Lots to enjoy…
…including a theme – pasta can be found in the shape of, or is named after the Italian for: RADIATORs/radiatori, PILLOWs as in ravioli, FEATHERs/penne=’quills’ in Italian, ALPHABET as in alphabet soup, SHELLs/conchiglie, TORTELLINI, TUBEs and PIPES, BOW TIEs as in farfalle, RIBBONs as in tagliatelle, STRINGs/spaghetti, SPIRALS as in fusilli, and TWINs/gemelli. In the clues we can also find ‘flower’/fiori and ‘moustache’/mostaccioli. With thanks to [wiki].
Favourites were 23ac, 25ac, 1dn, 3dn and 6dn. Thanks, Qaos
| Across | ||
| 7 | RADIATOR | Heater or cooler? (8) |
| devices that can heat a building or cool a vehicle [wiki] – and in general transfer heat from one place to another | ||
| 9 | PILLOW | “Close to drop, Villa lack wingers!” — cry of suffering supporter (6) |
| closing letter of [dro]P, plus [V]ILL[a], plus OW=”cry of suffering” | ||
| 10 | NILE | Irishman delivered flower (4) |
| =”flower”=river. Homophone/”delivered” of ‘Niall’=”Irishman” | ||
| 11 | SOBRIQUETS | Criminal robs quite special handles (10) |
| (robs quite)* plus S[pecial] | ||
| 12 | MOCHAS | With 40% cash, Dave’s other half gets the drinks (6) |
| 40% of MO[ney]=”cash”, plus CHAS of Chas & Dave [wiki] | ||
| 14 | OLEASTER | Olive Oyl forgets Popeye’s 5th anniversary (8) |
| O[y]L minus the 5th of [Pope]y[e], plus EASTER=”anniversary” | ||
| 15 | FEATHER | Afraid to grip the wedge? (7) |
| =a wedge put into a groove to make a joint in e.g. carpentry. FEAR=”Afraid” gripping THE | ||
| 17 | ADVANCE | Increase loan (7) |
| double definition | ||
| 20 | ALPHABET | A mobile device promoting line for letters (8) |
| A, plus PHABLET=”mobile device”=portmanteau of ‘phone’ and ‘tablet’, with L[ine] moved to first or “promoted” | ||
| 22 | SHELLS | The girl Lois empties guts when fed 50 crusts (6) |
| SHE=”The girl”, plus L[oi]S emptied around L=50 in Roman numerals | ||
| 23 | TORTELLINI | Food cooked in little cases (yellow) (10) |
| (in little)*, around OR=gold=”yellow” | ||
| 24 | TUBE | Rotavate earth, except underground (4) |
| =the London Underground. Reversal/anagram of E[arth] plus BUT=”except” | ||
| 25 | TIRADE | IT are furious about the source of DOS attack (6) |
| (IT are)* around the first/source of D[OS] | ||
| 26 | GLACIATE | Freeze injured cartilage right away (8) |
| (cartilage)* minus r[ight] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BARITONE | Not even Blair mistook Noel for singer (8) |
| Not the even letters of B[l]A[i]R [m]I[s]T[o]O[k] N[o]E[l] | ||
| 2 | PIPE | Good exercise channel (4) |
| PI[ous]=”Good”, plus P[hysical] E[ducation]=”exercise” | ||
| 3 | STASIS | Sat about with relative inactivity (6) |
| (Sat)* with SIS[ter]=”relative” | ||
| 4 | SPLIT END | Lock trouble revealed by open door? (5,3) |
| =trouble with locks of hair. The letters END are SPLIT apart inside [op]EN D[oor] | ||
| 5 | CLOUDSCAPE | Heavenly image could upset Catholic primate after Sunday (10) |
| (could)*, plus C[atholic] + APE=”primate” both after S[unday] | ||
| 6 | BOW TIE | Pop icon collects casual shirt as formal wear (3,3) |
| David BOWIE=”Pop icon”, around T=”casual shirt” | ||
| 8 | RIBBON | Start to record first bees on tape (6) |
| R[ecord], plus I=number one=first”, plus two B’s=”bees”, plus ON | ||
| 13 | HATCHET MAN | Critical journalist‘s article on fixing the match (7,3) |
| AN=indefinite article, after (the match)* | ||
| 16 | EMBALMED | Preserved them clipped, without hair, without tips of moustache (8) |
