A very enjoyable challenge, with plenty of misdirection. Favourites were 15ac, 1dn and 2dn. Thanks, Nutmeg
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| Across | ||
| 1 | DECAPOD | Retired cook regulated time for lobster, say (7) |
| Reversal of/”Retired”: DO=”cook”, plus PACED=”regulated time for” | ||
| 5 | GRAPHS | Group’s first hits retaining height in charts (6) |
| G[roup] plus RAPS=”hits” around H[eight] | ||
| 9 | OUTBOARD | Exhausted, get on motor of a sort (8) |
| OUT=”Exhausted” plus BOARD=”get on” | ||
| 10 | QUORUM | Drink for days in prison, just enough to function (6) |
| RUM=”Drink”, exchanged for D[ays] in QUO[D]=”prison” | ||
| 12 | BLACK TREACLE | British have no claret supply without European sweetener (5,7) |
| B[ritish] plus LACK=”have no”, plus (claret)* around E[uropean] | ||
| 15 | CARRIES OFF | Cops out to catch activist responsible primarily for kidnaps (7,3) |
| CRIES OFF=”Cops out”=backs out of something, around A[ctivist] R[esponsible] | ||
| 17 | LIT | Turned on section of artillery in retreat (3) |
| Hidden reversed in [ar]TIL[lery] | ||
| 19 | OVA | Talking about the subject of eggs (3) |
| Homophone/”Talking” of ‘over’=”about the subject of” | ||
| 20 | ANTAGONISM | Saint among Liberal opposition (10) |
| (Saint among)* | ||
| 22 | LIGHT-HEARTED | Unusually lithe daughter leaving university in good spirits (5-7) |
| (lithe daughter)* minus U[niversity] | ||
| 26 | ACUMEN | Blokes backing a copper’s judgement (6) |
| MEN=”Blokes”, after A plus CU=chemical symbol for “copper” | ||
| 27 | GALILEAN | Astronomer’s westbound trail home across meadow (8) |
| =related or belonging to Galileo. reversal of/”westbound” LAG=”trail” behind; plus IN=”home” around LEA=”meadow” | ||
| 28 | SPECKS | Glasses trapping potassium particles (6) |
| SPECS=”Glasses”, around K=chemical symbol for “potassium” | ||
| 29 | MORELLO | Right cockney greeting after “Mike, old fruit” (7) |
| =a cherry. R[ight], plus ‘ELLO=”cockney greeting”; all after M[ike] O[ld], where M[ike] is the phonetic alphabet abbreviation | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DOOM | Second overdose brought about death (4) |
| MO[ment]=”Second”, plus O[ver]D[ose]; all reversed/”brought about” | ||
| 2 | CUTE | Winning division of cards by bridge player (4) |
| CUT=”division of [a deck of] cards” by E[ast]=”bridge player” | ||
| 3 | PROCLAIM | Trumpet for silent type crossing island (8) |
| PRO=”for”, plus CLAM=”silent type” around I[sland] | ||
| 4 | DORIC | Order from Pole back in charge (5) |
| =an “Order” of Greek architecture. ROD=”Pole”, reversed/”back”; plus I[n] C[harge] | ||
| 6 | ROUSED | Got up and complained, trashing leader (6) |
| [g]ROUSED=”complained” minus its leading letter | ||
| 7 | PORTCULLIS | Surplus selection is kept under wine bar on the way in (10) |
| CULL=”Surplus selection”, plus IS; all after PORT=”wine” | ||
| 8 | SUMMERTIME | Best season for adders? (10) |
| Adders => those who do addition => those who do sums => ‘SUMMERs’ | ||
| 11 | STAFFA | Isle of Man area (6) |
| =a Scottish island. STAFF=”Man”, plus A[rea] | ||
| 13 | SCHOOLDAYS | Choosy lads unhappy? They should be happiest! (10) |
| =they should be the happiest days. (Choosy lads)* | ||
| 14 | BROAD GAUGE | British lines smaller than this American woman’s estimate (5,5) |
| =a wider distance between rails than seen in British railway lines [standard guage]. BROAD[‘s] GAUGE=”American woman’s estimate” | ||
| 16 | SONNET | Short lyric, final work of poet (6) |
| SON[g]=”Short lyric”, plus NET=”final” | ||
| 18 | COMELIER | Better looking one turning up to eat pork pie (8) |
| COMER=”one turning up”, around LIE=”pork pie” in rhyming slang | ||
| 21 | STREAK | Barely move in sprint (6) |
| “Barely move”=move while bare=move naked [in a public situation]=STREAK | ||
| 23 | REARM | Last maiden to prepare for a new engagement? (5) |
| REAR=”Last”, plus M[aiden] – cricket abbreviation | ||
| 24 | REEL | Sound coming from concrete drum (4) |
| =the rotating cylinder of a reel. Homophone of/”Sound coming from”: ‘real’=”concrete” | ||
| 25 | UNDO | Invalidate peacekeepers’ function (4) |
| U[nited] N[ations]=”peacekeepers” plus DO=”function”=party | ||
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi
I found this difficult, particularly the top, and unusually for Nutmeg, not all that entertaining – nothing wrong with it, but no real smiles. Favourites were STAFFA and SCHOOLDAYS.
