A quick solve with lots of fun clues, and a theme of boys and girls in the surfaces. Favourites were 6ac + 22dn, 1dn, 6dn, 13dn, and 18dn. Thanks to Boatman.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TIGHTEN UP | Get stricter reporting on match: “Ahead by a big margin” (7,2) |
| TIGH sounds like ‘tie’=”match”; plus TEN UP=”Ahead by a big margin” | ||
| 6 | MARY | Girl, to become wife, runs out (4) |
| MARRY=”to become wife”, with Runs removed | ||
| 8 | GAMESTER | East Germany without any changes for the better (8) |
| =bettor, gambler (East Germany)* without the any |
||
| 9 | TANNOY | Girl overwhelmed by rattle — perhaps it makes a loud noise (6) |
| ANN=”Girl” inside TOY=”rattle, perhaps” | ||
| 10 | GEISHA | Perhaps girl dancing in cage is harlot? (6) |
| Hidden in caGE IS HArlot | ||
| 11 | EMPERORS | People like Nero in Rome, always heading back after gold (8) |
| SEMPER=”always” in Latin/in Rome, with its heading letter S moved back after OR=”gold” | ||
| 12 | MISSAL | Girl and boy married with prayer book (6) |
| MISS=”Girl” plus AL=”boy” | ||
| 15 | TRAWLING | Boatman might try this to catch girl: “Want to get excited?” (8) |
| (girl want)* | ||
| 16 | POSSIBLY | Boy slips out, perhaps (8) |
| (boy slips)* | ||
| 19 | LADIES | Boy that is getting backing for Votes for Women (6) |
| LAD=”Boy” plus I.E.=”that is” plus the back letter of voteS | ||
| 21 | IMPERIAL | August: one month before April, unusually around end of June (8) |
| =August as in impressive and respected I=”one” plus Month plus (April)* around JunE |
||
| 22 | WIFELY | As a married woman, her organisation procures an end to injustice in damsel, perhaps (6) |
| Women’s Institute=”Her organisation” plus injusticE inside FLY=”damsel, perhaps” as in ‘damselfly’ insects | ||
| 24 | ANTHEA | Girl seen in series of articles (6) |
| AN, THE, and A are three articles | ||
| 25 | SUN DANCE | Native American ritual for boy, say, and reformed church (3,5) |
| SUN sounds like ‘son’=”boy, say”, plus (and)*, plus Church of England | ||
| 26 | GRAN | Foremost of girl’s relatives always nurturing (4) |
| first letters of Girl’s Relatives Always Nurturing | ||
| 27 | ENCRYPTED | New in! Percy worked with another boy to put into code (9) |
| New in (Percy)*, plus TED=”another boy” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TEASE | The lassie is not even a flirt (5) |
| even letters ignored from ThE lAsSiE | ||
| 2 | GUESSES | Ill-informed judgments have visitors losing time around the Home Counties (7) |
| GUESTS losing Time, around South-East=”Home Counties” | ||
| 3 | TETRA | Heartless teenager in meal featuring tropical fish (5) |
| TeenageR in TEA=”meal” | ||
| 4 | NORBERT | Boy and not boy (7) |
| NOR=”and not”, plus BERT=”boy” | ||
| 5 | PUT UP BAIL | Party leader built up a fabrication to provide security (3,2,4) |
| Party, plus (built up a)* | ||
| 6 | MINERAL | Boatman’s really odd, being neither animal nor vegetable (7) |
| MINE=”Boatman’s”, plus odd letters of ReAlLy | ||
| 7 | RIO GRANDE | For cultivation, ordering a New World flower (3,6) |
| (ordering a)* | ||
| 13 | IRON MINER | One who digs heavy metal in club, either boy or girl, say (4,5) |
| IRON= golf “club”, plus MINER sounds like ‘minor’=”either boy or girl, say” | ||
| 14 | LUBRICATE | Translated article about principal of using barrels to deliver oil (9) |
| (article)* around all of: the “principal”/first letter of Using, plus Barrels [just an abbreviation] | ||
| 17 | STEPHEN | Boy makes move in dance with girl (7) |
| STEP=”move in dance” plus HEN=”girl” | ||
| 18 | YOLK SAC | “The young get nutrients from this cola” — Sky broadcast (4,3) |
| (cola sky)* | ||
| 20 | DEFIANT | Boy, handy without being challenging (7) |
| IAN=”Boy”, with DEFT=”handy” outside it | ||
| 22 | WENDY | Girl, to become wife, keeps name at end of ceremony (5) |
| WED=”to become wife”, around Name, plus ceremonY | ||
| 23 | LACED | Fastened shoes with raised design (5) |
| DECAL=”design”, reversed/”raised” | ||
*anagram
Thanks Boatman and manehi
Pretty easy, though I didn’t know “decal” as “design”. Favourites were POSSIBLY, SUN DANCE and RIO GRANDE.
