I’ve just come back from a holiday in the Highlands, and as expected have to thank Eileen and Manehi for standing in for me. What I didn’t expect was to be blogging on the morning after what is certainly (whatever one’s views on the monarchy) a momentous day in our history: one of those “where were you when you heard…” events.
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. Not surprisingly this was a tough challenge, though it yielded gradually, and satisfyingly, once I had got a few answers in. Many thanks to Vlad.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER | Albert and his work (theoretical, not real) dealt with theory of relativity? (5,2,7,4,5) Anagram of ALBERT AND HIS WORK THEORETICAL less REAL |
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| 8 | ADIEU | I’m going to stop working in American university (5) DIE (stop working) in A U |
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| 9 | AU GRATIN | How food may be served with nothing spent from monthly allowance (2,6) AUG[ust] RATION (a “monthly allowance”) less 0 |
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| 11 | HARDTOP | It’s nice to be back on road with better car (7) Reverse of AH! + RD + TOP (to better) |
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| 12 | TARQUIN | Cad turned on queen and popular old king (7) Reverse of RAT (card) + QU + IN (popular). There were two (legendary) kings of Rome called Tarquin. In view of 25a perhaps this is Tarquin the Elder, the first of the Etruscan dynasty. But this is not an area I can claim to know anything about. I don’t think there’s any occurrence of Queen=ER in this puzzle: I wonder if setters will continue to use it? |
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| 13 | RINSE | Get up around noon for wash (5) N in RISE |
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| 17 | KAMA SUTRA | Natural being uncovered, mask questionable — it’s explained here with illustrations (4,5) Anagram of [n[]ATURA[l] MASK, with “it” meaning sex |
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| 20 | OCEAN | Round container holds tablet and a lot of water (5) E (Ecstasy table) in O (round) CAN |
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| 21 | THEROUX | Article on sport that’s wrong about old Louis? (7) THE (definite article) + O in RU (Rubgy Union) + X (teacher’s mark for a wrong answer). Louis Theroux, journalist and TV presenter, son of Paul |
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| 23 | ROSSINI | Returning home is largely painful for composer (7) Reverse of IN (home) IS SOR[e] |
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| 25 | ETRUSCAN | Could be true — look, it was 12’s language (8) TRUE* + SCAN |
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| 26 | OLDIE | Magazine love story captivates daughter (5) O (love) + D in LIE. The Oldie is a magazine founded in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, former editor of Private Eye |
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| 27 | POWER BREAKFAST | Early work might involve meeting with fellow in steak bar, possibly (5,9) POWER (might) + F[ellow] in (STEAK BAR)* (I’m not sure I’ve got this completely right: “involve meeting” doesn’t quite work in the way I’ve parsed it) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | BLATHERSKITE | Keir, in short, the ablest in Labour? Nonsense! (12) Anagram of KEIR TH[e] ABLEST. I thought this meant a talker of nonsense, and Chambers seems to agree with me, but apparently it can also mean just the nonsense itself |
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| 2 | OSIER | Tree, one in forest shedding bark unusually (5) I in anagram of [f]ORES[t] |
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| 3 | DOUBTLESS | Obviously cut down on workload but forced to come in (9) BUT* in (DO LESS)* |
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| 4 | STAY PUT | [Don’t move sheep back over river] (4,3) TAY (river) in reverse of TUPS (sheep). We’ve seen mysterious brackets like these around the clue before: I think the theory is that they’re an indication that the clue needs to be edited or reconsidered, though this one seems fine to me |
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| 5 | HIGH TEA | Meal‘s off — drink? (4,3) HIGH (gone bad, off) + TEA |
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| 6 | CHAIR | One spearing trout-like fish — it might be easy (5) I in CHAR (a fish of the salmon family) |
