Serpent has provided today’s cruciverbal entertainment.
I found this a challenging and highly entertaining serve, but I got there in the end, I think, both as a solver and as a blogger. It took me a while to unpick the parsing at 4 and at 26, but I am satisfied with what I came up with.
My favourite clues today were 4 and 9, both for surface; 6, for its overall construction; the quadruple definition at 14, for its originality; and the & lit. at 15.
This grid lends itself to a Nina, of course, and the outside perimeter, starting in the top left-hand corner, reads: THE PIED PIPER RATS CHILDREN. According to the legend, these are the two groups – rats and children – that the pied piper lured out of the town of Hamelin with his enchanting music. I don’t know if there are any other references in the grid that I might have missed.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 07 | NAPALM | Petrol-based agent launched principally in Vietnam
P<etrol-based>A<gent> L<aunched> (“principally” means first letters only) in NAM (=Vietnam); & lit. |
| 08 | ABRIDGED | Summarised what links banks in publicity material
BRIDGE (=what links banks, i.e. of river) in AD (=publicity material) |
| 09 | ELLIPTIC | Obscure medical treatment dons refer to in retrospective study
PILL (=medical treatment) in CITE (=refer to); “dons” suggests wears, holds; “in retrospective study” indicates reversal |
| 10 | FILLIP | What stimulates announcement of head of state’s partner?
Homophone (“announcement of”) of “(Prince) Philip (=head of state’s partner)” |
| 11 | RINGLEADER | Most prominent element metal bell contains
LEAD (=metal) in RINGER (=bell, i.e. something that can be rung) |
| 13 | SARI | Revolutionary paramilitary organisation’s outfit
IRA (=paramilitary organisation, i.e. Irish Republican Army)’S; “revolutionary” indicates reversal |
| 14 | DETAIL | List //particular // personnel assigned to //dock?
A rare quadruple definition, three of them straight definitions, the fourth cryptic= to detail is to list, enumerate AND details are particulars of something AND a (military) detail is personnel assigned to a mission AND cryptically, to dock an animal’s tail is to de-tail it! |
| 16 | ABIDES | People helping to carry book stands
B (=book) in AIDES (=people helping) |
| 19 | DEAR | Sides of defile appear steep
D<efil>E A<ppea>R; “sides” means first and last letters only; a price that is steep is excessively high, hence “dear” |
| 21 | LEADERSHIP | Engineer raised help for head office?
*(RAISED HELP); “engineer” is anagram indicator; cryptically, leadership could be described as “head office (=position)” |
| 23 | LOWEST | Extremely depressed and confused about partners holding hands
W E (=partners holding hands (of cards), in bridge) in LOST (=confused, bewildered) |
| 24 | PERVERSE | Contrary way in which poet expects to be paid?
Cryptically, a poet might expect to be paid “per verse” |
| 26 | IGNITION | What could spark a bit of interest in thought processes for company?
I<nterest> (“a bit of” means first letter only) is to replace CO (=company) in COGNITION (=thought processes) |
| 27 | PUTTER | Head of police state is part of the club set
P<olice> (“head of” means first letter onlt) + UTTER (=state, say); a putter is to be found is a set of golf clubs |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TAILWIND | Track with bend provides boost for runner?
TAIL (=track, as verb, dog) + WIND (=bend, as verb, of e.g. road); a runner ought to be able to run more quickly with a tailwind behind him! |
| 02 | HAVING | Dithering’s not about returning possession
HAV<er>ING (=dithering, wavering); “not about (=RE, regarding) returning (=reversal)” means letters “er” are dropped |
| 03 | EMIT | Issue facing child with its bottom
MITE (=child); “facing … with its bottom” means last letter becomes first letter! |
| 04 | PREFERABLE | Adjudicator thwarted by a skilful better
REF (=adjudicator, i.e. referee) in [PER (a, each) + ABLE (=skilful)] |
| 05 | IDOLISED | Union’s commitment was first to include lives given exalted status
IS (=lives) in [I DO (=union (=marriage)’s commitment) + LED (=was first)] |
| 06 | EERIER | Stranger’s hesitant expression that is caught by another
[ER (=hesitant expression) + I.E. (=that is)] in ER (=hesitant expression) |
| 08 | ARCADE | Shopping mall announcing financial support for rescue vessel
Homophone (“announcing”) of “ark (=rescue vessel, i.e. Noah’s Ark) + aid (=financial support)” |
| 12 | EPIGLOTTIS | Glutton blocking toilets ruined cover for pipe
PIG (=glutton) in *(TOILETS); “ruined” is anagram indicator; the “pipe” of the definition is the windpipe, oesophagus |
| 15 | TURMERIC | Item cooked with curry mainly?
