I count myself lucky to have been asked to step in for mhl, who is on holiday on the other side of the world, with unreliable internet access, to blog a puzzle by one of my favourite setters – and his, too, as it happens. Many thanks, Mark – have a great holiday! 😉
Brendan’s puzzles often have a theme and he helpfully pointed out in the clue for 9ac that there was one here, involving the across clues. I immediately decided to break the habit of a lifetime [working through the clues in order] and start with the down ones. I entered about half a dozen of those and then, when I started on the across ones, I managed to fill in answers without seeing any possible connection between any of them. I’d almost finished before I realised that it was the construction of the answers, rather than the words themselves, that was the key. Every one of the across solutions, apart from 9, contains three consecutive letters of the alphabet – which is quite a feat, especially since only two sequences are repeated!
As expected, I enjoyed solving the puzzle – lots of great clues, as always – and I then spent some time appreciating the icing on the cake.
Many thanks to Brendan.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Record mostly minor changes in style of pictures (4,4)
FILM NOIR
FILM [record] plus an anagram [changes] of MINO[r] – mostly Edit: or, rather, FIL[e] [record – mostly] + an anagram [changes] of MINOR [Thank you Quirister @6 and Biggles A @10]
9 Set of nine or ten one had initially cut (an exception to theme among across solutions) (6)
ENNEAD
[t]EN [o]NE [h]AD, with initial letters cut
10 School activity cancelled? On the contrary (4)
NOPE
NO PE [school activity cancelled – I remember not being too sad about that]
11 Knave sharing 25% with top man in his hostile takeovers (10)
HIJACKINGS
JACK [knave] + KING [top man] [the K is common to both – sharing 25%] in HIS
12 Guard having mainly brave aim (6)
DEFEND
DEF[y] [brave, as a verb, mainly] + END [aim]
14 State of what’s still left in river and loch (8)
CALMNESS
L [left] in CAM [Cambridge’s river] + NESS [loch]
With ??L?N??? in place, it took me a while to oust the unparsable ILLINOIS [state] from my head, which made me appreciate the definition and fine surface even more when I finally saw it
15, 22 In error, grip is changed for work on magazine, say (7,6)
GRAPHIC DESIGN
An anagram [in error] of GRIP IS CHANGED
17 Dog and another pet grabbing old white garment (3,4)
LAB COAT
LAB[rador] [dog] + CAT [another pet] round O [old]
20 Churned up, as field after one’s removed quantity of soil (8)
SPADEFUL
An anagram [churned] of UP AS F[i]ELD, with i [one] removed
23 One acts in emergency ward, finally, with duty nurse needing replacement (10)
UNDERSTUDY
[war]D + an anagram [needing replacement] of DUTY NURSE – super surface
24 What’s at heart of 23, long ago in former times (4)
ERST
At the heart of undERSTudy – answer to 23: I think I’d only come across this in ‘erstwhile’ – Collins says it’s archaic, hence ‘long ago’
25 Shares taken back by limited company that goes to wall (6)
STUCCO
A reversal [taken back] of CUTS [shares] + CO[mpany]
26 Challenging puzzles — though apart from one hard one, oddly easy (8)
TOUGHIES
T[h]OUGH minus one h [hard] + I [one] + odd letters of E[a]S[y]: I enjoyed working this one out – another great surface
Down
1 One is posted during watch, for instance, as helmsman (8)
TIMONEER
ONE in TIMER [watch, for instance] – a new word for me
2 Duck out of business meeting (4)
SMEE
Contained in businesS MEEting – an ‘erstwhile’ favourite crossword duck
3 County discard is hit with club (6)
COSHED
CO [county] + SHED [discard]
4 Plan for fast plane, including maximum speed (7)
PROJECT
PRO [for] + JET [fast plane] round C [ c is the symbol for the speed of light]
5 My bad term of Latin (3,5)
MEA CULPA
I’m not sure what to call this: it’s a straightforward translation / double definition / &lit?? – over to you: it’s a brilliant surface, anyway!
