Very enjoyable with some tricky clues and nice surfaces. Particularly liked 12ac, 19ac, 21ac, 2dn, and 7dn. Thanks to Picaroon
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | INSULATOR |
Abuse about a vacuous orchestrator, one unable to conduct (9)
|
| definition: an insulator is unable to conduct electricity
INSULT=”Abuse” around A (from surface), plus O-[rchestrato]-R “vacuous” without its inner letters |
||
| 10 | ERASE |
Wipe middle of vase before edges (5)
|
| middle letters of [v]-AS-[e], with ERE=”before” edging around it | ||
| 11 | HALOGEN |
I perhaps love info on malfunctioning piece of AI (7)
|
| “I” in the definition as the symbol for iodine, a halogen
O=zero=”love” + GEN=knowledge=”info”; after HAL=HAL 9000 [wiki], malfunctioning AI from 2001: A Space Odyssey |
||
| 12 | WRAPPED |
Was a vocalist on the radio covered? (7)
|
| sounds like (on the radio): ‘rapped’=was a rapper/”vocalist” | ||
| 13 | UNMAN |
Intimidate country club servant (5)
|
| UN (United Nations, club of countries) + MAN=”servant” | ||
| 14 | DING-A-LING |
Ring girl eating sandwiches (4-1-4)
|
| definition: a ringing sound
GAL=”girl”, sandwiched inside DINING=”eating” |
||
| 16 | PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM |
Place for putting the shot? (10,5)
|
| cryptic definition: surface may mislead by suggesting a place for a shot put event
edit thanks to paddymelon: or a place for a golf shot / putt |
||
| 19 | RECEPTION |
English Conservative in inept or bungling party (9)
|
| E (English) + C (Conservative); both inside anagram/”bungling” of (inept or)* | ||
| 21 | THROW |
Puzzle that’s worth cracking (5)
|
| definition: THROW as in to confuse
anagram/”cracking” of (worth)* |
||
| 22 | TRANSOM |
He leaves the money that’s extorted in bar (7)
|
| definition: a transom can be a horizontal bar across e.g. a window
“He” leaving “t-he” to leave a T, plus RANSOM=”money that’s extorted” |
||
| 23 | SPINNER |
One may bowl over penny-pinching reprobate (7)
|
| definition: a SPINNER is a spin bowler in cricket, and may bowl an “over” – a series of deliveries
SINNER=”reprobate”, pinching a P (penny) |
||
| 24 | RAT ON |
Polite refusal by king returning in shop (3,2)
|
| definition: to “shop” is to inform/rat on
NO, TA (meaning ‘no thanks’)=”Polite refusal” + R (Rex, “king”); all reversed/”returning” |
||
| 25 | NOVITIATE |
Wannabe holy person, certainly not corrupt! (9)
|
| definition: a novice in a religious order
VITIATE=to spoil or “corrupt”, so NO VITIATE=”certainly not corrupt!” |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HIGH JUMPER |
Drunk given clothing, one trying not to disturb the bar? (4,6)
|
| definition: a high jumper tries to jump clear over the bar without disturbing it
HIGH=”Drunk” + JUMPER=item of “clothing” |
||
| 2 | O SOLE MIO |
Loves holding unaccompanied note in romantic song (1,4,3)
|
| definition refers to the name of a song [wiki]
O O=more than one zero=’Loves’, around/”holding” SOLE=”unaccompanied” + MI=musical “note” (do-re-mi) |
||
| 3 | FLAGON |
Try stuffing pastry in container for liquid (6)
|
| GO=”Try” stuffing inside FLAN=”pastry” | ||
| 4 | ETON |
Where to see privileged learners melt down every so often (4)
|
| every other letter of [m]-E-[l]-T [d]-O-[w]-N | ||
| 5 | DRAWING PIN |
Artwork upset tot – is it a tacky item? (7,3)
|
| definition referring to ‘tack’ in the sense of a fastener
DRAWING=”Artwork” plus reversal/”upset” of NIP=small amount=”tot” |
||
| 6 | VENA CAVA |
Drained Viennese and North American sparkling wine in vessel for claret (4,4)
|
| definition: a blood vessel – “claret” meaning blood
V-[iennes]-E drained of its inner letters + NA (North American) + CAVA=”sparkling wine” |
||
| 7 | TAIPEI |
Asian income picked up in Asian capital (6)
|
| sounds like ‘Thai pay’=”Asian income” | ||
| 8 | LEAD |
Take charge of field day (4)
|
| LEA=”field” + D (day) | ||
| 14 | DERAILMENT |
Article in Bild getting complaint, going off-line? (10)
|
| DER=”[definite] Article in [German]” + AILMENT=”complaint”
“Bild” is a German newspaper |
||
| 15 | GAME WARDEN |
Maybe this worker’s in grassy area, protecting a bird? (4,6)
