Jason is this morning’s setter.
Most of this was straightforward, although I did struggle to parse a few, with SPRAY and ETHER my last two entries because I didn’t at first see MISTER as something that produces a spray, and the parsing of ETHER held me up for a while. I don’t think I’ve seen pr. for “present” in a crossword before, but it’s a valid abbreviation, so one to add to my (faltering, these days) memory bank.
Thanks, Jason.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GLASSES |
These may be raised by good girls (7)
|
| G (good) + LASSES (“girls”) | ||
| 5 | ORBITAL |
Brat with oil ruined ring road (7)
|
| *(brat oil) [anag:ruined] | ||
| 9 | AMOUR |
Romance is what shields when one Romeo is dumped (5)
|
| A(r)MOUR (“what shields”, when one R (Romeo, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) is dumped) | ||
| 10 | ENTERTAIN |
Please introduce American packing bread (9)
|
| ENTER (“introduce”) + A (American) packing TIN (“bread”, as in money) | ||
| 11 | CHARYBDIS |
Whirlpool daily rejected by attractive woman, but not husband (9)
|
| CHAR (“daily”) + [rejected] <=BY + DIS(h) (“attractive woman”, but not H (husband))
Charybdis was a mythical sea monster, sometimes characterised as a whirlpool. |
||
| 12 | EXTRA |
Excessive former skill returned (5)
|
| EX (“former”) + <=ART (“skill”, returned) | ||
| 13 | STIFF |
Small pet could be tiring (5)
|
| S (small) + TIFF (“pet”) | ||
| 15 | ANTIPASTO |
A new list regarding what gets meal going (9)
|
| A + N (new) + TIP (“list”) + AS TO (“regarding”) | ||
| 18 | SINGLETON |
Bachelor, say, to confess and squeal (9)
|
| SING (“to confess”) + LET ON (“squeal”) | ||
| 19 | RURAL |
Countryside river, one in Russia (5)
|
| R (river) + URAL (“one (river) in Russia”) | ||
| 21 | TREES |
Carbon-capture machines are commonly in fixed returns (5)
|
| ‘RE (are, commonly) in <=SET (“fixed”, returns) | ||
| 23 | TARANTULA |
Spider is otherwise a natural source of trepidation (9)
|
| *(a natural t) [anag:otherwise] where T is [source of] T(repidation) | ||
| 25 | REHEARSAL |
Honest about catches? Practice (9)
|
| REAL (“honest”) about HEARS (“catches”) | ||
| 26 | CHILL |
Sudden fear as Charlie fell (5)
|
| C (Charlie, in the NATI phonetic alphabet) + HILL (“fell”) | ||
| 27 | EARNEST |
Draw in France is impassioned (7)
|
| EARN (“draw”) + EST (in France, “is”) | ||
| 28 | FREIGHT |
On getting into scrap goods to be shifted (7)
|
| RE (“on”) getting into FIGHT (“scrap”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GLANCES |
Looks at candy around noon with son (7)
|
| GLACÉ (“candy”) around N (noon) with S (son) | ||
| 2 | ADORATION |
Love a party with budget (9)
|
| A DO (“a party”) with RATION (“budget”) | ||
| 3 | SPRAY |
Mister, for example, holding present (5)
|
| SAY (“for example”) holding pr. (present)
That which mists would be a mister. |
||
| 4 | STEADFAST |
New dates held up by rash firm (9)
|
| *(dates) [anag:new] held up by FAST (“rash”) | ||
| 5 | OATHS |
Curses open-topped vessels, hard to be inside (5)
|
| H (hard) to be inside [open-topped, i,e missing its top] (b)OATS (“vessels”) | ||
| 6 | BARKEEPER |
Who shouts about rising leak? One who serves (9)
|
| BARKER (“who shouts”) about [rising] <=PEE (“leak”) | ||
| 7 | TOAST |
Tribute for a street (5)
|
| TO (“for”) + A + St (street) | ||
| 8 | LONG-AGO |
In every other place Enigma fills image of the distant past (4-3)
|
| [in every other place] (e)N(i)G(m)A fills LOGO (“image”) | ||
| 14 | FULL-SCALE |
Complete clues fall freely (4-5)
|
| *(clues fall) [anag:freely] | ||
| 16 | TENOR CLEF |
Pavarotti’s sign of course cut short (5,4)
|
| TENOR (“course”) + CLEF(t) [short] | ||
| 17 | SPROUTING |
Developing and flowering in season (9)
|
| OUT (“flowering”) in SPRING (“season”) | ||
| 18 | SET FREE |
Release kit without cost (3,4)
|
| SET (“kit”) + FREE (“without cost”) | ||
| 20 | LEAFLET |
Perhaps flier in meadow left awkwardly (7)
|
| LEA (“meadow”) + *(left) [anag:awkward] | ||
| 22 | ETHER |
Clear air continuously losing a degree of insulation? (5)
|
| (tog)ETHER (“continuously”) losing TOG (“a degree of insulation”) | ||
| 23 | TV SET |
Telly Savalas’s third to appear in upcoming trial (2,3)
|
| (sa)V(alas) [‘s third] to appear in [upcoming] <=TEST (“trial”) | ||
| 24 | NICHE |
Suitable position found in hotel in French city (5)
|
| H (hotel) in NICE (“French city”) |
I found little variety and a lot of new / remote words & synonyms. Or perhaps Jason and I speak very different English.
I liked SPRAY, CHILL, and TV SET
I would not have equated TIFF with pet (13a) but I am sure someone somewhere said it sometime and it is in Chambers. Could not parse TENOR CLEF or ETHER and I am afraid the blog leaves me no wiser. Unfamiliar with SINGLETON to mean unmarried, I made a complete hash of the parsing.