6 Additions to petrol mix can stink, OK? (10)
ANTIKNOCKS
An anagram [mix] of CAN STINK OK
7 River in East — that’s crossed by crews (6)
GANGES
GANGS [crews] round E [East]
13 Lose power, protected by coppers no longer? That’s convenient (10)
EXPEDIENCE
EX PENCE [coppers no longer] round DIE [lose power]
16 What’s brewing, if unions organised (8)
INFUSION
An anagram [organised] of IF UNIONS
18 Sign about journey south for old craft (8)
ARGOSIES
ARIES [zodiac sign] round GO [journey] S [south]
19 Knowing about relative showing off (7)
FLAUNTY
FLY [knowing] round AUNT [relative]
21 Circle in pub drinks certain wines (6)
PINOTS
O [circle] in PINTS [pub drinks]
22 For practice session, fail as well after switching halves (3,3)
DRY RUN
We need to switch the two halves of RUN DRY [fail as {a} well]
24 Authentic German dramatist affected by Brexit? (4)
ECHT
[br]ECHT [German dramatist] with br having exited
ENNEAD was one of my first solved, from the wordplay as it wasn’t a word I’d come across before. I made a mental note to look for the theme but forgot all about it when I’d finished; but I’m not sure I’d have spotted it even if I had looked.
I’d not come across SMEE before, and couldn’t find it in online dictionaries (my paper one has fallen apart and been discarded, I’m afraid), but I assumed it was a variant of “smew” which I do know.
All in all very enjoyable, with pretty much no weak clues.
Eileen, a tiny typo – you missed the final S in HIJACKINGS.
Thanks Eileen and Brendan.
Thanks to Brendan and Eileen. I struggled throughout the week but in the end NOPE and TIMONEER defeated me.
Missed the theme entirely despite much head-scratching over Brendan’s comment at 9a. Much more head-scratching over many of the clues, followed by the delight of the ‘aha’ moment. I especially liked NOPE, UNDERSTUDIES, TOUGHIES, MEA CULPA, EXPEDIENCE, and DRY RUN. Thanks to Brendan, and to Eileen for putting me out of my misery with the theme.
Thanks Eileen, in particular for explaining the theme, which I missed completely, even once I had completed the grid. If I had seen it, I might have got NOPE correct – as it was I put in NOTE, which is the contrary of Eton, though I could not parse it properly, of course.
HIJACKING should be HIJACKINGS, Eileen.
Some good ones here. I liked DRY RUN and LAB COAT, though MEA CULPA was a bit weak, and I found it fairly obvious.
TIMONEER was new to me too, as was ENNEAD, but both were easily found in Chambers Crossword Dictionary.
It wasn’t clear to me at first whether the parenthetical comment in 9a was a global instruction or a cleverly disguised part of the clue, especially as 26a seemed rather meta, but I fairly whizzed through the puzzle without knowing. It was only towards the end when the penny dropped. Congrats to Brendan for the number of answers with three consecutive letters.
I was wondering if the explicit mention of German in 24d was doing double-duty in the sense of also setting frame-of-mind to suggest the origin of the rather uncommon ECHT. O-level German to the rescue again!
Thanks Brendan and Eileen – I really enjoyed this too. I didn’t work out the note in 9a until I’d finished, though I’d come across the concept (and some of the same words) in a “what links all these words?” puzzle a long time ago.
I parsed 8a as “mostly” FIL[e] (record, as a noun) with an anagram of MINOR. I think your version would need FILM + anagram of [m]INOR, which seems a slightly unfair use of “almost”.
This was indeed wonderful.
I wouldn’t call this a theme (true, you didn’t), more a I-don’t-know-what [8ac has even four!].
“I immediately decided to break the habit of a lifetime [working through the clues in order] and …”
That’s totally opposite to my way of solving a crossword.
But, yes, brilliant.
Many thanks to Eileen & Brendan.
Thank you, Eileen. I thought you might have known your G & S – The Gondoliers, to be precise:
I stole the Prince, and I brought him here,
And left him gaily prattling
With a highly respectable gondolier,
Who promised the Royal babe to rear,
And teach him the trade of a timoneer
With his own beloved bratling.