|
| GARDEN=”grassy area”, around A MEW=a seagull=”a bird” | ||
| 17 | OPPOSING |
Cockney aspiring to fix Post Office’s counter (8)
|
| ‘OPING=’hoping’ dropping the h-=”Cockney aspiring”, around PO’S (Post Office’S) | ||
| 18 | BARONIAL |
Undressed Tony Blair partying around a noble (8)
|
| definition: “noble” as an adjective
anagram/”partying” of (on Blair)*, around A (taken from surface) for the anagram, on comes from [T]-on-[y] “undressed” without outer letters |
||
| 20 | CHATTY |
Cruel around horse, but tending to rabbit (6)
|
| CATTY=”Cruel” around H (heroin, “horse” is slang for heroin) | ||
| 21 | TWISTS |
Character asking for more special, unexpected events (6)
|
| TWIST=”Character asking for more” + S (special)
Oliver Twist famously asks “Please Sir. I want some more” [wiki] |
||
| 22 | TYRE |
Piece of rubber – it was seized by Alexander (4)
|
| double definition: a tyre for a wheel, or Tyre in Lebanon which was conquered by Alexander the Great | ||
| 23 | SAVE |
Person forced to work hasn’t left husband (4)
|
| definition: “husband” meaning to conserve
S-[L]-AVE=”Person forced to work”, without L (“left”) |
Thanks manehi. I had a golfing term in mind for putting and shot in the brilliant clue for PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM.
Defeated by NOVITIATE as I hadn’t heard of it nor VITIATE to corrupt. Other than that fairly steady stuff.
Lots of brilliant clues, all gettable and rewarded, with or without the clanging of a teatray. NOVIATE my pick.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
I spent some time trying to parse OLIVER at 21a – TWISTS was LOI, in fact. I didn’t know that Alexander had conquered TYRE, but is was an easy guess.
Consistently good, though I didn’t have an outstanding clue; I did like HALOGEN, of course.
Apologies Frankie the Cat. We crossed.
Thanks picaroon and manehi
Very enjoyable puzzle. Photograph Album was most enjoyable as I found lots of five letter second words that worked before the answer (range, green, field…)
Did anyone else try AMMUNITION STORE for 16a? Well, it fits…
And TRANSOM is of course what a Yorkshire kidnapper demands.
Interestingly, I got to TYRE – one of my last few – in a roundabout way. I suspected that it was a reversed hidden inclusion: ‘piece of’…’seized by’ – and found tire (rubbER IT). Then I thought “but isn’t the place tYre? D’oh! HALOGEN was lovely – but then, there were a lot of others just as good. Thanks, Picaroon and manehi.
This was indeed a “Puzzle that’s worth cracking” (21a) as usual from Picaroon. Very enjoyable with lots of great surfaces. PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM was my favourite too (and I think manehi’s shot put event is the more natural reading for the surface).
Re 22d: I seem to recall that there was a classic clue that went something like “Gluttons may have one – Alexander didn’t” (5,4). Anyone remember it?
Many thanks Picaroon and manehi.
I’m always pleased to find Picaroon’s name on a puzzle, and today’s was a good one. I didn’t know vitiate=corrupt, and only knew NOVITIATE as a collective noun for a group of novices rather than a single person. I also didn’t know about Alexander conquering TYRE, or Iodine being a halogen, but the answers were clear enough. I suspect I may not be the only person trying to shoehorn OLIVER into 21d.
Too many ticks to list, but an appreciative OUCH for TAIPEI. DRAWING PIN may cause problems across the pond, where they call them thumbtacks.
HIGH JUMPER leapt off the page straight away and I thought I was away to a sprint start. But then it came a bit of a struggle. The parsing of HALOGEN, DING-A-LING, O SOLE MIO and BARONIAL rather escaped me, so many thanks Manehi. Looked at UNMAN for a while before it was inserted with a bit of a shrug, and loi. Thought TRANSOM excellent…
Not as tricky as it looked at first. Unlike paddymelon, I was thinking of the athletic event and was working on ARENA for the second word, until the pdm, a lovely misdirection. Favourites were HALOGEN, DING-A-LING, THROW, NOVITIATE, RAT ON and TWISTS. TAIPEI held out longest.
