Thanks to Pasquale for the puzzle, with a few words I had to look up afterwards. My favourites were 11ac, 25ac, and 17dn.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SOLIDUS |
Financially reliable American making a bit of money once (7)
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definition: a gold coin used in the Roman Empire SOLID="Financially reliable" + US="American" |
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| 5 | FLAPPED |
Female getting well and truly overtaken panicked (7)
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F (Female) + LAPPED=to be overtaken in a race by a whole lap |
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| 9 | HIVES |
Eruption in bees’ homes (5)
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doubled definition: hives as in eruption/swelling on someone's skin; or bee hives |
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| 10 | PASTORALE |
The old man’s account about soldiers in musical composition (9)
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PA'S=father's="The old man's"; plus TALE="account" around OR (other ranks, "soldiers") |
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| 11 | MATERIALLY |
Mum and I join forces to a significant extent (10)
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MATER="Mum" + I (from surface) + ALLY="join forces" |
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| 12 | BAAL |
Old deity, trite, heartless (4)
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BA-[n]-AL="trite", and "heartless" without its central letter |
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| 14 | BARBARITIES |
One facing restrictions behind bars for heinous acts (11)
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I="One" + TIES="restrictions"; all behind BAR and BAR or two "bars" |
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| 18 | COUNTERFEIT |
Fake matter surprisingly free, having a certain appeal (11)
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COUNT=to be significant="matter"; plus anagram/"surprising" of (free)*; plus IT=[sex] "appeal" |
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| 21 | FLAN |
Pastry item – maybe attendee at football match has devoured fifty (4)
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FAN="maybe attendee at football match"; around L="fifty" in Roman numerals |
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| 22 | FLAGELLANT |
Manifestly immoral measure not right for suffering penitent? (10)
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FLAG-[R]-ANT="Manifestly immoral", with ELL ("measure" of length) instead of R (right) "X not Y" indicating 'X instead of Y' |
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| 25 | OMINOUSLY |
I’m US loony, going wild menacingly (9)
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anagram/"going wild" of (I'm US loony)* |
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| 26 | AGAMA |
Lizard rescuers in vehicles found outside school (5)
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AA (Automobile Association, who might assist a broken-down car, "rescuers in vehicles"); around GAM=a school or group of whales |
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| 27 | DRESSED |
Spiced up in a miniskirt. say (7)
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definition as in to dress or add dressing to a salad to be dressed could mean to be in a dress, or "in a miniskirt, say" |
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| 28 | DRESDEN |
City river penetrating some foreign hideout (7)
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R (river) going into DES="some" in French ("foreign"); plus DEN="hideout" |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCHEMA |
English arts graduate following reduced school form (6)
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E (English) + MA (Master of Arts, "arts graduate"); after SCH (short for "school") |
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| 2 | LEVITY |
Drink in the course of duty, showing lack of seriousness (6)
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IT (Italian vermouth, as in 'gin and it')="Drink"; inside LEVY=tax="duty" |
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| 3 | DISTRIBUTE |
Show lack of respect for accolade in broadcast (10)
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DIS (also spelled 'diss')=to speak to someone with disrespect="Show lack of respect for"; plus TRIBUTE="accolade" |
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| 4 | SEPTA |
Point in the deep provided with barriers (5)
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definition: plural of septum, barriers or partitions between two spaces PT (Point) in SEA="the deep" |
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| 5 | FUSILLADE |
Become dim about Trump’s country having bad discharge of weaponry (9)
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FADE="Become dim", around all of: US="Trump's country" + ILL="bad" |
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| 6 | AGOG |
Very eager to get a medal (not new) (4)
