The puzzle can be solved online here.
This was slightly tugfher than we have come to expect from Monday Guardians, but as is always the case, Nutmeg offered us elegant clues and the occasional giggle.
I have one slight niggle (see 25ac).
Thanks Nutmeg.
| Across | ||
| 9 | HARVESTED | Raced without underwear, got in at end of the season (9) |
| HARED (“raced”) without VEST (“underwear”) | ||
| 10 | ROMEO | In poem, Orpheus’s rejected lover (5) |
| Hidden backwards in “pOEM ORpheus” | ||
| 11 | RAPIDLY | Knock in vain with dispatch (7) |
| RAP (“knock”) + IDLY (“in vain”) | ||
| 12 | MUMSIER | Less fashionable silent model losing heart (7) |
| MUM (“silent”) + SI(tt)ER (“model”, losing heart) | ||
| 13 | IRONY | Part of satire unfair on youngster’s clothing (5) |
| Hidden in “unfaIR ON Youngster” | ||
| 14 | CHARTWELL | PM’s country house accurately placed on map (9) |
| WELL (“accurately”) placed on CHART (“map”)
Chartwell was the home of Winston Churchill for many years. |
||
| 16 | SLEEPING PARTNER | Idle business associate one often has relations with? (8,7) |
| Double definition, both very slightly cryptic. | ||
| 19 | TURN LOOSE | Free performance gents ultimately appreciate? (4,5) |
| TURN (“performance”) + LOOS (“gents”) + (appreciat)E | ||
| 21 | SCULL | Singular act of slaughter leads to row (5) |
| S(ingular) + CULL (“act of slaughter”) | ||
| 22 | FREESIA | Flower releases its aroma in minimal amounts (7) |
| FREES (“releases”) + I(ts) A(roma) | ||
| 23 | BASTION | Defender of good French wine must be drunk (7) |
| BON (“good” in French) drinking ASTI (“wine”) | ||
| 24 | LIEGE | Vassal‘s gone on vacation in pursuit of romance (5) |
| G(on)E in pursuit of LIE (“romance”) | ||
| 25 | ENCOMPASS | Take in strange oxygen-depleted moonscapes (9) |
| *(monscapes) (“Moonscapes” depleted of one of its Os (“oxygen”))
To my mind, this doesn’t work, as oxygen may have been reduced, but not depleted as there’s still an O in the anagram fodder. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WHERE IT’S AT | The place to be chivvying the waiters? (5,3,2) |
| *(the waiters) | ||
| 2 | DROP ZONE | Doctor sea air, restricting pressure in target area (4,4) |
| Dr. (“doctor”) + OZONE (“sea air”) restricting P(ressure) | ||
| 3 | DEADLY | Lethal tablet swallowed by father only half dissolved (6) |
| E (ecstasy, so “tablet”), swallowed by DAD (“father’) + (on)LY | ||
| 4 | STAY | Lodge close to dangerous river (4) |
| (dangerou)S + (“river”) TAY | ||
| 5 | ADAM’S APPLE | Mad appeals about part of anatomy (5,5) |
| *(mad appeals) | ||
| 6 | PROMOTER | Crack car, it’s said every boxer needs one (8) |
| PRO (“crack”) + homophone of MOTOR (“car”) | ||
| 7 | UMPIRE | Judge‘s premium reduced out of hand (6) |
| *(premiu) | ||
| 8 | ROAR | Beastly noise as rhino and alligator both cleared out (4) |
| R(hin)O + A(lligato)R | ||
| 14 | CANNONADES | Sound of repetitive music boosts artillery attacks (10) |
| Homophone of CANON + AIDS (“repetitive music” + “boosts”) | ||
| 15 | LORDLINESS | Superiority of policies adopted by cricket ground (10) |
| LINES (“policies”) adopted by LORDS (“cricket ground”) | ||
| 17 | POLLSTER | Two pounds included in bill for sampler (8) |
| LL (“two pounds”) included in POSTER (“bill”) | ||
| 18 | NAUTICAL | Treatment for a lunatic at sea? (8) |
| *(a lunatic) | ||
| 20 | REEVES | Queen turned up days before royal agents, historically (6) |
| <=E.R. (“queen”, turned up) + EVES (“days before”) | ||
| 21 | SESAME | In the end, chefs use identical seeds for flavouring (6) |
| (chef)S (us)E + SAME (“identical”) | ||
| 22 | FILL | Female facing malevolent charge (4) |
| F(emale) + ILL (“malevolent”) | ||
| 23 | BUCK | Horned animal one passes with relief? (4) |
| Double definition, the second slightly cryptic. | ||
*anagram
Thanks loonapick (and Nutmeg) – agreed, it did offer a welcome extra bit of challenge than is usual on a Monday. I would never have parsed LIEGE at 24 on my own, not having come across ‘lie’ meaning ‘romance’ (unless there’s some blindingly obvious definition not visible through my morning mental fog!)
