Well I don’t know what’s happened to the scheduled blogger today but for some reason he hasn’t turned up so here is a quick analysis of the clues without further commentary (which I am sure others will provide in due course).
.
Across
5 Woman’s labrador briefly recoils from flowers (6)
HERBAL – HER (woman’s) LAB (labrador briefly) reversed (recoils)
6 Summer accessory in paper cover (3,3)
SUN HAT – SUN (paper) HAT (cover)
9 Bid to run at this (6)
DOUBLE – a ‘bid’ in bridge and you can ‘run at’ the double
10 No palace, alas, but prison for him (2,6)
AL CAPONE – an anagram (alas) of NO PALACE
11 Empty-sounding vessel (4)
VEIN – sounds like ‘vain’ ‘vane’ (empty)
12 A spirited enterprise (10)
DISTILLERY – cryptic def.
13 Exciting part of serial — don’t drop off! (11)
CLIFFHANGER – def. & cryptic indicator
18 One is perhaps popped in the bath (4,6)
SOAP BUBBLE – cryptic def.
21 Away after a bushy growth (4)
AFRO – FRO (away) after A
22 Servant‘s bust-up (8)
DOMESTIC – double def.
23 Listen vaguely, not speaking (6)
SILENT – an anagram (vaguely) of LISTEN
24 Spin a coin — watch! (6)
TURNIP – TURN (spin) 1P (a coin)
25 Laymen deceived shabbily (6)
MEANLY – an anagram (deceived) of LAYMEN
Down
1 Court case interrupted for refreshment? (8)
TRIBUNAL – TRIAL (case) around BUN (refreshment)
2 Final bit of agenda covered (3,3)
FAG END – contained in covered) ‘oF AGENDa’
3 A parting of the ways? (8)
JUNCTION – cryptic def.
4 Fellow taken by the Spanish oratory (6)
CHAPEL – CHAP (fellow) EL (the Spanish)
5 President / used to clean up (6)
HOOVER – double def.
7 Plain aunt disturbed when doctor poked inside (6)
TUNDRA – DR (doctor) in (poked inside) an anagram (disturbed) of AUNT
8 Hand over currency and evade responsibility (4,3,4)
PASS THE BUCK – double def.
14 Sort of pen that spurts? (8)
FOUNTAIN – def. & cryptic indicator
15 Making possible woman acquiring jewellery (8)
ENABLING – ENA (woman) BLING (jewellery)
16 See painful condition end session (3,3)
LOG OUT – LO (see) GOUT (painful condition)
17 Liquor of unknown make? (6)
BRANDY – BRAND Y (unknown make)
19 Typically, in a slim volume one may write it or type, perhaps (6)
POETRY – an anagram (perhaps) of OR TYPE
20 Nameless oriental festival (6)
EASTER – EASTER[n] (nameless oriental)
Thanks Vulcan, and for stepping in, Gaufrid
A lot of rather rude comments on this on the Guardian site, but I quite liked it. Favourites were FAG END and LOG OUT.
The only quibble was with SUN HAT, in which “hat” seems to have the same function in word play and answer (as if the clue had been “Summer accessory in paper hat”).
Gaufrid – thank you for stepping in. 11ac VEIN: isn’t the point here that it sounds like ‘vain’? (as well as ‘vane’ – a neat triple)
quenbarrow @2
That was a typo due to haste on my part. I will rectify the error.
24ac. How does TURNIP mean WATCH?
Thank you Vulcan and Gaufrid.
Turnip’s raised some eyebrows. I guessed it on the the grounds that a pocket-watch is referred to as a cipolla (onion) in these parts.
Crossbencher @4
From Chambers: “A large old-fashioned watch (old slang)”.
Thanks to Vulcan and Gaufrid. Generally a straightforward solve with a few that were a little more tricky. Last ones for me were vein and turnip. I liked tribunal and domestic. Crossbencher @4 a turnip is a fat picket watch. Most famously Winston Churchill had a turnip watch which was left to him by an ancestor (a duke of somewhere I think). Thanks to Vulcan and Gaufrid.
Sorry Crossbencher a meant pocket watch of course and sorry Gaufrid we crossed.
FOI EASTER(N). LOI TURNIP which l got from wordplay but did not understand ‘watch’ of which thanks to explanation above.
Well, it’s tomorrow alteady here, so thanks Gaufrid. Thought I’d knock this off before the cricket started, 14 hours ago, but had the bottom filled and only Al Capone, tundra and pass the buck in the top. Came back after stumps, no blog, so did the rest, then fell asleep.
Chapel as oratory was a biff for this heathen, as was turnip for Winnie’s watch. Lots of Womens Weekly clues (always take a pen when seeing the the GP), eg 13 and 18ac, 5 and 7d. A fun Sunday overall, esp the cricket. Ta G and V.
Alas? Vaguely? Deceived?
