A tricky but very enjoyable puzzle from IO this morning.
Unusually I had a few write-ins at the start which was very helpful in completing the grid. But also the usual complete head scratchers. But I think I got there in the end! Many thanks to the setter.
(WILES IN SLAM ERA)* (*off) – semi &lit
AS (when) + PH (pub, public house) + ALT (key)
(LEU (one European currency) securing LEK (a second))< (<recall) + E (European)
LEU is the currency of Romania, and LEK Albania
L (lecturer) needs D (daughter) to stop A STICH (a pain)
[g]U[a]R[d]I[a]N[s] E[d] (periodically taken out of)
(ABLE (clever clogs) + GETS REVENGE)* (*cooking)
‘UN (one, from the local) + SAY (maybe)
AT HAND (close to) border (O (ring) + US (American))
“SENT ORE” (transported mineral, “to receiver”)
PUT* (*odd) + HERE (present)
BEES, SEE, PLEATED (Spooner’s social workers, observe, in fold)
OS (very large, oversize) + A (area) in which S (son)’s buried
REP (agent) probes POSSES (constable collections) + SINGLY (on his own)
(NU[de])* (half, *rampant) + MAINLY (for the most part) covering [nu]DE (lower half) – semi &lit
LAUGHTER HOUSE (Comedy Theatre perhaps) impressed by SF (science fiction) + I’VE (author’s)
The anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut
I’M (one’s) + PERI (magic being) + ALMA (the essence of Florence) + JEST (fun) + Y (and, of Madrid)
‘Alma’ is Italian ‘soul’; ‘y’ is Spanish ‘and’
Blandings is the castle from PG Wodehouse’s series of books
RE[s]ER[v]ED (taciturn) with S (sons) and V (very) this? (i.e. reversed) – semi &lit
(OL JUG)* (*dispensed) with ICE (on the rocks)
(METRE GAP having U+U (Us))* (*awkward)
Cryptic definition
Neverland being the imaginary faraway place from Barrie’s Peter Pan
ADDE[d]< (put on, endlessly, <reels)
A first for me, an enjoyable IO, although still some obscurities and unparsed clues.
6d I think the conceit is that the style (ie form of address) for the emperor of Blandings (in fact a prize pig) would be His Imperial Majesty.
Liked the long solvable clues giving plenty of crossers and the clear cluing of the obscurities. Much more compatible with commuting timescales than some recent grids.
Thanks both.
Found this on the gentler side for an Io. Great enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Io.
Thanks Oriel for the excellent blog.
GREEN VEGETABLES
The blog seems to have some typos.
ABLE clogs/goes into GETSREVENGE*
UNMAIDENLY
I read it like this (very slight difference, if at all):
half-rampant NUDE—>NU reversed+DE—>UNDE
MAINLY covering the lower half of UNDE
My top faves: IMPERIAL MAJESTY, REVERSED and GREEN VEGETABLES.
Defeated by this IO, even more resoundingly than usual.
Thanks for the blog , I found the Across clues very friendly to start off but it did get harder . Many long entries to give lots of letters and help . SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE a great clue , it does have elements of science fiction and I liked the symmetry with AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES (Billy Pilgrim often is ) , they both continue in the grid .
Not heard of LOGJUICE but the clue was very fair .
Why does it say P*ss ? This is the FT not the Daily Heil .
ALMA is “soul” in Spanish, not Italian.
Coby @5 – it seems to be used in Italian as well, perhaps more poetically than the usual anima. It pops up in Dante a couple of times.
Like KVa, I found this relatively gentle for Io, though that still means it took pretty much my whole lunch, it just didn’t also take the rest of the afternoon.
Thanks both.
I found this very hard but struggled through it during a long car journey (passenger). Nho of LOGJUICE and do not follow how it is an inferior port. Alma is indeed Spanish and in 12ac there is a t missing from stitch. But the blog was most impressive for such a tricky puzzle.
Thanks to both for stretching my brain past its normal limits.
Unlike KVA I found this very hard but struggled through it during a long car journey (passenger). Nho of LOGJUICE and do not follow how it is an inferior port. Alma is indeed Spanish and in 12ac there is a t missing from stitch. But the blog was most impressive for such a tricky puzzle.
Thanks to both for stretching my brain past its normal limits.
Wodehouse’s pig was the Empress of Blandings, but otherwise, I agree with James P. I agree with Roz that SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE is a great clue.
Found this definitely on the harder scale of Io, unlike some others. Got about seven clues then gave up and started revealing squares. Unfamiliar with the Blandings reference which did not help, even after Googling. Never heard of asphalt being put on rooftops or Edda, etc etc.
re LOGJUICE, from Chambers:
“logˈjuice noun (slang)
Bad port wine, as if coloured with logwood”
Adders @ 10 Prior to the development of roofing felt on a roll ASPHALT would have been used on a flat roof.
Another bad day. I got 1d straight away, but nothing else unless you count LOGJUICE which I thought of, but rejected on the grounds that such an absurd word could not possibly exist!
Peter @9 I stand corrected! It’s been a while
Looked for a nina, eg And so it goes, but not to be. Fun anyway, ta both.
Now that my mental block on 9dn has cleared and I have completely solved the puzzle, I can join the conversation. Thanks Io and Oriel.
6dn Chambers 2016 p 39 has “alma² (Ital) n soul, essence”. From page xvi, the fact that the labels (Ital) and n appear in that order mean that “the word is still regarded as a foreign word, rather than a naturalized English word.” I do not think that Chambers is actually asserting that the word is still used in Italian, but in any case it gives enough to justify Io’s use in this clue.
So it goes. So it went, eventually.
I liked AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES and UP A GUM TREE.
Thanks and bravo Oriel
I found this harder than the last few IO puzzles, even with an easy first third there were more clues leading to wrong but plausible solutions.
9d held out longest because I was looking for some extra significance in the italics.
Thanks for confirming ALMA.