Pangakupu fills this week’s Thursday slot.
As usual from this setter, we have a good set of clues, with neat constructions and meaningful surfaces, raising a few smiles. There are several, for me, less familiar words, all clearly clued and nothing unfair, I think.
I seem to have used rather a lot of square brackets – there’s a preponderance of single-letter insertions and deletions. I had a number of ticks – I’ll leave it to you to name favourites.
As usual, I will leave it to those who have some idea of what they are looking for to hunt down the customary Nina(s).
Thanks to Pangakupu for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Endless effect of gravity – time to leave white dwarf, say, for something denser (6)
PULSAR
PUL[l] (effect of gravity) + S[t]AR (white dwarf, say) minus t (time)
4 A lot of delay blocking courthouse discharge (7)
CATARRH
A TARR[y] (delay) in CH (courthouse)
9 Cephalopod fresh from the sea mostly branded at first a disappointment (4,5)
DAMP SQUIB
DAMP (fresh from the sea) SQUI[d] (cephalopod, mostly) + B[randed]
10 Leave in middle of stint, being cross (5)
TIGON
GO (leave) in [s]TIN[t]
11 Drink and dish uncovered (5)
LATTE
[p]LATTE[r] (dish)
12 Team backed tense striker for international (4,5)
TEST MATCH
A reversal (backed) of SET (team) + T (tense) + MATCH (striker)
13 Temporary appointment? Reputation no good (5-2)
STAND-IN
STANDIN[g] (reputation) minus g (good)
15 Sound of complaint seven days after crew loses diamonds (6)
SQUAWK
SQUA[d] (crew, minus d – diamonds) + WK (seven days)
17 Former student extracting iodine from metallic oxide (6)
ALUMNA
ALUM[i]NA (metallic oxide) minus i (iodine)
19 Husband all set to consume spicy dish, dismissing starter – look lively (5,2)
HURRY UP
H (husband) + UP (all set – as in ‘up for it’) round [c]URRY (spicy dish) minus its ‘starter’
22 Crime is a burden, one ignored on the Left? (9)
SINISTRAL
SIN (crime) + IS + TR[i]AL (burden) minus i (one)
24 Attraction in avoiding source of electric shock (5)
APPAL
APP[e]AL (attraction) minus e[lectric]
26 Additional symbol of affection beginning to torment in time (5)
EXTRA
X (symbol of affection) + T[orment] in ERA (time)
27 One criticising UK currency, keeping it personal to begin with (9)
NITPICKER
NICKER (slang for pound – UK currency) round IT P[ersonal]
28 Private eye capturing Chinese backing popular applied science (7)
TECHNIC
TEC (private eye) round CH (Chinese) + a reversal (backing) of IN (popular)
29 A delightful time, welcoming soldiers in public areas (6)
AGORAS
A GAS (a delightful time) round OR (soldiers)
Down
1 Pleasure boats? Sod pleasure – not certain at sea (7)
PEDALOS
An anagram (at sea) of SOD PLEA[sure] minus sure – certain
2 Rather drunk, though maintaining motorway’s maximum speed, perhaps (5)
LIMIT
LIT (rather drunk) round MI (motorway)
3 Morning vapour surrounding road in European city (9)
AMSTERDAM
AM (morning) + STEAM (vapour) round RD (road)
4 Artists in request for more during economies (7)
CUBISTS
BIS (‘twice’ – in a musical score, a direction that a part should be repeated) in CUTS (economies)
5 Venerated symbol, feature of racetrack, followed by millions (5)
TOTEM
TOTE (feature of race track) + M (millions)
6 Imposition of socialism would mean this immediately? (5,4)
RIGHT AWAY
Cryptic definition
7 Hard working? Largely avoid Asian island (6)
HONSHU
H (hard) + ON (working) + SHU[n] (avoid)
8 Target working feature of control panel (6)
BUTTON
BUTT (target) + ON (working – again, unfortunately)
14 Capital, after editing, to include a note describing certain lenses (9)
APLANATIC
An anagram (after editing) of CAPITAL round A N (a note)
16 Roughly repair gun inclining to shoot high? (9)
UPREARING
An anagram ( roughly) of REPAIR GUN
18 Articles with satirical humour, ousting leader of Jewish priesthood (7)
AARONIC
A A (articles) + [i]RONIC (with satirical humour) minus its first letter
19 Chap’s imprisoning a good many slaves (6)
HELOTS
HE’S (chap’s) round LOT (a good many)
20 Part of gut grumbling softly, upset, having received nothing (7)
PYLORUS
P (softly) + a reversal (upset) of SURLY (grumbling) round O (nothing)
21 Way of viewing a group regularly infiltrated by police constable (6)
ASPECT
A SET round P C (Police Constable) regularly
23 Spot injury to muscle, cancelling run (5)
STAIN
ST[r]AIN (injury to muscle) minus r (run)
25 Acceptable to interrupt a jabber? (5)
POKER
OK (acceptable) in PER (a)
Not as tricky as it first looked and as Eileen states, the unfamiliar words were clearly clued. I liked PEDALOS and AMSTERDAM especially. The Ninas OROTAU and PAPA mean understand and plank/storey/plane respectively but that doesn’t make sense. Thanks for explaining BIS in CUBISTS.
