Pangakupu rounds off the week with an enjoyable challenge.
We have the usual medley of straightforward clues, together with some less familiar or previously unknown words, all ultimately gettable, which added to the interest. Some ingenious constructions and nice surfaces all round.
The stand-out clue for me was 11ac SATYAGRAHA – a genuine jorum.
Other favourites were 1ac WEBSTER, 18ac ANTE MERIDIEM, 22ac ECOTOURIST, 28ac PITEOUS, 7dn AVIATRIX and 13dn CAFÉ AU LAIT.
I’m afraid I fell at the last hurdle.
As usual, I’ll leave the spotting of the customary Maori Nina to those who have some idea of what they’re looking for.
Many thanks to Pangakupu for an interesting and enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Lexicographer’s book appearing in short film (7)
WEBSTER
B (book) in WESTER[n] (film)
5 Bag abandoned in college (7)
HOLDALL
OLD (abandoned) in HALL (college)
9 One that is interrupting King, on more slippery ground? (5)
ICIER
I (one) + IE (that is) in CR (Charles {Carolus} Rex – king)
10 Red revolution backed by large number, we hear (9)
VERMILION
A reversal (backed) of REV (revolution) + (by) MILION- sounds like (we hear) million (large number)
11 Indian policy located travellers’ organisation outside Indian city (10)
SATYAGRAHA
SAT (located) + YHA (Youth Hostels Association – travellers’ organisation) round AGRA (Indian city) – the term coined and developed by Mahatma Gandhi for his practice of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience
I was familiar with the policy but didn’t know the term for it, so really enjoyed piecing it together (AGRA (Indian city) was a helpful start)
12 Mostly tense and sort of cross (3)
TAU
TAU[t] (tense, mostly) – for this cross
14 Inauspicious record over ancient city, no longer young (12)
DISCOURAGING
DISC (record) + O (over) + UR (ancient city) + AGING (no longer young -apparently the American spelling of ‘ageing’); I wondered about the definition but then thought of inauspicious = unpromising
18 Time remained out of joint in the morning (4,8)
ANTE MERIDIEM
A neat anagram (out of joint) of TIME REMAINED
21 Shakespeare character’s insufficiently sound (3)
HAL
HAL[e] (sound): Prince Hal is the name Shakespeare gives to the young Henry V
22 Bed for us is kept by alien – green man on a journey? (10)
ECOTOURIST
COT (bed) + OUR (for us) + IS (from the clue) in ET (the familiar crossword alien) – a witty reference to the green man in the pedestrian traffic light
25 Reason sailor turned in, full of old beer (9)
RATIONALE
A reversal (turned) of TAR (sailor) + IN (from the clue) round (full of) O (old) + ALE (beer)
26 Wings of angel frequently in heaven? (5)
ALOFT
A[nge]L + OFT (frequently)
27 Old percussion instrument from area outside the country? (7)
EXCLAVE
EX (old) + CLAVE (Collins: ‘one of a pair of hardwood sticks struck together to make a hollow sound, esp. to mark the beat of Latin-American dance music’)
28 Old Pope restricting limits of the ordinary? That’s heartbreaking (7)
PITEOUS
PIUS (old pope) round T[h]E + O (ordinary – as in O Level?)
Down
1 Question about the writer’s small expression of fantasy (6)
WHIMSY
WHY (question) round I’M (the writer’s) + S (small)
2 Extensive campaign to introduce new pancake (6)
BLINTZ
BLITZ (extensive campaign) round N (new) for this pancake
3 Mistake over a company investing in odd parts of team’s ground (5,5)
TERRA FIRMA
ERR (mistake) + (over, in a down clue, A FIRM (a company) in TeAm
4 Current Director leaving club (5)
RIVER
[d]RIVER (golf club) minus d (director)
5 Whitish plant and mineral found between rugby posts – ground not grey (9)
HOREHOUND
ORE (mineral) in H H (rugby posts – it’s a while since I’ve seen this device but I like it) + [gr]OUND: this abbreviation for grey is in Chambers – I suspected that it might be horse racing parlance and was pleased to find this
Here’s the plant
6 Arab currency to rise and retreat (4)
LAIR
A reversal (to rise, in a down clue) of RIAL, the currency of Iran
7 Recycling of minor stuff suppressed by a cross pilot (8)
AVIATRIX
VIATRI (a recycling of the two halves of TRIVIA, minor stuff) in A X (a cross)
8 Judge abruptly turned, blocking the way, leading to profanity? (8)
LANGUAGE
A reversal (turned) of GAUG[e] (judge, ‘abruptly’) in LANE (way) – I think the definition is a reference to the fact that a profanity is sometimes met with the admonition, ‘Language!’
