A fairly straightforward one today, with one obscure (to me) name helpfully clued. Thanks to Qaos.
… and of course we have a theme, in this case words that go with GLASS: I can see 12 – PLATE, LOOKING, CUT, STAINED, OPERA, WINE, BEER, MAGNIFYING, SHEET, SAFETY and SHOT; also the partial LEAD[S]. Any more?
| Across | ||||||||
| 9 | INTRODUCE | Strange reduction in present (9) REDUCTION* |
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| 10 | PLATE | Starter spread over large dish (5) L in PATÉ (sometimes served as a starter) |
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| 11 | EVENT | Close to fire put out a match (5) [fir]E + VENT (put out) |
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| 12 | BARTENDER | One serving in trade receives tip (9) END (tip) in BARTER |
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| 13 | LOOKING | Family enters throne room with head of guards watching (7) KIN (family) in LOO (toilet, throne room) + G[uards] |
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| 14 | POMPOUS | Arrogant politician breaking river promises to free current (7) MP in PO (river) + IOUS (promises) less I (electric current) |
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| 17 | AUREI | James IV occasionally besieged old city to get old coins (5) UR (ancient city) in jAmEs Iv |
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| 19 | CUT | Divide 1, 2, 3 … oddly (3) The odd letters of CoUnT (1,2,3..) |
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| 20 | GEESE | Birds travelling west, for example, taking in view (5) Reverse of SEE in E.G. |
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| 21 | STAINED | Marked and forced right out (7) STRAINED (forced) less R |
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| 22 | SNIPPET | Clipping leg stump? Initially overturned stroke (7) Reverse of PIN (leg) + S[tump], + PET (to stroke) |
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| 24 | STOP THIEF | Fiddling the profits, loses first 10% of reputation with cry for help (4,5) Anagram of THE PROFITS less R, which is one tenth of Reputation |
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| 26 | YARNS | Stories in Sun’s issue about Poles (5) Reverse of RAY + N S |
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| 28 | OPERA | Singer Rita taking record back for work (5) Reverse of EP in ORA (Rita Ora, singer) |
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| 29 | CAT AND DOG | As pets quarrelling savagely? (3,3,3) Double definition (rather a weak one, I would say) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | WINE | Bounder spilling first drink (4) SWINE less its first letter |
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| 2 | STHENO | Monstrous woman inside gets the nod (6) Hidden in getS THE NOd – she is the eldest of the Gorgons, rather less familiar than her sister Medusa |
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| 3 | CONTRITION | Remorse of prisoner, one jailed by god (10) CON (prisoner) + I in TRITON |
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| 4 | HUMBUG | Spooner’s wrong to cherish a boiled sweet (6) Spoonerism of “bum hug” |
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| 5 | DECREPIT | Worn out striking pierced tip of tongue (8) PIERCED* + T[ongue] |
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| 6 | EPEE | After start of encounter, go for weapon (4) E[ncounter] + PEE (“go”) |
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| 7 | HANDSOME | Beautiful cab caught (8) Homophone of “hansom” |
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| 8 | BEER | Improved, not dry, perhaps mild (4) BETTER less TT (teetotal, dry) |
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| 13 | LEADS | On top of silicon, metal conducts (5) LEAD (metal) + S (the “top” of Silicon – no SI needed) |
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| 15 | MAGNIFYING | Government stopping main review by rushing to expel Labour leader for exaggerating (10) G in MAIN* + FLYING (rushing) less L[abour] |
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| 16 | SHEET | What’s coming up in television film? (5) Reverse of EH (“what?”) in SET (television) |
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| 18 | REASONED | Argued with royal veteran losing crown (8) R + [s]EASONED |
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| 19 | CODPIECE | Fish pie course wanting contents in pouch (8) COD + PIE + C[ours]E |
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| 22 | SAFETY | Express keeps paper to secure European protection (6) E in FT (newspaper), all in SAY (express) |
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| 23 | PARADE | Soldier deserted on 2nd of February or March (6) PARA + D[eserted] + [f]E[bruary] |
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| 24 | SHOT | Drunk injects heroin and crack (4) H in SOT, with “crack” and “shot” both meaning an attempt |
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| 25 | TEAK | Leaves with a bit of kindling wood (4) TEA (leaves) + K[indling] |
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| 27 | SAGE | Shakespeare’s complete world view: timeless and wise (4) STAGE (as in “all the world’s a stage”) less T |
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Thought this brilliant. Found it hard enough to feel a sense of achievement on completion, but any “obscurities” fairly clued
Particularly enjoyed 24 across. Thanks Qaos and Andrew
Oh dear, another theme I missed. Nevertheless good fun, thank you Qaos. Stheno & Rita Ora were new to me until I sought assistance, and I failed to parse PARADE. D for deserted?!
