A bit difficult to start with, but then the pace quickened. Thanks to Imogen. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Victorian chimney sweeping, an example of nepotism? (4,3,3,4)
JOBS FOR THE BOYS : Cryptic defn: Chimney sweepers in Victorian England were generally boys, not grown men.
9 One way to be dead drunk: swallowing beer at the end (7)
DROWNED : DOWNED(drunk, past participle of “drink”) containing(swallowing) the last letter of(… at the end) “beer“.
10 Even question being in Europe; from set of data, it’s time to leave (7)
EQUABLE : QU(abbrev. for “question”) contained in(being in) [ E(abbrev. for “Europe”) + “table”(a set of date) minus(from …, it’s … to leave) “t”(abbrev. for “time”) ].
11 Box like William, the national hero? (5)
TELLY : TELL(William, the Swiss national hero) +-Y(the suffix denoting “like”;having characteristics of, as in “dreamy”).
Defn: Short for an appliance that is a “box” in slang.
12 Classy old record in handwriting for student of the highest mysteries (9)
UFOLOGIST : U(characteristic of the upper class;classy) + { [ O(abbrev. for “old”) + LOG(a record of events) ] contained in(in) FIST(informal term for a person’s handwriting) }.
Defn: …, viz. Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).
13 On short boundary, flyer’s not about to go to ground (9)
EDGBASTON : “edge”(a boundary) minus its last letter(short ….) plus(On …, …) BA(abbrev. for British Airways, the airline;flyer)‘S + reversal of(… about) NOT.
Answer: Cricket ground;stadium in Birmingham.
14 Looking terrified, woman hides in an opening (5)
ASHEN : SHE(pronoun for a woman) contained in(hides in … opening, ie. 1st and last letters moved apart) AN.
15 Black bear’s pouch (5)
BURSA : B(abbrev. for “black”) + URSA(Latin for “bear”, the mammal).
Defn: … filled with fluid.
17 Antiquated test hard at elite school, they say (4-5)
MOTH-EATEN : MOT(abbrev. for the UK Ministry of Transport test, an annual test of road vehicles) + H(abbrev. for “hard”) plus(at) homophone of(…, they say) “Eton”(the elite UK school).
20 Intriguing team with new role for Spaniard (9)
CABALLERO : CABAL(a gang;team of secret plotters, especially for political action) plus(with) anagram of(new) ROLE.
Defn: Spanish gentleman.
22 Battles to unwrap birthday present (5)
YPRES : Hidden in(unwrap) “birthday present“.
Defn: … named after the site of a series of WWI engagements.
23 Dependent on Robin? (7)
RELIANT : Double defn: 2nd: 3-wheeled vehicle model manufactured by the Reliant Motor Company.
24 Falstaff, maybe, here left drinkers’ association imbibing special calories (2,5)
LA SCALA : L(abbrev. for “left”) + AA(abbrev. for Alcoholics Anonymous, the drinkers’ mutual aid association) containing(imbibing) [ S(abbrev. for “special”) + CAL(abbrev. for “calories”, heat energy units) ].
Defn: Where the opera, Falstaff, may be performed.
25 Wait at priests’ table to join them? (4,4,6)
TAKE HOLY ORDERS : Cryptic defn: Reference to a waiter taking meal orders from priests;holy men.
Defn: …, ie. the priests.
Down
1 One that’s booked by ref — not good, but he is confused with score (4,3,7)
JUDE THE OBSCURE : “judge”(a ref;referee, an arbitrator) minus(not) “g”(abbrev. for “good”) + anagram of(… is confused ..) [ BUT HE plus(with) SCORE ].
Defn: Titular character of a Thomas Hardy book.
2 In north-west town finally executing pirate (7)
BOOTLEG : BOOTLE(a town in north-west England) + the last letter of(finally) “executing“.
3 Ditch supporting comic, clarifying this is not peculiar (5,2-2)
FUNNY HA-HA : HA-HA(a ditch, with a below-ground-level wall built on its inner side) placed below(supporting, in a down clue) FUNNY(comic).
Defn: Clarifying that something;this isn’t funny in a peculiar;strange;curious sense, but comical.
