BOBCAT kicks off the week…
A great puzzle with a feline Nina (as one expects). I struggled with some of the parsing, especially 13d, but still found it thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks BOBCAT!
ACROSS
9. Naughty Seth and Marnie bathe together (2,3,4,6)
IN THE SAME BREATH
(SETH and MARNIE BATHE)* (*naughty)
10. Hottest spot gets lowest score? That’s unexpected (5)
HELLO
HELL (hottest spot) gets O (lowest score)
11. Already set up to adopt Times Modern (6-3)
LATTER-DAY
(ALREADY)* (*set up) to adopt T T (times)
12. Organ introit’s a revelation (3-6)
EYE-OPENER
EYE (organ) + OPENER (introit)
14. I agree to curb extremely abstract poet (5)
YEATS
YES (I agree) to curb A[bstrac]T (extremely)
16. Agent on commission transformed Runcorn bakeries (9,6)
INSURANCE BROKER
(RUNCORN BAKERIES)* (*transformed)
19. Total loss or guaranteed returns (not much)? (5)
GROSS
([lo]SS OR G[uaranteed] (not much))< (<returns)
21. Winger converts first of tries against Spain (9)
TURNSTONE
TURNS (converts) + T[ries] (first of) + ON (against) + E (Spain)
23. One may rumble an underdog, apparently (9)
SUBWOOFER
SUB (under) + WOOFER (dog)
25. Broadcast enchanted Cologne? (5)
SCENT
"sent" = SCENT (enchanted, "broadcast")
26. It could be that no pair volunteer to move (8,7)
RELATIVE PRONOUN
(NO PAIR VOLUNTEER)* (*to move)
DOWN
1. Beginning to feel the pinch? Mix the double gin with minimal tonic (10)
TIGHTENING
(THE GIN GIN (double) with T[onic] (minimal))* (*mix)
2. Prime Minister in general led by headless power unit (6)
ATTLEE
LEE (general) led by [w]ATT (power unit, headless)
3. At a discount, requiring less than 60% of capital (5,3)
BELOW PAR
BELOW (less than) + PAR[is] (capital, 60% of)
4. Bar bishop knocking out rector in protest (4)
BAIL
RAIL (protest, B (bishop) knocking out R (rector))
5. Dictator’s wise to constrain festival failing to exhibit a notice in the past (10)
YESTERYEAR
"wise" = Y Y ("dictators") to constrain E[a]STER (festival, failing to exhibit A) + EAR (notice)
6. Weird fringes of party supporting tribe (6)
CREEPY
P[art]Y (fringes of) supporting CREE (tribe)
7. Drivers’ club run by night probed by very nosy individual (8)
AARDVARK
AA (drivers' club) + R (run) by (DARK (night) probed by V (very))
8. Some people start to terrify with call for attention (4)
THEY
T[errify] (start to) with HEY (call for attention)
13. Routine sort of job in spinning setter’s keeping clear of (4-2-4)
NINE-TO-FIVE
Not really sure how this works… maybe something to do with the sun?
15. Mineral water in London park inadequately described (10)
SERPENTINE
Double definition (not quite sure what the "inadequately described" is)
17. Mushroom cocktail (8)
SNOWBALL
18. Dolores is to run rings around anyone standing up to her (8)
RESISTOR
[dolo]RES IS TO R[un] (rings around)
20. Polish assembly once cloaked in silence (6)
SMOOTH
MOOT (assembly, once) cloaked in SH (silence)
22. Manx cat the French officer raised as a wild animal (6)
OCELOT
(TO[m] + LE (the, French) + CO (officer))< (<raised)
23. Arrange play without regard to Pinter’s introduction (4)
SORT
S[p]ORT (play, without regard to P[inter] (introduction))
24. Ready to take two subjects at school (4)
RIPE
RI PE (two subjects at school)
13 is NI (IN spinning) + I’VE (setter’s) around (“keeping” ) NET OF
Thanks Bobcat and Teacow
I think SERPENTINE is “inadequately described” because it isn’t: it only has one bend.
Some very clever clues. Although I had all the crossers, I needed a word finder for nho TURNSTONE and SUBWOOFER.
Thanks Bobcat for the puzzle and Teacow for explaining it so well.
My last one in was 7d, after I had changed YATES to YEATS.
15D The title of the lake in Hyde Park is “The Serpentine”, so “Serpentine”, without more, only partly identifies it
I took 15d to be a triple definition: (Mineral) (water in London park) (inadequately described). The last definition relating to serpentine in the sense of difficult or overly complex.