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| 7 | ETIQUETTE | Quite surprised — Tottenham winger during season abroad showing good form (9) QUITE* + T in ÉTÉ (French “summer”) |
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| 10 | INTRANSIGENT | On the way to collect dope and unwilling to reconsider (12) GEN (information, dope) in IN TRANSIT |
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| 14 | NUMBER TWO | Eco warrior originally arrested under nuclear dump (6,3) N[uclear] + W[arrior] in UMBERTO (U. Eco, author). “Number two” and “dump” are both slang for defecation |
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| 16 | WOODSTOCK | Stripped bird in court where defendant stands (second time covered up) (9) WOO (to court) + S T in DOCK (where the defendant in a court case stands). Woodstock is the |
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| 18 | TAXICAB | Team about to board Bill’s vehicle (7) XI (team in e.g. football or cricket) + CA (circa, about) in TAB (bill) |
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| 19 | ARRANGE | Gunners upset by a lot of Celtic’s rivals — fix! (7) Reverse of RA (Royal Artillery, gunners) + RANGE[rs] (Scottish football team) |
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| 22 | OF USE | FA join? That’s handy! (2,3) 0 (FA=nothing) + FUSE (join) |
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| 24 | INDIA | I win — diagram has parts missing (5) Hidden in wIN DIAgram, with the definition sneakily hidden as the initial I |
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This was tough and much thanks to Andrew for explaining so many unparsed solutions. I had forgotten Woodstock from Peanuts and simply couldn’t understand what the definition was! Thanks Vlad for getting the grey cells working this morning.
I think WOODSTOCK is the bird rather than the board 🙂 Fantastic crossword – I had ticks for almost everything but faves were the long one, NUMBER TWO and POWER BREAKFAST
I take my hat off to Roz for her ability to summon a Vlad puzzle at will – is there no end to her talents?
Re 16d, stripped board as you typoed might confuse some birdwatchers. The Schultz allusion completely escaped me, so thanks!
Still my heart skips a beat when I see it’s a Vlad … And I got half way through before the way in appeared with the gentle RINSE. And then suddenly the bottom half began to open up, a few half-theories proved true and the puzzle revealed itself with only the POWER part of BREAKFAST holding out – nho and I had to look it up – it’s on the Web more as a high-energy meal than a business meeting but it is there. (And I was quite impressed by Google’s simple tribute to the Queen btw)
The def for the long one is lovely, I liked the cheeky ‘it’ slipping into the KAMA SUTRA clue and, of many enjoyable assemblies, ROSSINI stood out in the Acrosses. Of the Downs, OSIER was cunningly done along with DOUBTLESS and CHAIR and the def for WOODSTOCK was a lol. I didn’t understand why the clue for STAY PUT is in square brackets – assumed it was more likely to be c***up than conspiracy.
Thanks Vlad and Andrew
I’m sure ER will continue to be seen in crosswords, just as GR sometimes appears. Will we now see CR for king instead of credit?
I too couldn’t work out what the brackets in STAY PUT were. Favourites were AU GRATIN, NUMBER TWO for the use of U. Eco, OF USE and INDIA for the crafty definition.
Also, nice to see Vlad use some Paul-like smut at 14dn.
This was majestic with the marvellous BITTW and BLATHERSKITE giving me a jump start right away. Too many favourites to mention. Slight typo with def of WOODSTOCK.
Ta Vlad & Andrew
Thanks Vlad and Andrew
Does anyone know if there is an illustration of an Ecstasy table in the Kama Sutra?
Is the new era ‘Carolean’?
This was a pleasant solve though I missed the I of India and the stripped bit of WOODSTOCK.
Thanks Vlad and Andrew
I put the [… ] down to an editorial note about use of ‘back’ in a down clue when should be ‘up’
Exactly what an ABC news anchor just this minute said, Andrew, a “Where were you when ..” moment [doing an archival Rev, in the wee hours, with radio on!].
So, nothing too gnarly from the Impaler today, in fact Arachnoid in elegant succinctness if anything, with maybe an exception or two, like 27ac, as A said. Liked Albert’s theory, and Umberto the greenie. As for Peanuts, I remember someone (CB?) had a blanket, and wasn’t there something about Ludwig van? … but not the bird, so “stripped” was a shrug. All good fun in the time of dolour, many tas both.