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A (from surface) + GO-[N]-G="medal" without N for "new" |
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| 7 | PLANARIA |
Map out what sounds like zone for flatworms (8)
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PLAN="Map out" plus -ARIA which sounds like 'area'="zone" |
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| 8 | DUELLIST |
Fighter suitable, left on register (8)
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DUE=proper, correct="suitable"; plus L (left); plus LIST="register" |
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| 13 | PISTILLATE |
Like some plants Greek character hadn’t given up consuming (10)
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definition: some plants have pistils, the female organs of plants PI=Greek character/letter; plus STILL ATE=kept eating="hadn't given up consuming" |
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| 15 | RURALISED |
Wicked ruler said to be living out in the country? (9)
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anagram/"Wicked" of (ruler said)* |
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| 16 | SCAFFOLD |
Somerset’s original eatery with ancient wooden platform? (8)
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first/original letter of S-[omerset] + CAFF (café, "eatery") + OLD="ancient" |
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| 17 | PUTATIVE |
Supposed to have set musical show up (8)
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definition: something putative is believed/supposed to be true PUT="set"; plus EVITA=name of a "musical show", reversed/"up" |
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| 19 | CANARD |
Character carrying an untrue report (6)
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definition: an unfounded rumour CARD="Character"; carrying/around AN from the surface |
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| 20 | STRAIN |
Make severe demands on family (6)
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double definition: to put a strain on; or a breed or variety of animal or plant |
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| 23 | GUYED |
Teased escort audibly (5)
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sounds like ("audibly"): 'guide'="escort" |
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| 24 | BOOS |
Signs of displeasure – no time for increase in confidence? (4)
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BOOS-[t]="increase in confidence" without the 't' for "time" |
The top half went in surprisingly quickly but the bottom half, especially the SE held me up for a while but it all made sense once I’d realised the school was “gam” not “pod” (because “apoda” is also a thing). Often Pasquale is not as complicated as I expect – it took me ages to see that “bars” was simply “bar bar” (how much easier could that be?) and that “strain” was a double definition. Lovely surfaces, though – really clean and nothing wasted.
Always good to see “solidus” – our sign for “shillings” is “/” in old money and it is derived from an extended “S” (as is the integral sign in maths), just as the pound sign comes from an “L”. It’s good when things all tie together.
Many thanks Pasquale and manehi.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi
Very pleasant. I smiled at LOI AGAMA.
DRESSED seems doubly a bit weak. Salad dressings are rarely spicy.
Muffin@2, I thought of “spiced up” as “made more interesting”.
Only completed about three quarters. Seven unknowns, but then, this is Pasquale. What I achieved I enjoyed.
I failed on AGAMA but liked it; favourites FUSILLADE, PASTORALE, CANARD, SCAFFOLD, DRESDEN. Thanks Pasquale and manehi!
Didn’t know AGAMA and had forgotten the word ‘gam’ for a pod of whales, so for me that was an obscurity within an obscurity. AGAMA also defeated an ‘A-A-A’ word search. Other than that I enjoyed the experience during an amnesiac hour in the night. Pleased to get PISTILLATE, but once I had the last section the Greek character was easy. Good to see CANARD again. Thanks to Pasquale and to manehi for the blog.
Another solid puzzle by this setter. I failed on the three short NHOs (SEPTA, BAAL and AGAMA), but a DNF is not unusual for me with a Pasquale and I take it as par for the course. The first two were gettable but I didn’t spend much time worrying about them (I did actually think BN for heartless banal and ruled it out of course); I only got the nice AA part for the third.
I also revealed FLAGELLANT despite being somewhat close. At it happened I’d nho ELL either and needed the blog for that. Still, now that it’s clear, it’s the best clue of the lot IMO.
Thanks both!
On the Guardian thread there are some mentions of a theme. Can anyone here see one?
Some tough words in there, many I didn’t know, but it must have been fairly set as not a single missing square when I pressed check all. I did look a few up in Chambers afterwards.
Favourites today BARBARITIES and FLAGELLANT
Thanks Pasquale and Manehi
Nice to know I’m not the only person doubly defeated by AGAMA. Otherwise, just enough difficulty to be satisfying rather than infuriating. Thanks, Pasquale and Manehi.
