Gaff offers us a headscratcher today.
This was not an easy puzzle, but once I got the three long entries, of which MORNING SICKNESS was my favourite, the rest of the puzzle slotted in with the south-east corner being the hardest to complete.
I didn’t particulrly like 7dn, although it was easy enough to work out the answer and I think one or two defintiions were a bit loose, the worst being at 18dn, but overall this was an enjoyable, if difficult, solve.
Thanks, Gaff.
| Across | ||
| 9 | XYLOPHONE | Instrument to put trim edge on axes (9) |
| LOP (“trim”) + HONE (“edge”) on X and Y (“axes” in mathematics) | ||
| 10 | HELLO | Brothel Lolita’s hearty welcome (5) |
| HELLO is at the heart of “brotHEL LOlita” | ||
| 11 | OTTER | Harry topless swimmer (5) |
| “Harry” (p)OTTER [topless] | ||
| 12 | BREAK EVEN | Wins match, losses in the rest, true (5,4) |
| BREAK (“rest”) + TRUE (“even”) | ||
| 13 | MONSTROUS | Horrible battle with roustabout (9) |
| MONS (“battle”) + *(roust) | ||
| 15 | RUN-IN | Encounter with Cameron ending in destitution (3-2) |
| (camero)N [ending] in RUIN (“destitution”) | ||
| 16 | NATURIST BEACHES | Uncovered places for terribly cold bathe at sunrise (8,7) |
| *(c bathe at sunrise) where C = “cold” | ||
| 19 | CHIPS | Food that contributes to gigantic hip size (5) |
| Hidden in [contributes to] “gigantiC HIP Size” | ||
| 21 | PNEUMATIC | Cheerleader put me in a spin with large assets (9) |
| *(C put me in) where the c is the leader of C(heer)
I’d never come across “pneumatic” meaning “large-chested” before. |
||
| 23 | TAKE HEART | Spooner’s fish pie is to be encouraged (4,5) |
| In the unlikely event that he was trying to say HAKE TART (“fish pie”) the distinguished Reverend Spooner may have said TAKE HEART instead. | ||
| 25 | HERON | Fisher’s lover drowned on opening night (5) |
| HERO (“lover” of Leander in Greek mythology) on [opening] N(ight) | ||
| 26 | OWNER | Proprietor of worldwide newpaper empire rewrites leaders (5) |
| First letters [leaders] of “Of Worldwide Newspaper Empire Rewrites” | ||
| 27 | UNANIMOUS | Everyone agrees to turn in an unforgettable start at sumo wrestling (9) |
| [turn] <=IN AN U(nforgettable) [start] at *(sumo) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXCOMMUNICATION | Removal may be organised through solicitors (15) |
| When going through a divorce, COMMUNICATION with one’s EX “may be organised through solicitors” | ||
| 2 | GLUTEN | Protein excess ends in muscle expansion (6) |
| GLUT (“excess”) + [ends in] (muscl)E (expansio)N | ||
| 3 | OPERATOR | Norma maybe a fell runner (8) |
| OPERA (“Norma, maybe”) + TOR (“fell”) | ||
| 4 | COMB | Crest of a wave’s smoother (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | DEFENSIBLE | Brews see if blend can be justified (10) |
| *(see if blend) | ||
| 6 | SHAKER | Celibate cocktail maker (6) |
| Double definition, the first referring to a member of a religious sect, the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming, which was esablished about 250 years ago, and which promotes celibacy. | ||
| 7 | ELEVENTH | Last minute of the hour (8) |
| If you do something at the eleventh hour, you do it at the last minute. | ||
| 8 | MORNING SICKNESS | Bringing up child is involved (7,8) |
| Morning sickness is something which pregnant women suffer from, so “bringing up” (i.e. vomiting) while expecting a child. | ||
| 14 | OESOPHAGUS | Reduce pressure by reporting a lot of wind for passage (10) |
| Homophone of EASE OFF (“reduce pressure” by reporting) + A GUS(t) (lot of “wind”) | ||
| 17 | THINKING | Tenuous piece of logic (8) |
| THIN (“tenuous”) + KING (chess “piece”) | ||
| 18 | ARMCHAIR | Activate head critic, perhaps (8) |
| ARM (“activate”) + CHAIR (“head” of a committee, for example)
The definition is too imprecise here, and should at least have a question mark. |
||
| 20 | SPHERE | Odds-on woman takes sweetheart to ball (6) |
| S.P. (starting price, so “odds”) on HER (“woman”) takes (sw)E(et) (the heart of “sweet”) | ||
| 22 | TURBOT | Revert to dry fish (6) |
| <=TO BRUT (“dry”) | ||
| 24 | TEAR | Drop rent (4) |
| Double definition | ||
*anagram
Good to see PNEUMATIC-its so long since I read Brave New World.