4 Have new concerns about defensive position (7)
REDOUBT : RE-(prefix signifying once more;afresh) DOUBT(to have concerns about;to be uncertain about).
5 Wooden moves by husband in dance (7)
HOEDOWN : Anagram of(… moves) WOODEN placed below(by, in a down clue) H(abbrev. for “husband”).
Defn: An American folk dance.
6 Bravo! Manage to circle Mars (5)
BRUNO : B(letter represented by “Bravo” in the phonetic alphabet) + RUN(to manage, say, an organisation) plus(to) O(letter representing a circle).
Defn: First name of Mars, the American singer-songwriter.
7 Hobby is dreadfully uncivilised (7)
YOBBISH : Anagram of(… dreadfully) HOBBY IS.
8 Take a breather, others working — I progress spectacularly (4,2,4,4)
REST ON ONES OARS : REST(the others apart from us) + ON(working, as with an electrical appliance) + [ ONE SOARS ](one – refering to the speaker, as in “one finds this crossword hard” – progresses spectacularly;increases rapidly).
14 Primate’s one request at first I obey (3,3,3)
AYE AYE SIR : AYE AYE(primate native to Madagascar)‘S + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + the 1st letter of(… at first) “request“.
16 Curious allure about bachelor, spotted with this (7)
RUBELLA : Anagram of(Curious) ALLURE containing(about) B(abbrev. for “bachelor”).
Defn: … aka German measles.
17 Conductor runs in majestically? Not so (7)
MAESTRO : R(abbrev. for “runs” in cricket scores) contained in(in) + “maestoso”(musical direction to play majestically) minus(Not) “so”.
18 Tramcar to move, although upset about it (7)
TROLLEY : ROLL(to move by turning over and over on an axis) contained in(… about it) reversal of(… upset, in a down clue) YET(although – are they actually synonymous? Eg. “He kept trying, although he kept failing” is equivalent to “He kept failing, yet he kept trying” but “although” and “yet” are not interchangeable. “still” is a better synonym for “yet”).
19 Fear losing gold card in house row (7)
TERRACE : “terror” minus(losing) “or”(gold;yellow colour in heraldry) + ACE(four of which are in a deck of playing cards).
21 Go and wash round back of house (5)
LEAVE : LAVE(archaic term for “to wash”) containing(round) the last letter of(back of) “house“.
Another good ‘un.
Thanks for the blog schuua, but you do know that the Trotters’ Reliant is a Regal model and not a Robin don’t you?
On second thoughts, it looks as though this may be updated. Your picture does look loke a Robin.
I’d have to disagree with sschua as for most of the crossword, I found this exceedingly friendly for an Imogen and then was held up in the SE corner which contained a number of splendid D’Oh moments
Great fun throughout so thank you to Imogen and scchua too
Thanks Imogen and scchua
A lot more ticks than I usually have for an Imogen. Both the 1s were write-ins, but the rest proceeded much more slowly, finishing in the SE (as crypticsue) – I couldn’t think of a last word for 8d for ages, and couldn’t see the construction either.
Favourites were TELLY, MOTH-EATEN, FUNNY-HA-HA, HOEDOWN, and RUBELLA. I wasn’t so keen on the GK-y RELIANT and BRUNO.
A tramcar is a trolley-bus (more or less). Is this synedoche again?
Another beauty.
Beaten by the NW corner. For 2dn, my mind was exploring the Blackburn/Bury/Boltons and didn’t spread out as far as Bootle (though I should have seen the answer from “pirate” and B—–G alone). And if I’d got that I’d have probably got TELLY and DROWNED. If, if, if…
Still, some really clever and amusing clues to enjoy along the way.
Thanks, Imogen and scchua.
That was a great puzzle. I kept smiling all the way through, as things clicked.
Was a little stuck in the NW, as for some strange reason I’d put in JUST not JOBS FOR THE BOYS, which made 2d awkward. I hadn’t got TELLY either, having forgotten the TV/box meaning. I was going through the usual pugilistic and packaging meanings to no avail. Fortunately Mr. Crossbar stepped in and it all fell into place.
Thanks to Imogen for much fun and Scchua for an interesting blog.
