If I had to categorise this one, I would probably be looking for the tray labelled ‘hard’.
Certainly not the usual Monday level of difficulty; but it’s all fair, so just a different level of challenge to normal. Let’s get over ourselves and carry on.Ā It’s a pangram, btw.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
7 Foolish old woman abandons vernacular
IDIOTIC
IDIO[MA]TIC
8 Do marry fox
CONFUSE
A charade of CON and FUSE.
10 Take sister dancing, with the best of luck
STREAKIEST
(TAKE SISTER)* with ‘dancing’ as the anagrind.
11 Boast about racket
CROW
A charade of C for circa and ROW.
12 Duck getting into grief, as abused to produce this?
FOIE GRAS
An insertion of O for ‘duck’ (think cricket) in (GRIEF AS)* with ‘abused’ as the anagrind and ‘getting into’ as the insertion indicator. A cad.
14 More work for everyone with better capital backing
UTOPIA
A charade of U for the cinema classification, TOP and AI for ‘capital’ in its ‘good’ sense reversed. It is the work by Thomas More, of course.
15 German bizarrely excited to welcome unknown creature from America
GRIZZLY BEAR
A charade of G and Z for the mathematical ‘unknown’ inserted into (BIZARRELY)* The anagrind is ‘excited’ and the insertion indicator is ‘to welcome’.
19 E.g. Harry Potter‘s golden snitch finally found in rubbish
ORPHAN
A charade of OR and H for the final letter of ‘snitch’ in PAN. As everyone knows, HP is an orphan. As well as a wizard. And a horcrux. And catcher of the golden snitch.
20 Harmless notion involved saving ten cents
NON-TOXIC
A charade of X for ‘ten’ inserted into (NOTION)* and C. The insertion indicator is ‘saving’ and the anagrind is ‘involved’.
22 Twin grasped a use for engineering
ESAU
(A USE)* with ‘for engineering’ as the anagrind. Referring to the Genesis story of the twins Esau and Jacob: Jacob grasped Esau’s heel as they were being delivered to try to prevent him becoming the first-born.
23 They’re often up in casinos, playing without money at first
INSOMNIACS
An insertion of M for the first letter of ‘money’ inserted into (IN CASINOS)* The anagrind is ‘playing’ and the insertion indicator is ‘without’.
25 Secure chat reveals bacterial infection
LOCKJAW
A charade of LOCK and JAW.
26 Inhale noisily, rolling oneself fun-size bites
SNUFFLE
Hidden reversed in onesELF FUN-Size.
Down
1 Issue rebellious speech, perhaps forgetting opening
EDITION
[S]EDITION
2 Turn one away from Casablanca, say
MOVE
MOV[I]E. ‘It’s his move/turn.’
3 Again bond over fiddle
TINKER
A reversal of REKNIT.
4 Folk legend‘s abridged hit placed in vault
TOM THUMB
An insertion of THUM[P] in TOMB. The insertion indicator is ‘placed in’.
5 A heartless lie upset lover
AFICIONADO
A charade of A, FIC[T]ION and ADO.
6 Country dancing is not interrupting middle of meal
ESTONIA
An insertion of (IS NOT)* in EA for the central letter of mEAl. The insertion indicator is ‘interrupting’ and the anagrind is ‘dancing’.
9 Doctor listens with base cruelty
BEASTLINESS
(LISTENS BASE)* with ‘doctor’ as the anagrind.
13 Shock sect member, shortly after broken heart
EARTHQUAKE
A charade of (HEART)* and QUAKE[R]. I have a very good friend who is a Quaker and I can tell Twin that she would not be happy with her faith group being described as a ‘sect’.
16 Archipelago‘s nuts – mostly chopped Brazil nuts
ZANZIBAR
A charade of ZAN[Y] and (BRAZI[L])* Both ‘nuts’ are anagrinds.Ā The anagrind is ‘nuts’.
17 Spirit seen around outskirts of Salt Lake City
BRISTOL
Very clever clue construction and a great surface reading. An insertion of ST for the outside letters of ‘salt’ in BRIO for ‘spirit’, all followed by L for ‘lake’. The insertion indicator is ‘seen around’.
18 What’s played high, covering a very small volume?
PICCOLO
I think this is I CC for the ‘very small volume’ inserted into POLO, which is a game played on horses, therefore ‘high’, and is also a cad. The insertion indicator is ‘covering’.
21 Citation in retrospective article on Dynasty
NAMING
A charade of AN reversed and MING.
24 Humming, except note that’s in doubt
IFFY
[N]IFFY
Many thanks to Twin for today’s puzzle.
Thanks, Twin and Pierre!
Liked many. Top faves: FOIE GRAS, UTOPIA and PICCOLO.
UTOPIA
The clue reads like a nice extended def.
PICCOLO
This flute makes a high sound (of course, when played). This part is clear.
Does the ‘covering a very small volume’ refer to the small size of a PICCOLO?
A PICCOLO is not very loud
PICCOLO
a musical instrument, like a small flute, that makes a high sound: Some dictionaries say this.
‘High’ may mean higher frequency?
It’s also Italian for small
Found that. So all good.
Phew. Certainly tough for a Monday and Twin has chosen some quite obscure synonyms and defs. It felt quite anagram heavy – and I do cavil somewhat at ‘dancing’ being used as an anagrind in two clues. Given I solve in numerical order, I encountered it in 10a only three clues after meeting it in 6d. Talking of repeated anagrinds, Pierre, I’m not sure I understand your comment in 16d – ZANZIBAR: both nuts are anagrinds. The first is surely the synonym for ZAN(Y) which is then shortened? The second is indeed the anagrind for the shortened BRAZI(L).