AGAMA seemed a bit unfair to me with two obscurities needed, but when I feel that way I can’t rule out that it may just be sour grapes since I couldn’t see it with all the crossers despite recognising the car rescuers.
Another APODA here. As a slow worm is a legless lizard, it seemed to make sense. Still nobody does a Jorum like Pasquale. Both PISTILLATE and PLANARIA were satisfying to work out.
Some know unknowns at the end, but otherwise a satisfying solve. Particularly enjoyed MATERIALLY and BARBARITIES. Thanks Pasquale.
I originally came up with APODA too, but I looked it up and they are amphibians, not reptiles, so either it was the wrong answer or an uncharacteristic mistake by Pasquale. Eventually I got PISTILLATE, so completely discarded apoda. I still didn’t solve the clue though, as I have never heard of GAM as a school of whales. That was my only ‘fail’ in the puzzle.
Mostly enjoyable but I’m not a fan of so many obscurities especially when not clearly clued. I got agama but only by looking up ‘flatworm beginning with A’. However, as others have said, you accept what’s coming when you start a Pasquale. I think his quirk detracts from rather than adds to a very enjoyable setting style.
Eventually I remembered the AGAMA lizard, and then GAM – a word setters are annoyingly fond of but which I have never met in real life.
Pasquale is scrupulously fair, but he does love his rare words – I worked out the unfamilar SCHEMA, SEPTA, PISTILLATE and SOLIDUS from the wordplay but was defeated by the ELL in FLAGELLANT and IT=drink in LEVITY, and took forever to spot the BARs.
Like others, I thought DRESSED was a bit vague, and if there is a theme (unusual for Pasquale) I can’t see it.
New year’s resolution: must remember GAM = school. Good puzzle. The surface of FLAN a reference to “Who ate all the pies?”
Many thanks Pasquale and manehi.
Quite tricky but very enjoyable.
Favourites: FLAGELLANT, DRESDEN, CANARD.
New for me: SEPTA, PLANARIA, FUSILLADE and PISTILLATE (all well-clued); AGAMA lizard and GAM = school of whales for 26ac. [I also thought of APODA as a possible answer]
muffin@2 and gladys@15 – I agree that many/most salad dressings are not hot/spicy but salad dressings often contain pepper and mustard which are spices, and there are also salad dressings that contain chili, mint, paprika etc. Thai salad dressing made with garlic, chilies, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar is a good example of a spicy salad dressing.
Evita seems to be turning up quite often atm. Appropriately enough.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi.
Thanks both. OED defines gam as a verb ‘of whales: to gather together’. But perhaps school could also be a verb in this context?
Top half done rapidly last night, lower section much more slowly this morning.
I needed to come here for the parsing of FLAGELLANT, which I couldn’t work out; must remember that substitution ruse.
AGAMA… well, what can I add to the comments above? Eventually I got it via a wordsearch on A-A-A and looking up each of the possibilities, all but one or two of which were unknown to me. I didn’t remember GAM for a school of whales: added now to my crosswording toolkit.
I obviously need to boost my Natural History GK.
So while I filled it all in, I’ll call that a dnf.
The rest was fun; I particularly enjoyed piecing together PISTILLATE.
(Barely) DRESSED / miniskirts: I realised I’d passed a certain age threshold when I saw a gaggle of lasses out on the toon in winter at the Bigg Market, and my first thought was “aren’t they going to get cold?”
Thanks Pasquale and manehi.
A very enjoyable challenge by Pasquale. My favorites were Dresden and Planaria. Tip of the hat to the setter and much thanks to Manehi for a great blog.
