A great puzzle form Io, but not one for the faint-hearted. After tussling with this for a long time there is one I still cannot explain. Thank you Io.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | STABLE COMPANION | Another of those at the Yard, all there on the ladder (6,9) |
| STABLE (sane, all there) on COMPANION (ladder, nautical) | ||
| 10 | ON ORDER | Soon to be delivered from ring road flooded by a river (2,5) |
| O (ring) RD (road) inside (flooded by, covered) ONE (a) R (river) | ||
| 11 | NUNSHIP | Sisters in this cabin finally put overboard! (7) |
| cabiN (last letter, finally) then UNSHIP (put overboard) | ||
| 12 | TEMPERAMENT | Offensive about final word by Queen on MP’s disposition (11) |
| TET (Tet Offensive, in Vietnam war) contains (about) AMEN (the final word) following (by) ER (the Queen) following (on) MP | ||
| 13 | HOE | Sound views from this digger? (3) |
| 14 | FASHIONABLY LATE | Attending party? Not before time, staying in (11,4) |
| cryptic definition – staying in = remaining fashionable | ||
| 16 | RIA | Dry, this drowned valley, from the East? (3) |
| RIA (this drowned valley, this is solution) reversed (from the east) gives air (dry) – a reversed clue construction | ||
| 17 | TREE SURGEON | Press on after bum steer from woodworker (4,7) |
| URGE (press) ON following anagram (bum) of STEER | ||
| 20 | ARTEMIS | Painting eg Io from rear is one representation of moon! (7) |
| ART (painting) ME (eg Io, the setter) reversed (from rear) then IS | ||
| 21 | NOMINAL | So-called imitator of human speech no linguist initially accepts (7) |
| MINA (bird, imitator of human speech) inside (…accepts) first letters (initially) of No Linguist | ||
| 22 | ABOUT ONE’S PERSON | Boss, not European, going off on one (5,4,6) |
| anagram (going off) of BOSS, NOT EUROPEAN | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ESCORT | To go with hallucinogen ultimately wastes my time (6) |
| E (ecstasy, hallucinogen) wasteS (last letter, ultimately) then COR (my, exclamation) and T (time) | ||
| 2 | LAW OF MASS ACTION | Chemists’ fundamental flaw, as atomic numbers quickly made clear (3,2,4,6) |
| anagram (quickly, made clear) of FLAW AS ATOMIC with NOS (numbers) | ||
| 3 | PLEDGE | Promise given by character pursuing first of spinsters on shelf (6) |
| sPinsters (second letter, character pursuing first) on LEDGE (shelf) | ||
| 4 | A CERTAIN PERSON | He’s no doubt who we’re talking about (1,7,6) |
| double definition | ||
| 5 | MAINSTAY | Support one current month breaking into the next (8) |
| A (one) INST (the current month) inside MAY (the next month) | ||
| 6 | LIGHT-HEADEDNESS | Characteristic of saints portrayed being a little squiffy? (15) |
| definition and cryptic definition – in art (portrayed) saints have halos (light) on their heads | ||
| 7 | ONE-PIECE | Sort of accoutrement was successful in war and what followed broadcast (3-5) |
| sounds like (broadcast) “won peace”, was successful in war and what followed | ||
| 9 | MONKEY BUSINESS | £500 and I’ll do it! (6,8) |
| cryptic definition – a monkey is slang for £500 | ||
| 14 | FIRE AWAY | Start work, but not from home (4,4) |
| FIRE (work ?) and AWAY (not from home) | ||
| 15 | INTIMATE | Doing parts eventually quite personal (8) |
| AT (doing) inside (parts) IN TIME (eventually) | ||
| 18 | ROMMEL | To swap for horse’s head, take a general (6) |
| pOMMEL (a pommel horse) with first letter swapped for R (recipe, take) | ||
| 19 | NYLONS | Legwear only sported in Nova Scotia (6) |
| anagram (sported) of ONLY inside NS (Nova Scotia) | ||
I completed this, but there were quite a few I gave up on parsing. Thanks PeeDee for explaining most of them.
Great explanations PeeDee – this was tough.
13A Plymouth Hoe overlooks the Plymouth Sound (this has sound views) and obviously a hoe is a digger.
Apart from this, PeeDee, you are to be applauded for finishing and blogging this very difficult puzzle.
There is, for example, Plymouth Hoe, from which views of Plymouth Sound
What a lovely surprise to find an IO treat this lovely sunny Wednesday morning. My particular favourites were 14a, 20a and 6d but there were a number of others that were on the shortlist.
Thanks to IO for a great challenging and enjoyable crossword and to PeeDee for the blog
Thanks to all for the explanation of HOE. I saw the second definition in the dictionary but I couldn’t put the two together.
Thanks IO and PeeDee. I had a completed grid but wasn’t familiar with hoe=promontory or the horse. And I still have time to go enjoy some sunshine in the garden
Wondered if I’d even get started with 21a my foi. After that things proceeded apace and actually finished in record time for an Io (just a smidge over 1 hour). For 14d, I wondered if you could take “work” as in “work an audience”, i.e. fire them up?
Thanks to Io and PeeDee.
Dare I say that compared to recent Elgar TTs, this was relatively straightforward.I kicked off with 9 but wrote it in pencil as I didnt think it could be that simple.But that’s the thing with JH-you expect tough and a simple one slips by.
His puzzles are always a joy to solve unless you are in a hurry which is becoming less likely by the day. I loved the construction of 1d.
He never seems to run out of new ideas.14 was a great CD which had me scratching head.
Thanks PeeDee and IO
One of the few FT puzzles that took me over the hour. Enjoyed this but then I am a masochist. However, I think 16Across is possibly flawed. Analyse the clue to identify definition, fodder for word play and then wordplay and you will end up with AIR
Thanks PeeDee for a brilliant blog for a splendid puzzle (thanks IO).
I completed it, and could not parse a few.. HOE of course, ‘staying in’, and I tied myself into knots seeing both ROAD and RD and not seeing A = ONE, and MINA for human speech imitator.
I admired the solid grid with 7 long ones, none of the answers contrived.
Liked 3d a lot for the surface and the device to pick the second letter! Made my day!
Brilliant! Did not finish it though. Fiendishly tough in places but I really enjoyed the challenge and the solutions here. Thanks
Thanks Io and PeeDee
Seems that you get the job every time when JH sets one for the FT. They’re hard but its always worth the effort – so much depth in pretty much every clue. Reckon that he ratcheted up the difficulty factor a notch or two here from his previous puzzles.
Missed the parsing of ROMMEL and didn’t know the second meaning of HOE, but managed to get everything else in with no errors. Needed help with the definition of LAW OF MASS ACTION once I’d untangled the anagram. I’m with ilippu on the clever trick with the P in 3d.
Finished with ONE-PIECE (struggled with the definition though), LIGHTHEADEDNESS (tricky first cryptic definition) and HOE (where I put a singular ‘pick’ in originally and as said, couldn’t get the second clever definition).