Perhaps it’s because I haven’t done a Picaroon for some time, but it took me some time to get going. Thanks to Picaroon for the workout. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1, 5 It may soothe trouble with guts (3-5,6)
HOT-WATER BOTTLE : [HOT WATER](what you’re in, figuratively, when you’re in trouble) + BOTTLE(guts/courage).
Defn: … especially during winter nights.
5 See 1
9 Castro, for one, cared about growth in America (3,5)
RED CEDAR : RED(a Marxist an example of which/for one is Fidel Castro) + anagram of(… about) CARED.
10 I’m surprised line’s lost in taunting remark (6)
HECKLE : HECK(a word expressing surprise, as in “Oh heck, my wallet’s gone!”) + “line” minus(…’s lost) “in“.
11 European is by peaks, getting cut off (8)
ESTRANGE : EST(French, a European language, for “is”) plus(by) RANGE(a line of mountains/peaks).
12 Go somewhere else and act like a fool? (4,2)
BEAT IT : BE(act like) + A + TIT(slang for a foolish or ineffectual person).
Defn: An imperative telling one to scram.
14 Celebrities refuse to load gun with one (10)
GLITTERATI : LITTER(refuse/rubbish left behind) contained in(to load) GAT(a gun/revolver, derived from abbreviation for the Gatling gun) plus(with) I(Roman numeral for “one”).
18 Mince pies and a pint — good and tasty! (10)
APPETISING : Anagram of(Mince) [PIES plus(and) A PINT] + G(abbrev. for “good”).
22 Pressed current Liverpool player to keep running (6)
IRONED : I(symbol for electric current in physics) + RED(a player in Liverpool Football Club, whose team is nicknamed “The Reds”) containing(to keep) ON(running/working, as with, say, an electrical appliance).
Defn: … with, well, an iron.
23 Vow in ceremony by posh president once (8)
POMPIDOU : [I DO](a marriage vow) contained in(in) [ POMP(ceremony/splendid and formal display) plus(by) U(letter signifying “posh”/upper class) ].
Answer: Georges, French president once.
24 In recession, US city rents increase continually (6)
SPIRAL : Reversal of(In recession) [ LA(abbrev. for Los Angeles, US West Coast city) + RIPS(rents/tears) ].
25 Fix injected by 14, one getting high? (8)
ALPINIST : PIN(to fix/secure with, well, a pin) contained in(injected by) [A-LIST](a group of popular persons/celebrities/answer to 14 across).
Defn: … above sea level.
26, 27 Feeling less cold, singer engages career accountant (6,8)
NUMBER CRUNCHER : NUMBER(feeling less/experiencing less sensation) + [ C(abbrev. for “cold”) + CHER(singer who went solo after starting as half of duo, Sonny and Cher) ] containing(engages) RUN(to move fast/career).
Defn: Somewhat derogatory term for an accountant.
27 See 26
Down
1, 15 Rough old invader, say, behind horse one’s ridden (6,8)
HARLEY DAVIDSON : Anagram of(Rough) [OLD INVADER, SAY] placed below(behind, in a down clue) H(abbrev. for “heroin”/horse in slang).
Defn: An iconic motorcycle make in a classic movie:
2 Why I’ve used Tinder thus far (2,4)
TO DATE : Double Defn: 1: A common reason, inevitably, why people use the mobile app, Tinder, that lets users search for other users and then chat with those they like.
3 Cut staff for someone on 8 21? (6)
AXEMAN : AXE(to cut/chop with, well, an axe) + MAN(to staff, say, an organisation).
Defn: An informal term for one in a rock band who plays the electric guitar/answer to 8 21 down.
So this is how you play a guitar lick:
4 Good person is stopping fallen woman to give a sermon (10)
EVANGELISE : [ ANGEL(a good kind person) + IS] contained in(stopping) EVE(the Biblical first woman to have fallen/sinned).
