I was surprised (and delighted) to see a Brendan puzzle this morning, so soon after his recent Prize offering.
This, too, was worthy of the Prize slot, being yet another tour de force from the master, revolving around the deftly woven into the grid 1,4 and 10,13, PLUS ÇA CHANGE PLUS Ç’EST LA MEME CHOSE, which I hope is familiar enough not to cause too many complaints: the wordplay makes it gettable, I think.
As usual with Brendan’s puzzles, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, with many of the clues involving anagrams, palindromes or some other rearrangement of letters, along with witty references throughout to change and/or being/staying the same. Apart from my admiration for the brilliant exploitation of the theme, my favourite clues were 12ac PROSPERO, 16ac STET, 17ac STATUETTE, 21ac AMARETTO, 24ac ALL THE SAME, 6dn NOSEPIECE, 7dn ENLARGE, 8dn SUPPOSITIONAL and 14dn EXECRATED.
Many thanks to Brendan for a most enjoyable and absorbing puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1, 4 Good thing, an end of fighting in store? That implies no fundamental shift (4,2,6)
PLUS ÇA CHANGE
PLUS (good thing) + AN [fightin]G in CACHE (store)
9 Exchange notes to begin with and perform differently (4)
REDO
DO RE (beginning notes of the scale, exchanged)
10, 13 It completes 1 and 4 across, together with modification of 11, 15, and 23 (4,4,2,4,5)
PLUS Ç’EST LA MEME CHOSE
PLUS (together with) Ç’EST LA ( an anagram – modification – of CASTLE {11ac}) + MEME (15ac) + CHOSE (23dn)
11 Move king to safety, as last resort, inside church (6)
CASTLE
An anagram (resort) of LAST in CE (Church of England) – a chess move, explained here
12 Exiled duke introducing son to appropriate circle (8)
PROSPERO
S (son) in PROPER (appropriate) + O (circle) – the exiled duke in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest; my friend and I already have tickets for Kenneth Branagh‘s return to Stratford in this role next May
15 Child’s plea for attention as superspreader? (4)
MEME
ME ME (child’s plea for attention)
16 Rearrange test or keep exactly as is (4)
STET
An anagram (rearrange) of TEST – Latin for ‘let it stand’
17 For Oscar, say, act in sci-fi movie? Au contraire (9)
STATUETTE
ET (sci-fi movie) in STATUTE (act) – in the opposite order from the clue
21 Semiaquatic mammal, a mother, back in drink (8)
AMARETTO
A reversal (back) of OTTER (semiaquatic mammal) + A MA (a mother)
22 Produce same thing again, poorly accommodating conclusions of the critic (6)
RECOPY
ROPY (poorly) round [th]E [criti]C
24 Nevertheless, like happy families in novel start? (3,3,4)
ALL THE SAME
Double definition: the opening line of Tolstoy’s novel ‘Anna Karenina’ is ‘All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’
25 Colleague unaffected by reversal (4)
OPPO
A palindrome – military slang for opposite number, which I remember as a child my father using
26 More like cardinal? Moving left, just the same (6)
REDDER
And another
27 Best or worst of French accomplishment (6)
DEFEAT
DE (of French) + FEAT (accomplishment) – best and worst both as verbs and auto-antonyms
Down
1 Strive to see maturity in group of equals? (7)
PEERAGE
PEER (strive to see) + AGE (maturity)
2 Perturbed about wartime menace (1-4)
U-BOAT
An anagram (perturbed) of ABOUT
3 Replace two letters in a speech to become understood? (7)
CAPEESH
A SPEECH, with the C and S replaced – slang from Italian capire, to understand
5 Other changes, including about bully (6)
HECTOR
An anagram (changes) of OTHER round C (about)
6 Recognizes truce, we hear – that could help to save face (9)
NOSEPIECE
Sounds like (we hear) knows (recognises) peace (truce) – ‘a piece of armour, especially part of a helmet, that serves to protect the nose’
7 Adjust one aspect of photo or make alterations in general (7)
ENLARGE
An anagram (make alterations in) of GENERAL
8 After wee dram, take seat on island in curtailed ballot? That’s speculative (13)
SUPPOSITIONAL
SUP (wee dram) + SIT (take seat) + IONA (Scottish island) in POL[l] (ballot, curtailed)
14 Judged following suit, totally condemned (9)
EXECRATED
EXEC (‘suit’) + RATED (judged)
16 Line the writer inserted in stuff is shown up as not very original (7)
SIMILAR
A reversal (up, in a down clue) of L (line) + I (the writer) in RAM (stuff) + IS
18 Re-enter after revolution of earth (7)
TERRENE
An anagram (after revolution) of RE-ENTER
19 Position of leader no different after overthrow (3,4)
TOP SPOT
Another palindrome
20 Name of goddess or just vowels in name (6)
ATHENE
A THEN E – the vowels in nAmE
23 Conservative replacing first of those elected (5)
CHOSE
C (conservative) replacing [t]HOSE
Wonderful puzzle, the most enjoyable I have seen for some time (I don’t do the Prize). PROSPERO, ENLARGE, AMORETTO, and NOSEPIECE were among my favourites too, and I would add CAPEESH (a favourite of gangster movie scriptwriters). I didn’t get the parsing of ATHENE, but Eileen’s suggestion looks good. Thanks Eileen and Brendan.
Did this last night when I saw Brendan’s name, thinking it was worth a late night and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Filled in the bottom half first and then got lucky with PLUS ÇA CHANGE which led on to the rest. The theme was simple but delightful. I agree with Eileen’s favourites and I also especially liked the double MEMEs and CHOSEs along with CASTLE. Another tour de force.
