Picaroon rounds off the weekday puzzles with a characteristically entertaining and challenging puzzle.
There are some fine anagrams to help things along and some mischievous misdirections ( a seeming containment indicator in 21ac) and cleverly devious definitions at 27ac and 24dn, all adding to the fun.
My favourites were 1, 11, 12, 25, 26 and 27ac and 7, 16 and 24dn
Many thanks to Picaroon.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Get into funk? There’s jive that’s playing (4,3,7)
HAVE THE JITTERS
An anagram (playing) of THERE’S JIVE THAT
8 Element of Rastafarianism back in African capital (5)
NAIRA
A hidden (element of) reversal (back) in rastafARIANism – the naira is the basic monetary unit of Nigeria
9 Visit judge, ever the foppish fellow (8)
POPINJAY
POP IN (visit) + J (judge) + AY (ever) – a lovely word
11 Fizzy tangy energy drinks unknown for long-distance runner (7)
YANGTZE
An anagram (fizzy) of TANGY + E (energy) + Z (unknown)
12 Staff fix round for Spaniard who worked in bars (7)
RODRIGO
ROD (staff) + RIG (fix) + O (round) – this is the best-known work of Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo, which accompanied me when writing the blog
13 Edible mollusc men found by sea abroad (5)
ORMER
OR (Other Ranks – men) + MER (sea in France – abroad) – this used to be a crossword staple but I haven’t seen it for a while
15 Queen Victoria maybe is first in shop (9)
STATIONER
ER (Queen) with VICTORIA (station maybe) first
17 Opera with a lot of musical backing using standards (9)
NORMATIVE
Two musical crossword standbys: NORMA (the normal crossword opera) + a reversal (backing) of a lot of the familiar crossword musical EVIT[a]
20 Place for Fielding novel’s opening — love dark twists (3-2)
MID-ON
A reversal (twists) of N[ovel] + O (love) + DIM (dark)
21 Asian dietary staple: jam sandwiches to start with (7)
NOODLES
This took a while, with ‘sandwiches’ being a regular containment indicator, until I thought of looking up other definitions of ‘noodle’ and found ‘to improvise on a musical instrument in a casual or desultory way, especially in jazz’ – or ‘to jam’, so it’s simply NOODLE (jam) + S[andwiches]
23 Prompt about catching one on dope, aiming for a better race? (7)
EUGENIC
A reversal (about) of CUE round GEN (dope) + I (one)
25 Fare from Mexico is wrong — I’m going to America (8)
TORTILLA
TORT (a civil wrong) + I’LL (I’m going to) + A (America)
26 What walkers do better stripped off (5)
AMBLE
[g]AMBLE[r] – better
27 Lord has to welcome London Transport’s founder (2,4,3,5)
GO DOWN THE TUBES
GOD (Lord) + OWNS (has) round (to welcome) THE TUBE (London Transport)
Down
1 Figure in clothing for hockey showing cheek in post-match activity (12)
HONEYMOONING
ONE (figure) in ‘clothing’ for H[ocke]Y + MOONING (showing cheek)
2 Very wrong to drink drop of Glenfiddich, a couple of fingers (1-4)
V-SIGN
V (very) + SIN (wrong) round (to drink) G[lenfiddich] – and my husband would often use ‘two fingers’ to define a rough measure of Glenfiddich, one of his favourite malt whiskies
3 Display extravagant pictures around Roman establishment? (9)
TRATTORIA
A reversal (around) of AIR (display) + OTT (over the top – extravagant) + ART (pictures)
4 Wow, one’s usurped by English ruler … (7)
EMPRESS
iMPRESS (wow, as a verb) with the i replaced by E (English)
5 … whose domains are mostly measured in yards? (7)
IMPERIA
A reference to imperial measure, an example of which is the yard – it’s good to see a meaningful ellipsis
6 Addressing Kelly with firmness (5)
TONED
TO NED would be a way to address Australian outlaw Ned (Kelly)
7 Soldiers leading manoeuvres given another order (9)
REALIGNED
RE (soldiers) + an anagram (manoeuvres) of LEADING
10 Rappers cross about critics (4-8)
DOOR-KNOCKERS
A reversal (about) of ROOD (cross) + KNOCKERS (critics)
14 Traveller‘s car crashed into second car (5,4)
MARCO POLO
An anagram (crashed) of CAR in MO (second) + POLO (car)
16 Muslim leader, not a current president, one unfairly scapegoated by tabloids? (9)
IMMIGRANT
IM[a]M (Muslim leader) minus a + I (current) + (Ulysses S) Grant (president) – I like the definition
18 Almost slight case of indigestion? This affects metabolism (7)
INSULIN
INSUL[t] (almost slight) + I[ndigestio]N
19 Picaroon picked up cat hair (7)
EYELASH
EYE (sounds like {picked up} I {Picaroon}) + LASH (cat)
22 Races through the smallest room in house (5)
LOTTO
TT (Tourist Trophy – races) in LOO (smallest room)
24 Dives from a board, initially cracking head (5)
NABOB
A B[oard] in NOB (head)
Dives (Latin for rich) – the rich man in the parable in Luke 16,19 – used, like NABOB, to mean anyone of great wealth
Wot no comments?
