The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27666.
I found this quite hard for a Pasquale, particularly in the finishing SW corner.
| Across | ||
| 8 | CANONISE | A number err, backsliding in church, put on a holy pedestal? (8) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of ‘a’ plus NO (‘number’) plus NIS, a reversal (‘backsliding’) of SIN (‘err’). in CE (‘church’ of England). | ||
| 9 | HARLOW | Loose woman cut short by wife in Essex town (6) |
| A charade of HARLO[t] (‘loose woman’) minus the last letter (‘cut short’) plus W (‘wife’). | ||
| 10, 24 | HALF HOUR | Time of semi-revolution (4-4) |
| … of the minute hand. Cryptic defintion. | ||
| 11 | PRAGMATISM | Premier receiving taunt (“dull”!) is following course of what’s possible (10) |
| An envelope (‘receiving’) of RAG (‘taunt’) plus MAT (or matt or matte, ‘dull’) plus ‘is’ in PM (‘premier’). | ||
| 12 | JAGGER | Stone container holding food knocked over (6) |
| An envelope (‘holding’) of GGE, a reversal (‘knocked over’) of EGG (‘food’) in JAR (‘container’), for Mick of the Rolling Stones. | ||
| 14 | CREOSOTE | Black liquid, supplied by Native American, old drunk swallowed (8) |
| An envelope (‘swallowed by’) of O (‘old’) SOT (‘drunk’) in CREE (‘Native American’). | ||
| 15 | FLEMISH | Defect sees bishop giving way to strong language (7) |
| BLEMISH (‘defect’) with the B replaced by F (‘bishop giving way to strong’, forte). | ||
| 17 | MACRAME | Fabric items, manufactured stuff for Germany (7) |
| A substitution: MADE (‘manufactured’) with the D (Deutschland, IVR, ‘Germany’) replaced by CRAM (‘stuff’). | ||
| 20 | STINKPOT | Baddie offering liquid drug on street (8) |
| A charade of ST (‘street’) plus INK (‘liquid’) plus POT (‘drug’). | ||
| 22 | REMISS | Careless soldiers fail to hit target (6) |
| A charade of RE (‘soldiers’) plus MISS (‘fail to hit target’). | ||
| 23 | BATTENBURG | Cake having a piece of wood? Food sent back (10) |
| A charade of BATTEN (‘piece of wood’) plus BURG, a reversal (‘sent back’) of GRUB (‘food’). A batttenburg. |
||
| 24 | See 10 | |
| 25 | BUYOUT | Objection when second person gets involved in business deal (6) |
| An envelope (‘when … gets involved’) of YOU (‘second person’ gramatically) in BUT (‘objection’). | ||
| 26 | CHURLISH | Not exactly precipitate, is husband rude? (8) |
| A charade of C (circa, about, ‘not exactly’) plus HURL (‘precipitate’) plus ‘is’ plus H (‘husband’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HAD A BALL | An expert entertained in large country house made merry (3,1,4) |
| An envelope (‘entertained in’) of A DAB (‘an expert’) in HALL (‘large country house’). | ||
| 2, 24 | WOLF HALL | Hard course set up needing everyone to finish book (4,4) |
| A charade of WOLFH, a reversal (‘set up’ in a down light) of H (‘hard’) plus FLOW (‘course’); plus ALL (‘everyone’, with ‘needing … to finish’ to confirm the order of the particles), for the novel by Hilary Mantel, winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2009. | ||
| 3 | NIPPER | A little drink for each little child (6) |
| A charade of NIP (‘a little drink’) plus PER (‘for each’). | ||
| 4 | TENANCY | Business arrangement that’s dealt with by letter (7) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 5 | CHIMAERA | In America, unfairly, Hillary’s No 1 female monster (8) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of H (‘Hillary’s No 1′) in CIMAERA, an anagram (‘unfairly’) of ‘America’. In Greek mythology, the Chimaera was a fire-breathing she-monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail (or some such hybrid). The surface has a more contemporary ring to it. | ||
| 6 | TRUTH SERUM | Drug must hurt terribly — hesitation involved (5,5) |
| An envelope (‘involved’) of ER (‘hesitation’) in TRUTHSUM, an anagram (‘terribly’) of ‘must hurt’. | ||
| 7 | CORSET | My group getting back support? (6) |
| A charade of COR (‘my’ as an interjection) plus SET (‘group’). | ||
| 13 | GEMINATION | Doubling of development not right (10) |
| GE[r]MINATION (‘development’) minus the R (‘not right’). | ||
