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* |
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| 9 | UNHAPPY | Jolly boyo, missing football club, depressed (7) FUN CHAPPY (jolly boyo) less FC |
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| 10 | ABSENCE | A Beginner’s Introduction: Science 101 cancelled for non-attendance (7) A B[eginner] + SCIENCE less CI (101) |
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| 11 | DRAPE | Adorn orangutan with stethoscope? (5) The orangutan with a stethoscope might be DR APE |
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| 12 | ACTUARIAL | Compound rates I calculate with select elements discounted, using life tables? (9) Anagram of RATES I CALCULATE less the letters of SELECT |
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| 13 | MISMANAGE | Fail to deal with right-wing extremism with a bit of history (9) The “right wing” of extrMISM + AN AGE |
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| 15 | TASKS | Team leader requests you do them (5) T[eam] + ASKS |
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| 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) |
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| 18 | POTPOURRI | Mix up root and rip up dried petals (9) (ROOT RIP UP)* |
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| 20 | IRRITATES | Provokes ire with artist fabrication (9) (IRE ARTIST)* |
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| 23 | STING | Policeman’s undercover operation (5) Sting (aka Gordon Sumner) was the front man for the band the Police, so a Police-man |
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| 24 | NINNIES | Silly people name their belly buttons, sometimes (7) N[ame] + INNIES (inward-pointing navels) |
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| 25 | ACETONE | Controversially, Roman wine bar serves nail polish remover (7) Reverse of ENOTECA, a type of Italian wine shop |
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| 26 | LEATHER TROUSERS | Chaps joined at the hip, later awkwardly embracing the cheerleaders (7,8) THE in LATER* + ROUSERS |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | FOUR‑DIMENSIONAL | Formalised union with new arrangement in time and space (4-11) (FORMALISED UNION)* |
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| 2 | REHEARS | Tries again to run lines, endlessly (7) REHEARSE (run through lines of a play) less its last letter |
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| 3 | TIPPERARY | Dump booze outside of a town in Ireland (9) TIP (dump) + A in PERRY |
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| 4 | PHYLA | Groups hiding in photography labs (5) Hidden in photograPHY LAbs |
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| 5 | ENACTMENT | Fulfilment staff turned up: soldiers in casual shirts (9) Reverse of CANE (staff) + MEN in two Ts (t-shirts) |
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| 6 | RASTA | Dreaded one uprising of a Russian leader (5) Reverse of A TSAR |
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| 7 | NANNIES | Poles welcoming musical girl, the likes of Mary Poppins (7) ANNIE (girl in the musical of the same name) in N S |
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| 8 | EVERLASTINGNESS | Evil, strange, barbarous, monstrous Lake Constance? (15) (EVIL STRANGE)* + NESS (loch, lake) |
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| 14 | APPETISER | Praise pet that’s barking … to get bite (9) (PRAISE PET)* |
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| 15 | TROUSSEAU | In Yorkshire, the philosopher’s wedding attire (9) ’T + ROUSSEAU, using the often misrepresented Yorkshire trope of definite article reduction |
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| 17 | PIRANHA | 16 fish, about three took flight with some laughter (7) PI (mathematical constant, a bit larger than 3) + RAN + HA |
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| 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 |
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| 21 | THIGH | Tyrannosaurus raised upper leg (5) T (Tyrannosaurus, as in the abbreviation T rex) + HIGH |
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| 22 | STAIR | Step-sister’s heart put out (5) The “heart” of siSTer + AIR (to put out, as clothes on a line) |
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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