A tough challenge from IO this morning.
I enjoyed this, but found the longer entries quite a challenge and had a number of clues to come back to in order to make sense of later once they were pencilled in. Still, plenty to enjoy, so many thanks to IO!
For the comments section: we are aware that IO can be tough and not for everyone. No need to let us know. Please keep the comments constructive and relevant.
C[leaning] (to start) + (IS NO WAY ROUND IO)* (*cryptic)
Double definition
A merlin is a type of falcon, and also the wizard from the Cornish legend of King Arthur
L (lecturer) + EARNING (in paid work) – semi &lit
C (about) + LICHE[n] (plant, N (nitrogen) free)
“WHY’S + ACHER” (why is + someone longing, “to report”)
GOING (ground, from horseracing) AT (in) CH (Switzerland); TO THEM (they think) is put in
This is the title of a famous painting/picture by LS LOWRY
16. By exit from field, terrier’s first to heel (8)
By STILE (exit from field), T[errier] (‘s first) + TO
SUE (petition) for ringing PIN (private number)
AND (to go with); STOUT (beer) bottles
NO (missing) + TATE (art gallery)
Cryptic definition
This works both literally and figuratively for both clue and definition
(TRAIN TO WALES TOO)* (*complicated) – semi &lit
BILLY C (Pamela S’s funny hubby) wants A + N (new)
Pamela Stephenson is married to comedian Billy Connelly
D (daughters) + OWN (have) + BE AT (to visit)
Cryptic definition
COSMO[s] (world, without end)
Novel by Ken Follett, later made into a television series
(W[om]A[n]LIN[es]S)* (*beguiling, MEN SO struck)
It is preferable to have an anagram indicator for the letters to be removed as well
R AND A (golf club) closing in W (west)
Ingredients for *cooking: (SECRET WHILE IN NZ)*
ELSE (other) borders IN + OR (gold)
Elsinore is the Danish setting for Hamlet
P[layboy] (introduction from) fuels A + PETITE (wee female)
In French, the adjective ‘petit’ (small) is male, and ‘petite’ female
(TEN NIL)< (convincing win, <boosted)
[a]TROPHY (wasting away, without A)
GOING TO THE MATCH was my top fave.
Other faves: WISEACRE, DOWNBEAT and IN-LAWS.
Excellent, detailed and neat blog. Thanks Oriel.
And thanks Io for the brilliant puzzle.
WIENER SCHNITZEL
Didn’t know this word. Had to Google. Liked the clue for its unique construction.
Great fun, FOI was 8a, and LOI 6d, took me a while to get the golf club, thanks IO and Oriel.
Another clever puzzle from Io with plenty to test the grey matter. I was happy to complete this though I did need to come here to verify a few parsings or definitions, eg, LINNET, SUPINE. I always saw DOWNBEAT as gloomy rather than relaxed.
I loved CLICHE, SOMETHING ROTTEN and BILLY-CAN.
Thanks to Io and Oriel.
Tricky but got there after a break.
Loved Waterloo station and Wiener schnitzel
Saw 22a as a dd- ie very much = something rotten and a bad egg is too.
Didn’t love 8a and 13a which seemed very vague definitions to me. There are a lot of things chars can say and a lot of pictures to choose from.
FWIW I thought it fairer than the last Io where the comments appear to have been deemed excessive. I hope Io is not discouraged- it is a battle of wits and we can always give up and do something else if the puzzle is beyond us.
Thanks all.
I wondered about a Hamlet theme (Elsinore, Something rotten … In the state of Denmark) but couldn’t back it up.
I managed to parse all except I did not understand how GOING = Ground. A little research now suggests that “the going” = “[a measure of] the condition of the ground,” so just “ground” seems a little imprecise as a clue for “going,” to me, anyway. Kinda/sorta the same thing, I guess, or maybe that is just my ignorance. Otherwise, the puzzle is a remarkable construction, fun and very solvable. Like AndyB@5, I was wondering what the theme was, but I could not spot one, either.
I enjoyed copying in most of the answers from Oriel.
I managed less than half of this before throwing in the towel and coming here for Oriel’s enlightenment. I can see now how good most of the clues are – just beyond my solving ability.
Thanks IO and bravo Oriel (and others who completed it).
When 8ac went in quickly I thought it would be a swift solve. But I got there in the end with some brilliant clues and very clear blog.
Thanks IO and Oriel
When 8ac went in quickly I thought it would be a swift solve. But I got there in the end with some brilliant clues and very clear blog.
Thanks IO and Oriel.
Thanks Io and Oriel.
5dn: I agree that it is never wrong to have a second anagram indicator for a subtractive anagram when the letters to be removed are not in clue order. I would agree that it is necessary when the wording of the clue requires the subtraction to be done before the rearrangement. However, when the construction allows the rearrangement to be done first, I think it is possible to argue that the second anagram indicator is not necessary. In this clue, I think the cryptic indication works as “beguiling womanliness” = MEN SO INLAWS (or INLAWS MEN SO), and then the clue words “men so” are in the right order to be removed. It does not bother me that the intermediate stage in that construction is not a meaningful phrase. As always, I have no quarrel with those whose opinions differ from mine.
