Nutmeg rounds off the weekday puzzles in fine form.
An enjoyable solve, with some ingenious constructions, clever anagrams and witty surfaces, producing a few ‘aha’ moments.
I decided that I had too many ticks to list them all, so I’ll leave you to name your favourites.
A couple of weeks ago, I completely failed to spot Nutmeg’s theme. If there’s a theme today, I’ve done the same again.
Many thanks to Nutmeg.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
7 £50 charges to procure exclusive dress for occasion (4,4)
BALL GOWN
L (fifty) + L (pounds) in (charges – as in ‘charge your glasses) BAG (procure) + OWN (exclusive)
9 Setters like Hollywood productions (6)
ASPICS
AS (like) PICS (Hollywood productions)
10 Stone axes with no backs (4)
ONYX
A reversal (backs) of XY (axes) + NO
11 A blow within faction, journalist getting shot (10)
CATAPULTED
A TAP (a blow) in CULT (faction) + ED (journalist)
12 In retro pubs it’s a popular liqueur (6)
PASTIS
A hidden reversal (retro) in pubS IT’S A Popular
14 Slip away when queen enters, overcome (8)
VANQUISH
QU (queen) in VANISH (slip away)
15 Pointed window essential in theatre (6)
LANCET
Double definition, both derived from a diminutive of ‘lance’
17 Strangeness of headless corpse Inspector West finally cracks (6)
ODDITY
DI (Detective Inspector) + [wes]T in [b]ODY (headless corpse) – great surface: Inspector West is a fictional detective, created by John Creasey
20 Women’s group storing free skater’s sports gear (8)
WATERSKI
WI (Women’s Institute) round an anagram (free) of SKATER
22 Jumper of sorts sprinted, covering a good length (6)
RAGLAN
RAN (sprinted) round A G (good) L (length)
Originally an overcoat, with a sleeve extending in one piece to the neckline of the garment, with slanted seams from the armhole to the neck, named after Lord Raglan, a commander in the Crimean War – also any garment, especially knitted, having sleeves of this kind
23 Disheartened envoy for one misses visual aids (10)
EYEGLASSES
E[nvo]Y + EG (for example, for one) + LASSES (misses)
24 Outcome of evacuating 50% of underground jail cells? (4)
DUNG
DUNG[eons] (underground jail cells) – great definition and surface
25 Indigenous American‘s uncle? (6)
PAWNEE
Double definition, the second referring to ‘Uncle’ being slang for a pawnbroker
26 Those traversing south-west state both uncovered prospects (8)
HORIZONS
[t]HOS[e] (‘uncovered’) round (traversing) [a]RIZON[a] (south-west state, also ‘uncovered’)
Down
1 Top-grade partners cutting post one intended to fill on board (8)
MAINSAIL
AI (top-grade) + N S (bridge partners) in MAIL (post)
2 Ongoing mutation of viral infection a bad sign? (4)
FLUX
FLU (viral infection) + X (a bad sign – for something marked as wrong)
3 Those in service favouring church society (6)
FORCES
FOR (favouring) + CE (Church of England) + S (society)
4 Hotel annex in which spectre finally materialised (8)
HAPPENED
H (Hotel – NATO alphabet) + APPEND (annex) round [spectr]E
5 Commending a grand pupil, working right away (10)
APPLAUDING
A + an anagram (working) of G[r]AND PUPIL, minus r (right away)
6 Retrieve cards, doubling black suits (6)
ACCESS
ACES (cards) with the C (clubs) and S (spades) – black suits – doubled
8 Local agent’s ultimate green housing (6)
NATIVE
[agen]T in NAÏVE (green)
13 Doctor Ken with antigen for Thomas? (4,6)
TANK ENGINE
An anagram (doctor) of KEN ANTIGEN
16 Harry Andersen caught (8)
ENSNARED
An anagram (harry) of ANDERSEN
18 Strong fancy netting required after close of play (8)
YEARNING
EARNING (netting) after [pla]Y
19 Pretentious school clothing’s in the van (6)
KITSCH
SCH (school) with KIT in front (in the van)
21 A New York Yankee clinging to Washington come what may (6)
ANYWAY
A NY (a New York) + WA (Washington) + Y (Yankee – NATO alphabet again)
22 Men stopping to relax here? (6)
RESORT
OR (Other Ranks – men) in REST (relax)
24 Shock announcement of Times (4)
DAZE
Sounds like (announcement of) of ‘days’ (times)
Thanks Eileen – we couldn’t parse 26a as we were just looking for AZ.
