Tough and a very fun – I had a huge smile after 17dn, and other favourites included 9ac, 11ac, 12ac, and 15dn. Lots of thanks to Vlad for the puzzle
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | AFTERMATH |
Wake father — am getting worried about time (9)
|
| anagram/”worried” of (father am)*, around T (time) | ||
| 10 | OOMPH |
Ginger gets glasses at the going rate (5)
|
| definition: “Ginger” as in energy or vitality
OO=letters looking like a pair of “glasses”, plus MPH (miles per hour, “going rate”) |
||
| 11 | SINE DIE |
Rejection of Thatcher that is unlimited (4,3)
|
| definition: Latin phrase meaning without a set date / indefinitely
reversal/”Rejection” of DENIS Thatcher [wiki], plus I.E. (id est, “that is”) |
||
| 12 | TAPERED |
Thanks to exercise, looking hot and sweaty but gradually got thinner (7)
|
| TA=”Thanks” plus PE (physical education, “exercise”) plus RED=”looking hot and sweaty” | ||
| 13 | UKASE |
Ruling country’s in talks (5)
|
| definition: a term for a legal decree, originally used in tsarist Russia
homophone/”in talks” of UK’s=”country’s” |
||
| 14 | BOUND OVER |
Under restriction — swine keeps on vilifying leaders (5,4)
|
| definition: subject to restrictions by a court order
BOUNDER=”swine” around the leading letters of O[n] V[ilifying] |
||
| 16 | THE ART OF THE DEAL |
Read nothing — that, he felt, could be Trump’s area of expertise? (3,3,2,3,4)
|
| definition: the name of a book [supposedly] by Donald Trump
anagram/”could be” of (Read O that he felt); where the O is “nothing” |
||
| 19 | REMAINDER |
Allen at the start breaks cue and rest (9)
|
| starting letter of A[llen] breaking into REMINDER=”cue” | ||
| 21 | SOAVE |
Wine bar stocks old (5)
|
| SAVE=except=”bar”, around O (old) | ||
| 22 | POTSDAM |
Conference venue spitting feathers — bar knocked back (7)
|
| definition: referring to the Potsdam Conference [wiki]
MAD=”spitting feathers” + STOP=”bar” as a verb; all reversed/”knocked back” |
||
| 23 | CHUNTER |
Grumble incessantly about watch (7)
|
| C (circa, “about”) + HUNTER=a type of pocket “watch” with a case to cover the glass | ||
| 24 | SUEDE |
Beg editor to withdraw material (5)
|
| SUE=appeal to someone for something=”beg”; plus ED (editor) reversed/”to withdraw” | ||
| 25 | REFERENDA |
Neared solution after official votes (9)
|
| anagram/”solution” of (Neared)*, after REF=referee=”official” in a sports match | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PASS MUSTER |
Do no more about problems raised by Queen (4,6)
|
| PAST=”no more” around SUMS=”problems” reversed/”raised”; plus ER (Elizabeth Regina, “Queen”) | ||
| 2 | STONE AGE |
‘Time that was gone’, as the middle dropped out (5,3)
|
| anagram/”out” of (gone as t[h]e)*, with the “middle” letter of “the” “dropped” – edit thanks to 70SimmeryAxe | ||
| 3 | BRIDLE |
Show signs of annoyance in bedroom — useless? (6)
|
| BR (abbreviation for bedroom) + IDLE=”useless” | ||
| 4 | BABE |
Book by president is dear (4)
|
| definition: a term of endearment
B (Book) + ABE Lincoln=”president” |
||
| 5 | SHOT-PUTTER |
Photograph club athlete (4-6)
|
| SHOT=”Photograph” + PUTTER=golf “club” | ||
| 6 | COMPADRE |
Mate finally scored during match (8)
|
| final letter of [score]D inside COMPARE=”match” | ||
| 7 | IMPROV |
Unprepared stuff the writer’s both for and against (6)
|
| I’M=I am=”the writer [is]”, plus PRO=”for” and V (versus, “against”) | ||
| 8 | CHID |