Once again, it seems that any word will do for an anagrind.
And is a BUN really a refreshment?
Yes Jeceris, raised an eyebrow at bun, but didn’t mind the indicators.
None solved on the first pass – usually a trait I reserve for the toughest of solvers. I think it is because I expect the clues to harder than they actually are with Vulcan. Thereafter a fairly quick solve, with rallentando for the last few.
I didn’t like any of the Rufusian cryptics, but did like LOG OUT
Thanks Vulcan and gaufrid
Didn’t care much for this but I’m probably in a bad mood because our central heating decided to pack up yesterday and we’ve spent what seemed like hours trying to find a plumber! Anyway, I ended up guessing VEIN and DOUBLE. Both have now been explained and I guess they’re ok. I got TRIBUNAL but I thought BUN was a bit iffy and a few others likewise. I probably tried to overthink some of these or perhaps I’m just cold!
Thanks Vulcan.
ps Plumber arrives tomorrow morning thank God!
Will someone please explain 24 ac and where on earth a watch comes into it
Not to my taste. Especially the stale bun. But overall OK I guess. Maybe Vulcan struggled to ‘dumb it down’ (relatively speaking) for the easier Monday puzzle?
David @15 – see several posts above. Turnip = an oversized pocket watch.
Thanks Vulcan and (especially) gaufrid.
Thanks to both for the entertainment.
David @15. If you spin a penny, you turn 1 p. The turnip, as several others have said, is an old term for a pocket watch. Hope this helps.
I did ask myself if it was really that easy with one or two as I tried to read more into it than was necessary. But it filled that after lunch slot nicely. A different start to the week after the last one.
Keyser@16 – we crossed.
A fine Monday puzzle, by me. Having said that, it was a stretch for me to see much that was cryptic about JUNCTION — it seemed to me that it was just a literal meaning of a metaphoric expression — and I’m afraid I couldn’t see anything at all cryptic about FOUNTAIN. But those were the setter’s choices, and the clues were certainly not rendered unsolvable as a result; in fact, quite the contrary. My two favorites were AL CAPONE and POETRY, which to me both seemed to have an &littish quality. And my favorite TILT was TURNIP for watch. I had an enjoyable post-solve Google search that turned up this interview/article (among other Google results, which confirmed that the term was in widespread use, given to a style of watches, and was not a nickname that Mr. Churchill gave to his watch only).
Many thanks to Vulcan and Gaufrid and the other commenters.
Thanks to Vulcan and Gaufrid. I had the same problems with TURNIP and CHAPEL as already noted but did finish and did enjoy this Monday start.
I found this much more of a challenge than any previous Vulcan – and it was a dnf with VEIN and TURNIP remaining unsolved, and I only just got POETRY (joint cotd along with TRIBUNAL for me) before giving up. Not one of my best days – thanks to Vulcan and the ever reliable Gaufrid.
What is Muffin on about @ 1.
“hat” seems to have the same function in word play and answer.
Isn’t that the case with synonyms?
Like others, I had never come across tht meaning of turnip, but I trusted to the wordplay. MER to FOUNTAIN, which seemed a bit weak, and BUN for a refreshment (what the ***?) Otherwise all very entertaining. Thanks Vulcan and Gaufrid.
NNI @21
You would expect that the wordplay and outcome would be different, in a good clue. For example, “hydorgen astatide” to give “hat”.
I need some help with DOUBLE please. I get bid (not really since I don’t play bridge but I can see how that would work), but what does “run at the double mean”? Is it the same as “on the double”, meaning quickly? I hope not, because that makes the clue too vague for me.
I don’t understand the sentence “You can ‘run at’ the double.” Is it a cricket reference?
‘At a run’=‘At the double’, yes.
To be pedantic, double is a call, not a bid. The possible calls in bridge consist of the bids, which range from 1 club to 7 no trumps, as well as pass, double and redouble.
Brian
Thanks to Vulcan and thank you to Gaufrid for stepping into the breach.
Good that I didn’t have to look up anything. Issues with a couple of the clues like 6a SUN HAT, 9a DOUBLE and 24a TURNIP have all been well and truly canvassed above. I liked 13a CLIFFHANGER.
[David Ellison@13, if you read this, I just wanted to thank you for the word, “rallentando”, which you used in your post. That was my TILT, or in my case, TILY. Lovely word!
Peter Aspinwall@14; hope you have warmed up by the time you might come back on to read this. Temperatures predicted to be in the high 30s here again by the end of the week (Celsius). Made me very conscious of the difference in our seasons. Not sure how well I would be solving at the moment if the aircon packed it in…]
Late to this one, but I thought of “double” as being from Backgammon (which I’m more familiar with than bridge), where it’s an offer to double the stakes. With “bid” and “offer” being synonyms, that works fine for me.
I assumed HERBAL for 5AC but I didn’t think ‘flowers’ a good defn.