Is it Monday again? Mostly very easy stuff today, with lots of write-ins, though also with a couple of minor errors (one in a clue, one in an answer) to keep us (slightly) on our toes. Thanks to Chifonie.
| Across | ||||||||
| 7. | CATCH-ALL | Burglar on college building covers everything (5-3) CAT (burglar) + C[ollege] + HALL |
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| 9. | ORNATE | Fancy duck the navy consumed (6) O (zero, duck) + RN + ATE |
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| 10. | SIFT | Examine fellow found hiding in hold (4) F in SIT (hold? Not sure how that works – perhaps to sit on something is to hold it) |
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| 11. | ACCUSTOMED | Cat kept by defendant very much at home (10) TOM in ACCUSED |
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| 12. | ENDURE | Cope with death on the river (6) END (death) + URE |
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| 14. | STEADIED | Doctor I sedated made stable (8) (I SEDATED)* |
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| 15. | ANTHEM | Articles mentioned originally in religious work (6) AN + THE (grammatical articles) + M[entioned] |
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| 17. | ADMIRE | Think highly of poster on Slough (6) AD (poster) + MIRE (bog, slough) |
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| 20. | PROMOTER | Publicist arranged more port (8) (MORE PORT)* The online solution gives PROMOTOR, which doesn’t work with the anagram, though it is in Chambers, as “a person who presents candidates for graduation in Scottish universities” |
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| 22. | RAKISH | Turkish spirit used to be smart (6) RAKI (Turkish aniseed spirit) + SH (second-hand, used) |
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| 23. | ISOTHERMAL | Earl in terrible hailstorm maintaining a temperature (10) [terribl]E in HAILSTORM* |
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| 24. | CAEN | Egyptian in prison in France (4) E in CAN (prison)* – using “in France” for “somewhere in France” is a characteristic Chifonie definition |
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| 25. | HAMLET | Play in a small village (6) Double definition |
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| 26. | TANGIBLE | Learner involved in awful beating — that’s evident (8) L in BEATING |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | HACIENDA | I can head out for estate (8) (I CAN HEAD)* |
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| 2. | SCUT | Head of stable clipped tail (4) S[table] + CUT – a scut is a short tail, as on rabbit or deer |
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| 3. | PALACE | Instal one in a sumptuous abode (6) A (one) in PLACE (to install). I don’t know if the unusual spelling “instal” has any special significance, or is just a typo. |
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| 4. | HOGSHEAD | Beast’s nut or butt (8) HOG’S HEAD – butt and hogshead are barrels or quantities of beer etc |
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| 5. | IN GOOD NICK | Where one might enjoy porridge that’s healthy? (2,4,4) Nick is slang for a prison, as is porridge for prison time |
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| 6. | ATHENE | Biddy introduced to one Greek goddess or another (6) HEN (like biddy, a rather offensive term for a woman) in ATE Greek goddess of mischief) |
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| 8. | LOCUST | Appetite overwhelms only child — a glutton (6) O[nly] C[hild] in LUST (appetite) |
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| 13. | ULTIMATELY | It’s become posh in recent times to trap a boy, after all (10) TIM in U (posh) LATELY |
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| 16. | ENTREATY | Request to dine in the lobby (8) EAT in ENTRY |
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| 18. | EASTERLY | See about flower in a wind (8) ASTER in ELY (ecclesiastical see) |
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| 19. | PROMPT | Quick and easy victory in gymnastics (6) ROMP (an easy win) in P.T. |
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| 21. | RASCAL | Scoundrel in opera scaled walls (6) Hidden in opeRA SCALed |
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| 22. | RELENT | Soldier advanced? Give in! (6) R[oyal] E[ngineer] + LENT (loaned, advanced) |
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| 24. | CHIP | Nick is caught with a joint (4) C + HIP – nick=chip works best if you think of them as verbs meaning to cut |
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Thanks Chifonie and Andrew
Re 10, I think it works, if a little tenuously. If you’re taking someone’s picture, you could plausibly say either “Hold still” or “Sit still” at the appropriate time.
Isn’t 6D ATHENE then? Thanks for parsing of 22A and 6D. Like you, I can’t make sense of 10A.