13 Water the Parisian and I in fact boiled to make hot drink (4,2,4)
CAFÉ AU LAIT
EAU (French – Parisian – for water) + LA (French for the) + I (from the clue) in an anagram (boiled) of FACT
15 Hackneyed stuff: playboy in pursuit of college bird (9)
CORNCRAKE
Simple charade of CORN (hackneyed stuff) + C (college) + RAKE (playboy)
16 Observed Arab possibly cutting support (8)
SAWHORSE
And another: SAW (observed + HORSE (Arab, perhaps)
17 Difficulty, nothing less, circumvented by Greek soccer club (8)
ATHLETIC
H[o]LE (difficulty, minus o (nothing) in ATTIC (Greek) – name for some football clubs, e.g. Charlton
19 I’m prepared to slip into knockout gown (6)
KIMONO
I’M ON (I’m prepared) in KO (knockout)
20 Idiot surrounded by boundless racket may get ear pain (6)
OTITIS
TIT (idiot) in [n]OIS[e] (boundless racket)
23 French ready to be upset about Welsh idiot (5)
TWERP
A reversal (upset) of PRÊT (French ‘ready’) round W (Welsh)
24 Australian and American responses on rearing bean plant (4)
SOYA
The last clue, my last in – and I can’t see how to parse it!
Please see comments 1 and 2
SOYA is Australian = A American responses = YOS being reversed = SOYA
24 down – A (Australian) + YOS (American responses) rearing?
Well Ali Baba had (them) whā tekau (40) whānako?
NHO SATYAGRAHA and couldn’t find the parse so dnf there. Also guessed SOYA without a satisfactory parse. Thanks for the puzzle and blog.
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen
A lot of guess, then parse – LANGUAGE is a good example. I nearly threw it away after my third entry, HOLDALL, a doubly loose clue. I had never heard of BLINTZ or CLAVE.
Favourite TERRA FIRMA.
Liked VERMILION, SATYAGRAHA, ECOTOURIST, HOREHOUND, AVIATRIX and SOYA.
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen.
The ordinary of the mass are the invariant parts of the liturgy (a catholic liturgical term).
Thanks, PostMark and Crispy. Never in a month of Sundays!
22ac – I think you are being slightly unnecessarily cryptic – I think a Green (as in the party or the belief-system) on a journey would simply be an eco-tourist (I’d have hyphenated).
Thanks Eileen and P.
If we’re being really picky (which I guess is what we do) the rial is also the currency of various other places, most of which are arab. Iran, while having the rial, is not.
Can’t say I love YOS as being more than one yo (American response) but I suppose it must be the intended parse.
Very tricky in parts, but a lot of fun. I also fell foul of SOYA, so thanks to Postmark and Crispy for the elucidation.
I think LAIR can’t be a reference to the Iranian rial, as the clue specifies ‘Arab’, which Iran isn’t. But Prof Wiki tells me it’s also the name of currencies in Oman and Yemen. Thanks to Pangakupu and Eileen for the customarily excellent blog.
[Ah, beaten to it by khayyam!]
Andy Luke @8 – I wasn’t suggesting the traffic light as the definition: after years of instructing my four children in kerb drill (‘Wait for the green man!’) that irresistibly sprang to mind and I simply mentioned it as an amusing aside.
Chambers uses a hyphen: Collins doesn’t.
khayyam @9 and moh @10 – my apologies re rial (careless research).
