Lots of enjoyable clues, and mostly not too tricky other than a few unfamiliar solution words that needed checking. Favourites were 5ac, 14ac, 17ac, and 15dn. Thanks to Brummie.
…I haven’t been able to spot a theme – anyone?
| Across | ||
| 1 | TROPIC | Cancer subject has inner resistance? (6) |
| …as in the TROPIC of Cancer TOPIC=”subject” around R (resistance) |
||
| 5 | SICKNESS | As it was written by King: ‘head disorder‘ (8) |
| SIC=Latin adverb=”As it was written” + K (King) + NESS=”head” | ||
| 9 | MADRIGAL | Cross put against capital Latin vocal composition (8) |
| MAD=”Cross” + RIGA=”capital” city of Latvia + L (Latin) | ||
| 10 | RENAME | Repair men are to attach a new handle (6) |
| (men are)* | ||
| 11 | UNENCUMBERED | Free, one Parisian figured, to be injected with drug (12) |
| UNE=”one” in French + NUMBERED=”figured” around C (cocaine)=”drug” | ||
| 13, 18, 22 | SALT LAKE CITY | Seafarer and lackey forced to accept it’s American capital (4,4,4) |
| =capital of Utah SALT=sailor=”Seafarer” + (lackey)* with “forced” as anagrind, around IT |
||
| 14 | CLAW BACK | To recover from cold, possibly act stern (4,4) |
| C (cold) + LAW=”possibly act” as in an Act of Parliament + BACK=”stern” as in rear | ||
| 17 | BODY SLAM | Corporate fling? Unruly mob, sadly (4,4) |
| “Corporate” meaning ‘as a body’ (mob sadly)* |
||
| 18 | See 13 | |
| 20 | PREREQUISITE | Parking, about to be doubled, is quite haphazard: it must come first (12) |
| P (Parking) + RE=”about” twice/”doubled” + (is quite)* | ||
| 23, 2 | ESCAPE ROAD | A way to end a driver’s career (6,4) |
| cryptic definition: “way” as in ROAD and “career” as in losing control of one’s movement | ||
| 24 | TALMUDIC | A dictum formulated to include line of Jewish legal code (8) |
| (A dictum)* around L (line) | ||
| 25 | POCHETTE | Smallholder (separated) abandoned hope etc around the end of August (8) |
| =a pocket, or “Small / holder” (hope etc)* around the end letter of “AugusT“ |
||
| 26 | POPEYE | Father, look at the funny sailor! (6) |
| “funny” meaning a comic strip POP=”Father” + EYE=”look” |
||
| Down | ||
| 2 | See 23 | |
| 3 | PARQUETRY | Pet playing with quarry blocks (9) |
| =flooring in a pattern of wooden blocks (Pet quarry)* |
||
| 4 | CAGNEY | Film star’s detective partner (6) |
| James Cagney is the film star; Cagney and Lacey are the detective partners | ||
| 5 | SELECT COMMITTEE | Investigating MPs ‘southern elite’, pledge support (6,9) |
| S (Southern) + ELECT=”elite” + COMMIT=”pledge” + TEE=”support” for a golf ball | ||
| 6 | CORN MEAL | Grain medium implanted in eye covering (large) (4,4) |
| M (medium) in CORNEA=”eye covering” + L (large) | ||
| 7 | NONCE | Present time, or one time after noon? (5) |
| ONCE=”one time” after N (noon) | ||
| 8 | SIMNEL CAKE | Easter treat, consisting of lime mixed with cold nitrogen and steeped in a sort of wine (6,4) |
| (lime C N)*, where C is for cold and N is for nitrogen; all inside SAKE=”sort of wine” | ||
| 12 | MATO GROSSO | Model, carrying gator, swanning round part of Brazil (4,6) |
| =a western state of Brazil [wiki] Kate MOSS=”Model” around (gator)* with “swanning as anagrind + O=”round” |
||
| 15 | BILGE PUMP | Crafty means of removing water from the bottom of rubbish footwear (5,4) |
| =used to remove water form the bottom of a ship or craft BILGE=”rubbish” + PUMP=”footwear” |
||
| 16 | ELOQUENT | Expressive English and Latin quote about new inside (8) |
| E (English) + L (Latin) + (quote)* with N (new) inside | ||
| 19 | FILLIP | Boost Duke’s broadcast (6) |
| homophone of/”broadcast”: Prince ‘Philip’, Duke of Edinburgh | ||
| 21 | ROACH | American insect‘s joint end (5) |
| =US word for cockroach; =the end of a marijuana joint | ||
| 22 | See 13 | |
Thanks Brummie and manehi
Brummie isn’t particularly bothered about surfaces, is he? Mostly an enjoyable solve, but I thought the clue for CAGNEY was very poor – there are lots of film stars, and it would be difficult to pick one if you didn’t know the 80s TV series.
