I enjoyed this, interesting and varied. I found some of the clues quite difficult to parse. Thank you Pasquale.
| Across | ||
| 9 | I KNOW WHAT | Think ‘Wow, a fantastic introduction to a fresh idea!‘ (1,4,4) |
| anagram (fantastic) of THINK WOW A | ||
| 10 | E COLI | Germ gets you ending with the stomach ache, mostly (1,4) |
| thE (ending with, last letter) then COLIc (stomach ache, mostly) | ||
| 11 | RAINBOW | A sign of hope for couples coming out? (7) |
| cryptic definition – the rainbow or Rainbow Flag is a symbol of LGBT pride – and the rainbow was a sign of hope for Noah in the Ark | ||
| 12 | PAINTER | Article penned by playwright — something ropy (7) |
| A (indefinite article) inside (penned by) PINTER (playwright) | ||
| 13 | FAUST | One who sold out quickly, not plebeian at heart (5) |
| FAST (quickly) containing (with…at heart) U (upper class, not plebeian) | ||
| 14 | BROADLOOM | Carpet sweeper collecting great amount, first to last (9) |
| BROOM (sweeper) contains (collecting) LOAD (great amount) with the first letter moved to the end | ||
| 16 | RUN DOWN THE CLOCK | Behave as timid type when one’s struck and hold on, hoping for the best (3,4,3,5) |
| as the mouse (timid type) did in the rhyme Hickory-Dickory Dock | ||
| 19 | DISAPPEAR | Female engineer ace being brought in to go down a hole? (9) |
| DI (Diana, a female) SAPPER (engineer) contains (…being brought in) A (ace) | ||
| 21 | FUSES | More than one electrical device operates at restricted frequency (5) |
| USES (operates) following (at) F (frequency, restricted=abbreviation) | ||
| 22 | MYANMAR | Army man revolutionised Asian country (7) |
| anagram (revolutionised) of ARMY MAN | ||
| 23 | SPONDEE | Foot of water in Gloucester? (7) |
| POND (water) in SEE (a diocese, Gloucester perhaps) – a metrical foot | ||
| 24 | TIE-IN | Link that is bringing together metal components (3-2) |
| IE (that is) inside TIN (a metal) – two components of the word tin might be T and IN, IE brings them together | ||
| 25 | NIGHTCAPS | Top Gear and evening drinks (9) |
| GEAR (clothes) worn on TOP | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MICROFARAD | Measure of capacity in a Ford car I’m working out (10) |
| anagram (working out) of A FORD CAR I’M – a measure of capacitance, capacity to hold electric charge | ||
| 2 | ANTIGUAN | Against taking game bird on Caribbean island (8) |
| ANTI (against) with (taking on) GUAN (game bird) | ||
| 3 | TWO-BIT | Cheap religious book with content of little weight (3-3) |
| TOBIT (religious book) contains (with content of) W (weight, little=abbreviation) | ||
| 4 | WHEW | Sound of relief from the fellow hugged by two women (4) |
| HE (fellow) inside (hugged by) W W (women, two of) | ||
| 5 | STEPMOTHER | Member of family to stifle upset favourite being protected (10) |
| SMOTHER (to stifle) contains (…being protected) PET (favourite) reversed (upset) | ||
| 6 | PERIODIC | Female spirit of poetry evident from time to time (8) |
| PERI (female spirit) then ODIC (of poetry) | ||
| 7 | TOO-TOO | Archbishop sounding excessive (3-3) |
| sounding like “Tutu” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu) | ||
| 8 | BIRR | Sound of wind? Gosh, it’s cold around island! (4) |
| BRR (gosh, it’s cold) contains I (island) | ||
| 14 | BENZEDRINE | Drug last character brought into inn, beer being laced (10) |
| ZED (Z, last character) inside (brought into) anagram (being laced) of INN BEER | ||
| 15 | MAKES SENSE | King being accommodated in minister’s house is reasonable (5,5) |
| K (king) ESSE (being) inside MANSE (minister’s house) | ||
| 17 | ORPIMENT | Chaps entering gold mine for yellow mineral (8) |
| MEN (chaps) inside (entering) OR (gold) PIT (mine) | ||
| 18 | OBSIDIAN | Old boy joining Vicious and Dury in a sort of rock (8) |
| OB (old boy) with SID (Sid Vicious) and IAN (Ian Druy) | ||
| 20 | SEARED | Parched, needing water and wine (6) |
| SEA (water) and RED (wine) | ||
| 21 | FLOUTS | Shows contempt for loud hooligans (6) |
| F (forte, loud) then LOUTS (hooligans) | ||
| 22 | MITE | Biblical widow had more than one small child (4) |
| see the story of the widow’s mite in the Bible | ||
| 23 | SIGN | Indication of burning issue coming up (4) |
| found inside (of) burniNG ISsue reversed (coming up) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
I had got 16a, because it just had to be that, but I had mapped RUN to “Behave as timid type”, because that’s what timid types do. That totally prevented me from seeing the correct parse.