I hesitate to say I found it easy (hubris/nemesis and all that), but perhaps I just got on the wavelength this afternoon.
Yes, I had a big question mark against SIFT as well. There were a couple of old chestnuts at 25a HAMLET and “See” for ELY in 18d EASTERLY. I think Andrew has just mis-typed 6d ATHENE, Neil H@2. Too many single letters in the wordplay for me, but for fear of sounding grouchy, I have to say I did like 11a ACCUSTOMED and 19d PROMPT.
Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew.
Never been on a drinking binge in Turkey, so I failed to parse RAKISH. Similarly ignorant of slang words for prison or prison time, so I failed to parse IN GOOD NICK.
This clean living is not helping solve cryptics, is it?
Thanks Chifonie and Andrew.
Re “sit” – could it be in the sense of hold (a committee/session)?
Neil H – yes, it should have been Athene; now corrected.
I can’t find any justification in my Chambers (13th) for o=only, c=child (8d) and E=Egyptian (24a). Since our esteemed blogger hasn’t mentioned these anomalies in the blog, can someone explain what memo I’ve missed?
I took it as sit or hold as in eg blackjack or poker when you stay with the cards you have (misspent yooth)
I agree with the quibbles above – mostly very straightforward except when held up by dubious wordplay. “sift” was one I entered near the end with a low degree of confidence and a “well it sort of works” shrug which is not a good sign for a cryptic clue. I felt “only child” = “oc” was also a bit desperate. Will we see “with child” as an alternative for “water closet” in the future? Ah well, it frees up the day to do something useful, like make some more brood boxes, supers and frames for the beehives…
note to self: however implausible, look things up! @7..”oc” = “only child” is indeed in Chambers (why I have no idea). Sorry @Chifonie!
I agree there were many single letters used which I tend not to like too much but a pleasant puzzle nonetheless. In 10A you might say a theatre will sit / hold 500 people. For 6D some dictionaries list biddy as a slang term for chicken / hen. Thanks Andrew and Chifonie.
baerchen @7 & 10: Me too. You saved my blushes.
I was also thinking that in 7a CATCH-ALL the C = college was doing double duty but I suppose HALL isn’t restricted to the hall of residence case and therefore…
…I’ll get my coat.
Pretty much a write-in, but why not have a Monday in the middle of the week?
Like Ang Almond @5, I too was playing with the idea of a committee “sitting”, but I’m not convinced that it works very neatly, if at all.
And I had CRIB at 24d until the check button at the end said I was wrong. One definition of “CRIB” is “Pilfer, steal, especially plagiarise”. But I don’t think a RIB can be seen as a joint, so I can’t accuse Chifonie of committing the crime of having a clue with two possible right answers…
Good fun, thanks to setter and blogger
I took 23ac as E(ARL) in HAILSTORM*, with ‘terrible’ as the anagrind.
Trismegistus @13 when I cook my next rib of beef for our Sunday joint I’ll bear that in mind – had a setter used rib for joint or vice versa I think I’d be happy to justify it with this context. More so that “sit” = “hold” for sure. And thanks baerchen @10 for clearing that up!
X-word a bit stiffer than usual for Chifonie. This solver comfortable with sit for hold in 10a , but completely missed 5d thinking that cold milk was the best health-giving place for porridge. Oh dear!
Last in 4d neat. Thanks Andrew for parsing/solution for miss, and Chifonie for today’s.
Trismegistus @13: For me, your CRIB is a better answer than the setter’s. as thezed says, a rib of beef is perfectly acceptable.
With John @14 on terrible (hailstorm).
Would be with thezed @9 thinking bees, but mine here staying mostly inside through cold mid-winter.
8 Down. Since the introduction of the one-child / only child policy in China and changes in family structue elsewhere the topic has created much interest with psychiatrists and others. The inevitable abbreviation follows.
Thanks Chifonie, Andrew
Is there a theme based on inventive variation in the use of ‘in’ here? There are 14 ins in the clues, including 4 links and 7 containers. Maybe it’s just the same device being used again and again and again and again and again and again.