Guess who confidently entered ‘Watson’ at 4d until the crossers showed that it was wrong. I enjoyed the challenge.
Thanks Brummie & manehi.
4d wasn’t a bad clue once I’d got the crossers. I needed a bit of “electronic assistance” (Google) for MATO GROSSO though. The parsing was good, but my geography isn’t.
Thanks both.
Not too difficult. I didn’t much like a couple of anagrinds, especially ‘swanning’. And corn meal isn’t grain just because it’s made from it – you might as well define sand as ‘rock’.
I did like PREREQUISITE and UNENCUMBERED, and POCHETTE was new to me but guessable.
Thanks manehi.
I had to ‘cheat’ on BODY SLAM and I think you’ve omitted the parsing (although its clearly an anagram)
I enjoyed the wide range of references in the answers. Got held up by lazily entering Police committee until i worked out sickness. I was trying to start 5a across with Pace.
Good fun
[thanks pex – have added in the parsing for BODY SLAM]
e: and 26ac! thanks Bungler and thezed
I enjoyed this puzzle. Thank you, Brummie and Manehi.
I was trying to parse Estate Road for 23,2, but realised in time that I had careered off course.
I enjoyed this puzzle. I looked at a map of Brazil, discovered MATO GROSSO, then parsed it. Also new for me was POCHETTE.
My favourite was PREREQUISITE.
Thank you manehi and Brummie.
Manehi, you’ve also omitted the parsing for 26a. I do remember the Popeye cartoons with affection and always think of him when I eat spinach.
I found this a bit of a mixed bag. Mato Grosso was not in my GK but I am of an age where Cagney (both of them) is (are?) though I could see that flagging complaints. Some very vague clues in here, like 4d, which needed crossers. Some nice misdirection like the corporate fling and the craft means of removing water, but a bit let down by clunky word play. As others have noted, surfaces are a bit forced a lot of the time too – 5d, 6d, 9a and others make little sense grammatically.
Thank you Brummie and Manehi. BTW the parsing of 26a has disappeared
Thanks for the blog.
George@2 I share your pain – I mean it just had to be Watson didn’t it? I knew Mato Grosso (from a Biggles yarn way way back I think), knew parquet but guessed parquetry (had to be), pochette was a TILT for me too.
Me@12 Yes, Biggles in “The cruise of the condor”. Funny how random things get lodged in the memory.
25: “Smallholder (separated)”. Scratched my head for ages at this. What can it mean? Resorted to my anagram solver and dictionary – didn’t know POCHETTE – before the penny dropped. A bit clunky but nice one, Brummie – you got me!
Thanks also to manehi.
Andy Smith @12
I knew Mato Grosso from Biggles too! (though he called it “Matey Grocer”…)
Not too hot on my Brazilian regions or my small pockets, but obvious enough from the cluing. A nice gentle solve for a Tuesday…
What a mixed bag (just saw thezed’s comments before posting) … of solutions that is, but loved it. All over the world and across the ages. Makes me wonder if Brummie started off with one or two that took his fancy and then let loose with the gridfill.
Had no idea of 8D, but figured it had to be some sort of CAKE as I’d heard of other cakes for festivals. Favourites were CLAW BACK, BODY SLAM and ESCAPE ROAD.
Theme? Dunno. Can see 3 religions in there but that’s about it. Haven’t there been comments recently of Brummie puzzles where there were no themes to be found? Keeping us in suspense maybe.
I liked this, including CAGNEY. Maybe ‘hutch’ in the next few weeks.
The ‘Corporate fling’ def. was my highlight. I have to confess I’m another whose introduction to the mysteries of MATO GROSSO was courtesy of Capt. W. E. Johns.
Thanks to Brummie and manehi
Muffin@1 put it nicely but there were plenty of elegant clues as well with my double tick going to BODY SLAM – in common with several others I see. I was never a Biggles fan or know Brazilian geography well enough but MASO GROSSO was still gettable. I also liked POCHETTE for the “separated” instruction which cleverly both clarified and confused at the same time!
Thanks to Brummie and manehi.
Thanks to manehi and Brummie
A little clunky perhaps as has been said but still enjoyable.
I wonder if there was a contest between FLING and BASH @17a? I think I would have gone for BASH.
