A bit tougher than the normal Monday.
Most of us have a wee bit more time on our hands just now, so it is good to see that the Guardian have dispensed with the write-ins that we often get on a Monday in favour of a comparatively challenging puzzle from Pan. Not too challenging, but tough enough for a Monday morning.
The setter has used a good range of devices and some excellent surfaces. My only minor niggle is the repeated use of “new” to indicate N, which appears at least three times.
Thanks, Pan
| Across | ||
| 1 | BRASSY | Loud singer drowning middle of soprano’s debut in Yerma (6) |
| BASS (“singer”) drowning [middle of] (sop)R(ano) + [debut in] Y(arma) | ||
| 4 | MADCAP | Female returning contraceptive gets rash (6) |
| <=DAM (“female”, returning) + CAP (“contraceptive”) | ||
| 9 | BLAG | Robbery by British convict (4) |
| B (British) + LAG (“convict”) | ||
| 10 | ALLOCATION | Share of permit curtailed action abroad (10) |
| ALLO(w) (“permit”, curtailed) + *(action) [anag:abroad] | ||
| 11 | RUNNEL | Note enclosed in letter found by large stream (6) |
| N (note) enclosed in RUNE (“letter”) found by L (large) | ||
| 12 | SQUEEGEE | Sweden’s ruler losing new letter for a window-cleaner (8) |
| S (Sweden) + QUEE(n) (“ruler”, losing N (new)) + GEE (the “letter” G) | ||
| 13 | CHIEF WHIP | Conservative husband and wife prepared to meet well-informed cabinet member (5,4) |
| C (conservative) + H (husband) and *(wife) [anag:prepared] to meet HIP (“well-informed”) | ||
| 15 | PRAT | Fool‘s endless foolish talk (4) |
| [endless] PRAT(e) (“foolish talk”) | ||
| 16 | POPE | Faith leader shot close to synagogue (4) |
| POP (“shot”) + [close to] (synangogu)E | ||
| 17 | STIMULANT | Tonic in US mixed with last of finest malt (9) |
| *(in us t malt) [anag:mixed] where T is [last of] (fines)T | ||
| 21 | COLD SORE | Chemist originally sold new mineral for facial blemish (4,4) |
| C(hemist) [originally] +*(sold) [anag:new] + ORE (“mineral”) | ||
| 22 | CRUMMY | Bad start to card game (6) |
| [start to] C(ard) + RUMMY (“game”) | ||
| 24 | DEGENERATE | Rascal went back on a promise about boiling tea (10) |
| <=RENEGED (“went back on a promise”, about) + *(tea) [anag:boiling] | ||
| 25 | THEM | Elected leader leaving topic for discussion to the others (4) |
| E(lected) [leader] leaving THEM(e) (“topic for discussion”) | ||
| 26 | SITTER | Doctor tries to pinch bottom of overweight model (6) |
| *(tries) [anag:doctor] to pinch [bottom of] (overweigh)T | ||
| 27 | HEARTS | Beasts devouring last of creature’s vital organs (6) |
| HARTS (“beasts”) devouring [last of] (creatur)E | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BULRUSH | Plant mid-July in scrubland (7) |
| [mid-] (j)UL(y) in BRUSH (“scrubland”) | ||
| 2 | ARGON | Gas found in Norway under Jason’s ship (5) |
| N (Norway) under ARGO (“Jason’s ship”) | ||
| 3 | SWALLOW | Fall for a bird (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | ACCRUE | Add to account about European uprising (6) |
| Ac. (account) + C (circa, so “about”) + <=Eur. (European, uprising) | ||
| 6 | CATHEDRAL | Important church described by Catholic Herald collapsed after a time (9) |
| C (Catholic) + *(herald) [anag:collapsed] after A T (time) | ||
| 7 | PROJECT | Planned programme in favour of Jung’s initial shock treatment (7) |
| PRO (“in favour of”) + J(ung) [‘s initial] ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, so “shock treatment”) | ||
| 8 | FLASH IN THE PAN | Baked dish containing cut of beef and hard pate mixture is only a very brief hit (5,2,3,3) |
| FLAN (“baked dish”) containing SHIN (“cut of beef”) + *(h pate) [anag:mixture] where H = hard | ||
| 14 | EXPEDIENT | Sensible partner once getting exercise and new addition to weight loss plan (9) |
| EX (“partner once”) getting PE (physical “exercise”) and N (new) addition to DIET (“weight loss plan”) | ||
| 16 | PROWESS | Media coverage of old women’s skill (7) |
| PRESS (“media”) coverage of O (old) + W (women) | ||
| 18 | MACHETE | Knife for staff eating the bananas (7) |
| MACE (“staff”) eating *(the) [anag:bananas] | ||
| 19 | NUMBERS | Figures in new colours (7) |
| N (new) + UMBERS (“colours”) | ||
| 20 | POPEYE | Sailor‘s father setter listened to (6) |
| POP (“father”) + homophone of [listened to] I (“setter”) | ||
| 23 | UTTER | Extreme vessel caught out (5) |
| (c)UTTER (“vessel” with C (caught) out) | ||
*anagram
Good fun and yes, definitely a bit tougher than usual for Monday. I started slowly, and was set back by PRAT which could equally well have been TWIT apart from the first crosser. Loved SQUEEGEE, CHIEF WHIP and DEGENERATE. Many thanks to Pan and loonapick.