Found this quite hard. Wrote in BRUNO without knowing the singer-songwriter, being more familiar with the Strictly judge, but he has nowt to do with planets either!
Many thanks Imogen and scchua.
A bit enigmatic as first pass yielded about 10 answers but then a bit of a trudge for me. I wasn’t fond of Special as a clue for “S” but I guess it’s there in SAS and probably other abbreviations. I liked Rubella. When I had the J for 1dn I pondered John the Baptist before I engaged my brain.
I’m sure our American solvers will enjoy 13 ac with the rather nice cricket hint using boundary in the clue.
Great fun throughout, thanks Imogen!
Thanks to Imogen for a workout and scchua for some parsings that I hadn’t managed. Just one error I noticed – 22 a YPRES is in birthday present.
Thanks schuua and Imogen.
Likewise found it hard to start – just 1/7th of a clue on the first run through. This was the R of 4d, which on the second pass led to 1ac, and then the rest was much easier than previous Imogens.
Last one in was OARS – don’t know why I found that so hard.
A few obscurities for non British solvers today, I imagine.
I was happy to be able to finish this puzzle, but I needed help to parse 1a, 23a, 17d.
New words for me were HA-HA = ditch, BOOTLE = NW town, UFOLOGIST.
My favourite was TAKE HOLY ORDERS.
Thanks Imogan and scchu
Enjoyed this. FUNNY HAHA and CABALLERO my favourites. I think “yet” functions as a near synonym of “although” for “despite all the aforementioned”, as in “And yet by heaven I think my love as rare as any she belied by false compare”? Possibly that doesn’t match up perfectly. Thanks to Imogen and scchua.
Thanks Gillian@11. Error corrected.
I started quickly for an Imogen but, like some others, got a bit stuck in the SE corner… A?E had to be ape for the primate, didn’t it?
I couldn’t get ‘laurels’ to fit in at the end of 8, and I’m not sure I knew the ‘oars’ expression.
I especially liked MOTH-EATEN and TAKE HOLY ORDERS. Thanks Imogen for an entertaining puzzle and to scchua for a good blog, including the MAESTRO parsing, which eluded me.
Thank you Imogen and scchua. I loved the contrast of your example of a RELIANT and its owners and the particular TERRACE you chose.
I do not recall whether or not the cultural phenomemnon of the TROTTERS has been discussed within these pages for the benefit of our far- flung solvers.
Your picture reminded me of the old chestnut of the axe (I’ve forgotten whose) which has had both it’s head and handle replaced. Other examples could be my fountain pen, without doubt, or my ‘English’ style, despite much of my wardrobe being scavenged locally.
Has TRIGGER’S BROOM ever appeared in the grid ?
‘Trigger’ should have an apostrophe ‘it’s’ should not. After Monday’s discussion I’m very contrite.
There was me having a moan on Tuesday about impenetrable Vlad and here I am today saying wasn’t this easy. Just one of those things! I needed a quick solve today too. Getting the two 1s from their enumeration was the best possible start, then little things happened like walking through the Chilterns yesterday with a HA-HA helpfully described in the leaflet I was looking at. Minor delay with the unfamiliarity of the phrase in 8d but there had to be a word S*A*S meaning ‘progress spectacularly’ or thereabouts and there aren’t that many combinations.
Quibble time: 2d, “In north-west town finally executing …” implies the G goes in the town, and that’s what I tried to do with (first guess) Bolton. A sixth sense told me this was never going to work, but without trying to come over all Ximenean, this is wrong, surely? Unless you read the ‘in’ as meaning ‘what follows next is a definition by charade’. Which presumably it does.
I agree that the G isn’t “in” Bootle, but that is a very small quibble in a delightful puzzle.
No idea what the references are to the TROTTERS, il principe@17 and George Clements@1.
My guesses were 12a UFOLOGIST, 13a EDGBASTON, 23a RELIANT, 14d AYE AYE SIR, and 17d MAESTRO, some of which came from the wordplay, and others of which used crossers. I was able to confirm some of these using online references. Thanks to scchua for the explanations.
Like michelle@13 and Robi@16, I liked TAKE HOLY ORDERS 25a.
Thanks, Imogen.
