The puzzle can be found here.
Hi all. I enjoyed today’s puzzle, despite one clue which I don’t think works (25a). Including cats is a guaranteed way to please me, and I smiled at the LOITERING SMILODON (12a, 8d). Sadly for me, but perhaps fortunately for you, I don’t really have time to go picture hunting today. I met a new meaning of OSCAR (16a) and a new informal word for party (5d). To quote from 1a, fun was had … Thanks Kairos!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. Link words are generally omitted for clarity.
Across
1a Fun was had in bed cavorting as newlyweds? (7,3,4)
HUSBAND AND WIFE
FUN WAS HAD IN BED anagrammed (cavorting)
9a Ignorant article in Le Monde about American conflict (7)
UNAWARE
UNE (article in Le Monde) around (about) A (American) and WAR (conflict)
10a Complain about name-dropping in club (7)
GROUCHO
GROUCH (complain) + O[n] (about) without N (name dropping)
11a Heather regularly spent years in Chad (5)
ERICA
With alternate letters removed (regularly spent), yEaRs In ChAd
12a Lurking wild lion and tiger (9)
LOITERING
An anagram of (wild) LION and TIGER
13a Eve maybe one on board (5,4)
FIRST MATE
Adam’s wife could be described as the FIRST MATE
15a Charlie meets unknown cleric (5)
CANON
C (Charlie) + ANON (unknown)
16a Australian funds prestigious award (5)
OSCAR
Two definitions, the first of which was new to me
18a Revolutionary character runs into Lot and Abraham? (9)
PATRIARCH
AIR (character) reversed (revolutionary …) and R (runs) are inserted into PATCH (lot)
20a Statesmen arranged financial enquiry (5,4)
MEANS TEST
STATESMEN anagrammed (arranged)
23a Group included in ban on Etonians (5)
NONET
The group we seek is hidden in (included in) baN ON ETonians
24a Urine’s a little vile (7)
NOISOME
NO I (no 1, urine) + SOME (a little)
25a The reverberation effect made on lutes originally? (7)
TREMOLO
The Reverberation Effect Made On Lutes Originally, taking the first letters (Originally), with the whole clue serving as the definition. Posing it as a question makes the definition valid; however, I think this clue needs an indicator that isn’t also part of the fodder
26a Three car makers organised test of public opinion (6,8)
MARKET RESEARCH
THREE CAR MAKERS anagrammed (organised)
Down
1d Keeps nursing old leader of French general legislature (5,2,7)
HOUSE OF COMMONS
HOUSES (keeps) containing (nursing) O (old), the first letter (leader) of French, and COMMON (general)
2d Joint that is primarily raunchy and more disreputable (7)
SEAMIER
SEAM (joint) + IE (that is) + the first letter of (primarily) Raunchy
3d Mineral article absorbed by metal kitchen implement (9)
ALABASTER
A (article) inside (absorbed by) AL (aluminium, metal) and BASTER (kitchen implement)
4d Live with women in small valley (5)
DWELL
W (women) in DELL (small valley)
5d Careless man from Newcastle holds informal party (9)
NEGLIGENT
NE GENT (man from Newcastle) contains (holds) LIG (informal party)
6d What Shakespeare did with Henry the Fourth or the equivalent (5)
WROTE
W (with) + HenRy’s fourth letter + OTE (or the equivalent)
7d Dissension following trial (7)
FACTION
F (following) + ACTION (trial)
8d Old description of Smilodon! (4,2,3,5)
LONG IN THE TOOTH
Double definition
14d Attending twice today (2,7)
AT PRESENT
AT (attending) + PRESENT (attending)
15d Chemical engineer defends right to telephone customers (9)
CLIENTELE
CE (chemical engineer) goes around (defends) LIEN (right) and TEL (telephone)
17d Important lady found in wreckage of Nazi car (7)
CZARINA
An anagram (wreckage) of NAZI CAR
19d Enmity encountered in Tehran courthouse (7)
RANCOUR
The answer is found inside (encountered in) TehRAN COURthouse
21d Vocal supporter for one who delivers babies? (5)
STORK
Sounds like (vocal) STALK (supporter)
22d People in authority briefly entertaining computing tax (5)
TITHE
THEy (people in authority) without the last letter (briefly) containing (entertaining) IT (computing)
Thanks Kitty. Some great anagrams here, especially 1 across.
OSCAR for money was new to me too. Apparently it’s rhyming slang from cash = Oscar Asche , an Australian actor.
Worth doing for 1ac alone. I have no idea whether this anagram has appeared before but what a smile it gave when I realised what was there. I also thoroughly enjoyed the surfaces, pretty much throughout. 26ac is a great example and almost as good as 1ac.
I am never ever confident about using the phrase &lit (and I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers opting for ‘cad’ as an alternative which makes me wonder if there is similar uncertainty even amongst their exalted ranks.) I thought 25ac qualified in that every word is pertinent to both clue and solution. But I’m probably wrong.