A little tougher than recent Monday puzzles. As usual, I found Quiptic slightly more challenging than regular Monday cryptic. Thanks to Pan and loonapick.
Yes just chewy enough, with some neat constructions like ‘fall for a bird’ and the clue for chief whip. Didn’t notice the several ‘n’s, but wondered about prate which means talk foolishly, and about a couple of ‘to’s, in 25ac and 5d. Nice puzzle though, thanks Pan and Loonapick.
Unusual grid with less than 50% checking in 13 and 17 across, for example. Apart from Sil van den Hoek who calls it out at times (the last time being a Chifonie grid in December, I believe), no one really seems to find it a tad unfair. Thanks Pan and loonapick.
Thanks very much to Pan and loonpick. Took me longer than I thought it would. I agree rohanm@4, this one is a tough sort of grid which makes it really four mini-puzzles. As I prefer a variety of wordplay approaches, I didn’t like the repetition of the “drop a letter” device – eg 10a ALLOCATION, 12a SQUEEGEE and 15a PRAT and more. The surface for 1a BRASSY was pretty clunky I thought. LOI for me was COLD SORE at 21a – thank goodness I pondered it as I originally had COLD NOSE – but that’s not a “facial blemish” I thought. A reminder to follow the directions carefully. I enjoyed 24a DEGENERATE and 8d FLASH IN THE PAN (made me think of the post-Easybeats 70s band Flash and the Pan!).
Thanks Pan and loonapick
Yes, I too found this quite hard, but enjoyable. Favourites were COLD SORE, SITTER, and EXPEDIENT. I didn’t know that meaning of BLAG.
I wondered about the origin of the expression FLASH IN THE PAN. It’s explained here.
Pretty innocuous today. I thought degenerate was clever. Is blag used anywhere outside the UK? I suspect lag for for convict might also be colloquial. Thanks as always.
Muffin@6. I believe flash in the pan is from the gold rush when folk would pan for gold.
Just read your link. What do i know? Wrong all this time.
Thanks, loonapick, for the blog and Pan for another enjoyable puzzle,
Nitsuj @ 8/9 – that’s what I always thought, too: see here
Thank you Eileen. I don’t feel quite so stipid now!!
I’ve just looked it up in Brewer’s, which gives muffin’s explanation.
RUNNEL – a word I only know thanks to the Half Man Half Biscuit lyric “Alas I’m brooding alone by the runnel
While she’s in Capri with her swain”. Classy stuff for a Monday. Stay well y’all
Yes I set about this expecting the usual Monday walk in the park and quite a bit later I had only about a quarter entered and a lot of head scratching. Got there in the end and quite enjoyed the process, so many thanks Pan. Favourites were SQUEEGEE, what a lovely word for so simple a tool, PRAT which I parsed as prat(tle) for the foolish talk but I guess prat(e) is more concise and MADCAP for its beautiful misdirection of rash. Also many thanks to loonapick for a very enlightening blog!
Excellent puzzle. Thankfully detaining me from the spiralling list of jobs (number 9 rehang 3 doors that haven’t shut properly for nigh on 20 years). Faves were EXPEDIENT and FLASH IN THE PAN.
The act of entering them into a grid often makes me wonder about the derivation of phrases that I regularly use without a second thought – we had hands down the other day. So thanks to Muffin for FLASH and a question to Eileen – what is Brewer’s?
Oh and bodycheetah high time for a HMHB themed puzzle.
Thanks as ever to Pan & Loonapick.
I got all the way to 25ac before I saw a single answer! Fortunately the down clues yielded easily. LOI was POPEYE, which was really not that hard in retrospect and made me smile.
Aurigetta (hard G) knew the original derivation of “flash in the pan”.
Thanks Pan and loonapick.
I’m with those welcoming a slightly more challenging Monday morning puzzle and very much enjoyed this contribution from Pan. Plenty of nice surfaces and, as loonapick has pointed out, incorporating a range of devices. Favourites include DEGENERATE, CATHEDRAL, EXPEDIENT, SQUEEGEE and STIMULANT. CHIEF WHIP was clue of the day and faintly ‘Paulian’ in tone – though he might have made more of the whip, methinks. I had the phrase ‘flash in a pan’ explained to me with a genuine musket in the armoury at Edinburgh Castle so the alternative explanation doesn’t wash with me!
Thanks to Pan and loonapick
Nice to see proof that a good Monday crossword doesn’t have to be stuffed full of cryptic definitions.
BlueCanary @15: Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. A superb reference source explaining – as its name suggests – many of the phrases that have become part of everyday speech.
RUNNEL somehow reminded me of Hugo’s Notre Dame.
I like Pan.
Though I agree with Loonapick’s general view, I sadly found this almost a “write in” (I realise we’re all different and what might be easy for one may be tough for another – I’ve had to wrestle with the odd Rufus clue but that may be because I rarely do the Monday puzzle though this could change now!)