Told off, Charlie kept out of sight (4)
|
| C (Charlie in the phonetic alphabet) + HID=”kept out of sight” | ||
| 14 | BLOODY MARY |
Drink? Rare politician maintains resistance (6,4)
|
| definition: a type of cocktail
BLOODY=”Rare” as in a steak; Theresa MAY=UK “politician” around R (electrical resistance) |
||
| 15 | RELIEFROAD |
Containing infection initially difficult for leader — this way’s less hassle (6,4)
|
| definition: an alternative route around a congested area
anagram/”difficult” of (for leader)*, containing I[nfection] initially |
||
| 17 | REINDEER |
Present-day worker drops precious recording (8)
|
| definition: a worker with Santa, delivering presents
homophone/”recording” of ‘rain’=”drops” and of ‘dear’=”precious” |
||
| 18 | EXACTING |
Tough no longer playing (8)
|
| EX-ACTING=”no longer playing” roles as an actor | ||
| 20 | MATTER |
Count carrying more weight after transitioning (6)
|
| FATTER=”carrying more weight”, “after transitioning” F to M i.e. Female-To-Male | ||
| 21 | SQUIRE |
Start to straighten sheets for escort, as a gentleman does (6)
|
| definition: to escort or attend [a lady]
start of S[traighten]; plus QUIRE=”sheets” of paper |
||
| 22 | POSE |
Heard about US writer’s affectation (4)
|
| homophone/”Heard” of Poe’s=”US writer’s” | ||
| 23 | CUFF |
Strike during scuffle (4)
|
| hidden in [s]CUFF[le] |
Thanks Vlad and manehi
This went more quickly than Vlad’s usually do, though I didn’t get all the anagram fodder for the long one, and missed the cunning definition for 1d. I also thought that the ED in 24 was an insertion, so was puzzled by “withdraw”.
Favourite was MATTER.
It’s not a word I often use, but I’ve discovered that I’ve been pronouncing UKASE incorrectly!
Yes, a great puzzle. Couldn’t parse MATTER or RELIEF ROAD; like manehi I thought REINDEER was wonderful. Also ticked AFTERMATH, OOMPH, SINE DIE and TAPERED. Many thanks to V & m.
Thanks, manehi and Vlad.
A definite dnf as I had to start revealing towards the end – they were gettable, but they wouldn’t pop out for me (BABE, SQUIRE, MATTER). A novel format, the “transitioning”, I think.
Lovely stuff!
Thanks Vlad and manehi
Thanks both. Nice to see that Theresa leaves a greater legacy in crossword land than she did as PM!
Same here, muffin @1 – I presumed it was more like “you case”. Fortunately like you it’s not a word I use much – otherwise, how embarrassing! 😉 Good clue.
I liked many of the clues here, in fact, especially PASS MUSTER and IMPROV. I couldn’t parse THE ART OF THE DEAL – I’m not keen on the ‘nothing’ having to be read as O when it’s in the middle of the fodder. Isn’t this kind of indirectness usually frowned upon?
Had wondered why why Vlad chose ‘Allen’ in 19ac but it is of course snooker player Mark Allen. Am a bit out of touch with the game (sport?) these days!
Thanks maheni and Vlad for the enjoyable crossword.
[Conrad @6
Worse than that – I’ve always assumed it was “you-kay-zee”!]
[muffin @7 – oh blimey! You’d have been laughed out of Russia!]
I’m with @7 muffin for the tri-syllabic ukase. Thanks For the parse, manehi.
Lovely crossword, Vlad. I too especially enjoyed REINDEER and MATTER and PASSMUSTER.
Tough but fair. A tale of four corners for me. Solved SE corner last.
Favourites: IMPROV, BLODDY MARY, REINDEER, PASS MUSTER.
Did not parse STONE AGE but suspected it was an anagram, MATTER.
New words for me today: UKASE, RELIEF ROAD, CHUNTER, SINE DIE (loi).