Thanks for the blog, Andrew.
I suppose Bartender fits with the theme.
No real problems for me despite the unknown STHENO which was helpfully clued. Given that it was Qaos I actually looked for the theme after I’d finished and got it. WhooHoo.
Favourites were LOOKING for the ‘throne room’ and CODPIECE for the clever ‘fish pie course’.
No clue how to solve guardian cryptics yet.Will stick with Daily Globe Cryptic.
Very crisply assembled and fun to do. Amazing how long the ‘straightforward’ anagram for INTRODUCE remained unspotted! Last one in bar one.
STHENO was a dnk but, as Andrew says, very clearly clued. Faves include LOOKING, BARTENDER, GEESE, CONTRITION, REASONED, CODPIECE and TEAK. I failed to parse CUT – I’m used to seeing direct fodder for an alternate and did not make the mental leap. ‘First 10% of reputation’ is not my favourite construction; sorry, Qaos.
Thanks both
Very enjoyable, with the theme apparent about half way through, though it didn’t help me finish. Who knew STHENO? The Fates, the Furies, the Graces, the Muses and now the Gorgons; I’ve given up trying to remember them all. Is ‘Rita’ Coolidge still singing? She was the chanteuse I thought of at 28a. SNIPPET was my last in and favourite.
Never heard of it before, but looking it up there is also SAGE glass (SageGlass), a proprietary name for “electrochromic” glass (yet another “who knows?”) which changes tint according to the amount of sunlight.
Thanks to Qaos and Andrew
Pretty straightforward today or maybe just got onto Qaos’s wavelength although did not parse CUT (thanks, Andrew) and like GDO@ was not keen on D for deserted; but unlike PostMark @ 6 thought 1st 10% of reputation added interest.
1st in Stheno!
Is Qaos trying to outdo Paul with LOO and PEE in same Xword??
I didn’t spot the theme during the solve, although I was trying very hard but when I looked at the finished grid CUT and MAGNIFYING leapt out simultaneously.
I remember previous discussions re D for deserted and I think it was concluded that it’s found in military records.
My favourites were LOOKING, SNIPPET, STOP THIEF (sorry, PostMark, I did like the device), CONTRITION DECREPIT and SAGE.
Thanks to Qaos for a fun puzzle and Andrew for the blog – particularly the parsing of CUT.
Qaos’ hint on his Twitter page is ‘breaking news…..’ Despite this, I still did not spot the theme. I also failed to see the anagram in 1A and could not parse the clever 19A. I really enjoyed this, thanks QAOS and Andrew (ps there is a missing * in 5D to indicate it is an anagram).
Didn’t spot the theme, but I didn’t look very hard. I’m glad somebody could explain CUT; thanks for that. I should have got STHENO, I guess, but for some reason Medusa is the only Gorgon that I know.
Agree that CAT AND DOG was pretty lame. I’ve only ever heard “fighting like cats and dogs” around here; never the singular form.
Like everyone else my age, the cinematic image of Medusa and her viperish hair has condemned her sisters to obscurity. The clue was clear enough, though. CUT was a cute abbreviation, I thought.
Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.
Thank you Qaos and Andrew.
Great fun, but I missed the theme – GLASS LEADS (pronounced ‘leds’) are small windows I seem to remember?
Can you have a GLASS CODPIECE? I’m too scared to Google it 🙂
Ticks for CUT, PARADE & SAGE
Completely failed to spot the theme. Obviously
Cheers Q&A
I eventually Googled STHENO and was surprised to find she existed.
Didn’t see the theme, but then I rarely do, and, like others, ‘Stheno’ was new to me. Nevertheless, a very enjoyable puzzle to start the day, and ‘Stheno’ was, at least, generously clued.
Despite looking for a theme I failed to see it. Not quite sure how in retrospect.
In TEAK, I know “bit of” to mean the first letter is an ancient crossword convention but I’m not a fan of it. On the other hand I thought the “first 10%” in 24a was clever and original.