14d seems problematic, since the surface makes no sense, with PRINCIPAL spelled that way – and if it was PRINCIPLE, the U-B wordplay would not work. And there is no ‘sounds like’ hint. Or am I missing something?
Thanks to Boatman and manehi. I usually have great difficulty with this setter, but this puzzle opened up more quickly. I needed help parsing WIFELY, and NORBERT was my LOI.
Thank you, manehi, the boys & girls came out to play today, and no mistake.
Shameful, but I missed semper = L always.
quenbarrow @2: I was going to make the same point, agree entirely.
Also, where’s the def in the GRAN clue? The answer comes readily enough but I’m not seeing how the clue works.
Often dnf with this setter but this all yielded fairly quickly.
Nice weekend all.
PS Rewolf, if you’re around today, many thanks for the prayer yesterday, I had no idea it existed. My version was obviously some lavatory wit’s memory of it.
Thoroughly enjoyed this though on the easy side, plenty of nice surfaces. Looking for a NINA, I spotted “I MISS PTA” – does that mean anything? Thanks to M&B.
22A – just to say that the WI is not an organisation exclusively for married women. Indeed I understand that men can also be members!
Very enjoyable crossword thanks Boatman
I too wondered briefly about 14d quenbarrow, but Manehi’s parsing is ok I thought. Also wondered a definition in 26a, vaguely thinking gran as in turismo, as the actual foremost is Eve (or the first protozoan). Had to verify tetra as fish (does if have triangular surfaces?), was slow to get excited as anagrind for trawling, and wondered whether the Japanese’d be offended at geisha being associated with harlots and cage-girl dancers (first seen in the Kings Club, Preston, 1967…whoarrr (sorry, I was only 19).
Otherwise, a gentle rivercruise from the Boatman, thank you, and to Manehi for the blog.
Thanks to Boatman for a gentle Friday breakfast treat. Went down as nicely as my toast. LOI was Norbert. I just thought 14d fitted so put it in. Didn’t give me much parse for thought. Or should that be thought for parse? Thanks Manehi
grantinfreo@7 First, it’s a pleasure to address another of the growing Australian contingent – growing, or just becoming more active? These interactions are one of the pure gains of the internet that offset the many downsides. Not sure whether to picture you in Perth or elsewhere, though you may have said…. (I have good memories of my one time there in the course of four family-related visits over the years: a day at the WACA, and then the wonderful rail journey to Adelaide.) But meanwhile, 14d: manehi’s parsing is of course accurate, but this doesn’t mean that the clue itself is sound, since with that spelling the surface is clumsy to the point of being meaningless. But, to repeat, I may be missing something (?)
Agree entirely with grantinfreo@7 and Dutchman@8 and just love your wit and witticisms, guys. I can never think of anything at all funny to say. Nevertheless, thanks to Boatman and manehi and a good weekend to all.
Most enjoyable..thank you.
I wondered whether my dad, who introduced me to cryptic crosswords and who was always willing to give me a clue on a Sunday if stuck with the prize, had ever come across Norman as an answer which, being his name, is what first came to mind for Norbert. He did the daily Guardian cryptic every day from the 60s until his death in 2003. Our crossword discussions were one of the things I missed most. He would have enjoyed this blog.
Happily, my daughter now helps when I am stuck so the tradition runs on.
WIFELY spoilt it for me.
Thanks to Boatman and Manehi.
Really liked 22a. Unfortunately a DNF for me, as I had ATHENA for 24a (which I, of course, think is a better answer than ANTHEA, with THEN making it more “sequency”), which gave me S_E_E_N for 17d, which obviously suggested STEVEN (I know it doesn’t fit), but I didn’t make the move to STEPHEN.
