An enjoyable solve – favourites 10ac, 15ac, 28ac, 3dn, and 18dn. Thanks to Anto for the puzzle
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BOREDOM |
Fashion short garment – it’s retro but it inspires apathy (7)
|
| reversal (“retro”) of MODE=”Fashion” + ROB-[e]=”short garment” | ||
| 5 | APOSTLE |
Champion providing support when overwhelmed by alcohol (7)
|
| POST (as a noun e.g. fence post)=”support” inside ALE=”alcohol” | ||
| 9 | NETSUKE |
Clears this country earl to get decoration from Japan (7)
|
| definition: a Japanese type of miniature sculpture
NETS (e.g. to net/clear a profit)=”Clears” + UK=”this country” + E (earl) |
||
| 10 | THE RUNS |
Weather unsettled in part due to these constant movements (3,4)
|
| hidden inside (“in part”) of: [Wea]-THER UNS-[ettled] | ||
| 11 | DEATH WISH |
We had this out – I want an end to it (5,4)
|
| anagram/”out” of (We had this)* | ||
| 12 | STASI |
They kept tabs on everybody in almost moribund condition (5)
|
| definition: secret police agency in East Germany
STASI-[s]=”almost moribund condition” |
||
| 13 | PRESS |
Media make claim of being ignored (5)
|
| PR-[of]-ESS=”claim”, with “of being ignored” | ||
| 15 | GRAPEVINE |
Enrage VIP carved up by news network? (9)
|
| anagram/”carved up” of (Enrage VIP)* | ||
| 17 | RED CARPET |
Leftie gets reprimand, being where celebs parade (3,6)
|
| RED=”Leftie” + CARPET as a verb meaning to “reprimand” | ||
| 19 | TURBO |
Type of charger essential to future large robots (5)
|
| definition referring to a turbocharger in an internal combustion engine
central (“essential”) letters taken from [fu]-TU-[re] [la]-R-[ge] [ro]-BO-[ts] |
||
| 22 | SAUCE |
Sachet occasionally filled with gold relish (5)
|
| occasional letters from S-[a]-C-[h]-E-[t], filled with AU (symbol for “gold”) | ||
| 23 | SWEAT BAND |
Pressurise group to make sportswear (5,4)
|
| SWEAT=”Pressurise” + BAND=”group” | ||
| 25 | TILLAGE |
Cultivated place for money holder generation (7)
|
| TILL=”money holder” + AGE=”generation” | ||
| 26 | TOMBOLA |
Device storing large amount of data – and a game! (7)
|
| TOOL=”Device”, around (“storing”) MB=megabyte=”large amount of data”, plus A (“and a“) | ||
| 27 | OPULENT |
Work university advanced is magnificent (7)
|
| OP (opus, “Work”) + U (university) + LENT=”advanced” (as in to advance someone an amount of money) | ||
| 28 | CAREFUL |
Beware occupants of packed vehicle carrying drug (7)
|
| definition: ‘careful’ used as an imperative, meaning ‘take care’
CARFUL=”occupants of packed vehicle”, around E (ecstasy, “drug”) |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BONED UP |
Researched leading basis for agent that stores energy (5,2)
|
| UP=”leading” (e.g. ‘up/leading by two points’), placed under (as the ‘basis’ of): [James] BOND=secret “agent” around (“stores”) E (energy) | ||
| 2 | RETRACE |
Go back over note on evidence (7)
|
| RE (as in do-re-mi)=musical “note” + TRACE=”evidence” | ||
| 3 | DOUGH |
Money finally paid to you following crash (5)
|
| final letters of [pai]-D [t]-O [yo]-U [followin]-G [cras]-H | ||
| 4 | MEETING UP |
Gathering where nutmeg pie is shared out (7,2)
|
| anagram/”shared out” of (nutmeg pie)* | ||
| 5 | AITCH |
A longing for what’s being dropped by EastEnders (5)
|
| definition: people living in the East End of London might ‘drop their aitches’, not pronouncing the ‘h’ at a beginning of a word
A (from surface) + ITCH=”longing” |
||
| 6 | OVERSPENT |
Finished exhausted having broken the budget (9)
|
| OVER=”Finished” + SPENT=”exhausted” | ||
| 7 | TSUNAMI |
Am I nuts travelling around in large roller? (7)
|
| definition: a “roller” is a type of sea wave
anagram (“travelling around”) of (Am I nuts)* |
||
| 8 | ENSUITE |
Happen to keep it in private closet (2,5)
|
| definition: a private water closet
ENSUE=”Happen” around IT (from surface) |
||
| 14 | STALEMATE |
Spooner said condition of man is at an impasse (9)
|
| Spoonerism of ‘male state’=”condition of man” | ||
| 16 | AUTHENTIC |
Faithful groom hit Canute (9)
|
| anagram (“groom” meaning to prepare, to adjust) of (hit Canute)* | ||
| 17 | RISOTTO |
Knight turns up with extravagant oval dish (7)
|
| SIR=”Knight” reversed (“turned up”), with OTT (over the top, “extravagant”) + O (“oval” shaped letter) | ||
| 18 | DOUBLE U |
Starts to use up and finish off coleslaw? (6,1)
|
| the starts of U-[se] U-[p] are a double U, and [colesla]-W finishes in a W=’double-u’ | ||
| 20 | READOFF |
Call out cancelled after study (4,3)
|
| OFF=”cancelled” after READ=”study” | ||
| 21 | ODDBALL |
It’s curious how uneven book has everything (7)
|
| ODD=”uneven” + B (“book”) + ALL=”everything” | ||
| 23 | SHEET |
Page ambassador to join group (5)
|
| HE (His/Her Excellency, “ambassador”), inside SET=”group” | ||
| 24 | TIMER |
Send up instructions to make part of explosive (5)
|
| reversal (“Send up”) of REMIT=”instructions” |
Slight quibble: one sheet = two pages.