PS while I liked Umberto, that particular def is my unfavourite term for the product of that particular bodily function 😉
Came here hoping for enlightenment on Woodstock (oh how I kicked myself! I used to love Peanuts) and the brackets at 4D. No luck there, though.
Very enjoyable puzzle, so thanks Vlad and Andrew
grantinfreo@13
Then you wouldn’t have enjoyed what Serena said to the press about her mid-match bathroom break (US Open 2022-Round No. 2 against No.2 seed Anett).
KVa, didn’t see that game, but I guess it’s
a euphemism compared to sh one t 🙂
grantinfreo@16
🙂
2a I thought at first Vlad had used power = work, but I am pleased now he hasn’t. Is the definition “Early work might involve meeting”? But that then power = might would involve might in both the definition and the word play. Can’t really see what the explanation is.
What does the “here” in KAMA SUTRA do? At first, I thought it (in a Brendan fashion) might be referring to several other clues/answers, but clearly not.
Thanks Andrew and Vlad – I managed to finish it today!
I parsed POWER BREAKFAST the same way as Andrew, but like him I don’t think it quite works. “might involve meeting” seems to be both part of the definition and the wordplay, but if it is wordplay then “involve” doesn’t seem to make sense. It can’t be anything else, but is there a more satisfactory parsing?
Oops, sorry Dave Ellison, should have read your post above mine a bit more closely
Way too tough for me, just like yesterday. Roll on Monday…!
[As for “where were you when you heard…”, I was in bed reading a book, so I doubt I’ll remember that particularly.]
Similar comment here – POWER BREAKFAST was new to me, and had to reveal the first word and, having read the above, am still unclear how that clue was supposed to work.
Dave Ellison@18 – I read “here” as referring to the answer, which (I’m told) has the descriptions mentioned.
Dave @18 – isn’t ‘here’ necessary for the definition? i.e. it’s ‘here’ (the KAMA SUTRA) that ‘it’ is explained/illustrated.
This was quite gentle for Vlad – I was a bit alarmed to see him after yesterday’s slog. RINSE was probably my pick, but DO LESS and NUMBER TWO were very enjoyable was well. Agree that POWER BREAKFAST doesn’t quite fit together, and I’d only heard of WOODSTOCK festival so thanks for clearing that mystery up.
I can’t imagine setters will keep using Queen for ER. Perhaps, given its utility & her longevity, it’ll remain but as ‘Queen once’ etc.
Thanks Andrew and Vlad.
27ac would work better if the clue read “Early work meeting might involve fellow in steak bar,possibly.”
Great fun this afternoon.
[ ] ??
Thanks Tim and Jim @2 and 24 – I see now
1a I missed the complicated anagrammery, tried to make something out of THEORETICAL NOT REAL DEALT. Didn’t work, of course.
I don’t see why ER shouldn’t continue to stand for Queen, or AR for that matter, though I don’t think I’ve seen that. Elizabeth will always have been Queen.
I’d never heard of Louis Theroux but had of Paul, so I knew Theroux was a name.
I got to WOODSTOCK when all the crossers were in place after briefly wondering whether there was such a bird as a WOODSTORK.
Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.
Simply brilliant! Lots of ingenuity and fun. The long anagram and surface of 1,15 is genius.
Also loved DOUBTLESS, ETIQUETTE and of course NUMBER TWO.
Huge thanks to Vlad and Andrew
Valentine @28 – she’ll always have been Queen, but that approach would (strictly) imply that ‘monarch’ could be GR, CR, AR, WR, even VR… all of which (except, now, CR) would rightly cause some ire. Although to argue against myself, I suppose it’s a little like using ‘note’ for any letter between A-G (which I also find a bit too convenient for a setter!).
ER might linger for a while given it’s been so common in crosswords for so many years, but I would like to think it will become confined to consciously tougher puzzles fairly quickly.