Ta Picaroon & manehi.
All good fun, and another who thought green, arena, etc until I had the crossers for PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM. I did think Oliver first when I read that clue, but it didn’t parse, so I then thought TWIST S works and had it in on first run through. TAIPEI my last in.
Thank you to manehi and Picaroon.
Lord Jim @9
You beat me to it – I was busy looking it up! A Rufus clue, in my little book of classic(al) clues: 24,464 14ac. Rufus did helpfully include ‘the Great’ in the clue. 😉
Another here trying Oliver first.
Gladys@7 ammunition store definitely works just as well as the correct answer. Maybe others can think of more.
I really enjoyed this. Favourites were NOVITIATE, TYRE, HALOGEN and WRAPPER. I struggled to parse DING-A-LING and thought SO was the note for a while. The classic clue from Lord Jim and Eileen @9 and 14 is lovely 😎.
Many thanks to manehi for the help and to Picaroon for the misdirection – others have already identified the rabbit holes I stumbled into….
gladys @7: I flirted briefly with the idea that shot might be ammunition but was lucky enough to have the A—M which rapidly disabused me. A lovely piece of misdirection. The only thing it was not going to be was anything to do with the field event. HIGH JUMP was a much earlier bit of misdirection and it did end with a field event. I wonder if either of those came to mind when Picaroon was putting together his Olympic puzzle? I agree TYRE was delightfully done, as was TWISTS. I did briefly delay myself by thoughtlessly bunging in TAIWAN as a homophone of Thai won rather than TAIPEI. Another splendidly smooth compilation.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
VITIATE and MEW were new to me. Several went in because they looked about right, but your neat explanations act as a reprimand that I should not be lazy and work them through!
A delight, as usual, from the Pirate.
Failed to parse ERASE and had to look up the vitiate part of NOVITIATE.
As soon as I saw HALOGEN I thought, “muffin will like that”.
Loved the UN being described as a country club!
A learning experience today — siege of Tyre, mew/bird, VENA CAVE, TRANSOM, UNMAN. A typically enjoyable experience from Picaroon.
Masterly misdirection. Of which perhaps the finest example (?) was my LOI: RAT ON.
Enjoyed this. TAIPEI LOI and indebted to manehi for the parsing elucidation. As a golfer I was wanting putt etc to be green but crossers put me right.
TL;DR: this puzzle was a challenging treat for me, thanks Picaroon and manehi.
I’ve only been serious about cryptics about a month (though was a dabbler before), and working through this I realised this was truly in the sweet spot for me – many of the definitions were cleverly hidden so the novice “find a plausible synonym then justify it” simply didn’t work for a good proportion of the clues. That meant I was forced to do the reverse – spot the possible wordplay options, play with those and see a lovely answer drop out. And invariably when it did today the cluing felt really fair (my only two initial question marks were THROW and DERAILMENT but on further thought those have perfectly good definitions too).
Favourites were TWISTS, HALOGEN, DRAWING PIN, HIGH JUMPER and EIGHTEENTH GREEN (I mean PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM – lots of unhelpful misdirection for me there as a golfer and former – very former – track and field athlete!)
A beautiful puzzle with so many lovely misleading definitions and surfaces. It wasn’t hard but “Puzzle that’s worth cracking” sums up perfectly why I love well-written crossword clues. Nothing is wasted, everything is there and on the surface it’s not even obviously a clue. Beautiful.
I do bemoan the way the meaning of “novitiate” has changed. Strictly it used to refer only to the *period* of being a novice in a religious order. Along the way, probably because it sort of sounds like it ought to be something else, it’s come to take on the meaning of the novice themselves. But we have a word for that (“novice” funnily enough). It’s a pet hate of mine when language loses specificity to no gain. I don’t mind change, which often adds to vocabulary.
Challenging and enjoyable.
Favourite: UNMAN, DING-A-LING.
New for me: VENA CAVA and claret-blood (6d).
I did not parse 25ac.
Thanks, both.
I’m another one who tried OLIVER before TWISTS 😉
Highly enjoyable serving from the Pirate, with some clever constructions and splendid surfaces. I didn’t find the puzzle too taxing, though it took a little while to come up with TAIPEI, my LOI.
To pick just three highlights: the concise CD for PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM, the unfortunately topical RECEPTION and (my favourite) the small but perfectly formed THROW.
Although, as a chemist, I appreciated the inclusion of HALOGEN, and the construction is ingenious, the surface is unfortunately not up to the high standard of the other clues.