Thanks, Vlad and manehi.
Muffin@7: you aren’t the only one who thought ukase had three syllables. Never heard it said, so no wonder I couldn’t spot the homophone.
I agree this was a bit easier than the usual Vlad offerings. Like manehi and drofle, I also thought REINDEER was a gem along with PASS MUSTER. I thought there might be a theme around court case disposals, with SINE DIE, BOUND OVER and THE ART OF THE DEAL but that didn’t progress.
Hadn’t heard of UKASE, so no history of mispronunciation for me, muffin and Conrad. I smiled at BLOODY MARY (and I shall now be listening to Queens of the STONE AGE).
Ta Vlad & manehi
Thanks, manehi – once again I agree with your favourites, adding 23ac CHUNTER,(because I love the word and use it a lot), 19ac for the surface (although I had to google Allen, to confirm he’s a snooker player) and 1dn PASS MUSTER (for the definition).
Many thanks to Vlad for enlivening a dull wet morning.
I’m with michelle @10 on the tough but fair and with AlanC @12 on having avoided UKASE until today.
Like Eileen @13 I love the word CHUNTER. On the other hand, I would never say CHID.
I also loved the definition fir REINDEER, but then don’t they do all their sleigh pulling the night before, so that by the present day they’re sitting with their hooves up?
Thanks Vlad and manehi
Dnf. Did mental-alpha on the 13ac crossers .. nada (dunno what that is in Russian). Otherwise, not too impaling. Thanks both.
For STONE AGE I believe it is the middle letter of ‘the’ that is left out for the anagram.
Thanks Vlad and manehi. My first attempt at the anagram in 16a was “the rat of the deal” – I almost convinced myself it was correct.
A lovely puzzle as others have said. Sometimes if I’m in a hurry I’ll do the crossword online, and it can be a bit too tempting to guess and use the check button; but this morning I had a bit more time and was determined to do it the old fashioned way, just pen and paper without looking anything up. This made for a very satisfying solve, slow but steady with lots of penny-drop moments. I think my favourite was 7d IMPROV, very good (and made rather easier after 14a had given me the V as the final letter!)
Conrad @6: I think the sort of indirect anagram that is totally frowned upon is the “think of a synonym for this word and make an anagram of that” type. Lesser forms of indirectness seem to be accepted. But of course at the end of the day there is no rule – it’s just a question of what seems fair and reasonable.
Many thanks Vlad and manehi.
I’m relieved to see a few later posters for whom UKASE is not part of the lexicon. Early on I was beginning to feel like a right twit for being the only one not to be using Tsarist Russian legalese! Just one of many to cause me grief this morning as I floundered my way through Vlad’s offering. I could have done with a RELIEF ROAD myself. After two passes through the grid I just had BABE! Eventually everything fell bar the aforementioned UKASE and SQUIRE which simply never occurred. Only PASS MUSTER was unparsed and, tbh, I didn’t even see the cunning definition so I probably shouldn’t claim it but the letters are in the grid so I will.
As well as REINDEER – we seem to have discussed them a lot over the last couple of months – though that does included Christmas, I had ticks for SHOT PUTTER, BLOODY MARY, BOUND OVER, POTSDAM, OOMPH and AFTERMATH (where, having concluded ‘wake’ was the definition, I found myself wondering post funeral gathering, arousal or trail? Just another of those glorious English words with totally different meanings.)
Conrad @6: it is of course snooker player Mark Allen. Am a bit out of touch with the game (sport?) these days! You consider yourself out of touch: I was contemplating Woody, Dave and Daevid as my Allens!
Thanks Vlad and manehi
This must have been an easier Vlad than the last one as I managed to finish it – though I failed to identify the anagram for STONE AGE. I acquit myself of not getting the homophone of a word I knew, but have never heard spoken. It must be fairly common among voracious readers, as I guess we all are, to be aware of the spelling and meaning of a word, but not how to pronounce it, if we have never yet needed to do so.
