Vulcan starts the week with a fairly typical Monday medley.
We have several nifty anagrams and a number of cryptic definitions (some more so than others) and generally smooth surfaces in what I think is a pretty straightforward puzzle.
My favourites were 11 and 15ac and 2, 9 and 14dn.
Thanks to Vulcan for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 For tireless worker, job at last — engaged by leader for tests (5)
ROBOT
(Joe) ROOT (English test cricket captain – leader for tests) round [jo]B
4 A perfect term of French (3,5)
MOT JUSTE
French for ‘the word which fits the context exactly’ (Chambers); ‘the appropriate word or expression’ (Collins) – so ‘a perfect term of French’
8 Past hates often reviewed as instinctive (4-2-3-5)
SEAT-OF-THE-PANTS
An anagram (reviewed) of PAST HATES OFTEN
10 Arouse new enthusiasm about reader (8)
REKINDLE
RE (about) + KINDLE (reader) – I don’t think this definition quite works: the expression would surely be ‘rekindle enthusiasm’?
11 News of people passed on in a meeting like this (6)
SEANCE
Cryptic definition, with a play on ‘passed on’
12 Stretches, so elegant when dancing (9)
ELONGATES
An anagram (when dancing) of SO ELEGANT
15 Put name to excellent port (5)
DUBAI
DUB (put name to) + A1 (excellent)
17 Saucy dance by girl with sex appeal (5)
SALSA
SAL (girl) + SA (sex appeal) SALSA is a sauce, as well as a dance
18 In TV show, play with the facts (9)
DOCUDRAMA
Cryptic definition: a portmanteau word (documentary drama) – a play with facts
19 Plea to move work back into war-torn city (6)
ALEPPO
An anagram (to move) of PLEA + a reversal (back) of OP (work)
21 Shift left, after one’s settled in Kansas City (8)
DISLODGE
L (left) after I’S in DODGE (City, in Kansas)
24 But it is usually adults who benefit from this nepotism (4,3,3,4)
JOBS FOR THE BOYS
Cryptic definition
25 In teens, I fancied I was a genius (8)
EINSTEIN
An anagram (fancied – I think we have to take this as ‘made fancy’) of IN TEENS I
26 Restrict severely, being in the minority (3,2)
HEM IN
Contained in tHEM INority
Down
1 You shouldn’t have to stand being transported in this (8,4)
RESERVED SEAT
(Not very) cryptic definition
2 British have nowhere to swim here? (9)
BLACKPOOL
B (British) LACK POOL (have no place to swim)
3 Open venue, or not, as may be (5)
TROON
Anagram (as may be) of OR NOT – TROON is one of the venues for the British Open Golf Championship
4 I met adult, badly disfigured (9)
MUTILATED
An anagram (badly) of I MET ADULT
5 You must have support of course, when husband intrudes (4)
THEE
H (husband) in TEE (support on a golf course)
6 Unaided, people replacing one are still wrong (9)
UNAMENDED
MEN (people) replacing i (one) in UNA[i]DED
7 Giant moon, one missed by artist (5)
TITAN
Double definition: TIT[i]AN (artist) minus one i
9 Newly licensed, eats food here? (12)
DELICATESSEN
An anagram (newly) of LICENSED EATS
13 Bar supporters: it would be unfair to move them (9)
GOALPOSTS
Cryptic definition, plus a reference to the unfair practice of changing the rules of a game or agreement
14 Church official‘s bag is brown, full of rupees (9)
SACRISTAN
SAC (bag) IS TAN (brown) round R (rupees)
16 Directors here said to be fed up with the place (9)
BOARDROOM
Sounds like (said to be) bored (fed up) + ROOM (place)
20 Little pictures, each meaningful or just interesting on first inspection (5)
EMOJI
Initial letters of Each Meaningful Or Just Interesting – emoji can be singular or plural, I discovered
22 Parasite caught in part of foot when getting up (5)
LEECH
C (caught) in a reversal (when getting up) of HEEL (part of foot)
23 Successfully deal with catch on end of line (4)
COPE
COP (catch) + [lin]E
I enjoyed this – found it a bit more chewy than a typical Monday puzzle. A few write-in anagrams, but some good clues like GOALPOSTS, MOT JUSTE and ROBOT. ELONGATES cries out for a clue along the lines of stretching billionaires! My only quibble is that ‘unamended’ doesn’t really mean ‘still wrong’ – it could be still right! Many thanks to Vulcan, and to Eileen.