| 16 | SUPINATE | Turn up for palmist set up in seat specially (8) |
| An anagram (‘set … specially’) of ‘up in seat’. I associate the answer with the foot, but it can also refer to presenting the hand palm up. | ||
| 18 | MUSQUASH | Rodent with ’orrible smell climbing fruit plant (8) |
| A charade of MU, a reversal (‘climbing’) of [h]UM (with the initial H dropped as in the clue, ‘ ‘orroble smell’) plus SQUASH (‘fruit plant’, even if the fruit is treated as a vegetable). A musquash. |
||
| 19 | STAUNCH | Hold back stalwart (7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 21 | TEAR UP | RIP in place, erected when member is buried (4,2) |
| An envelope (‘when … is buried’) of EAR (‘member’) in TUP, a reversal (‘erected’ in a down light) of PUT (‘place’). The definition, of course, shows an extreme lack of Truth in Capitals. | ||
| 22 | RAGOUT | Guy not allowed richly seasoned food (6) |
| A charade of RAG (as a verb, mock, ‘guy’) plus OUT (‘not allowed’). | ||
| 24 | See 2 | |
I’m not convinced by F for “strong” in 15ac. A forte is a “strength”, a “strong point”. As an adjective or adverb forte means “loud” or “loudly”.
I found this harder, too, and failed on MACRAME, so thanks PeterO, for this and for explaining RIP.
The only obscure word for me was GEMINATE; I had heard it somewhere but couldn’t possibly give a meaning.
Thanks, also, Pasquale
Geminate was new to me too. Wasn’t keen on EAR for member, and tried unsuccessfully to justify EPS for food to give JASPER for stone.
Thank you, PeterO, I always enjoy and appreciate your blogs. (My husband particularly appreciated the full-colour image of his favourite cake.) I see from the Guardian crossword forum that people love to grumble about Pasquale’s frequent employment of rather obscure or anyway unfamiliar words. I am in the camp of those who love to acquire new vocabulary or hitherto unknown (by me) meanings of familiar words. Everything was gettable by the wordplay today – I only needed to confirm a couple of things by application to the wondrous inter-web. Thanks Pasquale for a smashing puzzle.
Richard @1 I would agree except that incorrect usage has rendered the two words interchangeable (to the extent that is seems impossible to use the correct pronunciation of a personal strength, ‘fort’, without being corrected).
Lots of obscurities today for me with a couple of quibbles (hurl for precipitate, fabric for macrame) and an uneasy feeling about 16 (it just doesn’t read right to me – possibly due to ‘up in’ not being jumbled).
Thanks to Pasquale and PeterO.
Very hard for me – in fact a dnf as I didn’t get several in the lower half, including MACRAME which I didn’t parse after having revealed the answer, but having seen it explained here it is now among my favourites. GEMINATION also defeated me as it’s the first time I’ve seen the word, even though I had the right idea of finding a word meaning ‘development’ and removing an ‘r’.
I thought the definition of HALF HOUR was a bit weak, and to me ‘hurl’ and ‘precipitate’ are not the same, or even close enough to be fair in a crossword clue.
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO.
Thanks Pasquale; it did what it said on the tin with the usual smattering of unusual words. Rather nasty NINA grid without a NINA.
I couldn’t parse MACRAME, thanks PeterO, and I got caught again by letter, doh!
I quite liked the bishop’s strong language.
I think of arm, leg, limb (or something ruder) as member, or again MP or EMP; but ear?? So the SW wouldn’t yield, even after finding geminate in a word finder, and with staunch, Flemish, Battenburg all in. I blame our Cape Town son’s visit, too much excitement, no concentration.
Meantime, how does hurl=precipitate? Can dab without hand = expert? And hadn’t seen that spelling of chimaera.
Ta for the challenge Pasquale and PeterO for the blog, generous as ever.
Thanks to Pasquale and PeterO. Too tough for me. I did parse MACRAME but struggled with CHIMAERA (I didn’t supply the E), SUPINATE, GEMINATION, and MUSQUASH (and my spell-checker rejected the last three).