Loved the definitions for PASS MUSTER and REINDEER, and the all too familiar surface of TAPERED. BLOODY MARY recalled last night’s TV: Elizabeth R holds up well after fifty years.
DuncT @17: before I’d worked out the anagram fodder properly, I’d wondered about “the lie of the land” and “the fat of the land”, both of which fitted the enumeration and some of the fodder and, particularly the first, seemed relevant to the previous President.
Not to get all Guardian-socialist here, but are reindeers really workers? Do they get paid? Does Santa need briefing on the Modern Slavery Act?
I jest, in part – Tramp used a similar device a couple of months ago and I found it terrific fun.
I thought this was going to be an easier-than-usual Vlad, but the SW corner have me pause for thought. Thanks to manehi for parsing CHUNTER for me.
Third toughie in a row, and a very entertaining solve, as Vlad’s always are. The temptation when solving on the phone is always to shortcut the trickier parsings using the check button, and I don’t always remember to go back, so I am sure I have not parsed everything here, though the ones I didn’t were mostly because I lacked the GK e.g. hunter.
So rather a humbling week as a solver, but a great week for challenging puzzles, which I would much rather see than a week of Monday puzzles.
Thanks to Vlad and manehi
DuncT @7 sounds about right!
beery@23 definitely a week for print-outs-well for mortals like me-maybe pencil as well
Beautiful crossword, I think Vlad and Brendan just get better and better. Too many good clues today to even begin to mention my favourites.
Thought 18d ADAMANT was a bit harsh, before I realised the letter-count…
Tough but very enjoyable. Thanks to Vlad for the workout and Manehi for the parsings that eluded me.
I do have one very minor quibble about 22A (POTSDAM). To me, someone who is ‘spitting feathers’ is extremely thirsty and thus dry-mouthed. If someone were MAD (in the sense of angry) I might describe them as ‘spitting blood’ but never feathers. Just me? Or is this perhaps an example of a phrase whose meaning has changed over time – leaving oldies like me behind?
Loved REINDEER. I did remember UKASE from past appearances but like others had the pronunciation wrong. Introduced to CHUNTER as a word; I’m more familiar with the T to D variant from Barry McKenzie days, but that’s now ancient history. About the same vintage as ‘Dave’ who was the first ‘Allen’ to come to mind.
Missed RELIEF ROAD and the parsing of a few others, but happy to get what I was able to solve.
Thanks to Vlad for the usual challenging but v. enjoyable puzzle and to manehi.
[Boffo @22 They may not get paid as such, but they get as much lichen as they can eat (they gave a likin’ for lichen) and they don’t end up as reindeer meatballs or Donner kebabs.]
grizzlebeard@28: I think we have had this discussion here before, and it may be a regional difference. I recognise “spitting feathers” as angry, and don’t use “spitting blood” at all (London).
gladys @20 – absolutely, there are so many words I know only from print – indeed, heaps of them only from crosswords – and so could easily be wrong on their pronunciation. Someone once said, “never make fun of someone for mispronouncing a word; it means they have learned it by reading”. 13ac is clearly a good kays in point… (ahem)
Lord Jim @18 – you’re absolutely right, of course; it’s not wholly indirect, so it is fair. In fact such a technique is something I’ve seen increasingly in crosswords over the years, and to be honest I wouldn’t be so miffed if I hadn’t been misled by it.
Had the whole of the bottom half filled in before I winkled out the solutions to the top half. OOMPH made me smile. Like some others, didn’t know UKASE, last one in therefore.
[I’d always imagined UKASE would have sounded something like “Oo-Carsey”, it’s one of those words I’ve probably never heard spoken. (Mind you, even hearing it spoken might not have helped all that much anyway – it was years before I realised that what I had read as a “Cotton-Easter” and a cotoneaster were one and the same.]