19d Is Kitsch pretentious?
Lovely puzzle though and thanks for the helpful blog too.
I had a question mark about Y for Yankee, forgetting the NATO alphabet, duh!
I really liked Onyx and the lovely ACCESS as I’d never realised before that Aces contains the letters of two suits. A clever clue.
Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen
A game of two halves – I found the bottom reasonably straightforward, but the top very difficult. I didn’t parse BALL GOWN, FLUX, ACCESS, or NATIVE at all (though I don’t know why, having read the blog).
Lots to like, though, with particular favourites VANQUISH and TANK ENGINE.
It’s a J short of a pangram, I think.
I too wondered about the definition in 19d, but it is supported by Chambers. Thanks, Eileen, for clarifying what RAGLAN means. I knew the word, but never what style is referred to. The 24’s were my last entries, with 24a taking me far too long to see. The ‘underground’ element in the clue somewhat confused me, as I’ve never thought of dungeons as being particularly underground, but once again Chambers supports Nutmeg. I laughed at the definition when I finally saw it though. I thought 10a was a clever clue as well. Thanks to Nutmeg for the puzzle and Eileen for the clear blog.
I also spent a while trying to fit a J in – I was so sure it was going to be a pangram!
Is RESORT a genuine &lit?
Wondered the same about kitsch, Shirley @1. And couldn’t parse access…both black suits, of course, d’oh! Otherwise, yes Eileen, the usual smooth fun from the spice lady, and now you mention it, I do remember about raglan sleeves. Thanks both.
Thanks for the blog Eileen, very helpful. I gave up on LANCET and still didn’t understand when revealed it – ignorance on my part.
I like Nutmeg as a compiler.
So reliable and precise.Who couldnt like Megster. And entries such as DUNG sound so much better coming from a lady setter
Top took longer than the bottom but I didnt want it to end.
So i dug up an old Rev puzzle with a 34 letter answer!(28325)
Briefly thrown by seeing porter backwards in 12 across before noticing pastis!
Me too, Wendy. 😉
Me three, Wendy and Eileen! Had to rethink when crossers proved my impulsive fill-in at 12a to be wrong, and then I spotted PATSIS. I really liked this one – 9a ASPICS, 23a EYEGLASSES and 1d MAINSAIL being three of the clues I really appreciated. Thank you to Nutmeg and Eileen, two of my favourite women in Crosswordland.
Me for Wendy, Eileen and JinA.
And once again I was misled by those pesky axes, do couldn’t parse ONYX.
Also had doubts about KITSCH meaning pretentious.
Good puzzle. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen
That’s four not for of course.
Eileen ramping the tuffometer up a notch, I thought… with some imaginative constructions: HORIZONS in particular
[Excuse me if I’ve posted this here before, but every time I see 24A I’m reminded of the the three-part catechism, which only works orally, so I’ll type it phonetically:
What’s brown and sticky? A stick.
What’s brown and smelly and sounds like a bell? Dung.
What’s smelly and comes steaming out of cows? The Isle of Wight ferry.]
Thought PAWNEE very funny. Failed to parse DUNGeons.
Muffin: if you’re still around, many thanks for the Paddington 2 tip. Thoroughly delightful.
Thanks for the reminder, blaise. 😉
Very enjoyable, but Aspic is a mass noun, and I’m struggling to find usage of the plural. Different types of aspic are aspics, perhaps, but it seems a bit strained.
muffin@3, khayyam@5. The NE gave me most difficulty, not helped by trying to fit a Jack or a Joker into 6down.
I knew Raglan thanks to the Dubliners, and thanks to Nutmeg I now know On Raglan Road is a Patrick Kavanagh poem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdHr6jdQyTM
[Glad you enjoyed it, William!]
Mistakenly thinking this was a pangram helped with ONYX. [The Crimean War may have been bloody and pointless, but at least provided us with lots of knitwear, raglan, cardigan and Balaclava.]
