A new setter, I believe, to (almost) end the year on (1 across is appropriate). It took me a while to get on the right wavelength, and there were a few clues where I got the answer from the definition but struggled to parse the wordplay. There were some easier clues too, with some helpful anagrams, so a very promising debut.
Thanks and welcome to Ramsay
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | FIRST APPEARANCE | Unveiling trees, touch fruit with bent cane (5,10) FIRS (trees) + TAP (touch) + PEAR (fruit) + CANE* |
||||||
| 9 | UNHAPPY | Jolly boyo, missing football club, depressed (7) FUN CHAPPY (jolly boyo) less FC |
||||||
| 10 | ABSENCE | A Beginner’s Introduction: Science 101 cancelled for non-attendance (7) A B[eginner] + SCIENCE less CI (101) |
||||||
| 11 | DRAPE | Adorn orangutan with stethoscope? (5) The orangutan with a stethoscope might be DR APE |
||||||
| 12 | ACTUARIAL | Compound rates I calculate with select elements discounted, using life tables? (9) Anagram of RATES I CALCULATE less the letters of SELECT |
||||||
| 13 | MISMANAGE | Fail to deal with right-wing extremism with a bit of history (9) The “right wing” of extrMISM + AN AGE |
||||||
| 15 | TASKS | Team leader requests you do them (5) T[eam] + ASKS |
||||||
| 16 | NIPPY | Chinese coolness coming back around very softly, very cool (5) PP (pianissimo, very quiet) in reverse of YIN (as in Yin and Yang) |
||||||
| 18 | POTPOURRI | Mix up root and rip up dried petals (9) (ROOT RIP UP)* |
||||||
| 20 | IRRITATES | Provokes ire with artist fabrication (9) (IRE ARTIST)* |
||||||
| 23 | STING | Policeman’s undercover operation (5) Sting (aka Gordon Sumner) was the front man for the band the Police, so a Police-man |
||||||
| 24 | NINNIES | Silly people name their belly buttons, sometimes (7) N[ame] + INNIES (inward-pointing navels) |
||||||
| 25 | ACETONE | Controversially, Roman wine bar serves nail polish remover (7) Reverse of ENOTECA, a type of Italian wine shop |
||||||
| 26 | LEATHER TROUSERS | Chaps joined at the hip, later awkwardly embracing the cheerleaders (7,8) THE in LATER* + ROUSERS |
||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | FOUR‑DIMENSIONAL | Formalised union with new arrangement in time and space (4-11) (FORMALISED UNION)* |
||||||
| 2 | REHEARS | Tries again to run lines, endlessly (7) REHEARSE (run through lines of a play) less its last letter |
||||||
| 3 | TIPPERARY | Dump booze outside of a town in Ireland (9) TIP (dump) + A in PERRY |
||||||
| 4 | PHYLA | Groups hiding in photography labs (5) Hidden in photograPHY LAbs |
||||||
| 5 | ENACTMENT | Fulfilment staff turned up: soldiers in casual shirts (9) Reverse of CANE (staff) + MEN in two Ts (t-shirts) |
||||||
| 6 | RASTA | Dreaded one uprising of a Russian leader (5) Reverse of A TSAR |
||||||
| 7 | NANNIES | Poles welcoming musical girl, the likes of Mary Poppins (7) ANNIE (girl in the musical of the same name) in N S |
||||||
| 8 | EVERLASTINGNESS | Evil, strange, barbarous, monstrous Lake Constance? (15) (EVIL STRANGE)* + NESS (loch, lake) |
||||||
| 14 | APPETISER | Praise pet that’s barking … to get bite (9) (PRAISE PET)* |
||||||
| 15 | TROUSSEAU | In Yorkshire, the philosopher’s wedding attire (9) ’T + ROUSSEAU, using the often misrepresented Yorkshire trope of definite article reduction |
||||||
| 17 | PIRANHA | 16 fish, about three took flight with some laughter (7) PI (mathematical constant, a bit larger than 3) + RAN + HA |
||||||
| 19 | RHIZOME | Roots of Riemann zeta: only minus evens and half + imaginary included – that’s where roots come from! (7) H[alf] I[maginary] in R[iemann] Z[eta] O[nly] M[inus] E[vens]. The surface is referring to the Riemann hypothesis, a famous unsolved problem in mathematics |
||||||
| 21 | THIGH | Tyrannosaurus raised upper leg (5) T (Tyrannosaurus, as in the abbreviation T rex) + HIGH |
||||||
| 22 | STAIR | Step-sister’s heart put out (5) The “heart” of siSTer + AIR (to put out, as clothes on a line) |
||||||
I found this a lot of fun. Like Andrew I struggled to parse a couple of the fiddlier anagrams at first but got there eventually. I especially enjoyed the daft puns in DRAPE, RASTA and STING, but lots else to like too.
