Bobcat’s turn to warm up this morning.
After a slow start, I eventually completed the bottom half of the grid, but still had a virtually empty wasteland of white squares in the top half. The actually very straightforward HOUSE MOUSE and DUFFEL COAT got me in though and I eventually worked my way through the top part.
As is customary with Bobcat, there is a feline NINA (TOP CAT reading along row 7).
I do have one quibble – I don’t think 12ac justifies being an &lit., in which case “crazy” is doing double duty as an anagrind and the definition.
Thanks, Bobcat.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | IMPROMPTU |
Child you heard checking memory exercises makes notes for recital? (9)
|
| IMP (“child”) + homophone [heard] of YOU checking ROM (read only “memory” in IT) + PT (physical training, so “exercises”) | ||
| 10 | DUE TO |
Words prefacing explanation of couple finding love (3,2)
|
| DUET (“couple”) finding O (love, in tennis) | ||
| 11 | WORKSHY |
Factory’s reason for dismissing leader that’s shiftless (7)
|
| WORKS (“factory”) + (w)HY (“reason for”, dismissing leader) | ||
| 12 | FRANTIC |
Crazy, in fact, about Romeo? (7)
|
| *(in fact) [anag:crazy] about R (Romeo, in the NATO phonetic alphabet)
“Crazy” is doing double duty in this clue, unless the setter intends it to be an &lit. – not convinced personally. |
||
| 13 | RUT |
Daily grind does engender this (3)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 14 | MOONLIGHTER |
One earning more than a jobsworth reportedly means to fire gutless idiot first (11)
|
| LIGHTER (“means to fire”) with [gutless] MO(r)ON (“idiot”) first | ||
| 17 | MIAOU |
Object in turn to Pierre’s or Tom’s expression (5)
|
| <=AIM (“object”, in turn) to OU (“or” in French, so “Pierre’s or”) | ||
| 18 | EGO |
The essence of Gregory I? (3)
|
| [the essence of] (gr)EGO(ry) | ||
| 19 | INTRO |
Opening 50% of shy people missed (5)
|
| [50% of] INTRO(verts) [missed] | ||
| 21 | COMPENSATES |
Monet’s spaces nearly all served as counterbalances (11)
|
| *(monets space) [anag:served] where SPACE is [nearly all] of SPACE(s) | ||
| 23 | KEN |
Fellow’s eager, but only half-heartedly so (3)
|
| [half-heartedly] KE(e)N | ||
| 25 | ROBOTIC |
Notice probe after removing covers and changing positions of automated device (7)
|
| (n)OTIC(e) + (p)ROB(e) [after removing covers] and changing positions becomes ROB-OTIC | ||
| 27 | DAY CARE |
Read racy novel lacking right provision for youngsters? (3,4)
|
| *(read acy) [anag:novel] where ACY is (R)ACY lacking R (right) | ||
| 28 | TILDE |
Sign of edited literature making a comeback (5)
|
| Hidden backwards [of…making a comeback] in “editED LITerature” | ||
| 29 | EXPURGATE |
Clean up scandal of former contracted notice of contentment? (9)
|
| EX (“former”) + [contracted] PUR(r) (“notice of contentment”) + GATE (suffix that indicates a “scandal” since Watergate, so Partygate e.g.) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VIEWER |
Show little hesitation supporting what could be Private Eye (6)
|
| VIEW (“show”) with ER (“little hesitation”) supporting | ||
| 2 | OPERETTA |
Times article elevates work before light entertainment (8)
|
| TT (time twice, so “times”) + A (“article”) elevates op. (opus, so “work”) + ERE (“before”) | ||
| 3 | HOUSE MOUSE |
Pest requiring division of school computer equipment (5,5)
|
| HOUSE (“division of school”) + MOUSE (“computer equipment”) | ||
| 4 | SPAY |
Bring down the curtain on production of Cats? (4)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 5 | DUFFEL COAT |
Cut lead off damaged covering (6,4)
|
| *(cut lead off) [anag:damaged] | ||
| 6 | IDEA |
Thought most of the best (4)
|
| [most of] IDEA(l) (“the best”) | ||
| 7 | SEPTET |
Recording interrupts order to reinstate group (6)
|
| EP (extended play “recording”) interrupts STET (proofreader’s “order to reinstate” the original) | ||
| 8 | CONCERTO |
Composition of union is next to zero (8)
|
| CONCERT (“union”) is next to O (zero) | ||
| 15 | OPEN SECRET |
In one respect, strangely enough, it’s well known (4,6)
|
| *(one respect) [anag:strangely enough] | ||
| 16 | GAINSAYERS |
They dispute philosopher’s calling out of prophets a priori (10)
|
| (A.J.) AYER’S (“philosopher”) with GAINS (profits – a homophone of “prophets”, as indicated by calling out) [a priori] | ||
| 17 | MACERATE |
Steep cost of ground spice? (8)
|
| MACE (“ground spice”) + RATE (“cost”) | ||
| 20 | TAKEAWAY |
Mistake a wayfarer having eaten here? (8)
|
| Hidden in [having] “misTAKE A WAYfarer” | ||
| 22 | MOBILE |
Means of transmitting outside broadcast is limited by distance (6)
|
| OB (outside broadcast) is limited by MILE (“distance”) | ||
| 24 | NEEDER |
One wants heckler to drive Liberal away (6)
|
| NEED(l)ER (“heckler” to drive L (Liberal) away) | ||
| 26 | TREE |
Starts to travel regularly (every Easter) in plane? (4)
|
| [starts to] T(ravel) R(egularly) E(very) E(aster) | ||
| 27 | DOPE |
Information’s intermittently dropped when editor’s around (4)
|
| [intermittently] D(r)O(p)P(d)E where DROPPDE is “dropped” with the ED (editor) around |
GAINSAYERS
I think ‘calling out’ is for ‘prophets’ (profits-GAINS).