Thank you, thezed @15. The culinary context that came to my mind was “spare ribs”, which I wouldn’t call a joint (or even a number of joints). Which makes me all the more grateful for William’s comment @17…
Was “oc” perhaps a standard abbreviation in Who’s Who? That would explain why it’s in Chambers (which surprised me).
baerchen @7, the COED gives for E abbr. 2 Egyptian (£E).
PS, out of interest, collins gives E 6. Egypt(ian).
Sift, chip, Caen, I found rather fiddly, last ones in therefore…
Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew.
A bit of a romp but I did like ANTHEM and PROMPT. As children, we used to SCUT on lorries – a dangerous business involving a dangle from the back until it was no longer safe to continue and then a drop off: exciting stuff. Didn’t take to RAKISH at all mainly for the lack of equivalence with “smart” except, at a stretch, in the sense of being a smartass. But no doubt some lurker will elucidate.
Thank you Chifonie for an ejoyable puzzle and loonapick for a helpful blog.
ANTHEM stood out for me after the shameful behaviour of the Brexit Party MEP’s yesterday…
Easy run today, got everything last night except for CAEN, and that only because I didn’t run through the alphabet until this morning. Thanks, Chifonie and Andrew.
26a should be L in (BEATING)* (awful) — punctuation niggle.
Alphalpha @26 – I took RAKISH as meaning “smart” in the fashion sense.
thanks Andrew for the blog- didn’t think of second hand = SH, so was a bit puzzled by rakish. Alphalpha- I took rakish as someone dressed like a rake would, ie smartly. Agree with the quibbles above. thanks to chifonie.
trenodia @19. As you say, the abbreviation OC is commonly used by researchers in the field of only-child studies. It is recognised as a cryptic crossword abbreviation in this very useful list:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060709034430/http://www.btinternet.com/%7Eed.xword/AbbrevM_O.html
Blaise @22. It is certainly a recognised abbreviation on the Who’s Who website:
http://www.ukwhoswho.com/page/general-abbreviations#O
I know others might feel differently, but I’m always disappointed when puzzles contain abbreviations that don’t seem to be used in practice, unless they are standard cryptic fare. Maybe it’s just sour grapes because I don’t own a Chambers, I lost my online OED access several years ago, and using my physical copy is never convenient and the magnifying glass has always strayed.
Nevertheless, a fun puzzle.
Thanks.
Mostly all been said about this. Pretty straightforward, but nonetheless enjoyable. Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew.
Thanks Chifonie and Andrew
A lot of this had a sort of “that’s good enough” feel to it. Where’s the editor?
I’ll add to the quibbles – the “in” in 25a makes no sense at all.
Dr WhatsOn @33. If you have a smartphone or an iPad, the Chambers dictionary (and thesaurus) app is very useful.
I quite enjoyed this, but had similar niggles to others, and did not find it particularly challenging (though it was a dnf – didn’t get Caen, doh!).
Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew.
This belonged on Monday, where it would have fitted well, while Vulcan could have been turning his B into an A-. Ah well, another day, another setter.
I got scut, but I had only heard the word in the context of paperwork necessary for the completion of a hospital or police file. I enjoyed today’s puzzle, but mostly because I could always seem to find a way forward in a single sitting (mostly I have to return with fresh eyes to complete a puzzle). I found the SE niggly and do not think “in France” is a sufficient definition for Caen. (especially as the addition of somewhere to the clue would not have damaged the surface … Egyptian in prison somewhere in France.
I thought this ok but I did come to it late in the day. No problem with SIFT for me but I did have TIME instead of NICK originally.RAKISH put me straight however. Getting wasted on Turkish raki is a much better experience than doing the same with the Greek equivalent which is positively evil!
Thanks Chifonie.
Certainly felt like a Monday and I had my usual difficulty finishing it as a result.
IN GOOD NICK was pretty good. In 21, is the inclusion indicator “in” or “walls” or both? The many less common abbreviations (E(gyptian), O(nly)C(hild), etc) were a little annoying, but they all seem to have been justified, so fair enough.
Oh, and how dare the setter use “flower” for aster! 😉
Thanks, S and B
Chinoz,I loved IN COLD MILK. On the matter of plausible alternatives, I too preferred CRIB, and also put CLEO instead of CAEN …well she was Egyptian. Thanks to all.