I should have been more patient. I’m sure that I would have got there in the end. Ah well, chalk it up to experience.
I enjoyed this fairly easy romp, especially GAMESTER, LUBRICATE and IRON MINER. Many thanks to Boatman and manehi.
quenbarrow@9, thank you for the greeting and agree re the plus and minus of technology, going all the way back to the lever and club, up to the present via quill, Caxton, and now IT and AI.
Freo is Fremantle, Perth’s port suburb; nice you’ve been to the WACA, arena of many an Ashes test (and, speaking of change, ODI and 20/20).
As for 14d, my quibble would be that the ‘to’ is in the wrong place: lubricate=deliver oil to; otherwise the grist is ok, if maybe a bit loose: the principal (=main=first) letter of ‘using’ and the b of barrels inside an anagram of article. Ok?
Am I alone in being unhappy that “up” occurs in both the anagram fodder and the solution at 5d?
I took 23 LACED as a double meaning, as a design of lace is raised above whatever it sits on. A stretch, but so is “design” as a defition of decal.
VinnyD@16: Hmm…not ideal but not a hanging offence, surely?
RogerGS @17
As I said, I’d never heard of “decal”, so I googled. Amongst others (mostly adverts) I found this.
RogerGS@17: I thought decal fine for design. It appears early in the chambers def. Seems it derives from decalcomania – the process of transferring such a design.
Pick up good stuff from crozzies doncha?
muffin @19: Many apologies – crossing.
Sorry William@4, should have included you re 14d.
Hedgehog, somewhat similar with my dad, tho the local setter was not in Araucaria’s class. PS apologies for being so far east of Greenwich!
No apology needed, William
Regarding complaints about 14d, surely the clue is all in the definitions and the word-play? The “surface” is just a bit of fun to lead your thinking astray.
Thanks to Boatman and manehi. As others have said, at the easier end of Boatman’s spectrum, but nonetheless still very enjoyable. I actually liked lubricate and also trawling (Boatman’s trademark reference to his pseudonym) and imperial. Thanks again to Boatmen and manehi.
Geoff @24
I can’t agree with that – a clue with a meaningful surface is much superior to one without.
Shirley and copmus, I identify as a snag (tho I still say ‘love’ out of old habit), but technically the ‘her’ in the wordplay is not necessarily connected to ‘married’. Just saying.
Glad to find that enjoyment is being had – today’s wasn’t too difficult, but perhaps that was a good thing for UK solvers with conflicting emotions about the weather (for the benefit of the Antipodeans listening – it’s a bit hot to do very much over here at the moment).
Shirley – Indeed! As Grantinfreo points out, the reference to married women is part of the definition, and the indication for WI is “her organisation”, which seems fair to me. This is the problem with seeing &Lit-ish surfaces everywhere … I like to have them wherever possible, but every now and then it will occur to someone that I’m saying something that I’m not. I see that there’s a comment on the other channel about 10 Ac, which has exactly the same issue – assuming that the surface reading should be taken as a literal statement about the solution – but of course it doesn’t: the surface reading is one thing, and the solution can be something completely unrelated.
Quenbarrow @2 – I agree: it’s very inelegant to confuse “principal” and “principle” – it was just too tempting, and as it was the result of a relatively late edit, I left it as it was. Please don’t lose too much sleep over it!
Hedgehog @11 – You’re welcome! NORMAN was on my shortlist of names to use, and NORBERT narrowly beat it into the grid for no better reason than that it happened to fit better. Happy to think of you discussing this with the dad of your memory.
Boatman in a gentle mood as I finished this without any input from MrsW – apart from me getting half way through reading out the last clue and then saying “I’ve got it”. Hard to believe it was MARY!
I didn’t particularly enjoy the boy/girl theme – there are so many of them and they’re alternatives rather than synonyms so you need to solve then parse more often than not. I did like TIGHTEN UP TRAWLING and whilst I understand the criticisms of WIFELY I liked the damselFLY wordplay part. Like others I’m not sure about GRAN. I always seem to end up with more ticks on across than down clues – something to do with how I see words I suspect. Does anyone else find this?
Thanks to Boatman and manehi.