Along with beaulieu @ 4 I’m not very keen on “swanning” as an anagrind. “Swanning round”, yes, but then round is doubling up.
Perhaps “swanning round over in Brazil”
Similarly, @17a, the clue works if MEDIUM doubles up, because GRAIN MEDIUM works as a CD of CORN MEAL.
Or @ 6d rather
Reasonably quick ride today – except for 12D. After pondering POSE for ‘model’ for ages, I then got hung up on LAGO being the first word. When I reluctantly turned to Google as a last resort I completely ignored what the map was telling me!
Out of interest, do others set themselves personal challenges when completing crosswords? For example, sometimes I will only work on clues in the order given, starting with all the acrosses, then the downs, then across, then down etc. Other times I will do a single across clue, then a single down clue, etc. To toughen things up I usually try to complete the grid without using the scratch area to work out anagrams etc. When I travelled frequently, I had a ritual of never looking at the crossword until I was on the plane, and then my challenge was to complete the crossword before the plane took off. Guardian for short haul, Guardian plus Times or Telegraph for long haul. If I failed to complete the challenge it ruined the flight for me. Do I need help or do others do things like this as well?
Thanks Brummie; I thought the way to end a driver’s career would have been a controlled skid, but it didn’t seem to fit in.
Enjoyable solve; I liked the separated smallholder – it gets round those who dislike lift-and-separate clues. I only knew NONCE in the prison slang sense. Apparently, there is a tropical sickness unit in Salt Lake City but that may just be coincidence. I did find, however, from this research that some bats in the UK carry rabies.
Thanks manehi for a good blog. If anyone wants a theme, you could look at the Indy today.
Thanks both,
What took the time was getting wrong or unparsed answers out of my head in order to see an alternative. Eg today I had ‘police sergeants’ for 5d, an incompatible ‘come back’ for 14ac and ‘estate road’ for 23,2 all of which took time to back track on. So nice one, Brummie for the misdirection.
I was OK with 6d. Grain can stand for its derivatives as in the well know advice for drinkers, ‘Don’t mix the grain and the grape’. I expect there’s a name for that trope – ‘metonymy’?
Thanks to Brummie and manehi. Generally a very slow solve for me today (typical for me with Brummie). However it all eventually began to unpack with time until I got bogged down in the SW with Mato Grosso, roach and pochette (two of which unfamiliar to me). Eventually got roach and worked out pochette, but needed to look at a map for the place in Brazil. That said lots of nice clues, and I was another fan of claw back. I also liked select committee and corn meal. Thanks again to Brummie and manehi.
If it is against etiquette to offer alternative clues I’m sure I will swiftly corrected.
Meanwhile,
6d May parts of mince pie covering be grain?
Enjoyed lots of this but Escape Road is frankly nonsense
Enjoyed this. Had to hunt for Mato Grosso but otherwise my perfect level. Not too hard, not too soft but
juuust right! Pochette I guessed from the anagram – nice little word. Just had to be that. Thought salt and Popeye may have been the start of a marine theme but it wasn’t to be. Thanks Brummie and Manehi. Fine Tuesday fare
Thanks Brummie and manehi
Tim @ 27: why nonsense? Escape roads are often found on hills with sharp curves, to provide a safe route for (especially) trucks that have overheated brakes from applying them for too long. They stop the driver careering on down the road.
Tim @27, ESCAPE ROAD isn’t nonsense. I’ve seen ‘escape roads’ on steep hills, especially in the US. Typically they branch off a main highway and are made of deep sand. Their purpose is to allow a driver whose brakes have failed to career onto it and come to a safe halt.
Simon S @28: we crossed!
Thank you Brummie for an enjoyable puzzle and manehi for a helpful blog.
Tim @27, 23,2 worked for me. I had a VW where the accelerator sometimes would not respond to the pedal and the car would career away, fortunately this never happened on an motorway, but if it had I might have been lucky to come upon an ESCAPE ROAD, here in France they appear to be of loose stones going up a steep hill – no one would believe me, in the end I lent my car to the VW garagist and it happened to him.
A nice medium level of difficulty and quite an entertaining solve
Thanks to Brummie and manehi
Muffin@1, I suppose that there are as many models as there are film stars, Why Kate Moss specifically? Thanks for the blog and the puzzle!
Thanks to Brummie and manehi. I struggled with ESCAPE ROAD, SIMNEL CAKE, POCHETTE, and MATO GROSSO (all new to me) but I did manage to finish with occasional help from Google.
Pretty straightforward but I got a bit bogged down in the NE.CLAW BACK, SICKNESS and CORN MEAL took me quite a long time to get but they seem pretty easy in retrospect.