Ta Brendan & Eileen.
Enjoyed this but needed Eileen’s help for the parsing of 17, 20, and 22, which I had bunged in as “recipe”. Particularly liked 21 amaretto and 12 Prospero, although it took me some time to break my anchoring to a more contemporary exiled royal. Pity about the deux choses.
Thanks Brendan and Eileen
Very clever, though some will no doubt complain that MEME and CHOSE appear in the grid twice (as I wrote at a time when this would have been the first comment – chapeau to Apteryx @3 for immediately reassuring me!!).
Congratulations to Brendan for having the self-control not to clue “ME! ME!” by reference to Trump.
Thanks to Brendan for a neat puzzle and Eileen for, as ever, an early and workmanlike blog which explained the two bits of wordplay I hadn’t been wide enough awake to work out.
Thanks to Brendan, and to Eileen for the blog. Yes, the vowels in ‘name’ are A then E.
Yes I think 20d is one of those, like Bay extremely bowlegged (5), etc. And, well I don’t know about prize level, as after the French saying, itself assez claire, it was all pretty cruisy. Elegant and enjoyable though, merci B et E.
@3 & 4: I thought that their may quibbles about MEME and CHOSE but surely it’s acceptable if both words mean something different. Anyway, I thought it was very clever.
Although I enjoyed the theme, I suspect I’m going to be a lone voice when I say that the puzzle didn’t really do it for me, overall. While I liked the exposition of some curiosities of the language, such as palindromes and the equivalence of best/worst, I felt that some of the cryptic readings indicating those were too direct, leading to strangely obvious answers in some places and producing some bland surfaces in others. I also thought the long connected entry was odd; I enjoyed the first part, but the second was a write-in which then gave away either the other MEME or the other CHOSE depending on which you already had solved and hence spotted the idea. Also, I assume that for those who didn’t know tthe phrase, a fair chunk of the puzzle was inaccessible.
STATUETTE was also weird; why the French? I liked the construction and correctly surmised what was required of us, but I spent a long time thinking of French actors called Oscar, especially given there was so much French already. Perhaps it was an intentional misdirection but it just seemed unnecessary to me.
Of course, it’s a rare thing that nothing good be found, and indeed I enjoyed U-BOAT, DEFEAT and AMARETTO – the latter being especially nice because it wasn’t at all clear whether the animal or the drink was going to be the definition.
LOI was SUPPOSITIONAL.
Thanks both
Brilliant puzzle; excellent blog
Many thanks
Now that the mêmes choses are explained to me, I agree that their duplication and interaction is very clever
I’m with AlanC @7 and Apteryx @10 re MEME CHOSE.
Yes, AlanC @7, given the theme, having a pair each of memes and choses, with pair-members differing in meaning, is a touch of Brendan genius.
I loved this one – it was just ideal for me, as I have a decent level of French, and even knew the Tolstoy reference (a sentiment with which I deeply disagree: there are many different ways for a family to be happy). So it was quite a quick solve for me but still very satisfying. Thanks, Brendan and Eileen!
I totally agree with everything Eileen has written, a touch of mid-week magic.
I also like that STET is sort of hidden in STATUETTE as it stands, statuesque.
Thanks to Brendan and Eileen
Not being au fait with French, the ‘PLUS ÇA CHANGE PLUS Ç’EST LA MEME CHOSE’ anchor was totally lost on me, but I thoroughly enjoyed Brendan’s cleverness throughout.
Big thanks to Brendan (of course) and to Eileen for the excellent blog.
Very clever as usual from Brendan. A “meme chose” meme, as it says across the middle, with REDO, RECOPY, SIMILAR, ALL THE SAME and so on. I do agree with AP @8 that 10,13 was a write-in once you’d got the first clue, but I don’t think that matters in the scheme of things.
Many thanks Brendan and Eileen.
Well spotted, Lord Jim @16 – many thanks. 😉
Lucky you Eileen, and thank you for your blog with the extra details, par excellence, d’habitude. I enjoyed the repetition of même chose. I thought that was the point!
I am another who liked the double meme chose. I solved the French saying in the wrong order when I was well into the puzzle, which probably made for a better solving experience, as well as the fun if racking my brain for Tempest quotes about change.
My thoughts exactly, paddymelon @18!
A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle throughout, as one would expect from Brendan.
Unrelated to the puzzle, the ‘word’ CAPEESH really sets my teeth on edge. Is it really so hard to write Capisce?!
Thanks Brendan and Eileen
I loved that “meme” in 15A and “chose” in 23D are both the same and not the same (either in sound, significance or language) as their counterparts in 13A. This is a veritable tour de force. Merci, Brendan. Thank you, Eileen.
AP @8 @ 8.48. (Lucky numbers). Re the French ‘au contraire’ in STATUETTE. I know/remember that, in certain circles, people would use that phrase even when speaking in English. I think it’s just Brendan’s little joke and a nod to the French in the theme. It made me laugh.
Lucky Eileen, indeed. A delightful puzzle from start to finish and I enjoyed spotting and then teasing out the themed items. So very clever. CASTLE, AMARETTO, PROSPERO, CAPEESH, ENLARGE and ATHENE were faves but, as Eileen says, it’s the whole thing that really takes the biscuit.
Thanks both
VG puzzle, but a dnf as I don’t recall seeing CAPEESH in print before – I’ve heard the word in movies etc, but if I’d ever had to write it, I’d have used the Italian spelling.
Favourites CASTLE and ATHENE.
I didn’t look for or spot the theme, but it is clever.
Thanks Eileen and Brendan.