| [th]EM, plus BALD=”without hair”, outside the tips of M[oustach]E | ||
| 18 | CELIBATE | Monk might be in church, albeit tormented (8) |
| C[hurch] of E[ngland], plus (albeit)* | ||
| 19 | STRING | Series: The Saint, complete with halo (6) |
| ST=”Saint”, plus RING=”halo” | ||
| 21 | LEONID | Coward uplifted by 1 down’s shooting star (6) |
| NOEL Coward the playwright, reversed/”uplifted”, plus I=”1″ and D[own] | ||
| 22 | SPIRAL | Twist succeeded — April fool! (6) |
| S[ucceeded] plus (April)* | ||
| 24 | TWIN | Double 2 minus 0 plus 1 number (4) |
| TWO=”2″, minus O=”0″, plus I=”1″, plus N[umber] | ||
Tricky but fun. Some great surfaces, especially 1 and 18. 23 could almost be an &lit, and 20’s wordplay is very up-to-the-minute.
This was lots of fun – especially CELIBATE and ALPHABET. I couldn’t parse SPLIT END but bunged it in from the definition and crossers. I failed on OLEASTER, though – a new word to me and I’m not comfortable with anniversary = easter. Also, afraid = fear? I can’t think of a sentence where the words can be used interchangeably?
Oops – forgot to say thanks to manehi (I missed the theme, as usual) and a big thanks to Qaos for a very entertaining cryptic.
Thanks manehi and Quas!
Quite interesting though the theme escaped me. Liked 12, 20, 22a, 25, 1, 2 and 22d
oops QAOS 🙁
Thanks Qaos and manehi
When I got 7a almost immediately i thought it was going to be a relatively easy run. Not so.
Missed the theme, but don’t know if it would have helped.
For 10a I do not consider “Nile” to be a homophone of “Niall”. However, it does remind me of a rather bad pun given by a TV current affairs presenter in Australia to describe someone “in denial”. He said they are “like Egyptians on a hot day.”
I think it’s time for me to join William @11 yesterday. “I’ll get my coat”
Like matrixmania@3 I completely missed the theme as always, but really enjoyed the puzzle. Favourites were ALPHABET, PILLOW, SOBRIQUETS and SPIRAL. Many thanks to Qaos and manehi.
I agree with matrixmania that ‘fear’ (noun or verb) cannot be inserted where ‘afraid’ (adjective) may go in sentences. And the word play for ‘split end’ was not of the top class. As for ‘phablet’, I hope never to hear the word or see it again.
I found RADIATOR barely cryptic, but I suppose it’s like a towel being ‘what gets wet as it dries’.
Thanks manehi and Qaos an enjoyable puzzle.
I liked 26a as am laid up today following trimming of a torn knee cartilage!
Kevin @6. I have a nephew named Niall, pronounced Nile. It is not unknown.
Good work Qaos and brilliant theme-spotting by manehi.
As usual, I enjoyed this puzzle from Qaos, but found it challenging. For what it’s worth, at 15a, I parsed the clue as ‘Afraid’ equals ‘in fear’, so ‘fear’ an envelope for ‘the’ to give ‘feather’. I realise that this makes ‘to grip’ redundant, but it’s the closest I can get.
matrixmania @ 2: I got OLEASTER, but share your discomfort about anniversary = Easter. Easter doesn’t occur on the same date each year, so how can it equate to anniversary?
Enjoyable puzzle nonetheless (and someone may yet come along to explain why we’re wrong and it’s ok).
I failed to spot the brilliant theme, and for some reason had to resort to online help, on 23ac (which would have been obvious if I’d seen the theme) and (inexcusably) on 22 dn.
Thanks, manehi, and bravo for spotting the many instances of the theme (which I blithely bypassed without even noticing!)