Thank you, Eileen.
I failed at the last hurdle as I didn’t know 3d TROON was a golfing venue. Otherrwise all good. I have some ALEPPO pepper in my pantry which I bought from a Turkish restauarnt owner who now lives in Australia; she used to bring it back when she travelled to see family – made me sad to solve 19a.
I enjoyed this puzzle, particularly the two idiomatic long answers: 8a SEAT OF THE PANTS and 24a JOBS FOR THE BOYS.
Thanks to Vulcan.
Thank you, Eileen.
I was not on the setter’s wavelegth so it was a hard slog, not much fun for me. Gave up on a few as I did not have a lot of spare time today. It reminded me of the style of the new Everyman.
Failed SEANCE, COPE, TROON – never heard this word before.
Did not parse RESERVED SEAT (cd?), or ROBOT apart from the B, but have heard of Joe Root. Was thinking it was B in ROO + T so I missed the cricket connection. Also thought there might be more going on with DOCUDRAMA.
Liked UNAMENDED, TITAN, BOARDROOM, GOALPOSTS.
Thought this an excellent, quite challenging Monday puzzle. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen…
RESERVED SEAT was such a vague definition that it was my last in. Or maybe I’m just not awake. This seemed much less of a write-in than Vulcan sometimes is.
I’m with drofle on this – slightly more chewy but not massively-so.
Also as I’m in a generally agreeable mood today I am going to further agree with drofle that 6d doesn’t quite cut-it. Eileen mentions 10a as well, another quibble because ‘new’ indicates ‘from nothing before’ whereas ‘re’ is where somehting has existed. I’d have preferred something along the lines of ‘Arouse enthusiasm again about reader’ but I’m not a setter.
‘Mot juste’ was my FOI – ROBOT my LOI as I’d never heard of Joe Root not being someone who watches sport (although I think cricket is actually a massive Mornington Crescent-style joke).
[By way of musical interlude today, may I shamelessly plug the new ‘Andy Kerhshaw Plays some Bloody Great Records’ podcast. I do this knowing that there is healthy HMHB following here; he features a track from them on his 2nd podcast and promises a live ‘kitchen’ set with them later this year… All yer usual podcast providers, etc… It really is 2h30 of bloody great records.]
Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen!
Thanks Vulcan and Eileen
Nice Monday puzzle.
In one of the P G Wodehouse golf stories, the female love interest is called Troon Rockett, as her father was a golf champion who named all of his daughters after Open venues.
Fair crossword but enjoyed drofle’s comment ‘re UNAMENDED rather more.
The DELICATESSEN anagram was neat.
Many thanks, both.
Very much par for the Monday course (and almost as challenging as the quiptic!).
Mostly a SEAT-OF-THE-PANTS solve for me – enjoyed the nostalgic trip to BLACKPOOL – and I thank THEE (my LOI), Vulcan for an enjoyable puzzle.
Nice crossword, though I, a self-acknowledged cricket tragic, did not parse ROBOT. RESERVED SEAT was my LOI – agree with the comment above that the definition was a bit loose, but no complaints about fairness. Thanks to setter and blogger.
So, emoji are indeed like deer and sheep, as someone on the G-thread hinted. Sounds fair … the singular isn’t emojus. A few where you’d be struggling without knowledge, even with crossers, eg reKindle, mot juste: fine line; eg b in Root, reKindle, and the dnk Troon, feel fairer to me, but…? Are leeches really or only metaphorically parasites? Hey ho, all fun, thanks Vulcan and Eileen.
Another Vulcan where all the attention will be on the cds, I’m sure. JOBS FOR THE BOYS was poor, RESERVED SEAT was extremely poor, but GOALPOSTS was very good, I thought.
I thought BLACKPOOL was the best of the rest, and surprisingly apposite if you’ve ever ventured onto the beach at Blackpool.
Thanks Eileen and Vulcan.
Very nice puzzle and I thought REKINDLE was fine; you can have a new enthusiasm about something you were enthusiastic about in the past. I liked GOALPOSTS, JOBS FOR THE BOYS, SEANCE and BOARDROOM.
Ta Vulcan & Eileen
AlanC – but rekindle doesn’t, per se, mean ‘have a new enthusiasm’: it simply means ‘arouse (a)new’ – you need to add ‘enthusiasm’!