Thanks Brummie.
One summer’s day in Bath at the beginning of the 1980s an articulated lorry coming into the city on the A46 (a steep descent) failed to make use of the well-signed ESCAPE ROAD and ended up demolishing the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill. No one was seriously injured and lots of locals living along the A4 London Road had a few hours’ blissful respite from traffic noise and fumes while the road was closed.
Thank you Manehi and Brummie (I’m still looking for a theme).
The only two escape roads I can recall are in Devon; Telegraph Hill
and the road leading to the docks in Teignmouth.
Bigblip @ 22 re challenges – Yes.
The Yorkshire Sipper and I used to meet in The Copper Kettle,
Cambridge for a Times Crossword race. He was new to the game
so we developed a handicap system. I had to finish, but he could stop
the clock with ten clues to go. As he improved his handicap was
reduced. Drinks in The Eagle afterwards on the loser.
We were both ‘scratch’ in no time and, needless to say, I ended up
playing Chattaway to his Bannister.
Golf, racing, crosswords, real tennis, draughts (Graham Greene) ….
I’d be curious to know if any contributors here have come across
other games/sports/pastimes that can have a satisfactory handicap applied.
jeff cumberbatch @34
Yes, but the other part of the clue isn’t as obscure as an 80s TV cop show – for those of us who have read Biggles, at least!
btw there’s an escape road on the A59 at Bolton Abbey bridge, at the bottom of the long descent from Blubberhouses Moor.
Bigblip: you may well need help, but then so do I. I will identify the longest answers, do as many of them as I can, then from then on I’m only allowed to do clues that intersect an already solved one. Prolongs the enjoyment nicely. For Jumbo grids, additionally have to do the clues in decreasing order of length. TMI, I know, but you did ask!
I enjoyed it too. Stuck on escape road. Just wouldnt come
I enjoyed it too. Got stupidly stuck on escape road. And missed the’sic’for sickness. So stuck there too
Listening to the debate on escape roads anyone been to Lynmouth in Somerset? Porlock hill takes you down into Lymouth and then coming back out you hit a road which looks like a wall inf front of you. There are many escape roads both going down and going up. I believe (might be wrong) that it is the steepest road in England and I would advise anyone whose car is not in top notch condition not to go there. I had to take a break half way up.
Guess who gleefully wrote BUFFER STOP for 23,2…
I know it well, PetHay. In the 60s, people used to stand behind the crash barrier at the bottom, waiting to witness accidents!
An entertaining solve – thanks Brummie.
I was lucky with PREREQUISITE – I got it straight away, and it was my first in. I was less lucky (plain dim, actually) with UNENCUMBERED, which seems an easier clue to me, but it came much later, as did the third of the three long answers: SELECT COMMITTEE.
Bigblip @22
I often set myself targets just for fun – I’m never strict about it. Most often it is to get the longest answers first, which is what I tried today. If they don’t all yield I don’t feel I’ve failed – I just press on. Once when there were no fewer than eight four-letter words in the grid, I went for those first, and I got six of them – quite creditable for me because I often have most trouble with those.
Thanks to manehi for the blog.
Escape road!!! Simply awful. The rest of the crossword is excellent. Thanks to the blogger.
George@2: another Watson here, later changed to (Lana) Turner (& Hooch). I bet there are plenty of other possibilities. Some of them even correct.
Bigblip @22 and Dr Whatson @44
My ritual for the cryptic is first to read all the across clues and put a check mark at the edge of the grid for those I solve cold. Then read and fill in as many down clues as I can, also putting a check at the top or bottom of the grid for each one solved cold. Then back to the acrosses, filling in those with check marks and as many as I can of those with down crossers. Then do all downs, all acrosses for as long as it makes sense.
For the occasional non-cryptic I happen across I fill in the first clue I can, then all those that cross it, then all those that cross those, etc. If I get stuck I fill in a new unattached clue and make a mark next to it. Try to get through with none of those.
Another vote for ‘escape road’!
And if anyone is interested in the Popeye iron spinach supermyth, there’s a full account here: http://super-myths.blogspot.com/2010/12/spinach-iron-decimal-point-error-myth.html
I confidently put in escape lane, as that is what they are usually known as. Never come across an escape road.
Paul8hours @52
Do you know, I think you are right!
Could Tim or aitch or any other dissenter please explain their dislike of “ESCAPE ROAD”.
As far as I can see this is a perfectly reasonable cryptic definition. Or is the fact that these solvers have never experienced such roads sufficient grounds for complaint?