Great fun – thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen. And to JinA for the chuckle from “me three”. While I admire DUNG (never thought I’d be typing that) I have my usual problem with being required to solve a subsidiary clue and manipulate that to get to the end product (so to speak).
Unlike some of our colleagues, I had no trouble with the top half, but the SE took me longer to solve than most puzzles in their entirety. Not helped by ‘pretentious’ = KITSCH, which I find difficult to accept even if it is listed in Chambers (I sometimes think setters trawl that dictionary to find the most unlikely synonyms and then think up a clue, but fair dos, I suppose, as it is the cruciverbal vade mecum).
Favourites were ODDITY, PAWNEE, ACCESS, HAPPENED and RAGLAN (the Crimean War is cozily remembered through two items of clothing: the aforementioned and CARDIGAN).
Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen
Petert @21: You beat me to it, and added BALACLAVA. Bravo 🙂
copland+smith @18. Can’t you count the number of aspics on the table in the same way that you can count the number of jellies on the table, especially given the common pairing of “aspic jelly”?
Here’s a use of the plural in a Guardian article “Advertising pictures of aspics published by gelatine companies in the 50s….”
Found the SE corner hardest to crack. Needed Eileen – as often is the case – to explain how BALL GOWN, HORIZONS and ACCESS fitted together. Very much liked DUNG when I eventually saw the light and was able to bung it in. First one in was TANK ENGINE, so briefly wondered if that would indicate a theme during our present strike paralysed railway network. Yet another anagram indicator in “Harry”. Perhaps other forenames will provide some others in the future…?
Failed in SE as read 24D as (shock announcement) of times rather than shock (announcement of times) so couldn’t get HORIZONS – evidently must expand those! Thanks both.
For 12a I lazily bunged in PORTER which annoyingly is also hidden in the clue but got there in the end. Always struggle with this setter. Thanks Eileen and Nutmeg.
Great puzzle! Like some others I found the top half challenging whereas the bottom was more straightforward.
Loved the humour and misdirection of ONYX and DUNG.
I’m another who had “porter” before seeing PASTIS.
Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen
Held up for a bit by DAZE which with ONYX was favourite.
Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen
The problem with PORTER for 12 is that “retro” is doing double duty.
muffin, the problem with porter is that it’s not a liqueur
…and that it’s not a liqueur, of course!
muffin@6. I don’t think that RESORT was meant to be an &lit and I’m sure that Nutmeg wouldn’t think so either.
I just saw the ? as being a bit tongue-in-cheek and perhaps acknowledgment of that.
I must admit, as much as I enjoy Nutmeg, particularly for her originality, I do find her use of military abbreviations, eg OR for men, surprisingly unoriginal.
My favourite clue today was DUNG, my second one in after ONYX, both brilliant.
Another good one from Nutmeg.
I got a bit confused with ACCESS, where I thought the double black suits was just SS, doh! Good clue though. I particularly enjoyed MAINSAIL for the definition, ONYX for the misleading axes, and ODDITY for the surface.
Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen.
Not sure I’d consider PASTIS a liqueur and I’d definitely prefer porter. Other than that absolutely superb stuff from nutmeg
Thanks to Nutmeg, who was in fine form today with some elegant surfaces, excellent constructions and lots of laughs. Many favourites including VANQUISH, ODDITY, EYEGLASSES, ENSNARED and KITSCH. We had great fun too in hunting down the missing ‘J’ for a pangram that never was – surely a little teaser from the Spice Girl. Thanks to Eileen for blog.
Julie@12 – Spot on – most definitely “ Nutmeg and Eileen, two of my favourite women in Crosswordland”.
That was quite tough for me but Nutmeg on top form as Eileen said. With three to go only J and Z of the obvious pangram remained. That helped me get DAZE, which made HORIZONS, with its sneaky wordplay, obvious. I couldn’t fit J into 25a and had to consult Wikipedia to get PAWNEE even though I knew uncle can be a pawnbroker.
When I returned in earnest to crosswords last year after dabbling with them many years ago, I attempted only Nutmeg puzzles for a while before expanding my horizons. So I’m being sincere when I say Nutmeg and Eileen are two of my favourite people in Crosswordland 😉 Thanks both.
