A very suitable puzzle for the Monday slot – not difficult, but not a complete walkover, and some nice surfaces. A couple of bits of UK-specific general knowledge might cause trouble to some. Thanks to Pan.
| Across | ||||||||
| 7. | SHELLAC | Varnish covering jacket of almanac (7) SHELL (covering) + A[lmana]C |
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| 8. | BOER WAR | Rifle from the east protecting women during time of conflict (4,3) Quite complex parsing for this one: it’s W in ERA (“women during time”) in (protected by) reverse (from the East) of ROB (to rifle) |
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| 9. | SLOE | Potato initially excluded from list of fruit (4) SLOPE (list) less P[otato] |
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| 12. | CROWN | Opening of cavity next to worn out bit of tooth (5) C[avity] + WORN* |
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| 13. | BULLETIN | Report of slug at home (8) BULLETN (slug) + IN (at home) |
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| 15. | LAWN | Fabric lining small awnings? (4) Hidden in smalL AWNings |
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| 16. | PETTY | Insignificant conclusion to booklet in badly set type (5) [bookle]T in TYPE* |
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| 17. | POEM | Author married to his work … (4) [Edgar Allan] POE + M[arried], and Poe was indeed a poet |
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| 18. | SPARE RIB | … knocks back melted brie snack (5,3) Reverse of RAPS (knocks) + BRIE* |
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| 20. | BASEL | Camp next to large Swiss city (5) BASE (camp) + L[arge] |
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| 21,10. | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY | Corrupt Welsh FA is defended by unknown football club (9,9) (WELSH FA IS DEFENDED)* + Y (unknown, in algebra). The oddly-named football club started off as a cricket club that met on Wednesdays |
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| 22. | WREN | Novel about crossing rook with another bird (4) R (rook) in reverse of NEW (novel) |
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| 24. | BENEFIT | Good insect drinking close to sunken well (7) [sunke]N in BEE + FIT (well) |
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| 25,3. | CHARLES DARWIN | Earl Sandwich ordered to conceal recipe for a scientist (7,6) R[ecipe] in (EARL SANDWICH)* |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | DHAL | Pulse found in fractured hallux (4) Hidden in fractureD HALlux |
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| 2. | BLUE JOHN | Mineral deposit down toilet? (4,4) BLUE (sad, down) + JOHN (slang for toilet). Blue John is a mineral found in a cave in the Peak District |
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| 4. | FOREPLAY | Rope twisted into whip for slap and tickle? (8) ROPE* in FLAY (whip) |
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| 5. | FRIDGE | Cooler fellow on saddle (6) F[ellow] + RIDGE (saddle, though I don’t think they’re the same thing at all) |
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| 6. | NAVY | Service vehicle lifted onto end of jetty (4) Reverse of VAN + [jett]Y |
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| 11. | DEBATABLE | Resting, when standing on furniture, is controversial (9) Reverse of ABED + TABLE |
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| 12. | CHAMP | Winner of set capturing hearts (5) H[earts] in CAMP (set – perhaps in the sense of a political faction) |
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| 14. | IDEAL | Model in independent trade (5) I[ndependent] + DEAL (trade) |
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| 16. | PARAFFIN | Fuel made from palm fibres clipped into container (8) RAFFI[A] (palm fibres) in PAN (container) |
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| 17. | PASSWORD | Relatives given weapon with access code (8) PAS (plural of Pa = father, relatives) + SWORD |
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| 19. | REELED | Fish inside bloody wound (6) EEL in RED, with “wound” rhyming with “sound” as the definition |
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| 20. | BUDDHA | Pal had reincarnated spiritual leader … (6) BUD (pal) + HAD* |
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| 21. | SLEW | … killed in a raft (4) Double definition |
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| 23. | EWER | Vessel for liquids essential to brewery (4) Hidden in brEWERy |
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I agree with Andrew’s comments – not a complete walkover but very entertaining for a Monday morning. LOI was “Boer War” @ 8a which took a while to parse. BTW – I was always led to believe that the reason Sheffield Wednesday met on that particular day was because a lot of the players were local shopkeepers, and Wednesday was half day closing so they were all available in the afternoon. This practice is still alive and well at a pharmacy in a parade of shops in Nazeing near to where I live.
Thanks to Pan & Andrew
I think that pretty much defines what the Monday puzzle ought to be – good surfaces, variety of techniques, enough easy ones to give you a good start and then something to chew over. Thank you Pan, and Andrew for sorting out 8ac. I had “rob” and had wondered if there was some women’s regiment that fitted the rest, missing the “era” bit. An enjoyable start to the week.
Thanks, Pan and Andrew. I agree with the assessments so far.
If I remember my school geography correctly, a ridge running between two peaks and sloping away to either side would form a saddle. It may not be exact, but it’s close enough for me.
I failed to solve POEM, and I could not parse the ERA bit of BOER WAR.
Google helped me with new words/names SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY + BLUE JOHN.