Enjoyable, but IT took me a fair bit longer than some Monday puzzles have.
I didn’t parse LIEGE either, Bullhassocks@1.
I liked “chivvying” in 1d as an anagrind.
Other favourites were 9a HARVESTED, 10a ROMEO, 16a SLEEPING PARTNER, 2d DROP ZONE and 2d BUCK.
I just accepted the dropping of one “O” from 25a ENCOMPASS, loonapick, as in “with less O (oxygen).
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick.
1D is WHERE IT’S AT not WHERE IT SAT.
[Sorry about the caps on IT – and I meant 23d BUCK. I find posting on a small screen leads to errors. FFS – Fat Finger Syndrome/For F@#?s Sake…]
Flavia – thanks for pointing out my typo – I’ll edit later.
Thanks Nutmeg and loonapick
I took some time to get into this, but it was very satisfying. I loved SLEEPING PARTNER and WHERE IT’S AT. I was happy with “depleted” mean “less oxygen” rather than “no oxygen in 25a.
The smell of “sea air is, of course, rotting seaweed rather than ozone – just as well, as ozone is highly toxic!
LIVE LONG andPROSPER. Nina along diagonal starting bottom left.
Well done Hovis – would never have spotted that.
Thanks Nutmeg and Loonapick. Yes a good workout for a Monday. Like JinA and Muffin I didn’t question the only partly oxygen-depleted 25a, but I did wonder about repetitive music as canon for 14d, tho I guess ‘body of music’ would be a giveaway. Took me ages to get eves=days before in 20d–clever clue, but after that romance=lie popped out for 24a. I chuckled at 23d. Thanks again to Loonapick and to Nutmeg for an enjoyable puzzle.
PS: Hovis, what Greg said…I never remember to look for them.
grantinfreo @9
I think “canon” in this instance refers to the repetitive form as found in songs like Frere Jacques, for instance, where the second and third voices repeat what the first has sung, with a delay.
Thanks for that Muffin, it’s a TILT, and there it is in my Collins as meaning no. 7: a piece of music in which an extended melody in one part is imitated successively in one or more other parts. Should’ve known that Nutmeg wouldn’t fudge!
I was happy with “depleted” meaning “reduced” at 25a. If fish stocks are depleted, it doesn’t mean there are no fish left in the sea…
But I wasn’t happy with “lie” meaning “romance” at 24a. I can’t find this meaning in any dictionary. Grateful if someone could quote Collins or Chambers (neither of which I have) to prove it’s kosher.
Couldn’t really get into it today, in spite of some nice touches like the ambiguity at 18d (who else though that “at sea” was the obvious anagrind and “treatment” must be the definition?) but thanks nevertheless to Nutmeg and loonapick.
24a. My Chambers has nothing under “lie” but under “Romance” (with a capital R) there is “an imaginative lie”.
Trismegistus @13
“Grateful if someone could quote Collins or Chambers …”
Under ‘romance’:
Chambers
12. An imaginative lie
3. To lie
Collins
10. An extravagant, absurd, or fantastic account or explanation
2. To tell extravagant or improbable lies
Thanks, trenodia @14 and Gaufrid @15 – I’ll accept that authority, even though I would never use Romance to mean an extravagant or imaginative lie myself…
My Mum often used to say you’re romancing now, perhaps as a a gentler chide of my denying a transgression.
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick. Enjoyable puzzle which was tougher than the usual Monday, but not too tough. Top half went in more quickly than the bottom half in my case, with the SW last to fall. I liked where its at and sleeping partner, but lots of other well crafted clues. Thanks again to Nutmeg and loonapick.
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick. Enjoyable. I’ve never come across MUMSIER before, but I’m surprised that lie-romance has raised eyebrows for I’ve seen that connection in many previous puzzles, to the point that I regularly call it up as an option.
