A fun challenge from GUY this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 8
I am iffy about a couple of my parsings.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | REBUFF |
Snub someone who might quote the bible? (6)
|
| cryptic def, read as RE ( Religious Education ) BUFF ( enthusiast ) | ||
| 4 | ASUNDER |
Dicky and Sue run in opposite directions (7)
|
| [ AND SUE ]* R ( run ) | ||
| 8 | STUN |
Spinning ball’s hit for six (4)
|
| reverse of NUTS ( balls ) | ||
| 9 | IMPREGNATE |
Prime agent trained to get in trouble (10)
|
| [ PRIME AGENT ]* | ||
| 11 | POWER BREAKFAST |
Summit on Alpen? (5,9)
|
| cryptic def; should def just be ALPEN? | ||
| 12 | ABUTMENT |
Meeting soldiers back in Aldershot after an objection (8)
|
| A BUT ( objection ) MEN ( soldiers ) T ( aldershoT, last letter ) | ||
| 14 | REDACT |
Apparently very hot performers black out (6)
|
| RED ( apparently very hot ) ACT ( ~ performers ) | ||
| 16 | LAUGHS |
Fun playing goulash with nothing to lose (6)
|
| [ GoULASH ( without O – nothing ) ]* | ||
| 18 | WILDFIRE |
Spooner’s put telegram with other papers in incinerator outside (8)
|
| spoonerism of FILED WIRE ( put telegram with other papers ) | ||
| 20 | SUPPLEMENTALLY |
Too flexible in your thinking? (14)
|
| SUPPLE ( flexible ) MENTALLY ( in your thinking ) | ||
| 23 | PROPOGANDA |
Kosher butcher’s reported spread of indoctrination (10)
|
| sounds like PROPER ( kosher ) GANDER ( butcher, with the meaning of look ) | ||
| 24 | ITCH |
It’s irritating, children coming after sex (4)
|
| IT( sex ) CH ( children ) | ||
| 25 | SEA LORD |
Admiralty member put official stamp on your ID periodically (3,4)
|
| SEAL ( official stamp ) ORD ( yOuR iD, alternate letters of ) | ||
| 26 | MORTAL |
Malt or blended in your cups? (6)
|
| [ MALT OR ]* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RATIO |
Helping nameless relation (5)
|
| RATIOn ( helping, without N – name ) | ||
| 2 | BUNDESTAG |
European lawmaker wanting label on end of sunbed changed (9)
|
| [ SUNBED ]* TAG ( name ) | ||
| 3 | FRISBEE |
Flying saucer can be seen by billions breaking loose (7)
|
| 5 | SNEAKER |
Unpleasant look about lining of fake shoe (7)
|
| SNEER ( unpleasant look ) around AK ( fAKe, lining of? i am not sure i got this right as i would normally assume lining to imply FE rather than AK ) | ||
| 6 | NINJA |
Oriental spy passing through London in January (5)
|
| hidden in “..londoN IN JAnuary” | ||
| 7 | ESTATE CAR |
Booty model’s pants crease at end of shoot (6,3)
|
| [ CREASE AT T ( shooT, last letter ) ]* | ||
| 10 | PRETTY WOMAN |
Film in which pro, twenty max, withholds kiss and gets makeover (6,5)
|
| [ PRO TWENTY MAx ( without X – kiss ) ]* | ||
| 13 | BRASSERIE |
Cheese sandwiches most insist on in cheap restaurant (9)
|
| ASSERt ( insist, mostly ) in BRIE ( cheese ) | ||
| 15 | DEFEATIST |
Fearing the end, believer in God eating fine lunch? (9)
|
| DEIST ( believer in god ) containing [ F ( fine ) EAT ( lunch ) ] | ||
| 17 | ST LEGER |
Member providing support during second half of dragster race (2,5)
|
| LEG ( member ) in STER ( dragSTER, second half of ) ; horse race | ||
| 19 | LONG AGO |
Ancient toilet with new crack in it (4-3)
|
| LOO ( toilet ) around [ N ( new ) GAG ( crack ) ] | ||
| 21 | PAPAL |
Online payment method avoided by yankee in the Vatican (5)
|
| PAyPAL ( online payment method, without Y – yankee ) | ||
| 22 | LOCAL |
Pass through Hollywood Hills, perhaps upsetting resident (5)
|
| reverse of LA ( hollywood hills ) COL ( pass ) |
If frisbee is free around isb, how does the ‘is’ arise?