What is TRIGGER’S BROOM, il principe@17?
Muffin 4 There is a fundamental difference between a tram and a trolleybus. One runs on rails and the other doesn’t. Trolley is an American term for tram.
Julie: The Trotters are the feckless, luckless traders in the sitcom “Only Fools and Horses [work]”(pictured in the excellent blog). Trigger was/is a road-sweeping drinking companion who “looks after his broom”.
He has changed both the head and the handle numerous times over the years, prompting the question, is it still the same broom ?
David @23
Shouldn’t there have been an American usage indication, then? Yes. I realised the difference (which is why I said “more or less). I remember trolley-buses in Cardiff when I was little; they followed fixed routes under overheard cables, but yes, they ran on ordinary roads. Are there any still running anywhere?
I very much enjoyed this. What a strong week so far. Unlike a couple of other commentators I thought the ‘In’ in 2d was brilliant misdirection. You just have to read the sentence one way and not another. I don’t see the problem.
I started quickly, got bogged down for a while and finished quickly – needed all of the crossers to get REST ON ONES OARS. Another top class puzzle – we are being spoiled this week
Thanks to Imogen and scchua
Here in Sassari they have a TRAM (on rails) which they refer to as the SIRIO, little local BUSES which they call TRAMS, and COACHES to the outlying villages, wich they call PULLMANS.
I have decided to walk !
Oh ! I forgot the Alghero TRAIN which they inexplicably refer to as the TRAIN !
Thanks to Imogen and scchua. I found this tough going, though quite a few went in quickly. A couple I could not parse fully even though I was sure they were correct (e.g. maestro and equable). I also got held up in the SE corner because I could not see ypres for ages and consequently could not get 14d which was my last one in. I did have a déjà vu moment with funny ha ha. Did we not have either this or funny peculiar in a recent puzzle? Might be wrong and thanks again Imogen and scchua.
In reply to Muffin @25, yes, there are still several hundred plying the streets of Shanghai. There are others but none older or larger I believe.
Plenty of fun today – but a few ‘buts’.
Firstly, as someone who stood watching and cheering as Britain’s very last trolleybus in public service, made its final run in Bradford in 1972, I take issue with the identifying of ‘tramcar’ with ‘trolleybus’ or ‘TROLLEY’. Entirely different things (as every cyclist who’s ever fallen foul of tram-rails, will testify).
TELLY is OK, I suppose, but wordplay very clumsy. HOEDOWN is fair from the clues but I’d never heard of the dance: to me it’s something you do to get rid of weeds!
As for BRUNO – I’d heard of the former heavyweight boxer of course, but not of Bruno Mars – a GK-requirement too far, I fear! Nice wordplay though! And the coincidence! I’m sure Grauniad crosswords are sent in weeks before – so the exploits of the REDOUBTable Mr Musk are purely incidental! At least no “Bravo” for him…… 🙂
Liked REST ON ONES OARS – makes a change from yesterday’s long-‘uns which mostly depended on anagrams! Am I right in supposing that the phrase derives from the “quinquereme of Nineveh” sort of rowing, rather than “Oxford v. Cambridge”? If the former, beware of the cat!
FUNNY-HA-HA: this actually derives from a hilarious little book by Denys Parsons, entitled Funny Ha-Ha and Funny Peculiar, dating from the 1960s. It was two books in one – on each left hand page were a collection of hilarious mis-prints or inadvertant double-entendres – whilst on each right hand page were droll stories which weren’t actually mistakes. There were a whole series of follow-up books e.g. Funny Ho-Ho and Funny Fantastic.
Favourite? LA SCALA perhaps. But I think we had Falstaff in a similar setting fairly recently – no?
Thanks to Imogen and (let’s get this right) scchua.
Thanks KLColin @31
Laccaria @32
HOEDOWN is an American term, I think. I knew it from Aaron Copland’s Rodeo Suite.
This wasn’t the best kind of crossword to tackle under my self-imposed rule (for 2018) of not looking anything up, but having got past half-way I thought it was worth continuing to a finish.
I didn’t know B = bachelor (in 16d) was a recognised abbreviation, but I heve just checked it is ok. There is no authority, though, for E = Europe (in 10a). I once thought this was ok and used it in a clue for a crossword that was blogged online, but it was picked up as an error and I had to acknowledge it.