The only thing I didn’t like so much was “needing” in 20d. It just seems inappropriate as a linking word, although a lot of setters use it.
Tx PD & P.
Lots of new knowledge for me here – TOBIT, running down the clock,BIRR,GUAN.
Capacity for capacitance is obsolete though.
Thanks PeeDee and Pasquale.
[OT I have posted a link to a crossword of mine in General Discussion]
Speaking of linking words, ‘gets you’ in 10ac stopped me parsing it. DEFINITION gets you WORDPLAY seems backwards to me (but I may be hoist by my own petard).
Thanks PeeDee. A couple of good clues here – the female engineer and (LOI) the foot of water. I note Pasquale had ‘spondaic’ seven days before Christmas. ORPIMENT: can there be such a word? Better check. Heck.
Thanks PeeDee. I thought that the timid type in 16a was the mouse that ran down the clock in Hickory Dickory Dock. Clever. I’m not sure of your ingenious explanation for 24a, it just seemed to me that T, I and N were all components of the word.
Another excellent prize puzzle and as usual several TILTS from Pasquale – TOBIT, ORPIMENT, GUAN and SPONDEE, although I think I might have come across this in crosswordland before. Nice to see SEE indicated with a different diocese. I wondered where the ED in BENZEDRINE came from as I just saw the Z as Z not ZED. I loved 13,14,16,23,24a and 23d – I didn’t see the hidden word until well after solving the clue. Many thanks to Pasquale and PeeDee.
Thanks Pasquale and PeeDee
In addition to the widow’s mite, there is another Biblical reference, in 11A RAINBOW, to Noah’s Ark.
25 across NIGHTCAPS…
I thought the definition was just DRINKS and the clueing simply being EVENING = NIGHT and TOP GEAR = CAPS, hence nightcaps.
Thanks to Pasquale and PeeDee. As usual I took several sessions to get through. I did not know MICROFARAD, Guan=bird or ORPIMENT (though I did eventually parse it) and struggled with BENZEDRINE until like WhiteKing I figured out the Z-Zed.
Peter mentioned the Noah’s ark reference in RAINBOW, but I think it’s actually part of the intent: “A sign of hope for couples”. Whenever you get a clue like this, namely part of the clue gives the answer and so does the entire clue, it always strikes me as neither fish nor fowl, neither definition+indication nor &lit., but with a bit of tweaking it could become a bona fide &lit. (easier said than done)
Thanks PeeDee and Pasquale. Is birr just made up? Whatever, a fun prize, with a few dnks from the Don, mentioned above: tobit the book, guan the bird; orpiment and spondee faintly familiar. 16 reminded me of the schoolkid version: Hickory dickory dock, two mice ran up the clock; the clock struck one, and the other escaped with minor injuries (groan..I’ll get me coat).
Why is BIRR the sound of wind? What am I missing?
Just to be clear: the RAINBOW clue was a double cryptic definition, simultaneously suggesting a gay couple ‘coming out’ and pairs on Noah’s ark coming out of the ark after the rainbow had appeared as a promise of no more flooding. It’s a sign of the times that the LGBT meaning would be so much more obvious to many than the biblical one, I fear. The starting point for the puzzle was the Brexit-oriented central phrase, which reminded me of the nursery rhyme, but I needed to conceal the secondary definiton somehow. It’s too bad when you have such ideas that they pass some solvers by — ah well!
