A very quick solve, though there were a couple left unparsed that held me up for quite a while afterwards. Favourites were 2dn and 22dn. Thanks to Crucible.
| Across | ||
| 8 | FORTRESS | Female soldiers lock castle (8) |
| F (Female) + OR=other ranks=”soldiers” + TRESS=”lock” of hair | ||
| 9 | BREED | Business leader does, perhaps, return stock (5) |
| Business + DEER=e.g. more than one doe=”does, perhaps” reversed/”return” | ||
| 10 | SEAT | Behind main square (4) |
edit thanks to thezed: SEA=”main” + T as in T-square, a drawing instrument |
||
| 11 | GREAT AUNTS | Lancaster’s collecting new rate for relatives (5-5) |
| GAUNT’S=”Lancaster’s”, around (rate)* John of Gaunt was Duke of Lancaster |
||
| 12 | LEASED | Let Liberal relax with daughter (6) |
| L (Liberal) + EASE=”relax” + D (Daughter) | ||
| 14 | CHIVALRY | Courtesy of chief rival wounded close to Burgundy (8) |
| CH (chief) + (rival)* + BurgundY | ||
| 15 | ELLIPSE | Fall over in middle of breezy Oval (7) |
| SPILL=”Fall” reversed/”over, inside the middle letters of brEEzy | ||
| 17 | AGAINST | Opposed to profits at banks (7) |
| GAINS=”profits” with AT on its sides/”banks” | ||
| 20 | EDENTATE | Garden rubbish primarily encourages sloth, maybe (8) |
| =an order of mammals including the sloth and armadillo EDEN=”Garden” + TAT=”rubbish” + Encourages |
||
| 22 | TANGLE | The Spanish fly around conflict (6) |
| EL=”The [in] Spanish” + GNAT=”fly”; all reversed/”around” | ||
| 23 | HANDED OVER | Passed front of harbour, also English port (6,4) |
| Harbour + AND=”also” + E (English) + DOVER=”port” | ||
| 24 | THIS | What I’ve got here contributes to ancient history (4) |
| hidden in ancienT HIStory | ||
| 25 | HAPPY | Contented double parking in grass (5) |
| P (parking) twice in HAY=”grass” | ||
| 26 | CONQUEST | Tory hunt victory (8) |
| CON=conservative=”Tory” + QUEST=”hunt” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FORETELL | Predict toll-free trips (8) |
| (toll-free)* | ||
| 2 | STET | Music group releases record — Let It Be (4) |
| =an editor’s instruction to leave something as written SEPTET=”Music group”, letting go of/releasing the EP=”record” |
||
| 3 | SEA GOD | Magistrates rise to defend a marine boss (3,3) |
| DOGES=”Magistrates” reversed/”rise” around A | ||
| 4 | ESSENCE | German city church makes one concentrate (7) |
| ESSEN=”German city” + CE=Church of England | ||
| 5 | ABETTING | Helping a person to keep dry (8) |
| A + BEING=”person” around TT=teetotal=”dry” | ||
| 6 | REPUTATION | Name place for 50 in correspondence (10) |
| PUT=”Place” taking the place of L=”50″ in RELATION=”correspondence” | ||
| 7 | EDITOR | Cutter travelled north to save Italian (6) |
| RODE=”travelled” reversed upwards/”north” around IT (Italian) | ||
| 13 | SKINNY DIPS | Strip for these gaunt ducks (6-4) |
| SKINNY=”gaunt” + DIPS=”ducks” as in move downwards | ||
| 16 | STANDBYS | Stalls stocking Times replacements (8) |
| STANDS=”Stalls” around BY=”Times” as in ‘6 by 5 equals 3 times 10’ | ||
| 18 | SILLIEST | Most daft stories appear in random list (8) |
| LIES=”stories” in (list)* | ||
| 19 | SERVICE | Notice about Queen Victoria’s delivery in court (7) |
| =as in a tennis service SEE=”Notice” around R (regina)=”Queen” + VIC (Victoria) |
||
| 21 | DEATHS | Duke hates novel offering more than one ending (6) |
| D (Duke) + (hates)* | ||
| 22 | THRONE | Broadcast unsettled John (6) |
| =toilet Homophone/”Broadcast” of: ‘thrown’=”unsettled” |
||
| 24 | TRUE | Constant regret follows Tory leader (4) |
| RUE=”regret” after Tory | ||
For 10ac I had “sea” = main and “T” = a type of square used in building to make seat, aka behind
Thanks Manehi – had to zip in a quick post to stake my claim 🙂 A fun solve with a lot of clues falling to the first thing that came to me and then I stalled in the corners for a while. I thought 20ac was going to be slow-going but it turned out to be toothless…
Thanks to Crucible for a fun diversion. I guess now I have to get on with the day’s jobs…
I took 10A to be Sea = main and T = square as in T-Square, a drawing aid.
