It is always a treat to get to solve and blog a puzzle from Julius. Thank you Julius.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AMASS | Gather Julius confesses to being an idiot (5) |
| AM ASS (the writer confesses to being an idiot) | ||
| 4 | DECIMATED | According to Spooner, Barcelona superstar “past it”, reduced by 10% (9) |
| DECI MATED is a Spoonerism of “Messi dated” (Barcelona superstar, past it) | ||
| 9 | SOLVING | Sun, French wine – good for doing a crossword! (7) |
| SOL (sun) VIN (French wine) and G (good) | ||
| 10 | UPSTAGE | Outstrip coach to London (7) |
| UP (going to the city) STAGE (coach) | ||
| 11 | ENCHANTRESSES | Beguiling women apply henna to locks of hair, introducing a hint of colour (13) |
| anagram (apply) of HENNA then TRESSES (locks of hair) contains (introduces) Colour (first letter, a hint of) | ||
| 14 | NOAH | He saved animals without hesitation (4) |
| NO AH (without hesitation, not to um and ah) | ||
| 15 | INTER ALIA | Bury the greatest American among the others (5,4) |
| INTER (bury) ALI (Muhammad Ali, The Greatest) then A (American) | ||
| 18, 5 | OUT FOR THE COUNT | As van Helsing (as van Winkel)? (3,3,3,5) |
| double cryptic definition – Professor Abraham Van Helsing chases Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s book, Rip Van Winkle was asleep for 20 years in the short story by Washington Irving | ||
| 19 | SMEE | Hook’s bo’sun regularly simpered (4) |
| every other letter (regularly) of SiMpErEd – the bo’sun on Captain Hook’s ship in Peter Pan | ||
| 21 | ONE-NIGHT STAND | That’s a perfunctory item; ITN doesn’t hang about! (3-5,5) |
| anagram (about) of ITN DOESN’T HANG – an item is a couple in a relationship, in this case a very short one | ||
| 24 | INSTALL | This month’s universal download (7) |
| INST (this month) ALL (universal) | ||
| 26 | RAIN MAN | Camera in Manchester loaded with film (4,3) |
| found inside (loaded by) cameRA IN MANchester | ||
| 27, 28 | IN THE LAND OF NOD | Where Kane reportedly wandered, having been sent off? (2,3,4,2,3) |
| KANE sounds like (reportedly) “Cain” – to be in the land of nod is to be asleep (sent off), in the book of Genesis Cain was exiled to the Land of Nod after he murdered his brother | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | APSE | Endless errors of judgment in Recess (4) |
| lAPSEs (errors of judgement) missing the end letters | ||
| 2, 3 | ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH | Radical Caliphate? The West’s not paying attention! (6,2,3,6) |
| anagram (radical) of CALIPHATE THE WEST’S | ||
| 4 | DOGMATIST | Doctrinaire character to pursue Mike at first (9) |
| DOG (to pursue) M (mike, phonetic alphabet) AT then IST (1st, first) | ||
| 5 | See 18 | |
| 6 | MUSKETRY | Guns shot tusker in the outskirts of Mandalay (8) |
| anagram (shot) of TUSKER in MandalaY (outskirts of) | ||
| 7 | TEA | After extra time upset in the cup! (3) |
| AET (after extra time, football result) reversed (upset) | ||
| 8 | DRESSMAKER | Shift worker tailoring seams in darker environment getting afternoon off (10) |
| anagram (tailoring) of SEAMS inside (in…environment) DaRKER missing A (afternoon) – a shift is a long shirt or dress | ||
| 12 | SELF-MADE MAN | Female damns crude arriviste (4-4,3) |
| anagram (crude) of FEMALE DAMNS | ||
| 13 | ANNO DOMINI | Herculean? No; do minimum accepted in our time (4,6) |
| found inside (accepted by) herculeAN NO DO MINImum | ||
| 16 | TREASURED | Much-loved, Trump’s leadership restored confidence having abandoned the centre (9) |
| Trump (leading letter of) REASsURED (restored confidence) missing the central letter | ||
| 17 | COGITATE | Ponder a time in century-old French cottage (8) |
| A T (time) inside C (century) O (old) GITE (French cottage) | ||
| 20 | CASINO | Turning up on 1ac. round the back of Julius Caesar’s Palace? (6) |
| ON IAC (1ac) reversed (turning up) containing (round) juliuS (final letter, the back of) | ||
| 22 | HALVA | For starters: hummus, artichoke, labneh, vinaigrette; afters: semolina carrot cake . . . . (5) |
| first letters (for starters) of Hummus Artichoke Labneh Vinaigrette Afters – a semolina cake, sometimes made with carrot | ||
| 23 | ENID | . . . . eat up, madam (4) |
| DINE (eat) reversed (up) – a woman’s name. Is there a further connection between Enid and madam? | ||
| 25 | SOT | Tosspot tossing tosspot tossing away tops (3) |
| anagram (tossing) of TOSspot missing (tossing away) TOPS | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
All fun, thanks Julius, PeeDee
Loads of good ideas, particularly a couple I’ve tried and failed to clue recently.
