[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
An excellent set of clues as usual from Radian today. It was not all that easy, but perfectly understandable in retrospect.
Definitions in olive, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
The theme (Radian has finished the speeches from Shakespeare) is the novels of George Eliot. Apart from 5dn, all the references to 24(dn) are to her novels. All very nicely fitted in, with no stretching of any conventions.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LEGIBLE | Support manual lacks introduction, that’s clear (7) |
| leg [support] {b}ible — not the Holy Bible, but a bible used in an informal way as a manual | ||
| 5 | DEMONIC | Hellish day I took part in last month (7) |
| De(Mon I)c — last month isn’t January, it’s the last month of the year | ||
| 9 | FLOSS | Remove food from back of wheel in fine old ship (5) |
| f ({whee}l) o SS — is that what you’re doing when you floss? I should have thought you were just cleaning your teeth more effectively than with a toothbrush | ||
| 10 | INSOLENCE | Hot fish, pleasant, lacking one sauce (9) |
| in [hot] sole [fish] n{i}ce | ||
| 11 | BIG-MOUTHED | Like wide rivers, revealing a lot? (3-7) |
| 2 defs: if a river is wide it will have a big mouth; and if you are big-mouthed your constant chatter gives things away — nothing like big-breasted, which I was trying to make work | ||
| 12 | See 21 | |
| 14 | PETIT SUISSE | Favourite fancy tissues protect current dessert (5,6) |
| pet, then I [current] in *(tissues) — perfectly OK so long as you’ve heard of it. which I hadn’t: it’s this | ||
| 18 | MIDDLEMARCH | Dr Michael MD treated 24 (11) |
| (Dr Michael MD)* | ||
| 21/12 | ADAM BEDE | A titled woman hides bottom 24 (4,4) |
| a dam(bed)e — the titled woman is a dame and bottom = bed | ||
| 22 | HORSE OPERA | Western hero with a rope’s in need of refreshment (5,5) |
| (hero a rope’s)* — a horse opera is an informal term for a western | ||
| 25 | EDITORIAL | Leader to check one in test (9) |
| edit or(1)al | ||
| 26 | MACON | French president fires Republican, one of his reds perhaps? (5) |
| Mac{R}on — the red reference is to wine, as in Mâcon Rouge | ||
| 27 | TREKKIE | Sci-fi fan respecting monarchs in match (7) |
| t(re K K)ie — a fan of Star Trek | ||
| 28 | SADDLER | Small snake corners large one who makes you bridle (7) |
| s add(L)er — one who makes you a horse’s bridle | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LEFT BE | Abandoned undisturbed port barrel close to wine (4,2) |
| left [port] b {win}e | ||
| 2 | GEORGE | Bolt secures English king (6) |
| g(E)orge | ||
| 3 | BEST OF PALS | Worst gemstones take in female bosom friends (4,2,4) |
| best o(f)pals — worst gemstones = best opals — it is a strange thing that in one sense best = worst, that of outdoing someone or something | ||
| 4 | ELIOT | Poet‘s work ethic initially given a lift (5) |
| (toil e{thic})rev. — the reference probably isn’t to George Eliot, who was more famous for her novels, but to T.S. Eliot, for whom poetry was the main thing | ||
| 5 | DISSENTER | Maybe Protestant doctor desires to retain 24s (9) |
| NT [books, New Testament] in *(desires) — for once it isn’t a book by George Eliot, but a staple of crosswords — the Dissenters were Protestant Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries | ||
| 6 | MILL | Philosopher‘s building on the 9 (4) |
| 2 defs, one of them referring to John Stuart Mill and one to The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot | ||
| 7 | NONSENSE | Cobblers start to nail, working by feel (8) |
| n{ail} on [working] sense [feel] | ||
| 8 | CLEVERER | More learned about splitting Conservative party up (8) |
| re [about] in (C (revel)rev.) | ||
| 13 | MUSHROOMED | Sleighed across heath, tumbled and snowballed (10) |
| mushed round (moor)rev. [heath, tumbled] — I’d always thought ‘mush’ was something said to huskies as they pulled the sleigh, but Collins gives one meaning as to travel by dog sled | ||
| 15 | TEMPORISE | Stall rate increase (9) |
| tempo [rate] rise [increase] | ||
| 16 | IMMANENT | Ubiquitous writer’s beginning to mosey about in Edinburgh (8) |
| I’m m{osey} anent — anent is a Scottish word, something I didn’t know but Collins says so | ||
| 17 | IDEALISE | Glorify ladies twirling in intricate frills (8) |
| (ladies)* in i{ntricat}e — presumably the frills of ‘intricate’ are the letters on its outside | ||
| 19 | PENCIL | Tablet mostly enclosed inside drawer (6) |
| p(enc.)il{l} — a draw-er | ||
| 20 | See 23 | |
| 23/20 | SILAS MARNER | Small independent girl briefly meets disheartened sailor, 24 (5,6) |
| s I las{s} mar{i}ner | ||
| 24 | BOOK | Reserve men on board enjoying quoits? (4) |
| B(O O)K — a quoit is a circular thing, so the letter O; the men on board are chessmen, the bishop and the king; ‘enjoying’ is the inclusion indicator, the justification of which I’m not sure of — book as in reserve a table | ||
Middlemarch was my first in so 24 looked BOOKish but it wasnt until a few clues later that I discovered the other themers were by the same pen which made it easier as I’ve read them.TS is great too so i was very happy with this-most of all because of the very fine clues
Thanks Radian and John.