Thanks for the blog – no problem for me with chimarea, long may traditional dipthongs grace Englsh spelling. ut a DNF, ground to a halt in the SW due to brain fade, probaly quit too early.
me @10 chimaera ! damn spell checker!
Agree with TerriBlislow re new vocab. The Observer’s AZED is particularly educative in this way. I guess I just expect to get less stumped than I was today. Parsing all fine but gemination and macrame eluded me. Ultimately satisfying but not very enjoyable. Thanks Pasquale and Peter O
Thanks to Pasquale and PeterO. In the end too tough for me (though reassuring that others found it tough) and a DNF, largely because of the SW. The only ones I got there were battenburg, staunch and Flemish. I also failed on macrame, jagger (another who tried desperately to fit in jasper) and wolf hall (unfamiliar to me). That said, pleased to have got as far as I did after a very slow start and I liked musquash. Thanks again to Pasquale and PeterO.
This was pretty tough in places, and not the most entertaining Pasquale we have seen. SUPINATE, MUSQUASH and the spelling of CHIMEARA were new to me, though STINKPOT has suddenly become very popular.
Thanks to Pasquale and peterO
Richard @ 1: forte is the Italian for strong, not loud, and the musical ‘f’ is of course an abbreviation of the Italian. ‘Loud’ is a rather loose translation, and musicians are sometimes cautioned against the assumption that ‘f’ denotes simply ‘loud’.
Too much obfuscation for me.
Why is “dull” in brackets and quotes and accompanied by an exclamation mark?
“Baddie” = STINKPOT?
“Liquid” = INK?
“Set…specially” an anagrind?
RIP is unfair and an EAR isn’t a”member”.
Apart from that fairly average for this setter.
Looks like I’m in with the In Crowd, in that the SW was uber-tough (in fact i found the bottom half much tougher than the bottom) and I DNF (well, I got all the answers but with interweb help). The quibbles have all been covered but I do have a quibblet (copyright @grantinfreo): CREOSOTE as a black liquid? I found this definition: “colorless when pure, but usually colored yellow or brown by impurity or exposure”. I haven’t seen anyone using creosote since before the old King died, but I do recall it being dark brown.
Thanks to Pasquale and peterO.
Too much obscurity for me – I am all for new words but choosing a fruit plant from the thousands and adding “hum” for a smell? And macrame takes me back to my childhood when my mother made many hanging basket holders and the like by macrame – not a one of them was fabric, every one was made from cord or string. As Jeceris @16 I was not a fan of these substitutions or definitions and many others. Some crosswords you just enjoy, and are happy to be beaten by or to learn something from. This one was not one of those for me. Your mileage may vary as they say. Thanks for unraveling the Gordian parsing peterO. I got the answers in the end, with help from searches, but could not parse macrame, churlish (had the “ish” anyway) or musquash.
Jaceris @16 I took “dull” in quotes to mean it is said out loud, hence “mat” not “matt” but I could be miles off base there given the rest of this puzzle.
“Harlow” reminds me of that wonderful (alas probably apocryphal put-down by Margot Asquith on being addressed as “Margott” (ie with the ‘t’ pronounced” by the actress Jean Harlow. She is reputed to have replied that “…the ‘t’ is silent, as in your surname”…
Should have included GEMINATION in my list of new words too
Too many obscurities for me too today…macrame…stinkpot…supinate, to name but a few. Unfinished, therefore.
Jeceris @16 et al.
I am surprised at the objections to EAR for ‘member’. The first entry for ‘member’ in the OED runs: A part or organ of the body; chiefly a limb or other separable portion (as opposed to the trunk). Archaic perhaps, but I think this meaning survives (in some translations of the Epistle of James, including modern ones, the tongue is described as a member).
grantinfreo @8
Likewise, Chambers and the OED give HURL as a prime meaning of ‘precipitate’, and DAB by itself as an ‘expert’.
Did anyone else try HALF PAST for the semi-revolution? No, MACRAME isn’t a fabric, and I couldn’t parse it either. Two new words which I will not store in my etui as I doubt if I’ll need either of them again in this lifetime.
robert@5 and Rog@15. Thanks for these thoughts. Crossword clues and answers are, however, supposed to be consistent with definitions found in standard English dictionaries, and I did check with Chambers, Collins and The Oxford Dictionary of English before submitting my comment.
Following your comments, I have checked again.