Also, Little Green Men were aliens, and Pulsars were originally (and jokingly) referred to as Little Green Men before the term Pulsars was coined. Thanks to P & E.
Even with all crossers, had to reveal the Ghandian policy word. Clave the percussion thingy was another nho, though the answer was apparent. And I missed the neat trivia > viatri trick, so aviatrix was a lazy biff. Enjoyable anyway, ta Panga and Eileen.
And lovely to have the site running again, many thanks to Ken and all concerned.
Thank you Eileen. I remember HOREHOUND beer along with root beer from my childhood.
I found the grammar in CAFE AU LAIT a little odd. So Parisian refers both to “water” and “the”, with implied commas?
My first thought about TRIVIA recycling in AVIATRIX was that it was a naughty indirect anagram. But I’m familiar with “cycling” as an indicator, so I can go along with that. It may be coincidental that it’s the two halves?
The surfaces for KIMONO and CORNCRAKE were entertaining..TWERP was clever and funny.
… Gandhian …
Done most of it but eventually failed; it was too difficult for me with too many unknown words. Liked AVIATRIX and KIMONO, among others. Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen!
Apparently WHANAKO (line 9) is a Māori word meaning “to cheat, steal, rob…”; don’t know if it’s the whole nina or a part of it
khayyam@9. Well done for putting the Nina together. 40 thieves. Which dictionary did you use?
I saw four and thieving Was looking for “fourty” as we were fairly certain of this crossword being Pangakupu’s 40th submission.
Thanks, Eileen, this was hard to get into but eventually not so tough. We should all use the word TWERP more often, I think; there are plenty of them out there. A very minor point is that in 16d SAWHORSE, ‘cutting’ is, cleverly, part of the definition.
Gross violation of Site Policy 2 @18
Brian-with-an-eye @19
Thanks – of course it is! I’ll amend the blog now.
Balfour @20 – you just beat me to it.
Paddy @ 17 yes we spent a little while looking for whā tekau but it would have been unusually direct. Corncrake finally put paid to that…
I thought “Yo’s” were American greetings rather than responses, as in the famously respectful “Yo Blair!” from Dubya to the then Dear Leader. No matter. (Recalling Dubya, I rather agree with Brian @19 – it’s a sign of how bad the times are that we almost recall the appalling Dubya with affection and almost regard him as a principled statesman).
Good challenging stuff. Didn’t know SATYAGRAHA but don’t mind being educated a bit.
Thanks, both
Oops, sorry for being inattentive, missed khayyam’s @3 spellout of the nina
Like Eileen, I have to admire the ‘rugby posts’ in HOREHOUND. It reminds me of David Astle saying he likes the word ‘bed’, because it looks like one,
Can @18 be removed?
Tough workout and had to reveal a few, so definitely a DNF. Was looking for the consecutive 40 for the Nina, thanks kayyam @3.
Ta Pangakupu and Eileen for unraveling the obscurities.
Crispy @25
Done but, of course, the numbers have now changed. Apologies to Brian-with-an-eye.
Excellent puzzle. Funnily enough I had the opposite experience to muffin @4 (guess then parse) — there were more than usual that I worked out bottom up as it were. For example 22a I managed to figure out all the elements, and then for a few seconds was wondering what an e-COTour-ist was (with the stress on the cot) before the penny dropped. A great clue with the play on alien = green man in the surface.
Many thanks Pangakupu and Eileen.
Eileen @27, it’s a pity you cannot delete the comment while leaving in place a ‘This comment has been deleted’ flag. That way Brian-with-an-eye could not seem to be the offending party..
I really liked ECOTOURIST: using the Crosswordland ET for ‘alien’ alongside ‘green man on a journey’ for the definition was very neat and witty.
I found less satisfaction in SOYA: 4-letter words are a definite challenge for a setter — and I suppose it can be safely assumed that the solution will be biffed by everyone without any need for careful and clever clueing.