‘a priori’ to indicate GAINS comes before AYER’S
KVa @1 – d’oh!! Will edit.
I think 13A is a double definition – “does engender this” is about the rutting behaviour of stags.
Re 23A, I have a real problem with clues that indicate it may be a name but without a secondary hint. Whenever I see “fellow” in the clue, my mind turns to “don”.
Re 24D, is “needer” really a word? I guess that it’s probably in Chambers… (which I do not have).
I must also confess that I did not know the term “house mouse” at 3D. To me a mouse is a mouse and a rat is a rat.
To cement my reputation as a pedant: 20D – one does not partake of a takeaway “eaten here”; instead one eats it at home after taking it away from “here”.
Peter@5 My reading of 20D is that “having eaten”, not just “having”, is the “hidden” indicator. The definition is “here” and the questionmark serves to indicate that the surface story is a questionable thing to do.
“needer” does appear in Chambers. The Chambers Dictionary app is well worth acquiring, and much cheaper than the book. It has a wordsearch facility too, which I find very useful.
Rudolf@4 & 6!
Perfect!
Thanks Bobcat and loonapick.
12ac: There is a school of thought which allows the concept of “partial & lit” where the whole clue is needed for the wordplay and the definition forms only part of the clue. However, I do not think we need to invoke that idea here: if we take note of the question mark on the end of the clue, the whole clue can be taken as a valid definition by example.
Some of the parsing eluded me, eg GAINSAYERS and DOPE and I needed a flash of inspiration to get SPAY. I was just happy to see TAKEAWAY as a hidden and missed the niceties of the indicator v. def parsing as explained by Rudolf above.
I liked the Nina – a fondly remembered TV show from long ago – and the various other feline references.
Thanks to loonapick and Bobcat
I just got caught out for a while by the obscure spellings of duffel coat and miaou.
63 and never seen those spellings before :-/
I cannot really fault the clues, but I found this a struggle to complete. My experience was similar to those described above in the blog and comments. Knowing to look for a nina helped a little, but I fruitlessly looked for weird unknown cat names (tygax, maybe?) when I got stuck. The string of Es across Row 5 seems deliberate.
Thanks Bobcat, I found this very enjoyable. I’m sorry I didn’t look for a nina — I figured MIAOU (my clue of the week thusfar) and SPAY covered the required feline presence. I liked the simplicity of EGO and the wordplay of ROBOTIC as well as the surfaces of DAY CARE and OPEN SECRET. Thanks loonapick for parsing.
A pleasant solve, although there were one or two niggles – such as NEEDER; OK it’s in Chambers but not a word one finds very often if at all. But we remembered from a previous occasion the DUFFEL/DUFFLE COAT alternatives and kept our options open till MOONLIGHTER settled the argument.
Thanks, Bobcat and loonapick.
Thanks, Bobcat, I found this a proper workout. Got there in the end, though. Similar experience to you, Loonapick – gradually filled in the bottom half and worked my way back up to the NW corner. I struggled to parse a few, notably MOONLIGHTER and GAINSAYERS, so thanks for the explanations, Loonapick. Never quite sure how I feel about being expected to find a synonym of a homophone – doesn’t feel entirely fair to me, slightly too indirect. And the definition for MOONLIGHTER is a bit peculiar and over-elaborate for the sake of the surface reading, which I found slightly impenetrable.
On the positive side, there was much to enjoy and several clues made me smile. I thought EGO was brilliant, and so was RUT, which I parsed as a double definition, the same as Rudolf @4. SPAY was my last in and came with an appreciative groan when I finally got it.
Re 5d, the OED lists DUFFEL but grudgingly acknowledges the existence of DUFFLE as a variant in the notes. I entered DUFFEL without considering any alternatives. It’s from Dutch originally.
I’m not familiar with Bobcat so wasn’t primed to look for a Nina but I’ll know for next time, and I look forward to having another crack at their work.