The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29804.
.An excellent puzzle, maybe a notch easier than Imogen can sometimes compose, but none the worse for that.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | IMPROMPTU |
I am at concert, and put out a piece of music (9)
|
| A charade of I’M (‘I am’) plus PROM (promenade ‘concert’) plus PTU, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘put’. I am particularly fond of Schubert’s Impromptus. | ||
| 10 | KNAVE |
One rascal that can beat nine or ten (5)
|
| A reference to card games where a KNAVE or Jack ranks higher in a suit than the 9 or 10. | ||
| 11 | CORELLI |
Composer’s heart problem returned (7)
|
| A charade of CORE (‘heart’) plus LLI, a reversal (‘returned’) of ILL (‘prob;em’, adjective). Arcangelo Corelli was an important composer and violinist of the 17th and early 18th century. | ||
| 12 | STAND UP |
Fail to appear for pub performance perhaps (5,2)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 13 | VOID |
Unoccupied, love to be cast in a film (4)
|
| An envelope (‘to be cast in’) of O (‘love’) in VID (video, ‘film’). | ||
| 14 | ANNE BOLEYN |
Queen bee only confused by a new name (4,6)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus N (‘new’) plus N (‘name’) plus EBOLEYN, an anagram (‘confused’) of ‘bee only’. | ||
| 15 | RAG DOLL |
Create lines on paper for soft toy (3,4)
|
| A charade of RAG (news ‘paper’) plus DO (‘create’) plus LL (‘lines’). | ||
| 17 | BEACHES |
Runs on the shore, having to live with twinges (7)
|
| A charade of BE (‘live’) plus ACHES (‘twinges’). The definition is BEACHES as a verb, to bring a boat onto land. | ||
| 19 | DARLINGTON |
Old Chancellor not going about town (10)
|
| A charade of DARLING (Alistair, ‘Chancellor’ of the Exchequer 2007-2010) plus TON, a reversal (‘going about’) of ‘not’. There are many DARLINGTON towns, but perhaps the one intended is in County Durham. | ||
| 22 | BRIO |
Energy from writer, one moving along (4)
|
| BIRO (‘writer’) with the I moved along one. | ||
| 23 | HASTATE |
Recoil from being pierced by a stone shaped like a spear point (7)
|
| An envelope (‘being pierced by’) of ‘a’ plus ST (‘stone’ 14 lb) in HATE (‘recoil from’). | ||
| 24 | AND SO ON |
I won’t mention the rest, even quickly (3,2,2)
|
| The definition follows the enumeration; without the second space, it becomes AND SOON (‘even quickly’). | ||
| 26 | CONIC |
Study one initially complicated section of maths (5)
|
| A charade of CON (‘study’) plus I (‘one’) plus C (‘initially Complicated’). Circles, ellipses and hyperbolas are conic sections. | ||
| 27 | BROWN RICE |
Edible grains in near frozen state stuck to part of face (5,4)
|
| A charade of BROW (‘part of face’) plus NR (‘near’) plus ICE (‘frozen state’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DISCOVERED CHECK |
Was first to see a pattern that threatens the monarch (10,5)
|
| A charade of DISCOVERED (‘was the first to see’) plus CHECK (‘pattern’ of a fabric). The definition refers to chess, and the threat to an opponent’s king. | ||
| 2 | SPORTING |
Arranging to take power, but refusing to take advantage (8)
|
| An envelope (‘to take’) of P (‘power’) in SORTING (‘arranging’). | ||
| 3 | FOIL |
Frustrate one buttoned up for Olympic event (4)
|
| Two and a half definitions. In the Olympic event, the foil has a button on the point so you cannot actually impale your opponent. | ||
| 4 | OPTIONAL |
Not forced to disband one platoon (8)
|
| An anagram (‘to disband’) of I (‘one’) plus ‘platoon’. | ||
| 5 | PURSUE |
Be after contract United accepted (6)
|
| An envelope (‘accepted’) of U (the second one, ‘United’) in PURSE (‘contract’, verb). | ||