Balfour @29 – I’m sure there is a way but my IT ‘skills’ are not up to it. I’m not used to being able to moderate comments on my blogs: that used to be the prerogative of Admin.
Satyagraha is an opera by the American composer, Philip Glass. One of a trilogy, the other two being Akhenaten and Einstein on the beach.
Satyagraha follows Ghandi’s protest through the lives of three other fighters for justice : Tolstoy, Tagore and Martin Luther King.
Akhenaten is wonderfully spectacular if you get the chance to see it, bringing to life the images seen on tomb walls in the Valley of the Kings.
Einstein on the beach is the most challenging at five hours with no plot line – nor interval. In a minimalist style it uses numerical repetition and poetry. Its construction and text follows scientific principles.
As you may gather, I am a Glassophile!
In many a case, after parsing, I said, “Flippy neck!”
[Balfour@29 and Eileen@31.. The question about deleted comments has come up before under General Discussion or Site Feedback. Admin/kenmac did give an explanation as to.why that was impractical. I’m not tech savvy and can’t remember. And as he’s been working flat out, even while on holidays, to get us up and running, I wouldn’t dream of asking anything else at the moment.
I’m keen to see the Search function incorporate the enhancements made by Ken just before the “crash”, but again I doubt that anyone would want to raise that until the site has settled down and he has a well-earned rest.]
5ac. Why is old abandoned? I’m old, but I’m still useful
paddymelon @34 – I was not suggesting that KenMac should have done anything in the meantime, with all he’s had on his plate recently but simply explaining why I had not intervened, until after Crispy’s request @25. I think it’s clear from the comments what happened. Best forgotten, I think: we’re fortunate in getting very few of that kind of comment.
MR E M FOSTER @35 – I wondered about that, too and was waiting for someone to comment. I think (hope) the same is true of me. 😉
MR E M FOSTER. Didn’t you fade away 55 years ago 🙂 ?
Contexts where “old” means “abandoned” could include anything from a previous friend or car to beliefs and practices.
Mr EM Foster@35: It isn’t always, but it can be. For example, earlier this week I visited the site of an old/abandoned watermill. I think I could use either word alone to get the same meaning across, though I also accept I could use both without undue tautology. It’s not as precise as some synonyms I grant, but equivalence only has to apply in one sense, not all.
thanks Eileen and Pangakupu
[Oh no Eileen! My post was meant to be in support of you, that KenMac has also said that deleted comments are a problem. I was speaking for myself about appreciation of the work he’s been doing. Sorry for the miscommunication.]
Under “old”, Chambers includes “superseded or abandoned”. As so often in crosswords, it isn’t about whether a word normally has a certain meaning, but whether it is recorded by a reputable authority (like a dictionary) as potentially having that meaning. I think Pangakpu must be allowed to have stuck to the conventions here.
paddymelon @39
🙂
It took a while for me to get started on this one, but I got there eventually. I liked the good anagram for ANTE MERIDIEM, the ECOTOURIST green man, the good surfaces for RATIONALE and TERRA FIRMA, the Parisian boiled water to make CAFE AU LAIT, and the ATHLETIC Greek.
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen
Ray Spencer@32. Me too. I was lucky enough to catch a performance by the Philip Glass Quartet on the South Bank (Festival Hall?) many years ago – and feel fortunate, more recently, to have seen Satyagraha (twice) and Akhnaten at ENO. However, I think I might have to be content with recordings of Einstein on the Beach!
Enjoyed the puzzle. All my quibbles have been addressed, and now I’m overcome by curiosity about the banished @18. Maybe a comment about this week’s prize?
I can usually find the nina by looking for a sequence that would be pronounceable, though of course I never have any idea what it means. This time I’m puzzled by the references to 40 thieves, maybe Paddymelon will elucidate?
Thanks to Pangakapu and Eileen.
Most enjoyable with the exception of AVIATRIX. My heart always sinks when I read the indicator cycled or recycling in this case. It’s never clear what one’s being asked to do with the word. I felt on this occasion our setter steered a little too close to the “derived anagram”.
Only a minor point, an excellent crossword otherwise.