Eileen, but if a couple go away for a long weekend (in somewhere other than Blackpool!) in an effort to ‘REKINDLE their romance’ then the hope is that they will ‘arouse new enthusiasm’ for it. In that particular usage the enthusiasm is fully implicit in the rekindling.
S’s c @ 15 – but then you need the ‘for’ after the enthusiasm. How about ‘Once again, turn on Scripture reader?’ (8)
ginf @11: such a shame it’s not one EMOJUS, two EMOJI, because then we could have gen. pl. EMO-JORUM
drofle @1: Elon and Gates! 🙂 So much better than the actual clue if you could pull it off.
Like Boffo, like BLACKPOOL.
Thanks V & E
Mostly quite reasonable, but I struggled a bit in the NW. I’m with gladys @5 on RESERVED SEAT – it could be any sort of seat, really. Once I finally got that, then I saw ROBOT (Joe Root has just been lucky to get away with a draw vs NZ – once again the rain comes to the Poms’ rescue), and then TROON – which I had played with for ages (and OTRON) – but neither seemed to be a word. Golf passes me by completely. Thanks, Vulcan and Eileen.
[MB @6, good to hear Andy Kershaw is still kicking… in the early ’90s he did sessions at the Kings Head in Crouch End, over the road from Annie Lennox’s studio; then they opened his missus’s Banners bar (sad story, that marriage)]
Thanks Eileen.
Just a reveal for 4a, I know French, but not that particular expression.
Very enjoyable, GOALPOSTS was excellent.
I agree with what MaidenBartok @6 says about the puzzle and podcast.
[Andy Kershaw does play a varied selection of bloody good records. Of course, Andy was Billy Bragg’s roadie for a while and Billy’s ‘Moving the GOALPOSTS‘ fits nicely with 13d.]
+1 for drofle @1’s ‘stretching billionaires’.
Thanks Vulcan and Eileen
I’m trying to keep an open mind about Vulcan and this was mostly okay except for the bits that weren’t. I’m not sure what the “For” is doing in 1a and BLACKPOOL makes no sense as you can swim there (if you really want to). 1d was also pretty dismal but I may have been miffed by biffing in PASSENGER without checking the number of letters – I bet there’s a German word for that sense of mounting dread you get as your confidence starts to evaporate
[MB @6 thanks for the podcast tip – will give that a listen. Penfold @20 that’ll be the same Billy Bragg album that has the fabulously tortured line “you’re a dedicated swallower of fascism”?]
[grantinfreo @18 and Penfold @20: I love his mix of music. For me, he will always be more associated with the much-missed Charlie Gillett than Billy Bragg (who I saw live in the SU Bar at City waaay back – it was Gillett, Lucy Duran and Kershaw who ‘discovered’ people like Youssou N’Dour and much of the Toureg Desert Blues music shwoing us that there is SO much more than Western pentatonic-pop out there. It’s a good show and had me going back through the record collection – Shaba Kahamba’s ‘Bitumba’ is currently annoying the neighbours turned up to 11 whilst I tackle a) a coffee, b) a Sugestive biscuit and c) the Quiptic.]
It’s Monday with cds where you’re never 100% sure that they are right. However, an enjoyable crossword overall, although some British GK needed, eg ROOT and TROON.
I liked SEANCE, ALEPPO (although like JinA @2 it brought back unhappy memories) and the simple THEE.
Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.
[bodycheetah @21 – Buchstabenaufzählungsfehlberechnungsangst?]
Good fun, thanks Vulcan.
Eyebrow raised one millimetre at the capitalisation of City for DISLODGE, especially since the surface holds up reasonably well without it.
Essexboy@24 – you’ll never get that in a grid 🙂
Enjoyed this – though didn’t parse BLACKPOOL
I share favourites mentioned above – in particular I thought DUBAI and SEANCE were great – both made me smile.
Thanks Vulcan and Eileen
GinF @18: I used to live in Crouch End and my Aussie girlfriend at the time used to remark that it sounded like a place to rush off to when you’re caught short and desperate to find a toilet.
eb @24 letterenumerationmiscalculationanxiety? Sehr klug.