I did have to look up what a Smilodon was – and then the solution was a write-in. Perhaps I shouldn’t have. Hard to say as, without that knowledge, the clue was a non starter for me. And thanks to Kitty for the OSCAR link which I hadn’t looked up though it had to be that solution. Favourites other than those already mentioned included CLIENTELE, AT PRESENT, WROTE, MEANS TEST and PATRIARCH.
Thanks Kairos and Kitty (with a lion, a tiger and a Smilodon, your cup runneth over this morning.)
this was fun… enjoyed the anagrams hugely.. tried to squeeze Geordie into 5dn.. but apart from that …
thanks Kairos n Kitty
PostMark@2 – yes, in 25a the whole clue serves as wordplay and as definition with no words extraneous to either, which means that it is an &lit. But one of the words is used twice in the wordplay: as fodder and as indicator, and that’s what I don’t like.
Like you I see widespread confusion even among seasoned solvers over “&lit” and related terms. This is why I generally opt to just spell things out instead of using the terminology.
This was great fun although quite challenging in places. I didn’t know the club in 10a (found using Google), the Australian funds in 16a (thanks Kitty), not the informal party in 5d (found in Chambers).
My top three were 1a, 18a & 8d.
Many thanks to Kairos and to Kitty.
“Nor” not “not”.
I agree with Andrew @1, some great anagrams. I had never heard of the Australian funds, lig or OTE, so (as Readers’ Digest used to say) it pays to increase your word power, which doing cryptics certainly does. But will I remember them next time round? Probably not! Thanks anyway to Kairos and Kitty. By the way, according to my source of reference, a smilodon, though commonly referred to as a sabre-toothed tiger, is not related to modern cats – sorry Kitty!
Like others, I would like to applaud 1a – one of the best anagrams I have ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot). I also agree that 26a is another beaut.
Like Kitty, I put a question mark against 25a. The word “originally” suggest TREMOL as the answer. To get the final letter O doesn’t work for me even though the intention is clear.
Thought the clue for NOISOME was neat so a big thumbs up over all from me.
Most enjoyable, although we had trouble with parsing several answers.
In 25ac isn’t the question mark an indicator (or hint) that ‘originally’ is doing double duty?
Favourite was 1ac.
Thanks, Kairos and Kitty.
allan_c @9. I should have said that was how I read it but double duty is a big no-no in my book, question mark or not. Also, the question mark is needed to show that the surface reading is (almost certainly) fallacious. That said, it wasn’t the worst of clues and certainly didn’t distract from a very enjoyable crossword.
Very enjoyable solve and a few new things learned such as the Australian funds and the informal party.
Shame about 24a but I suppose that’s the obligatory nod to the Indy.
Top of my leader board were FIRST MATE & MARKET RESEARCH.
Thanks to Kairos (busy day for you in crosswordland!) and also to our lovely Kitty for the review. I’ve never pictured you as a ‘loitering Smilodon’ but I suppose if somebody makes you really, really cross…………
Maybe the smilodon is related to the Cheshire cat?
Thanks to Kairos and Kitty (although I for one did miss the pictures).
Really good. Many thanks both. . Will weave 1ac. into speech at my daughter’s wedding in October (though fear I will be talking to the chosen few). Still unclear in 10 why GROUCHO = club – will assume it is the club in Soho and mumble in my northern tones about the undying prominence of London-centric references in crosswords, unless instructed otherwise!
I enjoyed many of today’s clues – got 1A (as others have said, excellent clue) and 8D quite quickly which helped a lot, and 1D and 26A not long afterwards. I got stuck on First Mate, having taken for granted it was First Lady with the US inauguration still in my mind, so that was my LOI.
Amazing anagram at 1A. I know that originally is doing double duty in 25A but in this case I’m not sure that it matters since the answer is so clear and the &lit definition works. Second meaning of OSCAR and GROUCHO = club are both new to me, but that’s what they had to be.
Tatrasman@7 – I’ll let you into a secret: I’m not all that closely related to modern cats either!
To TFO @13 and Alliacol @15 – I must confess that GROUCHO was my last one in…and I am actually a member of the club by that name in Soho. London-centric indeed, though I actually live in the States 🙂
Thanks to Kitty for unravelling the clues and to all who have left comments. Glad everyone enjoyed the anagram at 1a. I use Anagram Artist to look for interesting anagrams and was amazed when this one revealed itself.
With 25a, the thought was that as an old musical instrument, the lute might originally have been one of the first instruments on which a tremolo effect would have been produced so the “originally” is part of the wordplay and the definition for an &lit, not doing double duty.
Hi Kairos, and thanks for your comment. Sorry to have a rare grumblette with this one, but I still see double duty in 25a.
Of course “originally” is part of the wordplay and the definition. Every part of the clue is (hence an &lit). That’s fine.
Ignoring the definition (which wasn’t the aspect of the clue I took issue with) and focussing on the wordplay alone, I just can’t see how “originally” isn’t doing double duty as both indicator and fodder.