Julius serves up a challenge for us.
This was a fantastic puzzle which I knew was going to be good as soon as I saw the anagram at 1/5. There was a mini-theme (or maybe two mini-themes), one relating to Star Trek (SPOCK, WILLIAM SHATNER, START, SPACE, FRONTIER) and the other to the Bible (REVISED VERSION, SPCK, NT, PRIEST (father)).
Thanks, Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1, 5 | WILLIAM SHATNER |
Stalwart of space programme? Well, his Martian is fluent (7,7)
|
| *(well his martian) [anag:is fluent]
William Shatner played Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series. |
||
| 9 | PRIES |
Father, taking temperature, sticks his nose in (5)
|
| PRIES(t) (“father” taking T (temperature)) | ||
| 10 | SMART ALEC |
Clever clogs regularly sampling some craft beer, cold (5,4)
|
| [regularly sampling] S(o)M(e) + ART (“craft”) + ALE (“beer”) + C (cold) | ||
| 11 | REMEASURE |
Once again assess tons pinched from treasure Julius buried (9)
|
| T (tons) [pinched from] (t)REASURE with ME (Julius) buried | ||
| 12 | FINAL |
Last bit of fish, half skinned (5)
|
| FIN (“bit of fish”) + (h)AL(f) [skinned] | ||
| 13 | STORE DETECTIVE |
One who nicks those nicking knickers? (5,9)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 18 | REVISED VERSION |
I’ve served 20 different ministers devoted to this work (7,7)
|
| *(I’ve served nosir) [anag:different] where 20 refers to 20ac (NO SIR) | ||
| 20 | NO SIR |
More inquisitive European deported? Certainly not! (2,3)
|
| NOS(i)ER (“more inquisitive”) with E (European) deported | ||
| 22 | STOPWATCH |
One is used to time spinner cutting sample of cloth (9)
|
| TOP (“spinner”) cutting SWATCH (“sample of cloth”) | ||
| 24 | I DON’T CARE |
Odd redaction doesn’t bother me (1,4,4)
|
| *(redaction) [anag:odd] | ||
| 25 | ENTER |
Make an appearance, always poetically holding part of the 18? (5)
|
| E’ER (“always, poetically”) holding NT (New Testament, so “part of the REVISED VERSION (18 ac)) | ||
| 26 | RAKE OUT |
Chapter from Kerouac pulped – time to get rid of the leaves (4,3)
|
| *(keroua) [anag:pulped] where KEROUA is KEROUA(c) with C (chapter) out + T (time) | ||
| 27 | TREACLE |
Sticky stuff Marcel every so often covered with ash? (7)
|
| (m)A(r)C(e)L [every so often] covered with TREE (“ash?”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WIPERS |
Sitting in VW, I personally use these in wet weather (6)
|
| Hidden [sitting] in “vW I PERSonally” | ||
| 2 | LEITMOTIV |
Spraying toilet with Vim is a repetitive theme (9)
|
| *(toilet vim) [anag:spraying] | ||
| 3 | INSTA |
This month start to activate social network, as the kids say (5)
|
| Inst. (“this month”) + [start to] A(activate)
Insta is short for Instagram |
||
| 4 | MISGUIDED |
Foolish schoolmarm reportedly took the lead (9)
|
| MIS (“schoolmarm” (MISS) reportedly) + GUIIDED (“took the led”) | ||
| 5 | SPACE |
Small step where Armstrong was? (5)
|
| S (small) + PACE (“step”) | ||
| 6 | AUTOFOCUS |
New camera has this gold, soft alloy lined with old copper (9)
|
| Au (chemical symbol for “gold”) + *(soft) [anag:alloy] lined with O (old) + Cu (chemical symbol for “copper”) | ||
| 7 | NYLON |
New year, on one’s tod, unwrapped something found in stocking (5)
|
| N (new) + Y (year) + (a)LON(e) (“on one’s tod”, unwrapped) | ||
| 8 | RECALLED |
Having remembered name, actor Oliver comes round (8)
|
| CALL (“name”) with (Oliver) REED (“actor”) coming round | ||
| 14 | RISTRETTO |
Turkey entering dispute supporting Rhode Island strong drink (9)
|
| TR (Turkey) entering SET TO (“dispute”) supporting RI (Rhode Island)
A ristretto is a very strong coffee. |
||
| 15 | THE SOLENT |