At last – one I finished in one sitting.
There were quite a few things I had to look up after I had ‘got’ the solutions, and Mr. Google didn’t help with the meaning of IMPERIA, so I assumed it was an old term for Empires, as well as for Imperial Measurements.
Rats! I thought I might be first.
None from me bodycheetah @1
Sparkling puzzle from Picaroon with a lovely difficulty level to round off the week; Goldilocks zone for me. I could pretty much tick every clue – apart from the very last which totally defeated me with Dives = Rich but then I never had a proper education …
All four of the long ones were really nicely done and, as Eileen observes, the ellipsis is very well employed.
Thanks Picaroon and Eileen
Moth @2 – IMPERIA is the plural of imperium, which means both the power to command, as held by a Roman general (Imperator) or the area or extent of absolute sovereignty, as in Imperium Romanum, the Roman Empire.
Picaroon is one of my favourite setters, and this I found very enjoyable. I couldn’t fully parse STATIONER, IMMIGRANT or NOODLES till I came here. And I’d not heard of GO DOWN THE TUBES as an expression. Why is lotto a house?
Didn’t no the latin DIVES but NABOB was obvious from the wordplay
Great fun as ever from Picaroon who does seem bit better suited to weekdays than the prize slot? Double-ticks for POPINJAY, TRATTORIA and my LOI TONED (Grace, Henry, Dame … none of the above)
Cheers P&E
GDU @7 – ‘House!’ is ‘the exclamation made by the first person to win a game of Bingo’ (Chambers).
Thanks Picaroon and Eileen
Anyone else try SINAI @8a? I also tried to work GENE into 6d.
I didn’t parse NOODLES, and was a bit cross with 7d as I thought that the second part was “manoeuvres”, so should be REALIGNS (the anagram is obviously better).
I would say “I’m going to the stationer’s” rather than “stationer”.
Thank you, Eileen. So much to learn …
Thanks Eileen, like others I didn’t know Dives, also misled by 21a thinking that “rice” had to be involved in the middle, ran through a few Kellys before reaching the original Lord Buckethead, and wasted a long time with anagrams for 10d despite already having the N (doh). I have seen ORMER recently which helped a lot and funny to see AMBLE again so soon in a similar way. Always enjoy Picaroon, so thanks to him: I’ll arbitrarily pick 3d as a great spot and clue but enjoyed the mention of 2 fingers too (also used to quantify a fine in drinking games).
Not sure that IMPERIA really works. It’s certainly a word (plural of IMPERIUM as Eileen says), but surely an Empress would rule one Imperium, possibly of multiple territories, not several Imperia.
Thanks Picaroon and Eileen
I saw the definition in 5 as ‘whose domains are’, with ‘mostly measured in yards?’ as a dbe giving IMPERIA(l), with a sort of ellipsis running from clue to solution as well.
Excellent puzzle. Had a fast start and then got stuck for a while. Lots of misdirection as per with Picaroon which I enjoy. My favourite was 27 ac where I was Googling LT founders even while I knew it was unlikely to be a single person. Took me ages to see the other meaning of that word. Thanks to P and E.
Excellent puzzle from the Pirate, with many clever clues.
The four long entries are very well done and I particularly liked YANGTZE, EUGENIC, NOODLES and RODRIGO, all with clever constructions to give plausible surfaces (‘barman’ for composer is a bit of a chestnut, but I’ve never seen it used so well to give such a great surface reading).
Like muffin @10 I would normally consider STATIONER to be, like ‘butcher’, the proprietor rather than the establishment, but this is the merest and tiniest of quibbles (and the dictionaries give it, of course 🙂 )
Many thanks to Picaroon and Eileen
Dives is probably best known from RVW’s “Fives variants on Dives and Lazarus”, based on folk song tunes.
Lots of fun as expected from Picaroon. I’d forgotten NOODLE (S) for to improvise in jazz and ‘Dives’ for a rich man but was chuffed to have remembered NAIRA as the unit of currency in Nigeria.