Still don’t quite see the SPLIT END gag. Surely it’s OP—OOR that’s split, not END?
I wrote ? next to the FEAR = AFRAID clue and still agree with matrixmania on this.
Got in a tangle parsing TUBE. I thought rota was the instruction to reverse VAT (tub) and then add E. I like your version much more!
CLOUDSCAPE & RIBBON were nice, and TWIN was fun.
Super puzzle on the whole, unspoilt by minor quibbles.
Many thanks, Qaos.
Nice week, all.
George Clements @12 Excellent and spirited defence, m’lud, but I agree with your final misgivings.
Kevin @6 See you at the coat rack.
Enjoyed this one a lot, but I expected that since Qaos is one of my favourite setters. Last in, least familiar and best in retrospect was OLEASTER.
Thanks to Qaos and manehi
William @ 14.
Naughty step for you, not the coat rack. The parsing of ‘split end’ is as described by manehi innit.
Nice puzzle – regulation Qaoster. Missed the theme (should have known there’d be one) but it wouldn’t have helped even though I consume quite bit of the stuff – I usually use the stuff that’s about the same size as spaghetti but rectangular in cross-section – no idea what it’s called – you can see through the wrapping so just go by sight in the supermarket.
The stuff we eat nowadays – and fuss over the cross-section of pasta! When I were a lad there were two types of pasta in the UK – spaghetti – in one-inch lengths – in cans, with tomato sauce – and macaroni – sometimes bought long but reduced to respectably short lengths before cooking – to be consumed with homemade cheese sauce. Character-building tucker. Anything else came under the heading of “foreign muck”.
Thanks to S&B
I read 15a as per George @#12, but not fully convinced. No other quibbles.
George Clements @17 So it is.
The En d.
Didn’t get 10ac – went for Aire: although I’ve seen the name Niall, I had assumed as the Irish version of Neil, so pronounced the same.
Than you Qaos and manehi.
I found this great fun, but the pasta escaped me and PHABLET unknown…
A brother of one of my daughters-in-law is called Niall, so NILE was no problem. My favourite clue was that for SPLIT ENDS!
A “K” @22 seems to have also escaped me, that should be “Thank you Qaos and manehi”.
I wonder if 22a made anyone else think of “ravioli”? I would have PILLOW as meaning cuscini pasta.
One other thought – I had to look up SOBRIQUET to check the absent U and was interested to see the derivation is Old French, “To chuck under the chin”. It conjures the image of an old uncle with a favourite niece, and calling her Pumkin or some such pet name. I work in French but have not come across briquet in any sense other than a cigarette lighter or a beagle dog.
Anyone?
Managed to mess it all up by starting with PORRIDGE at 7 across – in the sense of something that warms you up, and in the prison (“cooler”) sense. Thanks to Qaos, and to Manehi for setting me straight.
[William @24, I also checked the French for SOBRIQUET , it seems briquet might have come from bequet with an r creeping in, which can happen.]
Cookie @26 Interesting, thank you. And what do you think bequet signified? I can see a link to becqueter which is to peck but I still can’t find ‘chin’ anywhere.
Probably lost in the mists etc.
One of the many things I like about doing crosswords is that they expand my lexicon.
However, discovering that ‘phablet’ is a thing, this is a rare occasion of wishing that they didn’t.
ADVANCE has been clued as a two word dd 7 times before, but not quite this way:
Mercury 21696: Further loan (7)
Rufus 22100: Further progress (7)
Quantum 22127: Further improvement (7)
Rover 22365: Early development (7)
Rover 24538: Early promotion (7)
Rufus 25862: Further progress (7)
Rufus 26437: Increase progress (7)
Qaos 27019: Increase loan (7)
Nile was last in. Does no one remember Nail Quinn who played for Arsenal several centuries ago? A generally different atmosphere to this puzzle. Good fun. Thanks to everyone.
Sorry, Nail!
Predictive text. I give up.
Thanks Qaos and manehi.
William et al: on Sobriquet, see this
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-sob1.htm
Niall Quinn was at Sunderland much more recently. Bet they could do with his like now!
