature required for RUDGE either.
Like muffin at @6, I couldn’t see why train = aim so thanks muffin @7 for the realisation.
Returning to the pontoon theme, what a pity there are no 4-letter lights in this grid? This would have been fun…
22 in 15 = 25/2 (4)
I thought a theme was developing with 11 and 13 as I got one immediately after the other. Stasis and runic were new to me.
Just right! Thanks all round.
[Oh George@15, thank you for clarifying. I do not know about those terms from Pontoon. My card-playing “misspent youth” was “spent” playing 500, although I do recall understanding the use of the exclamation “bust” in occasional Pontoon games. Following your post, I was trying to draw a link between PIER (mole) and “pontoon” in my head. Then, I was endeavouring to link those to the sailing references in MAIN/STAY and the “mast” part of MASTODON. However I started to think – that is the way of madness – and pulled back just in time. It was good to return to the forum just now, so that I can retire to bed tonight much more settled in my own mind.]
Very entertaining, thanks Nutmeg.
Good blog from loonapick. I particularly liked BIRTHDAY SUIT and DORMOUSE. For ENTREE, I thought the usual convention in Across clues was that ‘on’ means ‘after,’ but it seems to be ignored a lot in the Guardian.
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick. I agree a really nice puzzle with some nice clues. First pass yielded little, then got going steadily. However, I got stuck in the NW (I do not know why now), which took me as long as the rest out together. At one point the only one I had there was mastodon. After nearly giving up stockinet clicked and the rest followed quite quickly. I particularly liked bustards, majority and stinkers. Thanks again to Nutmeg and loonapick.
I was wondering if those having trouble seeing the linked clues were perhaps more familiar with the terms “hit” and “stand from the similar game of blackjack, but I think Julie @25 has answered that now…
Thoroughly enjoyed this, as is often the case with Nutmeg, so many thanks to her and to loonapick.
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick. Great fun. I struggled a bit with STOCKINET (new to me) and know Blackjack, not Pontoon (so missed that dimension) but I did parse the RUC and NI in RUNIC.
A nice steady solve, nothing too tricky but a pleasing range of clue types. So a fine crossword, as we have come to expect from Nutmeg.
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick
Fine puzzle, as everybody has said.
Like Blaise@14, I got stumped at parsing MAJORITY because I was stuck on MAY for the PM and the bits wouldn’t go together.
loonapick, there’s a typo in the entry for MASTODON; “o ans most” should be “o and most”
I’ve barely heard of VINGT-ET-UN, and certainly didn’t know either that it was pontoon or that STICK and TWIST were terms in it.
I wouldn’t have thought of MAINSTAY as the sort of support a column provides, because a stay (main or otherwise) on a ship is made of very heavy rope covered in tar and is part of the standing rigging, the structure of the ship itself, without which the masts would fall right over. The stays are fore-and-aft; the sideways ones are shrouds. The running rigging are the tar-free ropes that manipulate the sails and yards in response to different wind strengths or directions.
Blaise @14 and William @18 — I think the term is “misdirection.”
That was terrific. Took a little longer but that may be me and the hot weather!
I wholeheartedly endorse others’ views that this puzzle is a gem. I had many favourites, with BUSTARD at the top of my list.
There was much to admire, but I’d like to highlight what I thought were very neat and appropriate definitions: ‘party guest’ for DORMOUSE, ‘train’ for AIM, ‘pillar’ for MAINSTAY, ‘traditional’ for STOCK and (last but not least) ‘garb for streakers’ for BIRTHDAY SUIT.
I too tried MAY before MAJOR in MAJORITY, and I took too long to get the APOLLO of Apollo 11.
Many thanks to Nutmeg and Loonapick.
I think we played pontoon when I was a schoolkid, probably for conkers – and I vaguely recall “stick” and “twist” – but everything has got so Americanised since then (they call it “blackjack” don’t they) that these words have been well and truly supplanted by “stand” and “hit”. The rules are somewhat different too. So I’m not too disappointed at missing the theme of three.
I suppose we also had a mini-theme of BIRTHDAY SUIT and LOINCLOTH – especially if the latter is made of STOCKINET which is somewhat see-through…
Anyway, a fairly gentle offering from Nutmeg (ahem! Loonapick! Nutmeg’s a ‘she’!). Possibly even easier than yesterday’s Vulcan.
Clue of the day for me: DORMOUSE. Simply because of the surface which ought to have conjured up this vision of an idyllic boat trip up the Thames back in 1862, undertaken by a certain Rev. Dodgson in the company of three pretty little girls …. they could very well have taken a “nap beside the river”. The rest, Mad Hatter and all, is, as we say, history. Pity I didn’t spot the surface allusion until after I’d written DORMOUSE…
Thanks to Nutmeg and Loonapick.
Thanks to those commenters who pointed out my gender-related error in the preamble (I can offer no excuse as I did know Nutmeg was a “she”), and also to Valentine who noted my genuine typo. Both of these oversights have been corrected above.
