A tricky one from Gozo. You will need a both a cryptic mindset and good general knowledge to solve this unaided. Thank you Gozo.
The grid has 10 fifteen-letter lights, not an easy grid to construct at all.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ACCABLE | Frenchman’s overwhelmed by a leading Christian message (7) |
| A then Christian (first letter, leading) and CABLE (message) – a loanword form French | ||
| 5 | TT RACES | Non-drinker cares about Manx tournament (2,5) |
| TT (teetotal, non drinker) then anagram (about) of CARES | ||
| 9 | EVENING PRIMROSE | Herbal remedy still popular with grand prissy girl (7,8) |
| EVEN (still) IN (popular) with G (grans) then PRIM (prissy) ROSE (a girl) | ||
| 10 | ONE THING AT A TIME | Intimate tango he performed systematically? (3,5,2,1,4) |
| anagram (performed) of INTIMATE TANGO HE | ||
| 11 | SITCOMS | Carry On actress comes round one short month backing Cheers and Miranda (7) |
| SIMS (Joan Sims, actress in Carry On films) contains (comes round) |
||
| 12 | ORANGE | Fruit – love what’s on offer (6) |
| O (love, zero) and RANGE (what is on offer) | ||
| 14 | HAD A GO | Tried and gained control in the past (3,1,2) |
| HAD (gained control) then AGO (in the past) | ||
| 15 | TANGELO | Messenger into fruit (7) |
| ANGEL (messenger) inside (in) TO – read into as in + to | ||
| 17 | SOUND INVESTMENT | It’s worth putting money into apparently noisy alb (5,10) |
| cryptically SOUND IN VESTMENT – an alb is a vestment, so a noisy one would be one with a sound in it | ||
| 18 | PERSONAL PRONOUN | This is it! (8,7) |
| cryptic definition – “it” is an example of a personal pronoun | ||
| 19 | NYERERE | President and Labour Minister of Health embraced the Queen twice (7) |
| NYE (Aneurin Bevan also known as Nye, Labour minister of Health who established the NHS) contains (embraced) ER ER (Elizabeth Regina, the Queen, twice) – Julius Nyerere, president of Tanzania | ||
| 20 | SUE LYON | Definitely not right getting close to star of Lolita (3,4) |
| SUrELY (definitely) missing R (right) with ON (close to) – star of 1962 film | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ALE HOUSE | A bounder holding man up in pub (8) |
| A LOUSE (bounder) contains HE (man) reversed (up) | ||
| 2 | CLEMENTE AGUIRRE | Mexican composer (1828-1900) disturbed Grecian muleteer (8,7) |
| anagram (disturbed) of GRECIAN MULETEER | ||
| 3 | BRIGHTON AND HOVE | Trendy musicians outside came into view in south coast resorts (8,3,4) |
| RIGHT-ON (trendy) inside (with…outside) BAND (musicians) then HOVE (came into view) – the neighbouring resorts of Brighton and Hove, now merged into a single town | ||
| 4 | EGG AND SPOON RACE | To win, avoid scrambling! (3,3,5,4) |
| cryptic definition – to win don’t drop your egg | ||
| 5 | TARZAN OF THE APES | A pest of Nazareth represented as feral child in literature (6,2,3,4) |
| anagram (represented) | ||
| 6 | ROME AGAINST ROME | 1964 horror fantasy film of Lazio playing the A.S. team? (4,7,4) |
| Lazio and A.S. Roma are both football teams in Rome | ||
| 7 | CLOSING CEREMONY | Singer with monocycle ruined the last part of the Olympics (7,8) |
| anagram (ruined) of SINGER with MONOCYCLE | ||
| 8 | STEWED | Braised and well-oiled (6) |
| double definition – cooked and drunk | ||
| 13 | COTTON ON | Grasp what reels have (6,2) |
| definition and cryptic definition | ||
| 16 | ASHPAN | Under fire, reportedly swapping parts of sense of style (6) |
| sounds like (reportedly) “panache” (sense of style) with the syllables (parts) swapped | ||
Not sure I’ve had the pleasure of solving 10 15-letter clues in one grid before. My FOI was also my favourite – 4d – closely followed by 5d.