6 Watchful old marshal’s into weed (4-4)
OPEN-EYED : O(abbrev. for “old”) + [ NEY(Michel, aka Marshal Ney, French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars) contained in(…’s into) PEED(weed/past tense of “to pee”) ].
7 What’s said to accompany hit band (4,4)
TAKE THAT! : Double Defn: 1: Exclamation at the same time as hitting someone; and 2: English pop group.
8, 21 Feature of rock or glacier with tier cut out (8,6)
ELECTRIC GUITAR : Anagram of(… out) [GLACIER plus(with) TIER CUT].
Defn: … music.
13 Money raised by cop for formal wear (4,6)
ETON COLLAR : Reversal of(… raised, in a down clue) NOTE(a piece of paper money) plus(by) COLLAR(to cop/to arrest an offender).
15 See 1
16 Saw mishap jumping over sort of gate (8)
APHORISM : Anagram of(… jumping) MISHAP containing(over) OR(an example/a sort of an electronic circuit/gate that performs the OR logic function).
Defn: …/proverb.
17 Cattle are getting on part of ship (8)
STEERAGE : STEER(cattle, specifically a bullock, a castrated male raised for beef) + AGE(getting on in years).
Defn: … providing the cheapest accommodation for passengers.
19 Choice beverage with lower phosphorus (6)
OPTION : POTION(beverage/liquid with healing, magical or poisonous properties) with “P”(the symbol for the chemical element, phosphorus) moved from 1st to 2nd position in the word(lower …, in a down clue).
20 Ingest too much food and a little rum (6)
ODDISH : OD(abbrev. for “overdose”/ingest too much of, say, drugs or medicine) + DISH(food contained in, well, a dish).
21 See 8
It took me quite some time to get going on this, but once a couple of the long ones were in place things began to pick up. Lots of nice clues (1A, 5A was fun!), but I’m not entirely convinced that 17D works, as “cattle” is a plural noun, isn’t it?
Thanks to Picaroon for a good work-out, and to you for the blog.
Stared dumbly, for as long as the rest of the puzzle, at the crossers for the last two in, axeman and red cedar; then when they popped to mind, wondered why. Funny thing, the mind. Always like the Pirate’s surfaces, albeit plenty of familiars: glitterati, ‘I do’ for vow, be a tit, peed for weed, steerage, et al. Had no idea how ‘or’ was ‘gate’, tho no doubt techheads will have had no trouble. And dnk the band Take That (good band name, better than The The). All good fun, ta Pickers and Scchua…great pics as always!
The crossword is up to Picaroon’s usual high standard, and thanks to Scchua for the fine illustrated blog, but the definition given for 25ac ALPINIST seems odd (‘above sea level’), or am I missing an element of irony, or a nuance not in Chambers (under ‘alp’ entry)?
MrsW got us off to a flying start by getting HARLEY DAVIDSON early on and then it flowed. I had two unparsed – the LE bit of HECKLE (obvious enough now) and the OR gate which I’ve never heard of, although MrsW has now it’s been pointed out. In addition to the long ones I had ticks by BEAT IT, GLITTERATI, OPEN-EYED, TAKE THAT and ODDISH – and I could have ticked everything. An excellent puzzle with everything I like – wit, surfaces, conciseness and aha moments. Thanks to Picaroon for a sparkling offering and to scchua for the blog – and with apologies in advance to anyone I’ve crossed with – there was only one comment when I started this entry.
Hi queenbarrow, my definition/comment is meant to be read as “one getting high (represented by the ellipsis) above sea level”
Thank you, scchua, slow start here, too.
I have a ? at STEERAGE for the same reasons as RichardCV22.
APHORISM wrote in easily enough but I thought the OR as a gate was a tad specialist for a crossword, and wouldn’t normally associate POTION with beverage but perhaps that’s just my ignorance.
Enjoyed all this but particularly the four long clues.
Good old Pirate – rarely disappoints.
Nice week, all.