Quite a demanding, but enjoyable, puzzle. Several new words, to me at least, but workoutable. ORPIMENT, MICROFARAD … Had to check ‘guan’.
ONly major dislike was 16 ac. According to my dictionary, the phrase means time-wasting by the winning team at the end of a match. But I’ve never heard of the expression, outside of the nursery rhyme. How is it supposed to be Brexit orientated?
Thanks to Pasquale and to PeeDee.
Thanks Pasquale and PeeDee
I was irritated by the mistakes. MICROFARAD is a unit of capacitance, not capacity (as Gonzo saya). E. COLI is a weak clue as the “coli” and “colic” come from the same root, and the vast majority of E. coli bacteria are not “germs”, but an essential part of our gut biome.
I did like OBSIDIAN, though.
Ironic that my initial inspiration turns out to be the one thing a solver disliked!
I don’t think Anna lives in the UK somehow. Our PM, through her dogged approach to Brexit negotiations, has repeatedly been accused of ‘running down the clock’ to try and get her deal through (with the threat of no deal as an alternative).This phrase from sport has achieved a new political resonance in our Brexit crisis here!
To Pasquale @16
Firstly, thank-you for coming and speaking to us.
Secondly, you are spot on. I live in Finland, and have done for nine years now. Brexit has been in the news here, of course, but I only get to hear/read it in Finnish! Thanks for the explanation. All is now clear.
I found this a worthy prize offering. Some great clues (as always with Pasquale) and particularly liked 16a and it’s Brexit-linkage. Took ages to get 6d for some reason and never satisfactorily parsed 10a, being another one getting caught up with “gets you”. Lots of new words but all worked out, one way or another. One I felt quite smug to have finished.
Many thanks to Pasquale and PeeDee
Enjoyed learning new words here. Dnf because of BIRR although that seemed the obvious answer. Thanks, P and P.
Looking back I see that I also had an unparsed PHEW instead of WHEW which was careless.
Re 15: I know that the farad is a unit of capacitance. However, some dictionaries will tell you that capacity is an old term for capaciance ( which means electrical capacity in any case!). In fact I learnt both terms in A-Level Physics! (Sorry, I shall not get involved in quibbles about link words!). Despite all that, feedback much appreciated, and no more to say. Enjoy the weekend!
Thanks for dropping in Pasquale. I am certainly a no-hoper as regards religious education and hadn’t heard of any of the Biblical references, even the rainbow. I do enjoy learning new things so I think of this as a bonus. I was fine with the definition for capacitance too, it is a cryptic way of defining a common electrical property, isn’t hiding things is what cryptics are all about? Brexit in general leaves me feeling more than a little depressed: hence it didn’t get a mention in the blog.
Though religion has had little impact on my life LGBT issues have, not personally but through friends and family members, sometimes ending in tragic circumstances. If the Rainbow is becoming more associated with LGBT awareness than with Noah’s Ark then I think that is not a bad thing.
Nothing too taxing here. 16ac was FOI followed by BENZEDRINE which I didn’t bother to parse. OBSIDIAN was nice. I brought home lots of pieces from SE Turkey many years ago and they’re still all over the house as doorsteps and such. Hadn’t encountered BIRR before but the answer could hardly be anything else.
Nice puzzle!
Thanks Pasquale.
Thanks to The Don for popping in. RAINBOW is a great clue-and simple too.(on the surface at least)
I liked the simple ones like BIRR too.Medium difficulty but high in quality and enjoyment.Thats gotta be good.
Thanks all.
Thanks to Pasquale and PeeDee. I really enjoyed this puzzle, which was tricky but very doable. Started off quite slowly, but generally it went in quite steadily, right side went in first followed by the left, with the NW holding out the longest. Last one was Antiguan and my favourites had to be I know what, rundown the clock (immediately saw the brexit connotation) and makes sense. I also learned a couple of new words (all been mentioned) and thanks again to Pasquale and PeeDee
I found this a challenging prize to finish, with ORPIMENT being unknown to me but work-outable. Struggled with SEARED too for reasons less obvious.