Thank you Nutmeg and lonnapick, and well spotted Hovis @7.
Worryingly, the term “oxygen depletion” has come up frequently in the news over the last few days, hopefully the Thai youths will soon all be saved.
Tough for a Monday, but enjoyable. Well done Hovis@7 in spotting the nina! Very impressive. Thanks to N & l.
PS, perhaps I should have added that the COED gives for deplete 1 reduce in numbers or quantity (depleted forces).
Great puzzle as ever from Numeg. I particularly loved her turning the tables on us 18 down!
Thanks both.
A good enjoyable puzzle as usual from Nutmeg.
I had one query, on the definition for LIEGE: I’m very much a non-expert in social history, but as I understand it, ‘liege’ and ‘vassal’ are not the same. Essentialy the liege granted land to the vassal in exchange for certain obligations. Online sources seem to confirm this, but I don’t have access to a decent dictonary at the moment and am open to correction.
Enjoyed this one – Nutmeg is one of my favourite setters – this was easier than she can be and perfect for the Monday slot
Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick
Thanks both,
I’ve always thought of the ‘liege’ as the lord rather than the vassal, but OED gives both uses. Another word that is its own opposite? Was anyone else held up by biffing in ‘Fuchsia’ for ‘Freesia’ in 22a?
Tyngewick@26: thanks for clarification regarding liege/vassal.
Many thanks, both.
I see no problem with deplete. Chambers gives “… empy, reduce, exhaust, use up”. Then adds for depletion, “the reduction in total value of…”
Astonishing spot of the nina by Hovis.
REEVES took longest as I was convinced the flower was FUCHSIA not FREESIA.
A bit slow with ‘out of hand’ as the anagrind in UMPIRE, and not come across ‘mumsy’ before.
All in all, an enjoyable crossword, many thanks, Nutmeg.
Nice roasting week, all.
Well spotted Hovis indeed. I found this really quite tough. Loved it. Had decided to start with Saturday’s Mudd from the FT, expecting that to be the bigger challenge. It wasn’t.
Just as I was complimenting the Guardian crossword on its improved performance in relation to respect for those with mental health issues, along comes 18d.
Thanks Hovis as most of us arent in the habit of looking for a diagonal nina on a Monday morning
I have no problem with LIE/ROMANCE as in French ROMAN =NOVEL which in turn indicates fiction
I rarely have a problem with anything that Nutmeg does.She and Arachne are a very classy pair of Lady Setters
Thanks, loonapick.
I somehow missed seeing that the blog had been posted, under the Indy one, before I went out for lunch, so it’s practically all been said by now.
I had no problems with depleted oxygen, romance = lie [I know it in the same context as Pete Loyley @17] nor LIEGE – which, together with 23ac was my favourite clue, for its beautiful surface. Chambers has liege = vassal and see here, too.
I totally concur with copmus’ last paragraph @31.
Many thanks, Nutmeg – I really enjoyed it, as usual.
I was wondering, why is this taking so long when it’s only Monday? I feel much better now.
For 4d, I was ready to enter INNS (“lodge” = “inn”, “close to dangerous” = “s”, yielding an Austrian “river”). Fortunately, I’d already positively entered the 11a answer…
Like Flavia @4 said: WHERE IT’S AT (and not WHERE IT SAT).
And you know what, I messed up that part of the grid (well, only 13ac was affected) by entering THERE WAS IT ….
As others said, a classy puzzle.
Many thanks to loonapick & Nutmeg.
Tough for a Monday…I gave up about half complete, I came to the conclusion it might be one of those that is ‘easy for the experienced solver’ as opposed to ‘designed for the learner/improver’ , if you understand the distinction (ie easy if you know the conventions, unlike a Monday crosser which is heavier on cryptics/DDs/straight forward anags which the intelligent layman can have a crack at). I wonder what the ‘brief’ is for Monday’s?
My wrong one was ‘Sure’ for 4d (close to dangerous = S plus ure as the river) convinced myself sure could = lodge in the surety sense…
It’s all been said, but I will just mention some very neat definitions: ‘got in at end of the season’ for HARVESTED, ‘days before’ for ‘eves’ (in REEVES), ‘repetitive music’ for ‘canon’ (in CANNONADES) and ‘charge’ for FILL. Also, ‘every boxer needs one’ is a highly original indication of PROMOTER – I think it’s sound!