Well I got 8 across…
8A is a Mrs. Mopp/Dorothy Summers catchphrase, which blog and comments have left unmentioned so far. Maybe everyone knows it? That connection was unknown to me until I looked up the phrase, which sometimes has ‘yer’ instead of ‘you.’ This was another inventive effort from Io and fine blog from Oriel. Thanks to both.
13ac further to Cineraria@6: the dictionaries give going in the relevant sense as condition of a surface (Collins 2023 p 836) or of the ground (Chambers 2016 p 655, ODE 2010 p 750 etc). I am not convinced that they support “ground” on its own as a definition for GOING.
I did complete this, but needed the blog to parse GOING TO THE MATCH – I could see bits of it, but not everything, It was pretty much my last one in, with a certain amount of use of the check button to get there.
No-one else has commented, but CLICHE was slow to come because lichens are not plants, they are symbiotic relationships between a fungus and algae and/or bacteria, and classified by the fungi element. Fungi form a separate kingdom of living things to that of plants, one of five, along with animals and prokaryotic and eukaryotic bacteria. When I got it I ground my teeth – I’ve been fascinated by lichens since Biology A level when they came up as an example of symbiosis.
Thank you to Io and Oriel.
11ac: Chambers 2016 p 882 defines lichen as “a compound plant consisting of a fungus and an alga living symbiotically, …” ODE 2010 p 1019 has a definition for lichen beginning “a simple slow growing plant” and a note in a box beginning “Lichens are composite plants …” Maybe this is an informal use of the word “plant”, separate from the naming of one of the five kingdoms into which living things are formally divided, but it conforms with the way the word “plant” is used in general speech. In my view, setters are entitled to use “plant” to define LICHEN.
When 8a leapt out at me from the definition and the enumeration, I thought this might be a more tractable Io than usual, but I ground to a halt and had to resort to a few word searches to finish. I liked ELSINORE, LINNET, CLICHE, WATERLOO STATION.
Almost kissed the puzzle off when I saw the setter but I had some spare time so I gave it a go. It took a little googling(never heard of Pamela S or her funny husband , etc) but in the end, for the third time ever, I finished an Io puzzle. I might have gotten done sooner but for some reason I read the wordplay of 8A as having LO instead of IO. Took me a while to see my error. Thanks IO and thanks to Oriel for a great blog.
I’m not trying to be negative; I just wanted to register that I haven’t been this thoroughly defeated in a long time. I have had better success with Io in the past, and will try again. I don’t know what was wrong today; I can’t even chalk it down to solving puzzles written in a different dialect than my own, since this one wasn’t even particularly British. Just not my day, I guess.
I got five, and was on the verge of a 6th, so some improvement.
Excellent-only one I wasnt bonkers about was 13 so thanks for the low down.Tim Spall did a great job playing Lowry (and Turner and Peter Taylor)
Thought Pamela S was mighty-
I got 1d and 8 straight away and wondered”surely e aint gone soft round the manor”
Thankfully he hadnt
Oriel, re your preamble, I think it is useful for setters, if they read these blogs, to hear whether their puzzles are too difficult for a significant number of regular solvers.
It may be just my impression, but FT puzzles, at least from Tuesday on, are generally easier than the Guardian ones, and some setters take this into account. Thus, Mudd’s FTs are easier than Paul’s Guardians, and Io is usually less impossible (😊) than Enigmatist. Getting feedback from the strugglers might help them calibrate their respective efforts.
FWIW, I couldn’t complete this, but got enough to be happy with my effort for an Io. 13a, GTTM, was beyond my GK and cryptic abilities, and I couldn’t figure out the wordplay for 7d WIENER SCNITZEL (which, on seeing Oriel’s explanation, became one of my favourite clues). And although I solved 2d BILLY CAN from the definition and crossers, I was unaware of the Pamela/Billy connection, so that one went in unparsed.
Meanwhile there were enough superb clues to make this an enjoyable failure. 1d WATERLOO STATION, 4d WORLD WITHOUT END, 12a WISEACRE, 5d IN-LAWS and the aforementioned 7d all brought smiles to my face.
Thanks I&O (and off to work we go) for the fun.
Oriel, re your preamble, I think it is useful for setters, if they read these blogs, to hear whether their puzzles are too difficult for a significant number of regular solvers.
It may be just my impression, but FT puzzles, at least from Tuesday on, are generally easier than the Guardian ones, and some setters take this into account. Thus, Mudd’s FTs are easier than Paul’s Guardians, and Io is usually less impossible (😊) than Enigmatist. Getting feedback from the strugglers might help them calibrate their respective efforts.
FWIW, I couldn’t complete this, but got enough to be happy with my effort for an Io. 13a, GTTM, was beyond my GK and cryptic abilities, and I couldn’t figure out the wordplay for 7d WIENER SCNITZEL (which, on seeing Oriel’s explanation, became one of my favourite clues). And although I solved 2d BILLY CAN from the definition and crossers, I was unaware of the Pamela/Billy connection, so that one went in unparsed.
Meanwhile there were enough superb clues to make this an enjoyable failure. 1d WATERLOO STATION, 4d WORLD WITHOUT END, 12a WISEACRE, 5d IN-LAWS and the aforementioned 7d all brought smiles to my face.
Thanks I&O (and off to work we go) for the fun.
Brilliant! thank you Io, had a good work out with this
This took me a week, on and off, and I was very pleased to finish it. Terrific puzzle, but tough to work out.