This was a fairly benign offering from Vlad (not that I finished it quickly), which I was able to mostly parse. NUMBER TWO was the only one whose parsing escaped me but I did chuckle when I got it, as I did for the cheeky INDIA, my FOI. My LOI was the POWER of POWER BREAKFAST, which parsed strangely. Roman@25’s version works better for me.
[In my days in EC1, POWER BREAKFASTs were a common part of the macho culture. I generally eschewed them because I didn’t believe early starts (and late finishes) were good for my longevity and I wanted a life outside work.]
Thanks Vlad for a fine puzzle and Andrew for clearing up the NUMBER TWO 🥁
Outstanding, bravo Vlad. Thanks Andrew.
I was listening to the news when I heard the news! That’s what I’m usually doing when I hear news. I remember my parents telling me that when the king died (1952) they heard it from their window cleaner.
Thanks for the blog, very quick compared to recent Vlad but I think the grid was very friendly with lots of first letters , other helpful letters turned up as well G and X and others.
Great clues today, I will just echo other favourites.
“Flyer stripped” was used by Paul in his Woodstock puzzle last year so I spotted that.
Private Frazer gave me BLATHERSKITE.
Only frown was for OSIER.
Bodycheetah@2 you simply need a tachyon detector and then you can summon things that you know have already occurred in the future.
I found this easy by Vlad standards, which is to say still extra-chewy but actually doable for a change. I got everything except the parsing of NUMBER TWO, which, now that it’s explained is of course quite clever, and that of the POWER in POWER BREAKFAST, which clearly still hasn’t been explained!
“Queen” for ER will be in the setters’ vocabulary for the foreseeable future, I posit, for the simple reason that it’s too useful to eschew. That’s an *extremely* common pair of letters.
And as for “where was I when I heard”–at my desk at work. The New York Times sends “breaking news” emails that I somehow got myself subscribed to on my work account.
I don’t normally think of Vlad puzzles as fun, but this one was. A lot of great clues, but I too remain puzzled by “involve medting” in 27a.
Anyone want to conjecture how long it will be before we see CR=king here?
I’m glad others found this easier than usual for Vlad. I usually find him difficult, and this one was superdifficult, but probably two disturbed nights catching up with me rather than anything intrinsic to the crossword. The fairly feeble RINSE and OCEAN wrote themselves in, but I found myself staring at just four or five grid entries for the longest time before Albert’s theory of relativity suddenly popped unbidden into my head, and after that it was relatively straightforward.
Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.
Gremlins got in at 27ac so apologies. Original clue definitely parsed.
As a Celtic fan with a soft spot for the Gunners, I enjoyed 19d for entirely parochial reasons. And I wasn’t even required to write R***ers in full!
What a brilliant puzzle – I haven’t enjoyed one this much in a long time. NUMBER TWO and WOODSTOCK were just magnificent.
Like some of the others here I too didn’t get the POWER part of 27 ac. (still not convinced about the parsing…).
Thanks Vlad and Andrew.
Took me until now to get NUMBER TWO (which I really liked once I saw it). Then had a bit of a struggle to come up with POWER (I already had BREAKFAST – and yes, thank you, it was very tasty 😉 ) I managed to convince myself of the same parsing as Andrew, but it did niggle a bit. I like Roman@25’s suggestion.
Puzzled by the square brackets – but I see I’m not alone in that and the consensus is they are a mistake.
Oh, and I see Vlad has said that there were gremlins. I wonder if his original clue was the same as Roman@25.
As to ER a certain crossword editor sent a missive on the subject this very morning.
Sensitive handling seems to be the key to it for now, but obviously enough ‘monarch’ has immediately become CR. Another editor is scrutinizing puzzles for any Queen references just to make sure nothing offensive or unfortunate creeps through.
I wonder if anyone will be brave enough to do the very doable LONDON BRIDGE IS DOWN? Think I might not bother 🙂
Great puzzle by Vlad. Really liked 1ac.
Roman@25 and Moth@43.