The nina is remarkable – well spotted, Hovis. And thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick.
Brian @34
I must have overlooked your comment when I started mine. INNS is a remarkable dual answer to the clue for STAY. In fact I was thinking along those lines as well as the correct way in this case.
The crossers obviously made the answer unique, but it’s quite rare to find a pair of answers like this.
I was far too distracted by politics to concentrate on this so I started it late. It was harder than usual for a Monday but quite a nice puzzle. Like others, I didn’t parse LIEGE.
Thanks Nutmeg.
Well spotted, Hovis. I checked the top row and the bottom row for Ninas, but failed to check the diagonals.
Brian @ 34, Alan @ 38
Trouble is, the river is the INN, so wouldn’t parse [INNSBRUCK is Inn’s Bridge].
This was enjoyable. I really struggled in the SW corner with my final three, FREESIA, followed by REEVES and finally POLLSTER. However, looking back, I think they were all well and fairly clued, so I think I must have been tuned to the wrong wavelength. My favorites today were ENCOMPASS and WHERE IT’S AT.
I had the same reaction to LIEGE as others above, that this is another “auto antonym” (aka “Janus word” or “antagonym”) as was discussed in the blog of last Monday’s Vulcan puzzle. BTW, liege is *not* included in the long list of such words on the Wikipedia entry that was first circulated by Jam in that blog (here again is the link to that page).
Speaking of Vulcan, that Nina spotted by Hovis @7 was pretty amazing, and upon seeing it, I only regretted that it did not appear in a Vulcan puzzle! (. . . but regret is an emotional response, and is highly illogical, Captain.) Having said that, it was also great to see the Nina from Nutmeg. I usually expect a well constructed puzzle from her with many nice surfaces (and this puzzle did not disappoint), but do not include her among the setters who are likely to offer this extra level of artful wordplay if you go looking for it. Looks like that assumption needs to be revisited!
Many thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick and the other commenters.
Never mind STAY and INN(S), I had REDE at 4D – it’s a river in Northumberland. E (close of lodge) and RED (dangerous). It worked, sort of.
Thanks to Nutmeg and Lorna pick.
Or even loonapick!
Simon S @41
You are right of course about the River Inn. It was so long ago that I was there!
DaveMc@42 – have you have maybe hit on a reason for the Nina, with Vulcan just becoming an established Monday setter?
thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick
Seeing that Vulcan greeting hidden in the puzzle just adds to my admiration for Nutmeg’s genius! Well spotted, Hovis, DaveMc and DuncT!
Van Winkle @30
I just hope you’re taking the piss.
Otherwise I can’t see how you can cope with a blogger call “loonapick”. Disgraceful.
I think that this obsession with political correctness is in itself a kind of intellectual inadequacy. It appears that the mere use of the word lunatic from the perfectly ordinary late Latin lunaticus now “ist verboten”. It is you who are truly bonkers. One day you may realise that words are far less important than actions.
This is a board about cryptic crosswords which by definition play with vocabulary. It’s supposed to be fun.
I hereby sign off from this board which is sadly a mere shadow of its former self.
At least I wont have to read which words were astonishingly “new to” many of the posters on here.
I shall still solve the puzzles each day and hope that one day we may again have a functioning editor.
In the meantme I wish all of the few sane people on here a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year (sic)
To the rest of you I say why not think for yourselves rather than accepting without question the views of the snowflake generation.
Auf wiederhören.
BNTO @48 – some no doubt think it for the bad, but this is the Guardian crossword and therefore editorially required to speak with the voice of the snowflake generation. If there were mental conditions that are brought on by the phases of the moon, then it might be intellectually adequate to continue to speak of lunatics. But as there are not and as the term is now applied to batch up a whole range of mental illnesses and equate them with stupidity, the delicate amongst us would wish that it is not used, particularly for the purposes of “fun”. You do not provide the derivation for “bonkers”, so I am unable to determine whether this is truly what I am.
I came on here to edit my now obligatory typo from yesterday, and saw the embryonic debate between lurkio and Van Winkle.