I’ve seen ORMER in a few places recently so that was one of my first in. I agree about POPINJAY being an appealing word which should be used more often; no names, but there are enough people around to whom it could be applied!
Thanks to Picaroon and Eileen
I had to wait for this thread to see why “noodle” fitted, but Dives for me immediately pointed to the rich man in the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Not exactly a stroll in the park, but very enjoyable.
Really enjoyable, steady solve.
Enjoyed learning about Dives
IMPERIA is a clever clue but I’m not quite convinced by it. Wouldn’t an empress rule over just one Imperium?
Certainly didn’t spoil a great crosswording week. Many thanks, both.
Very tough. Amazed that I almost finished it. Still do not understand a couple of answers.
Failed 5d IMPERIA – could not find this in dictionary or via google except as a a seaport in NW Italy or (in ancient Rome) the supreme power. What is the connection with imperial measurements? (I have read Eileen @6 but still do not understand). Thanks Simon S @14 – I think I get it now…
Did not parse
– 22d apart from TT in LOO but what is the def? Why does LOTTO = house?
– 21ac – could not see why noodle = jam
New: NAIRA, ORMER, POLO car model; GO DOWN THE TUBES; NABOB = Dives/rich man; composer Rodrigo (12ac).
Liked DOOR KNOCKERS, TONED, POPINJAY.
Thanks, both.
Top stuff from a consistent top setter
Hint-I wish a few more could comment on Ohi as ge was also excellent
@22 sorry about typing-Phi he
Yes – as Eileen said, lots of challenge here but lots of entertainment as well. Thank you to Picaroon. My favourites have already been mentioned in dispatches – Eileen highlighted most of them, but in fact most of the clues could have been listed as my “favourites”!
Good old Marco is still journeying and Evita still entertaining. Lotto went in with a che? (maybe because my great aunt Nellie told me bingo was f’t’devil …). All good fun, ta PnE.
I loved this. The highlight of the week. Far from easy, but the sort of puzzle that with some hard thinking begins to take shape. It helped with 24D: NABOB that I was listening to Vaughan Williams’ Dives and Lazarus just a few days ago. With thanks to both.
Lovely crossword. Definitely challenging but then it is Friday
Thanks to Picaroon for the crossword and Eileen for the blog
Loved ‘go down the tubes’. Eileen and others have written up Bingo and “House” calls upon a claim of winning the game. Where I grew up, the most popular cry was “Housey Housey” ! But I don’t think anyone has said that LOTTO is a total synonym for BINGO / TOMBOLA / HOUSEY HOUSEY / etc.
Thanks to Picaroon and Eileen.
Most enjoyable. I do like Picaroon, the king of clever misdirection. It took me two visits but overall I thought not too tough for a Friday. A few educational moments (Dives, NAIRA, ORMER) but got them through immaculate wordplay.
Many ticks but favourites: LOTTO, IMMIGRANT, EYELASH, POPINJAY and TORTILLA.
Thanks very much, Picaroon and Eileen.
Hmmmm…. so I grant that “House!” is the call made in the game of Bingo, but why is LOTTO=house? Could someone explain it in very simple terms for me, since I am just not getting it.
Flea @8 and pserve_p2 @30 does this help?
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/lotto
Pserve_p2
I take house to be a metonym for lotto as the game was often called housey housey as Flea@28 says.
It’s like using Westminster as a shorthand for the Government
OK. Thank you, Eileen & Shirley. So it’s really just a bit of loose definition — of the sort that so frequently makes me sigh when I do the Grauniad puzzles.
George Galloway once attempted to goad Christopher Hitchens with “You’re a drink-soaked former Trotskyist POPINJAY”
I think Hitchens agreed with the assessment 🙂
I got 16 down, IMMIGRANT, via an odd route. Having G-A-T at the end of the word, I latched onto ‘one unfairly scapegoated by tabloids’ and thought of Hugh Grant. From there I twigged IMMIGRANT.
PS. Thanks a lot to Picaroon and Eileen.
Found this a proper challenge, but a thoroughly satisfying one, with DOOR KNOCKERS raising a smile. Thought STATIONER a tricky clue to solve, and wasn’t at all sure about how NABOB, RODRIGO or TRATTORIA fitted together. So many to thanks to Eileen for the clarity. Last one in was INSULIN…
Yes, lots of good misdirection and a satisfying solve.
Median @35, snap for Hugh Grant! I loved DOOR-KNOCKERS for the succinct surface, MID-ON for the misleading Fielding, GO DOWN THE TUBES for the wordplay and definition, EYELASH for the cat hair, and V-SIGN for the surface.