I agree with all those commentators who have praised the G’s week so far – they’ve all been toughies but goodies for me. I too enjoyed REINDEER and found the fodder for the ex-president’s ghostwritten book particularly appropriate. Thanks to all the bloggers and setters thus far.
grizzlebeard@28 and gladys@32 – for me, I’d spit feathers with thirst and blood with anger, exclusively (Londoner too), but happy enough with the clue as I’ve seen the alternative usage before – in a crossword (of course – such excellent avenues of learning!)
Muffin @1 & others
[re words only read but never heard – for a long time I thought ‘epitome’ was pronounced as 3 syllables (ending in the synonym for ‘book’). Very embarrassed when I found out, and hoped I hadn’t ever said it out loud!)
Grizzlebeard and gladys
Where I come from (N. Devon) we used “spitting feathers” in the thirsty sense. I bemused people around here (E. Lancs) when I used it that way. It was gently explained to me that it referred to the little flecks of spittle around the mouth that form when someone is very angry and shouting. Take your pick!
[GrannyJ @36: the first time I encountered ‘halcyon’ on the page, I was unlucky enough to meet a misprinted ‘halycon’. Which I used a few times, no doubt to the confusion/amusement of others before encountering it again, correctly spelled.]
Conrad @32 – I agree entirely with your first paragraph and was amused to see in your second that you were misled. I’ve said here before that throughout my early years I thought that was pronounced ‘mizzled’.
I’m with GertByce e re Cotton-Easter, too.
[Eileen @39
Me too with “misled” and “coton easter”. I think I must have been 10 or so when I first discovered that there wasn’t a place called “Chick-a goo”.]
Splendid puzzle. Vlad is a master of tightly constructed clues with smoothly plausible surfaces and playfully hidden definitions (‘wake’, ‘present-day workers’, ‘do’).
I couldn’t parse MATTER – that’s clever.
I’m another who always pronounced UKASE with three syllables – in my head, as I’ve never had recourse to saying it out loud. Should we all consider ourselves suitably chidden?
[Eileen @39 – yes, I too was mizzled by misled! In fact I meant to refer to it in my post but forgot… 😀 ]
[I have never been misled by ‘misled’ and I heard ‘Cotoneaster’ spoken before ever seeing it written, but I confess to first assuming ‘uproarious’ had five syllables]
Place names are, of course, a minefield. I live not far from I-zel-worth. Anyone pronouncing it Isle-worth to match the spelling will be met with incomprehension.
[gladys @44: and some of the more sonorous and aristocratic surnames: Featherstonhaugh, Cholmondeley and, of course, Monty Python’s Luxury-Yacht]
Wow – not on Vlad’s wavelength at-all today and found that very tough going…
[Conrad @6 and PostMark @19: knowing nothing about snooker the only thing I’m reminded of is Ted Lowe’s immortal line “…”and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green…”]
Thanks Vlad and manehi.
An excellent puzzle and (for me) a welcome return to normal service after the special topic puzzles of the past two days.
I enjoyed the challenge and managed to work out all the answers one way or another – just what I expect of a good cryptic puzzle! I missed a couple of parsings along the way so thanks to the blogger for enlightenment on those.
A great puzzle from Vlad – thanks to him. And thanks to manehi for the parsing of 1d – both MrsW and me sat here saying “yes, but it doesn’t mean ‘do no more’”, as well as 20d.
I went round the same “spitting feathers” loop as others – and for what it’s worth muffin@37 it means thirsty to me – and I’m from Lancashire so I wouldn’t have offered the spittle interpretation to you.
I had the opposite solving experience to Ronald@33 as I had the top half with little in the bottom. A big smile for REINDEER – although it did feel vaguely familiar when the penny dropped, and I loved the long anagram – it took me ages to get ART and DEAL out of the left over fodder. I even lost faith and toyed with TOP and HILL for a while. Best puzzle of the week so far for me.
[ sheffieldhatter – thanks for your comment on my GD post].
Thanks Vlad and manehi.
Just about perfect for me and requiring a knowledge of neither gods nor monkeys (“Thou shalt not have strange monkeys before me…” seems to be the new commandment from the week.).