Didn’t see how DOUBLE-U other than the end of coleslaW worked, or PRESS. Other than that all in and parsed. I found this a similar level to the Quiptic.
Thank you to Anto, for the second time this week, and manehi.
I thought this was going to be very easy as first run through was very productive. But ground to a halt and last half dozen took just as long.
Very enjoyable.
Thanks Anto and manehi
@lizze #1
Page
3. A leaf of a book thought of as a single item
Chambers to setter’s rescue. One can tear a page from a note book
Great fun but all over far too quickly. Could easily have been a Monday puzzle
Top ticks for DOUBLE-U TOMBOLA & PRESS
cheers M&A
L@1 Chambers has “A leaf of a book thought of as a single item” as the third def for page
Didnt get the double u starts. THE RUNS made me laugh. I like Anto’s contemporary feel.
Thanks Anto and manehi
One of Anto’s best, I thought. Favourites THE RUNS and DEATH WISH.
[Slight quibble on the blog, manehi – a TSUNAMI is a “harbour wave”. It only forms as the disturbance reaches shallow water, so is almost unnoticeable out at sea (though I suppose it is the sea reaching the shore!)]
Very enjoyable. Took a long time for DOUBLE U to make sense. Favourites were EN SUITE and GRAPEVINE.
Ta Anto & manehi.
A very finely crafted puzzle. Particularly liked THE RUNS (not actually, of course) and STALEMATE. Raised eyebrows over Champion = APOSTLE and Pressure = SWEAT. Struggled to see how DOUGH worked. Loved the cleverly hidden/disguised TURBO. Last one in CAREFUL. Many thanks Anto and Manehi this morning…
…and thanks for explaining where the Up component came from in 1d, too, Manehi….
I couldn’t full parse PRESS, so thanks for that.
Anto has improved so much since (s)he started with impossible Quiptics!
That was an enjoyable end to the week. Everything felt precisely clued, and I have no quibbles with any of them.
Re. apostle = champion, ronald@9, the OED gives “The chief advocate of a new principle or system; the leader of a great reform” as a definition, which would be someone who champions that principle or system. It’s not the first usage that sprang to my mind either, though. I was too distracted trying to think of mythological Greek heroes who would fit.
I also allowed myself a little pat on the back for getting TURBO from the “essentially” clue. I usually miss those.
Thanks Anto and manehi. Happy Friday, everyone!
[Fun fact re 18: the only two English-language words (not counting inflections thereof) that contain a double U and are not of Latin origin are muumuu (Hawaiian) and squush (onomatopoeic). The three most commonly seen of the Latin ones are vacuum, continuum, and residuum.
Of course, in Hawaiian, it’s actually mu’umu’u, with the apostrophes there representing ‘okinas (the letter denoting a full glottal stop), which my phone can’t make. So those aren’t double letters in the original. Anglicization does have a way of doing things like that.]
Lechien@12, ah yes. And I’ve suddenly remembered about those Cambridge Apostles, great minds gathered in one place for a while…
I always find Anto’s puzzles uneven, with some great clues and others I find rather clunky. I wasn’t happy with some of the definitions: a NETSUKE is a toggle, so has a function, however decorative it might be; an ‘explosive’ is a material which explodes, and not a device, so doesn’t have a TIMER; ‘researched’ is BONED UP ON. Some great surfaces here, but others seem rather random : ‘Faithful groom hit Canute’? – well, at least it’s grammatical 🙂
However, I particularly liked DEATH WISH, PRESS, DOUGH and EN SUITE.