| 6 | OKLAHOMA |
State that is briefly satisfactory (8)
|
| OK (‘satisfactory’) is the USPS approved abbreviation for the state. | ||
| 7 | SADDLE |
Cut of meat, second to go bad (6)
|
| A charade of S (‘second’) plus ADDLE (‘go bad’). | ||
| 8 | KEEP ONES COUNSEL |
Be very discreet and retain a personal lawyer (4,4,7)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 16 | OLIGARCH |
Say, Roman soldier up in old tree (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of IG, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of GI (US ‘soldier’) in O (‘old’) plus LARCH (‘tree’). The definition is a reference to the Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich (one-time owner of Chelsea F.C.). | ||
| 17 | BOOGALOO |
Express disapproval of girl with glasses going to dance (8)
|
| A charade of BOO (‘express disapproval’) plus GAL (‘girl’) plus OO (‘glasses’). The name of the Latin american music and dance has been largely superceded by the far-right movement, whose adherents are generally referred to as boogaloo boys, and who hope to foment a second civil war, “the boogaloo”. | ||
| 18 | HARMONIC |
March round in ragged sort of progression (8)
|
| An anagram (‘ragged’) of ‘march’ plus O (’round’) plus ‘in’. Mathematics again. | ||
| 20 | RESENT |
Object to being given another errand? (6)
|
| RE-SENT (‘being given another errand’). | ||
| 21 | GOES BY |
As authority, accepts passes (4,2)
|
| Double definition. I generally go by what Chambers says. | ||
| 25 | DUNK |
Dip into Brown Book at last (4)
|
| A charade of DUN (‘brown’) plus K (‘booK at last’). |
A great finish to the weekday puzzles, with his lovely misdirections and clever wordplay. I didn’t know HASTATE but it was fairly clued. Loved the two long down clues plus IMPROMPTU, ANNE BOLEYN, DARLINGTON (maybe obscure overseas? – BROWN another one), AND SO ON, FOIL, OKLAHOMA, HARMONIC and OLIGARCH. Thanks for the additional on BOOGALOO. Great stuff and not too difficult.
Ta Imogen & PeterO.
Thanks Imogen and PeterO
This seemed impossible at first pass, but once a few had gone in (PURSUE was first) it went fairly steadily.
I knew HASTATE from botany – it’s a standard description of a type of leaf shape.
I’m not sure that parts of speech for SPORTING quite match.
Favourite AND SO ON.
I think GOES BY is a triple definition as you have underlined Peter?
I think STAND UP is transitive. She stood me up , not she stood up.
HASTATE was new to me also, and I didn’t think of Abramovich for the OLIGARCH or find purse=contract sprang quickly to mind. But lots to enjoy, and a loud clang when the penny dropped on KNAVE. Thanks Imogen and PeterO.
Excellent puzzle – thanks Imogen. Great blog too. Harmonic progression also has a musical meaning, I believe. Oligarch my LOI and CotD.
Nice puzzle, thanks both. I’m sure there’s a song Boogaloo, boogaloo my little something… can’t quite hook it out; and dnk the current far-right connotation. Apart from that and hastate, pretty straight and cruisy, enjoyed it.
Thanks Imogen and PeterO.
Liked STAND UP, AND SO ON, D CHECK (‘that’ should be included in the def, I think), OK, OLIGARCH and HARMONIC.
AlanC@3
GOES BY, I think is a DD.
As authority, accepts —->accepts as authority
Offspinner@4
STAND UP
Was thinking about it.
Will ‘Fail to appear for’ work as the def? Not sure.
ginf @7: Ringo released Back off Boogaloo in 1972.
GinF @7
Back off Boogaloo by Ringo Starr
Some real chuckles today. Kicked myself when I finally understood Roman long after writing in the answer. Oklahoma and Beaches were such elegant little surfaces I’m surprised not to have seen them before.
