A pleasing Sunday puzzle from Poins with very good surface readings as always. A surfeit of insertions and first-letter indicators, perhaps, but that’s a small niggle. There was a request in Another Place recently for bloggers to provide a more detailed analysis of clues, so that beginners and less experienced solvers could fully understand what was going on and learn from it. Since the IoS is a puzzle for such solvers, I have tried here to give full explanations and have parsed the crossword to within an inch of its life. Except for the three where I’m not entirely sure what the parsing is …
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 It makes progress difficult for a worker taking one seal off
HANDICAP
A charade of HAND, I and CAP for ‘seal off’ – what you do to oil rigs, for example, although it’s used figuratively as well.
6 Consternation shown by Tory leader after party, falling short, goes west
DISMAY
A charade of SID[E] reversed and MAY. The reversal indicator is ‘goes west’ and the removal indicator is ‘falling short’. The clue is faulty, however, because in no way could Teresa MAY be described as ‘Tory leader’. Or perhaps that was implicit in Poins’ clue.
9 Playing sage at marbles
AGATES
(SAGE AT)* with ‘playing’ as the anagrind. Are ‘marbles’ AGATES? You bet your sweet arse they are.
10 Inflamed swelling originally overlooked by girl when dressing maybe
OLIVE OIL
A charade of OLIVE for the ‘girl’ and [B]OIL. OLIVE OIL could certainly be used in a ‘dressing’, but I’m not sure I’d use it just by itself. Anyway, that’s by-the-by.
11 Useless welder left one by mistake
NEER-DO-WELL
(WELDER LEFT ONE)* with ‘by mistake’ as the anagrind.
Edit: I parsed this one beyond its life. It’s in fact (WELDER L ONE)* Thanks to Paul A.
12 Went running back when late
DEEP
I think this is a reversal of PEED for ‘went’ with ‘running back’ as the reversal indicator, but I can’t equate DEEP with ‘late’. Help required, please.
13 Discontinue with article on church in the middle of Vaucluse
CANCEL
An insertion of AN and CE for ‘church’ in CL for the middle letters of ‘Vaucluse’.
15 Still taken aback over separate political movement
TEA PARTY
An insertion of APART in YET reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘taken aback’ and the insertion indicator is ‘over’. The answer is the populist and conservative movement in the US which came to prominence after the 2008 crash. Sarah Palin, anyone? (She was never its leader; it doesn’t have one.)
18 Bottle shown by philosopher reportedly trapped by wild animal
DECANTER
An insertion of CANT in DEER. CANT is a homophone of Immanuel KANT (1724-1804), the German philosopher. You know it’s a homophone because of ‘reportedly’ in the surface reading. The insertion indicator is ‘trapped’.
20 Delay caused by extrememly efficient soldiers returning to block road
RETARD
Poins likes his insertions, doesn’t he? This one is of ET for the outside letters (‘extremely’) of ‘efficient’ and RA for Royal Artillery or ‘soldiers’ reversed in RD. The reversal indicator is ‘returning’.
21 Tasteless stuff on independent film-maker
TATI
A charade of TAT and I, referring to Jacques TATI, the French actor and director best known for creating the character of Monsieur Hulot, most famously brought to life in Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.
23 Intended to make a profit from organised crime after a short time back in California
COMMERCIAL
Another multi-part clue: Poins is asking you to insert a reversal (‘back’) of MO for ‘short time’ (‘just a mo’) and (CRIME)* in CAL for an abbreviation of the US state.
25 The initial piece captures old boxer’s charm
TALISMAN
An insertion (‘captures’) of ALI’S for ‘old boxer’s’ in T for the first letter of ‘the’ and MAN for ‘piece’. For the last bit, think chess. Even the Queen is a man.
26 Dog licence finally found in suitcase with a couple of letters
BEAGLE
An insertion of E for the last letter (‘finally’) of ‘licence’ in BAG followed by LE for a ‘couple of’ LEtters. And not a bird in sight.
27 Verse from South Africa on resistance mostly
STANZA
A charade of STAN[D] and ZA for an abbreviation for ‘South Africa’ (from the Dutch Zuid Afrika). It’s used for the domain name on the internet, for example.
28 A service flat that will do on the outskirts of Nuremberg
EVENSONG
A charade of EVEN for ‘flat’, SO and NG for the first and last letters (‘outskirts’) of NuremberG. I can’t quite see how SO equates to ‘that will do’, however. Or maybe Poins wants us to take EVEN SO for ‘that will do’. Is that right?
Down
2 Time to enclose earliest of graves in large piece of granite perhaps
AGGREGATE
An insertion of G for the first letter of ‘graves’ in GREAT for ‘large’, all inserted in AGE. The two insertion indicators are ‘enclose’ and ‘in’.
3 Put off by film featuring bloody revolutionary? Just the opposite
DETER
‘Just the opposite’ is Poins’ way of telling you to do the opposite of what the surface reading suggests. So it’s ET for the ‘film’ in RED for ‘bloody’ reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘revolutionary’ and the insertion indicator is ‘featuring’.