I was held up by having BROWN TREACLE for some time, despite not having heard of it. “British have” gives BR OWN; I eventually realised that this didn’t account for the “no” in the clue.
I didn’t parse QUORUM, and think now that “day” would be ebtter than “days”.
Thanks Manehi. I didn’t find Nutmeg quite as much fun as usual. Very much liked 20 for the misdirection and 21 was fun. Couldn’t parse 10 without your help. Never heard of QUOD. Was looking for one in the Middle East and 2 Ds somewhere. Why ‘days’ plural?
As muffin said.
Excellent puzzle and blog. Thanks for parsing of the QUO(D)-i was unfamiliar with the word in that sense.
Enjoyable puzzle and only needed assistance for last one in – DECAPOD – which I hadn’t come across. Not 100% sure about Do = ‘cook’. Presumably as in ‘act dishonestly’ but it’s a bit of a stretch to my mind. My other slight niggle would be CULL = ‘Surplus selection’. I’ve only ever known cull as a verb or to describe the act of culling. Finally, hadn’t encountered QUOD = ‘prison’ either: I’ve just Googled it and wonder whether the restaurant or the planning consultancy named Quod are aware??
I thought BROAD GAUGE was excellent, as was STAFFA and SCHOOLDAYS where I completely missed the anagram indicator. COTD, though, is STREAK which just made me laugh.
Thanks to Nutmeg and Manehi
I also hadn’t heard of ‘quod’, and couldn’t parse SONNET. Liked CUTE, DOOM, SCHOOLDAYS, PORTCULLIS and GALILEAN. Many thanks to Nutmeg and manehi.
Thank you Nutmeg and manehi.
Another who did not know QUOD, but I have just found it in the COED, origin unknown. STAFFA held me up for a while as did BROAD GAUGE, which I found rather fun along with SCHOOLDAYS, PORTCULLIS and CARRIES OFF.
Mark@5 – no problem with do=cook, as in ‘can you do the veg before I grill the meat?’
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi.
I found this very difficult. Oxford has d = day(s) and days obviously makes a much better surface.
In 12, I would have thought that ‘supplied’ would be better than ‘supply,’ which seems to me to be in the wrong position. I did like the ‘bar on the way in.’
Thanks Nutmeg for an excellent puzzle and manehi for the blog.
Robi @ 9: it has to be ‘supply’ in the sense of ‘supple’, as it’s the anagrind.
Thanks, manhei.
Hmm – a toughie for me, but all pretty fair.
Failed to parse QUORUM and still don’t see why the clue has days plural.
Like Muffin, I had BROWN TREACLE and for the same reasons. Perhaps it was an intentional misdirect, in which case it’s wicked and jolly clever.
Is QUOD one of those lost origins, I wonder? A lot of prisons had a central exercise yard sometimes called the quad so perhaps it changed it’s spelling. Dunno.
I like a crossword where the first pass reveals disturbingly meagre results but then yields steadily, as this one did, like loosening a knot in a ball of string.
NW corner gave me most trouble through being dense looking for lobstery synonyms.
Much to admire, so many thanks Nutmeg.
Nice weekend, all.
PeterM @ 8: Thanks. That does make sense. I got hung up on ‘do’ as in ‘con’ or ‘swindle’.
Mark @5 I thought cull was meant in the sense that the act of doing a cull is the act of making a selection of the surplus, which seemed ok to me at the time. Although now you have me questioning it…
After struggling with an ‘easy’ crossword the other day I am especially proud to have got Quorum by parsing it correctly. I’ve no idea where on earth I got the word Quod from, but anyway there it was nestling in one of the folds of my brain.
I dislike the convention of using unindicated single letter abbreviations – D for days, A for Activist, R for Responsible etc. For me they suck the life-juice out of solving. I thought there were too many hanging around today but otherwise I liked a lot of the clues and enjoyed my time spent with Nutmeg. Cheers.
Crumplehorn – the A[ctivist] and R[esponsible] abbreviations have the “primarily” indicator
Agree with others that “days” improves the surface, but is a little awkward.
Oops, just realised that A for Activisist and R for Responsible WERE indicated. Apologies, I’ll get down off my high horse immediately.
