Thanks to MOO. As ever, I look forward to the comments.
Unless I missed some wordplay, this puzzle leaned heavily into cryptic definitions.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GRANDPA |
Relative seen in August each year (7)
|
| GRAND (august) + P. A. (each year, i.e., per annum) | ||
| 5 | BIGAMY |
Overweight Winehouse’s unlawful act (6)
|
| BIG (overweight) + AMY (Winehouse) | ||
| 8 | NEAR THING |
Ran off with the gin – disaster narrowly averted (4,5)
|
| Anagram of (off) RAN + THE GIN | ||
| 9 | ENNUI |
The weariness of Emmanuel Macron? (5)
|
| Cryptic definition (via French) | ||
| 11 | RADAR |
Running to and fro, finding equipment (5)
|
| Cryptic indication that the solution is a palindrome | ||
| 12 | FRUITCAKE |
Eccentric item on cafe menu? (9)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | LANGUISH |
Left to worry and grow weak (8)
|
| L (left) + ANGUISH (worry) | ||
| 15 | RISE UP |
Rebel teacher taken aback by Brussels pressure (4,2)
|
| SIR (teacher) reversed (taken aback) + EU (Brussels) + P (pressure) | ||
| 17 | THESIS |
Argument put forward in article by MI6 (6)
|
| THE (article) + SIS (MI6, more formally known as the Secret Intelligence Service) | ||
| 19 | THATCHER |
PM who might go through roof? (8)
|
| Cryptic definition. Falling through the straw is presumably a professional hazard, although one difficult to imagine as ever encountered by the Iron Lady. | ||
| 22 | IN THE SOUP |
Experiencing difficulties, as Basil might be (2,3,4)
|
| Double/cryptic definition (with reference to the herb) | ||
| 23 | APPLE |
Electronics producer very quietly drinking beer? On the contrary (5)
|
| ALE (beer) around (drinking) PP (very quietly in music), with “on the contrary” indicating the inversion of the clue | ||
| 24 | EVENS |
Odds of game not starting (5)
|
| [S]EVENS (game, without the first letter or “not starting”) | ||
| 25 | APATHETIC |
Cheap tat I destroyed, being bored (9)
|
| Anagram of (destroyed) CHEAP TAT I | ||
| 26 | CELLAR |
Wine collection of outspoken auctioneer (6)
|
| Homophone of (outspoken) SELLER (auctioneer) | ||
| 27 | HUNDRED |
Cardinal applauded at old Trafford? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition(?) I interpret this as a cardinal number that would garner applause if scored at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GENERAL STRIKE |
Everybody out on this occasion? (7,6)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 2 | ALADDIN |
A row about boy in pantomime (7)
|
| A + DIN (row) around (about) LAD (boy) |
||
| 3 | DETER |
Some from Tyneside terribly put off (5)
|
| Hidden in (some from) [Tynesi]DE TER[ribly] | ||
| 4 | A BIG FISH |
Influential person such as Sturgeon? (1,3,4)
|
| Double definition (also obliquely referring to Nicola, I suppose) | ||
| 5 | BUG OUT |
Leave canoe, needing new top (3,3)
|
| DUGOUT (canoe) with the first letter replaced (needing new top) | ||
| 6 | GUEST LIST |
Those attending judged on radio record (5,4)
|
| Homophone of (on radio) GUESSED (judged) + LIST (record) | ||
| 7 | MANDATE |
Consent to romantic encounter, but not with female (7)
|
| A “romantic encounter” with a male (or “not female”) might be described as a MAN DATE. “Consent to” strikes me as an odd usage, but I suppose this is near enough to the sense of “authorize.” Perhaps someone in the comments will go spelunking in the OED. | ||
| 10 | INEXPERIENCED |
I suffered crossing Negev at first – so naive! (13)
|
| I + EXPERIENCED (suffered) around N (first letter of Negev, “at first”) | ||
| 14 | UNIVERSAL |
Cook ruins veal for everyone (9)
|
| Anagram of (cooks) RUINS VEAL | ||
| 16 | WHIPLASH |
Cats becoming a pain in the neck? (8)
|
| WHIP + LASH, or two possible types of “cat,” short for cat o’ nine tails | ||
| 18 | EXTREME |
Desperate message unopened by engineers (7)
|
| [T]EXT (message, omitting first letter, or “unopened”) + RE + ME (engineers, i.e., Royal Engineers and Mechanical Engineer) | ||
| 20 | HIPSTER |
Hospital priest unexpectedly a follower of fashion (7)
|
| Anagram of (unexpectedly) H (hospital) + PRIEST | ||
| 21 | HOT AIR |
Rubbish component of Richard Branson’s balloon? (3,3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | ASHEN |
Article about The Woman in White (5)
|
| AN (article) around (about) SHE (the woman) |
On 2D, I suspect Aladdin refers to the performance (pantomime, defined as a funny musical play for children), not the character. I parsed 27 ‘hundred’ and other cryptic definitions as you did. Until I saw the blog I didn’t realise the puzzle had that many. Thanks to Moo and Cineraria.