KVa @8: I take your point but I thought ‘As authority’ could stand alone as a definition and then ‘accepts’ another, i.e. goes by the name of…
Just a thought, but you’re probably right.
10a (KNAVE) seemed unfair to me. The Knave or Jack is higher than all cards below it, not just the 9 or 10 (though it depends on the game) and there’s no ? to indicate a DBE.
grantinfreo @7 – there’s a Scouting / Guiding camp song “Let me see your BOOGALOO” that I’ve now got as an earworm.
Thank you to PeterO and Imogen.
poc @13
We had EUCHRE as a solution recently, in which the Knave of trumps is the highest card of all!
Thanks Alan and muffin @ 9 and 10. Not the one that’s teasing my inner ear, but yes I remember Ringo’s now you mention it.
grantinfreo@16; Alvin Stardust My Coo Ca Choo?
Lots of help needed to solve this one. I didn’t see the Roman in OLIGOARCH. I liked ANNE BOLEYN, which gave me an early foothold, DISCOVERED CHECK, PURSUE, and KEEP ONES COUNSEL.
Thanks Imogen and PeterO.
poc @13 KNAVE seems ‘unfair’ to you, but did it hold you up for a moment in solving the clue? It was my FOI, and I was not having a good solving session in the early hours this morning – head was in the wrong place.
Thanks both. Found it a bit pf a mixed bag that’ll put down to being a bit hungover. Some brilliant clues such as impromptu, foil, corelli, boogaloo.
I had tank Instead of sunk which led to and so on taking a while to get, once I did I decided to dislike the presence of even in the clue, not really sure what its doing. Similar views on the use if One before rascal – spent ages looikong doe a answer beginning with I or A. Also might of expected a location indicator for the town,but that was easy enough.
Overall a great crossword. Thanks.
In 10ac ‘one’ is redundant – it only seems to be there for association with the other numbers involved – the clue would work without it.
As a Chelsea fan particularly annoyed that I didn’t parse 16d. Great clue.
I found this pretty tough, with almost nothing on the first pass. Nothing unfair, just hard for me to get into Imogen’s thought processes. I failed to parse a couple, and OLIGARCH defeated me entirely, although it did take me on an interesting digression learning about the structure of the Roman legions. So a DNF for me.
Anyway, thank you Imogen and PeterO.
Balfour@19: yes it did hold me up. In fact I lost patience and revealed it.
A lot of post-parsing in this one, but all fair.
Figured out HASTATE from hasta from first-year of Latin when I was 8. Do they still start it that early? Do they still teach Latin at all?
I found this tough, but Imogen always is. The main thing I wanted to mention, per AlanC @1: yes, Americans have little hope of solving a clue like DARLINGTON. A politician from two decades ago who never did anything remarkable enough to make the news over here,* used to clue a town, also fairly obscure? File that under “you have to be British for that.”
* I can be counted on to know the PMs, and I know some of the opposition leaders who lost general elections, and of course the ones at the center of major scandals. But that’s it.
Thank you Shanne @14 and Judith @17, but I checked both those songs out and nup, not those either. I suspect it might be a figment … 🙂
MrP @26
DARLINGTON has been in the news here recently, as this year is the 100th anniversary of the first public steam railway, which ran between Stockton and Darlington.
6d: I am probably a million miles away from understanding this.
Does OK = satisfactory?
If so, where does LAHOMA come from?
Steffen @29
OKLAHOMA briefly (i.e. state abbreviation) is OK, so “satisfactory”.
Defeated by OLIGARCH – a pretty loose definition given how many oligarchs abound in the world today – but otherwise an enjoyably stretching challenge, with some wonderful surfaces, as always from this talented setter. I didn’t hesitate with STAND UP for ‘fail to appear’ – do verbs have to match transitive/ intransitive form? I tend to see using one for the other as an example of ‘near enough in crossword land’. Many thank Imogen and PeterO.
Donnut@6 There are certainly HARMONIC progressions in music. They are the basis of most Western music. Better known in some genres as chord sequences.
We almost got some real Roman soldiers in 23 ac.