I always thought the “s” in UKASE was hard (cf “base”) rather than soft (cf rose) and I’m not sure from the homophone which it is but soft seems to be indicated?
Some lovely surfaces – that for RELIEF ROAD being suitably topical, and that for SQUIRE conjuring up a very strange scene of chivalrous behaviour. (The spell-check BRIDLES at “behaviour” and offers to send it to Google, while telling me that I can always “change this behavior” – most amusing.)
“Spitting feathers” appears only to have arrived in the OED in 2006. The earliest quotation for the “dry mouth” sense is 1917 (USA) and for the “angry” sense 1977. Seems very much a colloquialism, although my 1993 Chambers only mentions the furious intent.
Also fairly sure that UKASE is not pronounced that way by Russians – would it not be more like OOKAZ?
Whilst I am here, I better add some balance by saying I found this crossword too difficult to be enjoyable – allusions in definitions and wordplay often a step too far for me.
I am another who (in Paul mode) would have expected a clue like “Ruling sounds like you can” for UKASE. Another puzzle where my brain works like a fairground coin fall game (it takes several attempts before the penny drops), but very enjoyable, nonetheless.
Going back to Eileen @39 and subsequent comments on ‘misled’. I recall from long ago a neighbour who produced plays with an amateur group. At a early rehearsal, a nervous new player pronounced the word as ‘mizzled’. Rather than jumping in to correct her, he waited and then said ‘I’d like to change the moves a bit in this scene, so can we go back to – let’s see – the line “I was mis-led!”…. ‘ A perfect instance of thoughtfulness which has stayed with me ever since.
Thanks Vlad and manehi
Alphalpha @ 49: the Chambers phonetic spelling gives both hard and soft options.
Thanks Simon S. I have worked the word into conversation in the past only to be met by blank stares. At least it wasn’t my pronounciation that was at fault.
Quenbarrow @52: that was indeed thoughtful. I was less lucky when I first had a shot at saying ‘facsimile’, a word I’d only ever read, as it was in front of my elder brother; he thought ‘fassi-mile’ was hilarious. I was also a ‘mizzled’, but fortunately never said it aloud (and shared the mispronunciation of ‘ukase’ with many others here until now).
Great crossword!
Having struggled the last two days, I was delighted to find myself filling in the grid today. Didn’t know UKASE let alone how to pronounce it but otherwise great. Loved REINDEER and RELIEF ROAD among many others. Thanks Vlad and manehi
Phew, bashed my way past Paul and Vlad on successive days. Despite what happened with Enigmatist / Soup, there must be life in the solving neurons yet.
Once Mrs T kindly confirmed PASS MUSTER, straight away in went UKASE. There’s enough of my O Level Russian left to know that the vowel sounds of the language are diphthong free, which pretty much rules out the homophone, or it should do. It’s not as if it’s a thoroughly anglicised term after all.
I’m not too concerned about that in all honesty but BR = bedroom looks like one of those convenient dictionary-bound abbreviations that nobody ever uses in real life. Evidence to the contrary gratefully awaited.
I’m with Gervase @41 (or is that gair-vah-zay?): “…tightly constructed clues with smoothly plausible surfaces and playfully hidden definitions” and MaidenBartok @46: “…not on Vlad’s wavelength at all today and found this very tough going…”.
And as for orientation (Ronald @33 & WhiteKing @48): I had completed the RHS but only had three in the left. It’s all a matter of what clicks, I guess. I had to have several pauses to get my mind out of self-dug grooves, and my head was in a whirl at finding odd words that didn’t mean what they meant last time I looked. ‘Do’ in particular.
Three homophones? Your excellency, you are spoiling us! And Denis Thatcher too! Not sure if my cup runneth over, but I was certainly ‘spitting feathers’ (MAD!) long before the end. A very satisfying finish with what to some must have been the very obvious SUEDE and POSE my last ones in. Many thanks to Vlad for another excruciating solve.