ub@1: Aladdin is apparently a stock character in British pantomime, a theatrical tradition with which I am only passingly familiar.
You’re right about the plentiful cryptic definitions, Cineraria, and I normally get on well with such puzzles but had to admit defeat today with 27a for which your parsing seems reasonable. Foiled by cricket once again! Spent too long wondering if ‘red’ came from Man U or ‘cardinal’ and was tempted to write in ‘manured’ at one point! Similarly, trying to make a play of ‘item’, ‘cafe’ and ‘menu’ took a while before crossers came to the rescue for 12.
I didn’t feel 9a or 10d were particularly cryptic since the definitions for both were clear.
Still, it was an enjoyable puzzle overall with ticks for 16d, 14d and 23d (good surface).
Thanks to Moo and Cineraria.
Ah, I see, “Aladdin” is the title of a traditional pantomime play. I will correct the blog.
Quite enjoyable, nothing too taxing. I don’t believe apathetic and bored are the same thing. I had ROTOR for 11a for a while; the clue’s a bit imprecise. 27a was a bit too cryptic for me. I’m still struggling to get my head around the various British initialisms, and the two in 18d floored me. I had to look up why MI6 is SIS. The clue for GRANDPA was clever.
As others have commented, pleasant and not too difficult though MANDATE for ‘Consent’ went in with a shrug and l’d never heard of BUG OUT. I liked WHIPLASH, though when the synonyms that first come to mind for ‘Cats’ have nothing to do with felines, it’s a sign you’ve been doing too many cryptic crosswords.
Probably not the intended meaning, but Basil Fawlty found himself IN THE SOUP frequently enough with Sybil.
Thanks to Cineraria and Moo
I agree with GDU that “apathetic” and “bored” do not have the same meaning. I am apathetic to the recent death of an old rich lady in England who never did a day’s work in her life, but I was bored with the constant TV footage of her funeral.
I, too, agree that bored and apathetic are not synonyms.
I also share Cineraria’s concern about “mandate” and “consent to”. Mandate is an instruction or order given to another party. The other party may consent or not.
Re 24A: I have always been amused how “odds” and “evens” have opposite meanings but also mean the same thing.
Last one in was 27A as I only associate Old Trafford with Manchester United so I was looking for a football reference.
Clues like BUG OUT and APPLE were amusing but this crossword had too many cryptic definitions for my taste. I couldn’t parse GRANDPA and I incorrectly guessed grandma. I had rotor instead of RADAR so I missed ALADDIN. Thanks to both.
Thanks for the blog, like WordPlodder@ 6 I thought of Mr Fawlty for IN THE SOUP, I think that soup is involved in Basil the Rat when Polly first spots the rat while serving.
I remember when HIPSTERS were jeans and I was young enough to wear them.
Filigree Siberian hamster, please.
Late comment, so no one will see it, but I have to respond to Oliver@7’s gratuitous insult of s recently deceased woman.
Oliver, obviously you are not a mother of four difficult children, and you haven’t spent 70 years of your life attending, on behalf of your country, countless events (most of which you would have been both 25a APATHETIC about and BORED with). I am not a monarchist, but I would never insult a person just because I didn’t like the job she was handed to do.
Diane@3, I too thought of MANURED at first for 27a. If it weren’t for the applause I would have put it in.
Thanks, Moo for the fun and Cineraria for the excellent blog.
Despite the doubts about bored/apathetic and consent/mandate plus a few not-so-cryptic (in our opinion) definitions we found this a pleasant diversion which we fairly rattled through after struggling with the Indy. Favourite was our first one in, GRANDPA.
Thanks, Moo and Cineraria
Is FILIGREE @11 one of those word correct things, or am I misremembering it as pedigree ?
Roz@14: That was Manuel’s malapropism.
This wasn’t great, but fairly fun for the most part. 27ac was the only clue I found unforgivably awful.