A gentle SLORMGORM to start the working week…
I kind of breezed through this today, which makes me suspect that I've made a silly error somewhere.
I must confess to not knowing why one should be worried about being married to the nurse in 9a, so perhaps that's it. 7d also left me feeling a little dissatisfied.
Otherwise all good.
Thanks SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
1. Dad tired and mum nagged primarily (3,3)
OLD MAN
OLD (tired) and MA (mum) + N[agged] (primarily)
4. Don’t take advantage of fool knocking back drink (4,2)
PASS UP
(SAP)< (fool, <knocking back) + SUP (drink)
8. Go on holiday? You must be joking! (3,4)
GET AWAY
9. Men right I, having married nurse, should be thus! (7)
WORRIED
(OR (men) + R (right) + I) having WED (married) nurse
11. Diverse bunch messed about on mattress (10)
ASSORTMENT
(ON MATTRESS)* (*messed about)
12. Aid president’s given to Turkish leader (4)
ABET
ABE (president) given to T[urkish] (leader)
13. Rubbish vessels taking on water at the midsection (5)
PANTS
PANS (vessels) taking on [wa]T[er] (at the midsection)
14. Dates I’ve put off for agent with a relaxing nature (8)
SEDATIVE
16. On which a pub’s sales might be aptly plotted? (3,5)
BAR CHART
18. Dignitary meeting queen is treacherous type (5)
VIPER
VIP (dignitary) meeting ER (queen)
20. Republican with brilliant career (4)
RACE
R (republican) with ACE (brilliant)
21. One taking stock hopes flirt will change (10)
SHOPLIFTER
(HOPES FLIRT)* (*will change)
23. Some pop art, I allege, can be fragmentary (7)
PARTIAL
[po]P ART I AL[lege] (some)
24. Peculiar dish of the day, perhaps (7)
SPECIAL
25. Small argument over a bit of road tax (6)
TARIFF
TIFF (small argument) over (A + R[oad] (bit of))
26. Successful students will have secured these ultimately (6)
GRADES
GRADS (successful students) will have secured [thes]E (ultimately) &lit
DOWN
1. Signs blokes placed in centre of Crosby (5)
OMENS
MEN (blokes) placed in [cr]OS[by] (centre of)
2. Fearsome woman full of love for cavalryman (7)
DRAGOON
DRAGON (fearsome woman) full of O (love)
3. A continent invaded by endlessly mean old royal (9)
ANASTASIA
(A + ASIA (continent)) invaded by NAST[y] (mean, endlessly)
5. A book published here and there (5)
ABOUT
A + B (book) + OUT (published)
6. Man heading to seedy tavern to get drunk (7)
SERVANT
S[eedy] (heading to) + (TAVERN)* (*to get drink)
7. National Trust possibly in pickle by end of year (9)
PRESERVER
PRESERVE (pickle) by [yea]R (end of)
10. Feeling of triumph (9)
SENSATION
13. What actor’s brought in to do in Help! (4,1,4)
PLAY A PART
15. One in property peer loved in a wild way (9)
DEVELOPER
(PEER LOVED)* (*in a wild way)
17. Unfaithful person is beastly sort, I’m told (7)
CHEATER
"cheetah" (beastly sort, "I'm told")
19. Stern-looking cop a fed busted (2-5)
PO-FACED
21. Support workers (5)
STAFF
22. Chopper brought up to Mississippi for tests (5)
EXAMS
(AXE)< (chopper, <brought up) to MS (Mississippi)
Thanks for the blog. Rare occasion of getting here first. Easter hols. No problem with 7d but failed on 12. So easy with hindsight.
Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow. I agree – easy but fun. I enjoyed SHOPLIFTER.
I liked SHOPLIFTER best too – that and PO-FACED. It was a mild Monday solve, as others say, and yet I messed up on WORRIED as I failed to properly understand it.
Still, my thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.
Mostly easy but we struggled a bit in the NE corner; we took ages to get ABET (fixated on ‘president’ being ‘P’), and SERVANT was our LOI. In 9ac we thought the definition somehow derived from the expression ‘I/you should worry’ but we weren’t convinced and the surface of the clue didn’t make much sense.
We liked PASS UP (very subtle) as well as ASSORTMENT and SHOPLIFTER.
Thanks, Slormgorm and Teacow
To be fair, given what nurses are being put through these days, if I were married to one I may well be worried.
Having confidently entered BAR GRAPH for 16a, I failed to get 10d and 17d, so did not finish.
I had CANTS for 13A (cans + T) which, annoyingly, blindsided me on 13D – doh!
However, no qualms and thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.
I too entered BAR GRAPH at 16a – it parses as well as BAR CHART. But 17d was so clearly CHEATER that I twigged to the 16a alternative, which led to my LOU, SENSATION at 10d. Apart from that glitch, this went in easily but pleasantly, so thanks to SLORMGORM and Teacow for the fun.
Wiggling out of a typo, I’ll claim that LOU means last one undertaken.
Thanks Slormgorm & Teacow.
Working back from the solution of 9 across, “I should be worried” means “I should take care”. And to nurse someone is to take care of them. But I marvel that anyone managed to obtain the solution from the clue.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
Back into the office this week, so only get to the puzzle later in the day or the next. Found this one rather straightforward in hindsight, but it still had its moments during the solve. Went down the BAR GRAPH blind alley as did others at first until the CHEATER came to the rescue.
Thought that there were some really nice clues throughout, especially SHOPLIFTER and a few of the clever double definitions. Agree with others that PRESERVER felt a little weak.
Finished in the top with WORRIED (which I appreciated all the more when considering the role of nurses during this pandemic), SENSATION (and its subtle double definitions) and ASSORTMENT (an easy anagram looking back, but couldn’t see it until all of the crossers had surfaced).