For 3d, I had B (billions) breaking ‘ is free’ (loose) and I liked this a lot, along with PROPAGANDA, BUNDESTAG and PRETTY WOMAN (top pick) for the surface.
I had the same thought as Turbolegs re ‘lining’ of ‘fake’ but I suppose the silk lining of a jacket is on the inside.
Thanks both.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of neat clues .
POWER BREAKFAST , I took summit to mean an important conference where they have things like this , perhaps including Alpen .
The explanation for FRISBEE seems to have flown away ? B inside IS FREE .
Still on 3d, I don’t see the anagrind though unless ‘breaking’ is the catch-all instruction.
Too slow as usual , but I agree with Diane@2 for SNE AK ER , I usually think of lining as the inside of a word from its use for clothes .
Try again for FRISBEE , IS B inside FREE .
Simple, is = can be seen, d’oh …
Turbolegs The use of “lining of” in 5D as an “insides indicator” is justified by Chambers, which lists “contents” as one of the meanings of “lining”. As a transitive verb, “line” can mean “to cover on the inside”, “to fill or stuff”, “to act as a lining for” (see Chambers) so “lining” and “lines” can be used as insertion indicators, and “lined with” as a containment indicator.
Simply don’t get the power breakfast solution. Also mortal for in your cups.
I thought frisbee was is (can be seen) by b (billions) inside (breaking) free (loose)
Don’t really understand power breakfast and mortal is new to me for drunk
I was happy to have completed this, given that I’m feeling quite brain dead this morning and struggled with The Grauniad as well, although I managed that one too . . . It appears that my parsing problems are shared by others. The one I seriously don’t get is MORTAL. I’m sure someone will find something in a dictionary . . .
Eric E@11: yes, Chambers, for one. Its last definition of MORTAL as an adjective is “very drunk (slang)”. And no, I hadn’t heard that before either, but someone commented here recently that all sorts of unlikely words seem capable of indicating inebriation.
Summit – a meeting of heads of state .
Alpen – a popular UK breakfast muesli .
At a summit they might have a POWER BREAKFAST ( or lunch ) , it is one of those business phrases that make your teeth itch .
MORTAL often used by the students , especially those from NE England .
Chapeau Guy for the epic surface/&lit of pretty woman. Also loved supplementally, impregnate and itch. Thx both.
Thanks Hector@12 and Roz@13 – you learn summat everyday . . .
I assume Alpen was chosen for the POWER BREAKFAST clue because it translates from German as Alps, and perhaps to allude to the annual gathering at Davos. “Summit on Weetabix”, for example, wouldn’t have had quite the same effect.
Surprised nobody has commented on the misspelling of PROPAGANDA in the blog, although Diane spelt it correctly @2.
Thanks Guy and Turbolegs. I think all points that have been raised have also been answered.
A small point from me on 23ac: it must be butcher’s (short for butcher’s hook) that means “look” (see for example Chambers 2016 p 209). That is one piece of rhyming slang that I actually used quite a lot during my working life, usually in the context “Let’s have a butcher’s at …” Also note that the soundalike PROPER GANDER = PROPAGANDA – thanks Hovis@17 for pointing out the correct spelling here – definitely works in a Cockney accent with silent Rs at the end of both words.
And there was me thinking Frisėe was a bit of a stretch for loose. Nice puzzle.
