Pasquale’s first appearance in the post-Rufus Monday slot finds him in very benign mood: after a single pass through the clues I had only a handful of gaps. Nevertheless the clear and accurate clueing made it a pleasant solve, albeit over very quickly. Thanks to Pasquale.
| Across | ||||||||
| 4. | MUCKER | Friend who cleans out the stables? (6) Double definition (thought I would have said the stable-cleaner was a mucker-out) |
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| 6. | FORECAST | Reacts badly after Foreign Office prediction (8) FO + REACTS* |
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| 9. | NARROW | Precise pointer to north (6) N + ARROW |
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| 10. | RESTORED | Mended and put back in stock room? (8) RE-STORED |
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| 11. | CHOIRMASTER | I lead the singers; I’m working with orchestra (11) (I’M ORCHESTRA)* – I’m sure I must have seen this nice anagram before, but don’t remember it |
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| 15. | READMIT | Boy returning to study gets let in again (7) READ (study) + reverse of TIM |
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| 17. | LISSOME | Beryl is sometimes less than completely supple (7) Hidden in beryL IS SOMEtimes |
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| 18. | SPREADSHEET | Computer program giving an instruction to bedmaker? (11) The bedmaker might be told to SPREAD the SHEET |
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| 22. | TEA PARTY | Still revolutionary, having a role in American political movement (3,5) A PART (role) in reverse of YET (still) |
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| 23. | IMPORT | This writer’s left to provide meaning (6) I’M (this writer is) + PORT (left) |
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| 24. | HANGER-ON | Follower showing hot wrath against cricket side (6-2) H + ANGER + ON (leg side in cricket) |
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| 25. | CAREER | Move rapidly in chosen profession? (6) Double definition |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | MEMOIR | Brief note on Irish autobiography (6) MEMO + IR |
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| 2. | POTENTILLA | Mighty harmful, a plant (10) POTENT + ILL + A |
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| 3. | HECTARES | The acres translated into alternative units (8) (THE ACRES)* – another apposite anagram, as acres and hectares are “alternative units” for area |
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| 4. | MANICURE | Fellow with one remedy giving cosmetic treatment (8) MAN + I CURE |
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| 5. | CORPORAL | Soldier describes one form of punishment (8) Double definition |
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| 7. | AIRE | River song being heard (4) Homophone of “air” (song). The Aire is a river in Yorkshire (there are others in Switzerland and Australia) |
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| 8. | TO-DO | Fuss not yet dealt with (2-2) Double definition |
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| 12. | ALTERATION | Helping after silly late change (10) LATE* + RATION |
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| 13. | COME HOME | Dawn return to one’s dwelling (4,4) Double definition, the first as it “it dawned/came home to me” |
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| 14. | TESTATOR | Try to get list set up as one with a succession policy? (8) TEST (try) + reverse of ROTA |
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| 16. | MASSAGES | Manual actions in service taking a long time (8) MASS (service) + AGES |
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| 19. | SAMOAN | Islander putting a dead bird in tin (6) A MOA (extinct bird) in SN (chemical symbol for Tin, from the Latin Stannum) |
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| 20. | ITCH | Children’s game with children a bit of a pain (4) IT (game) + CH |
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| 21. | MAIN | Chief and the old woman at home (4) MA (mother, old woman) + IN |
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Thanks Andrew and Pasquale.
A first for P, with no obscure solutions?
When I saw Pasquale’s name I thought this was not going to be the traditional Monday start to the week.
Then relieved to find that he had adapted to suit the Monday slot. Thank you P.
Couldn’t get 2D though.
I enjoyed this puzzle although I failed to solve 13d and 9a.
New words for me were AIRE river, POTENTILLA and MUCKER = friend.
Thanks Pasquale and Andrew
Never heard of a moa before, but am sure it must be a crossword staple; liked HECTARE and CHOIRMASTER. Rufus-esque but with more class, maybe? Thanks for the blog Andrew.
Over pretty quickly. I’m not sure about ‘itch’ for ‘a bit of a pain’ at 20a, but no doubt there will be a dictionary to give justification.
Sorry, that should be 20d in my previous post.
Agree this was a neat puzzle that was a pleasure to solve. Like others, there were a couple of unfamiliar words – mine were the same as michelle@3 mentioned. SPREADSHEET was a fun clue.
Many thanks to Pasquale and Andrew.
The Don proving that he can tone it down when required and show his gentler side. I liked his first Monday puzzle(?). He threw in a couple of double definitions but no “cryptic definitions” As Bullhassocks@4 said – classy.
Thanks, Andrew. I had the same thoughts about the very neat CHOIRMASTER – I didn’t remember having seen it before but a hasty search of the archive produced this from a Philistine puzzle [which you blogged] in May 2012: ‘I’m leaving the choirmaster to sort out the musicians (9)’. [I also found, in an Indy puzzle by Eimi, the rather nice ‘Choirmaster set to adapt seasonal song (1,9,4)’.]
My favourite clue today was TEA PARTY, for the clever allusion to the revolutionary Boston Tea Party.
Thanks to Pasquale for an enjoyable puzzle.
Yes, well clued and all fairly easy but I got stuck in the SE corner for a bit, until I say SPREADSHEET. I liked CHOIRMASTER. Many thanks to Pasquale and Andrew.
It’s a holiday here in the US, and I’m (stupidly) up early, so I rather wish this had taken longer than it did. The only truly new word for me here was POTENTILLA. The Don needed at least one obscurity, even in an easy puzzle, I guess.
Eileen, I agree about TEA PARTY–and I prefer to think of Boston revolutionaries rather than the current crop of Republican wingnuts, especially on Memorial Day.