Thanks Picaroon and Eileen.
Great stuff. I think at the end of a game of bingo you can call house or LOTTO .
My only quiblet is that like muffin @10 I think stationer is not quite right. Shopkeeper would have worked but perhaps too obvious? Otherwise all very nice.
Great puzzle! Loved so many but esp MID-ON and RODRIGO
Thanks Picaroon and Eileen
I’m a longtime crossworder, so you’d think I’d heard of it, but the ORMER is a new one for me. Now I’d like to try one.
Couldn’t put STATIONER together, thanks Eileen. (Thoughts of Euston and Waterloo and Darkest Peru).
Do we have a mini-theme with Queen Victoria (in a clue), EMPRESS and IMPERIA?
Thanks for “Tourist Trophy,” Eileen. I knew from other puzzles that TT had something to do with racing, but didn’t know why. Even Dick Francis was no help. Also news to me about “House!”
Gazzh@12 What does Ned Kelly have to do with Lord Buckethead, whom I’ve now looked up?
muffin@17 I couldn’t think who RVW could be beyond Rip van Winkle, so I looked up the title — duhhh.
Delightful puzzle. Thanks Picaroon and as ever Eileen.
Loved YANGTZE, DOOR KNOCKERS, NORMATIVE – GO DOWN THE TUBES and NOODLES made me grin.
Bijou quibblette: STATIONER may indeed be in dictionaries, but I’ve never met any nor seen it written in the singular before (although, if he existed, the original Mr W.H. Smith must have been one) but it doesn’t matter. This is crosswordland where such things are fair game. Like homophones – which, pace yesterday’s comments, really should be called puns instead.
Nice one, Picaroon – and thanks also to Eileen for an informative blog and help with parsing TONED. I had Gene, Grace, R, “Has anybody here seen…” – but never thought of Ned. I hang my non-antipodean head in shame…
[ Valentine@42 I am a hopeless artist but one of my few relative successes at school was a sketch of Ned Kelly copied from some textbook, with his guns blazing, long overcoat and homemade armour that included what looked like a tin bucket with a slit cut for the eyes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armour_of_the_Kelly_gang ]
A STATIONER was originally any tradesperson who had a fixed station, i.e. not itinerant. Wellbeck@43 I think I have seen the apostrophe s form as in butcher’s.
Nice puzzle, nice blog, tx P&E.
I knew dives from O-Level Latin. The clue practically screamed it (in retrospect) because the wordplay part just couldn’t be made to indicate a plural or 3ps.
Talking of Latin, both EMPRESS and IMPERIA come from the same original Latin, so does that make the joining of the clues imaginative or unimaginative? Because of the setter’s pedigree, I’d go for the former.
Wellbeck @43: William Henry Smith, founder of the eponymous bookseller and stationery chain, not only existed, but was also a one time prime minister of the UK and First Lord of the Admiralty, a post for which he was supremely unqualified. This led to his being parodied by Gilbert and Sullivan, whose Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore was based on him. Porter’s remarkable career, in which he rose from office boy in an attorney’s firm to master of the Queen’s Navy without distinction in any role, is best left to G&S to explain (search for ‘When I was a lad’ and that should find it). Smith reputedly walked out at Pinafore’s premier, though I can find no authoritative source for that.
Re the puzzle: a nice end to the week. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Thanks both. A great entertainment (and some education on the ORMER and Dives fronts).
Minor 🙂 quibble with ‘jam’=’noodle’ – jamming is generally done in musical company whereas noodling is a solo activity; in fairness a lot of jazz will seem to be collective noodling and only the players will know if that’s a fair description.
On the ‘house’ controversy here’s ‘three chords and the truth’ on the dangers to marital harmony posed by addiction to Bingo……..
[BigNorm @47: the William Henry Smith who was First Lord of the Admiralty in the government of the Marquess of Salisbury (he was never PM himself) was the & Son of WH Smith & Son – his father was the founder of the firm. Incidentally, his great great grandson, William Henry Smith, 5th Viscount Hambleden, lives with Anni-Frid of ABBA 🙂 ]
Thanks Picaroon for the challenge. My 1st pass yielded very little but I stuck with it because Picaroon’s always worth the effort. I failed with IMPERIA and didn’t undertand NOODLES, NABOB, or LOTTO so thanks Eileen for the help. I had many favourites including 1a and 1d plus NORMATIVE, AMBLE, V-SIGN (I’ll tick any clue that contains the name of a Scotch), EMPRESS, REALIGNED, and DOOR-KNOCKERS.