Of course not. I suspect they must be “softy Southerners” 😉
Being a “ruffty tuffty Northerner” myself I have of course driven past many of these wonderful diversions and have always been tempted to career into them myself just to see if they worked.
Lately however the state of some of them has convinced me that even if I was careering down the hill out of control I would be better off taking my chances on the main road.
Of course post Brexit order will be restored and drivers once more will be able to career without fear knowing that safety lies round the next bend. 🙂
I don’t recall ever seeing anything labelled “escape road”. I think in the US they’re called “runaway truck lanes.” Anybody else think so?
Paul8hours @52: I agree. Muffin: I’ve driven past the one you mention @40 near Bolton Abbey lots of times (the last time a couple of weeks ago) and I’m sure it’s signed “Escape lane”.
Bigblip @22: I usually like to complete a crossword so that, as I’m progressing, all the answers I’ve filled in link up with each other. It just feels more satisfying that way. If I happen to spot an isolated clue that I can see the answer to, I then desperately have to try to link it up to the others.
Looks like I have more ‘challenges’ to try out! Glad I’m not alone and look forward to meeting you all wherever they end up putting us!
Paul, muffin and others,
I too know the off-road track as an escape lane, and I have just seen an image of a road sign on the hill at Porlock saying ‘Escape Lane’. (I googled it.) A pity, in a way, because I wanted to lend some legitimacy to the phrase in the crossword!
Valentine @ 55: I live in the states (or at least in one of them) and the usual term here is “runaway truck ramp.”
Here in France the equivalent of an escape lane runs parallel to the motorway whereas an escape road goes off at an angle.
Alan B@58. The time-honoured way of establishing legitimacy is to show that a phrase is included in a recognised dictionary:
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/escape-road
And this is the Chambers definition of escape road (taken from a printed copy): a short track leading off a road on a steep hill, sharp bend, etc., for vehicles going out of control.
The only theme I could see in this puzzle was H. Ha ha! As noted by others, there was a great deal of variety in the solutions. There was plenty of fodder here for creating Fake Trivia: Cornmeal Cagney was the first pro wrestler weighing over 400 lbs. (and he was known as Mato Grosso in Latin America). The band Steely Dan toured the US college circuit as Roach Pochette before they landed their first record deal. Nonce Bilgepump is one of the aliases Elton John uses when he checks into a hotel. Simnel cake is commonly used by drug smugglers to throw sniffer dogs off the scent. Treolia is a type of tropic sickness. Escape roads are known as runaway truck ramps in the US. Oh wait, that last one is true (TOTH to Valentine @55 and slipstream @59).
It was a fun puzzle, more than a little bit challenging in places. CotD for me (agreeing with many others above) was BODY SLAM. SALT LAKE CITY didn’t have a great surface but was fun to solve nonetheless.
Many thanks to Brummie and manehi and the other commenters.
DaveMc @63 — How could we not spot the theme? And there’s a reason why the truck driver ran off the road on the way to Salt Lake City:
http://genius.com/Frank-zappa-truck-driver-divorce-lyrics
John E @61,62
I take your point, and I accept what the on-line Collins dictionary says.
Dictionaries don’t tell the whole story. My Collins print edition does not have escape lane, only escape road. I have just checked in Chambers and that’s the same. My (light-hearted) point about legitimacy is well and truly busted, but I can now make the point that the dictionaries have some catching up to do!
Alan B@65
Collins has included the word ‘road’ within its definition, but I think that ‘track’ in Chambers and (apparently) ‘ramp’ in US usage are more helpful in showing that ‘escape road’ is a generic descriptor covering a range of emergency exit designs. On wide roads, an escape lane would typically be an extra emergency lane terminating in the escape road/track/ramp. The fact that the final road/track/ramp is very different from a normal road (including the road from which it is an exit) adds to the effectiveness of the wordplay in the clue. The cryptic definition is as parsed above by manehi, but there is also the jokey sense of escaping from the road, which works if people draw a distinction between the ‘real’ road (the main highway) and the escape route that doesn’t bear much resemblance to a normal road.
I found 4 down pathetic. There is nothing “cryptic” about two individuals who happen to have the same family name. And James Cagney “film star”? Really?
I put in escape *ramp* for 23,2 down which of course made 9 across impossible. Finally took “ramp” out, got 9 across, and then “R_A_” was obviously “road”. I’d never heard of “escape road”, but “escape ramp” was familiar. I seem to recall that in Canada they’re called “run-outs”. I remember seeing, in mountainous country, road signs saying things like “run-out ahead 500 metres”.