Julie in A – I agree with you about the predominance of single letter components in wordplay – which I couldn’t help noticing. Unlike the grid. I’ve seen moans here about this four “mini-puzzle” grid through the years but I must confess I never notice it!
Rohanm@4 – Something else I rarely, if ever, notice!
I ticked SWALLOW and thought DEGENERATE rather good as well as enjoying the surface – we all know one?!
Many thanks,both and all.
Thanks, Mark @ 19. I’ve only just seen BlueCanary’s query – I had finally got round to the long-delayed ironing!
[Spanza @14 According to lockdown rules you are only allowed one walk in park each day, and that was the Quiptic today :)]
Enjoyable crossword, thank you Pan and Loonapick. Surprising that the first citation for SQUEEGEE in the OED is dated 1844 – such a modern-sounding word.
Pleasant start to the week; I was also surprised at the beginning that I didn’t have many solutions filled in.
I liked the smooth surfaces of the clues for CHIEF WHIP, EXPEDIENT and STIMULANT.
Thanks Pan and loonapick.
Yep TheZed @ 23 the the authorities got me during my walk in the Altiplano, and I am now locked-up as opposed to locked-down. Good to have a laugh!!
I often struggle with puzzles that others here find easy, but today it was the reverse. I had the grid three-quarters filled in on the first pass and needed a dictionary only to confirm BLAG. To respond to nitsuj @7, I have encountered neither blag nor lag over here. Still an enjoyable puzzle, so thanks to Pan and loonapick.
Bodycheetah and Copmus: My only recollection of runnel is in Betjeman’s poem, Business Women. I remember once spontaneously reciting it in a draughty bathroom in Camden, which rather startled my host in the adjoining kitchenette.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1H2AWbAzR0
Failed on one letter: squeeZee, clearly I don’t clean my windows often enough, and when I do I use newspaper. Thanks to Pan and Loonapick.
[Many thanks Mark@19. Looks like an absolute treasure trove. Just ordered a (heavily discounted) copy]
Enjoyable. Re 1 across, the word in the puzzle is Yerma (not Yarma as in the explanation above). Not necessary to solve, but this is a play by Lorca which was turned into an opera by Villa Lobos. So the clue makes sense. Thanks to all.
Thanks both,
While the cryptic part of ‘degenerate’ is clever, I question the definition. OED requires degenerates to have lost some human sensibilities whereas rascals can be quite likeable. Doubtless someone will find a dictionary somewhere which supports the definition.
Tyngewick anticipated me. Nobody else has said this, but I don’t see a degenerate as a rascal. “Rascal” can be an almost affectionate reproach; calling someone a “degenerate” implies almost loathing.
I hadn’t heard of “shin” as a cut of meat. You must like ’em bony over there in the UK.
I too had always assumed that “flash in the pan” came from panning gold. Thanks for the enlightenment, muffin.
Like JinA@5 was going to mention the drop-a-letter device, but what I noticed in addition was that 7 of the bottom 8 across clues had it. Depending on you assumptions, this pattern is ten million to one against happening. So one wonders if Pan was trying to tell us something, or if it tells us something about his setting style.
I must admit that I’d never heard of the panning for gold explanation for FLASH IN THE PAN. The flintlock explanation was the only one I knew. Perhaps it’s an age thing! The wordplay for 24ac was fine but surely DEGENERATE doesn’t mean the same as ‘rascal’? Don’t see it.
This was rather hard for the Monday slot; it certainly took me longer!
Thanks Pan.
26ac my favourite for reasons best known to me, he he , the surface tickled me immensely. As a non- Brit, never heard of BLAG but wordplay was helpful plus Google.
It’s always fun to see the setter’s name in the crossword i.e. FLASH IN THE PAN. I know the expression well but not its origin — I thought it might be related to cooking with alcohol where a quick flare-up can happen. Nice puzzle — I had to look up BLAG but all else went well. Favorites included CHIEF WHIP and DEGENERATE. Thanks Loonapick for the blog.
“Blag” more usually means getting something by convincing someone to give it to you, rather than by robbery. I found the latter meaning online.
muffin @ 37
It usually means convincing someone with dishonest intent, so is effectively robbery.
Simon S @38
I’ve looked a lot online. Nearly all the hits are the “persuade” meaning – not all that honestly necessarily, I agree. The “rob” one was quite difficult to find.
See here for a link that has both.
I’m pleased to say that I agree with muffin on the usual meaning of “blag” which, to my way of thinking, falls a little short of robbery. (For example, I believe one may engineer an “upgrade” on an aeroplane which few would consider robbery, though it may be described as a blag.)
I’m pleased that you are pleased, William F P 🙂
I only knew blag from episodes of The Sweeny, which meant robbery.
A DNF this morning as I didn’t know RUNNEL. Otherwise a comfy solve.
Surely (unconscionsble cavil) the Chief Whip attends Cabinet, but is not ipso jure a Member of it. Mark Spencer, current incumbent, is thus listed on http://www.gov.uk under “Also attends Cabinet”.
Not a few long-gone Chief Subs would have had a puce moment at the conflation, but of course we live in more latitudinarian times now.