And a Gaff with no anniversary. MORNING SICKNESS excellent ( well not really but what would a geezer know)
Had to google SHAKER-it had to be that but…
XYLOPHONE stood out like a big Mac
Thanks Gaff and loonapick
Enjoyed being able to finish this without cheats but didn’t know why shaker = celibate and, unlike copmus, couldn’t be bothered to google. Still can’t see why 12a has “wins” not “win”.
Didn’t mind ARMCHAIR, thinking the “perhaps” played the role of a question mark. Wasn’t keen on ELEVENTH either.
Thanks to Gaff and loonapick.
Hovis – wins match losses, i.e. breakeven (the number of wins = the number of losses)
Hard work, but persistence was rewarded with some excellent clues including the ‘Wins match, losses’ definition, MORNING SICKNESS and my favourite, PNEUMATIC (think Diana Dors). The only thing I knew about SHAKER(s) before was the furniture, so their celibacy was new to me too.
OESOPHAGUS held out the longest; the ‘ease off’ homophone was a bit iffy I thought. My excuse anyway.
Thanks to Gaff and loonapick
loonapick @3. Of course. I was being a bit thick, thinking that if you win (back) your losses in a match, you break even.
Tricky in places but worth the fight for the wonderful 21a (not something I’ve heard in that context for many a year) and 8d
Thanks to Gaff and Loonapick
Another vote for PNEUMATIC as the best clue, although I like BREAK EVEN now I understand “wins match losses”. I found this tricky and failed to be convinced by several but got there in the end. ELEVENTH doesn’t seem to me to quite work. Thanks for the elucidation of EXCOMMUNICATION, OESOPHAGUS, HERON and BREAK EVEN, loonapick… and the mental stimulation, Gaff.
Was surprised at the other meaning of PNEUMATIC which l never knew when l consulted Merriam Webster. Perfect clue, IMO. 19a also excellent. FOI 10a, LOI 9a.
Thanks to Gaff and loonapick. A struggle for me, but I did eventually finish, though I needed reassurance about ELEVENTH and BREAK EVEN. I know the Shakers from their hymn “‘Tis a Gift to be Simple” that serves as the climax of Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.” I encountered PNEUMATIC long ago in a stanza from T. S. Eliot’s “Whispers of Immortality”:
Grishkin is nice: her Russian eye
Is underlined for emphasis;
Uncorseted, her friendly bust
Gives promise of pneumatic bliss.
I expected to be disappointed today after yesterday’s excellent Julius.
This exceeded my expectation.
Big time.
Shaker is not synonymous with celibate. Shakers bred. That’s why there are Shaker families and Shaker communities still surviving today!
Even is a very poor synonym for true.
Children don’t cause morning sickness – foetuses do….
…etc, etc…
Thanks Gaff and loonapick
Can’t recall doing an unthemed puzzle by this setter before – but if this is the standard then bring them on! I thought that the subtle nuances of most of the definitions of the answer or component parts were excellent – 12a, 16a, 21a, 25a, 1d, 3d, 4d, 6d, 7d, 8d, 17d and 18d.
Had the double definitions of COMB slightly different – ‘crest’ (as that of a rooster) / ‘a wave smoother’ (as in wavy hair).
Finished up the top with a couple that I’d originally written in wrong answers – SHAKERS (the religious group that I hadn’t seen before) and OPERATOR the last one in. Original attempts were CHERRY and SPRINTER.
A very good crossword !!