Could 15ac count as &lit?
Thanks to Ramsay and Andrew.
Thanks for the parsing of STAIR. The only one to hold out. I entered the first few clues fairly quickly, but others took a while as I got used to Ramsay’s style. Had to look up enoteca after ACETONE became obvious from the crossers. Like PIRANHA for the ‘about three’ in the wordplay and RASTA. Thanks to Andrew and thanks, and welcome to Ramsay.
I have a few days off so can look at crosswords first thing rather than lunchtime this week and perhaps comment rather than lurk as usual. Needed blog to parse ACETONE and 8d NHO but struggled through the anagram by a process of elimination. LEATHER TROUSERS and DRAPE made me smile when they finally arrived and rare to see my sister’s chosen profession referred to anywhere let alone a puzzle (she’s an actuary). Glad that the four long clues were not too painful (Constance aside) and enjoyed the tussle. Thank you Ramsay and Andrew.
I had no idea on the parsing of 25A but otherwise I thought it was pretty straightforward. My favorite was ACTUARIAL, possibly because I worked in an actuarial department of a major insurance company during the summer between college graduation and the start of grad school. Thanks Ramsey and Andrew!
Enjoyed this a lot. Some fairly libertarian stuff scattered throughout but all gettable and plenty to smile at including TASKS, NINNIES, FOUR-DIMENSIONAL, TIPPERARY, APPETISER, PIRANHA and THIGH. And the outrageous DR APE. Biggest eyebrow raise probably for ‘controversially’ as a reversal indicator which I have not encountered before. I look forward to more from this setter.
Thanks both
Thanks Ramsay and Andrew
This was fun. I liked DRAPE, STING, and ACETONE amongst others (I have enough Italian to parse the last).
Ramsay joins my list of preferred compilers.
There were a few things I still scratch my head over — where does jolly boyo come from? — and I’d never heard of PHYLA nor enotica.
I initially thought the clue for STING wasn’t cryptic, but enjoyed it when the penny dropped.
Thanks Ramsay and Andrew
I think in 8 NESS is given by “monstrous lake”, because of the supposed monster there.
Life’s too short for the wordplay of RHIZOME, which like several others was gettable from the def but laborious to parse, and it simply never occurred to me that the unlikely-looking ENOTECA might be a real word. But this was a lot of fun elsewhere – I liked the police-man and the medical orangutan, and the “monstrous lake” in EVERLASTINGNESS. Welcome to Ramsay.
[p.s. I used to know a chap who was both a Master of Arts and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, and wore a MAFIA T-shirt to prove it.]
26a is worded to suggest that the cheerleaders appear within the anagram of later, whereas of course they follow. So that slowed me down. Otherwise loved this, and hope to see much more of Ramsay — to whom, thanks; and to you Andrew.
Favourite: ENOTECA.
New for me: PHYLA; INNIE = belly button; PERRY = alcoholic drink (for 3d).
I could not parse:
9ac (haha, football clues always do my head in!)