My favourites were DEBATABLE + REELED.
Thanks Pan and Andrew.
Many thanks to Pan and Andrew.
I’d be most grateful for an explanation of the ellipses between 20d and 21d.
Appino @3 My understanding of a saddle is that it is a low point in a ridge – useful to naivgators both for being an obvious landmark and a point you would tend to cross such a ridge (a bwlch in Welsh, a bealach in Scots Gaelic, both amounting to a “pass” and common in place names in the mountains). So yes it’s not a ridge as such but a point on one.
Mathematically a saddle is a surface which rises in two directions and falls off in the two perpendicular ones, as the lowest point on a ridge would have to (or, at least, a local minimum for the pedants).
Thanks Pan and Andrew
OK, but Matilda’s Quiptic was more fun. I didn’t parse PARAFFIN and I’m not convinced by “set”=CAMP – very loose, at best. Slightly unfortunate that the clue for FOREPLAY includes “for”.
judygs @5 – I’m also confused by the use of “……” between consecutive clues (20 & 21d and 17 & 18a), especially when they don’t appear to be related in any way.
Generally ellipses can be ignored. In this case they just make the surface of the clues better. It’s so rare that the clues are actually related that I usually fail to spot it!
Niltac@8, judygs@5 my understanding is that the ellipsis is most often used in order to allow a clue (or two) which would not otherwise be sentences. So “killed in a raft” by itself could stand alone but perhaps reads more smoothly linked to the reincarnated buddha. There is almost never any sign of the clues or solutions being otherwise linked, although that rule was tested by a recent crossword here in which the first two across clues were linked by ellipsis and also needed to be linked to answer the second one.
Nice Monday puzzle. Mostly a write-in but with a sting in the tail.
The proper names were obvious from the crossers.
I liked BENEFIT, REELED and SLEW. Spent about as much time pondering BLUE JOHN as I had on the entire rest of the puzzle. Guessed it in the end and googled to check.
A suitable warmer-upper to the week ahead.
Thanks Pan and Andrew
New week, new set of xwords. Agree today’s a gentle start, Darwin fell out quickly following the ‘W’ crosser from Wednesday. Bluejohn new – visions of the outside dunny in midwinter! Is there a theme, with fridge and camp, lawn, sloe & wren? Debatable…. Cheers Pan & Andrew.
Anna: I’ve replied to your pressure query the other day.
Many thanks to muffin@9 and thezed@10 for ellipsis comments, and to Niltac@8 for making me feel less of a dumbo.
To pex @13
Got it! Many thanks pex.
Is the irrelevance of ellipses a new thing? I always though there had to be some some connection, even if tenuous.
Had an unparsed blue moon (a type of quartz) for 2d, oh well. Otherwise yes pretty Mondayish fare. I did know the football team, the kind of name that sticks. Quite fun, ta A and P.
Lots of nice clues and a good start to the week from Pan. I also didn’t parse 8a. I liked SLOE BULLETIN POEM and BLUE JOHN. Loi was BENEFIT as I was convinced it began with G but couldn’t make sense of GENERIC (or GENETIC). Thanks Pan and Andrew.
Thanks to Pan and Andrew. The comments of appino@3 and thezed@6 regarding ridges and saddles are correct, but the connection still seems loose to me, as does “set” = “camp.” Both clues still point pretty directly to the answer, though, and that, at least to me, is the most important thing. I wasn’t familiar with either the football club or the mineral deposit, but both were gettable from the wordplay and the crossers. Didn’t quite get there, being focused on “author” as the definition in 17a and entering the unparsed POET. No excuse for that one.
Agree – not a walkover but nothing too challenging for a Monday
Thanks to Pandrew
Enjoying both football and TV shows such as Bargain Hunt, The Owls and Blue John were practically write-ins for me. RIDGE/SADDLE took me back to ‘O’ level geography. Agree that SET = CAMP was tenuous at best. I needed the blog for the parsing of PARAFFIN and BOER WAR.
Thanks to Pan and Andrew (though I’m liking beery hikers’s Brangelina-like offering!).
I kept getting interrupted while doing this so it seemed more difficult than it was,if you see what I mean. I liked SLOE but the near homophone SLEW took ages. I didn’t parse FRIDGE.
Thanks Pan.
Thanks to Pan and Andrew. I agree – a good Monday puzzle. Somehow I knew SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY but not BLUE JOHN – and I did eventually parse BOER WAR..
Certainly a challenge for me, I am struggling to understand the reason for the word “drinking” in 24 ac. Also not really sure how we are supposed to ascertain the letter “N” from the clue, “close to” seems a little ambiguous? If anyone can cast a light on this for me I’d be really grateful.
Martin @24, I didn’t parse this either but think Andrew is suggesting it’s the closing part of SUNKEN. So not physically close, but close as in the ending (of a show etc).
Martin @24 — The idea is that Drinking = Swallowing = Containing. So it indicates that the N is inside of BEE. (And meiotic’s explanation of your other question is correct.)