BOBCAT kicks off the week…
A fun puzzle that was easier to solve than to parse. Please excuse some of my slightly hand-waving arguments.
This setter normally includes a feline based Nina, and did not fail to disappoint this time. I don’t know if the LEO was intentional, but I’ve highlighted it anyway.
I particularly liked 8d as it sounds like a character from Asterix.
Thanks BOBCAT!
HAS QUIT (packed in), cycling (i.e., cycling the H to the end)
BRONTES (literary folk, giving up T (time) for Z (final character))
S[hi]P (releasing its cargo) and OIL (fuel)
(STEER (guide) taking in N[ile] (source of)) after MOI (me)
(ROYAL [m]AR[in]ES)* (*managed, without (NIM)* (*playing))
[brot]HEL LO[unge] (in)
(BLEND DYNAMITE with S (sulphur))* (*carelessly) &lit
Cryptic definition
DIE (to stop working) with AU (gold) outside
BEDS (garden areas) + PRE (before) + [l]AD[y] (strips)
IN TUITION (this power of perception cannot be acquired thus)
NUDE (in the altogether) around [bin]G[ley] (the centre of)
(FOR + Y (year))* (*ground) + N (new) + T[erritorial]S (having been discharged)
N (note) penetrating ([colleg]E (rear of) + CRYPT (chapel))
[b]ASSIST (player, wanting debut)
(QUITE BOLD)* (*medley) &lit
introducing L (liberal) to [r]IDER (equestrian, topless)
HA[s] (almost) + ME (Bobcat) installing MERTO[n] (college, without foundation)
(AIR)< (music, <from the south) pervades B[a]R (empty)
(TEACH DORA)* (*about)
(OZ)< (Australia, <aiming high) + [a]N[d] A[l]L (ignoring the odds)
(NY (New York) + X (times)) supports (S (society) + (ROAD)* (*spreading))
[r]EVOLUTION (cycle, needing R[aleigh] (capital))
CIDE[r] (drink, being served short) in INN (hostelry) by CE (church)
Whimsical cryptic definition
DR (doctor) + EARLY (prematurely) restraining I (one)
D (depth) charges AVERT (ward off)
INTER[views] (meetings, without VIEWS (prospects))
Arthur Bliss composed Things to Come. BLISS (the best part of things to come)
See Cineraria’s comments below for a more interesting interpretation, essentially:
([po]SSIBL[y] (the best part of))* (*composed)
PAN-IC (of God)
Really rather tricky, but fun. I nearly came a cropper on SARDONYX, as I had NYT, and it was only upon rereading that I thought of ONYX and the mathematical sense of ‘times’. QUODLIBET was also new to me, but with the crossers it made the most sense of the available options, albeit not a lot!
Does ‘spinsters’ mean something I’m not thinking of? Or is it just that a spinster could, like anyone else, get a degree?
Thanks both.
Not sure if Bobcat is aware of this or not, but the word ‘panic’ actually derives from its ‘of Pan’ meaning.
23d: “PANIC adjective 1. a1586– Usually with capital initial. Of, relating to, characteristic of, or associated with the ancient Greek god Pan. Now rare.” Hi, Hovis@2
[22d Sir Arthur BLISS (1891–1975 …)]
I had PANIC as double definition. I was not entirely sure what to make of DEGREE DAY, since that appears to have a scientific definition that has nothing to do with the clue, as far as I can tell. I get “bachelor’s degree,” and I guess the joke is the spinster/bachelor switch/misdirection??? For BLISS, I wondered whether an anagram was indicated from “the best part of” [po]SSIBL[y], but I am not sure I see an anagram there. Maybe some sort of &lit? Fun puzzle, regardless.
I meant to say “anagrind,” and maybe “composed” would work?
We had very little trouble with this although we thought one or two clues a bit quirky, particularly for BLISS, which read almost like a straight GK clue. No problems with spinsters becoming bachelors, plenty of them could get a bachelor’s degree on DEGREE (or graduation) DAY.
We thought we might be getting a pangram, but in the end were a few letters short.
Thanks, Bobcat and Teacow.
Loved RATE OF EXCHANGE and DEGREE DAY.
BLISS
Cineraria@5
That’s an interesting spot. Hope the setter sees this and clarifies.
Thanks Bobcat and Teacow.
Cineraria @4/5, I like your rather more concrete parsing!
My take on 22D is that, in addition to the whole clue providing a definition, as Teacow says, definitions are also provided by its parts, namely “He composed” and “possibly the best part of Things to Come?” (ie “bliss” in the sense of the best possible state after death). I don’t think there is an anagram there, since, as Cineraria says, there is no indicator.
I managed to get the top left hand corner but the rest of this was beyond me.
I’ve never heard of 2D and how on earth people can figure out the definition and the clue in 4D is beyond me. Same goes for how on earth Merton is the college referenced. The world is full of colleges, so how on earth can people land on the right one? And supporter to me made me think of sporting supporters.
I didn’t enjoy or learn anything from this one – which just underlines my Autism probably not that I need to be reminded of that.
What I mean in my post above is that some clues, to me, are just a jumble of words, which reduces the puzzle to a guessing game.
Having completed this puzzle, I was unsure of some of the parsings. I looked forward to finding out, here on 15sqd, what the setter had cunningly beaten me with.
OK.
10(ac) ME = MOI. I didn’t spot that o-so-crafty use of the French version, so cleverly left unindicated.
16(down) DEGREE DAY. Gosh….it seems to be an ironic pun, on spinsters becoming their male equivalents, on a day which ranks alongside GREEN PAINT.
22(down) BLISS. My parsing, based on “the best part of things” and “to come”, wherein “possibly” indicates Definitions by Example, must be awry. I’ll get me coat.
It’s a good puzzle, but not my bag.
Rgds Cat & Cow
AT@10 I needed all the crossers to get 4D, and got to the answer before I understood how it worked (and particularly before I could work out which college!).
I sometimes think of these clues as an exercise in ‘accounting’ for the different parts of the surface. So once I saw that ‘almost has’ was probably HA at the start, the definition had to be ‘supporter’s condition’. then the M_____E was ‘Bobcat’, which needed a college without its last letter. With HAM_E_-T_E, I thought of HAMMER-TOE, and the remaining letters did indeed give a college without its final letter. So I used the college to confirm the answer, rather than to reach the answer.
Amoeba @13. Exactly my reasoning. I expect this is true for most solvers of this clue and applaud you for supplying the details.
EN Boll& @12
Chambers English Dictionary entries:
moi
pronoun
Me, often used facetiously in mock affectation, eg in the form of a question to express surprise at an allegation against one
degree day
noun
1. A unit used in measuring the heating requirements in a building, ie a fall of one degree of heat in one day
2. A day on which a university, college, etc formally awards academic degrees