Thanks to Qaos and manehi. I struggled to get through and needed help parsing more than the usual number of items (e.g., ALPHABET, SPLIT END). FEATHER in this sense was new to me, and NILE was last in.
No,I didn’t spot the theme but, as someone has already said,I doubt it would have helped. I found this a bit of a mixture: some clues were virtually write-ins; while others kept me guessing for ages. I must say that the latter also seemed easy once I’d got them. MOCHAS- I was looking for Mrs Cameron-and PIPE(LOI) I simply couldn’t see. LEONID was new to me but thanks to Mr Google—-.
Thanks Qaos.
Perhaps redundant for me to add my name to the list of dissenters over “fear” versus”afraid”, but I will do anyway. Particularly galling as I toyed with “feather”, assuming (correctly) that the definition was something unknown to me, but dismissed it because it can’t possibly be that.
Many thanks Manehi and Qaos. As a big pasta fan it made it easier. I’m also a huge football fan and remember Niall Quinn well. He also played for Manchester City Sunderland and Republic of Ireland. He commentate for Sky Sports now
For JollySwagman: I think you’ll find its Linguini – good choice!
cholecyst @33 Many thanks. I think we can assume that this derivation is muddied to say the least!
cholecyst @23, thanks, that is a really good reference for SOBRIQUET.
Thanks Qaos and manehi
Although I completed, I missed quite a lot (but not the theme, for once!). In particular FEATHER was new to me in the sense of “wedge” – I hadn’t noticed the afraid=fear difficulty, but now I tend to agree.
I parsed the MO of MOCHAS as 40% of MOOLA, and was going to complain about it! Oh well….btw are Chas and Dave having a revival? That’s the second time they’ve been in recently.
PeterM @21, if it’s any consolation I went for EIRE…!
[William, I wonder if this 15th century reference, given by Lettré, is that mentioned in cholecyst’s @33 reference,
HISTORIQUE XIVe s.
Le suppliant donna audit Michiel deux petits coups, appelez soubzbriquez, des dois de la main soubz le menton, [Du Cange, barba.]]
Thanks manehi and Qaos.
Pleasant crossword. Many others seem to have missed noticing a theme; I looked hard, but couldn’t see one anyway, despite knowing Qaos always has one. I did spot RIBBON and STRING down the middle and thought perhaps there were some paired answers, but couldn’t see any others.
I have never heard of PHABLET, and also,like other commentators, wish I hadn’t. BREXIT once should have been in the same category; unfortunately, repetition has taken the edge off it, but only just.
Enjoyed this, thanks.
I read ” afraid to” = FEAR
However not so sure about FEATHER as wedge.
Potterer @ 45
Google ‘plug and feathers’, scroll past the pub entries, and find a means of splitting stone
hth
Cookie @43 Wow, bravo. How the devil did you dig that up?
As usual, I missed the theme, and I also missed the wordplay in SPLIT END. I got NILE from the river, and realised that it was a “sound alike” clue, but I don’t like “Irishman” for Niall. Yes, there was a legendary king, and it is still a fairly common Irish name, but would it be OK to clue Arthur with just “Englishman” on equivalent grounds?
Favourites include BARITONE, BOW TIE and TWIN.
Thanks, Qaos and manehi.
@jennyk – I share your unease re Niall (open ended synonyms/definitions are annoying – here you not only have to think through any male or female Irish name but also every river on the planet as well as every possible flower (by which I mean bloomer of course!).
But on the Niall/Arthur comparison, I suppose the difference is that anyone in any English speaking country might be called Arthur – whereas Niall is at least exclusively Irish.
re #49, not sure if historian Niall Ferguson would agree with that.
Hmm, yes – fair point! 🙂
Like Simon H @ 36 I dismissed feather because I thought fear couldn’t be ‘afraid’.
Nice to see some new names (to me) amongst the blogs today and less of some daily commenters listing their progress through the xword.
Thanks to all
[William @47, from Littré, dictionnaire de la langue française.]
Me too!
It’s linguine and I have a great recipe for it which combines prawns, eggs, curry powder and mint. Totally addictive I can assure you.