The setter told us in March that 48 would be the next number rather than 47 for editorial reasons, but I’m still working on that.
Ta Pangakupu & Eileen.
The hardest of the week so far. All solved and parsed but the south, and south west in particular, were a bit of a struggle. Pangakupu is harder than Paul or Vlad for me. I actually looked up a couple of potential Maori ninas and found answers but my heart wasn’t in it. I prefer to know when I’m right.
I liked PULSAR, DAMP SQUIB, NITPICKER and SINISTRAL.
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen
Hi Eileen. Thanks for the blog.
For NITPICKER you’ve got I[t], but it should be IT, otherwise it’s NIPICKER.
Crispy @3: don’t be such a …….😊
Thank you, Crispy – will amend RIGHT AWAY.
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen
Not being a nitpicker, just having an eye for detail, may I observe that the P / softly in 20 is omitted.
Of course you may, Simon @6 – thank you.
I really enjoyed this, with my favourites being the same as Martin’s.
Nice one. Unlike Martin @2, I found this more straightforward than some others this week, helped by precise cluing and relatively simple constructions. As Eileen pointed out, there are a lot of single letter manipulations – I did wonder whether this was a theme!
A = PER pops up again – this is happening often enough for me to have eventually become wise to it….
Lots of good clues. Can I crib both AlanC and Martin’s lists?
Thanks to P & E
Toughie but lovely crossword with some neat misdirections…TIGON for cross, CATARRH for discharge (after courthouse), and so on.
I don’t like to be a 27a, but in the AARONIC clue, isn’t ironic an adjective, whereas with satirical humour seems to be adverbial.
… I’ll get my coat…
Protase @9
I did wonder whether this was a theme! – I was actually tempted to say that. 😉
Having entered APERCU (a glimpse) at 21d made the difficult SW corner even more difficult. It fits the definition, had the PC in it, also the A to start, and the R and U regularly from ‘group’. I couldn’t quite account for the E, though, and eventually resorted to the check button. At least I had two correct letters in the right place, and two others but not where they should be. APLANATIC and AARONIC both NHO for me, as well. Thanks, Pangakupu and Eileen.
Yes, I managed to spot a=per this time, and to identify a TIGON as a “cross”, but those inter-shuffled letters in ASPECTS foiled me. Rather a tough Pangakupu today.
APLANATIC and PYLORUS were new. Favourites BUTTON, SQUAWK and the damp squid.
William @10, I’ll see your nitpickery and raise you. In the clue ‘satirical’ is an adjective describing humour and ‘with satirical humour’ is an adjectival phrase describing articles (as opposed to, say, ’using humour satirically’). Getting nitpicky about irony reminds me of Ed Byrne’s critique of the Alanis Morisette song (Google or YouTube search it if you haven’t heard it).
Many thanks, MattS @14 – somehow, I hadn’t heard it. I loved it!
Well if we can’t nitpick here, where can we? I enjoyed this, though NICKER=pound is pretty antiquated slang. I don’t think I’ve heard it used in decades.
A Paul and then a Pangakupu to lead up to the Prize tomorrow – both of which were an absolute treat! Some unfamiliar terms here but all impeccably and fairly clued, so it took me a while but I enjoyed every moment. I particularly liked SINISTRAL and CATARRH.
Tomorrow’s prize has to be good if it’s going to surpass the Thursday and Friday offerings!
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen.
Thanks Pangakupu and Eileen
This went very quickly until I got to the SW. Of course I got ALUMNA straight away, but the others took ages, especially as I hadn’t come across APLANATIC or AARONIC before.
I tried to make SP(r)AIN a spot for 23d.
Favourite FOI PULSAR.
I also tried SP(r)AIN and even checked that a sprain could be muscle-related.
ARhymerOinks @17. I think you’ve gone a day early? This was the Thursday offering. No prize for you…yet.
Liked DAMP SQUIB, SQUAK, NITPICKER and AARONIC.
Thanks both.
If it helps with the Nina “too roo” is Australian slang for “goodbye” . “Oro tau pa pa” also is almost translatable but I can’t put it all together. Where 48 comes in is totally obscure to me.
This one stretched my arcane vocabulary but all eventually went in, parsed except for 4 where BIS was new to me. COTD was the squid.
Thanks Pangakupu & Eileen.
[KVa @20 reminded me – I heard a cricket commentator last week describing an innings as “a bit of a damp squid”!]
Googling 48th storey informs me that there is a Spanish film called The Platform where a prisoner is assigned to level 48. I am clutching at straws really.
MattS @14: I see your raise, and your point is taken, but the clue works by removing the i from ironic which is an adjective. I’ll pass the chips over to you if you can interpose ironic and with satirical humour in a sentence.
(Loved the Ed Byrne critique!)
According to Google Translate, “oro tau papa patooroo” is Maori for “the sound of your drum” – however, the significance of this escapes me.
Thanks, Pangakupu for a good puzzle with a mix of helpful ways in and crunchy innards. And thanks as always to Eileen for the immaculate blog.