Another member of the ‘slow start’ corner, but what fun it was to solve. My particularly favourites were 26/27a and 7d
Thanks to Picaroon and scchua
Like others I took some time over this. A slow start, a brisk trot, and then an encounter with what seemed like treacle.
WhiteKing @4 – I still hadn’t parsed 10ac when I can on here. I spent far too long trying to think of a word that meant “taunting remark” and whose meaning changed to “one who is surprised” when a letter L was removed. Stll thinking “line” = “L”, when I got it I was wondering where the E came from.
“Peed” for “weed” also hit a mental block. I don’t have any peeds in my garden…. although perhaps I do, thanks to the neighbour’s cat. But I rather liked that device, also “OR” as a gate – makes a change from “gold”.
Thanks to Picaroon for the workout and to scchua for the explanations (and fine illustrations!)
Enjoyed this a lot, good variety of clues. Getting 1ac first did help, then electric guitar and axeman which i hoped would be the theme but not to be.
I was very slow getting started but once I had a few in the rest filled up fairly easily. Looking back, I don’t understand why I was so slow.
Mind you, I did try to fit that Romanian president into 23 ac once it obviously ended in a U. And me a former French teacher too!
LOI was the HARLEY DAVIDSON, don’t know much about bikes, though I had heard of it.
Neither could I explain the OR bit of APHORISM, so thanks for that explanation.
Liked GLITTERATI and NUMBER CRUNCHER.
Thanks to Picaroon and to scchua.
Guitar lick indeed! You guys!
I thought this was Pickers at his best. Gradually unpicking the tapestry(he certainly has some things in common with Arachne-wit, sparkling surfaces, misdirection etc) . And to think I never smoked peed.
Thanks scccchua and Pickers.
Thanks to Picaroon and scchua. When I saw it was Picaroon I thought I would struggle, and I was right. Very slow solve for me, not helped by the fact that Harley Davidson and number cruncher were my last two in (could not see them for ages). This also meant I struggled at the bottom, particularly the SW. That said stuck with it and got there in the end, which made the solve more satisfying. I liked Pompidou and best it, and thanks again to Picaroon and scchua.
An excellent crossword, unfortunately I misspelt “pompadou” and failed to correct it because “ado” could also mean ceremony.
Never too late, copmus.
17d AGE in STEERAGE refers to “are getting on.” AGE by itself would mean “get on.”
I found this terribly hard. I got almost none of it last night, and had to use the check button a good deal this morning. Never heard of TAKE THAT!
What fun. At first I thought it was horrific and nothing was going in, but gradually layer by layer the onion unpeeled itself. It was that lovely sort of hard where something makes no sense and then, after a break, you see it another way and it’s beautiful. “Be a tit” was great – when I filled in “beat it” I immediately thought it was weak and poorly clued. Then I hit myself with a tea tray as I spaced out the solution appropriately. “hot-water bottle” was another I thought weak until it’s true cunning came to me. Particularly good definitions today I thought – fair, clear but just slightly misleading – “saw”, “one’s ridden”, “rock”. Not sure the American growth was quite up to it – perhaps the red cedar is not as iconic as the sequoia family.
Thanks Picaroon, and scchua for the finely illustrated manuscript.
Overall a good puzzle, now that I’ve finally got it filled in. And scchua, thanks as always for the pictures, which add to the enjoyment. Where do you find them all?
The definition of HECKLE is “taunting remark”? One’s a verb and one’s a noun. “He made a heckle”?
Valentine @15 & 17; Yes, I agree re AGE in STEERAGE but still can’t quite make cattle = steer for the pl/s reason above.
Not sure I understand your second point. Chambers gives n. A heckling comment.
Thanks PIcaroon and scchua
Similar to others. For some time I was staring at a grid with just POMPIDOU and OPTION, then I got GLITTERATI and ELECTRIC GUITAR, and the rest went quickly.
I’m struggling to match the tense of “cut off” to ESTRANGE.
Too many favourites to mention.