Tricky but some great clues. Who would have known that insurance broker and Runcorn bakeries were anagrams? Love it.
Agree with your intro, Teacow – an enjoyable chewy puzzle!
I was thinking along the same lines as Simon S for “inadequately described” but I can’t say I’m wholly convinced by this or any of the other proffered explanations. Bagpuss’s suggestion seems most plausible (wise cat).
Thanks Bobcat for a challenging but ultimately rewarding crossword. I revealed TURNSTONE and couldn’t parse NINE-TO-FIVE & SERPENTINE but I managed to solve everything else. Favourites included SUBWOOFER, BELOW PAR, CREEPY, AARDVARK, OCELOT, & the feline Nina, TABBY CAT. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
Agree this was enjoyable A couple oh NHOs (including the SNOWBALL mushroom and cocktail) but all parsed in the end. So saying I am also still unsure about SERPENTINE
thanks Bobcat and Teacow
I did enjoy this, and found it easier going than Bobcat can sometimes be. Our black cat was my solving companion today, not our tabby, but I still found the Nina delightful. TURNSTONE was my last in, having never heard of the bird.
Martyn @10: I believe “snowball” means “mushroom” in their verb senses (to grow rapidly or out-of-control). But I hadn’t heard of the cocktail either.
Indeed, mrpenny@11, I did think of the verb mushroom. But a search of the internet revealed there is an actual mushroom/edible fungus called snowball too. The things one learns through crosswords!
Thanks Bobcat and Teacow
17dn: Further to comments 10-12, I found snowball as a noun meaning the cocktail, and as a verb meaning the same as the verb mushroom, in all the dictionaries I usually cite, except that the Pocket Oxford 2013 did not have the cocktail. For what it is worth, I could not find snowball=mushroom as nouns in any of them, but that may mean that the name for the mushroom/fungus as mentioned by Martyn@12 is regarded as too specialised a meaning to appear in a general dictionary, or it could be a very recent coinage.
PB#13: Possibly too specialised rather than recent. Bradford’s (13th Edition, 2024 – don’t know about earlier ones) has ‘snowball’ in the entry for ‘mushroom’, so Mrs B must have picked it up much as Martyn#12 did.
The verb sense of mushroom is widely used and understood, so it’s pretty safe to assume that is what Bobcat intended, rather than some obscure variety of fungus. Occam’s razor, innit.
I didn’t know an AARDVARK was a nosy person and got stuck there for a bit. And compounded my misery in the top right but putting eye opening rather than EYE OPENER. I’ve never been to Hyde Park and don’t know the lake and for awhile surrounding armed to fit for described. So I mostly screwed myself up on this one! Thank you everyone!
It is interesting how different solvers have different views of setters. Bobcat is not one of my favourites, and this was no exception. I can normally parse just about every clue, but I was left with five today which I didn’t properly understand, though I did manage to finish, after a bit of a struggle.
Thanks for explaining.
Spotting tabby cat early on helped.
Ps. – Anil@16. – an Aardvark is a long nosed African animal that lives on termites – thus “individual” in clue.
I’ve struggled with the last three or four puzzles, only filling in less than half. When I eventually admit defeat and look at this blog, it is a mixture of “Why didn’t I think of that?” (which is annoying) and “Well, I would never have got that in a million years” (which is strangely reassuring in that it justifies my decision to give up). Thanks therefore not just to Teacow and belated thanks to those who have explained the last few puzzles. I don’t always remember.
I had THEM for 8d, the word “Hem” also being a call for attention, though a more restrained, Jeeves-like one than “Hey”.
[Moly @17: If a setter is not ‘one of my favourites’ I skip his crosswords. (For some reason I like all of the female setters, what few we have.) With the FT, the Indy, & the Guardian all providing puzzles, I can usually find one that qualifies as a ‘favourite’.]
Is Bobcat female? Good to know of another female setter if that is the case.
Widdersbel@15 – I agree the setter probably intended the more usual alternative. My comment was as much for humour as anything
Tony @19: Interesting; now that you mention it, I agree that the female setters seem to always work well for me. There’s also a fairly long list of males whose puzzles I like, of course. (On the flip side, I never actually skip a daily puzzle because of the byline; there are a few setters whose work I know will make me tear my hair out–Vlad and Enigmatist/Io stand out–but I always at least try.)
[mrpenny @21: I can’t possibly do all the GIFT crosswords everyday so I pick & choose. I also try to set & solve puzzles on MyCrossword so my plate’s pretty full.]