Both of the babes were strong and stout,
And, considering all things, clever.
Of that there is no manner of doubt —
No probable, possible shadow of doubt —
No possible doubt whatever.
A long quote to include the song’s well-known refrain. And thanks to Brendan for a very enjoyable puzzle.
I too whizzed through much of this , which I enjoyed very much, but did get bogged down towards the end. Not sure I would have finished without some help (for which my thanks – you know who you are). Never did see the theme (I wanted it to be film noir/hijackings/spade – as in Sam – toughies, but it didn’t hold
up) and I wouldn’t have without Eileen’s help, so thank you too, of course, and unfortunately 9ac was a new word to me. I smiled broadly at 10ac which was my favourite, I don’t know – there was something delightfullly anarchistic about it. Thank you Brendan.
Thanks Eileen. I struggled with this and never cracked the theme. The NW corner held me up, like sjshart@4 I had made it hard for myself by pencilling in ETON for 10a and like Quirister@6 I went for fil(e) and an anagram of ‘minor’ for 8a. So does the annotated solution I see.
Much easier than that Vlad on Wednesday (which took me til yesterday to nut out!), even tho ennead, smee and timoner were nhos. Missed the clever triples too. Hey ho. All fun. Thanks both.
Thanks to beaulieu@1 and sjshart @4 – and, of course, Quirister @ and Biggles A @10: all amended now.
…timoneer, I meant
Oh, that ‘theme’ was really clever, and I didn’t spot it! Brendan even had different triples in underSTUdy and in eRST. Despite how obvious the clue was in retrospect, ENNEAD (a new word for me, like TIMONEER) was one of my last in, because I kept trying to see where the theme came in, and failing. I thought ECHT was neat, and German did double duty there, which helped given I don’t think of that as an English word – although I see it’s in Chambers. Very nice, Brendan, as well as being over-my-head clever. Thanks for explaining it, Eileen.
Would never have gotten NOPE if I hadn’t spotted the theme. I also noted that fiLMNOir and undeRSTUdy have 4 consecutives so could choose different triples from those in blog if you so wished. Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.
A very clever themed crossword – fortunately I’d met ENNEAD for the first time in a crossword I’d test solved a few days before, otherwise I’d have had a problem with that one
Thanks to Brendan and Eileen
I found this a (mostly) fairly quick solve.
No major quibbles and not much to say, except that it took me ages to get NOPE – I was playing around with Eton backwards and wondering how it all worked …….
Had to check that C is the speed of light.
I liked DRY RUN.
Failed to understand the bit in brackets in 9ac and consequently didn’t see the theme.
Thanks to Brendan and to Eileen.
DiNC@4 said it for me, along with others for whom ENNEAD and TIMONEER were new words. A delightful puzzle to solve with some very smooth surfaces as Eileen highlights in her blog. Kudos to those who spotted the theme, thanks to Brendan and Eileen.
I found this quite hard for a Brendan. I saw what I thought was the theme about 2/3 the way through, and it helped with the last few clues in the TL corner, including NOPE. I had thought the theme was of triples and pairs of consecutive letters (I had grapHIc and DEsign, rather than graphiCDEsign), but having noted from other comments that there are “double triples” in some solutions, I wonder if the theme is of pairs, triples and quads?
Thanks Eileen and Brendan
Thanks Eileen and Brendan. 23 across undeRSTUdy actually has 4 consecutive letters in alphabetical order!
Another fine puzzle from a top class setter. Got the theme about halfway through and it definitely helped with NOPE.
Thanks to Brendan and Eileen
Re 17a, a man goes to a private doctor for a checkup and is told it will cost £200.
After agreeing, the doctor examines him and then calls in a Labrador dog and a cat who also examine him. Then the doctor pronounces the man is fine and asks for £300.
“But you said it would be £200,” protested the man.
“Yes,” replies the doctor, “but it’s also £50 for the lab work and £50 for the cat scan.”
I also missed the theme, although the choice of the rather obscure ERST instead of one of the many other words that would fit, in combination with the comment at 9a, should have alerted me. Brilliant!