Those running a fast time in stretch of tidal water (3,6)
|
| *(those) [anag:running] + LENT (“a fast time”) | ||
| 16 | ISOSTATIC |
One very still, regarding the equilibrium in the earth’s crust (9)
|
| I (one) + SO (“very”) + STATIC (“still”) | ||
| 17 | FRONTIER |
Border row after the majority of Norfolk gets upset (8)
|
| TIER (“row”) after *(norf) [anag:gets upset] where NORF is [the majority of] NORF(olk) | ||
| 19 | CHARGE |
Caught husband trafficking gear for a price (6)
|
| C (caught, in cricket) + H (husband) + *(gear) [anag:trafficking] | ||
| 21 | SPOCK |
Those spreading the gospel about old pediatrician (5)
|
| SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, so “those spreading the gospel”) about O (old)
Refers to Benjamin Spock, an American paediatrician who wrote the bestselling book, Baby and Child Care. |
||
| 22 | START |
Begin long-running TV series killing off Queen, Earl & King (5)
|
| STAR T(rek) (‘long-running TV series”) killing off (R (regina, so “queen”, E (earl) and K (king, in chess notation)) | ||
| 23 | WHERE |
At which point wife’s present (5)
|
| W (wife) + HERE (“present”) |
12a and 17d together give us ‘Final Frontier’ which the USS Enterprise will be exploring on its 5 year mission..
A gentle test from Julius today for which thanks and to Loona.
A super grid with fair surfaces which allowed me to get unknowns like ISOSTATIC and SPOCK (Benjamin). The STAR TREK mini theme was very clever, from which 1/5 was my favourite, and some excellent chewy parsing like that for RISTRETTO and REVISED VERSION.
Also really liked LEITMOTIV and NO SIR.
Thanks to Julius and Loonapick.
Always a joy to solve a Julius crossword and this one was no exception. The theme was fairly obvious even to someone like me who usually misses themes
Lots of clues marked for favouritism, but I think 13a wins top spot
Many thanks to Julius and Loonapick
Great puzzle but I trupped ip on FRONTIER and RAKE OUT-oversteer!
Good to have a puzzle which came together so neatly. I saw the Star Trek (mini-) theme, but missed the biblical one. Everything parsed except for the never heard of ‘Those spreading the gospel’ bit of the wordplay for SPOCK, although I now see the Society does have a presence in this part of the world.
My favourite was the surface for 13a too. Appropriately my last two in were FINAL & SPACE.
Thanks to Julius and loonapick
Thanks for the blog , great puzzle and main theme , I missed the bible theme.
INSTA is new to me but I did know INST from many crosswords. SPCK also new but it had to be SPOCK.
I wonder when Mr Spock became more famous than Dr Spock who was probably the first to advocate more modern methods for baby care. I still have a very old copy from my Grandmother.
REVISED VERSION is just favourite out of so many lovely clues.
I think the anagram for 1, 5 is “well his martian” without is.
Always enjoy Julius’s puzzles.
Here, the young kids refer to INSTA as IG so as with Roz, it wasn’t my first thought! Indeed, it was my last entry but didn’t see what else it could be.
I spent an exasperated morning, having seen that it was a Julius puzzle, since my replacement printer cartridges, allegedly due to be delivered on Tuesday, still hadn’t arrived. (Thank Goodness I actually buy the paper, so I could do the Picaroon.) Mercifully, the postman brought the package just after lunch, so all was finally well.
Well worth waiting for – super puzzle. As usual, far too many ticks to list them all but I thought the anagram at 2dn was a brilliant spot and I could identify with the clever 21: in the ’60s, I was one of those spreading the gospel about Dr Benjamin, who saved my sanity more than once when struggling as a new mum.
