Filbert provides us with our Boxing Day workout.
As expected, an enjoyable well-crafted puzzle with good surfaces and only one unusual word (for us!)
TRES (French – as in Nancy – for ‘very’) PASS (amorous advance)
CON and DO are both words for ‘scam’
B (billions) AS (when) TA (‘you shouldn’t have’) – a new word for us
PRO (for) GRAMME (mass)
FINN (European) + an anagram (‘adjusted’) of KANE’S WAGE
TEA (drink) after or ‘on’ AC (account) in or ‘opening’ L L (two litres)
RAKE (libertine) OFF (‘taking no’ or just ‘no’?) – we’re really not sure about this as a synonym
V (five) in an anagram (‘wrong’) of NARNIA
Hidden in (‘bracketed by’) modelS LOVE (NEedless)
UP TO THEE (‘your decision’) L (left) BOWS (leading rowers)
RAVES (goes crazy) after G (good) + END (goal)
Double definition
ERE (before) CT (court)
An anagram (‘turned’) of GREEN AS and T (last or ‘end’ letter of mint)
RISE (gradient) N (Newton) – ‘proved’ as in breadmaking
STATED (observed) + ET (alien) round or ‘eating’ PART (some) MEN (people)
An anagram (‘running’) of LAPS around RAW (green)
P (quietly) in or ‘breaking’ SON’S (child’s) OR (other ranks – ‘soldiers’)
An anagram (‘rogue’) of WED ANGOLAN CLERK
NUMBER (less sensitive) ON (dealing with) E (last letter or ‘termination’ of workforce)
O (duck – in cricket) PEN (swan)
B (bishop) wAFFLING (‘wittering on’) missing or ‘forgetting’ the ‘w’ (Welsh)
An anagram (‘applied’) of NoSFERATU missing or ‘losing’ the ‘o’ (nothing)
COR (my) RUG (carpet) ATE (had)
Hidden (‘netted’) and reversed (‘capsized’) in veSSEL TRAwler
A reversal (‘up’) of RE (touching) DEEPS (bottoms)
mORGAN (‘Stanley’s partner’ – in Morgan Stanley, the investment bankers) missing the first letter or ‘not opening’
A reversal (‘upset’) of ERGO (so – ‘therefore’)
So très has a language cue, Nancy, but basta has none, niente! Is it like ‘capish’, which pops up occasionally in tv show dialogues?
Good Morning gratinfreo. We checked BASTA in Chambers and it is listed as Shakespearean.
Ah yes of course, lots of Italian action in the Bard … Venice, Verona etc. Thanks BandJ.
I did not think of Morgan Stanley (too fixated on Laurel and Hardy) so ORGAN remained unparsed and, like our bloggers, I had to check that BASTA existed – that’s a tricky one. I guess the only alternative would be Basra – but I’d guess more solvers might have encountered that word. Still, it’s good to learn. I am somewhat BAFFLED, again like our bloggers, by OFF in RAKE-OFF.
The surface for AFTERSUN was amusing, I liked the two scams in CONDO and the anagram for CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, RISEN for proved is a nice def for the surface, PROGRAMME is very cleanly done – as is CORRUGATE and OPEN made me laugh.
Thanks Filbert and B&J
15a RAKE-OFF: That Libertine’s taking no drugs. He’s off drugs.
OED dates 9a BASTA “interjection Chiefly in Italian- or Spanish-speaking contexts.” as 1579-, when the Bard was 3.
My LOi – by quite some time: 17d ARTLESS – so Simple. [6d: I saw the film in 1971. 24a is involved in the plot.]
I thought 18D SPEEDER was a bit weak, as speeding is not a criminal offence. Or is it drug-related? Otherwise well up to the usual high standard so thanks Filbert and B&J.
I thought FINNEGANS WAKE was a gem. FrankieG has a convincing explanation for the OFF in RAKE-OFF. I think that speeding is a criminal offence under the Road Traffic Act, so SPEEDER was fine by me. Thanks all.
Agree that SPEEDER was the weakest clue, for me anyway. Ridiculous how long it took me to get ARTLESS! 🙂 NHO BASTA , as per others. Good and fair crossword though.
Splendid puzzle. I particularly liked how CONDO, FINNEGAN’S WAKE, NIRVANA, UP TO THE ELBOWS, SERGEANT, STATE DEPARTMENT, BAFFLING, and ORGAN were clued, and the splendid use of Nosferatu in the clue for AFTERSUN.
There used to be an Italian restaurant in the centre of Manchester called Basta Pasta. I never knew (or bothered to check) what it meant until today.
Thanks to Filbert and B&J
I’m a big enough opera fan to have heard BASTA, but I was surprised that it’s made its way into English dictionaries. Most memorably, when the Emperor Altoum tries to get Calaf not to stand the test to marry Turandot at the start of the riddle scene, he ends his intreaty (a capella, so you can hear every word) “Basta sangue! Giovine, va!” (Enough blood! Young man, go!”) Because of course if you can’t answer Turandot’s riddles, they chop your head off.
Thanks Filbert. I missed the nho GRAVESEND but all else slowly came into focus. Lots to like including TRESPASS, RISEN, STATE DEPARTMENT (liked alien eating some people), CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, NUMBER ONE, and AFTERSUN. Thanks B&J for the blog.
Another Thursday crossword totally defeated me.
Thanks to Filbert, and to Bertandjoyce — I needed your help parsing 2D, not having been aware of ‘proved’ in its culinary sense.
FrankieG @5: I believe your gloss of OFF is spot-on. Likewise, I’d say you’re onto the theme by pointing out the link between 24A and the Mike Nichols film. Add in 2D and 20D, not to mention the two-word nina in the 2nd row (ignoring 2 internal letters) spoken by Rita Moreno to Jack Nicholson in the movie’s final scene.