Thank you to Steerpike. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8. Appetite returns in middle of jiu-jitsu lesson (4)
LUST : Hidden in(in middle) reversal of(returns) “of jiu-jitsu lesson“.
9. Turns out partner is worried about society (10)
TRANSPIRES : Anagram of(… worried) PARTNER IS containing(about) S(abbrev. for “Society”).
10. Arab members of militia ignoring old instructor, initially (6)
YEMENI : “yeomen”(historically, members of the volunteer militia force raised from the civilian yeomanry/men who held small landed estates) minus(ignoring) “o”(abbrev. for “old”) + 1st letter of(…, initially) “instructor“.
Defn: …, specifically from Yemen.
11. Warning about ringing university hospital is rot (8)
LANGUISH : Reversal of(… about) SIGNAL(a warning/an indication of, perhaps, danger in a situation) containing(ringing) U(abbrev. for “university”) + H(abbrev. for “hospital”).
Defn: …/to decay, as a result of neglect.
12. River estuaries separated by grand locks (8)
RINGLETS : R(abbrev. for “river”) + INLETS(estuaries/narrows strips of water from the sea or a lake into the land) containing(separated by) G(abbrev. for “grand”/a thousand dollars or pounds).
Defn: … of hair.
14. Sculpture of extremely beautiful charging horse (6)
MARBLE : 1st and last letters of(extremely) “beautiful” containing(charging) MARE(a female horse).
Defn: A … made from, well, marble.
16. Barbarian swine retreating across central plateau (4)
GOTH : Reversal of(… retreating) HOG(a swine/pig, that’s been domesticated) containing(across) middle letter of(central) “plateau“.
17. Tree evolves hollow shoots (5)
FIRES : FIR(an evergreen coniferous tree) + “evolves” minus all its middle letters(hollow).
18. That woman’s written about a judge (4)
HEAR : HER(that woman’s/third-party possessive pronoun for a female) containing(written about) A.
Defn: … in a court of law.
19. More convinced by upper-class extortionist (6)
USURER : SURER(more convinced/certain) placed after(by) U(having the characteristics of the upper-class).
Defn: …, eg. a moneylender who charges obscene/extortionate interest rates.
21. Note put pressure on teacher (8)
MISTRESS : MI(a note in the sol-fa music scale) + STRESS(to put pressure/force on a material object).
Defn: A (female) … who teaches a particular subject.
23. Cut power after city church is besieged by angry mob (4,4)
LAMB CHOP : P(symbol for “power” in physics) placed after(after) { LA(abbrev. for Los Angeles, the American city) + [ CH(abbrev. for “church”) contained in(is besieged by) anagram of(angry) MOB] }.
Defn: A thick … of meat of lamb, around and often including a rib.
26. A state government department takes on women arbitrarily (6)
ANYHOW : A + NY(abbrev. for New York State in the USA) + HO(abbrev. for “Home Office”, a government department in the UK) plus(takes on) W(abbrev. for “women”).
27. Blessed types rejecting first electronic implants (10)
PACEMAKERS : “peacemakers”(blessed types who negotiate peace between conflicting parties) minus(rejecting) 1st letter of(first) “electronic“.
Defn: … into the body to regulate the heartbeat.
28. Born and died in penury (4)
NEED : NEE(born, used in reference to a married woman’s maiden name) plus(and) D(abbrev. for “died”).
Defn: …/state of being poor/lacking in things.
Down
1. Journalists ride bus to abandoned capital of Sumer (10)
SUBEDITORS : Anagram of(… abandoned) RIDE BUS TO + 1st letter of(capital of) “Sumer“.
2. Might run into nasty gents on outskirts of Teignmouth (8)
STRENGTH : R(abbrev. for “run”, in cricket scores) contained in(into) anagram of(nasty) GENTS placed above(on, in a down clue) 1st and last letters of(outskirts of) “Teignmouth“.
3. Unrest starts to spread to common (6)
STRIFE : 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “spread to” + RIFE(common/widespread).
4. Everyone is depressed by Bachelor Party (4)
BALL : ALL(everyone) placed below(is depressed by, in a down clue) B(abbrev. for “Bachelor”).
5. Joint paper on British novelist making waves (8)
TSUNAMIS : T(a right-angled joint, in wood, say, shaped like the letter “T”) + SUN(a British tabloid newspaper) placed above(on, in a down clue) AMIS(Kingsley or Martin, father and son British novelists).