Huge thanks, as ever, to Julius and to loonapick.
Thanks loonapick, add me to the fans, starting at the top, what a great anagram spot, surface and definition (but agree with the blog correction as per tilloubill@7). I only knew the LEITMOTIF spelling but at least, as an anagram, I couldn’t go down the wrong path there, and don’t recall seeing INST before so hopefully will retain that one. Have to thank my mum for having a copy of Dr SPOCK on the shelf from her teacher training days although I don’t think my dad ever gave it the time of day! Thanks Julius.
Tillyoubill@7: don’t you need the IS for the second I in William and the S in Shatner? (My favorite clue, BTW.)
I got through the top half fairly quickly, but struggled with the bottom half. I’d never heard of ISOSTATIC or the SPCK, so I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t see SPOCK. I had heard of the Solent, but it took me a while to recall it.
Despite those problems, I enjoyed the puzzle, so thanks to Julius for the puzzle and Loonapick for the explanations of those I didn’t get.
EdK@USA
Tillyoubill is correct – it was typo on my behalf.
I will amend.
Gash @10,
Inst is an old crossword standard, you probably also will not be familiar with
”Ult”, which is an abbreviation for last month. I’m not sure anyone actually uses either of these in modern day letter writing.
Thanks Julius and Loonapick. Got the main theme from 1/5 right away. Thanks for parsing 21 though I knew it had to be SPOCK. Dr Benjamin Spock is still remembered in the US though much of his “advice” is outdated. (Gene Roddenberry claimed he had never heard of the doctor when he created Spock.) 13a and 20a were clever! RISTRETTO was the only one I didn’t know.
Thanks Julius for another out-of-this-world crossword. It took me forever to get the clever WILLIAM SHATNER, thinking instead it would be an obscure German scientist with the first name of Wilhelm. I enjoyed many clues, particularly I DON’T CARE — it had such an apt surface. It was good to see SPOCK and that reminded me of an anagram I once saw — Leonard Nimoy/I’m only a drone. Thanks loonapick for parsing.
I think INST and ULT may still be used in legal documents as well as crosswords. It saved me here, never heard of Instagram never mind the slang version.
Thank you Macmorris@13, you are quite right, another one to file away, cheers!
Thank you for your blog, dear loonapick, and thanks to those who have left a comment. I set this puzzle in October when I read a news item about William Shatner going for a spin in Jeff Bezos’s rocket which struck me as a plucky effort for a 90 year old.
Best wishes to all,
Rob/Julius
Nice one, Julius.
I didn’t know ISOTONIC or RISTRETTO, but they were impeccably clued, so gettable once I had some crossers to work with. I hadn’t heard of the SPCK either, but the theme and old pediatrician made the solution obvious.
Thanks also for the shout out to William Shatner. He (along with Christopher Plummer) got his professional acting career started with a Shakespeare repertory theatre company here in Ottawa, before moving on to the Stratford (Ont.) Festival.
My favourite clue today, for its superb surface, was 13a STORE DETECTIVE. But that was just one of many that delighted me.
Thanks, Julius for the fun, and Loonapick for the parsing help.
A pleasant diversion over our mid-afternoon tea/coffee break – no RISTRETTO, though; we’d never heard of it (not in our dead-tree Chambers) but it was easily got from the wordplay and confirmed by googling. Some great anagrams in WILLIAM SHATNER, REVISED VERSION, I DON’T CARE and LEITMOTIV but our CoD was the cryptic definition of STORE DETECTIVE.
Thanks, Julius and loonapick
Thanks Julius and loonapick
Agree with all that this was a most enjoyable crossword with the two mini themes provided that something extra – sort of noticed them in the background and they didn’t really help in filling the grid, but still a nice touch. Wasn’t as difficult as he can be and finished well below average solve time in a couple of short sessions.
Favourite would have been the STORE DETECTIVE – did solve another clue recently in the Sunday Times that made a similar play with knickers / nickers.
Finished in the SW corner with ENTER, ISOSTATIC (a new term, but easily enough put together from word play) and THE SOLENT the last one in.