Very much a game of two halves today; the top half went in so smoothly I had to check the setter’s name, but the bottom half proved very chewy, not least because of some unfamiliar (although very fairly-clued) answers. Favourites ASPECT and TIGON. Thanks to Eileen and Pangakupu.
Martin@19 you’re right of course – my only excuse is that I’m retired and thus find it difficult to distinguish between weekdays and weekends!
This was hard, with many NHOs (tigon, aplanatic, pylorus, …). As a left-handed person, I never liked the common meaning of sinister (or gauche), but sinistral at least seems to just have the “on the left” meaning. Did anyone else think this was going to be a pangram? After I had q, u, y, w, ….
Thanks, Pangakupu and Eileen. I needed a few of your explanations
Tricky for me, but enjoyable. AARONIC and TECHNIC beat me.
Particularly liked the clues for TIGON, SQUAWK, PEDALOS and CUBISTS. And the trick in the clue for ASPECT was clever.
From time in Rome, learned that Italians shout “Bis!” when Britishers would shout “Encore!”. Not sure what the French shout.
Thanks to Pangakupu and Eileen.
William @24
This has been discussed here more than once. I don’t think we need to be able to interchange two words / phrases in a sentence for them to convey the same idea: an ironic remark is one expressed with satirical humour.
Petert @23: the ex-Time Life building in Manhattan featured in Mad Men also has 48 storeys but again I can’t see any link.
Me @30
I should not have included ‘expressed’, which makes my phrase adverbial, rather than adjectival, which is what I intended – with = having.
If Mitz@25 is right, perhaps it’s a 4/8 time signature.
orotau: to be in tune with
papa patooro: musical keyboard
Bach’s The Well-tempered Clavier
aka “The Forty-Eight”
Well done, Coloradan!
Thanks Petert@35. Folks often confuse that piece with Bach’s (illegitimate 21st) son PDQ’s “The Short-tempered Clavier”, known colloquially as “The Eighty-Six”.
Colorado is correct – see here, and 47 is yet to appear.
This was fun this morning – and I’d got as far as translating keyboards, but not worked out the link.
Thank you to Pangakupu and Eileen.
A few words I wasn’t familiar with as answers but workoutable?! Nice crossword.
Thanks for the hints, Eileen.
I solved a few in the NW corner. Revealed 1a and not knowing what a WHITE DWARF or a PULSAR are, I gave up on the basis that the rest of the clues were going to be equally impossible.
I rather wish I had persevered now.
Thanks P also.
Eileen @30: hmmm… has it? I must have missed it. I see your point but I would normally avoid this when setting. Thanks for your comment, though.
A DNF for me, after much struggling and several NHOs (all mentioned above). I liked AARONIC once I got there.
I spent almost half my life in Britain and either never heard “nicker” or completely forgot about it. Either possibility is a bit odd
Thank you Eileen and Pangakupu. This was a very satisfying puzzle for me to solve as everything went in by following the rules. Even a couple of new words which simply had to be right: TIGON, HELOTS, PYLORUS. No grasping for definitions today and mercifully few anagrams! Beauty!
Ace@41. I could write “half a nicker = ten bob note” and both sides of the equation would be meaningless to half the UK population and nearly all the rest of the world. I suppose i’m getting old.
I have resumed my lunchtime solves of the Guardian puzzles. This is the toughest Pangakupu I’ve attempted yet, and I had to press to finish. Once I biffed nitpicker, I was able to tackle pylorus – yes, that must be it. I’d heard of everything else.
I always thought that ‘nicker’ was spelt ‘knicker’ – alone am I?
A friend entertained me once by describing his first experience of sushi as being ‘a bit of a damp squid’.
Alphalpha@45: I suspect you might be alone on that one. Neither Chambers nor OED can offer you support. But if mikeb@43 offered to sell me something for only half a (k)nicker I suppose I could say it was going for a thong.
French addresses use ‘Bis’ to denote separate dwellings under the same street number – so, ’18 bis’ for 18A…
Angry@48
I love a couple of buttered biscottes with my morning coffee.
French “Biscotte” comes from the Italian “Biscotto” which is derived from the Latin “Bis coctus” literally meaning “cooked twice.”
Waitrose sells proper biscottes, marketed as French toasts Jacquet (Jacquet is part of Jacquet Brossard, an old French company. Jacket was the inventor of the crispbread known as biscotte). Tesco sells their own brand of French toasts that have nothing to do with real biscottes as they are full of sugar: yuk!
Comment #49
Limped across the finish line having been mauled by the SW corner. Managed all but 28a TECHNIC (huh?). Enjoyable nonetheless, my experience matching Eileen’s preamble. But thank you, Eileen, for highlighting all the deletions — not my favourite device, used far too much by setters
Hector@46. That’s good! 🙂
Made good progress from top until I didn’t as I moved into the lower half. Struggled through to the end but it was an enjoyable puzzle, more so than Wednesday’s Paul IMO. Quite a few obscure words and also a couple of NHOs but the clueing was spot on. Thanks Pangakupu, and Eileen for your blog explanations.