Nutmeg never ceases to amaze me with her economical and clever style of cluing. ONYX, VANQUISH, EYEGLASSES, DUNG, ENSNARED, and NATIVE were all top picks for me. I did have some difficulty completing this gem so I resorted to “guessing, then checking” to complete the grid. I didn’t want to leave a single clue unsolved. I couldn’t fully parse a few so thanks Eileen for the help.
Thanks Eileen, i guessed FLUX without parsing and had a few queries over some definitions (PASTIS, KITSCH) but the dictionaries have put me right even though we may not think of them in the way clued. My only remaining quibble was whether underground jail cells would necessarily imply dungeons plural (surely we can have a dungeon containing many cells?) but the dictionary again allows dungeon = cell, there’s a ? anyway and as you say it’s a great definition! Not the only one and a rewarding multi-visit solve, thanks Nutmeg.
Thank you Nutmeg and Eileen. A lovely way to end the week.
Favourites – perhaps the topical FLUX, ONYX and PASTIS, also my favourite apéritif.
Muffin@32 Bodycheetah@36
I think 12a should be clued liquor not liqueur
Pastis is a “liquor”being flavoured alcoholic drink in the range 40/50% ABV it is liquorice flavoured
“Liqueurs” are much lower in alcoholic strength usually under 30% ABV as they contain more ingredients such as herbs, citrus and sugars.
However Ricard Pastis in France is often described as a liqueur as it is fermented with anise, coriander and mint.
There is a lot of confusion over Pastis like drinks, Ouzo is not Pastis but often served as such in Greece.
Crossbar @32
There is a Porter liqueur in Poland, 30% malt based upon a Porter type beer which can be found in some Polish shops in the UK
Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen
I normally really relish Nutmeg’s work, even when I can’t finish it – or can but can’t completely parse some answers – but today was a real slog. Especially the top half.
I’m another who saw PORTER before realising it’s PASTIS – not helped by the fact that, as Cliveinfrance points out, Pastis is a liquor not a liqueur.
KITSCH can have various interpretations but it’s really stretching things to say it’s synonymous with “pretentious” – and although I agree that setters can deliberately choose an extreme example to fool us poor saps who tackle them, Nutmeg is usually too classy to sink to that level.
RAGLAN was a lucky guess: I knew it had summat to do with sleeves but thought it was a sort of jacket, not a knitted garment.
And I did spend rather longer than I should trying to force a J into my final few miserable attempts.
Oh well, better luck next time.
So, HUGE thanks and a grateful virtual hug to Eileen for the explanations – although I’m afraid I still don’t understand ONYX.
And rueful thanks to Nutmeg for putting me in my correct intellectual place…
Wellbeck @44
X and Y are the axes (sing. axis) of a graph.
Bless you, Wellbeck – does it help to think of the x and y axis on a graph?
Ax-IS. Ah.
Thank you Eileen and Muffin!
I’ll now trundle back to the gamma-minus semi-moron corner….
Wellbeck @44: The ‘axes’ deception is not new, but is much rarer than, for instance ‘Nice’ to indicate a French word – not surprisingly, as few words contain such a letter combination. However it immediately triggered XYZ for me and hence ONYX was a write-in – one of the very few for me in this clever puzzle!
Funny–on ANYWAY I wasn’t even thinking of the NATO alphabet. The abbreviation (on scoreboards, in the sports pages, and such) for the New York Yankees is NYY, so in that context the second Y came to me as naturally as breathing. (Of course now I can see that’s clearly not what she had in mind–I’m just saying that Y for Yankee isn’t strange to me.)
[All the major-league teams have a commonly agreed three-letter abbreviation. For cities with only one team in that particular sport it’s just the first three letters of the city–BOS for Boston, CLE for Cleveland, etc. The pattern in two-team towns is NYM for the Mets, CHW for the White Sox, LAA for the Angels, etc.]
I put ‘axes’ on a par with ‘supply’, in that I was caught out by both for a while after first meeting them – but they’re in a special file now.
[muffin @45 – I trust you realise our comments crossed: I wasn’t meaning to disparage yours. 😉 ]
[CliveinFrance @43 Well I didn’t know that about the Polish porter liqueur. I ought to with my Polish roots. Do you know its Polish name?]
