PeeDee is still away so I have the pleasure of blogging this one.
Unusually for a Julius, I had one or two niggles along the way such as the repeated use of ‘sounds like’ (or similar) and ‘round’ but my main concern was with 7ac where I had to use the enumeration to decide which of the alternatives to enter because the checked letters would allow either to be entered into the grid.
A challenge in places, which I enjoy, so thanks Julius.
Across
7 Where one gets a verruca? Sounds like quite a drag (8)
UNDERTOW – sounds like ‘under toe’ (where one gets a veruca) – for me, the order of the wordplay would reverse the homophone but then the enumeration would need to be 5,3 not 8.
8 Granny’s taking little Margaret out to see some of Malaysia (6)
PENANG – NAN (granny) in (taking … out) PEG (little Margaret)
11 Bore child – Ethelred’s first daughter (5)
TOTED – TOT (child) E[thelred] (Ethelred’s first) D (daughter)
12 It’s bitter and twisted old Nadine (9)
DANDELION – an anagram (twisted) of OLD NADINE – apparently, when eaten in a salad, dandelion leaves taste bitter. I have not done so and was not aware of this until today.
13 Hotel bower to offer shelter (7)
HARBOUR – H (hotel) ARBOUR (bower) – you could include ‘to offer’ as part of the definition if you are not happy with them as link words.
14 An experienced sailor, Silas is getting to grips with current (7)
MARINER – MARNER (Silas) around (is getting to grips with) I (current)
15 Last in Chemistry, botch A-level for silly hubristic attitude (3,6,2,4)
TOO CLEVER BY HALF – an anagram (silly) of [chemistr]Y BOTCH A-LEVEL FOR
18 Julius christens vessel at sea (2,1,4)
IN A MESS – I (Julius) NAME (christens) SS (vessel) – the wordplay needs to be read as a whole. If split into its component part you end up with one S too many.
20 Zinfandel, Asti, Champagne bottles made of flexible material (7)
ELASTIC – contauined in (bottles) ‘zinfandEL ASTI Champagne
22 Give some stick to Pavlova; by the sound of it, quite some stick! (9)
BOOMERANG – sounds like (by the sound of it) ‘boo’ (give some stick to) ‘meringue’ (Pavlova)
23 Match the profile for British police suspect’s mugshot (5)
BEFIT – B (British) E-FIT (police suspect’s mugshot)
24 2 censoring introduction to scriptures to be fit for consumption (6)
EDIBLE – ED (2) [b]IBLE (censoring introduction to scriptures)
25 Geronimo lapped round astride golden horse (8)
PALOMINO – hidden (astride) reversal (round) in ‘gerONIMO LAPped’
Down
1 Party game in which Violet Elizabeth’s instrument is reportedly sought? (4,3,7)
HUNT THE THIMBLE – with her lisp, Violet Elizabeth would pronounce ‘cymbal’ (instrument) as ‘thimble’ which is being sought.
2 Regularly feed dirt-poor journalist (6)
EDITOR – [f]E[e]D [d]I[r]T-[p]O[o]R (regularly feed dirt-poor)
3 Vintage (ie old) liquid commodity (5,3)
CRUDE OIL – CRU (vintage) plus an anagram (liquid) of IE OLD
4 A high-ranking official, old Earl’s shuffling round the thone room (4,5,4)
LORD PRIVY SEAL – an anagram (shuffling) of OLD EARLS around (round) PRIVY (the thone {sic} room) – a typo because it should be throne.
5 Notes gold shooting star (6)
METEOR – ME TE (notes) OR (gold)
6 American support to pass round cocaine that is Mexican property (8)
HACIENDA – A (American) under (support to) HAND (pass) around (round) C (cocaine) IE (that is)
9 Smartening up, I get stuck into gin/tonic after work (14)
GENTRIFICATION – I in (get stuck in) an anagram (work) of GIN/TONIC AFTER
10 Director/general manager for Austria in Swiss capital to prop up margin trading (6,7)
INGMAR BERGMAN – GM (general manager) A (Austria {IVR}) in BERN (Swiss capital) after (to prop up) an anagram (trading) of MARGIN
16 Is it sung by Rita at Ferdinand? (8)
ORATORIO – ORA (Rita) TO (at) RIO (Ferdinand)
17 Annual report of UK takeover of flipping Scottish bank (8)
YEARBOOK – YOO K which sounds like (report of) UK around (takeover of) BRAE (Scottish bank) reversed (flipping)
19 Smoothly install archdeacon in Cambridgeshire bishopric (6)
EVENLY – VEN (archdeacon) in (install … in) ELY (Cambridgeshire bishopric)
21 Northants opener, subject to medical, to turn up for lunch (6)
TIFFIN – N[orthants] (Northants opener) IF FIT (subject to medical) reversed (to turn up)
Thanks Julius and Gaufrid. Regarding 18a I’m now going to write out 100 times “Check who the setter is before starting the puzzle”.