Thanks to S&B
Like Matthew Newell @ 3 started off well but the last few (in the se in my case) held me up.
Also like others didn’t parse the DOUBLE U or UP
Lots of good clues including ENSUITE, SHEET, APOSTLE, SAUCE
Thanks Anto and manehi
Agree apostle for champion is a bit oblique. I guess they championed the Word. Ok puzzle, ta both.
STASI. I saw this as stasis = moribund condition and STASI as almost this. Just a matter of where the inverted commas go.
I hadn’t parsed PRESS, so thank you for the explanation.
My favourite was DOUBLE U. Quite original.
Thanks Anto and manehi.
First thing to say – I’m surprised 11a got through; I thought the Grauniad‘s ed’s were pretty hot on keeping out anything alluding to suicide (they once rejected one of Steve Bell’s cartoons because it contained a picture of a noose). Ah well …
I failed to parse PRESS and TURBO – should have spotted both of those easily enough but they slipped by me. Also took a long time for DOUGH to click (“D’oh!”, as Homer would have exclaimed). And I had to look up NETSUKE though the word rang a bell.
All the rest was fine. Had to laugh at THE RUNS – I suppose it must get a tick for sheer crudeness! Also likes for BOREDOM, BONED UP, EN SUITE, GRAPEVINE, TILLAGE, TOMBOLA, ODDBALL.
Not sure about TIMER being part of an explosive. ‘Bomb’, yes. ‘Explosive device’, yes. But the ‘explosive’ is the substance that explodes. Perhaps ‘bomb’ is one of the taboo words that the editors did veto?
Thanks to Anto and manehi.
Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through The 15a – his only UK No. 1, for 3 weeks, in 1969 (a 55th (Emerald) anniversary). …
Overall, not a difficult solve. However, I thought a couple of clues were iffy: RETRACE (‘trace’ = ‘evidence’?) and CAREFUL (surely ‘packed vehicle’ is ‘car full’, not ‘carful’).
Thanks to Anto and manehi.
This hit the sweet spot for me!
Thanks Anto and great blog Manehi! 😊
muffin@7. TSUNAMI. Depends on your definition, the Japanese translation or modern terminology. They can originate hundreds and thousands of miles away. http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/info/faq.shtml
My reaction was similar to Gervase@15. I also questioned whether a megabyte is really a large amount of data – I started thinking of words with TB in.
Some neat clues to enjoy though – thanks to Anto and to manehi for the blog.
Thanks for the blog, good set of clues , DOUBLE-U a nice idea. Amusing to think of the STASI making all that effort to spy on everybody , now in the West virtually everybody gives their whole life to the spooks for no effort at all .
pdm @23
Yes indeed, but the disturbance at the surface of deep water is minimal. It’s when the water becomes shallow that it overtakes itself and starts overtopping, becoming the surge of the tsunami.
pdm @23
Yes indeed, but the disturbance at the surface of deep water is minimal. It’s when the water becomes shallow that it overtakes itself and starts overtopping, becoming the surge of the tsunami.
The Japanese called them “harbour waves” because fishermen out at sea would have had no idea of the destruction they would find when they returned to the harbour.
Laccaria @19: I agree with you about TIMER (see me @15 🙂 ) but BONED UP just won’t do. You wouldn’t say: ‘I boned up Japanese accessories’, you would always say: ‘I researched/boned up ON …’
… Thought 10a THE RUNS went nicely with yesterday’s i by Monk, where the theme was No. 2s.
A fine solve and many fine anagrams.
Thanks Anto for this fine puzzle.
muffin@27. I think manehi’s blog is ok, as per the last part of your comment@7. It is a wave coming in from the sea that gets larger in the harbour. Piqued my interest about tsunamis in Britain. Never knew:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunamis_affecting_the_British_Isles
For 28a CAReFUL, oed.com’s earliest citation is excremental, too: ‘carful, n As many or as much as a car will hold.
a1399 Pottys of erthe, a carful, j d. in W. G. Benham, Oath Book of Colchester (1907) 10′ …
Right up my street, this one, with some good clues to get me started, then the headscratchers to give the challenge. Had to cheat for 9a and 12a, but hey, I’m happy.
Thanks Anto.
Nice one after a tough week. Moved steadily NW , SW, NE, SE. For 26a I was thinking Giga or Terra….I don’t think 1MB can be considered “a large amount of data” by modern standards. Fun.
… “Down with This Sort of Thing. CAREFUL Now.”