Defn: Giant ….
6. Large island where Latin quarter essentially provides alcohol (6)
LIQUOR : L(abbrev. for “large”) + I(abbrev. for “island”) + QUO(Latin for “where”) + middle letter of(… essentially) “quarter“.
7. Picking up standard membership fees for religious group (4)
JEWS : Homophone of(Picking up) “dues”(standard membership fees, such as “union dues”).
I suppose you might hear some people pronounce the “d” as “dj”.
13. Melee of lowlifes surrounding queen (5)
SCRUM : SCUM(lowlifes/worthless or contemptible persons) containing(surrounding) “R”(abbrev. for “Regina”/Queen).
Defn: …/a struggle or scuffle involving a crowd.
15. Attractive objects oldest son scattered around area (10)
LOADSTONES : Anagram of(… scattered) OLDEST SON containing(around) A(abbrev. for “area”).
Answer: … or lodestones/pieces of a mineral that is naturally magnetised/attractive to other magnetic material.
17. Feature supporting European summit (8)
FOREHEAD : FOR(supporting/seconding) + E(abbrev. for “European”) + HEAD(summit/the upper end).
Defn: … on one’s face.
18. Racing suspended around deserted runway in Rhode Island (8)
HURRYING : HUNG(suspended/attached to a higher point) containing(around) [ all inner letters deleted from(deserted) “runway” contained in(in) RI(abbrev. for Rhode Island) ].
20. Polish that is put on small stones (6)
RUBIES : RUB(to polish by rubbing/moving, say, a cloth against a surface) + IE(abbrev. for “id est”/that is) placed above(put on, in a down clue) S(abbrev. for “small”).
The raw material:
22. Infrequent fights over drug (6)
SPARSE : SPARS(fights/boxes as a form of training) placed above
(over, in a down clue) E(abbrev. for “Ecstasy”, the drug).
24. Ace airmen circling at a distance (4)
AFAR : A(abbrev. for “ace”, as in the playing card) + reversal of(… circling) RAF(abbrev. for the Royal Air Force, partly consisting of airmen/pilots).
25. Target of utter devotion, reportedly (4)
PREY : Homophone of(…, reportedly) “pray”(to utter/say prayers as a form of devotion to a deity).
For me, dues sounds nothing remotely like Jews, even straining to imagine the most exaggerated British accent. I kept thinking, “Dews? Dews? What the hell is dews?” Otherwise, although it took me a while to get warmed up, a solid puzzle. Thanks for the blog.
Imogen’s in the Guardian looked a bit scary today so I settled down for an enjoyable workout with Steerpike. I even managed TSUNAMI with its requisite knowledge of things British. It’s a while since we called a teacher a mistress. Neither my dictionary nor I have seen LOADSTONE spelt that way. And I’d have to be very pedantic in relation to 7d if I were to point out that a D and a J are not really pronounced the same.
I can’t pick a favourite clue, but there were plenty of smiles and no groans.
You beat me to it, Cineraria.
Yet another who can’t imagine anyone pronouncing ‘dews’ and ‘Jews’ the same, so had no chance of getting that one. Last time ‘loadstone’ appeared, I said I’d never seen that spelling before so now I can say I’ve only seen it in a previous cryptic.
I had the same doubts about “dues” / JEWS (which was my last in) but excused it on the grounds of cruciverbal homophonic licence. LOADSTONE also looked a bit strange as I was entering it and now I know why, as I’m more familiar with the “lodestone” spelling, even if like Hovis @4, I probably have seen the LOAD… version in a previous puzzle. FWIW, the LOADSTONE alternative spelling is in Chambers.
Lots to like here though. I was fooled all ends up by the surface of 23a and needed most of the crossers before thinking of that sort of ‘Cut’. LANGUISH also remained resistant to attempts to parse it until I eventually saw SIGNAL for ‘Warning’. The QUO for ‘where Latin’ at 6d and PACEMAKERS were my favourites.
Thanks to Steerpike and scchua
27 is a reference to the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the Sons of God.”
I have nothing much to contribute today but to say that I agree and cannot think of anyone who pronounces “dues” and “jews” the same way. With apologies to any of our American friends, I think that they may pronounce it as “doos”.
I’m also in the “lodestone” camp.
I didn’t know “Teignmouth”. I assume that it is pronounced the same as Tynemouth, which I know well, as I was born in Gateshead.