Boatman@28 – thank you for that contribution. I had the same initial thought about 10a and then realised the surface and definition are unconnected other than in my mind which is where any offence-taking lies, and not in any offence-giving setting.
Coming back after a gap – defying official advice by being out in the sun on this superhot (by UK standards) day, at least in the east – and pleased to catch up on discussion of 14d. Boatman especially: a big thank you for, to use the technical term, dropping in – and for a very entertaining crossword. What you say about the ‘principal’ homophone absolutely chimes with what Geoff@24 says: ‘a bit of fun’. But it’s the kind of stretching of the conventions that I cannot recall ever seeing before – can anyone offer precedents? Any such stretching is in principle, or indeed principal, to be respected and perhaps adopted: to be continued, I hope. Thanks meanwhile to grantinfreo for the parsing of the name. The daily ‘Fremantle doctor’ breeze was very welcome at the WACA – we could do with that here today. I have agreed from the start about the accurate parsing of LUBRICATE, but still don’t feel you quite get my basic point – perhaps Julie from the Gold Coast can pitch in?
All unusually straightforward for a Boatman, but quite enjoyable. Not sure I have ever come across GAMESTER before but it was easy enough to guess and check.
Thanks to Boatman and manehi
A fun Friday solve — no, check that — a *joyous* Friday solve, thanks to TIGHTEN UP, which was one of my earliest in, which was a fine clue by itself and could have been my CotD on its own merits, but what put it clearly at the top of my list was its immediate summoning to mind of Archie Bell & the Drells!! I immediately had to start playing this before I resumed solving the puzzle (while “dancing in my chair” to the song), and it has been my joyful earworm ever since, and will probably have me smiling throughout much of the workday today. [Although, given the theme of the puzzle, Girls and Boys by Blur might have also been a worthy song to play.] Other favorite clues today included GAMESTER, POSSIBLY, MINERAL, and RIO GRANDE.
Given yesterday’s discussion of TILTs, I also wanted to mention TANNOY, which was a TILT for me when I first encountered it in Tramp’s puzzle on Tuesday. TILTs from solving the puzzles and reading the blogs and comments in this forum are good in their own right — usually (there are exceptions, such as the various awful methods torture that have been devised, which I might never have learned about if their names had not been Cryptic crossword solutions) — but it’s especially great when yesterday’s (or Tuesday’s, in this case) TILT becomes a Thing I Now Know (a TINK?) that makes it possible to answer a clue without having to resort to online (or other outside) solving assistance.
Many thanks to Boatman and manehi and the other commenters. Have a nice weekend all.
DMc – Thank you for that link – what a fine track! A pleasure to hear of the fun it gave you …
BH – Here’s a fun puzzle, which you’ll solve very easily: GAMESTER was not my first choice for that light, for reasons which will be obvious to you. What would it have been?
Thanks to Boatman (and for dropping by) and manehi.
I needed help with parsing EMPERORS and SUN DANCE but apart from that an enjoyable solve, more or less travelling from NW to SE. But there’s the rub – as I approached the SE corner I could feel the synapses disengaging, whether because of reluctance to finish off or because of fear of success or for some other reason. In any event, WIFELY and DEFIANT took an unreasonable amount of time even though on reflection they were no more difficult than others. Is it just me or do others find difficulty clambering over the last few fences as well?
Particularly liked IMPERIAL and, now that I have the parsing, EMPERORS.
I concur with much of the above. Enjoyable – thanks to all.
[Great track, DaveMC – thanks. Sounds to me that this must have been the inspiration for Sly & Co.’s “Dance to the Music”.]
[I have The Captain to thank for getting 23d:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zc0QkQWl4w ]
Very good, Capri!
I was interested in your comment, Alphalpha @35, as I have often found the same difficulty in knocking off the last couple of clues – and like you it was WIFELY and DEFIANT (and WENDY) that held me up today. The clues involved are usually not particularly challenging, it’s more a running out of steam. I’m obviously deficient in the competitive impulse, and am happy to accept a near-miss DNF with equanimity.(Except on Saturdays!).
Thanks to Boatman for an enjoyable crossword, though I’m not sure about the boys and girls theme, which left an awful lot of names to choose from.
GL – Indeed! That’s why only five of the solutions are actually names – too many would become wearing, I know. I cut a couple of candidates from the grid, as well, even though I had potentially funny clues for them, because they were too obscure.
