A very nice puzzle form Redshank, as always. Thank you Redshank.
I wasted a fair bit of time trying the force a Q into one or other of the entries to make the grid a pangram. I wonder if Redshank did the same, or if the grid just looks pangram-like by chance?
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BRUSH-OFF |
Snub bishop then run away (5-3)
|
| B (bishop) then RUSH (run) OFF (away) | ||
| 5 | BREWED |
Litter picked up, as is some drink (6)
|
| sounds like (picked up) “brood” (a litter) | ||
| 10 | SCALPEL |
Opener in theatre’s second workout in ring (7)
|
| S (second) PE (a workout) inside CALL (ring) – an opener in an operating theatre | ||
| 11 | EMBALMS |
Preserves trees cut by budding executive (7)
|
| ELMS (trees) inside (cut by) MBA (one having an advanced business qualification, a budding executive) | ||
| 12 | CALVE |
Local vet’s helping cows do it (5)
|
| found inside (a helping of) loCAL VEt | ||
| 13 | EXISTENCE |
Meaning of cross in Rome and in eastern church life (9)
|
| X IS TEN (the meaning of X in Roman numerals) inside E (eastern) CE (church) – what a super clue! | ||
| 14 | MIRROR IMAGES |
Paper is covering wizard’s reflections (6,6)
|
| MIRROR (a newspaper) then IS containing (covering) MAGE (wizard). |
||
| 18 | UPRIGHT PIANO |
Joanna’s just an architect (7,5)
|
| UPRIGHT (just) PIANO (Renzo Piano, architect) | ||
| 21 | GLISSANDI |
Note series of coded signals I’d sent back (9)
|
| anagram (coded) of SIGNALS then I’D reversed (sent back) | ||
| 23 | ASHEN |
Like layer to be pale (5)
|
| AS (like) HEN (layer, something that lays eggs) | ||
| 24 | EMANATE |
Start to examine sirenian after docking issue (7)
|
| Examine (first letter, start to) then MANATEe (sirenian) missing last letter (after docking, having tail cut off) | ||
| 25 | ELDERLY |
Foreign articles extremely lucky to be getting on (7)
|
| EL and DER (the in Spanish and German, two foreign articles) then outer letters (extremely) of LuckY | ||
| 26 | TRYING |
Tiresome Yankee visiting Herts town (6)
|
| Y (Yankee, from phonetic alphabet) inside (visiting) TRING (town in Hertfordshire) | ||
| 27 | ASSEMBLE |
Build a ship with incomplete device (8)
|
| A SS (steam ship) with EMBLEm (device, incomplete) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BISECT |
Split piece keeping dry (6)
|
| BIT (piece) contains (keeping) SEC (dry) | ||
| 2 | USABLE |
Black under uniform is functional (6)
|
| SABLE (black) following U (uniform) | ||
| 3 | HAPPENING |
Fashionable event (9)
|
| double definition | ||
| 4 | FALSE PRETENCES |
Freelance steps out of line, creating deception (5,9)
|
| anagram (out of line) of FREELANCE STEPS | ||
| 6 | ROBOT |
Automaton bowled boring captain of England (5)
|
| B (bowled) inside ROOT (captain of England) | ||
| 7 | WELL-NIGH |
Almost consider bringing in students at noon (4-4)
|
| WEIGH (consider) contains (bringing in) LL (students) and N (noon) | ||
| 8 | DISPENSE |
Hand out one’s soft thick sandwiches (8)
|
| I’S (one’s) P (soft) inside (that…sandwiches) DENSE (thick) | ||
| 9 | SENIOR CITIZENS |
Sincere Zionist distressed the 25 (6,8)
|
| anagram (distressed) of SINCERE ZIONIST – the elderly (25 across) | ||
| 15 | MANHANDLE |
Mistreat crew worker left without paper (9)
|
| MAN (crew, as a verb) HAND (worker) then LEft missing FT(this paper) | ||
| 16 | JUDGMENT |
Finding project to engage general manager in study (8)
|
| JUT (project) contains (to engage) GM (general manager) inside DEN (study) | ||
| 17 | ORDINARY |
Familiar old money invested in track (8)
|
| O (old) then DINAR (money) inside (invested in) RY (track) | ||
| 19 | CHERUB |
Revolutionary Polish tot (6)
|
| CHE (Che Guevara, revolutionary) and RUB (polish) | ||
| 20 | ENZYME |
Enemy foolishly seizes unknown catalyst (6)
|
| anagram (foolishly) of ENEMY contains Z (an unknown) | ||
| 22 | STAIN |
“Man of steel” ignores large mark (5)
|
| STALIN (man of steel) missing (ignores) L (large) – The Man Of Steel was a nickname for Stalin |
You may, possibly, be glad that you haven’t misread the clue for 14a, PeeDee – it is MAGE not MAGI. There’s also a typo in 8d.
Thanks Hovis. I thought I must have gone wrong somewhere but just couldn’t see it. This might go some way to explain how I fail so see so many of the slips my blogs:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
I’m another who enjoyed this grid from Redshank, as usual. My favourite today was the musical instrument at 18, so it was all the more annoying to be caught out – once again – by 21, my only failing. Also really liked the two related old-timer answers at 25 and 9, along with 12 for its surface.