Thanks, John.
What copmus said – MIDDLEMARCH was my first in, too, so I was hoping, George Eliot being one of my favourite writers.
My favourite clues were DISSENTER, SILAS MARNER, MUSHROOM [which reminded me of Bunthorne’s classic ‘Amundsen’s forwarding address (4)’], and, especially IMMANENT, for the surface – my Scottish husband taught me ANENT.
Many thanks to Radian for a lovely puzzle.
Eileen @2 I’d trust you rather then Collins, I am a fan of Mary Ann.
BOOK held me up for a while, but then the thematic clues went in fairly quickly. I’d never heard of IMMANENT which I could only solve by the slightest recollection of ANENT from a crossword probably many years ago. I love some of those Scottish words and they come in handy at times like this.
Very enjoyable with an accessible theme.
Thanks to Radian and John
Excellent puzzle. Took me a while to get MIDDLEMARCH, which certainly helped. Has made me want to read that book again. LOI was IMMANENT. Cannot see any anniversaries of birth, death or dates of publication.
Perhaps “from” is also in the definition for 9A. In 22A, “‘s” is also part of the anagram fodder.
Thanks to Radian for the entertainment and to John for the blog (I’m waiting for the “colour” of today’s definitions).
Thanks gwep for comment on 22ac. Blog amended.
I wasn’t quite sure what you meant by the colour of today’s definitions. Glorious olive, as I say in the blog. Actually not very glorious. I doubt whether I’ll use it again.
Thanks copmus for recommending in the other place. I enjoyed very much. I loved Middlemarch so much I reread several times before I discovered how wonderful Mill on the Floss is, and Daniel Deronda. Have yet to read Adam Bede. Failed to get ‘book’ of all things. I put in ‘work’ with no understanding why. Not sure I would have ever got to book.
Given that IMMANENT is an obscure enough word anyway it seemed harsh to clue it with some a Scottish word that hardly anyone would have heard of.
Not overkeen on BEST=WORST either, another unnnecessary complication that added nothing to the surface.
Different strokes I guess…
We found this an enjoyable solve, especially as we spotted the theme fairly early. With 24 being a sort of gateway clue could the placing of GEORGE and ELIOT at 2 and 4 be intentional or just coincidence?
We weren’t bothered by ‘best’ = ‘worst’. One of the delightful quirks of the English language is that some words can have diametrically opposite meanings – usually according to context. IMMANENT was one of our last ones in, but is our nomination for CoD (by a close head from a few others)
Thanks, Radian and John.
It took me a while to get started on this and ages to get 24, which I got by getting 5dn. Then I spotted GEORGE and ELIOT and the rest of the linked clues fell out. Not read any of her works, but there is a tenuous link to 5dn in that she did do an English translation of David Strauss’s The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined (which seems to have been coming up in things I’ve been reading last year).
@6John. Thanks, somehow missed “olive” in the preamble. Agree it is not glorious, but I think you should continue to use the multiplicity of shades at your command. If you have access to as many as there are with household paint, there will be a different one forever.