I started slowly with the across clues and was relieved when the down clues went in more easily. Favorite was 18D when the penny dropped. NHO 9A, but apparently it is well-known enough.
I was fine with 24D, ‘explosive’ being one of those words where the everyday usage is different from the technical definition.
[11a DEATH WISH (1974, but undeserving of an anniversary: “immoral”, “despicable”, “nasty”, “simplistic to the point of STASIS”.)]
Thanks A&M
Thanks to Anto for throuroughly enjoyable puzzle. There was a lovely elegance and lightness of touch to the structure of clues.
Thanks to manehi for the blog. I share his list of favourites especially 18dn. (10ac, 15ac, 28ac, 3dn,)
Median@21 Don’t like “carful”? Consider “spoonful,” “bucketful” or “earful.” ‘ful is a common suffix.
Enjoyed the puzzle, finished all of it during several early wake-ups last night. Thanks to Anto and manehi.
5dn Aitch is superbly clued even if simple. Every now and then a cryptic clue just works so well or is so smooth and natural feeling that it is a thing of beauty. This one was that way for me. Thanks, Anto. Was it good for you, too? 🙂
AUTHENTIC would seem to be a good synonym of “faithful”, wouldn’t it – they both mean something like “accurate”. But curiously, a “faithful copy” is by definition “NOT authentic”! Just sayin’!
Agree with Ricardo@34 that the clue for TOMBOLA could have done without the “large”.
Ok. Some bits tricky. But double u still baffles me. Is a W a U plus U! Most odd.
Cedric @42
W may not be a “double U”, but that’s how the letter is pronounced.
5 must have confused those who insist on pronouncing it HAITCH.
Failed to finish the NW corner – though now I see the answers, it wasn’t that hard. Oh well. Should have tried for longer!
I liked this crossword a lot, because I thought the surfaces were smooth and fun. That adds a lot of enjoyment for me.
Like laccaria@19, I was surprised with DEATH WISH – and ambivalent about it. The clue was clever. On the other hand, I switched to the Guardian from another paper because the crossword doesn’t celebrate drink/drugs or trivialise mental health.
Laccaria#19 In June there was a clue: Way to call someone ‘Lynch’, with the answer STRING UP which was allowed and didn’t seem to cause much unease either.
Any puzzle that is challenging but which I can solve without any aids gets an A++ from me. Thanks Anto for a great end to my week!
Just failed on 3d and 9a. 9a was unknown but fairly clued, annoyed to miss 3d.
Lots of good clues.
Looking forward to the blog for last week’s prize tomorrow.
Thanks both.
Thanks Anto, that was fun with my top picks being DEATH WISH, CAREFUL, DOUGH, AITCH, STALEMATE, DOUBLE U, and ODDBALL. I failed with the nho TOMBOLA. Thanks manehi for the blog.
[Roz @25: Your comment on the STASI reminds me of the anti-vaxxers who said that the Covid vaccine would implant a tracking chip into their bodies — many of these folks were carrying GPS enabled phones on their persons everywhere they went! ]
mrpenney@13 a quick search revealed busuuti and anschauung – are those valid?
I heard that after the dissolution of the STASI its members became taxi drivers. You just gave them your name and they took you straight home.
Thank you for the explanations.
I solved 9 clues, all in the top half, and revealed the rest.
9 more clues than Wednesday and Thursday though, which were complete blanks.
Roll on the quick cryptic.
[ Tony@49 . I once did some work for the spooks, nothing exciting or any spying, just a simple technical project. I had done a lot of work on CMBR at the time. They could not believe that people were beginning to carry mobile phones around. Thay called them VSDs , Voluntary Surveillance Devices. Today it is many times worse. people put everything on them. ]
For me, this was tough but enjoyable.
Favourites: DOUBLE U, ODDBALL, GRAPEVINE.
I couldn’t parse 13ac, 26ac.
New for me: NETSUKE.
Thanks, both.
[Roz @53: VSDs saved a lot of lives. You’ve been relatively quiet recently; on secret missions as well? ]
[AlanC I am sure you are right , even more so these days , I actually know nothing about it, just a small project on microwaves a long time ago. It was very well paid, I could have finished in a week but I spun it out for 6 weeks , we were very poor students at the time.
I am not in routine at the moment, my students all away , spend most of my time outside, most days I do not even open my Chromebook . ]
Another one, like Matthew Newell @3, who breezed through much of it but was held up until this morning by the last few, mainly in the NW in my case. Not complaining either, I suppose my expectations for Friday puzzles are that they might carry over into the weekend, which is fine by me.
In summary: all good, and a relief after Thursday’s.