A fun solve – lots of thanks to Brendan.
…there is a theme around tenses, including TENSE-[D], THE PRESENT, PAST PERFECT, and FUTURE TENSE in solutions, and TENS-[e] in the wordplay for 6ac, wordplay using different tenses of a word in 5ac and 17dn, and past/present/future mentioned in the surfaces of 25ac, 2dn, 4dn, and 15dn.
| ACROSS | ||
| 5 | SEESAW |
Keep changing position as witness, and did so previously (6)
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SEE="witness" + SAW=past tense of 'see'="did so previously" |
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| 6 | TOKENS |
Not totally anxious, having absorbed reasonable signs (6)
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TENS-[e]="Not totally anxious", around OK="reasonable" |
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| 9 | ONEDGE |
Stationed at border, feeling nervous (2,4)
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ON EDGE could also mean to be at an edge or border |
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| 10 | UNSETTLE |
You reportedly get irritated about son, or get worried (8)
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U=letter that sounds like 'you'="You reportedly"; plus NETTLE=irritate="get irritated" around S (son) |
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| 11 | TAUT |
Stressed being educated soundly (4)
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sounds like ("sound-ly"): 'taught'="educated" |
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| 12 | TOUCH AND GO |
Engage in an emotional farewell? It’s cliffhanging (5-3-2)
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to TOUCH AND GO might mean to 'go while touching emotionally'="Engage in an emotional farewell" |
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| 13 | PAST PERFECT |
Statement of unrealistic nostalgia that makes one tense (4,7)
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it would be unrealistic and nostalgic to declare that the PAST was PERFECT |
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| 18 | THE PRESENT |
Incomparable time spent there, agitated (3,7)
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definition is likely a reference to the phrase 'there's no time like THE PRESENT' implying that the present is not comparable to other times anagram/"agitated" of (spent there)* |
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| 21 | NAIL |
Some quick coverage that is hammered home (4)
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double definition: a finger or toe nail covers the sensitive area known as the "quick" as in 'cutting to the quick'; or e.g. a metal nail that may be hammered into wood etc |
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| 22 | PROVERBS |
Religious text supporting parts of speech (8)
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definition: a book of the Bible PRO="supporting" + VERBS="parts of speech" |
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| 23 | BITING |
Cruel grown-up hiding food container (6)
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for definition e.g. a sharp and cold wind could be described as cruel or biting BIG="grown-up" as an adjective; around TIN="food container" |
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| 24 | TENSED |
Became uneasy in end and set off (6)
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anagram/"off" of (end set)* |
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| 25 | NOT NOW |
Chinese food has to be divided and returned in future, perhaps (3,3)
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WONTON="Chinese food", "divided" into two parts WON TON and then reversed/"returned" |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VENDETTA |
Check about object, present for turning over in ongoing dispute (8)
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VET="Check" around END=objective="object", plus AT="present for" (e.g. at or present for an event) reversed/"turning over" |
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| 2 | LATENT |
Revelations, etc. not apparent in present, perhaps in future (6)
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Revelations is in the last part i.e. LATE into the NT (New Testament) in the Bible |
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| 3 | SOUS-CHEF |
Cook focuses, eclipsing husband who’s inferior in kitchen? (4-4)
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anagram/"Cook" of (focuses)* around H (husband) |
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| 4 | NEWTON |
Scientific genius of past or present century (6)
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NEW=recent, current="present" + TON (a "century" when batting in cricket) |
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| 5 | SANDAL |
Polish a large kind of shoe (6)
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SAND="Polish" + A (from surface) + L (large) |
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| 7 | SILAGE |
Food for winter is laid up with a lot of beer (6)
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definition: silage can be a crop such as grass that has been stored for use as animal fodder over winter IS (from surface) reversed/"laid up"; plus LAGE-[r]="a lot of beer" |
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| 8 | FUTURE TENSE |
Will indicates this, in contrast to 13 (6,5)
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a tense indicated using the word "Will" as in 'I will go"; and the future tense contrasting against the past tense in 13dn |
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| 14 | THEORIES |
Speculations in article on products of mine one’s invested in (8)
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THE=definite "article" + ORES="products of [e.g. an iron] mine" with I="one" invested inside |
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| 15 | CONSTANT |
Uses a name time after time – in past, present, and future (8)
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definition: not changing over time USES=exploits, manipulates, swindles=CONS; plus: A (from surface) + N (name) + T (time), after T (time) |
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| 16 | THIRST |
Need for drink after second shift in t-shirt (6)
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same letters as T-SHIRT, with the S (short for "second" and/or the second letter) shifted later |
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| 17 | WINNOW |
Beat rivals, then beat rivals up – that’s separate (6)
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WIN="Beat rivals" in present tense; plus WON="Beat rivals" in past tense reversed/"up" |
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| 19 | PAVANE |
Arrange flags around an old-fashioned dance (6)
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PAVE="Arrange flags" (flags or flagstones are paving stones), around AN (from surface) |
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| 20 | TABOOS |
Bans that are initially followed by audible disapproval (6)
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initial letters of T-[hat] A-[re]; plus BOOS="audible disapproval" |
Thanks Brendan and manehi
I thought THE PRESENT was a great clue.