Muffin@28. It’s 200 years. A big exhibition is about to take place in the Darlington/Shildon area. Thought 1d was very clever. Never thought of chess! Imogen tough as usual.
Cedric
Yes, 200, of course!
Ty
Aren’t 4D & 18D stretching the sort-of-rule about avoiding indirect anagrams? That is, one has to translate “one” into I and “round” into O before assembling the word.
mrpenney@26
I have no political affiliation but Mr Darling deserves better. See the Guardian article
“How underrated chancellor Alistair Darling helped weather financial crisis”.
What a great 1-2 with Serenos yesterday. As a chess player had no trouble with 1d , but ashamed to admit as a bridge player that 10a produced a late teatray moment.
Excellent ! Setters have poetic licence to stretch the truth a little; solvers must accept this!
Took Oligarch to point to the Republican period, during which ancient Rome was governed as an oligarchy. The contemporary reference is maybe likelier and probably more gettable!
grantinfreo@27 …. you may be thinking of ‘my ding a ling’ from Chuck Berry, wh has the same syllable count and stress … . Anyways, nice to be reminded of that.
Even with all the crossers I had no hope of solving DISCOVERED CHECK.
Learned a lot about diseases threatening the monarch butterfly.
The word picture in the clue for BROWN RICE was amusing. Also liked the surface for KEEP ONE’S COUNSEL.
I had a foothold this morning. Then destroyed myself at the gym, battled through a long day of work, then came back to slog away at this for what seemed like hours – successfully though. I think that, like Balfour, my mind wasn’t in the right place. As always, I appreciate the challenge.
paddymelon@43: I agree about BROWN RICE but I also liked the ‘resting’ actor in VOID (a personal resonance) and the childhood memories evoked by RESENT. Imogen is climbing my scale of preferred setters so thanks to him(?) and PeterO.
Alphalpha @ 45 Imogen is Richard Browne, so a he.
Alphalpha@45. Imogen is a he. For his eminent credentials and aliases (Vulcan in the Guardian) and why he chose the pseudonym Imogen, go to Meet the Setter Guardian Imogen (or Vulcan).
(Sorry, couldn’t get the link thing figured out.)
Through sheer obstinacy, and taking all day, I managed to complete this. One of the hardest puzzles I’ve been able to complete (though some say it’s on the easier side for Imogen!), so very satisfying when the final letters (22a BRIO) fell into place. All parsed except 3d FOIL, 21d GOES BY
Favourites maybe 23a HASTATE (for a great surface), 1d DISCOVERED CHECK (surface and satisfying pdm), 18d HARMONIC (for a great surface, and very satisfying definition — yes, I took the musical meaning)
Held up a bit by initially having TANK at 25d instead of DUNK
I could not parse 3d apart from def = frustrate and could not work out how the def related to fencing.
New for me: BOOGALOO = 1960s Latin music and dance genre popular in New York City; HASTATE; DISCOVERED CHECK.
Chess mastery and biology required the complete….
Just to add to the description of conic sections, parabolas (parabolae?) are the fourth type. It all depends how you cut the cone.
Just to say thanks for a polished puzzle and tight but generous blog!
Yes, I agree with others about 10a. Wouldn’t “One rascal that can beat 10″ be more succinct? Not sure what the word”nine” adds. I do think the word “one” is useful though for its wit, even though it could work without it.
For ‘FOIL’, as soon as I saw ‘Olympic event’ and ‘button’ I wrongly associated this with the Olympic scandal where Boris Onishchenko cheated by fencing with a switch in the grip of his weapon. He activated this switch to falsely register hits. As I said, I was wrong. The event was not the foil, but rather the epee, as one leg of the modern pentathlon.
However that wrong reasoning led me to the right answer.
I found this totally impenetrable on Friday, when I was short of time anyway. Finally returning to it today (Tuesday) I was pleasantly surprised, after a bit of time and trouble, to be able to complete and fully parse it – a first for me with Imogen. Favourite was OKLAHOMA.