12ac
the IP bit of 17d (failed to think of PI = 3.14159 etc)
19d – haha, I’m with gladys@9. While I saw R[iemann] Z[eta], I did not think of the rest of the initial letters. Probably the (for me) strange surface turned my brain off! Also never heard of Riemann hypothesis.
I thought ‘innies’ would appear most of the time and ‘outies’ more likely sometimes. Liked Dr Ape, STING, the Yorkie definite article reduction, and learned that there are enoteche in Italia. Thanks for the blog Andrew and welcome to the stage, Ramsey.
I had a few struggles with parsing and getting used to the setter’s style, but this was an enjoyable outing.
Perhaps unsurprisingly not happy with UNHAPPY. It seems perilously close to being that unwelcome thing, an indirect anagram. I suppose you could call it an indirect subtraction, but is that any better? More generally I felt this was OK, but some of the cluing seemed clumsy and unnecessarily wordy – yes, 19D, I’m looking at you.
Nah, Rhizomes create roots, so that’s where roots come from. Nothing to do with Riemann.
I thought this was chuckle-out-loud delightful. I particularly liked the double bluff in RASTA, where for once the Russian leader wasn’t R.
Loved 12a, having earned most of my lifetimes living applying such principles
And thoroughly enjoyed the rest from this new setter
I enjoyed this immensely, and look forward to further contributions – there were some excellent surfaces and misdirections. RHIZOMES, EVERLASTINGNESS and DRAPE topped my tick list.
Thanks to Andrew and Ramsey
Thanks for your hard work showing the parsing, Andrew. Mostly it was a “hit and hope” for me, often with no idea why my guesses were right 🤭
Welcome Ramsay – I really enjoyed this! I haven’t laughed out loud so much at a puzzle for ages! Agree some of the parsing was convoluted but it was so much fun I forgave it! Had to come here for help with ACETONE (would never have known the wine bar) and ACTUARIAL (which I probably should have thought about for longer). Thanks Andrew and look forward to seeing more of Ramsay!
I thought that this was one of most entertaining puzzles in ages and although some surfaces were a bit clunky, I thought the parsing was worth the effort, especially in ACTUARIAL and RHIZOME. I also liked DRAPE, RASTA, STING, FOUR DIMENSIONAL, EVERLASTINGNESS and the symmetry of NANNIES and NINNIES. I presumed, as Andrew implies, that FIRST APPEARANCE and ‘beginner’s introduction’ in ABSENCE were self-referential. An excellent debut with more to come I hope.
Ta Ramsay & Andrew.
A pleasant mix of “solve first parse later” and clues where the answer emerges from the wordplay.
I too thought 19d RHIZOME was excellent – a beautifully comprehensive mnemonic for this complex hypothesis, plus the pivot from maths to biology. Let’s all spell Ramsay correctly 😉 out of respect for this important new setter!
Quite a few clues where elaborate wordplay was paired with a simple definition leading to a fair bit of CQBA on my part
Ramsay wouldn’t be the first setter to start out a bit over-elaborate; Pangakapu & Harpo spring to mind and they evolved nicely
Overall a solid start
Cheers R&A
Very enjoyable, though I did wonder if a Trousseau is properly ‘wedding attire’. I’ve always understood it to mean the bride’s collection of linen on starting married life.
No idea how to parse UNHAPPY. ‘Fun chappy’ is not a phrase I could imagine myself ever using.
Is 10a “science 101” a reference to the maths, chemistry and biology references elsewhere (PHYLA, ACETONE, Pi, Riemann, rhizome etc) or am I reading too much?
Anyway, I enjoyed the omission of cricket and bridge terminology in today’s puzzle.
Welcome Ramsay and thanks for the parsing.