[William @28, maybe that’s why Dylan, after thinking about it according to the goss at the time, decided not to buy a place there. (Actually, Annie L and Dave Srewart had moved on, their church/studio was sadly empty, and the moment had passed)]
[gif @30: ‘the moment had passed’ – I refer my friend to William @28’s Crouch End reference…]
[… yeah good spot MB; I needed “the moment had, er, passed”…]
drofle @1: “My only quibble is that ‘unamended’ doesn’t really mean ‘still wrong’ – it could be still right!” Oh, you mean like “Eileen’s parsing for UNAMENDED remains unamended”?! 😉
sh @33 – Yes indeed!
I think some of the quibblets about cryptic definitions have been a little unfair. bodycheetah @21: “BLACKPOOL makes no sense as you can swim there.” That’s why Vulcan has put a question mark at the end of the clue. TassieTim @17: “RESERVED SEAT – it could be any sort of seat, really.” But an unreserved seat could well have someone already sitting in it; if someone does that in your own *reserved seat*, you can ask them to move. I thought these were both good clues, and GOALPOSTS even better, and I’m not normally a fan of CDs.
Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.
[essexboy/bodycheater: I experienced that “sense of mounting dread you get as your confidence starts to evaporate” on the way to the races at Uttoxeter the other day, but as it turned out I had my most successful day for over 40 years. It was fortunate I didn’t know Buchstabenaufzählungsfehlberechnungsangst, as I might have struggled to get through the turnstile.]
[Apologies to bodycheetah. My fingers typed your name incorrectly without awareness on my part.]
I wonder if people will have seen Alan Connor’s crossword blog in today’s Guardian, which features a lovely interview with Victoria Godfrey (Vigo/Carpathian) in the Meet The Setter series?
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2021/jun/07/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-carpathian-victoria-godfrey
[MOT JUSTE – when your car is deservedly certified as roadworthy for another year?]
sh @35 – I dind’t mean that it could be an unreserved seat. I meant that it could be a ‘passenger seat’ (as bodycheetah @21 and I both tried), or a bus seat or a recliner seat or a sedanchair seat, or…, with no way to distinguish the answers without numeration and checkers.
baerchen @37
Thanks for that – lovely indeed. I keep forgetting about Alan Connor’s interviews.
Just right — I solved all but six last night (and all of the Quiptic, so there!) Left me a bit to enjoy this morning
Once I got the definition for 1a, I figured there must be somebody named Root who could surround a B.
JinA@2 I didn’t know that about Troon either, but it sounded like a place, it fit the crossers and it was an anagram of OR NOT, so I plopped it in.
2d always makes me think of Alec Guinness as the painter Gulley Jimson in The Horse’s Mouth saying in a high, quavery voice over the phone, “This is the Duchess of Blackpool,” in the course of one of his attempted scams.
Thanks Vulcan, for a pleasant puzzle — I solved all but six last night, left enough for a bit of work this morning. And I solved all of the Quiptic, so there!,
Like several here, I couldn’t parse ROBOT, being misdirected by “leader in tests,” so that I tried to pound a square “engaged” into a round “ROO.” a most amusing puzzle, though. Thank you, Eileen and Vulcan.
I agree with drofle @1 – to amend is not necessarily to emend.
I must try to remember Joe Root, as he comes up from time to time. Cricketers and cricket terms seem to slip off my mind. (MaidenBartok @6 – I’m tickled by your Mornington Crescent idea. It would explain so much.)
[Valentine @41: Quipitic was fun today, wasn’t it?]
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x262prn
I enjoyed this very much – thanks Vulcan and Eileen. Favourite was BLACKPOOL. As to whether you can swim there, all I can add is that the only time I did (when a very young child) I got covered in a tar-like substance, which led to being scrubbed in the bath by my mum back at the B&B for what felt like days. Not recommended…
Miche @43 re UNAMENDED – absolutely. Mr Google tells me that “emend is sometimes confused with amend”.
[ I worked as a waitress / kitchen maid in a hotel in Troon during the Golf open when I was waiting to hear about my higher results (Scottish exams). Serving breakfast to all the guests while making toast under a grill on an upturned roasting pan is what I remember – after the first day they said just give us bread.]
[bodycheetah@21 , Ximenes once produced a trick puzzle based on “incorrect” entries. I have put the details on General Discussion }
A nice Monday crossword. Mot Juste reminded me of a couple of jokes:
Maintenant is my favourite French word, for now.
I just translated Le Monde for a French girl. It meant the world to her.
TassieTim @39. But as bodycheetah admitted very dramatically @21, PASSENGER has the wrong number of letters! May I refer the honourable gentleman to my previous answer: the only kind of seat that means you *shouldn’t have to stand* is one that has been RESERVED, exactly as the clue says.