Nice crossword, loved NOT NOW. Pedant alert: it’s the book of Revelation singular not plural
Thanks Brendan and manehi.
Excellent enjoyable puzzle.
Super blog.
Top picks: TOUCH AND GO, LATENT and PAVANE.
SOUS-CHEF
I thought ‘who’s’ should be included in the def (looks to work otherwise, but a word is redundant then).
WINNOW
Took ‘then beat rivals’ as WON.
Brilliant all round. Not just the clever use of the theme in both senses of “tense” but the novelty of the clues. The way Brendan plays with words to come up with things like wonton becoming “not now” and the lovely “late NT” is a joy. Many of these looked utterly incomprehensible until suddenly they weren’t, and every solved clue was clearly the only correct answer once seen.
The theme also seeps into things like “winnow” and “seesaw”, playing with the same word in different tenses, in the former case hiding the fact because “beat”.
Many thanks Brendan, and manehi.
Great crossword.
Terrific misdirect of Will indicates this in FUTURE TENSE.
NOT NOW very inventive spot of won ton, and the quick coverage in NAIL was nice.
Don’t quite see how present and at can be interchanged in VENDETTA. Perhaps someone can give an example.
Many thanks, both.
Beaten by LATENT. In a Monday puzzle! Tcha!
Some good stuff in this so no shame in defeat, I claim. Agree with Muffin there’s no solution like THE PRESENT. Thanks Brendan and manehi.
William@5
VENDETTA
manehi has given an example in the blog.
Sous Chef’s job is not inferior believe me!
Thanks KVa, I see the connection, but can you exchange them in a sentence?
Sorry, just realised the connection is present for, not just present.
5d: SANDing is not polishing; quite the opposite!
Monday puzzle or Prize: always a work of art from Brendan, always an extra dimension.
My thanks to him and to manehi.
Chewy in places; I agree with JOFT@4 about some clues being incomprehensible until they’re not. Nice work.
The theme was perhaps a bit repetitive, but that did help with FUTURE ????? since tense had already cropped up a few times. Funny thing is, I interpreted that clue completely wrongly: if you’ve made a will, it indicates that you think the future’s going to be tense, perhaps 😅
Faves were the more conventional ones: TOUCH AND GO, THEORIES, THIRST and LATENT (the cause of my DNF, and a toughie I think). And although I shrugged at the first part of NAIL when I bunged it in, with the blog’s help I now see that it’s also very good.
Just a couple of frowns: for UNSETTLE, I don’t see how “irritate” equates to “get irritated”; and I don’t see why we need “divided” for NOT NOW.
Thanks both!
Lovely puzzle. I too loved THE PRESENT and FUTURE TENSE for the definitions and SEESAW and WINNOW for the clever use of tenses. Shame about Revelation(s). I had always thought it was plural.
Brilliant use of the word to produce a fabulous puzzle. The other use of tense not mentioned by manehi produced the across clues, ON EDGE, UNSETTLE, TAUT, TOUCH AND GO, NAIL BITING and TENSED. Agree with muffin @1 that THE PRESENT is the standout.
Ta Brendan & manehi.
AP@13
UNSETTLE
get irritated —>get (someone) irritated
(my take)
AP @13
“Divided” is needed for precision, as “wonton” is one word.
Seemed tough for a Monday but maybe that’s because it was so creative. Very few clues where I was thinking Inhad seen similar before. A treat as always from Brendan.
Liked LATENT, THE PRESENT, CONSTANT, NOT NOW and many others which seemed impossible until they weren’t.
Thanks Manehi and Brendan
Agree with AlanC @15 – wonderful exploitation of the theme, with brilliant clues.
THE PRESENT was my top favourite, too.
I took UNSETTLE as did KVa @16.
I’ve been trying hard (unsuccessfully so far) to come up with an alternative parsing for 2dn, for which I had a question mark. I’m reluctant to accept that Brendan would have made the Revelation(s) error.
Many thanks to Brendan for another delightful puzzle and to manehi for another fine blog.