Took me a while to get beyond a few disconnected starters, but once the long ones went in the rest fell fairly straightforwardly, with RED CEDAR last in. A fine puzzle.
Thanks to Picaroon and scchua
A lovely crossword, though I share the quibbles about steer. After solving 6d and 12ac, which both gave me a laugh, I thought it might have been a Paul crossword in disguise.
William @28. I didn’t address the “cattle” half of the clue, but I agree with you.
I haven’t got Chambers, and so “heckle” as a noun is a new one on me. I guess I have to accept it.
When I looked up “red cedar” I found that there are five of them, only two of which are in North America. The others are in Asia, Australia or Africa. Maybe the North American one is more famous? Never heard of any of them myself.
I agree about “steer” not being collective. Red cedar is an aromatic wood favoured for construction of saunas.
I loved this puzzle, but I do have one question. How does “injected by” = “contained in” in 25a? Doesn’t the first mean “A contains B” and the second “B contains A”?
Thanks both,
What seemed hard at first ended up as doable and enjoyable. I wouldn’t balk at ‘a hundred head of steer’ and I think I’ve heard ‘cattle’ in the singular. (It works when used as a synonym for ‘chattel’.) It also works in attributive form e.g. A ‘steer farmer’ is a kind of ‘cattle farmer’.
Thanks to Picaroon and scchua. I can only echo what’s already been said. Slow start, several items new to me (e.g., RED CEDAR, TAKE THAT as band, or=circuit), and I much enjoyed the illustrations.
Alliacol@24: I think “injected by” means “put inside itself” as it were, so means the first is contained in the second.
Brilliant stuff from Picaroon, to whom thanks, also to scchua.
Sorry, 27 wasn’t totally clear. “put inside itself” was meant passively, i.e. “is put inside itself”.
I didn’t know TAKE THAT as a band. And I was exhausted by the time I got to that corner, so I didn’t get HECKLE either. So a DNF for me. I had the same quibble as Alliacol @24 regarding “injected.”
Cattle = steer didn’t seem that odd to me, but now I can only find one online dictionary (dictionary.com, my least favorite) that gives “steer” as a possible plural for “steer.” Of course the more common plural “steers” makes me think of that line from An Officer and a Gentleman. (I shan’t quote it here; if you’re curious you can Google it yourself.)
Yet another who was slow to get going – the prospects looked rather dire for the first ten minutes – but then got the four peripheral ones which helped a lot. Loved GLITTERATI, NUMBER CRUNCHER and EVANGELISE. Many thanks to P & s.
Definitely a game of two halves for me. Some went in easily GLITTERATI,ELECTRIC GUITAR and,best of all,BEAT IT – others took,er,a while. HARLEY DAVIDSON took ages and so did ALPINIST(LOI)
Didn’t parse POMPIDOU or ESTRANGE and I really wanted 7dn to be TALK TALK in memory of MARK HOLLIS who died recently but of course it wasn’t. RIP Mark.
Thanks Picaroon.
I got a slow start as well but only in that I quickly filled out the bottom half of the puzzle before returning to the much more daunting top half. I think this may be my favorite Picaroon ever simply because I was able to finish most of it, defeated only by HECKLE, probably because I would never use “heck” in that context. My only quibble was that ALPINIST seemed to be clued backward but I still got the idea.
I had no problem with steer = cattle myself, but that may be because the phrase “head of steer” sounds right to me (it probably is not) and would be equivalent to “head of cattle”.
muffin @ 19. I think “cut off” and “estrange” are meant to be read as infinitives.
But: the comedian responded to the heckle from the audience? It’s a noun too ..
I enjoyed this puzzle very much.
STEER as a plural collective sounds correct to my (US) ear, although it does appear that most dictionaries don’t support it.
I’m sure that I’ve seen BEAT IT clued in the same way somewhere before, and yet I still couldn’t parse it. I found myself wondering whether there was a UK idiom “be at it” meaning to act like a fool.