Thanks to Picaroon and manehi
So much to enjoy here. I especially liked TYRE, HALOGEN and O SOLE MIO. It took me a little longer to see TAIPEI. The only downside was that it was over too soon. With thanks to Picaroon and manehi.
Jack @24 – I had to check in my Chambers that novitiate could have the meaning of novice as I wasn’t convinced; now looking at the OED, I see that it has done so since 1517, and continued to do so through the centuries following. Indeed, it gives ‘novice’ as the first meaning, and the probationary period of being a novice as the second. So I don’t think we can blame modern imprecision in language use.
Excellent and cleverly clued, but I think NOVITIATE doesn’t refer to a person but to the state or condition, or to a collection of novices. Chambers seems to agree.
[JoFT @24: I share your general lament, but there are far more egregious examples of loss of precision, such as the blurring between uninterested and disinterested, or the use of ‘refute’ to mean simply ‘deny’]
Another example of a word originally meaning a state or condition which has come to mean the holder of that state is ‘potentate’. Here, the original meaning has largely been lost.
Really great. My favourite was CHATTY, but many others had similarly misleading and beautifully crafted surfaces.
Excellent. Going for HALOGEN as clue of the day but there’s plenty of choice. Held up for a while with an over-hasty DERAILLING (it’s not even spelt right) at 14d but TRANSOM sorted that out. Not so good on my Asian capitals, so TAIPEI was LOI.
Super surfaces; I particularly liked those for BARONIAL and RECEPTION. I also enjoyed HALOGEN, DING-A-LING (where girl wasn’t just a random name), HIGH JUMPER, VENA CAVA (for the definition) and the Thai pay.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi.
Quite amusing to read comments 28 and 29 one after the other. FWIW, my Chambers online app gives:
noviciate or novitiate /-ishˈi-āt/ noun
1. The state of being a novice, esp in a religious order
2. The period of being a novice, esp in a religious order
3. The novices’ quarters in a religious house
4. A religious novice
which appears to give Picaroon unequivocal support for the def he has chosen.
Sarah @28: I don’t have access to a full OED but I see M-W gives the 1517 usage as being only for the original sense, ie a period of novicehood. Does the OED claim the meaning “novice” dates from then as well? Often the brief entry in a dictionary does not make a clear distinction.
PM@35: Indeed, my Chambers (dead tree version) also lists these meanings – I’m not claiming it is wrong, just an annoying drift in word usage. More disturbingly, in my Chambers, there is only an entry for “novice”. In that entry it then gives “novicehood; noviceship; noviciate; novitiate” and the list of meanings above, implying one could define “novice” as “novicehood” which makes very little sense to me.
[Gervase @30 And as and when such more egregious examples come up I shall doubtless bemoan them too 🙂 Thank you for the “potentate” example which I was not aware of. ]
So much to enjoy, like the ‘girl eating sandwiches’, ‘middle of vase before edges’ and ‘he leaves the…’ but favourites HALOGEN for definition and THROW, which was indeed worth cracking, as was everything.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
Lots to like here. The parsing of HALOGEN, NOVITITIATE, and TWISTS escaped me, and MEW for seagull was new to me. 21D is particularly clever in hindsight.
Thank you manehi and Picaroon.
manehi — I think a “shot” is a photo that goes in a PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM at 16ac.
[Jack @36.
OED:
1.a. A novice in a religious order.
1517–18
Item, to 8 of the brethren, priests, and to 2 noviciates, for kepying of the anniversary William Clerke; to every priest, 4d.; and every noviciate, 2d.
1762
Would I had Tom Laverick here, (replied our novitiate) he would sing you anthems like a sea-mew.
1896
The ceremony had progressed to the point where the novitiate prostrates herself prone upon her face. There, in white, lay my child, a sacrifice.
1951
There are priests..who assure the young novitiate that his growing doubts are a mental illusion.
There are times where the meaning of novice and novitiate as a collective noun blur into each other, but others where ‘novitiate’ (I wish spell-correct would stop trying to change it to noviciate) quite clearly refers to a single individual.
I get access to the OED through my public library card – very useful!]
Sarah @40: I wouldn’t give tuppence for ‘noviciate’ 🙂
oed.com: 25a ‘NOVITIATE ‘1.a. 1517– A novice in a religious order. 2.a. 1602– The probationary period undertaken by a novice before taking religious vows.’