What fun and games were had trying to figure out various Spanish names for the unknown composer: Mercente Agulero was one such until later crossers put me right. I’ve not seen 6d either – not the film, anyway – but the wordplay was clear. Failed on the ‘y’ of 19a…so close.
Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee.
Umm, PeeDee, is not the ‘prissy girl’ in 9a the PRIM + ROSE part? Your blog says ‘princess’!
Grid Maestro – only Gozo can construct a grid with ten 15-letter answers. Bravo !!!
Well spotted Diane, that was a hangover from an earlier failed attempt at a solution. Fixed now.
“You will need a both a cryptic mindset and good general knowledge” – or Google! Certainly a challenge, but it was some of the shorter entries which gave most trouble, ACCABLE (new to us) and SITCOMS particularly. The Mexican and the film were eventually got by googling.
In 18ac we weren’t sure if the definition was ‘this’ or ‘it’, but in any case neither is a personal pronoun. Personal pronouns are I, you, me, he, she, &c; ‘this’ and ‘it’ can only refer (strictly speaking, anyway) to non-human animals, plants or inanimate objects.
A satisfying solve, nevertheless. EGG AND SPOON RACE was our favourite. Thanks, Gozo and PeeDee.
Hi allan_c, the same thought occurred to me about “it” not being a personal pronoun, so I looked it up in a few places. It seems that being impersonal is no bar to being a personal pronoun.
Here for example: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/personal-pronouns
Thanks for the blog PeeDee as I did need a few explanations. I do not think I have ever used google so much in solving a crossword. My big problem was 9a because I suddenly went dyslexic and labelled it is (8,7) which led to all sorts of hassles. At one point in 11a I was looking for a Carry On actress named ATTWOOD! Yes, I was that far out at one stage. Thanks Gozo for the mental stretch.
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
Found this very difficult and could not finish it without aids with the Mexican composer, the 1964 film, the Tanzanian president, the Carry On actress / Miranda sitcom and to check on the Lolita actress.
Was interesting to see the clue at 18a which was exactly the same as one that he set in a recent FT Polymath that I did – the answer to that was POLYMATH CROSSWORD.
Wasn’t able to parse BRIGHTON AND HOVE (hadn’t seen RIGHT ON to mean ‘trendy’) and didn’t recognise the two Rome-based football clubs at 6d (excellent word play when it was explained).
Finished after a long time in the SW corner with NYERERE and ASHPAN.
PeeDee, I think you have got one too many I’s in your parsing of 11a SITCOMS, possibly because the clue has an extraneous “one” in it. Otherwise a great blog that revealed several parsings that I couldn’t see, for which much thanks.
Thanks Cellomaniac. I had not noticed that, it looked correct at first glance. I expect Gozo overlooked that too during the setting. I think OCT is still “one month”, but like you say “one” is not necessary and doesn’t add anything to the clue. Fixed now.
Not just general knowledge, but specifically British knowledge needed. E. g. , Rome Against Rome was called War of the Zombies in the US and I’d never heard of Hove. Too hard for this Yank.
Did like some of the 15-letter answers though, especially 5d 7d, and 10a, which were among the first I solved.
Satisfyingly tricky constructions by Gozo. Many thanks.
My only gripe was caused by 1a. Can’t believe nobody else found ‘accable’ dubious. It’s not even listed in the online OED! In my case 78 years of moderate erudition have been no help at all for this one.
Hi FTFeller, the free online OED is a cut-down version of the main dictionary, consisting of “common” words. The dictionary keeps changing its name, I can’r remember what it is called at the moment, but it is not the same as the OED. I guess that is why ACCABLE is not in there.
PS – I had never come across this word word before either, not in English or French.