*(ITEM + CURR<y>); “mainly” means last letter dropped from anagram, indicated by “cooked”; & lit. |
| 17 | SPINSTER | Singleton in spades stops south player taking extra ruff initially
[IN + S (=spades, in cards)] in S<outh> P<layer> T<aking> E<xtra> R<uff>; “initially” means first letter only; the “singleton” of the definition refers not to cards but to a single, i.e. unmarried, person |
| 18 | HAPPEN | Develop layer to encapsulate software
APP (=software, i.e. application) in HEN (=layer, of eggs); cf. How did this situation develop/happen/come about? |
| 20 | ENOUGH | Quite upset somebody that I don’t like
ENO (ONE=somebody; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) + UGH (=that I don’t like, as exclamation); enough, as an adverb, means quite, fairly |
| 22 | SIESTA | Hits I established hosting chill-out session at the Haçienda?
Hidden (“hosting”) in “hitS I ESTAblished”; the whimsical definition places us squarely in a Spanish context! |
| 25 | RAPT | Transported like a parcel being delivered
Homophone (“being delivered”, e.g. of lines in a play) of “wrapped (=like a parcel)”; rapt is transported, entranced, sent |
Always enjoy a Serpent. Shame about the accidental FT repeat of the Basilisk last week.
Lots to like. Too many to list favourites. I must admit I failed to parse EMIT though.
Wondered if the uncharacteristic repeat of “leader” in 11a and 21a might be theme-based.
Thanks to Serpent and RatkojaRiku.
I loved this, but it was a real challenge and thank goodness for the Nina which rescued me more than once. Hard to pick the best. Honourable mentions for EPIGLOTTIS, EMIT and the humble ENOUGH, but I thought the quad def DETAIL and &lit TURMERIC and NAPALM were outstanding.
Thanks to Serpent and RR
NW was holding me up, but the nina helped me finish it. 3d was last in, but I failed to parse it. Liked the & lits, especially 15d.
@Hovis, I’m sure the two LEADERs are deliberate, being in a symmetrical position.
@Eileen, I’m not sure if it was you, but I thought I’d let you know I got a refund on my train tickets for 4th April to London earlier this week, having requested it on 13th March when I returned from Spain and went into self-isolation.
[NNI @3 – I didn’t do this puzzle but looked at the blog, anyway [I’m sorry now that I didn’t try it] and noted your comment, which quite mystified me. [‘I’m not sure if it was you’?]
I did request a refund [when prompted by The Trainline] on 27th March and, as it happens, just this morning, I made a copy of my Certificate of Posting, so that I could make enquiries, since I have heard nothing since then – but, as far as I can make out, I’ve made no mention of that here [I’ve searched the thread relating to the April 4th gathering] so I don’t understand how you could have known! Anyway, it seems that my application was two weeks behind yours, so I can go on hoping, if you have only just heard.
Thanks for that, then – spooky, though. 😉 ]
NNI – my sincere apologies. The ever-vigilant Gaufrid has once again saved me from myself and directed me to comments 20 and 21 here.
I hope I may meet you in London before too long. 😉
quite hard and I didn’t parse ignition. Like NNI@3, I was helped by the Nina in NW – I like it when that happens. Again like NNI@3, my favourites were the 2 &lits. First one in was 7a, which offered great promise for the rest of the puzzle, and i wasn’t disappointed.
thank you Serpent and RR
A rare event for us – we saw the nina about half way through and it helped us to finish, although the NW corner still held out to the end. Nevertheless EMIT was solved early on – a gteat clue and our CoD.
Thanks, Serpent and RatkojaRiku/
Eileen@5
I see my memory was slightly better than yours. Yes, maybe next time.
Thanks, Gaufrid. Don’t think I’ve met you either.
Many thanks to RatkojaRiku for the excellent blog and to everyone who has been kind enough to leave a comment.
Tried to comment last night but it looks like the site was playing up again. Couldn’t get in half an hour ago, also.
Alas, this one defeated me. Got the right half eventually, but only got a couple of answers in the left half.