BUST(ards) also relates to the “mini-theme”
Very pressed for time so DNF. But really liked it. It seemed to me to be simple, elegant and clever, rather than devious and tricksy. I agree with Droffle @13 that HEART-RENDING, BUSTARDS and CHIP SHOT were top dollar clues.
Many thanks to Nutmeg and to loonapick.
Around here a mimosa is a brunch cocktail (fizzy wine and OJ). But a terrific puz. BUSTARDS was great.
Well, this was certainly a better puzzle than yesterday’s. I wouldn’t say it was easier though. I took longer over this than I should have as a result not knowing STOCKINET,and having TAXING for 26ac and RELIC for 6dn. ENTREE was LOI as a result of the latter.
Thanks Nutmeg.
Having only just got around to commenting on yesterday’s puzzle, I now move on to today’s. Excellent crossword I thought.
I particularly liked HAIRDO for the very clever surface. (And it reminds me – what language does a Liverpudlian hairdresser speak? Urdu.)
Valentine @31: I thought MAINSTAY / pillar was intended in the more metaphorical sense, as in “pillar of the community”.
Lord Jim @40
In highlighting ‘pillar’/MAINSTAY as a particularly neat definition in my earlier comment, I too had in mind the metaphorical sense of both words.
(And I liked Urdu/HAIRDO!)
Nifty stuff from Nutmeg today! Very enjoyable, with some excellent surfaces and chuckle-inducing PDMs. My favorites included CHIP SHOT, PIERCE, STINKERS, and my co-clues of the day, BUSTARDS and PROPRIETY.
I have no familiarity with the games vingt-et-un or pontoon (other than having vaguely heard of them before), and thus the STICK and TWIST mini-theme discussed above went completely undetected by me.
Julie in Australia @1, I got a laugh from your comments about the TAY and the OUSE! As I solved 1ac and 7dn, I was wondering whether I should come here and post (tongue firmly planted in cheek) that I saw “river” in each of those clues and was initially flummoxed by being unable to find solutions using combinations such as “MAINSEXE” and “DORMDEE”!! [A related comment: The OUSE seems to turn up only occasionally (in my experience) in UK-style cryptic crosswords, but is a **much** more frequent presence in US-style crosswords. Undoubtedly, this is because it contains so many vowels, which is very useful to the setter when most of the letters in the grid need to be crossers. For the same reason, ETUI, ERIE, EERIE, and ILIE [Nastase], among other similar words, are also frequently encountered in US-style puzzles.]
Many thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick and the other commenters.
Didn’t complete this (not helped by misspelling 9ac) but I did like 7dn.
I really enjoyed this puzzle but there’s obviously a sense of “stick” and/or “bear” that is escaping me. Can someone explain their equivalence to me?
My faves were DORMOUSE, HEART-RENDING and BUSTARDS and I learned the British spelling of INSTIL!
BlueDot @44,
Based on blogs and comments here on 15^2, Chambers Dictionary is uniformly (or at least very nearly so) recognized as the authoritative dictionary for UK crosswords. According to the online Chambers (21st Century Dictionary), definition #9 of stick, when used as a verb, is, colloquially, “to bear or tolerate” (as in, “could not stick it any longer”).
Me @46
… I might add that I was also stuck on STICK – it was my LOI. I guessed that that was the correct answer (based solely on “Jam”) and that there must be another meaning of that word that we don’t commonly use (or see or hear) here in the US, making it an acceptable synonym of bear, and then Googled it to confirm.
William@25 – brilliant.
When I see Nutmeg atop the puzzle I know we’re in for a treat. Too many favourites to list, and others have noted them already.
Lordy, how I hate the word incentivise. I suppose the act of incentivising is incentivisation, and to incentivise is to act incentivisationally. Somewhere, sometime, someone will use these words. (But I loved Nutmeg’s clue for this – great anagram and witty surface.)
Thanks Nutmeg, as always, and loonapick.
I enjoyed this puzzle.
Was unable to parse 6d and 19d as I was unfamiliar with RUC and NI, as well as mole=pier.
My favourite was BUSTARDS.
Thanks Nutmeg and blogger.
I too thoroughly enjoyed this; as others have intimated, Nutmeg has delighted us with a beautifully constructed mid-range puzzle. My COD was BUSTARDS.
William – I thought your clue was clever and, most importantly, great fun. Respect. (As muffin later suggested, feel sure Nutmeg noticed, and probably intended the “bust….”.)
loonapick – thanks for blog. I disagreed slightly with your parsing of CHIPSHOT in that “hot” wasn’t meant as a direct synonym of “fried”. I read her conceit as alluding more to “chips, hot” with “fish, fried” being ‘companions’ not only gastronomically but also by dint of identical verbal syntax. This is subtle, witty clueing not relying on hot and fried having to be synonyms. It also makes for an even better clue than your parsing suggests. And explains the question mark. All only in my opinion of course – no-one else has mentioned it. Perhaps I’m wrong? Or perhaps I’m overawed by Nutmeg’s creative elegance and impeccable constructions. What do you think?
Many thanks all.
I saw CHIPSHOT your way, as it happens, for the same reason (the two phrases following the same pattern). A very good clue.
William F P @49
I meant to address my comment @50 to you!