Thought this was easy then totally failed to see 6d. maybe in too much of a hurry.
Am I barking up the right tree if I see many bits of a John of Gaunt speech in Richard II? HAPPY BREED, SERVICE and TRUE CHIVALRY amongst others.
Thanks Cruciple and manehi
Oh, well spotted, Doofs@4 – brilliant! At least 10 themed solutions. Many thanks to Crucible and manehi.
Good spot Doofs – sea, reputation, service, throne,true chivalry, fortress, happy breed, seat, leased, against, this (which occurs many times), conquest, and all on his death(s) bed. Far too many to be a coincidence.
This all went in very smoothly, but it is so impeccably clued that it was still a pleasure to solve. SKINNY DIP was last in and the only one that took me a while to see. Well spotted Doofs @4- I would never have seen that!
Thanks to Crucible and manehi
As it was Crucible, I had an eye open for a theme, but I am not au fait with the speech (despite being born 3 miles form Lancaster), so I would never have spotted it.
Thanks manehi and Crucible – I enjoyed this much more than yesterday’s.
Yes, no excuse for not getting on with other things now. Definitely one of Crucible’s more gentle offerings but with the usual clean and concise clueing which made it a delight to solve. EDENTATE was another “I’m sure I’ve come across that word but I’ve no idea where or what it means” (there must be a word for these words), loi was STANDBYS – missed the x trick again – and favourite was ELLIPSE.
Thank you Crucible and manehi.
Just seen all the other posts about the theme that were done whilst I was typing – the icing on a very well made cake.
Like Doofs i took longest to get Reputation. Very good clueing plus a prize for the most obscure theme ever! no chance!
Thanks for the blog, manehi.
Hurrah! As Radian in the Indy, Crucible has recently written several super puzzles themed round Shakespearean speeches and I’ve been wishing that we could have one over this side – and here it is.
beery hiker’s comment @7 proves that there was no compromising of the clues for the sake of accommodating the theme, so cleverly done. [I liked the SEA GOD @3dn for ‘Neptune’ and EDEN in EDENTATE and so much else.]
Apart from the theme, I liked 22 and 23ac and 3, 6, 22 and 24dn.
[At school, we sang a choral version of the speech, which has stayed in my head all these years. This is the only version I could find – but the pictures are nice.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yVMNxxydMM
“Marine Boss” = “Sea God” felt a bit dodgy (or even fishy) to me, but otherwise a pleasant solve.
An excellent puzzle. I concur with those who praised the quality of the clues. ‘Gaunt’ in GREAT-AUNTS should have prodded me towards the theme, but I’m afraid it did not come to me. Well done to those who found it; for me it was something to appreciate afterwards – it was quite a feat.
I liked SKINNY-DIPS, ELLIPSE and STANDBYS most of all.
Thanks to Crucible and Manehi.
Alan B @14 – and there were the ‘gaunt ducks’, too. 😉
Excellent setting to get in all the theme words, although of course I missed it.
I managed to see the ‘does’ for once and enjoyed the solve, made even better by the theme.
I ticked SEA GOD, ABETTING and SERVICE.
Thanks Crucible and manehi.
Eileen @15
Quite. I really should have spotted something, given that Lancaster, gaunt and Duke all appear in the clues.
This was a fun puzzle. New for me was EDENTATE. My favourites were GREAT-AUNTS + ELLIPSE.
Thanks Crucible and manehi.
Thanks to Crucuible and manehi. Most of this went in very quickly, but the last couple in the NE took longer than the rest put together, with reputation last one in. Missed the theme totally in spite of spending six years studying at Lancaster, and often calling in the John of Gaunt pub for a beer (hey ho). My favourites were throne and skinny dips, and thanks again to Crucuible and manehi.