Great setting and very clever. I only spotted the theme with a nod from the internet.
As others, I fell into the ETON/NOTE trap, although I was never very convinced but later spotted the NO PE.
Thanks to Brendan for a tour-de-force and to Eileen for a good blog.
Thank you Brendan for an intriguing puzzle and Eileen for spotting the ‘alphabeticals’…
I can’t claim to have seen the theme -or whatever we’re going to call it- but did become aware of it and I must congratulate Brendan on a beautifully constructed puzzle. I’ve come across ENNEAD and SMEE before but TIMONEER was new to me and not especially easy to get. I enjoyed the workout.
Thanks Brendan.
I got 14a first and noticed the sequence immediately – didn’t realise it was the theme until I had a couple of others in.
But I wonder how annoyed Brendan was with the one non-compliant clue at 9a? I had a quick go at getting a matching word in there (by changing some of the other crossing words), but without success. Anyone with a bigger dictionary manage it?
A dnf for us, sadly, as we had unparsed AUNTS for the excellent AUNTY. But very good fun nonetheless – especially liked NOPE and BRECHT out of many crackers.
I agree with those who think ‘theme’ is not quite right: in the world of chess problems this would be called a ‘task’, I think, which aptly describes what Brendan has so elegantly completed. Thanks to him and to the peerless Queen of Bloggers.
Err . . . FLAUNTS and FLAUNTY. . .
I had 1ac as FIL(e) + MINOR*. Record is pretty fuzzy. but to curtail FILM seems off-piste.
Much enjoyed the theme- two classicals in a week with Crucible’s Thursday following on.
Keith Thomas @30
I think you must have read the blog very early [or perhaps not very carefully] – I amended 8ac at about 1.30am!
I was another one who spent a long time imagining Eton was at least something to do with 10ac. It was my LOI and if I was being picky. I could point out that it doesn’t necessarily mean “on the contrary”.
I also didn’t manage to spot the theme despite remembering to look after filling the grid.
And I parsed 8ac like Eileen, and thought Film = record a little weak and “almost” to remove first letter a bit unusual at least, so I’m glad it turned out there was a much better explanation and thanks to those who pointed it out.
I really liked INFUSION and ECHT among many others.
For Barry R at 27, I tried pretty hard to avoid the exception at 9ac, but felt that it could not be done without stretching too much in other respects. TIMONEER, in particular, I recognized as obscure, and tried to make the clue accordingly straightforward.
Thanks to Eileen, I’m always happy when I’m lucky enough to get you.
Many thanks, Brendan @33 for dropping in – that’s always very much appreciated.
I really wasn’t at all sure that 9ac wasn’t a deliberate exception in order to be kind to us – it certainly helped me. Thanks again. 😉
New for me were SMEE, TIMONEER, ANTIKNOCKS, ENNEAD.
My favourites were NOPE (loi) and DRY RUN.
Thanks Brendan and Eileen
I totally failed to see the theme.
It is ages since I did this puzzle and I was very busy over our Australia Day long weekend, so I didn’t get to read the solution on 15² until today. So luckily I made some notes at the time! However now I am pretty sure no-one other than setter and blogger will see my comment, but I still wanted to give feedback to you both, Brendan and Eileen. I found this puzzle not an easy one but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Sadly I missed the theme so I need to thank you, Eileen, for the light bulb you turned on here and the clarity you provided. I did puzzle over why 9a ENNEAD was different for ages, but to no avail. My favourites were 14a CALMNESS, 17a LAB COAT, and 5d MEA CULPA. New words were ANTIKNOCKS at 6d and ECHT at 24d, though both were finally gettable. A great puzzle, so thank you Brendan – I appreciate it even more now that I have found out (and highlighted) the clever theme components.
[PS I did enjoy the debate above over whether to call the “alphabeticals” a theme or not but “unifying feature” sounded a bit precious.
Eileen – I really liked hearing about your process here, but I would never think of doing the down clues first myself – and my response to that part of your preamble made me worry that I am getting more and more set in my ways!]