There were a few new words/names and meanings (‘fist’, ‘ha-ha’ and ‘aye-aye’ and BRUNO), but this is to be expected with Imogen, and I just assumed that my guesses were correct.
I liked the two long phrases going across very much, even more than those going down. None of these were write-ins, by the way – it was satisfying having to think about them and work them out before they went in.
I didn’t appreciate the wordplay in 14a (‘opening’) and 22a (‘unwrap’), but the crossword as a whole came up to the standard I expected, and I particularly enjoyed 5d HOEDOWN and 17d MAESTRO, as well as the two long phrases already mentioned.
Thanks to Imogen and scchua.
Laccaria @32
You reminded of a limerick. I’ve not found a definitive version, so I’ll give the one I remember:
There was a young man who said “Damn”
At last I perceive that I am
A creature that moves
In determinate grooves
In fact, not a bus but a tram!
AlanB@35 – in 10a I think the wordplay is Q enclosed in EU + [t]ABLE, not QU in E + [t]ABLE. Obviously EU is a much more recognised abbreviation!
I remember the word EQUABLE from O-level geography lessons – we were instructed that it is a more accurate description of Britain’s climate than “temperate”. A very ugly word, I thought at the time….
Strictly, the ‘trolley’ refers to the grooved pulley at the end of the long pole fixed to the roof of some trams and all trolleybuses, which connects with the overhead wires. Of course in modern trams this has mostly been replaced by a pantograph-type pick-up. Trolley-type connectors had an annoying habit of de-wiring at junctions, hence immobilising the vehicle until the driver was able to restore the connection (using a hooked pole called a fly-shunt).
I grew up in Bootle so I should have got BOOTLEG rather more quickly than I did! I enjoyed this more than I usually do with this setter but there were a few I had trouble with. REST ON ONES OARS was LOI, and was really a guess from the crossers,because I’ve never heard the phrase before. I did like AYE AYE SIR,JUDE THE OBSCURE and quite a few more.
Thanks Imogen.
Laccaria @37
Thank you for that enlightening interpretation of the clue for EQUABLE. I didn’t see it that way, I’m sure you must be right, and the clue works.
Bit late to the party but what a beauty?
Same favourites as others but despite scchua’s excellent blog, I still don’t think REST ON ONES OARS quite works does it? The clue says I progress spectacularly. Isn’t this essentially singular?
Only a very minor quibble of a fine crossword.
Many thanks, Imogen, nice week, all.
William @41
I wondered about this at first, but I was satisfied eventually that ‘I progress spectacularly’ means ‘I soar’, and an alternative (Royal?) way of saying ‘I soar’ is ‘one soars’, as the blogger pointed out. ‘One soars’ is still singular.
Thanks to Imogen & scchua
William @ 41: ONE SOARS seems pretty singular to me.
My memory goes:
‘There was an old man who said “Damn!
It appears to me now that I am
A being that moves
In predestinate grooves:
Not a bus, not a bus,
But a tram!”
Caney @44
The oral tradition in action!
Il principe dell’oscurità @17:
I was convinced Trigger’s broom had appeared in some form in the grid in the last month and spent much of the last hour going through January’s solutions, as I hadn’t been familiar with the reference. Eventually tracked it down – Guardian Saturday quiz, 6 January, Q5: How was the ship of Theseus paradox used in Only Fools And Horses?
Last ones in … 14d and finally 22a. I agree with Laccaria @37 – that was how I parsed Equable.
Thanks to Imogen and scchua – an absolutely delightful puzzle, so many enjoyable realisations of the answer.
Somewhat unnervingly, I only got a couple of answers from the acrosses, but the downs came to the rescue. I was chuffed to get 1d without crossers, though I’m sure the enumeration helped, then a number fell across the top to fully get the ball rolling.
Favorites were JUDE THE OBSCURE, REST ON ONES OARS, and AYE-AYE SIR.