STHENO was a brilliant hidden.
Thanks Qaos and Andrew.
Some very good clues, including 24a, 14a, and 16d among others. I assume S=Stump is cricketing argot I’ve nho (and don’t see in Chambers), and I didn’t know ‘striking’ as an anagrind. Didn’t bother looking for a theme.
The clue is stump initially .
Got the theme at the end, very nice solve, made more enjoyable by doing with my sister for the first time. She said this would be too difficult (she does the Belfast Telegraph) but she ended up getting SNIPPET, PARADE, STOP THIEF and OPERA, so I think she’s already hooked. Couldn’t parse CUT either.
Ta Qaos & Andrew
I found this a puzzle of two halves. The top was completed fairly quickly apart from the missing Gorgon, but the bottom held me up for ages. Thanks everyone for parsing, theme and general enthusiasm. Thanks Q and A.
Not too easy, but quite satisfying. I saw the theme quite late, despite LOOKING for it often. I fall on the ‘like’ side on the 10%, and the CUT, issues. I even (early on) thought GORGON for 2d, but couldn’t parse it or Medusa – but, as for others here, Medusa is the only one I know offhand. Ended up being LOI, as I played with HER and HEN for the woman inside – then suddenly seeing the inclusion. Thanks, Qaos and Andrew.
Good puzzle – can’t believe I failed to spot the anagram in INTRODUCE (my LOI!). Had DOG EAT DOG in for CAT AND DOG for a while – equally possible with this clue I think?
Thanks to Andrew for the helpful parsing and to Qaos for the challenge.
I enjoyed this and did better than usual for a Qaos puzzle. Like others took a while to spot the anagram for 9a and had not heard of STHENO – had to look it up to see if it (she) existed.
As usual did not get the theme.
Favourites included: CODPIECE, STOP THIEF, OPERA, CONTRITION, POMPOUS, LOOKING
Thanks Qaos and Andrew
Thanks for the blog, for once I got a ghost theme, LOOKING made me suspicious and MAGNIFYING confirmed it. To mark this success there will be an extra Bank Holiday on Monday.
CUT was very neat and the word play was clever for STOP THIEF, POMPOUS a nice extraction.
I did not know SNETHO or AURIE but both clues were very fair.
Felt oddly numberless, even with the CUT count, perhaps because there wasn’t a Qaos Qalculation to do? I thought this slightly trickier than his usual offerings with pauses for thought over several clues which are often not needed with this setter
Many thanks both and all
After the first pass, I had BARTENDER, (STOP) THIEF and LOOKING and was convinced that I was looking for a theme of Stereophonics songs.
Turns out that didn’t transpire 🙂
Good puzzle; I suddenly saw the parsing of CUT before coming here.
I missed the inevitable theme. I liked SNIPPET for the definition and surface, MAGNIFYING for the surface and the timely reference to the suppression of the Sue Gray ‘inquiry’, and SAFETY for the nicely misleading ‘Express’.
Thanks Qaos and Andrew.
I suppose DECREPIT GLASS could refer to the ageing composer.
As happens often, I found easy the clues others found hard, and hard/impossible clues others found easy. Apparently everybody else had heard of AUREI.
Also, apparently we have given up complaining about homophones, even when it’s as marginal as handsome/hansom.
Nice one. Not Qaos at his trickiest, and rather short on the alphanumerics – thanks for the parsing of CUT, which escaped me, as did the theme, but I only made a desultory search for one.
Too many good clues to list them all, but I did like SNIPPET (lovely word). STHENO only raised the dimmest of memories, but the final O gave her away.
Thanks to S&B
Tough and enjoyable. Forgot to look for the theme after I finished.
Favourites: INTRODUCE, SHOT, LOOKING, MAGNIFYING.
Failed to solve 16d SHEET and could not parse 2d and 19ac.
New for me: D = deserted (23d) and also the Gorgon STHENO. I had never realised what a tough time Medusa had: “In Roman mythology, Stheno was transformed into a Gorgon for her relationship to her sister Medusa, who was raped by the sea god Neptune in Athena’s temple. Furious with Medusa for this act of desecration, Athena changed her into a terrible monster, along with her sisters Stheno and Euryale.” It seems unfair that Athena blamed Medusa for being raped.
Thanks, both.