It was a not too long way to TIPPERARY but a most pleasant and fun one; thanks Ramsay for a formidable debut and Andrew for a great blog. I completely missed the parsing of ACETONE, alas, although I knew ENOTECA. DRAPE and STING stand out, as well as the surface of RHIZOME, among lots of good clues. For 26a, I’d originally put in “Siamese brothers” which, I guess, was intended by the setter, – would be surprised if I’d be alone…
Balfour @14: I think indirect subtractions come up quite often…
It’s always an exciting day when an unfamiliar name opens a grid — and what a cracking puzzle! Lots to love, from the dreaded Dr. Ape to Nessie’s belly button. As a recovering mathematician, the Riemann Zeta roots struck a chord!
In my Goldilocks zone of difficulty too. I’m seconding Geoff Down Under @7 in looking forward to the SECOND APPEARANCE of Ramsay, whether that’s to get cooked (if Gordon) or flayed (if Bolton).
Thank you Andrew and Ramsay, and a very warm welcome!
There’s the Riemann zeta function.
Hello Ramsay! What a delight to make your acquaintance and thank you very much for a crossword that was WAY more entertaining than recent offerings have been…
Like Guinevere @20 I chuckled my way through this and, looking at my tea-&-marmalade stained printed-up copy, I see a mass of ticks and happy exclamation marks. DRAPE, STING & TROUSSEAU were the funniest, I liked PIRANHA for the “about three”, ABSENCE for the “cancelled 101”, 8D for the “monstrous lake” whilst RHIZOME & FIRST APPEARANCE were little beauties.
I also enjoyed the symmetrical placing of NINNIES & NANNIES, which can’t have been accidental from such a skilled setter.
Thank you Andrew for the blog & for explaining ACETONE: I’m rubbish at Italian.
Like many previous commenters, I look forward to Ramsay’s next one
Yes, good 1A, although I struggled a bit with some of the parsing (ACETONE, MISMANAGE). I liked some of the definitions: chaps joined at the hip for LEATHER TROUSERS, monstrous lake for NESS, orangutan with stethoscope for DR APE. I also liked the clever parsing of ACTUARIAL and the UNHAPPY boyo.
Thanks Ramsay and Andrew.
Layman @27: You weren’t the only one with Siamese Brothers. As with most of the comments here, I really enjoyed this. Chapeau to Ramsay on an excellent and entertaining start, and thanks to Andrew for the parsing of STAIR and ACETONE.
Loved too many to mention. LOI RASTA, brillant.
I did like the monstrous lake and the dreaded one!
Thanks and welcome aboard Ramsay!
And thanks for the blog and reminding me of Enoteca Andrew!
The OED says Milton described the faces of Janus as controversial although I didn’t spot it as a reversal indicator for ACETONE.
I enjoyed solving this, good to see a new setter doing a mid-level puzzle, although STING is a bit of an old chestnut and there are good alternative SxIxG words.
What a fantastic debut, I really enjoyed that.
I failed to parse acetone because I got fixated on aceto as spoiled wine and couldn’t change that train of thought, despite a large amount of lira spent in many an enoteca in my holidaying youth. Shame because I love controversial as a reversal indicator, coming as it does from controversus, turning different ways.
There were one or two where I dredged my memory from Science lessons at school to supply a possible answer – RHIZOME (mention of the letter Z also helped here) and ACETONE – before seeing whether they parsed to the correct answer. PIRANHA was another a bit like that. Had no idea how NINNIES worked, never having heard of Innies before. Had all the crossers bar one in place before I rather cheated on penultimate one in EVERLASTINGNESS – can’t say I’ve ever used that one in polite conversation.
Which meant I felt rather embarrassed with myself that I hadn’t equated this particular member of the Police as STING. Last one in with a groan/grin. Now have an earworm of Roxanne playing incessantly in my head…
A very entertaining FIRST APPEARANCE, though I must admit there were a few that I failed to parse.
“Controversially” is certainly a, dare I say it, controversial reversal indicator. Yes, the word does come from the Latin for to turn against, but I can’t find any dictionary authority for it meaning that in English. Rich @34: I believe Milton referred to “The temple of Janus with his two controversal faces”, not controversial with an i.
Thanks Ramsay and Andrew.