I like the RUN DOWN THE CLOCK clue in the end but had to read it a few times to get it. Clever link with the nursery rhyme. I was fully aware of the Brexitty surface, watching from afar in the US.
I thought Pasquale could have gone the whole hog with OBSIDIAN, with, say, “Geldof off his head joining Vicious and Dury in a sort of rock”.
Fun, well clued puzzle. Thanks, Pasquale and PeeDee.
There were a lot of words I didn’t know and quite a bit of biblical and other Christian GK needed (manse, see). I ended up reading the relevant parts of Genesis to get RAINBOW, having correctly guessed on sight that that was the reference. My first thought was the dove bearing an olive branch, which I was aware of. It never occured to me that the clue also worked on the superficial, LGBT level until I came here.
I think Gonzo is right about “gets you” in 10a. I didn’t like 7d much, either. I don’t think TOO TOO means excessive.
I also initially thought about MICROFARAD “it’s capacitance, not capacity”, but decided that is, after all a measure of capacity to store electrical charge so is fair enough irrespective of the fact that ‘capacity’ was once the approved technical term.
Quite surprised to see Pasquale evoking Sid Vicious and Ian Dury.
A quibble. 22 down – the widow only had one mite. That was the point…
Thanks to PeeDee and Pasquale
I enjoyed much of this and Pasquale is clearly amongst the cream of setters BUT,
one mustn’t allow them to become complacent:
11a There is an aha moment when you realise that he is cryptically linking Genesis and the LGBTQI movement, but does it really work?
Not really: if you are a couple you have probably already come out, and if you are leaving the Ark, it’s not because you’ve seen a rainbow but because one of Noah’s sons has been told to rain blows on your your behind with a stick.
7d TOO TOO, I can only equate with EXCESSIVELY. I’m sure this has come up before but I can’t recall when.
22d Essentially what Pete@28 said.
Some other clues were a little wordy for me, and I also dislike, along with some other commenters, some of the link words, but those aspects may well be necessary to broaden the range of cluing, so they are essentially just aesthetic concerns.
With apologies to those on Humberside;
Sign for those in Hull to come out?
28 and 29. Luke 21.2. KJV. ‘And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites’
@BigglesA
Are you sure that’s KJV? I have:
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
I must point out that the thing measured in Farads and therefore microFarads is *not* the capacity to store charge, any more than miles-per-gallon is a measure of the distance a car is capable of travelling. It’s a ratio of charge to voltage, and I have seen old capacitors marked not in Farads but in C/V (coulombs per volt). Theoretically, any capacitor has an infinite capacity to store charge. Phew.
Tony@31. It’s just the difference between the accounts of Mark and Luke, but they agree there were two of them!
Gonzo @32 – if one takes any definition to that level of precision then nothing means precisely the same as anything else. This is a word puzzle not a scientific paper. What you say is true but not really relevant in this context. Words can be used in numerous ways, proving conclusively that a very precise ands technical way of interpreting the definition does not work here (as you so clearly do) just shows that this isn’t the way it needs to be interpreted. A more general usage of the word needs to be considered.
@BigglesA, ah, yes. My mistake.
@Gonzo, a 10microF capacitor has twice the capacity to hold charge as a 5microF capacitor at any particular voltage, doesn’t it?
Thanks, PeeDee for a helpful blog and Pasquale both for a fine puzzle and for dropping in so graciously.
The COLI in E Coli and in colic both refer to the colon — a bit too close, I’d say.
muffin@15 — is a germ a microbe that makes you sick, not just any old microbe?
Valentine @36
Yes
Biggles A@30
Thank you I stand corrected.
I wonder how the phrase became “a widow’s mite” rather than “a widow’s mites”?
Muffin @37
Not necessarily, according to dictionaries, eg Collins: “a microorganism, esp one that produces disease in animals or plants”. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/germ#germ__2
Could someone explain why painter is something ropey ?
Michael – a painter is a rope for tethering a boat. Pasquale disguises the definition by describing a painter as “something ropey”.
Thank you! None of the online dictionaries gave this definition.
Hi Michael, Painter is listed in most of the free online dictionaries but generally not at the top of the page, you have to scroll down a bit to see it.