[Alphalpha @49 & SimonS @53. I thought S-sounds were hard or soft too, but apparently the distinction is between voiced (Z) and unvoiced (SS), ie whether you make a noise in your larynx or not.]
Good puzzle. Thanks Vlad and manehi. 3 challenging days but lots of good fun.
(I asked my niece when she was about 12 what her favourite colour was and she replied ‘fuskia’! My blind spot is quinoa. I know it’s kin-whaa but I embarrass myself in Tesco’s every time.)
[Conrad @32 makes a very good point; if someone mispronounces a word, they have read it – to be commended rather than criticised.]
Funny thing happened to me with REINDEER. I didn’t get it on first pass, but my eyes strayed to the bottom of the screen where the earliest G. comments were showing. Note that the rule there is “no spoilers”. The one I happened to read effusively praised the definition of 17d. So I read it again looking for assorted cleverness, and voila!
As for UKASE, I must have encountered it a half-dozen or more times in my life, but only in crosswords. I never looked it up, so my idea of its pronunciation was a kind of quantum superposition of everything mentioned here today. The clue caused the collapse of the wave-function.
[If anyone is wondering what WhiteKing was thanking me for @48 and has half an hour to spare, he posted a link on the General Discussion thread (#28) to a TED talk given by Monica Lewinski on the subject of internet abuse. This was in the context of some of the very hostile comments below the blog of Tuesday’s crossword, and how upset one (at least) of the compilers felt about it. As one commenter suggested (see #127 here) “I think we all might benefit from pretending that out comments will be read by the setter and the setter’s mum.” To which Hamish/Soup (who jointly set the clues) replied: “…you may be amused to hear that my mother has indeed read these comments 🙂 “]
[Dr WhatsOn @62. “The clue caused the collapse of the wave-function.” Does that mean that you’ve killed Schrödinger’s cat, again?]
[hatter @64: surely the only answer to that question is “maybe” isn’t it? Or possibly “yes and no”.]
Guys@64&65: Vlad said it best: both for and against
[Mark: Both are possible – it’s not determinable. But that’s in normal circumstances. I get the impression that Dr WhatsOn has form in this regard and maybe knows more than he has so far let on.]
[sheffield hatter @58: That’s not how I would pronounce it myself, but of course it isn’t my real name. The full false moniker is Gervase Ffoney – make of that what you will….]
[hatter, PostMark and Dr WhatsOn: if Schrödinger’s cat is dead, I suspect Maxwell’s demon]
[Eileen @13: If you haven’t done so already please treat yourself to the excellent crossword by Chalmie in the FT.]
[Just on the topic of mispronunciations, I’ve been reading a lot recently about espionage in WWII – where mispronunciation of a place-name or colloquialism could, perhaps, be a matter of life and death for an agent in the field. Similarly, and I’m sure everyone here knows, but pronunciation as a kind of password is the root of the word ‘shibboleth’; some examples on the Wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth. Apologies if old news/too off-topic]
Tony Santucci @70 – thanks for the tip but I haven’t had time to do all three puzzles today. I did read the blog, as I often do, to see what I’ve missed, so it;s too late, I’m afraid. 😉
As is generally the case with Vlad, this was a tough solve – I couldn’t parse 3D and thank you for that, manehi – but an enjoyable one. Some very neat ones, with, I think, personal favourites being 17D, 1D and 13A. The surface of 16A is a delight, too.
Thanks to Vlad and manehi.
[Tony Santucci @70. I borrowed your suggestion to Eileen and have done the FT crossword. Quite tricky until solving the central clue. It took an awful long time for the penny to drop! Thanks, it was good fun in the end.]
PostMark @65. According to Dirk Gently aka sVLAD Cjelli [ ! ] in one of Douglas Adams’ books, it’s spitting feathers…
[Sheffield Hatter @74: I’m glad you enjoyed it. For some reason it struck a chord with me. Maybe it had something to do with “penny dropping” thing — I found that very gratifying.]
blaise @75: that is a spooky coincidence! (Mind you, more of the dirk and less of the gentle when it comes to our Vlad)
A very enjoyable puzzle, some lovely clues, especially that for REINDEER. Thank you Vlad and manehi.
