I am not sure why, but I found this very challenging. Peto’s clues seem perfectly fine, so I don’t know what the disconnect was.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RACKET |
Pandemonium in game briefly (6)
|
| RACKET[S] (game) minus last letter (briefly), evidently a forerunner of squash | ||
| 4 | STUCCO |
Plaster head of saint, mysterious on reflection, student ignored (6)
|
| First letter of (head of) S[AINT] + OCCU[L]T (mysterious) reversed (on reflection) and minus (ignored) L (student) | ||
| 8 | UNEARTH |
Dig up a French article on cunning Hungarian leader (7)
|
| UNE (a French article) + ART (cunning) + first letter of (leader [of]) H[UNGARIAN] | ||
| 9 | NARRATE |
Tell fled heading west at speed (7)
|
| RAN (fled) reversed (heading west) + RATE (speed) | ||
| 11 | BORDERLINE |
Course of action following marches only just acceptable (10)
|
| BORDER (marches) + LINE (course of action) | ||
| 12 | AGED |
Consented to get rid of soldiers advanced in years (4)
|
| AG[RE]ED (consented) minus (to get rid of) RE (soldiers) | ||
| 13 | SPAWN |
Make Native American give up drugs after last of warnings (5)
|
| Last [letter] of [WARNING]S + PAWN[EE] (Native American) minus (give up) {E + E} (drugs) | ||
| 14 | COCKSURE |
Arrogant nonsense to take legal action against boxing trainer ultimately (8)
|
| COCK (nonsense) + {SUE (to take legal action against) around (boxing) last letter of (ultimately) [TRAINE]R} | ||
| 16 | START OFF |
Initiate rule about books framed by teachers in school (5,3)
|
| {R (rule) + OT (books) reversed (about)} inside (framed by) STAFF (teachers in school) | ||
| 18 | EXERT |
Use effectively with skilful removal of pressure (5)
|
| EX[P]ERT (skilful) minus (removal of) P (pressure) | ||
| 20 | BARD |
Prevented from speaking with poet (4)
|
| Homophone of (speaking) BARRED (prevented from) | ||
| 21 | MERCANTILE |
Commercial enterprise initially involved in spurious rent claim (10)
|
| First letter of (initially) E[NTERPRISE] inside (involved in) anagram of (spurious) {RENT CLAIM} | ||
| 23 | PIQUANT |
Stimulating for oddly prim fashion designer perhaps (7)
|
| Odd letters of (oddly) P[R]I[M] + [Mary] QUANT (fashion designer perhaps) | ||
| 24 | SILENCE |
The rest is for Hamlet to put a stop to (7)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to Hamlet’s dying words: “The rest is silence.” | ||
| 25 | NOTICE |
Time allowed for preparation of literary review (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | FREELY |
Not under the control of another female dance company finally (6)
|
| F (female) + REEL (dance) + last letter of (finally) [COMPAN]Y | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RUN TO |
Be sufficient for trip to get Manx cat (3,2)
|
| RUN (trip) + TO[M] (cat) minus last letter, i.e., minus his tail, thus “Manx” | ||
| 2 | CHALDEA |
Ancient region’s prince died in church near Assyria’s capital (7)
|
| {HAL (prince) + D (died)} inside (in) CE (church) + first letter of (capital [of]) A[SSYRIA] | ||
| 3 | ENTER INTO |
Be interested in record set by piebald horse needing no introduction (5,4)
|
| ENTER (record, i.e., read as a verb) + [P]INTO (piebald horse) minus first letter (needing no introduction) | ||
| 5 | TEASE |
Support holding captive as bait (5)
|
| TEE (support) around (holding captive) AS | ||
| 6 | CARCASS |
Around the beginning of April replacing one ship’s framework (7)
|
| C[I]RCA (around) substituting (replacing) first letter of (beginning of) A[PRIL] for I (one) + SS (ship) | ||
| 7 | ON THE TROT |
Troubled throne to face battles essentially one after the other (2,3,4)
|
| Anagram of (troubled) {THRONE TO} + middle letter of (essentially) [BAT]T[LES] | ||
| 10 | PITCHFORK |
Lie mostly over hankering at first for tosser seen on farm (9)
|
| PORK[Y] (lie) minus last letter (mostly) around (over) {ITCH (hankering) + first letter of (at first) F[OR]} | ||
| 13 | SITUATION |
Combination of circumstances making yours truly stressed about living in Swiss town (9)
|
| {I (yours truly) + TAUT (stressed) inverted (about)} inside (living in) SION (Swiss town) | ||
| 15 | CHEVALIER |
Gallant in good spirits catches sound daughter missed (9)
|
| CHEER (good spirits) around (catches) VALI[D] (sound) minus (missed) D (daughter) | ||
| 17 | REDOUBT |
Retrieve data from computer reportedly found in temporary fortification (7)
|
| Taking some liberty with the pronunciation: Homophone of (reportedly) READ OUT (retrieve data from computer) | ||
| 19 | EXTREME |
Far from moderate constituents of Rex meet (7)
|
| I think this parses as: Anagram of (moderate [i.e., as a verb] constituents of) REX MEET | ||
| 21 | MANIC |
Frantically busy FBI agent not good in charge (5)
|
| [G-]MAN (FBI agent) minus (not) G (good) + I/C (in charge) | ||
| 22 | LUCKY |
Attended by good fortune gutsy Penny fled (5)
|
| [P]LUCKY (gutsy) minus (fled) P (penny), with a capitalization misdirection |
Thanks both. Agree was fiddly rather than impossible.