Thanks Jason and loonapick
Ditto re tenor clef, Martyn @1, absy no idea. For ether, the subtracted bit, TOG, is a thing, a thermal rating, which I fancy we’ve had before.
I originally omitted the parsing of tenor clef, and only realised it was missing when I saw Martyn’s comment – apologies!
Mostly straightforward and enjoyable, but ETHER stumped me. I don’t have Chambers and could find no explanation elsewhere for tiff/pet. Please explain. I’ve never heard of tin/money in real life, but seem to recall it in crosswords — is it British?
‘Pet’ and ‘tiff’ can both mean ‘disagreement’. Maybe a British thing?
I quit trying to parse TREES and ETHER. I have seen “TOG” before, but I don’t think it would have occurred to me. I kept trying to make E[I]THER work somehow. (Nope.) I am not 100% sold on the clue for TREES, but I guess the parsing works. I was thinking “are commonly” would be simply R (as in texts), so I could not see what to do with SEET or TEES. The rest I managed OK. Good job on the blog.
Good blog now we have tenor clef!
Liked charbdyis, tarantula(where there were two possible sources of anagram fodder), barkeeper, toast.
Spray was tricky.
Thank you, Hovis@5.
There are better synonyms for together than continuous. Harrumph!
A tiff you have with someone, a pet you don’t.
I’d say, well, my grandmother would have said, that “she’s in a pet with you” to a grandson, after what most people would call a lover’s TIFF.
ETHER, TREES and SPRAY were my last few in too, spotting the definitions for trees and spray, and not parsing ETHER, I didn’t think of together.
Thank you to loonapick and Jason.
From Chambers:
tenor: definition 8: General run or course
tiff: definition 2: A display of irritation, a pet, huff
Together: definition 6: Continuously
I’m surprised people haven’t heard of TOG? Is it just a British thing – we buy quilts based on their tog – 3 for summer up to 14 for winter.
‘Stiff’ and ‘spray’ were my last ones in, as the NW corner took me a while. Tiff and Pet is one of those pairings that one has to dig really deep for. I think Pet is not used much these days with that meaning, but it’s still there (obviously). I patted myself on the back (metaphorically) when I got Charybdis.
Am I missing something with TENOR CLEF? I get that Pavarotti was a tenor and a clef is a character on a musical stave, but TENOR CLEF has a specific musical meaning and ‘Pavarotti’s sign’ as a definition seems a bit (or a lot) of a stretch.
Thanks Jason and loonapick
I think the most common appearance of PET in today’s sense is in PETULANT.
Thanks Jason for an enjoyable crossword. The answers fell into place quite easily but I had the same parsing questions as others. Favourites included ANTIPASTO, ADORATION, & CHILL. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Hector@14
Tenor clef is the sign placed at the beginning of a staff to indicate the pitch which Pavarotti would use.I think it a quite acceptable clue.
As Tony says an enjoyable puzzle and clear blog.
Thanks to both
Thanks SM@17. My technical knowledge of music is, as you will have guessed, fairly limited.
Thanks all for the helpful explanations. I am afraid a couple of those meanings are unknown outside UK.
I too failed to work out ETHER. Indeed I saw it as a possibility but rejected it. For once my brain was thinking of too modern a meaning (the chemical) rather than the classical airy aether. I have not come across “tog” either, and I’m British. Like “pr” for Loonapick, it’s one I will need to store away for future solving.
I had no problem with STIFF but I couldn’t (and still can’t) think of any sentence in which I might use it as a synonym for “tiring”. I might say “That was stiff work” meaning hard, but not necessarily tiring. Any suggestions?
Thanks to Jason and Loonapick.
Babbler@20: A stiff workout [in the gym]? Chambers links ‘tiring’ with ‘tough’ and ‘arduous’ in that particular definition of ‘stiff’.
SM @ 17 and Hector @ 18, I doubt that Pavarotti would use a tenor clef. His music would likely be written using a treble clef but sung an octave below. Only rarely is this referred to as a “tenor G clef”. A tenor clef is occasionally used by one or two instrumentalists such as trombonists or euphonium players. Most members of an orchestra are happy to stick with treble and bass clefs, apart from the violas, who seem to have a monopoly on alto clefs (which are the same as tenor clefs but one line lower on the stave).
Thanks Jason and Loonapick
16dn: My experience as a choral tenor over a number of years accords with Geoff@22, having tenor parts normally written with a G clef. The intention that the part be sung an octave lower is usually implicit, but I have seen it made explicit either by attaching a figure 8 at the bottom of the G clef symbol or sometimes by printing two G clefs side by side. I used to own some printed scores of Mahler symphonies and fickle memory tells me that, in at least one of the ones involving a mixed chorus, which would be number 2 or number 8, and possibly both, the tenor part was written in the tenor clef. As to instruments, Collins 2023 p 2037 mentions bassoon, cello, or tenor trombone, while ODE 2010 p 1833 mentions cello and bassoon only. My understanding is that the tenor clef would be used when the part goes too high to fit comfortably on the stave with the bass clef.
Thanks GDU and Pelham Barton. My musical knowledge is centred on the piano so I was clearly wrong. Always good to learn.
As GDU and PB say, the alto clef is for violas, not for altos, and the tenor clef is for cellos, not for tenors.
Violists have to be able to read the alto and treble clefs. Cellists have to read the bass, tenor and treble clefs. For singers, sopranos, altos and tenors use the treble clef; basses use the bass clef; baritones have to be able to read both treble and bass clefs. Only singers who are early music specialists might occasionally use the alto or tenor clefs.
Notwithstanding the above, I liked the Pavarotti clue at 16d.