[Cotoneaster is in the news today …]
A very interesting link, Cookie – and good news!
sheffield hatter@59. Thanks: fascinating. Anyone else trying to say, say, “Zoo” without involving the larynx? Great fun.
Damn, was convinced the Trump referred to was going to be Judd, what with the reference to (Mark) Allen in the next clue.
It didn’t matter in the end because I died on me arse on this one. Never heard of UKASE, SINE DIE or CHID (though I did guess and check that one). A really good one to admire, however, after having to reveal the last few. Cheers.
Thanks Vlad and Manehi. Whew – finally a puzzle which was a crossword and not un tour de Google ! AFTERMATH and OOMPH went straight in and it fell steadily after that, with the NW taking the longest to crack. REINDEER was definitely Clue Of The Week. Good fun all round.
I don’t usually attempt Vlad crosswords but, after 2 failures in a row, I struggled through it with much word searching etc. For 19ac I could only think of Woody and Red (famous jazz trumpeter) neither of which helped.
This was tough and a technical dnf- never heard of UKASE, found in thesaurus. CHUNTER was also new to me and I am amused by an alternative spelling in the BRB of chunder, which has a very different meaning down under (ie vomit).
And here I would be spitting tacks rather than feathers or blood, neither of which I have heard.
Fav clues REINDEER and TAPERED.
[Re mispronunciation of words hitherto only read, at about 11 or 12 years, I was having a bad day, made worse when I told my mother that all was going aw-ry]
Thanks to Vlad for the workout and manehi for the blog.
[On the topic of mispronounced words, I could never fathom what inkle-ment meant]
[Simon: In inkle-ment weather you should put your inkle-boots on if you go out, but you’d be better staying in by the fire in the inkle-nook. Now, where did I put my coat? ]
[sh @86 @ Simon @85: I wonder how Van W-inkle will react to these puns? If he has the inkle-ination, that is. 😀 ]
Thanks to manehi for a lovely blog and to all those who commented.
Referendums is the word. Otherwise very jolly!
Cookie @78 hurrah for cotoneaster, it’s so easy to propagate
PostMark @87 – my views on this subject are known. Not so much my sadness that you should draw me in to this trivialisation by making presumptions as to how my name is pronounced based on how it is written, showing that nothing has been learnt from today’s other principal off-topic diversion. Our proud family heritage, maintained through many hardships (not least the Quinton border wars of the 1970s), is to sound the “e”, making the pronunciation actually very close to that of the first five letters of “inclement”. Perhaps you would be better placed to celebrate such diversity of language if you were to undertake some inkleusiveness training?
[VW @91: very good! And delighted you consented for once to be drawn in… There wasn’t much ease to be had during those troubles in the 70’s so your kin did well to preserve the little they did . On the subject of pronunciation, I base my defence on Conrad @32 – at least my familiarity with the word is based on encountering and reading your posts. (And, btw, to my untutored ear the first five letters of inclement and inclination are remarkably similar!) I shall continue to attempt to draw you into the occasional trivialisation to balance you drawing me into the odd weightier debate.]
Lovely, PM and VW, that’s what I mean about enrichment.
[ Van Winkle@91 – this is late, but in case you see it, can you give me a reference for the Quinton border wars of the 1970s? My history and geography knowledge is slight, but I’m curious, and can’t find anything on Google. Thanks. ]
[cello @94: doubt you’ll see this but just in case you ever pop back, I think VW is being tongue in cheek. We have discovered we both hail from an area of SW Birmingham – which includes the township (once – suburb now) of Quinton. No border wars that I’m aware of! Interesting that his family fought to defend their ‘e’. My own surname ends in an unpronounced ‘e’ which is often omitted by those who try to spell it, having heard it.]