Gervase @49: Yes, indeed: I rather made a mess of that, didn’t I? I was relying on a memory of what I was told 50 years ago by my music teacher. Moral is always to double-check one’s memory! And I guess that may become increasingly necessary with time. Now, who is this ABBA-person of whom you speak? [No: don’t worry – only joking!]
Foolishly put GO DOWN THE DRAIN at 27a. The Waterloo and City line is affectionately known as the drain by its regulars. That completely sabotaged the SE corner for me for a long time. Add to that I spent a long time trying to insert an X and a Q. Having found a Z and a J I was convinced it would be a pangram. Loved all the misleads referred to above. Picaroon on top form. Thanks Eileen for explaining NOODLES and NABOB.
Job @52
I entered DRAIN too – just as valid an answer – but I wasn’t convinced, so I “checked” it online.
Great puzzle today with some awesome surfaces and misdirections. e.g. the NABOB one and the IMMIGRANT one, where current president beautifully lures one away from the relevant time period.
Enjoyed the shops discussion. It is interesting that the butchers’ and the stationer’s are the shops but the baker’s and the grocer’s are the bakery and grocery. Is this because butchery and stationery already exist as words and don’t mean the shops?
I also wondered about Lotto and House being interchangeable, but Mr. Google does suggest Lotto! can be use in the same way as House! by the game winner.
Thanks, Eileen and Picaroon for an absorbing lunchtime.
Jolly tough but hugely rewarding. Easily puzzle of the week for me. Wasn’t quite so keen on HAVE THE JITTERS but thought the other 3 peripheral long ‘uns absolutely top notch. Not a dud in there really.
Thanks to P&E
For 15a wondered if Queen Victoria might be on first class stamp in stationer, or first royal on a stamp
Thank you Petert, Big Norm and Gervase for all the extra info on Stationers and the history of W.H.Smith esq, his son and the connection to Abba.
This is exactly why I love FS so much: I always learn oodles of interesting stuff!
Incidentally, Big Norm (if you’re still around): is your moniker by any chance connected to that masterly TV oeuvre The Beiderbecke Tapes??
[I remember the Biederbecke Tapes et al. Was Big Norm one of the kids football coaches? Great programmes!]
A very nice puzzle. I struggled with the previous picaroon but this was a better run. Enjoyed
I struggled a bit. Guessed dives was something sneaky and found its Latin but still penny drop was late. My bro lived in Imperia but that didn’t help.
Thanks Picaroon and Eileen
Ps No numbering of posts for me but others referring to them so ??
Pps is “site funding” coffee cup legit.
Tim @11:41pm Friday. The coffee/doughnut donation thingy is genuine and has been discussed towards the bottom of both General Discussion and Site Feedback. I can’t give you a more accurate reference as the numbering of comments has ceased for me too.
Thanks, Picaroon for an enjoyable puzzle, bit tricky but I worked through it to the end. Thanks too, to Eileen for the interesting blog and explaining a couple of blanks in my parsing!
ttt @ 60 (ish) I, too, don’t have any numbering of the posts. In fact the whole site has changed overnight – Lots more white space. I recall others having a problem in the past and there was a fix but I can’t find it. The problem is on both my Android phone and my desktop computer so I wonder ????
I know this is very late, but I’m hoping someone will read and point my in the rights direction. 🙂
Duh! … me in the right direction. (Note to self: read before posting.)
[How do I set this blog not to get so much white space? ]
[Ah, I see I’m not alone.]
[Alphalpha @3.18 yesterday afternoon – ta for Tammy! From the comments btl: “Don’t ever cheat on Tammy or she’ll write some brutal songs” 🙂 ]
[Job @5.13 – greetings from an ex-drainer! (or maybe ex-niarder, as I always took it in the opposite direction from everybody else)]
[I always thought Big Norm was this Big Norm]
[I’m waiting for PostMark to post something late in the afternoon, so I can address him as PM @ 5 pm]
[One of these days I’ll post something that’s actually relevant to the crossword.]
Valentine, iff you do come back to this, the TT is an Isle of Man motorbike race, notorious for the number of people killed attempting it.
It may be useful to know that ormer, in French, is ormeau. They can only be taken by hand, apparently, and are a tough, so are usually tenderized.
Embarrassing: my spouse is a musician who often says he’s “noodling” when casually improvising but I always thought that was just his word for it. I didn’t realize it was in the dictionary so I completely failed to parse that clue!
Shanne @67 if you’re still checking back — thanks for the link. Even after learning what TT stood for I was still assuming we were talking about horses. We all keep learning on this site!