Join your local library (not just the UK) and get free access. [Edit: pipped at the post by Sarah@40]
… ‘3. 1629– A place housing novices of a religious order during their period of probation; spec. a Jesuit college where novices are trained. Also in extended use.’
[So the novice predates his/her probationary period .
Hard puzzle, I got about half of it last night, needed the check button this morning.
I had trouble with FLAGON at first because to me a flan is a caramel-coated custard with no pastry in sight — our flan is the Spanish/Latin American one. Apparently yours has flour involved.
Hal = AI? Hal was a physical object, a computer aboard a space ship, and AI isn’t.
I’d harrumph about NOVITATE but it’s already been done.
My favorite was DIN(GAL)ING.
Thanks, Picaroon and manehi.
really liked I as a def
(I liked Bunthorn’s EL(3,6,10) too)
Brevity!
A rare occasion when we manage to finish the same day, by lunchtime!
I would add 1d and 6d to Manehi’s list of favourites.
Like Tassie Tom @8, I put in TIRE for 22d being misled by “Piece of…”, forgetting the city’s spelling, and being puzzled that there was nor indication that it was a reverse hidden answer.
Earworm: Elvis’s It’s Now Or Never (1960).
The tune is from the Neapolitan (ice cream) song 2d O SOLE MIO later used by Wall’s to sell more ice cream with Just One Cornetto.
Valentine @44: ‘Flan’ is a borrowing from French, where it is definitely a baked tart in an open-topped pastry case, as in the UK. How the Spanish (and subsequently the USAnians) came to mangle this into crème caramel is a mystery, but such things happen frequently in culinary borrowings. Sponge cakes like the French madeleines are know as ‘plum cake’ in Italian, despite containing no fruit of any sort. And a popular Italian trifle is called ‘zuppa inglese’ (English soup), for no discernible reason.
PS: The French ‘flan’ is often a custard tart – I suppose the Spanish dropped the pastry but kept the name for the filling.
… “Stop Me And Buy One!” and “The elvers have left the building.“]
Puzzle of the month so far for me. Absolutely worth cracking 😀
[I bemoan the change in the meaning of ‘egregious < Latin ēgregius outstanding, excellent, splendid (also used sarcastically), pre-eminent, illustrious, literally ‘towering above the flock’ (like a large black sheep) [e(x) grex(gregis)].
It was a favourite of mine, until towering intellects like Dominic Raab (and even the Orangeman, FFS) started to use it instead of “very bad”.]
frankieg@52
The Concise OED 5th edition rev 1974 defines egregious=outstanding or shocking (modern).
The Concise OED 11th edition rev 2008 has “remarkably good” as a secondary archaic definition.
Feel free to bemoan the change if you like, but I don’t think you can blame recent politicians.
Why do I have both? The old one belonged to my father.
[FrankieG @52: How old are you? From Chambers:
egregious /i-grēˈjəs/
adjective
1. Outrageous
2, Notorious
3. Prominent, distinguished (archaic)
It retains its original sense in Italian, where one of the standard equivalents of ‘Dear Sir’ in formal letters is : ‘Egregio Signore’ (or just Egr. Sig.) ]
[My particular bugbear is “enormity”. I gave up years ago on “billion”.]
Valentine @44: Surely, HAL is the most famous example in fiction of AI? All AI manifests itself via some sort of computer. 2001 turned out to be a little premature. Obviously. It’s fascinating to watch the film today and see how it reflects the time in which it was made (inevitable of course), especially in its treatment of women. Perhaps we will have a HAL by, say, 2041??
[Sarah @40: Thank you – I must investigate the library card method. It looks like someone at Merriam Webster slipped up as I trust the OED much more, not least because it cites examples to back up its usage dates.]
Beautifully crafted, bravo Picaroon, thank you Manehi!
[BoLB @55
I recently saw a “descriptive” dictionary (Merriam Webster) definition for “enormity” that included the great size misuse. See here.
My pet hate is “epicentre” used incorrectly.]
[My pet hate is not a change of meaning but of spelling: “imposter” (which looks to me as if it should rhyme with “toaster”) instead of “impostor”. It is now in (some) dictionaries as an alternative. Are we to expect “docter” and “acter”?]
As a matter of interest, I believe that the computer was named HAL, being one letter back from IBM.
Thanks Picaroon for setting such readable and satisfying-to-solve clues. My top picks were ERASE, RAT ON, O SOLE MIO, TAIPEI, and BARONIAL but there really wasn’t a bad clue in the bunch. Thanks manehi for the blog.