Needed parsing help with EDGBASTON (where I thought the flyer was BAT and hence couldn’t find all the letters) and MAESTRO (where the term maestoso is new to me). I didn’t know the meaning of FIST as handwriting, but found it in online dictionaries (Dictionaries.com). One slight omission: the H for husband is missing from the HOEDOWN parse.
I’m not sure why “In” was there in 2d. The clue works well without it, to my mind. Seems like a rather dubious piece of misdirection.
Fun puzzle, nicely in my Goldilocks zone. Thanks scchua and Imogen.
Imogen THE OBSCURE today: a very entertaining puzzle but a few bits new to me in some of the solutions and parsing. I don’t think I have come across FIST for handwriting before; BURSA (never heard of it but it had to be); AYE AYE the primate (likewise); maestoso (which my spell checker doesn’t accept and is trying to convert to MAESTRO!).
Lots to enjoy though: favourites were JUDE THE OBSCURE, CABALLERO for the ‘intriguing team’ and YPRES, hidden in something that is given away every single day.
Nice one Imogen; I count today as a learning day, and thanks also to scchua for clear blogging as usual.
I very much enjoyed this – funnily enough I started quickly but then struggled at the end – had not heard of “rest on ones oars” which was last one in and I have to admit to cheating – got off to flying start with “jobs for the boys” – _ B _ C _ _ _ eluded me for ages d’oh – ah YPRES was well disguised – thx
Three goodies in a row (and Chifonie wasn’t too bad either though more predictable), we are truly spoiled.
But if I had to give gold, silver & bronze to the contestants, I think Imogen would have to take the bronze.
BRUNO (6d) was the first one in, manage = ‘run’ and Mr Mars followed quickly. [That aside, can’t say I like his music very much]
We forgot to parse RELIANT (23ac) but would never have got the second definition.
And why we entered ‘urologist’ instead of ‘ufologist’, don’t ask me.
Excellent stuff.
Thanks to Imogen and scchua. Late to the party owing to a busy day. Tough going for me with lots of items new to me, e.g., EDGBASTON, BURSA, RELIANT as a car, Bootle as a town. REST ON ONES [laurels] is the phrase that I know – and I did not parse MAESTRO.
Alan B & Simon S: ‘Spose. Thanks.
Thanks phitonelly@47. Error (no. 2!!) corrected.
Caney@44 and Muffin @45
…
Undaunted, he added, “O cuss!
The situation grows steadily wuss:
I’ll go on my way,
Whatever they say,
For I won’t be a tram – I’m a bus!”
Thanks, scchua, couldn’t parse EQUABLE
Laccaria @32 and muffin @ 34 A HOEDOWN isn’t a kind of dance like a waltz or a polka, but a social event — a rural one. You put your hoe down and go have fun.
muffin@25 trolley buses and Laccaria @38 Trolley buses, called “trolleys” to distinguish them from “buses,” are still all over San Francisco, as are the light rail vehicles that replaced trams — we called them streetcars when I lived there. And the trolleys definitely, as Laccaria puts it still have the “annoying habit of de-wiring at junctions, hence immobilising the vehicle until the driver was able to restore the connection (using a hooked pole called a fly-shunt).” That’s particularly true of the 33 Ashbury, which makes an incredibly sharp hairpin turn on a hill (most of San Francisco is on one hill or another).
24a — scchua, did you mean “containing”?
And thanks to Imogen and scchua!
Thanks Valentine@55…Strike 3 and I’m out!!!
Laccaria@38 and Valentine@54:
We “straphangers” of Toronto also still have steetcars with true ‘trolleys’ with a singular connection to the overhead wire. And yes, they do sometimes detach, almost always at turns or junctions. The whole car groans to an eerie silence until the driver gets his/her ‘fly-shunt’ (wow!) and reconnects the circuit. We true city-dwellers love these transports; many outlying, incoming suburban car-drivers do not. They have a charm that I hope never abates. At one time, in my youth, we also had several routes serviced by trolleybuses, which curiously used a doubled trolley and twin wires for power.
Thanks especially to Laccaria for the explanation of the terminology, which is delightfully new to me.
I’m quite late to the party but feel compelled to add: the characteristic rhythm of any individual Morse Code telegrapher as he taps out his message is called their “FIST,” and surely telegrapy is writing by hand?