What a pleasure after yesterday’s (for me) impossible puzzle. Failed to parse ACETONE after writing it in anyway quite early on. Loved LEATHER TROUSERS.
Similar to the blogger it took a while to get on wavelength. This setter is certainly not strictly ximenian. But once the clues started to click it was quite enjoyable. Never did work out unhappy until I read the blog.
Liked NINNIES and LEATHER TROUSERS.
Thanks Andrew and welcome Ramsay
Lots to like here, although several were tough to parse – I eventually picked apart 19D – and a couple of parsings defeated me entirely. ENOTECA was new to me, it never having come up in four years of O Level Latin.
Thank you Andrew and Ramsay.
Thanks Andrew and cheers to Ramsay; welcome indeed.
I thought I’d seen Sting = Policeman/Police Chief/Ex Policeman etc. a few times now, and a search confirmed this. The earliest appearing in my rudimentary search on 225 is 18A here:
Arachne 25,577
I also found it amazing that the Guardian keeps these old cryptics for ages!
Thanks for the blog , very enjoyable puzzle , DR APE a nice idea , ACTUARIAL a very neat subtraction with the use of elements avoiding the second anagram , LEATHER TROUSERS hid the definition very well in plain sight . Many more pleasing clues .
By some miracle we get a science clue at 1D , FOUR-DIMENSIONAL space-time developed by Minkowski in 1908 to give the geometry of special relativity .
The clue for RHIZOME gives a pretty impressive description of the Riemann hypothesis in four brief lines .
Groups=PHYLA is a bit weak , they are far more important than that .
And once again I have the answer to everything @42 .
Lord Jim @37 you will be right, the main entry is controversal with def 2 “=CONTROVERSIAL” then the Milton reference
Excellent debut! Particular cheers for dr. ape, the clever definition + construction of everlastingness, and the chaps. NHO enoteca and also needed help to parse STAIR and get all the way with RHIZOME but the definitions made them painless. UNHAPPY was nice too.
Balfour@14; IMO indirect subtractions are much more tractable than indirect anagrams; with the subtractions, whatever words you can think of go in the same order, while with anagrams the rearrangement means the answer is barely constrained at all. And with FC at least it’s clear what needs to be subtracted, unlike something like Enormous number of cats missing–the French dance (9) [this was the best I could come up with offhand].
Thanks Ramsay and Andrew!
Decent FIRST APPEARANCE by Ramsay — looking forward to more. It was satisfying to solve 1a backwards from the wordplay. A lot of clever clues, well constructed. Many likes, including 10a ASBENCE (“Science 101 cancelled”), 11a DRAPE (DR APE very funny), 15a TASKS (concise), 24a NINNIES (fun “belly buttons” reference), 7d NANNIES (for “Mary Poppins”, one of my favourite movies), 8d EVERLASTINGNESS (what a word!), 19d RHIZOME (interesting combination of first letters and containment), 22d STAIR (“Step-sister”)
Couldn’t parse 13a MISMANAGE, 25a ACETONE, so thank you Andrew
Very good. I look forward to Ramsey the Second.
Good to have some proper Scientific Erudition again from Roz@41…welcome back! I was someone who even struggled with General Science at O Level…
Thanks Ramsay for a creative crossword. Mig @46 cleverly connected Ramsay’s debut with 1a, FIRST APPEARANCE — nice touch. I enjoyed clues like ABSENCE, DRAPE, NANNIES, & ACETONE once I saw the parsing. (Like PostMark @5, I thought ‘controversially’ might be suspect as a reversal indicator.) I couldn’t fully parse MISMANAGE or STAIR; thanks Andrew for the blog.
How do you tell a scientist from a non-scientist?
A scientist thinks nail-varnish remover smells like ACETONE; a non-scientist thinks ACETONE smells like nail-varnish remover.
That one was a very late entry from the crossers and many years spent in the lab: it was Mrs TheSheep who reassured me that Enoteca is a kind of Italian winery.