Let’s await ‘Euryale’ in Qaos’s next (the other one of the three)….re: Jacob: ‘handsome’ and ‘hansom’ aren’t marginal. They’re perfect homophones.
Didn’t spot the theme at all. Crap at doing that….
Thanks Q&A
Thanks to Qaos for an enjoyable puzzle, and Andrew for his helpful blog – especially CUT.
Yorkshire Lass spotted the glass theme – may have helped that I asked Alexa to play music by Phil G late last night.
P.S. re @13, I have just checked, GLASS LEADS are used to join up the glass pieces in leaded lights.
Thanks Qaos. Eventually I saw the theme, knowing that one must exist. I needed a word finder to get SHEET and REASONED but all else eventually fell into place. I enjoyed the surface of LOOKING and ticked BEER, LEADS, and SAGE as favourites. Thanks Andrew for the blog.
I must be missing something but in13A how is KIN in LOO? Very enjoyable puzzle, though
Mr SR and I thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you, Qaos. Also, many thanks, Andrew, for the help in parsing “SNIPPET”. Despite looking for a theme, we failed to spot one (unusual for Mr SR; not so for me).
I really liked the HANDSOME/Hansom homophone for distant memories of “Jackie” comic, which one year, in one of its annuals, had a pastiche of an historical romance. The only character I remember is the dashing, but caddish, Lord “Handsome” Cabb.
Happy days!
Hey DD – it’s ‘loo’ + ‘kin’ + (head of) g(uards).
I did this because I’d time to spare but didn’t enjoy it.
One clue in particular, MAGNIFYING at 15D exemplifies what was wrong- “Government stopping main review by rushing to expel Labour leader for exaggerating”. Piecing together the bits of “crossword speak” in this way means that the subsidiaries have to be back-fitted to the answer.
In my world G is not not government except in HMG any more than B is bachelor except when followed by A or Sc.
8d. BEER…perhaps mild.
I am lost on this I’m afraid.
Steffen – see here: https://www.seriouseats.com/beginners-guide-to-british-beer-styles-porter-stout-what-is-esb-mild-bitter-ipa-history-england
Thank you. Very interesting.
Keith Thomas @40. I can’t agree, I’m afraid. It’s perfectly reasonable to use an initial letter in this way, and the device is found quite frequently. And while there are plenty of occasions when one works out the precise parsing after having first identified a plausible answer (and there’s nothing wrong with that), this clueing leads one to the answer pretty straightforwardly.
I found this a good challenge. Bottom half much quicker than top, largely due to inexplicable failure like others to see 9a quickly. Always a big tick for me when the personal obscurities (STHENO and AUREI both new to me) are gettable due to fair clueing. I thought SAGE was completely wonderful, and BARTENDER a big thumbs up as well. Spotting the Bob Marley link in the prize recently was a rare example of my seeing a theme, totally passed me by today so normal service resumed!
I failed to look for a hidden word for 2d, perhaps because the word ‘nod’ was separated from the words ‘gets the’ by a line break.
Full of admiration for those who found this a straightforward solve. Agree with Mandarin @45 about SAGE being wonderful – clues don’t have to be obscure to be impressive.
Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.
Like Robi@28, I did manage to spot the parsing for 19a CUT, which made me happy. Like michelle@32, however, I forgot to look for a theme (despite my oft-quoted mantra of “Qaos always has a theme”), which was a pity as it was a very clever one. I had fun with the puzzle nevertheless. All my favourites have already been highlighted in previous posts. Thanks to Qaos, Andrew and other contributors.
Tim@33 Am I the only person who sounds the D in HANDSOME?
Jacob@30: I like to think that most commenters have got over themselves a bit 🙂 To my mind, the solver’s pronunciation has never been relevant to this kind of clue – “caught?” alludes only vaguely to the listener and the speaker is entirely unspecified. So as long as someone, somewhere could have heard the similarity that’s good enough for me!
Enjoyed this puzzle but slowed down quite a bit on the last few solutions & came here for help parsing CUT.
Thanks Q&A.
Rudy @5 on the off chance you’re still with us, the Guardian has a helpful blog about solving cryptic puzzles: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/series/cryptic-crosswords-for-beginners
Also, am I the only one who parsed “crack” as meaning the *sound* of a shot, rather than as two synonyms for “attempt”?
D for deserted not pleasing and missed theme though I looked several times.
Thanks both
….relieved obvs