Up until today I’ve been able to access the ft puzzles site for free but now the site is asking me to subscribe. Has anyone else got the same problem?
spindrift @2
When I accessed the FT website at around 7am, the crossword index page was just as it had been for the past several years and I was able to download today’s pdf. I have just tried again, after reading your comment, and have found that the site has changed completely with, as you say, a subscription is required to access the content. It’s not looking good unless you are prepared to pay £278.20 a year for the pleasure of solving 6 puzzles each week.
Hi Gaufrid, Rob/Julius here…an interesting development! If I click on the FT link under “today’s cryptics” in the top LHC of your homepage, I get to todays puzzle for free and there is a PRINT icon. I’m a registered FT reader (zero cost, a few free articles per month) as opposed to a paid subscriber. I imagine the number of non-FT readers who just want to do the crossword and who would be prepared to pony up for the whole site sub is statistically zero
Thanks for the blog by the way
I accessed the crossword at 6.00 am EST (11 am UK time) but on trying at 7.15 am EST I got the sign up offer.
Gaufrid, I last tasted dandelion on VE day (also my birthday) at boarding schooling England. IT IS BITTER and so am I!
Julius @4
Thanks for that feedback. The FT link is the same as my bookmark and produced the same result so presumably you were signed in to the FT when you used it. Registered readers are allowed access to three articles a month but as the setter is not given on the index page it would not even be possible to cherry-pick.
Thanks Julius and Gaufrid
Had to stretch the coffee out a bit longer to get this one out this morning.
A bit more than the usual trickiness and general knowledge required to get this one out – needed to help to find:
– out about Violet Elizabeth’s lisp in “Just William”;
– that dandelion leaves were edible, let alone tasted bitter into the bargain;
– that a verruca was a painful wart on the sole of the foot – had heard of what sounds like a similar condition called a papilloma or seed wart;
– by coming here who either Rita ORA or RIO Ferdinand were.
From past puzzles had become familiar with the LORD PRIVY SEAL and the E-FIT.
Took a while to get my head around that “Julius christens” would equate to I NAME to get rid of that other S.
Finished with ORATORIO (that was just from the definition and the crossing letters … and no idea of the two folk involved), INGMAR BERGMAN (tricky construction) and BOOMERANG (which raised a grin when I finally saw the construction components of it). Really enjoyed this one !
Managed to print the puzzle from the iPAD but not the mobile nor the PC.
Couldn’t parse 1d as I’d never read any Just William books.
I’ve manged to print the puzzle off by using the link on this page however it also includes a load of extraneous guff. I wonder if it’s the same techie whose responsible & who plays silly bu##ers with the DT site
I’m based in the US and still can access it for free, although the appearance of the site has changed somewhat. As per Julius @4, I’m also a registered (no cost) FT reader. BTW, thanks for the blog Gaufrid and the puzzle Julius!
spindrift @9
Yes, access without a subscription is now possible because I contacted the crossword editor after you drew my attention to the change. I have also made him aware of the fact that the print option prints all of the webpage, rather than just the puzzle itself, and so the clues and grid are too small to be legible/usable.
Thanks to Julius and Gaufrid. I had access to the puzzle as usual c. 9 PM EDT time in the US. Now I’m getting 4 pages with the puzzle p. 2. I did not try today to print out the puzzle again.
Thanks for that intervention gaufrid. Wasn’t happy when I couldn’t print out the Julius today. Looking forward to the fix.
Despite problems with the printout, I really enjoyed this. Thank you, Rob and Gaufrid.
I think the paywall issue has been fixed today, but I still haven’t worked out how to get back to the clean PDF view of the crossword to print – I amn still seeing what Spindrift reported @9, and the printout is too small for comfortable solving.
I did enjoy the puzzle – probably at the tougher end of Julius’s range.
Thanks to Julius and Gaufrid.
beery hiker @15
See the comments on today’s FT blog or the post I have just published.
Try this direct link to get to all the PDFs: https://www.ft.com/content/57ae2498-1adf-11e7-a266-12672483791a
K3vin @17
Thanks. That link has been posted before but the index on that page hasn’t been updated since last Thursday so to access a pdf version of a more recent puzzle it is necessary to do so via the individual puzzle page.