Valentine @ 44, I saw on the Guardian comments that this is Panga’s 40th crossword in the Guardian, and the NINA was the Māori for stealing ( I read above), referencing Alibaba and the forty thieves.
Grantinfreo @13 and 15: I just saw Gandhi spelt Ghandi in the current TLS so don’t feel bad.
After parsing the clue ‘Gujarati leader and two successors (6)’ in my blog of the Serenos puzzle just last week, I now have the perfect mnemonic: G AND H I.
Athletic may refer to a specific football club based in Bilbao. Only the setter will know! Tough today and did not get 11ac and 16dn despite all the crossers!
Thanks VinnyD, yes you’d think the TLS spellcheck would’ve caught that; and thanks Eileen, that helps!
Good puzzle and blog. Thanks. One query: isn’t the instrument (27a) CLAVES? I.e., always plural?
MikeC @51
Unless the player was a Zen master and could hear one hand clapping?
We’re back in play then? Yay!
As usual with this setter I found this tough. In fact, it was probably the longest I’ve taken over a successful solve. Even towards the end, with an abundance of crossers, things didn’t accelerate that much.
I liked AVIATRIX. The clue’s a bit naughty but I like the word and basically got it from the suggestion of an X (yes, I parsed it, I’m not a barbarian).
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen
Oh and good work Muffin @52 !
Slim pickings on the first pass but all solved and parsed in the end so a good day for me. Even spotted the likely Maori nina – confirmed by google.
Obviously a marmite setter, as so many are fans, but I’m not. Hate a googlefest.
Whanoko- far nor core
MikeC@51
I think you can have a single clave. It makes the same sound as one hand clapping.
Being Pangakupu, I knew the Maori NINA would help — not! I missed four again, but don’t feel to badly because three were nho and tough, 11a SATYAGRAHA, 27a EXCLAVE, 5d HOREHOUND
I also failed to solve or parse 24d SOYA. It reminds me of my favourite palindrome: “Yo! Banana boy!”
Favourites today, 22a ECOTOURIST (“alien – green man on a journey”), 26a ALOFT (elegant), 1d WHIMSY (I wrote a piece of organ music with that title), 2d BLINTZ (I can just imagine the advertising campaign for the new pancake), 3d TERRA FIRMA (for the “ground” misdirection)
Re “Abandoned”, also “The mall is abandoned — everyone now goes to the new one”. Works for me, and provided a great pdm
Eileen @48: unfortunately G, H AND I would seem to work as well 🙂
Thank you very much, Lord Jim – if you’re still lurking! (but, for me, they don’t work as (rather so) well. 😉 )
Eileen, it’s funny but Ghandi does seem to be a rather common mis-spelling! I don’t know if you’re familiar with Anatomy of the Crossword by D St P Barnard (a somewhat eccentric book) but it uses that spelling several times.
[By the way did you get your email problems sorted in the end?]
Can I recommend Evening Song from the opera Satyagraha as an exceptionally moving piece…. https://youtu.be/dQdVWCqOv4Q?si=uYfTnm7CGX3HfYIK
Hi again, Lord Jim – (we’ve had problems receiving emails of comments on our blogs)
Briefly – No, I wasn’t – will look it up later – and yes, I think so: thank you for your concern. 😉
Unless I have overlooked something, I don’t think anyone has commented on Pangakupu’s clue for 2 down. As I’m familiar with the German origin of the word “blitz”, I would never have associated it with an extensive campaign: indeed, all the sources I’ve checked suggest that “intensive” would be a more appropriate adjective. As it happens, it didn’t occur to me to look for a foreign word, which is probably why 2 down was one of four clues I gave up on! ( I usually enjoy Pangakupu more and manage to finish his puzzles, so I trust this was just a blip)…
Timv @64: I initially had the same thought on “blitz”, but then I considered that, rather than lightning warfare per se, the term was more likely meant specifically to evoke “The Blitz”, the Nazi bombing campaign against the UK starting in September 1940 and lasting for 8 months. Extensive indeed.