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee – there were a number I didn’t fully grasp in the parsing – and, of course, Redshank.
A double treat today, with Redshank’s alter ego Crucible in the Guardian – both lovely puzzles.
Like Diane, I loved UPRIGHT PIANO and, like PeeDee, thought EXISTENCE was super. I also liked the ‘opener in theatre’, the allusive CALVES, the clever anagram and surface of both FALSE PRETENCES and SENIOR CITIZENS and the clever cricket link in ROBOT.
Many thanks to Redshank for the fun and PeeDee for the blog.
Yes, spoilt for choice – the second one today from Redshank/Crucible and I think this one was a bit harder. I didn’t have a clue about the ‘Joanna’ definition or ‘architect’ part of the wordplay for 18a, but somehow guessed correctly. ‘Sirenian’ was also a new word, but at least the definition was clearer.
Highlights for me were the ‘Opener in theatre’ def for SCALPEL, the ‘Meaning of cross in Rome’ bit of the wordplay for EXISTENCE and the clever surface for CALVE.
A big thanks to Redshank for two good ones today and to PDeeee (capitalisation in the middle of a word doesn’t quite work in with that Cambridge researcher’s hypothesis, does it!)
A little tricky in places but nothing we couldn’t solve. We liked EMANATE (after checking what sirenians are), GLISSANDI and UPRIGHT PIANO but our CoD has to be EXISTENCE.
Thanks, Redshank and PeeDee.
Eileen@4 said everything I was going to say. I’ll add my own thanks to Redshank and PeeDee
Excellent puzzle, so thoroughly enjoyed. Existence has a brilliant clue – thank you for explaining it to me!
I was held up for a while by Upright Piano, mainly as I had Mishandle instead of Manhandle at 15 down until I spotted my mistake. I also thought Judgement has an E in it so was trying to figure out something else for 16 down until I checked with the dictionary.
Thanks to all
Thanks Redshank. Like WordPlodder I thought this was a bit harder than the Crucible crossword because that had a familiar theme. I didn’t know Joanna as an UPRIGHT PIANO and I failed to get the clever JUDGMENT. Clue of the week thusfar is EXISTENCE. BREWED and WELL-NIGH also pleased. Thanks PeeDee for the blog.
Very enjoyable – thanks to Redshank.
There were about 6 I guessed (fortunately, correctly) so many thanks to PeeDee for the clarification.
Like others, I thought EXISTENCE was pick of the day followed closely by 5A, 10A, 14A and 15D.
Thanks for the fun Redshank. And the explanations PeeDee.
I am another who mishandled my manhandle and for a while wondered if an upright first was an obscure Oxbridge degree. Sorted eventually after I looked up joanna.
Like others I think this was a great puzzle (as was Crucible’s).
While I thought the idea behind EXISTENCE was brilliant, it was also the only clue I put a question mark to.
Because I cannot see what ‘and’ is doing there.
Somebody tell me.
Many thanks to PeeDee & Redshank.
Hi SIl,
I wondered about that too when writing the blog. I agree that it feels a bit contrived but think it works in a conversational way. I thought one might say “and” in this context to indicate “not only but also”. For example:
A new job on my birthday.
vs
A new job, and on my birthday!
The punctuation is not present in the surface reading because it is not required there, I add it to illustrate the cryptic reading.
Yes, tougher than his Guardian puzzle today.
I couldn’t parse 13a EXISTENCE, which on reading PeeDee’s explanation is now my COD – brilliant.
I didn’t like 18a UPRIGHT PIANO; I didn’t know the rhyming slang Joanna for pianna and I didn’t know the Italian architect, but those were nice things to learn, so no complaint there. But Joanna just means piano, not upright piano (or have I got it wrong?). Anyway I bunged it in as a correct guess from the crossers, so I refuse to admit defeat.
I also didn’t know sirenian, but I was able to get 24a EMANATE from the accurate definition once I had the crossers, so lots of TILTs today, all good.
Thanks Redshank and PeeDee for the fun and education.
Hi cellomaniac, you are right that Joanna is not slang specifically indicating an upright piano. In real life I have heard it used several times, but only in a down-market context, e.g. someone bashing out a singalong on the Joanna. Rhyming slang developed with the working class Londoners, playing the Aunt Joanna down the pub, not with the upper and middle classes attending pianoforte recitals. The Joanna probably isn’t going to be a Steinway Grand.
Agree with PeeDee, I doubt it would even be a baby grand down at the old Bull and Bush!
Good point, PeeDee and Diane – probably no such thing as a Bow Street Bosendorfer.
P.S. I once had a friend named Joanna, but I didn’t play her very well. Now where’s that coat….
There is, of course, the well-known concert pianist, Joanna MacGregor – though I doubt if she plays anything but a concert grand!
Thanks Redshank and PeeDee
Great puzzle that I found a little easier than the Basilisk from yesterday. EXISTENCE was the last one to get parsed after the grid was filled … and what a delight to see it when it was.
Lots of other good clues that have been mentioned above and would also call out the clever play to get MIRROR IMAGES. Was chuffed to remember TRING as the town and be able to work out the answer, rather than the other way round. Recalled that ‘sirenian’ was a mammal or order of animals but had to look it up to find it was the manatee
Finished in the SW corner with EMANATE and ORDINARY.