Like many others, I did actually finish it but without knowing the parsing of GAM, which I had never heard of, so thanks Manehi for the clarification. It’s actually quite nice to be challenged for, for me, 90 minutes, as opposed to perhaps the ones earlier in the week which might take a rather shorter time, but that’s completely fair for the Guardian setters. Thank you to the Don, and I assume we’ve got Paul to look forward to tomorrow…
Good puzzle from the Don, with excellent constructions and perhaps even more rarities than usual, though surprisingly there weren’t any that I hadn’t encountered before. Fortunately I immediately recognised AGAMA and so ‘apoda’ never occurred to me. As gladys remarked, ‘gam’ is a favourite of compilers, though I’ve never seen it outside crosswordland. The ‘bars’ had me fooled for a while – I tried to justify ‘brutalities’ at first.
SOLIDUS is a lovely word, as JoFT explains. Much better to my mind than ‘forward slash’, which I always think sounds rather lavatorial…
Thanks to Pasquale and manehi
Joining the ranks of the defeated by AGAMA/GAM. But it’s Pasquale, that’s the price of admission!
A very enjoyable solve, gradually filling in what seemed initially unassailable. Many excellent surfaces. Thank you Pasquale and manehi!
I had to reveal agama, as I did not know gam=school. I saw that flagellant was flagrant without the r and ell for measure, but did not see how to get the ell inside flagant. Thanks fore explaning this and a few other things did not quite get, manehi. As muffin@7 mentions, the blog on the Gaudian site mentions a theme. Did anyone see one? I saw that words in two horizontal lines started with the same letters (flan and flagellant; dressed and dresden), but that is probably just a coincidence. Thanks, Pasqule and manehi
Uptick from me
Much of this went over my head as usual. Just to check…manehi mentions X not Y in the explanation for 22ac. Is this just a typo?
Defeated by AGAMA and PISTILLATE as I’ve nho either. The cryptic grammar of 4d puzzled me. What is ‘provided with’ doing here? SEPTA are not provided with barriers, they are barriers. Also, ‘wooden’ in 16d is redundant.
JOFT@1: SOLIDUS is also the typesetting term for the forward slash ‘/’, presumably from its earlier use for the shilling.
Protase@23: ” ‘forward slash’, which I always think sounds rather lavatorial…” ; I will look forward to this in a possible future Paul.
Thought 2 or 3 times that I was defeated, but pressed on regardless and just managed to finish when I somehow dredge ‘gam’ up from somewhere at the back of what I like to call my memory for LOI AGAMA. Very satisfying.
Thank you Pasquale and manehi.
Having previously come out as a bit of a grid anorak, can I just note that this same grid featured yesterday under Philistine’s name and last Friday under Fed’s, with the one tweak there that had three-letter solutions rather than four for the across clues at 12 and 21?
[Protase@23: Thank you for that image of “forward slash” which I now cannot unsee. I shall have to think of “backslash” as its retromingent relative, the camel of the punctuation family…]
Enjoying a beer in the port of Chania in Crete doing this and I think BARBARITIES is just genius and will always be up there amongst my favourites. Apart from a couple of fairly clued nhos, this was reasonably benign for the setter. There are a good number of double lettered clues, especially LL, but I can’t see any theme as mentioned earlier. I found a VESPA in the third line and the first two letters of FLAG and AGOG equals the first four of FLAGELLANT, but so what you say. Anyway great fun as always.
Ta Pasquale & manehi.
*FLAN
Filled the grid without every really feeling like I was on Pasquale’s wavelength. There were some that made me smile (BAAL, FLAGELLANT), others that left me scratching my head for the parsing so thank you manehi.
LOI was AGAMA – I got the A…A promptly, but NHO either the lizard or GAM for a school of whales.
I give myself a generous 7/10
Phew! That took several visits during the day, and I still was defeated by AGAMA. A high quality puzzle, with favourites including BAAL, BARBARITIES, SEPTA and the deceptively simple STRAIN. Thanks Pasquale and thanks manehi for explaining ‘it’ meant vermouth and not the usual ‘sex’ (which made no sense!).
I also whiffed on AGAMA, as well as the crosser CANARD because I put in AMITA (MIT being a school). AMITA is yet another kind of lizard! Who knew there were so many lizard varieties? I certainly didn’t.