As a bonus, here’s a clue I came up with a couple years ago:
It was driven to war, like the Boston Tea Party? (7)
Indeed it might have been Rufus (but for POTENTILLA, a very thorny clue I thought).
How strange!
Sorry to follow on, but I should say that perhaps a writer of Mr Manley’s experience can produce this verisimilitude pretty much to order.
Thanks to setter and Andrew.
Well, the Don has been known to produce a Quiptic before now, so this was not entirely unexpected. Fulfilled the more straightforward Monday slot well.
LOI was COME HOME, where it didn’t dawn on me until later.
Thanks Pasquale and Andrew.
Very nice. Echo sentiments about Pasquale’s adaptability. Especially when comparing this with Anto’s so-called quiptic!!
Thanks to Pasquale and Andrew. I expected the comments above because this had to be my fastest Pasquale solve. That said still an enjoyable solve with some elegant cluing. I could not full parse itch and Samoan (thanks Andrew) even though I knew moa. Another who liked choirmaster and tea party and thanks again to Pasquale and Andrew.
Thanks a lot Pasquale and Andrew. I found this surprisingly easy, even for a Monday. The Aire is perhaps better known for the Airedale terrier dog breed. Just saying.
Thank you Pasquale and Andrew.
I found this quite hard. Tried to find a word with PAL in it for 4a thinking of palefrenier (same root as palfrey), MUCKER as a friend suggests mucking-in together. Also took a long time trying to think of a mineral term for Beryl before spotting the well hidden word!
Well done, Don!
The Marsh Street mob would have loved this oe
Yes, quite a breeze although I’ve not heard of the river and POTENTILLA was new. Nice puzzle though.
Thanks Pasquale
Pasquality. Not too hard but some pleasing clues. CHOIRMASTER, COME HOME, HECTARES and LISSOME all raised a smile. POTENTILLA was new but clear. Thanks to both.
Thanks to Pasquale and Andrew. Enjoyable whatever the day. Like others I did not know POTENTILLA as well as MUCKER as friend and took a while figuring out the come in COME HOME. By now I’ve caught on to the two UK meanings of CAREER whereas in the US “move rapidly” would be careen.
Thanks both,
I only got LISSOME because it came to me that there hadn’t been a hidden answer and there were only two solutions to go; brilliantly hidden. Plant names always give me a sinking feeling and it took a long time for POTENTILLA to occur to me even tho’ I was sitting less than ten feet from one. 3d has a very pleasing, neat perfection to it.
An accessible puzzle, and very neat in its design.
I didn’t know POTENTILLA, but, this being a Pasquale, I solved it readily enough from the wordplay.
I liked SAMOAN, mainly because I went down the CAN route first, with the ‘A’ there to tempt me.
It was nice to see the river AIRE, which, despite the friendly letter sequence, is not seen nearly as often as the Po or the Ure in crosswords.
(Andrew, the Swiss river is the Aare, is it not?)
Thanks to Pasquale and Andrew.
Alan B @24, Aare or Aar, but it does not rhyme in English – a verse from Matthew Arnold’s poem The Terrace at Berne
“The clouds are on the Oberland,
The Jungfrau’s snows look faint and far;
But bright are those green fields at hand,
And through those fields comes down the Aar.”
PS there is a little known river in the Canton de Genève named Aire
Sybil, non-computer-literate really pricked my vanity by giving me SPREADSHEET. Thought she deserved a blog. Thanks to Don for a nice work-out, a break from my weekly struggle with Azed whose 2400th will be due in Sunday week’s Observer. One wonders how many, in various guises these wizards clock up.
Cookie @25
[Thanks for that background and quote. The Aare is a major river in Switzerland, but the Aire there is much less well-known, I would say. As for not rhyming, perhaps Arnold is allowed some poetic licence!]
Like almost all commenters here I found this much easier than expected given the scary name at the top – well done for holding yourself back, Pasquale. And thanks to Andrew for the blog. I really came on to say (if isn’t too much of a digression) that potentilla is an excellent addition to any garden, so I’m surprised it isn’t better known. The 30 year old (at least) bush outside my window needs minimal attention and produces cheery little flowers in abundance from mid spring into autumn . (Digression ends.)
For 4d, I originally had FACELIFT. F (fellow), ACE (one), LIFT (remedy – weak I know) = cosmetic treatment.
The post-Rufus Monday slot is providing new insights into the versatility of setters and I think it is lovely to have a coach and horses driven through my assumptions!
My favourite clues have been mentioned and it just remains to thank Pasquale and Andrew.
I’don’t like to add my thanks to Pasquale and Andrew. This was good fun to try and solve, some elegant clues. Favourites were SPREADSHEET POTENTILLA and SAMOAN
Sorry about the predictive text on my smartphone. I meant to say “I’d like to add my thanks ….”
Nice straightforward puzzle, but I don’t like COME HOME = DAWN. I agree that”come home TO” = “dawn ON”. But without those different prepositions, the equivalence disappears.
A fun Monday version of Pasquale. My favorites included NARROW, SPREADSHEET, and CHOIRMASTER, and my CotD was TEA PARTY … although, unfortunately, it seemed to me from the “political movement” portion of the clue, that the surface was primarily a reference to the “wingnuts” (nodding my head here in agreement with mrpenney @11), rather than the Boston Harbor bunch from 1773.
Also, mrpenney @11: I didn’t see anyone else reply to your clue for CHARIOT. Good one!
Many thanks to Pasquale, Andrew and the other commenters (and Happy Memorial Day to those from the US).