Rodriguez provides the Thursday challenge this week.
We found this very enjoyable but quite tricky, with a good range of clues including some innovative definitions and wordplay. We caused ourselves a few problems in the top left corner by solving 11ac as ‘addict’, with just about plausible wordplay, but dodgy definition. We realised our error when we finally solved 4d (slightly iffy definition?) and the rest fell into place. 24ac was our last one in – very crafty!
N (new) + O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) ‘caught’ in ARCTIC (cold)
I (one) in or ‘admitted by’ MA’S MA (grandmother?)
An anagram (‘cocktail’) of MINT, GRAPE and E (last or ‘final’ letter of juice)
Hidden (‘stored’) in AlBUM For
AWARE (mindful) round D (date)
GinnY missing ‘inn’ (hostelry) + RATING (Jack – sailor)
‘Sin over’ is an anagram (REVISED) of VERSION
A homophone (‘reported’) of COUNTER (worktop) FITTERS (installers)
A reversal (‘pirouetting’) of ART (skill) + VOLT (‘some potential’) + A – a reference to John Travolta, the actor who rose to fame in ‘Grease’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’
GAY (same-sex) round or ‘clothing’ TSB (bank)
GeNUS (taxonomic group) ‘excluding’ the ‘e’ (European)
PER SE (essentially) + PH ONE (a substance with a PH rating of 1 would be highly acidic)
A compiler of crosswords is a ‘setter’ – Rodriguez wants us to think of a recipient of a setter’s work as a SETTEE. This was our last one in and it took us a long time to work it out, mainly because we had not realised until we looked it up in Chambers that a tête-à-tête is a kind of sofa
S (first letter or ‘intro’ of song) IS tYPHUS (‘complaint’) missing the ‘t’ (tons)
hARMED (injured) missing or ‘out of’ ‘h’ (hospital)
RN (Royal Navy – ‘sailors’) ARVO (Australian slang for afternoon – ‘pm’) in CAN (vessel). The port is now known by its Welsh name ‘Caernarfon’.
RE (about) in or ‘entering’ TIG (game) ScoutS without the middle letters or ‘disheartened’
CHARGED (accused) + E S (first and last letters or ‘case’ of egregious) after AFFAIR (‘adultery’) – should the letter count be (6,1’8)?
An anagram (‘criminal’) of ONCe without the ‘e’ (ecstasy) and MERE – a reference to John McEnroe, notorious for his disputes in tennis matches
A (area) + B I (first and last or ‘outside’ letters of Burundi) in MT (mountain)
OM (Order of Merit) in or ‘received by’ MEN (troops) TO US (as we see it)
RE (Royal Engineers) round or ‘receiving’ 10 (ten) GRAND (thousand pounds)
WE (setters) in or ‘put through’ SATS (tests) + HOP (bound)
An anagram (‘bats’) of SLEEPILy without or ‘dismissing’ the last letter or ‘tail-ender’
INGRES (French painter) S (first letter or ‘heading’ of salon)
V (velocity) IS IT (‘could that be right?’)
In French, ‘tu’ is the informal address for a second person, so if you were to insist on the formal address (‘vous’) you might BAN TU
Crikey, this was tough in parts, but mostly very enjoyable.
I am sure many others will not agree with me, but I can’t understand how it is considered OK to use an obviously wrong enumeration for a foreign term which needs an apostrophe in order to make sense. I also think that “setters” = “we” is slightly unfair.
That said, everything else was in good order with COUNTERFEITERS, PERSEPHONE and VISIT my top picks.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to B&J.
I’d agree with RD that this was tough though I had no problem with setters = ‘we’. Solvers are often referred to as ‘you’ (fortunately, rarely as SETTEEs which beat me). The apostrophe is a tricky one. Whenever it appears. We have seen apostrophes that are part of possessives in solutions as well as those that should rightly occur in non-English words and the convention seems to be that they are not acknowledged in enumeration. I can’t recall seeing one – but my memory is notoriously faulty. I feel having to indicate it as B&J hazard in the blog would ruin the inclusion of anything including an apostrophe.
Although it was a struggle, I enjoyed hammering away at it and the favourites that stood out include IMPREGNATE, BUMF, COUNTERFEITERS, TRAVOLTA, TIGRESS, MCENROE, RIO GRANDE and VISIT. Although I liked the US river, I wonder why Rodriguez didn’t go ahead and use US$ instead of £ for his GRAND? I’m sure ‘grand’ is used in that same context across the Pond?
Thanks Rodriguez and B&J
Tricky for me too, but really enjoyable. Too many favourites to list and I’d agree that the convention is to ignore apostrophes.
I agree that this was very tough but therefore very satisfying to finish.
I have far too many ticks to list – super clues throughout – but would just like to comment on MIASMA. I have a half-Danish grandson, to whom, in Danish, I would be Farmor (see here) – but he’s totally bilingual, so, like all my other grandchildren, he calls me ‘Grandma’.
Many thanks to Rodriguez for the tussle and to B&J for a great blog.
PM @2. It’s only a mild niggle from me, bur there is more than one solver but only one setter. I agree apostrophes are tricky. My personal opinion is that they should always be enumerated in foreign words and phrases, omitting the possessive apostrophe in English is much less contentious. They do appear in some enumerations for foreign words in the Telegraph but it seems to be more the decision of the setter rather than the editor.
What Eileen said @4 although my children call me Mum and my grandchildren call me Granny!
thanks to Rodriguez for an excellent rainy-day brain stretching and to B&J for the blog
My pick of the day. Thanks all.
Thanks both. A contender for the most difficult puzzle I have done for a long time. I was aided as Ingres and Sisyphean have both featured recently, but left to guess for PERSEPHONE which was an unknown as was the PH part, while per se for me was not a ready synonym for essentially
Thanks Rodriguez for quite the challenge. This was a DNF — I failed with SETTEE and CARNARVON, the latter because I hadn’t heard of that port nor did I know “arvo.” I parsed only half of PERSEPHONE, missing the PH 1. I had many ticks, but unlike Eileen, I will list them: MIASMA, GYRATING, COUNTERFEITERS, TRAVOLTA, SISYPHUS, MCENROE (I’m sure Eileen ticked that one!), MOMENTOUS, RIO GRANDE, and VISIT. Thanks B&J for the blog.
Enjoyed this one, and having solved it on the phone didn’t guess the setter.
Thanks to R, B & J
Finished this on my second attempt and I don’t think there was anything I didn’t understand.
The usual problem with homophone clues: I pronounce “counterfeit” with the last syllable sounding like “feet” and I don’t think I’ve ever heard the “fit” pronunciation, but I see it’s in Chambers.
Very difficult but enjoyable excursion.
Please could someone explain
“MOMENTUS”
I don’t see an indicator for Order of Merit to be reversed?
Ignore previous question
I have now understood the construction.
I thought the first two letters were reversed but
“Received by”
Led me to M…EN
An excellent crossword all round, but I cannot pass up 23A PERSEPHONE without comment: PH1 is a quality of acidity, not a quantity. A bathful of vinegar may be a huge quantity of acid, but sure isn’t PH1
Tough. That’s 2 in a row I’ve really struggled with.