I have to come down on the side of lurkio here. If we start to sanitise crosswords as they do with the “breakfast test” in the US, we will significantly reduce the number of words available to setters. We would have to remove some anagrinds (“mad”, “crazy”, “stupid”) etc. While I can see the point Van Winkle is making, I don’t agree with it. Do we start avoiding terms for illness and death as they try to do across the pond? What about depression – it appears in many crosswords?
I’d much prefer a crossword that covers the gamut of the English language with some general knowledge thrown in to one which has been limited by sensitivities and fear of offending someone. In this politically-correct, sanitised, “precious”, gender-fluid, snowflake generation that we are living in, we sometimes need to celebrate the English language in all its glory. I would only draw the line at out and out vulgarity. I am, however happy to see words like “pee”, “dwarf”, “black” etc used in clues and as solutions.
If you try hard enough, you will find negative, derogatory or undesirable connotations to many other innocuous words. Take the word “gay” which used to mean “jolly and bright”, then came to mean “homosexual” in a non-derogatory, almost celebratory sense, but which in common parlance of the yoof is now sometimes derogatory – “That’s so gay!” Or “special” which to some people brings up “special needs”?
(lurkio@48) – My monicker of “loonapick” has nothing to do with being mad (although some of my acquaintances may disagree with that). It is a portmanteau of “Loon” (a Scots word for “boy”, which is also the nickname of the football team I support – Forfar Athletic aka “The Loons”) and “pick” as one of my other “talents” is predicting winners of football matches), therefore “Loonapick”. I did choose that nickname as it sounded like an existing word, and I suppose you could say that I am mad about football, particularly The Loons, but the link to madness or lunacy is entirely tenuous.
Just my tuppenceworth…
Loonapick, that’s an admirably well-reasoned and level-headed rebuttal of the virtue signalling in which one or two of our posters like to indulge. I hope that perhaps it will persuade Lurkio to reconsider his decision to absent himself from these threads.
So who’s going to come out on top in the England/Croatia match then?
The word ‘lunatic’ as used in my child/girlhood in NZ and the UK (I am now 76 and have not lived in an English speaking country, other than Jamaica for 6 years, since) had the connotations in everyday speech as given by the following (apart from in the term “lunatic asylum”)
2 lunatic – a reckless impetuous irresponsible person
daredevil, harum-scarum, madcap, swashbuckler, hothead
adventurer, venturer – a person who enjoys taking risks
tearaway – a reckless and impetuous person
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
cruciverbophile@51.
My heart says Croatia; my head says England. No matter which, they will be beaten by either France (the team I always support when Scotland are absent) or Belgium (my tip to win the tournament) in the final.
I am not sure why anybody is trying to argue against me – I have merely set out what the Guardian policy is. This is officially a crossword for the snowflake generation. Cookie @52 shows that there are plenty of other words that can be used for an impetuous daredevil than one suggesting their character is the result of mental illness.
Van Winkle @54, just out of interest, in the past men used to go hunting around the time of the full moon so that they could see prey more easily, and women would tend to menstruate while they were away, hence their ‘monthly’ cycle – many women become bad tempered at that time, pre-menstrual tension, and I know a few who become violent, one in particular where I had to mark her dates on the calendar over several years so as to be prepared.
PS, I forgot to mention that when women are together, for example in dormitories (and as they would have been when the men were away in the distant past), they tend to menstruate around the same time – of course nothing to do with the moon nowadays.
Wow. I came to this crossword very late (it’s been a busy week) and to this blog even later – and, well, what a fascinating collection of comments.
First and foremost: all praise to Nutmeg for the masterly nina! An elegant addition to a fiendishly tricky puzzle (I’m one of those who hope the Monday offering is relatively gentle, to ease myself into the week) and also a classy and courteous greeting to fellow-setter Vulcan.
Nutmeg, you’re brilliant!
And then there was all the other, additional info….
As always, I’m astonished at the strength of feelings expressed about what is, after all, merely a puzzle. A little piece of fun. A series of plays on words. I have been known to throw my hands up in frustration when discovering, through this august blog, a particularly tortuous bit of parsing – but to be offended by the wording of clues or solutions?? Seriously???
Oh well. It takes all sorts.
Thanks to Nutmeg and Loonapick – and to all you FS regulars, for enhancing my education in so many areas…
It seems some people insist on finding offence in the most trivial of things. And unfortunately, this blog is not immune. My advice: just ignore them. Let them prattle on in a vacuum.