Very enjoyable – I particularly liked 9ac, 20ac, 24ac, 2/18/13/22, and 6dn. Thanks to Brummie
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SKATER |
Who might describe figures as ‘bad streak’ (6)
|
| definition: a skater might “describe [make the shape of] figures” in figure skating
anagram/”bad” of (streak)* |
||
| 5 | PILCHARD |
Finish off beer with beet and fish (8)
|
| PIL-[s]=”beer” with the end letter or “Finish” taken “off”; plus CHARD=”beet” | ||
| 9 | REDEEMER |
One who delivers wine and drugs by continental sea (8)
|
| definition: to deliver in the sense of to save, to redeem
RED= type of “wine”; plus E E (“drugs”, as E=ecstasy=’drug’); plus MER=”sea” in French (“continental”) |
||
| 10 | ACROSS |
How you should enter this top grade bridge (6)
|
| definition: this solution is entered ACROSS in the crossword grid
A=”top grade” (as in higher than a B or C grade); plus to CROSS=”bridge” |
||
| 11 | UNDIMINISHED |
Day in Oxford, say, by car – and Slough – showing no sign of wear (12)
|
| D (Day) in UNI (University, “Oxford, say”); by MINI=make of “car”; plus to SHED=to “Slough” (as in a snake shedding its outer layer of skin) | ||
| 13 | KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT |
See 2 Down
|
| 14 | TENACITY |
Firmness shown by figure, one connected to Kyiv, say (8)
|
| TEN=”figure” in the sense of ‘a number’; plus A=”one”; plus CITY=”Kyiv, say” | ||
| 17 | ASSEMBLE |
Marshal, atishoo’s just under way – bless me, silly! (8)
|
| A-[tishoo] (“just under way” as in ‘just beginning’); plus anagram/”silly” of (bless me)* | ||
| 18 | KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT |
See 2 Down
|
| 20 | CREDIT RATING |
Trust a sailor to provide a basis for making advances to you! (6,6)
|
| definition: a credit rating is used when making loans/advances to prospective borrowers
CREDIT=”Trust” + RATING=old term for a “sailor” |
||
| 23 | RAFFIA |
Fibre fair loosened a fellow inside (6)
|
| anagram/”loosened” of (fair)*, with A (from surface) and F (fellow) inside | ||
| 24 | IOLANTHE |
‘Twelfth Night character heading off North with article’ – making of an opera? (8)
|
| definition: IOLANTHE is a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan
[V]-IOLA=character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, with the first letter/”heading” taken “off”; plus N (North) + THE (definite article) |
||
| 25 | ASBESTOS |
It can stand the heat like old footballer of Spurs initially (8)
|
| AS=”like” + [George] BEST=”old footballer” + initials from O-[f] S-[purs] | ||
| 26 | RECITE |
Say aloud ‘move somewhere else’ to the audience (6)
|
| sounds like (to the audience): ‘re-site’=”move somewhere else” | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2, 18, 13, 22 | KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT |
Don’t open one’s gin – and not a word! (4,4,4,4)
|
| a “gin” is a type of TRAP to catch animals; so to not open one’s gin is to KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT | ||
| 3 | THE PURPLE |
Time up: helper needs to change emperor’s habit (3,6)
|
| definition: a way to describe the clothing of an emperor in royal/imperial purple
T (Time) + anagram/”needs to change” of (up helper)* |
||
| 4 | REMEDY |
Rye: mad to introduce the drink cure! (6)
|
| anagram/”mad” of (Rye)*; with MED (the Mediterranean Sea, with “drink” as slang for the sea) introduced inside | ||
| 5 | PURE MATHEMATICS |
Amateurish PC met with destruction – it has no application, practically (4,11)
|
| definition describes pure as opposed to applied mathematics
anagram/”destruction” of (Amateurish PC met)* |
||
| 6 | LEARNING |
Being a student, inclined to cover only one essential school subject? (8)
|
| LEANING=”inclined”, to go around/”cover” only one R (the “three R’s” would be the essential school subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic) | ||
| 7 | HORUS |
Singers lacking top C – God! (5)
|
| definition: a god of ancient Egypt
[C]-HORUS=”Singers”, lacking the first letter/top C |
||
| 8 | RESPECTFUL |
Civil trade refutes plc (10)
|
| “trade” (as in ‘swap’, ‘exchange’) to indicate anagram of: (refutes plc)* | ||
| 12 | CROSSROADS |
Where travellers have a choice of old British soap? (10)
|