I found it challenging too, Cineraria, and only three quarters finished. My “Huh?” list grew rather long, in many instances due to deficiencies in my knowledge. I should have known — I seldom seem to get on Peto’s wavelength.
Thanks Peto and Cineraria
19dn: I took the definition as “far from moderate”, leaving “constituents of” to form the anagram lead.
PB@3: That’s what I had originally for 19D, but I changed it because there is simply no verb (or anything else to indicate “mixing”) in that parsing, so if that is the correct parsing, it does not tell the solver to “do” anything with the anagrist, IMHO. In the alternative, I also thought maybe the whole clue could work as some sort of &lit construction, with “meet” doing double-duty, but that seemed even more unconventional (and even less satisfactory) as an explanation. I would prefer a clue that said something like: “Far from moderate constituents of Rex meet in uproar.”
Cineraria@4: I take the point. I thought of including the suggestion that the anagram lead was at best “only just acceptable” in my original comment but decided against it. I am struggling to find a meaning for “moderate” that will provide the necessary indication of mixing. The nearest I can find is in ODE 2010 p 1138, where meaning 2 as a verb (marked “Brit.”) is “review (examination papers, results, or candidates) in relation to an agreed standard so as to ensure consistency of marking”. I suppose under some circumstances the role of a moderator could include changing the rank order of individual examinees’ marks, but I would like to see a more convincing explanation of 19dn than this.
While I am back in, can I point out that the quotation “The rest is silence” from Hamlet act 5 scene 2 is one that any practising musician should take firmly to heart – just in case anyone has not heard that before.
I parsed EXTREME as Pelham@3.
Not our best effort today. We thought 26ac had to be FREELY but were misled into thinking it parsed as the last letters of words in the clue so couldn’t understand where the L came from . And we spent ages looking for a pangra, but there’s no J or Z.
Thanks, though, Peto and Cineraria.
I normally look forward to Peto but today was a bit too subtle for my modest talents.
Ah well, there’s always tomorrow…..
Abandoned at 50%
Tough, but fair
I got about two thirds. Put in rumpus at top and subsequently failed there. Put in heresy at bottom and then failed there. Never got pitchfork and so failed in the middle. But got all the rest! Thank you all
I was late to this today, starting at lunch and finishing at dinner. I am glad to see that I’m not the only one who found it unusually challenging. I think it’s down to more than the usual quantity of “guess what I’m thinking” cluing. I did get there in the end, with quite a lot of answers entered based on definition and only parsed, if at all, after much staring.
Thanks for the blog
Just attempted this and have given up after completing the top left.
Not fun at all.
Poor clueing.
I’m sure I’ll find today’s Goliath far better.
Once again, someone equates “I couldn’t solve it” to “It’s a poor clue”, with no other explanation. Is it possible that the deficiency is the solver’s, not the setter’s?
I failed on 11a BORDERLINE because I didn’t know the “border” meaning of marches, and I didn’t guess it from the crossers. Having consulted the dictionary, I now understand the clue and consider it to be a good one.
PB@5 re “the rest is silence”, I’m afraid that countless musicians haven’t heard this before. 😉
Thanks Peto, Cineraria and Pelham Barton for the fun.