Liked the Vans, the ONE NIGHT STAND, CASINO, favourite the very neat UPSTAGE.
I read the Kane one as a single CD originally, but now I think it splits between sent (i.e. having been exiled) and off (def of asleep).
A nice, sleepy crossword.
Not met the phrase at 2,3. Have seen it with ‘wheel’ in place of ‘switch’ though. Loved the surfaces of 9a and 25d.
I wasn’t mad keen on INSTALL to mean ‘download’. To me, installation is something that tends to follow a download.
I wasn’t sure about the definition for HALVA at 22d and neither of my dictionaries helped but I will take it as Ok. Not seen ‘a’ for ‘afternoon’ (8d) or ‘aet’ for ‘after extra time’,so I will have to remember these.
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee.
Many a giggle here.4 and 18/5 for start.
Thanks PeeDee and Julius
James – yes, I hadn’t spotted that the clue works as a single CD, and there is more than one possibility to split the double/cryptic definition too. Personally I’m a bit of a pluralist in these matters, any and all of them are OK for me, there isn’t a single correct interpretation. I hope Julius pops in today and lets us know what was in his mind when he set the clue.
Another big thumbs-up for ONE-NIGHT STAND here, amongst others.
For what’s it’s worth, I took 25d SOT to be a reversal of tosspot rather than an anagram, the reversal indicator tossing working for a down clue.
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee.
Hovis re halva – not being familiar with the food I spent some time reading about Halva on Wikipedia and concluded that it is a sweet paste that can be made from almost anything vegetable, flavoured with almost anything and contain almost anything as additional ingredients. It would be difficult to argue with any definition based on that information!
In common speech if you say that you have download some apps on your phone then that means the same as saying you have installed some apps on your phone. The technical distinction between the two would be lost in normal conversation.
Nina re SOT – yes, that works for me too.
ahoy there, PeeDee
Thanks for your blog and to those who have commented.
The intended def in the clue for IN THE LAND OF NOD was simply “off” and the intended parsing for SOT was as you have it. I quite like those tongue-twisty repetitive surfaces
best wishes, Rob/Julius
PeeDee @6. Thanks for the explanations. Both my dictionaries have halva as a sweetmeat made from honey, sesame seeds, nuts, rose water, saffron etc but, as you have kindly researched, clearly has a wider interpretation. As for download/install, I take your point. The two processes are usually separate but done together (not so much with computer packages) so the distinction is unimportant.
Lovely stuff – thank you Julius and PeeDee
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee. Loads of fun (especially compared to today’s Guardian). I usually don’t enjoy Spoonerisms, but I really enjoyed DECIMATED-Messi-dated. I knew HALVA but did not parse TEA and needed the crossers before I got APSE, my LOI.
I’m surprised that nobody raised a glass to “Out for the count.” I thought it brilliant.
I’m echoing crypticsue, as usual.
Do all you Julius fans know that he’s in the Indy today, as Knut?
As usual from Julius, another very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Rob.
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
Entertaining puzzle as usual from this setter, probably even more so than normal ! Lots of witty and clever clues – those that have been mentioned along with DRESSMAKER.
I also only knew the phrase at 2,3d with ‘wheel’ and wasn’t aware of the AET abbreviation. Had to go looking to find that GITE was the French cottage.
Finished in the NW corner with ENCHANTRESSES and that 2,3d phrase.