Did this one today in intervals between various stages of dropping son off at airport and visiting a few places on the return; which proved to be a perfect way of enjoying this very nice puzzle: do a few clues, look at a few more, have time to muse on them before the next short bash, and so on.
I enjoyed the long ones round the edges, especially my LOI EVERLASTINGNESS; though how any Scots on here might feel about “Lake” Ness is open to question, I’d readily forgive that for its forming part of a great surface. LEATHER TROUSERS was also excellent, as were many others.
Thank you Ramsey for a great first offering, and to Andrew for the blog, helping with those I couldn’t parse ( PIRANHA for one – very neat when you see it!).
[DTS @50
Mmm – for the last 60 years or so a scientist should call it “propanone”! Mind you New Scientist magazine doesn’t consistently use the IUPAC names….]
Tony Santucci @49 Also suggested by Andrew in the preamble, and others! 🙂
[Roz @42: now there’s a name I’ve badly missed, especially the abuse she dishes out to me 😉]
[muffin@51: Point taken, though in a met-prep lab we just used it for cleaning specimens: first acetone, then methanol, then distilled water, then dry off; and it was 40-50 years ago (eek). So we weren’t being picky about IUPAC. Having in the last few years been doing support chemistry teaching online, I’ve had to relearn a few names, so as not to get a “yer what?” response. It’s still acetone to me, though.]
CQBA ??
Sorry, matt w @45, but I’m sticking with my objections to UNHAPPY, both in principle and also relating to the specifics of Ramsay’s clue. Both an indirect anagram and an indirect subtraction require (a) that the solver first intuits a synonym for a word or phrase in the clue and (b) then performs wordplay on the synonym. The difference between the two is arguably one of degree, therefore, not of kind. In this specific instance, the solver has to get from ‘jolly boyo’ (not a phrase I have ever heard or used) to ‘fun chappy’ (ditto) and then perform the subtraction of FC for ‘football club’. This just seems egregious, and if anyone arrived at the solution by painstakingly going through this process rather than from definition and crossers, then retro-parsing, I would be flabbergasted.
[ Thank you Roanald@48 , I think I was the last year to do O-Levels but I would just read my Physics books in all my other lessons . ]
[ Good to see you AlanC @53 , I was expecting to see you at Number 1 , I am still on parole after my ban so need to behave . Perhaps you should sit down before reading the next bit .
I have been to watch a few football games recently , all in a good cause and a chance to catch up on my reading . ]
Balfour @56: I rarely disagree with you but I thought UNHAPPY was particularly clever but then I’m not a purist. I’ve started reading ‘The Turn of the Screw’ btw, upon your recommendation, if you can remember our previous..
Balfour@56, fair, and I certainly got it the way you describe. The subtract a defined word from another word clues certainly aren’t my favorite, because they do often seem like they could be anything (there’s one in today’s Independent which I won’t mention here to avoid puzzles, which on seeing the parsing I was like “how was I supposed to come up with that synonym?”)
[in case anyone is curious about my clue, it’s QUADRILLIONS – LIONS + LE]
AlanC#58; Balfour @56: I’m OK with a few clues where the method is more likely to be to see what fits the definition and any crossers then retro-parsing to confirm it’s the right entry, than to work it out ab initio; but then I’m not a purist either.
On the other hand, there were quite a few in this puzzle where it was pleasing to assemble the bits until the penny dropped as to what they were heading towards that fitted the definition – FIRST APPEARANCE, for example, was one I put in that way.
Wow.Fantastic debut
Thanks Ramsay and Andrew
Re (F)UN (C)HAPPY and it being indirect, we are at least being told to look for a JOLLY BOYO beginning F C, which narrows the possibilities.
As a non scientist I was struck by the science references in the clues while solving. My interest was further piqued by earlier comments and especially by Roz’s @ 42 (Welcome back! and 🙂 @43 . How serendipitous! ) I also thought something might be going on in the perimeter.
