This is not one for the faint-hearted,…
… it took me a while to get the long solutions which run across four lines of the puzzle, and solving those ones earlier would have speeded up my solving time condierably.
There’s a lot to like in this puzzle if you can think outside the box and if, like me, you like a bit of general knowledge in your crosswords. I particularly liked 1ac, the simplicity of 17ac, 1dn, 4dn (again simple, but elegant), and 8dn. It took me ages to work out the parsing of 20dn, which is the reason this blog did not appear before I left work. (I had an “a-ha” moment on the way to work!)
I wasn’t so impressed with 23dn, which doesn’t work for me on several levels, although the first comment below does give a viable parsing. I also don’t like homophones like the one at 14dn, as many English would not pronounce COMMA and COMMER the same way.
Thanks, Io.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COCK-A-HOOP | Happy Henry wasting time immersed in parrot pee (4-1-4) |
| COCKA(H>t)OO ((“parrot”) with H(enry) replacing (T)ime) + P | ||
| 6 | EMMET | Compiler returned and hooked up with someone doing the Eden Project? (5) |
| <=ME (“compiler”) returned and MET (“hooked up with”)
“Emmet” is a Cornish word for a non-Cornish, especially toursists, who when in Cornwall may well be “doing” (ie visiting) the Eden Project. |
||
| 9, 10, 11 | YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION | This is spooky from Satnav: “Hey, I end our day out. Cheerio!” (3,4,7,4,11) |
| *(satnav hey i end our day out cheerio) | ||
| 12 | PRINCEDOM | Royal state concert investing in recording that includes Beethoven’s Third (9) |
| PROM (“concert”) investing IN CD (“in recording’) that includes (be)E(thoven) | ||
| 15 | ELPEE | Record one being assisted in ‘Oundsditch? (5) |
| (h)ELPEE (“one being assisted”) | ||
| 17 | AGREE | Suit on in time (5) |
| RE (“on”) in AGE (“time”) | ||
| 18 | TENANCIES | Reagan, Sinatra & Wilson after vacant Tallahassee property (9) |
| NANCIES (“Reagan, Sinatra & Wilson”) after T(allahasse)E | ||
| 19, 24, 25 | ALAS POOR YORICK I KNEW HIM HORATIO | Grave words: “My friend, he’s no longer funny, I’m afraid” (4,4,6,1,4,3,7) |
| Words spoken at the graveside by Hamlet to his friend about a jester who is no longer funny (being dead) | ||
| 26 | TOAST | Done perfectly, consuming second breakfast? (5) |
| TO A T (“done perrfectly”), consuming S(econd) | ||
| 27 | RIO GRANDE | Long river journey interrupted by old, old woman (3,6) |
| RIDE (“journey”) interrupted by O(ld) GRAN (“old owman”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COYLY | Being bashful, pass year without end to virginity (5) |
| COL (“pass”) + Y(ear) without (as in “outside”) (virginit)Y | ||
| 2 | COUTURIER | Royal attendant has change of heart about upper-class dressmaker (9) |
| COU(TR>rt)IER (“royal attendant” with the R and T in the middle swapped, ie change of heart) about U(pper-class) | ||
| 3 | AWARD | Upstanding medic takes off Caledonian Prize (5) |
| <=DR. (“medic”) takes AWA’ (away in Scots, thus “off Caledonian”) | ||
| 4 | OWENS | Great athlete has ingested drug (5) |
| OWNS (“has) with E (“drug”) ingested
Refers to Jesse Owens, the great American athlete who won the 100m at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. |
||
| 5 | PERSIMMON | Fruit man pockets this writer’s money (9) |
| PERSON (“man”) pockets I’M (“this person’s”) + M(oney) | ||
| 6 | EL ALAMEIN | British Victory Ale’s turned up, positioned around me (2,7) |
| <=ALE + LAIN (“positioned”) around ME | ||
| 7 | MAHDI | I had pork rolls – but not for this leader! (5) |
| <=I’D HAM
the Mahdi is a redeeemer of Islam due to appear before the Day of Judgment, but being Islam, he wouldn’t eat ham. |
||
| 8 | TV DINNERS | Admitting very unusual trends in set menu? (2,7) |
| Cryptic definition and V(ery) admitted into *(trends in) | ||
| 12 | PEA JACKET | Standing on end of bridge, a sailor’s cherished covering? (3,6) |
| (bridg)E A JACK (“sailor”) with PET (“cherished”) covering, so P(E-A JACK)ET and &lit. | ||
| 13 | CHEAP SHOT | Unkind act, making fox and rat swap tails (5,4) |
| CHEA(t<P) (“fox”) and SHO(p<T) (“rat”) exchange their final letters (“swap tails”) | ||
| 14 | DOTCOMMER | E-businessperson announced two marks (9) |
| Homophone of DOT and COMMA (although I don’t pronounce “comma” and “commer” the same way, being a Scotsman) | ||
| 16 | PRINCETON | Establishment represented by NUJ? (9) |
| PRINCETON is a University in New Jersey, which could be shortened to a U in NJ, or N(U)J | ||
| 20 | ARENA | One of a pair of organs has no left field? (5) |
| A (“one”) + RENA(l) (“of a pair of organs” with no L(eft)) | ||
| 21 | YAHOO | Ugly swipe at delivery service provider (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | RARER | More uncommon gaps a European fills in basic education (5) |
| The gaps in RRR (“three R’s – “basic education”) filled by A and E(uropean) | ||
| 23 | IN ONE | United’s low-scoring home win? (2,3) |
| IN (“home) by ONE (“low scoring win)
Not convinced by this unless there’s a parsing I’m missing. Edit: see comment 1 for a viable parsing. |
||
*anagram
Could 23 down be I-NONE, ie 1-0 is a low-scoring home win?