Peter, I stayed there once many moons ago and I seem to recall it was pronounced “tin”. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.
Thanks Steerpike and scchua
LOADSTONE is in both current Chambers and my 1970s SOED, the latter citing its first use as 1649, so I think Steerpike is on safe ground.
Thanks Geoff, for 2D, I don’t know the place. I’ve been to Devon several times but just to the better known places like Torquay , Plymouth and Dartmoor.
First of all thanks to Scchua for his very detailed blog. It’s the first time one of my puzzles has been blogged with pictures! Thanks also to everyone who has taken the time to comment.
While I fully agree that outside of the UK there are various pronunciations of due and that even within the UK there is a more upper-class variant, the standard pronunciation of due is /d?u?/ (according to Cambridge) exactly the same as the phonetic transcription given for jew. That is why I included the word ‘standard’ in the clue.
It appears that the phonetic transcription has been lost in transcription, but if you check in the Cambridge online dictionary, where I usually go to check on pronunciation, you will see that jew and due are both rendered the same phonetically. And if you listen to the audio of UK pronunciation of both words, they sound the same
Thanks for the blog, very good set of clues today. For once the homophone seems absolutely fine for me. PACEMAKERS was my favourite, I can’t help thinking “blessed are the cheesemakers ” whenever I see this phrase. Life of Brian had a version of the Sermon on the Mount.
Steerpike@12&13: Thanks for weighing in. Looking at the Cambridge Dictionary online, I see that the pronunciation key in the little brackets for UK is identical for both words (including the special characters that evidently will not display here in the comments), but if you click on the little speaker icon, for an actual spoken pronunciation, the pronunciation for “due” is not what is illustrated in brackets next to it. The speaker says something closer to “dyooh,” which I would agree is a plausible pronunciation for “due,” whereas for “Jew,” the speaker says something like “djooh.” Anyway, I find homophone clues (and, heaven help us, Spoonerisms) to be a perennial source of confusion and/or frustration. This quibble aside, a very well-constructed and enjoyable puzzle. Thanks again.
I noticed that too, Cineraria.
Thanks Cineraria, I guess it would be the same discussion for ‘duke’ and ‘juke’. Perhaps, it would be easier for everyone if setters just avoided using homophones all together, but I somehow feel that would be a great loss.
As the discussion so far shows, homophones, as well as spoonerisms and dropped H’s, always seem to generate controversy here on fifteensquared. Maybe that’s a good thing – showing that people at least take an interest in such things.
An enjoyable puzzle, anyway. Thanks, Steerpike and scchua.
If you just think of homophones as puns there’s a lot more latitude (and fewer syllables).
I second Simon S @18. But if you want more syllables, try ‘homeophones’, as PostMark suggested a long time ago. I just think of them as ‘a play on words’, and isn’t that the essence of cryptic crosswords?
FWIW, I am a rhotic speaker, and non-rhotic wordplay always gives me a slight pause. But it doesn’t require much stretching of the brain (and isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing?) to imagine the non-rhotic pronunciation of a word and figure out the wordplay from there. It’s all part of the (p)fun.
Thanks, Steerpike for the fun and scchua for the colourful and informative blog.
And thanks Roz@13 for the cheesemakers blessing – it is time to watch that classic film again.
Thanks Steerpike for a well-written crossword and scchua for an attractive blog. In the discussion over homophones I was reminded of the Woidy Allen film Annie Hall. The following bit of dialogue is interesting:
Alvy, you’re a total paranoid.
ALVY
Wh- How am I a paran-? Well, I pick up on
those kind o’ things. You know, I was
having lunch with some guys from NBC, so
I said … uh, “Did you eat yet or what?”
and Tom Christie said, “No, didchoo?”
Not, did you, didchoo eat? Jew? No, not
did you eat, but Jew eat? Jew. You get it?
Jew eat?
To some ears “did you” sounds like “Jew” so “dues” and “Jews” does work.
Very interesting discussion re ‘dues’ and ‘Jews’. If a standard dictionary shows they’re the same, the setter is clearly correct. However going back quite a long way, I think I recall those those very words being used in some course/book as examples of two words which many people pronounced the same whereas there was a difference. Looked in Collins just now – available free online – and they have them as slightly different. Homophones a tricky area with different pronunciations in different regions. Must admit, when setting, I never use them without confirming the phonetic presentations for the two are exactly the same.