Solid cluing with mostly nice surfaces. I ticked RATIO, PAPAL, and LONG AGO. MORTAL was new to me too (the English have so many words for drunk!) and thanks for the help parsing PROPAGANDA
Thanks Guy and Turbolegs
A pleasant and accessible puzzle, just right for our mid-afternoon break. 8 and 9 across were a bit cheeky, maybe, but none the worse for that. We had to check the dictionary for MORTAL = drunk. We thought 15dn was a little unfortunate seeing that ‘eating’ was in the clue and ‘eat’ was part of the answer.
Thanks, Guy and Turbolegs.
Thanks Guy for the challenge. This was a DNF for me; I revealed POWER BREAKFAST (the clue had insufficient data for me to solve) and WILFFIRE (not a fan of most Spoonerisms); I missed STUN (nho ‘hit for six’) and guessed MORTAL (nho ‘in your cups’). I did enjoy clues like REBUFF, ITCH, LONG AGO, and PAPAL. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Tony@22: I generally do not like spoonerisms much either, but I thought 18ac was a reasonable one. What I did not like was the definition. “Incinerator outside” to mean WILDFIRE did not make much sense to me.
18ac: Collins 2023 p 2270 has “wildfire n 1 a highly inflammable material, such as Greek fire, formerly used in warfare”. That seems to me to fit “incinerator outside” well enough.
Thanks Guy and Turbolegs.
11A Just a thought.
on = power (as in power button on a remote), Alpen = breakfast? Summit = power breakfast.
Unlike James P #14 I didn’t like SUPPLEMENTALLY because whilst I’m sure it must feature in the dictionary and thus qualify as fair, I can’t believe it’s a word that anybody has ever used, ever; and I speak as one who used to use “supplemental” a lot in legal documents.
I didn’t get the POWER in POWER BREAKFAST. I’m happy to admit I have never moved in circles where breakfast was anything more than a meal.
PB@24, I am afraid we will have to agree to disagree on that one
I’m quite surprised that nobody else has questioned impregnate = “get in trouble” or Estate car = “booty model”.
To me both are rather inaccurate.
I’m quite surprised that nobody else has questioned impregnate = “get in trouble” or Estate car = “booty model”.
To me both are rather inaccurate.
9ac: Chambers 2016 gives the following:
p 641 get vt to cause to be, go, or become;
p 1673 in trouble (euphem) pregnant (when unmarried);
p 766 impregnate vt to make pregnant.
Taking the first option from the cited definition of get, it all seems to me to fit together perfectly.
7dn: Chambers p 528 gives us estate car n a car designed to carry passengers and goods, usu with a large area behind the seats for luggage, etc, and a rear door. We need to form a whimsical definition of booty from boot¹ a compartment in a motor car for luggage, etc (p 175) and the suffix -y¹ forming adjectives with the senses ‘characterized by’ (and others which do not apply here). This sort of whimsical formation may be compared with the long standing use of flower and runner to mean a river.
Thank you, Pelham Barton #30 for your response.
Any suggestion in these enlightened times that being pregnant means being “in trouble” is archaic and offensive.
An estate car cannot be “booty” as it doesn’t have a boot! The clue is absurd.
7dn continued: There appears to be some variation in the way the dictionaries define the relevant sense of the word boot. Collins 2023 p 237 says “an enclosed compartment” and the Oxford Dictionary of English 2010 p 197 similarly says “an enclosed space”. The Shorter Oxford 2007 p 269 says “the luggage compartment of a motor vehicle, usu. situated at the rear”. On the other hand, the Concise Oxford 2011 p 160 simply says “a space at the back of the car for carrying luggage”. For what it is worth, the Pocket Oxford 2013 p 94 has “a space at the back of the car for luggage”. It seems to me that the setter is entitled to the benefit of any possible doubt when dictionaries differ, and I am happy that the clue is acceptable.