Clue was worded slightly differently but basically the same construction.
Cheers.
Great puzzle. Too many corkers to list them all, but I enjoyed the Eco sleight of hand in NUMBER TWO the best. I wondered how KEIR in short could possibly be KIR and so needed the blog to understand that the indicator operates on “the” instead. Doh!
Thanks, Andrew and thanks to Vlad for popping in and clarifying POWER BREAKFAST. It’s nice to get a bit of feedback.
Too hard for me. First time in ages that I couldn’t get a single clue.
Post Mark @4: a matter of personal taste, but I find “it” for sexual intercourse a tiresome and all-too-schoolboyish euphemism. As for NUMBER TWO, on the other hand, if that euphemism is good enough for Jean-Luc Godard, than I cannot object.
Is it just frightfully archaic and pedantic to spell INTRANSIGENT with an “a” between the “e” and the “n”? Does anybody still do it?
[Andrew T @48: you, Jean-Luc, and about 80 million other French speakers 😉 ]
Thanks Andrew, and good thinking Roman@25. I failed with BLATHERIKETS but don’t feel too bad as it’s a new word for me ( though if Roz is right I must have heard it in DA) and I agree with Chambers that the right answer sounds more like the speaker than what is said. 1a etc and the no 2 both brilliant and lots more was good, thanks Vlad.
Never ever had so many unparsed answers to clues where I had to rely on the definition pointing the way. Apart from the incredibly intricately fashioned BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. Left with the interlocking (POWER) BREAKFAST which I’d never heard of, and completely missed the “dump” definition for NUMBER TWO. Another tough challenge after yesterday’s Brendan offering…but both well worth the effort.
I have no idea where BLATHERSKITE popped into my head from, but it did. Lovely crossword with only NUMBER TWO unparsed because I really didn’t think of Umberto Eco, duh. We had a Woodstock soft toy as kids as Peanuts was such a popular thing at home. I’ve even seen a Snoopy and Friends stage show and been rebuilding cartoon strips to solve a Pigpen code recently, so Peanuts was fairly fresh in my mind. (Pigpen is one of the characters, as well as the name of a code.)
Thanks to Andrew and Vlad.
PS Valentine@28 there is a wood stork but it was the more aesthetically pleasing (imo) woodcock that got me thinking, but then I remembered to count the letters!
AndrewT @48: Sorry for being a schoolboy but, yes, it never ceases to amuse.
Number two is a quaint old-style euphemism, like generic ones such “you know what” and “never mind”. It’s dump, itself a euphemism, that I find slightly ick.
As for “it”, I’m with PM @54; it goes with other quirky golden oldies like “how’s your father” and a bit of “the other”.
Many thanks to Andrew for a nice blog and to others who commented.
Will King = CR now come into use?
[ Gazzh@50 I do not quite understand the word “if” in your post. See DA series 5 “Getting the Bird” , right at the end when Frazer is talking to Wilson outside the church. There are other examples but this is the easiest to find I think. ]
Just finished this excellent crossword this morning. For a change I was on Vlad’s wavelength. Well, almost finished — I had HOTEL BREAKFAST which I thought was wrong but couldn’t work out a better answer until I came here. Some brilliantly clever clues, hats off to Vlad. And thank you to Andrew.
Was a lot of fun, I suppose like others I have to confess to a chuckle at 14d. Couldn’t really parse the link between POWER and BREAKFAST – and I had to guess at the meaning (funny thing was, in my working years I was often roped into one of those ‘business breakfast’ thingys, but I never heard it called ‘power breakfast’….)
Re ‘ER’ and ‘CR’ – I was actually surprised when I heard that the new King wanted to be known as Charles – everyone was telling me he’d choose ‘George’ so as not to upset those Scots who still believe Charles Edward Stuart should have been the rightful “Charles III”. But I suppose he considered the matter deeply before deciding.
I believe The Times has a policy of not allowing references to living people in its puzzles, except for the Queen. Will they now allow references to King Charles?