| double definition: a place where travellers can choose between roads; and the name of a former soap opera in the UK | ||
| 15 | CRYOGENIC |
CERN icy – go mad: “It’s concerning what extreme cold can do!”’ (9)
|
| anagram/”mad” of (CERN icy go)* | ||
| 16 | ABSTRACT |
Purloin a work of art (8)
|
| double definition: to abstract can mean to take away, to remove, to purloin; or a piece of abstract art | ||
| 19 | MILLER |
Arthur dramatically married (no better afterwards) (6)
|
| definition: Arthur MILLER was a writer of plays
M (married), with ILLER=”no better” going afterwards |
||
| 21 | DEFOE |
Entry of ‘female’ in dictionary rejected by eastern writer (5)
|
| definition: Daniel Defoe the writer
F (female) entered into OED (Oxford English Dictionary) reversed/”rejected”; next to/”by” E (Eastern) |
||
| 22 | KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT |
See 2
|
Thanks Brummie and manehi
Very nice. My only quibblet is that you don’t know what the second word in the long one will be without crossers (I went with “one’s” first).
“Born in/to the purple” also refers to the birthing room in the palace of Constantinople, where the heirs were always born. It was lined with pirple porphyry. See here.
I liked CREDIT RATING and REDEEMER. I half expected a Winter Olympics theme after 1ac.
I must have been in tune with Brummie today, as HORUS went straight in, as did most of the upper half. It was generous to give us KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT spread over the grid to give lots of toe holds.
LOI and CotD was MILLER – slightly devious!
Thanks both!
I do like Brummie’s Monday puzzles. They seem to have a lightness of touch that his regular crosswords sometimes lack.
Wasn’t familiar with THE PURPLE and Google’s AI confidently asserted that it must be a reference to a Whitesnake album 🙂
Cheers M&B
From experience, I knew that ones/your is a potential issue with 2/18/13/22 so left the second word until I could work it out.
I feel I should add that Pure Mathematics often has applications. For example, Number Theory is essential for Cryptography. The point is that applications aren’t the main raison d’être.
I was slow getting going with this; it didn’t feel very Mondayish. But I enjoyed it in the end and particularly liked CROSSROADS (a terrible soap which I remember watching avidly when I should have been studying) and IOLANTHE. A few literary clues today for those of us who know little about science or sport.
Fun crossword, thanks setter and blogger – enjoyed finding out more about “born in the purple” as this was new to me. Had been thinking along the emperors new clothes and trying to lose outer letters!! Did not know that “gin” was a trap either!
Not too keen on trying to unravel a clue that reads: “Marshal, atishoo’s just under way – bless me, silly! But I suppose it is just a crossword clue. CREDIT RATING loi today. Always interesting to compare alternate Monday offerings from Vulcan to the approach of other setters trying to make the first day of the week a little more straightforward…
Great stuff from Brummie which I found hard to get going but sped up once a few were in.
My favourites already mentioned but did like the nostalgia trip of CROSSROADS.
As a maths graduate I share the quibble about the definition of PURE MATHEMATICS that’s already been discussed but not enough to ruin the crossword.
THE PURPLE was new to me.
Thanks Brummie and Manehi
As ever, I agree with manehi. This was very enjoyable. A bit more chewy than a usual Monday. Came to see the parsing for ACROSS – doh! I like it! And REDEEMER, KEEP ONES TRAP SHUT and LEARNER among others were very good. Thanks Brummie and manehi.
Comment #11
Fun puzzle with some nice constructions but some bizarre surfaces. CREDIT RATING was my COTD.
The clue for KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT was worded clearly as an order rather than just a pointer to a phrase, so ONE’S never occurred to me.
Thanks to B and m
Hovis@5: You beat me to it. G H Hardy is said to have raised a glass “To Pure Mathematics, may it never be of any use”, but of course it is.
I wasn’t keen on MED being ‘the drink’. Losing the definite article would have improved it I think.