So I started off on a journey googling the mathematicians and physicists mentioned, trying to understand this mind-bending (to me) stuff, reduced to its bare minimum by AI. Along the way I learned that 2025 is/was the United Nations International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ 2025), recognising 100 years since the initial development of quantum mechanics. Could it be that Ramsay and the Editor snuck this puzzle in just before the year is out?
What fun! We absolutely loved this. Welcome to Ramsey. What a wonderful debut. We especially loved TROUSSEAU, STING, DRAPE, NINNIES and EVERLASTINGNESS. Thanks Ramsey and Andrew for the blog.
Welcome Ramsay.
Nice puzzle. We are looking foward to more.
At least 5 mentions so far for ACTUARIAL. As an FFA (1975), I saw it pretty quickly but struggled to parse it.
I hesitate to disagree with Balfour about indirect subtractions, but (F)UN (C)HAPPY was my favourite for its inventiveness. Like others I struggled with some of the parsing, and was grateful that Andrew persevered so that I didn’t have to. I’ll have to remember to look out for things like ‘right-wing extremism’=MISM, in future. 😁
Thanks to Ramsay and Andrew.
I was once told that the actuarial profession is for those who find accountancy too exciting.
I was also that it is for those who want to make an awul lot of money.
RHIZOME and ACTUARIAL were beautiful and there were plenty of other fun ones. I did not parse ACETONE but thought it was lovely once I’d come here to find an explanation.
Welcome Ramsey ! I enjoyed completing that puzzle, although like many others I had to come here for one or two parsings, especially ACETONE .
This presumably was another of the “anything goes” grids which Alan Connor promised us on the Guardian site. But I remember seeing it in the newspaper a few years ago although I cannot recall the setter then, and I’ve been hoping for its reappearance ever since. The ultimate in solver-friendliness !
A very interesting first edition I found. Drifted through the As and Ds and had little to show for the first pass but a veritable cacophony of near misses babbling away in my head… and so it came to pass, sense was made by extra focus and help from crossers and once completed a very pleasant feeling. Quite a few biffs along the way, life’s too short to spend eons on these. I’m with Balfour wrt to the two quibbles, but mercifully the definition and crossers meant little time was lost on the parsing, in fact the ROOT and R, Z in the clue were sufficient. Fun Chappy – FC wasn’t going to happen, another where the definition etc got me there. Thanks very much Ramsay and Andrew.
Roz@42!!!!! Welcome back, you’ve been sorely missed (if you’re vain enough to search your name you’ll see). I’ve no idea what you did to get banned but suggest that maybe you need to give your comments a Litmus test for the forseeable.
Pino@68. I never got why they were deemed so special. They’re just Death Bookies, such a narrow focus and the sums aren’t rocket science in the least. Ask Roz. Like banking and general insurance, it’s not a ‘proper’ market, it’s an unofficial cartel.
Thanks to Ramsay for a welcome FIRST APPEARANCE. That NW corner had us scratching our heads at first but then things ran reasonably smoothly. I hadn’t run across “enoteca” in studying Italian so we couldn’t parse ACETONE and also failed to parse STAIR, our LOI. Otherwise fine. We particularly enjoyed STING.
A warm, firm, welcoming handshake is extended to Ramsay from this poster.
Thanks all.
Lovely puzzle, too hard for me, so lots of reveals but it was fun and I felt pleased that I solved the ones I did. Thank you Ramsey and Andrew. I really enjoyed this one.
Only one I couldn’t parse was ACETONE. It’s always very tricky when the anagrind refers to something cryptically described but not the actual anagram. Sort of like having a cryptic clue within a cryptic clue. Favourite was EVERLASTINGNESS. Very clever clue indeed.
Balfour passim: you’re making a rudimentary mistake by treating ‘jolly boyo’ as a phrase. It isn’t – it’s 2 separate words. ‘Jolly’ -> ‘fun’; ‘boyo’ -> ‘chappy’. Job done. Stop bleating.