Of course, Eileen!
Even if there is a liqueur named, porter, there’s still the double duty problem…
Gervase at 48: thanks for the empathy! I’m a little quicker at spotting the Nice sort of references, but have always been slow to pick up on any mathematical ones. And trigonometry, for that matter.
Oh god, and cricket as well.
And any and all American team sports!
Wellbeck @53: Apologies ! I didn’t intend to sound patronising – but just to remark that we solvers sometimes spot a trick immediately and at other times it remains elusive. I’m with you on sports references! 🙂
[CinF @43 I’ve tracked it down – porterówka. Poles can turn many things you can eat or drink into a “liqueur” or more accurately perhaps, a flavoured vodka, by steeping it in vodka or other strong spirit and sugar.]
Crossbar
Porterówka is a beer 40% vodka mix, the porter beer liqueur is Porterovka, really just a very strong beer brew.
[CinF I thought porterovka was an anglicised spelling of porterówka, bearing in mind that the normal Polish alphabet doesn’t have a V (except for foreign words), and W is pronounced as a V.]
How is “uncle” a PAWNEE? I thought that distinction went to watches and the like.
Pleasant puzzle, bottom half filled in sooner than top. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen.
Valentine @58 – Chambers: ‘PAWNEE – a person who takes anything in pawn’, i.e. a pawnbroker.
[I’ve just remembered I once sampled a Polish drink that started with “porter…”.
My bro’s first wife was Polish and she once turned up at a family do bearing a bottle. I’ve no idea if it was the beer-vodka mix or the beer liqueur – all I can recall is fuzzily thinking, the following morning, that it probably hadn’t been a good idea to try it after having had the punch and the fizz and some of my uncle’s home-brew….]
Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen: good fun.
[cliveinfrance@43 What about Benedictine or Chartreuse? Or indeed most eaux de vie? In France, maybe digestifs, but certainly liqueurs in UK.]
[We had a charming (though ambitious) Polish medical student staying with us for a while a few years ago (she is now very high powered!) As a present she brought as a bottle of what she called “Polish drinking honey” – delicious hangover material…]
[I’ve just remembered – she was obsessive about watching Pride and Prejudice to improve her English; no better choice!]
[muffin – Krupnik!? That’s a popular Polish honey liqueur/vodka]
[No idea, Crossbar – we couldn’t read the label!]
MikeC
Benedictine and Chartreuse are liqueurs, flavour from herbs.
Eau de Vie is a liquor being a spirit distilled from a fruit, pears apple, raspberries, grapes or any other soft fruit. The English have a habit of mis classifying products from abroad.
Living in France you get to visit these producers and sample their products free. Many monastic orders have sidelines in alcohol produce.
Is a cult the same as a faction?
Nick @67 – I was half expecting this to come up rather earlier and was leaving further research until then!
I’ve a busy evening now but, off the top of my head, I think ‘sect’ would cover both for me.
In support of Eileen @68, I would say that a cult, a faction (and a sect) all refer to a group of people who have beliefs in common.
I’ve been inspired by the blog to get my blackcurrant nalewka from the cellar. A flavoured vodka with added sugar so technically a liqueur?
What a lovely puzzle. I managed to finish it before going to bed (but before the blog was posted).
The misdirection in 18d almost tripped me for a long time — I picked “strong” for the definition, and “fancy” and an anagram indicator.
Eileen and Nick —
Chambers online for cult has 1b: “the sect of people following such a system [of religious belief from 1a]
Petert – na zdrowie (good health) 😉
Petert
[nalewka is an infusion of herbs, fruits and sugar and is a liqueur, but if you have the 75%ABV version it is best left in the cellar]
An enjoyable solve, so thanks, Nutmeg, as for once I had no problems with the parsing.
A day late, finally finished it! And even then had to reveal the last one (DUNG) and come here for the parsing of that and APPLAUDING. Really tough, but really clever and enjoyable (too many misdirections to mention!) – thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.
Many thanks, Eileen. Could some one please explain xy=axes?
crosser @76 – please see comments 45 and 46. 😉
Sorry! I hadn’t gone far enough. ? Thanks to Muffin and renewed thanks to you.
You’re welcome!