To Eileen@19: Please shed reluctance to accept that Brendan is error-prone! I follow Johnson’s example and simply say “Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance” when it happens.
Thanks Manehi.
(From Belfast, leaving very shortly for Connel, by Oban).
A brilliant puzzle from Brendan, unexpected on a Monday! What’s not to like? My favourites LATENT, SEESAW, WINNOW, PROVERBS, NOT NOW, CONSTANT, TOKENS (my LOI). Brendan seems to include an old word in every puzzle… Thanks Brian and manehi!
Thank you, Brendan @20 – gracious as always. 😉 Bon voyage!
LATENT
Thanks Brian@20.
What I find in the clue must be unintended:
‘apparent, present’: each word has LATE NT.
Even the blessed Brendan is capable of a trivial technical mistake (which doesn’t in any way affect the solubility of the clue), and the book’s official title is The Revelation to John – but just about everyone apart from religious professionals does call it Revelations.
Good fun today with all the past, present and future tenses – I too was thinking of the legal variety of will for ages before getting the clever FUTURE TENSE, and wasted time trying to make the Chinese dish be DIM SUM. Favourite definitely THE PRESENT – no time like it!
Yes for 2 down as any fan of the band Halfman Halfbiscuit would know, it should be the Book of Revelation as told to St John the Divine.
Mary Hopkin she must despair!
Brilliant nail-biting stuff to start the week.
I love that SEESAW crosses with SANDAL (e.g. flip-flop).
Thanks to Brendan and manehi
To quote Half Man Half Biscuit (in Sh*t Arm, Bad Tattoo):
If you’re going to quote from the Book of Revelation
Don’t keep calling it the Book of Revelations
There’s no “s”, it’s the Book of Revelation
As revealed to St John the Divine
See also Mary Hopkin
She must despair
I’m annoyed with myself for “solving” 6ac as TOTEMS on the basis of pattern recognition and a vague linking of “totally” —> “totes”. Not having a clue how the rest of it fitted should have told me I was barking up the wrong pole.
In the New Jerusalem bible the last book is listed as The Revelations to John.
Very enjoyable. Thanks, Brendan.
Justgator@11 – I’m a woodturner, and I frequently use progressively finer sanding to achieve a polish.
Apologies for the typo in your name Justigator.
I also fully expected a pedant by now to complain that 14d ruined their year because not all ore come from mines and not all mines produce ore.
KateE@29 – really? I hadn’t seen that (although I do have certain issues with the NJB anyway). The original word in Greek is apokálypsis, which is a singular noun. Revelations plural is a mistranslation.
I thought this was a superbly constructed crossword – a joy from start to finish. Thanks Brendan and manehi.
KVa@16, that feels pretty stretchy because it doesn’t pass the substitution test (when the object is omitted). Hmm. I shall mull it over!
muffin@17, that’s a technicality I’ve not seen before, I think. We often see pseudo-DDs in which the not-quite-def part isn’t of the same structure as the def part, commonly when one contains a space or hyphen and the other doesn’t, such as in “take away” and “takeaway”, without any special indicator; and so I don’t think the non-def part needs to worry overly about “fitting in” to the structure of the def part. But I guess it’s equally as valid to have an indicator. In this case I interpreted it in such a way that I got NOW NOT, though – so it was (momentarily) more of a hindrance than a help!
my table in the kitchen. Brendan has not made an error. From Chambers: “Revelation (of St John) or, popularly, Revelations (singular noun) the Apocalypse or last book of the New Testament”. And there’s also the famous exchange in Wilde (A Woman of No Importance): Lord Illingworth: The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. Mrs. Allonby: And it ends with Revelations.
Lovely stuff for a Monday, though finally defeated by LATENT, for which I had to come on here to see the reason why this clue remained hidden from my crossword solving capabilities. As one or two others this morning discovered. Or didn’t…
An excellent puzzle as usual from Brendan. I agree that THE PRESENT was brilliant, partly for the definition (“incomparable time”), and partly for the fact that the anagram indicator itself (“agitated”) is part of the theme as it refers to the other meaning of tense!
I also agree with those who don’t see 2d as a mistake — I believe the book is often informally referred to as Revelations.
Many thanks Brendan and manehi.
[The comment headings seem to have gone a bit odd — ?]
the desk in my study: sorry, a bit more: according to Liddell & Scott, apokálypsis (lit. “uncovering”, e.g. of one’s head) is used in the NT (for example at Romans 16.25) to mean “revelation, esp. of divine mysteries”, so it’s a very short stretch to “Revelations”, since “mysteries” is plural.