Wow, I finished an Io. I parsed 23d as Richard@1.
Yes, not for the faint-hearted, but very satisfying in the end. I had no idea about EMMET and PRINCETON which I bunged in in hope. The two long solutions weren’t easy and after solving the ‘spooky from Satnav’ anagram I spent a long time trying to make the ‘Grave words’ clue an anagram, without any luck of course. It didn’t help that I’m one of those philistines who thought the ending was ‘…knew him well’. Well, now I do know better.
My favourites were the surface for 1a, the NANCIES, (Jesse) OWENS and the ‘set menu’. I too thought 23d let the side down a bit (although I agree the parsing by Richard3435 @1 makes it a better clue) but I had no problems with the homophone at 14d – probably just my lazy pronunciation.
Thank you to Io and loonapick.
I’ve amended the blog to reflect the 1-NONE parsing, but still not a fan. One-nil, or one-zero I could live with, but not one-none.
Also, IN ONE meaning “united” is clumsy.
The Hamlet screamed out from its word count but as the puzzle went on I was thinking “Alas poor Bunthorne” He would have liked it.
That gave a good start to the puzzle and the SATNAV wordplay was great. I like the parsing here 1-NONE.
I also liked the clues that could sneak past yer average wordfinder
Hugely entertaining.
Thanks bravehearted loonapic and IO.
Also pleased to finish. Lots to like, particularly TOAST, OWENS, the Nancies, TV DINNERS, RIO GRANDE, of those I didn’t find too baffling.
I’m not sure what ‘this is spooky’ is doing. Does the solution have some idiomatic meaning I don’t know? Is it a quote related to dying? If not, why does the clue need it?
Thanks IO, Loonapick
James @6-I think the spooky is an anagrind indicator and also a slight misdirect as the answer is not at all spooky.
Rum do; finished an Io.
I wondered whether the double use of PRINCE (dom+ton) plus the Hamlet quote was the start of a theme but if so I can’t see it.
Thanks to Io and loonapick
Thanks to Io and loonapick. The first puzzle by this setter than I have managed to complete, though I came here to find out why EMMET was correct (I did parse it). I took a long time before getting ELPEE and PRINCETON-NUJ and did not parse the Caledonian awa in AWARD.
Thanks IO and loonapic.
Haven’t enjoyed a puzzle like this in a long time!
Needed parsing for a few – PRINCETON, AWARD, EMMET.
Got the satnav one early and that was helpful. Not being a Shakespeare buff, the second long one came out of research after having crossers.(Tried HERE LIES ?????? A, having entered unparsed AS ONE for 23d)
Liked ELPEE, TENANCIES, RIO GRANDE, CHEAP SHOT, DOTCOMMER.
Thanks IO & loonapick
Great stuff, but then I’m a fan of JH in his various guises.
Re 9/10/11 I took it as one of JH’s comments on the spookiness of the anagrist and solution being anagrams of each other, given that they are broadly equivalents of each other in meaning as well.
I was also held up by 19/24/25 because there again we had a 29-letter potential anagrist. Another red herring followed up the garden path.
Thanks Io and loonapick
It has been a while since I’d had a JH puzzle to do – and this one was an example of why I look forward to them eagerly, albeit with a bit of trepidation. One knows that they will have a serious workout with him, but feel completely satisfied afterwards !
It took quite a while to get the first multi-line ‘satnav’ anagram – quite a brilliant clue (in the context of simon@11’s interpretation of why spooky. The other Hamlet was my fourth to last in.
Didn’t help the cause by writing in SOU-WESTER at 12d initially and telling myself that I would get back to parse it properly later.
Despite quite a bit of searching, I was unable to find any link between YAHOO and ‘ugly swipe’.
Don’t think that there was a clue that I didn’t like and finally finished a 2 hour stint with ARENA, CHEAP TRICK and the clever DOT-COMMER as the last few in.