Great fun – thanks Crucible and Manehi. I needed explication of REPUTATION and STANDBYS in particular. But, I did spot the theme, despite only slight familiarity with the speech. Prompted to Google the whole thing, I couldn’t miss the Brexitular topicality of the lines: “…England that was wont to conquer others/Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.”
Bullhassocks@20 – how apposite – the bard continues to provide insights as relevant today as when he wrote them.
And then a lovely example of how language evolves with the introduction of an adjectival version of the most used new noun in the last 100 years. (I’ve no idea whether this is true.)
Thanks Crucible and Manehi. What a great theme. Totally missed it but enjoyed an enlightened revisit. And that the word ‘this’ can have such resonance. Nice one Bard! Gaunt ducks my favourite.
I got the second Gaunt very early, but the penny never dropped, the usual situation with me and WS.
Could someone please put me out of my misery and explain how “save” = “around” (7d)? The best I can do is
save = keep (viz. 5d) = protect = surround = around
but as synonymy isn’t always transitive, you can’t necessarily equate the endpoints. Thanks all.
What a splendiferous theme! I missed it but I love it. “Sceptred” would have given the game away.
Could we also include DOVER as a sort of cousin contained in the concept? And in the clues, “John” along with “Gaunt,” “Duke” and “Lancaster”?
This theme was jimdandy! I missed it but I love it. “Sceptred” would have given the game away.
Could we also include DOVER as a sort of cousin contained in the concept? And in the clues, “John” along with “Gaunt,” “Duke” and “Lancaster”?
I first got to know John of Gaunt as a teenager in an historical novel called “Katherine” about His Grace’s mistress and then third wife, Katherine Swynford. He was terribly romantic in that book, so of course I fell in love with him.
Thanks to Crucible and manehi. Great fun. I had trouble with the dips in SKINNY DIPS and spent some time parsing REPUTATION, my LOI.
Dr Whatson @ 23: I saw save in the sense of tucking away or conserving, which I think resolves your trouble.
A fun puzzle to solve, and all the more fun to come here and learn that there was a theme, and a very good one at that. I had actually been looking for a theme, not so much because of the setter, but because of the day. [And, BTW, Valentine @24 thru 26: Happy Your Day!] Favorite clues today included “EL GNAT”, EDENTATE, THRONE and HANDED OVER.
Many thanks to Crucible and manehi and the other commenters.
I recognised GAUNT in GREAT AUNTS so I should have seen the theme but,of course, I didn’t. And I got stuck in rather surprising places. zIp got REPUTATION easily enough but I’m blowed if I could parse it,and I took ages to get SEAT and THRONES despite having all the crossers! Despite the foregoing, I rather enjoyed this. I liked HANDED OVER,TANGLE and EDENTATE.
Thanks Crucible.
Thanks Simon S. I half agree with you, the other half obstinately wonders if you did what I did, just with a shorter chain. Never mind, I guess I just have a mental block over this one.
Simon S @28, Dr Whatson @31
In case it helps, I saw ‘save’ as having exactly the same meaning as ‘keep’ in the clue for 5d ABETTING.
Thanks to manehi and Crucible
I’m not sure about 7d either, but it’s the north = upwards that bothers me. NORTHWARDS, FROM THE SOUTH etc, but not simply NORTH.
@16d BY =Times is a crossword staple, but I wonder if anyone else here remembers being taught to say “timesed by” in arithmetic lessons. I can’t find it in any of my dictionaries.
Alan B @32
I totally agree – but I wasn’t sure, from his comment, whether Dr Whatson @23 was also uneasy about ‘keep’ [5dn] – absolutely fine by me.
I forgot to mention earlier Noel Coward’s This Happy Breed – ‘Shakespeare’s full of quotations’ 😉 .
For those who think “sceptred” would have given the theme away, I can promise that you could have beaten me over the head with that sceptre and I still would not have seen a theme.
My favorite clue was the one I didn’t solve: THRONE.
But my favorite part of doing this puzzle was thezed @ 2’s joke. Kudos for that!
Like Valentine @26 I had a teenage crush on John of Gaunt, on account of Katherine….. I sort-of spotted the theme, recognising “THIS HAPPY BREED” as Shakespeare but not quite sure which historical play it came from. I failed on 22a and 22d even though I had worked out the parsing for both – was sure the ‘conflict’ must have been more military than a ‘tangle’.
An excellent puzzle though. Thanks to Crucible and manehi.
Thanks for the link, Eileen @12. Bizarre…especially the donkeys. ?