Nakamova@37: I guess that as well as “an inordinate fondness for beetles”, the creator has also a bit of a soft spot for lizards.
Google tells me: “A group of whales is most commonly called a pod, though terms like herd, gam, or supergroup are also used, while “school” is generally reserved for fish”, by which argument a gam is not synonymous with school. On the other hand, people (including several here today) do use “school of whales”. So which is it? I prefer to believe that Pasquale knows what he’s talking about.
Completed this which is rare for Pasquale and me. Greatly helped by a friend who is a Times solver asking me – last week – why gam = school. The research I did to help him meant AGAMA was one of my first ones in.
I think the theme is based on the three pairs of consecutive across answers that share the first few letters:
BAal
BArbarities
FLAn
FLAgellant
DRESsed
DRESden
Put them together and, hey presto, you get BAFLADRES. Genius. (Does anyone know if that’s a word?)
DaveF @ 14, I was wondering how you got AGAMA from looking up ‘flatworm beginning with A’?
A very enjoyable crossword and our quickest ever Pasquale. We failed on agama but enjoyed looking at pictures of the colourful little chap once we knew who it was. Thanks Pasquale and manehi
Thanks for the blog , many neat clues , FLAGELLANT flows nicely and PISTILLATE is clever . For PASTORALE I like soldiers=OR , we often get “men” which I find insulting .
DRESSED – has something gone wrong ? There is a stray full stop in the paper and it is so weak compared to all the other clues .
is school really applicable to whales, being mammals and all?
Whatevs#41, Good spot and you may be on to something. It seems too obvious. I was struck by the rather weak double dres on the bottom row. Couldn’t come up with anything on searching BAFLARDES. For a Pasquale, I found this puzzle very light on religious clues, except for flagellant, and thought there may be a hidden message.
But there is an anagram blafardes which is from the French meaning pale or wan, and does come up in English dictionaries. Landed on this by chance, may not be the theme, but found it interesting:
(Wiki) BLAFARD A blafard is an imaginary creature purportedly found in the early United States…. This creature was a symbol of the degeneration of America in the minds of Europeans .
I believe the first time I have completed a Pasquale, albeit with a deal of reverse parsing and a jorum for the lizard as per most of us it seems (I did remember the crosswordland school!). I also had to revisit this morning though to get on the right wavelength, and judging from the comments here it’s possibly the easiest Pasquale ever. Oh well, onward & upward.
Does anyone else have an issue with the “sounds like” in 7? For me PLANARIA is pronounced with the second & third syllables like a solo in an opera, not like the extent of a piece of ground. I know that would make for a less felicitous surface though…
Thanks to Pasquale for a real workout and Maheni for the detailed blog.
I had “Apoda” for the lizard too, which threw me off on 19-down. Did not finish because of it. 🙁
Bluenun @27,
In answer to your question, the 22a clue construction features an X not Y type of substitution. i.e. measure (ELL), not right (R) in FLAGRANT (manifestly immoral) = FLAGELLANT (suffering penitent). So not a typo, no.
Hope that helps.
As for the theme, it’s a micro-theme about Philadelphia featuring only 1 entry: SEPTA – the name of the transport authority that runs the trains and buses in the city. See here (40 seconds in).
: D .
HarveyManfrengensen@45: I think a ‘school’ of fish might be limited to a quite small number after which it becomes a ‘shoal’?
Curious mix of easy and impossible, with little in between. Got halfway with the easy ones, then a little further, then no more, even with a few sittings
Of the ones I got, I really liked 5a FLAPPED (“well and truly overtaken” = LAPPED was fun), 11a MATERIALLY (nice surface and construction)
For 27a DRESSED = “spiced up”, I think of something like all dressed potato chips (crisps), which are usually spicy
17d PUTATIVE, good ol’ EVITA, the gift that keeps on giving! 🙂