SH
A word finder I used came up with ASSIGNED SEAT (but not “reserved”!).
muffin – that would work if it weren’t for those inconvenient crossers! Yes, I know this is the down side of CDs, and normally I’m on the side of those who decry them, but this one worked for me. (Probably helped that I sussed out ‘leader for tests’ in good time!)
Yes, TassieTim, I wondered if the seat might be something to do with a sedan chair…
[Penfold@38: MOT JUSTE is when the vehicle scrapes through by the skin of its mechanical teeth, usually at Enormous Expense, as my beloved old Peugeot 205 used to do. It survived into its 24th year.]
The town in Kansas is Dodge City. There is a town in Texas called Dodge.
This is a good excuse for capitalising City which led to pedantic gripes on the Grauniad blog.
Did anyone else wonder if there was a city in Kansas called BISLUDGE?
After a rapid start this did prove quite chewy for a Monday. Thanks V&E. The biggest positive though has been to find out about the Andy Kershaw pod. Thanks MaidenBartok. ( Now where did I put my Joy Division Oven Gloves?)
Many thanks, HoustonTony @54 – I should, of course, have included ‘City’ in the explanation – I’ll do that now.
As far as I’m concerned, there’s no excuse necessary for capitalising City, anyway (and I don’t think there have been any gripes here. My understanding of The Rules has always been that capitalising for the sake of the surface is permissible but decapitalising never is.
essexboy @55 – nice try. 😉
One can swim in BLACKPOOL not only at the beach but also in the chlorinated salt water of the Derby Baths, where the ASA used to hold its national championships.
As usual, the comments are more of an attempt to highlight the intellectual brilliance of those commenting than a discussion of the puzzle itself. I don’t care about your record collections or your cars, which words are new to you or even – God forbid – which was your last one in. Who could possibly care?
This is threatening to turn into a forum of even less use than the G’s own, with it’s regular ego-trippers, such as the idiot who lists his favourite clues every day by retyping them rather than referring to their clue-numbers (top unfav).
Thank you Eileen and Vulcan
Aphid @59
You are mistaken. A lot of us are interested in other solvers’ solving experiences.
And who on earth wants to memorise the names of teams that play sports, although Robot was guessable
Aphid @59 – Welcome to the party, but it’s not a great idea to start slagging off the other guests. It’s probably most enjoyable if you chat to others in a friendly way, and if it’s not your sort of thing, quietly slip away.
Aphid @59. Though you may well have “quietly slip[ped] away” by now – re “the idiot who lists his favourite clues every day by retyping them rather than referring to their clue-numbers”, there may be method in their apparent madness. Referring to clue numbers alone requires the interested reader (assuming there is one) to switch from the comment to the clues, then back to the comment, and so forth. Whereas copying and pasting the actual clues (surely, rather than typing?) gives the interested reader the chance to think, “ah yes” or “bloody idiot”, according to temperament. And if you’re really not interested, why are you reading their post?
Well said muffin@60 and drofle@62. Let’s hope that this site doesn’t become primarily a forum for complainers about the egoism and idiocy of the other members of this community.
And I like it when commenters give the clue number and the solution in their comments. It saves me from scrolling up every time to see what they are commenting on.
Let’s hope that Aphid was just in a grumpy mood today, and that on other days he or she can join in the fun that most of us have here.
SH@63 – you beat me to it by one minute.
[cellomaniac @62
I did consider (but reject) a different response….]
Where are the ladybirds when you want ’em?
[Mark: yes, that was the response that I considered but rejected; I wonder if was muffin’s too?]
Aphid @59: What do you think the comments should be full of exactly? I’m not sure what you’re expecting, from folk who have just solved a crossword, othe rthan how they got on with it. Arguing that people should cite clue numbers rather than the clue itself, when the latter is so much easier to use is just daft (and I’m guessing folk cut and paste it rather than retype it because they’re not absolute half-wits).
The blog is the main reason folk come here. The comments are just an addition. If you don’t like them, then feel free to clear off (for once I’ve censored myself), once you’re done with the blog. Otherwise, reading them is like hitting yourself in the face and complaining that it hurts.
EMOJI is both singular and plural because it’s originally Japanese, which doesn’t have the concept of number in its nouns. EMO(tion) from English + JI (character).
4 placenames and one surname, though….