I started this slowly with a Monday brain but got there in the end. I liked VENDETTA, WINNOW, NEWTON, and CONSTANT. From Wiki: In the original Greek, the word is singular, so the name “Revelations” sometimes found in English is often considered erroneous. I failed to recognise the ‘quick’ in the clue for NAIL. I thought it had something to with (thumb)NAIL.
Thanks Brendan for the inTENSE test and manehi for the elucidation.
ON EDGE,T-SHIRT,TABOO and TENSED were my favourites because those were the only ones I could solve.The rest of the clues were nebulous.
LordJim@40: see here.
I read the contrast between FUTURE TENSE and PAST PERFECT to be more than just the two grammatical tenses, but in a literal sense as well. The past was perfect; the future will be tense.
All good. Didn’t know about quick in 21a. Learn something everyday with crosswords. Thanks.
Tricky for a Monday, only completed two-thirds before seeking help, but a marvellous thread of emotions and grammar. Glad I persevered.
NEWTON @4dn Ton also = 100mph, or a century.
Thanks to Brendan and manehi. Fun puzzle, good blog.
[Thanks gladys @44]
Thanks Brendan for an excellent start to the week. I thoroughly enjoyed the theme. My favourites included PAST PERFECT, THE PRESENT, NOT NOW, THEORIES, THIRST, & PAVANE. Both LATENT & TOKENS beat me but that didn’t spoil the fun.
[‘Revelations’ is how that Bible book is known to many & this is acknowledged by Chambers so I don’t think the ‘technical’ error amounts to much. I’m sure the list of incorrectly used words that become OK through ‘popular demand’ is quite extensive.] Thanks manehi for the blog.
For me latent is just not fair 2d
So pleased to be able to use knowledge gained from my docenting at a Living Historical Farm for 7D. We explain the ensilage pits to groups all the time.
[EleanorK @52
Thanks for teaching me a new word 🙂 ]
Very good puzzle. I thought LATENT was superb. I took the “not apparent in present” bit to be part of the wordplay meaning “not here right now”.
I was taught that the tense was the pluperfect, so didn’t at first recognise PAST PERFECT, but it makes (dare I say it) perfect sense as the analogue of the future perfect.
Great fun. Thanks, Brendan and manehi.
Hard work for a Monday. It turned into four puzzles when I had two crossing unsolved in each quadrant. Eventually completed with some unparsed…except 6a TOKENS I had an unparsed TOTEMS, so dnf. Clocked the theme for a change!
Favourites 7d SILAGE (good surface), 17d WINNOW (ditto, plus clever use of “beat” present and past), 19d PAVANE (“arrange flags” = PAVE)
25a NOT NOW would work fine (better?) without “divided and”? For the wordplay punctuation and spacing can be ignored, so signalling the space isn’t necessary? (Sorry if this was discussed before — I don’t have time to read all the comments yet)
Remus @45 beat me to it.
muffin@17: I haven’t checked other sources, but Chambers gives ‘won ton’ only in two-word form. WON TON is what I originally entered, but I blame myself for that, not Brendan’s clue.
bit of a thinker today but still a nice introduction to the week. managed it in one sitting for once 🙂 (we will ignore a single use of the check button on LATENT, which I had as a misspelling of nascent)
Hector @57
Wiki and Google(mostly) disagree. I suspect Brendan did too.
Though I agree with AP that separating WONTON is perhaps over punctilious.
Superb.
NHO WONTON, so that was a reveal.
Thanks both.
One of the best puzzles of the year, a superbly developed theme. I’ll add to the deserved praise for THE PRESENT and NOT NOW.
A joy. As were all the comments on here. Like others on here, I loved no time like THE PRESENT. I know many people my age hanker for the past, but I don’t know; nostalgia’s not what it used to be…
As “an improver” puzzler I found this tough but very enjoyable. The theme helped with solving (which it doesn’t always). Solving each clue was a fun lightbulb moment.
Justigator @11
Glad you agree about sanding vs polishing – I was a bit irked by this too, as a sometime woodworker, and even more dismayed that Chambers Thesaurus thinks that they are equivalent!
“Soundly” seemed cheeky as a homophone indicator… perhaps a ? at the end would have been fairer, given that it means nothing of the sort.
Enjoyed the theme very much though – great puzzle.
Sanding for polishing draws the same comments every time it comes up. Perhaps setters need to include “according to Chambers” every time they feel tempted to use it.
Anon@64: “… even more dismayed that Chambers Thesaurus thinks that they are equivalent!” Well, you must be right then. Chambers will probably issue a correction shortly.
Thanks to Brendan (according to Chambers) and manehi as always.