Boatman @34
MANEATER perhaps?
JAPESTER?
Thanks Boatman. I get the sense that there’s something more to find here. A TEASE? Something ENCRYPTED.
I can see various other possible musical links:
WENDY by The Beach BOYS,
Geisha GIRL by Hank Snow / Locklin,
MARY by The Scissor SISTERS,
but this seems to be stretching things, so I will give up unless further encouraged…
Digby @5, if that I MISS PTA is a deliberate Nina, could it be I miss Prince The Artist? He had a UK hit in the 1980s with “Girls & Boys”.
caprimulgus @36 –
Thanks for the link to “Lick My Decals Off, Baby”. It brought back such heartwarming memories. My dear old GRAN used to sing that song to us, when we were shelling the peas for supper.
Ha ha, of course that’s not true. But I made myself laugh, at least!
Me (yes that was me) @43 –
I need to make sure I have’t accidentally changed my name before posting — especially when I’m trying to make a silly joke!!
Don’t understand the definition of “gran”. Can anyone help?
[DaveMc, above, – made me laugh too!]
Rompiballe @45
I took it as &lit, which manehi seems to have indicated by his underlining. GRAN could well be the foremost of a girl’s relatives still living?
Nila Palin @42 – Whoa. That would be great if it was intentional. Boatman has done us the kindness of stopping by a few times today — maybe he could clear up whether that was indeed intentional, or just a coincidence.
[Incidentally, like digbydavies @5, I also went looking for a Nina after solving. I noticed the “I MISS” but not the “PTA” … but I did see that one (non-crossed) column to the right of I MISS were the letters “HAIR”. So I read the combination as “I MISS HAIR”. I guess I noticed that combo because I have a lot less hair on top these days than I used to.]
Enjoyable puzzle – one or two things to make you think, but all work-outable.
Not too sure of the function of ‘married’ in 12ac?
And I don’t like the definition in 26ac.
Thanks to Boatman and manehi.
I am a little surprised, given the discussion about 10ac, that no one raised a similar point about yesterday’s 8ac Sort of gun in story by right bugger? (8) I had no objection to either clue.
14d I didn’t spend much time on the surface once I had the answer, but I read the surface as Translated article about principal, who uses barrels to deliver oil, though the punctuation would not be terrific, nor the surface either. However, it got rid of the le/al dilemma for me. However, this is not what was intended apparently.
Thanks Boatman and manehi
Anna @49 –
I believe “married” was chosen to make the surface read well, and was intended merely to signal the joining of MISS with AL to form the answer.
I came a bit of a cropper with this as a result of having PUT UP JOBS for 5dn which threw out the SE quarter for quite a long time. Once I’d sorted that out the rest emerged. DECAL brought to mind the late great Captain Beefheart and TIGHTEN UP made me think of the cheapo Trojan reggae compilations which introduced me to that fine music. Trojan started 50 years ago as today’s G2 reminds us and if that doesn’t make you feel old–
Thanks Boatman
DE @ 50: I think the surface as written would work better if ‘of’ was simply omitted, though it would require the solver to make a bigger leap to reach ‘U’.
Very enjoyable, and solvable even for a 2nd-rater like me.
Surely DECAL is the American translation of a TRANSFER???
I started off at a rate of knots which is unknown for a Boatman crossword – it did slow down later – FOI 1A LOI 12A – I struggled with parsing 27A – I was convinced that there was a superfluous letter in the anagram but it made sense when I thought about it – I really struggled with 11A but then we didn’t do Latin at the local Comprehensive School (although I have no complaints) – like Shirley @6 I did wonder about WI being for married women in 22A – my friend SuzeeMoon would certainly have something to say about that! I never realised that The Sundance Kid would have taken his name from a Native American ritual – d’oh…
Nila @ 42 and others – Outstanding work! I never realised that this puzzle would become such a festival of song title spotting … And the Prince reference is an extraordinary piece of creativity of your very own – I’d love to take the credit for it, but that really would have been an amazing piece of work if it had been deliberate. As the seventh column down appears to indicate, E E L A N – Every Escapist Loves A Nina.
Boatman @57: it was the longest of long shots! I would get out more but all the clouds have started to look like crossword grids. 😀