None of these dictionaries supports “strong” as the meaning of “forte”, irrespective of what the meaning is in Italian, or what it may have become in English usage in other quarters. All of them say that the adjectival meaning is “loud”, and that if the word is used as a noun it means “the thing at which one excels” (ie “strong point”, “strength” etc) or “a loud passage in music”.
I always find Pasquale tricky so this came as no surprise. I couldn’t parse MACRAME and, as somebody said, it isn’t a fabric and there were the usual obscenities which have already been commented on. I did like JAGGER and TEAR UP amused me,as did HARLOW ( FOI).
I agree that some of the cluing was a bit loose but I got there with the help of Mr Google and the OED.
Thanks Pasquale.
Like everyone else gave up in the SW corner. Had ja gge r at 12 but completely missed the Mick aspect. I understand from reading this forum that I need to purchase a metal tea tray. Would that be appropriate? Actually,might get two.
With Pasquale I always expect there to be various words I’d never encountered, and today was no different. That in itself isn’t a problem, but it completely wipes out any chance of inspired guessing (followed by dogged attempts at parsing) which is what I’m sometimes reduced to. I did manage to finish, but it was a slog and, disappointingly, not as much fun as it normally is. Needless to say, some parsing eluded me – so thanks to PeterO for your usual brilliantly lucid explanations. Ear as a “member” and Squash as a “fruit” felt iffy. And surely macrame is made with thread or twine, not fabric. However, I really liked JAGGER, WOLF HALL and TRUTH SERUM. Thanks Pasquale for the mental workout, and the additions to my vocabulary!
Didn’t parse MACRAME, but I don’t see anything wrong with the definition, which is ITEMS, made of thread. I see that as fabric, knotted or otherwise.
HALF HOUR got me. I thought aha, I’ve seen this before. Didn’t Arachne clue YEAR with ‘revolution’ . Bunged it in. Didn’t think of the clock. Besides, with digital timepieces, it’s archaic, surely. 🙁
Phew! That was hard work. I eventually resorted to aids to get MACRAME and the unknown STINKPOT. Having an inexplicable JASPER for 12a for ages didn’t help! Some new meanings for me – EAR as a member and HURL for precipitate. All very educational. Thanks Pasquale and PeterO. P.S. I enjoyed the photos 🙂
Me @24 er, obscurities not obscenities. Sorry.
That’s the last straw for me with this setter.
So long Don. Life’s too short to bother with nonsense such as this.
One more note on FLEMISH: Agree that “f” translates literally as strong (not loud). When I’m teaching new music students who have not seen this term/abbrev. before, I stress that “f” means strong, not loud, so that they learn from an early age that strong should connote full, confident sound, as opposed to merely loud (which usually just sounds harsh and crass).
Anyone else think that BATTENBURG should have been BATTENBERG? That is after all the spelling of the town in Germany from which the name came, and of the aristocratic family (before they changed it to Mountbatten when German names became unpopular in the First World War). I thought I’d caught the Don out, but no, both spellings are apparently OK.
Like others I found this quite hard, especially the SW, where Battenburg was my only success.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
It certainly makes one appreciate the more elegantly-constructed puzzles when you come across an example like this. As others have said above: too many obscurities; repeated but unrelated devices (business deal/arrangement; reversed food items – egg and grub). Not much fun. Thanks PeterO for the many necessary explanations.
I think jeceris @16 made some good points, and others have commented similarly without giving examples. I can usually rely on this setter for the precision and clarity of his clues, and this puzzle gave me a similar experience in the main, but in the clues to JAGGER and STINKPOT I started to wonder if he was on a mission to let us spend more time savouring them. For ‘liquid’ I got ‘ink’ (precise as usual and in the dictionary), and for ‘food’ I got ‘egg’ (again a perfect match), but eliminating a thousand other possibilities first in each case added a few extra minutes to my solving time, and the extra time spent did not, unfortunately, enhance the experience as expected.
As usual, though, I enjoyed the learning experience, this time provided by MUSQUASH and MACRAME. Getting UM for ‘orrible smell was the key for my getting first one and then the other. SUPINATE was another learning point.
Thanks to Pasquale and PeterO.
Jagger and Hall. I thought it might be a theme and wondered who partnered Harlow and then looked for the Krays with Nipper. Over-thinking it bit, I’m afraid.