Do = cook is very vague. Nonsense basically.
Tim @16
“Is the chicken done? No? Do it some more, then!”
The NW corner was a struggle despite getting 1D and 3D early, like others I would never think of “do” for “cook”, although it’s perfectly fair once you see it. Eventually I got CUTE and then all became clear. I agree with William @11, the best crosswords look almost impossible on first pass and then each small crack lets in more light. Very enjoyable. Laughed out loud at STAFFA and STREAK; am beginning to find SUMMER for adder a bit over-used. Thanks Nutmeg and Manehi.
Tim @16, it is even in the COED, do v. 14 trans. cook, esp. to the right degree (do it in the oven; the potatoes aren’t done yet).
Another fine crossword as we have come to expect from Nutmeg. Seemed quite tricky at first glance but gave way quite steadily with no major holdups.
Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi
Cookie @19 This one is clearly going to run and run. I’ll bow to COED of course but, as I walked the dog, I pondered on PeterM’s earlier explanation @8. It strikes me that ‘do’ could be a synonym for many other verbs, depending on context. I could mow, cut or do the lawn; tidy, clear or do the spare room and so on. And, once I’d finished, they’d be done. As am I.
Mark @21, exactly, the COED gives 24 entries for the transitive verb…
The wind is blowing here fit to bust and we had to forego the terrace this lunchtime. Steady progress but failed on 24d. Should have got it, on reflection. Thanks to everyone.
Quod: The first citing is in 1698 in “The Canting Crew” referring to “Newgate; also any prison – even if – for debt.” Newgate had a quadrangle but no one seems to know how it came to be spelt quod, although Henry Fielding has it as “quad” in “Amelia”, which is how I, in my ignorance, have spelt it.
Crumplehorn @13: Funnily enough, I’m happier with your interpretation of ‘cull’. ‘Surplus selection’ = ‘Selection of surplus’ works fine. Which, I guess, is what Nutmeg intended. In which case, cracking clue!
Quod was an addition to my (fairly limited) vocabulary. 14D was the one I liked the most. Thanks Manehi and Nutmeg!
In 25, I took “function” to represent “do” not as in “party” but as in “work, operate satisfactorily” (“this will do for now”). “do” is the only pro-verb (not proverb, but something replacing a verb, as a pronoun replaces a noun) in English. It is in that capacity that it represents “cook” in 1 across. And precisely because it can replace any verb, I think it is a bit unfair as a crossword clue.
Rompiballe @2
I take your point (as others have mentioned) about the versatility and thus possible unfairness of “do” – it’s a bit like the Italian verb “fare”, which means “to do”, “to make”, “to work” etc. etc. – used in so many contexts.
Just what muffin said @1, including the brown stuff.
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi
I thought this was harder than usual; it certainly took me quite a long
time to complete-although I was interrupted several times while doing it.
Not as much fun either. Not that I can find anything wrong with the puzzle
but it just didn’t do it for me.
Anyway,thanks Nutmeg.
Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi. I found this puzzle difficult so that I had to resort a lot to guesswork. I had the same problem as others parsing QUORUM but also had trouble with the broad in BROAD GAUGE and the black in BLACK TREACLE. Last in were MORELLO and CUTE. A challenge for me.
ACD @31
I’m a bit surprised – I would have expected that you would have found “broad” easier than we did!
I found this a satisfying solve, yielding gradually as I came back to it whenever I had a few minutes to spare during the day. The NW held out longest. DOOM was LOI, perhaps because I originally suspected 1a might be SEAFOOD, with its initial S corresponding to the “second” in the 1d clue. There are two many good clues for me to want to pick favourites.
Thanks, Nutmeg and manehi.
Oops … “too many good clues” …
If one thinks ‘do’ has many meanings, check out ‘set’ (23 pages in my OED, against a paltry 6 pages for ‘do’ !).
I thought this an well-pitched puzzle for a Friday; not too tricky but certainly not a write-in. I also had difficulty parsing DECAPOD though that may be age (a combination of impatience and forgetfulness); it was clearly correct and, having failed to parse immediately intended to return after ….. but forgot! Well, that’s my excuse.
Though not the most joyful of solves, it rang most of the other bells puzzle-wise.
Many thanks to Nutmeg and Manehi (your blog both lucid and concise), though a part of me thought STREAK a simple, witty cryptic definition (the whole) but, on reflection, Manehi’s explanation may well be correct.
Another attempt to do a crossword in broadly the same timeframe is it was published (our “backlog” puzzle is March 2016…) . Some harrumphing about “do” and we had to look up the “decapod” . I was thinking about lobsters having two claws so working on bi – …
Pleased to finish in less than 48 hours ( though it does mean I haven’t done Xmas cards). Liked 13d and 7d.