4 Decide against keeping individual eastern dish
CASSOULET
An insertion (‘keeping’) of SOUL and E in CAST, in the sense of ‘he cast the idea from his mind’, I suppose. Poins means ‘dish’ in the sense of the French stew, but the name derives from the pot or dish in which it’s traditionally cooked.
5 Defend positive method of learning at court
PROTECT
A charade of P for ‘positive’, ROTE and CT.
6 Doctor having trouble with training exercise
DRILL
Another charade: of DR and ILL.
7 Second trial involves girl stabbed by head of French firm
STEADFAST
An insertion of F for the first letter of ‘French’ in ADA, a ‘girl’, all inserted into S for ‘second’ and TEST for ‘trial’.
8 Tolerate an element of Pan-Arab ideology
ABIDE
Hidden in Pan-ArAB IDEology.
14 Temporary alliance getting into trouble after Conservative leader starts to oppose all liberal initiatives
COALITION
Art imitating life if you go back to the Dave’n’Nick show. A charade of C for the first letter of ‘Conservative’, OALI for the first letters of ‘oppose all liberal initiatives’ and (INTO)* The anagrind is ‘trouble’.
16 Old actress hiding drugs after first of arrests in Nice
AGREEABLE
More first letter indicators. This is A for the first letter of ‘arrests’ and EE for two ecstasy tablets or ‘drugs’ in Betty GRABLE, the ‘old actress’. Nice has nothing to do with the French city, of course; the capital letter is just there to mislead you.
17 It provides protection for exotic air plant seen around Utah primarily
TARPAULIN
And yet more first letters: U for the first letter (‘primarily’) of ‘Utah’ in (AIR PLANT)* with ‘exotic’ as the anagrind and ‘seen around’ as the insertion indicator.
19 Russia’s principal author coming around to accept island’s mysterious quality
ROMANCE
And more: R for the first letter of ‘Russia’ followed by MAN for the ‘island’ (IoM) inserted into Umberto ECO, the author, reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘to accept’ and the reversal indicator is ‘coming round’.
22 Modify point in support of Australian lawyer
ADAPT
A charade of A, DA for District Attorney or ‘lawyer’ and PT for ‘point’.
23 Communist academic revealing its use may be divisive
COMMA
A charade of COM and MA for Master of Arts or ‘academic’ gives you the punctuation mark that can be used to divide a sentence, or list. I do proofreading professionally, and in my experience, the comma is one of the most misused punctuation marks. It looks like a tadpole, but is also a butterfly.
24 Competes fiercely after commencement of game
CRAPS
I think the setter is saying that if you add S to this card game at the start, you get SCRAPS, which is ‘competes fiercely’, but I can’t quite get my head round how exactly that works.
Many thanks to our Shakespearean Sunday Setter.
Poins succeeded in leading me astray a couple of times today. I was misled by ‘seal off’ in 1ac, trying for some time to fit in an anagram of seal. Then again in 6ac, I was sure ‘Tory leader’ must be T, which prevented me from seeing the obvious.
I remember AGATES well. We used to call opaque marbles ‘cloudies’ or ‘snakeys’, depending on the pattern (as opposed to clearies and cats’ eyes). Ah, memories. Do children still play marbles? They probably have an app for it instead. :-/
Can’t help with the parsing of DEEP, as I too had the same question. Same with the ‘so’ in EVENSONG.
I also had trouble parsing CRAPS, but Pierre has made me see it (even if he’s not convinced himself). “After commencement” is another way of saying remove the first letter. So if you take a synonym for “competes fiercely” and delete the first letter, you’re left with the name of a game: (S)CRAPS. I have seen this device before; I just didn’t recognise it today.
Thanks Poins and Pierre.
Rather grateful for this on a Sunday apart from 12a and 14d which you mentioned
Thanks Poins and Pierre
Exactly the same quibbles as Swatty@1. Minor point, the anagrind at 11a is WELDER L ONE.
Thanks to S&B, and pity about the lack of birds.
At the easy end, as expected, but with a few tough ones thrown in. DEEP is used as ‘deep into the night’, so no issues with that. Wasn’t sure about ‘cast’ for decide against but dictionary confirmed it in the sense you gave. Personally I use an olive oil spray as salad dressing. I also parse CRAPS as (S)CRAPS which was my LOI. Didn’t know that meaning of AGGREGATE but easy to get. Always nice to learn something. Thanks to all.
I enjoyed this, but found it verging on the medium level. Saying that, I did make heavy weather of a few clues and, IIRC, I usually find Poins tougher than others. My honours today go to the definition of 23d, which raised a chuckle, so thanks to The Major for the puzzle and to Pierre for the always amusing blog.
We found this a pleasant Sunday stroll in the true IoS tradition. We too wondered about deep = late but Hovis’s explanation seems OK to us. We found ‘that will do’ buried deep in the list of meanings for SO given in Chambers, so I suppose that will do. We didn’t know AGATES as marbles but it was pretty obvious from the clue.
Very enjoyable. Thanks, Poins and Pierre.
As a beginner who comes here to learn, I can attest that your parsings and explanations are both complete and understandable. Many thanks for taking the time, Pierre!