Because of my misspent youth, I knew about OR gates, but I thought it was a pretty obscure bit of knowledge.
Thanks jeceris @33
On further rgought, “injected BY” can mean only “contained in. The dative-taking “by” implies that the active object [A LIST] doing the injecting and the passive subject [NIP backwards] is what is injected.
THOUGHT!
Great puzzle! Like many others above, I found this very tough in the beginning, but gradually it opened up into a very satisfying solving experience. I had to come here to get the parsing of HECKLE (specifically: “line” minus “in” = LE. D’oh!!) I liked all of the perimetric double-worded entries, especially ELECTRIC GUITAR, which for me, had the best PDM of the four. I had to Google confirm OR as a “gate” — that seems to be a good one to add to the solver’s toolbox. POMPIDOU made me think, not of the former French president, but of Matt Lucas’s strange TV series — I think we managed to watch only part of one episode before we lost interest.
Many thanks to Picaroon and scchua and the other commenters.
@jeff cumberbatch:
I sort of agree with you, but I still don’t think it makes much sense. “I’m injected by the nurse” doesn’t mean “I’m contained in the nurse”. Of course, “by” and “with” are not synonyms here. “I was injected with adrenaline” means that adrenaline is contained by me. Can anyone supply a sentence in which “X is injected by YY” means YXY? Maybe there is one!
Many setters are good, some setters are very good.
And a handful are even better.
Perhaps apart from OR = ‘gate’, this was absolutely magnificent (to cite Alan Shearer)!
Sil @41
I quite liked “gate” for OR when I saw it, though “logic gate” would have been more precise.
Great puzzle, thanks scchua and Picaroon.
In 25ac it helps if you think ‘self-injected’. “Insulin is injected by diabetics” results in insulin being inside the diabetics. It had me fooled briefly.
I think heckle as a noun is a back-formation.
A little like Valentine@15, I have to say what a difference a sleep can make! Went to bed Australian time with this puzzle less than half solved and feeling useless – thinking it would be a dnf as I found it too hard. Then this morning Oz time, I had another look, and it all started to fall into place.
I also liked the long ones but thought BEAT IT (Michael Jackson?) was a fun clue. Like Rewolf@7, I wanted there to be a theme involving guitarists or music because of 3d AXEMAN and 8/21d ELECTRIC GUITAR. However, TAKE THAT (7d) was a terrible band though so would not have fitted the sort have theme Picaroon might have explored.
Many thanks to Picaroon and to scchua for a great blog and help with parsing a couple of muzzy solutions.
P.S. Like thezed@16, I really appreciated the misdirections provided by words like “Saw”, used so cleverly in the surface of the clue for APHORISM 16d.
P.P.S. Western RED CEDAR (9a) is often used as a boat-building material here.
P.P.P.S. I can’t I now know automatically that Red refers to Liverpool FC (IRONED 22a) and Blues to Chelsea because of doing The Guardian cryptics.
Whoops – meant to say “I can’t believe” … (as I know so little about sport over there).
@Gonzo — thank you! That settles it, and sorry I was so obtuse!
“… the sort of theme Picaroon might have explored.”
Silly quibbles about “OR” in 16d.
Word play is “sort of gate” so no question mark required. This is a very clever and cryptically sound clue.
Strikes me that the moans only reflect solvers lack of basic GK. After all this is the 21st century and merely typing one letter on this forum probably used thousands of OR gates!
Some excellent clues, esp. for HARLEY DAVIDSON and NUMBER CRUNCHER; but I really don’t like this grid. The four corners intersect so little that it’s like doing four separate crosswords.
I thought there was a theme in this but as no-one has come up with any suggestion perhaps there isn’t.
We had BEAT IT, VANGELIS (in EVANGELIST); HARLEY; GLITTER; LP (in ALPINIST) and of course TAKE THAT and CHER. Wondered about IRON Maiden relating to music/rock.
I love your thorough explanations and marvellous pictures scchua
Oh my, this was some puzzle. Some very impressive clues.