[PostMark @35: I’ve learned never to question a setter’s definitions without first checking the Chambers online app. I almost always find solid justification. Chambers is very comprehensive; recently I discovered 23 definitions for the word ‘to’ alone!]
Worth the price of admission for the RECEPTION surface. Not convinced that UNMAN means intimidate but that’s a minor quibble
Cheers P&M
Yep, fine puzzle. In contrast to yesterday, every word has a function, making it much easier to trust the setter, and therefore easier to solve.
Loads of good ones, but perhaps TRANSOM shades it.
Thought CHATTY might have made use of feline in the surface to include all three animals, but obviously works as is too. (Is there a rule about ending a sentence like that?).
Thanks, P&m
Thanks for the blog , HALOGEN quite nice but I am never going to be fooled by I ( or As) at the start of a clue. Seems I am the only one who found the rest very dull.
Sorry Trev@61 that myth has been refuted by Arthur C Clarke on many occasions , including his preface to the novel .
Slightly different take on NOVITIATE.
“Certainly not” = NO
“Corrupt” = VITIATE
Great entertainment so thanks both.
Since we are trading bugbears I will tell you mine. Presently….
Well played, Gladys @7 T’ransom, indeed!
A DNF. I’ve never heard of blood being called ‘claret’ and VENA CAVA is pretty obscure – I wasn’t sure whether to write in VENA CAVA or VECA VANA so I left it blank.
The rest was fine although I misspelt O SOLE MIO as O SOLO MIO – I guess (not being an Italian-speaker) I’ve misunderstood that song all along. And of course I couldn’t help but think of this (and many others like it. Really tacky adverts they were, I think – almost as bad as those Gazza-Lineker ones for a certain brand of crisps…)
UNMAN made me think of C.S. Lewis’s novel Perelandra (in which the main protagonist is a guy named RANSOM) where the antagonist is described as the “UN-MAN”. But I guess this wasn’t an intended mini-theme.
Plenty of tough ones here. Liked INSULATOR, ERASE, HALOGEN, PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM, HIGH JUMPER, DERAILMENT, GAME WARDEN, BARONIAL (though the surface made me shudder to think – ugh!).
Thanks to Pickers and manehi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VZ1fUmtw9I
Laccaria @70
“Claret” for blood is used in sports – rugby in particular – for someone bleeding as a result of a collision.
[One of my favourite “You’ve been framed” (I think) clips is of a singer trying to record “O sole mio” on a promenade in Majorca. When he got to the chorus, all the drunken English bystanders joined in with “Just one cornetto”.
I’ve found it here!]]
That was one of the best Guardian puzzles in ages. Full of tricky misdirection, but all perfectly fair in the end. I particularly liked HALOGEN, UNMAN, NOVITIATE, DERAILMENT, and TWISTS.
Three cheers for Jack of Few Trades for picking up on novice/novitiate. As I would it use it “novitiate” means either a spell of training, or sometimes the place where the training is given. Novice is the only word I wd allow for the person being trained.
I thought this pickyness on my part was only a Catholic thing? Maybe not.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.’
Lord Jim@60: to my mind, the first of the (sorely needed) reforms to the often bizarre English spelling I would make is to outlaw the ‘or’ ending and turn them all into ‘er’. What a lot of head scratching that would solve!
Thanks once again to Picaroon and to manehi.
Correctly completed and delighted by some very clever cluing – but quite a few I couldn’t fully parse, so thanks to all above for enlightenment – eg I had no idea halogen = iodine
Postmark@35: I read the Chambers definition as supporting my point, since it does not include the individual (though other dictionaries apparently differ).
Tricky Trev@61: the supposed derivation of HAL from IBM is urban legend. Arthur C. Clarke explicitly denied that this was the case.
Wondering if Picaroon has knowledge of the session music business as 9ac caused quite a stir with my fellow session musicians who regularly do the crossword during sessions!?! The surface sense was hilarious and occasionally true! Thanks for the clue
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 🎵 🎹 🎻 🖊️
Another gem — cryptic and surface readings, wit and invention — from the marauding marine maestro. Bravo.
Am I the only one, who when inserting “Ding-a-Ling” thought of Chuck Berry?
Late to comment as I was overseas. Very nice puzzle but was stumped by NOVITIATE. My thoughts on this one as per Frankie the Cat.
TassieTim @75, perhaps we should follow the US mangling of the beautifully quirky standard English spelling with your suggestion. Colour ==> color ==> coler which is of course a homophone of culler. I’m sure that would confuse no-one.