FOIE GRAS, GRIZZLY BEAR, INSOMNIACS and BRISTOL my favourites today.
Thanks Twin and Pierre
[BTW, for anyone who did not pop back in to yesterday’s Indy blog, it is worth taking a look at the uncovering of a theme and the setter’s remarkable observation that followed it]
You are quite right, PostMark, about ZANZIBAR. Don’t know where that came from. I have corrected the blog.
I concur. Hard basket but not too hard. Good to finish almost intact. 2d stumped me and then it was obvious and a favourite. Tricky. The grid seemed unusual compared to the norm and there were not so many clues in total. Thanks Pierre for the explanation of ‘work’ in UTOPIA, ‘niffy’ (I know ‘whiffy’), and the parsing for AFICIONADO. I liked SNUFFLE (well-hidden) and FOIE GRAS. Thanks Twin.
It’s horses for courses and I hit the right wavelength from the word go with this one today. It all came together very smoothly and I really enjoyed it with a very long list of ticked clues: IDIOTIC, CONFUSE, FOIE GRAS, UTOPIA, ORPHAN, INSOMNIACS, MOVE, TOM THUMB, AFICIONADO and BRISTOL.
Many thanks to Twin and to Pierre.
10a – STREAKIEST – “Take sister dancing, with the best of luck”
I like this because it reminded me of this song by a favourite band on a 40-year-old LP.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_Dancing_(song)
‘”Come Dancing” …written by Ray Davies and performed by British rock group the Kinks on their 1983 album State of Confusion.
The song was inspired by Davies’ memories of his older sister, Rene, who died of a heart attack while dancing at a dance hall. The lyrics, sung from the perspective of an “East End barrow boy,” are about the boy’s sister going on dates at a local Palais dance hall.
…reached number six on the Hot 100, becoming the band’s highest US charting single in over a decade and tying with “Tired of Waiting for You” as the band’s highest-charting single ever.’ Here’s the video. The subtitles spell Palais as pally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRUE0aAI5o8
That’s clearly a nice personal memory for you, FrankieG, but in a blog that’s written to engender discussion about a crossword might be considered to be somewhat off-topic.
…10a ā STREAKIEST ā āTake sister dancing, with the best of luckā – I looked this up:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/streaky
‘Adjective – streaky (comparative streakier, superlative streakiest)
1 Having streaks.
2 (cricket) – Used to describe a shot where the ball deflects off the edge of the bat, but is not caught by the slips or wicket-keeper and instead results in runs for the batsman.
2001, Luke Alfred, Lifting the Covers: Inside South African Cricket?: “Although the two added thirteen important runs, including four byes let through by Mongia and a streaky outside edge cum late-cut by Pollock for four, one didn’t need to be blessed with gifts of insight to realise that Pollock’s days at the crease were numbered.”
2005, Michael Slater, Slats: The Michael Slater Story: “…rather than hitting it with the middle of the bat, I jagged it off the inside edge and French-cut it over the top of the stumps for another four. That was the only streaky shot I can remember.”
2011, Roland Perry, Bradman’s Invincibles: The Inside Story of the Epic 1948 Ashes Tour?: “Compton troubled Bradman with his Chinaman, and one streaky shot was edged past Crapp at slips.”
3‘ – (baseball) – ‘(chiefly of a person, usually Canada, US) – Having alternating periods of good and bad performances; inconsistent. “Jones has always been a streaky hitter”
4 – (archaic, slang) – Having periods of irritation or bad temper.
5 – (soccer) – Not well-executed, due to luck more than skill. – 2015 April 18, Paul Wilson, The Guardian?: “Two goals from Alexis SĆ”nchez, the second a little streakier than the first, were enough to send Arsenal into a second successive FA Cup final, once again following extra time after being held over 90 minutes by a Championship side.”
So, cricket, baseball, soccer, or having periods of irritation or bad temper. I can’t choose.
FrankieG@12
A ? at the end of the clue should have made the clue better. What do you say?
6d – ESTONIA – “Country dancing is not interrupting middle of meal”
I liked this other “dancing” clue too, where you have to lift-and-separate “Country dancing” into ESTONIA and an anagram indicator.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/country_dancing
‘Noun – country dancing (uncountable) – The activity of performing country dances.
Verb – country dancing – present participle and gerund of country dance’
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/country_dance
‘Noun – country dance (plural country dances) – (dance) – Any set step routine group dance such as ceilidh dance, highland dance, line dance, barn dance or square dance.
Verb – country dance – To take part in country dancing.’
Thanks T&P
KVa@13 – No question about it – This is a crossword – That’s the obligatory cricket reference.
BRISTOL was excellent. I never knew ZANZIBAR was an archipelago.
As Pierre@11… apart from that nice challenge.
Thanks Perre n Twin
So relieved that our blogger designated this as ‘tough’ – I certainly had quite a fight on my hands. Learned something new in the required definition of STREAKIEST but doubt that I’ll ever have a use for it!
Thanks to Twin for the brain-bashing and to Pierre for soothing my troubled brow.
Good one to kick off the week. I liked the crossing GRIZZLY BEAR and BEASTLINESS in the middle of the grid and LOCKJAW, not the first ‘bacterial infection’ to come to mind. I didn’t know ZANZIBAR was an ‘Archipelago’ either but the very name always brings its most famous son to mind.
A bit of a pity that CROW wasn’t clued for one of our feathered friends; maybe not the most exciting bird but it still would have given our eminent blogger a reason to provide a pictorial ornithological link.
Thanks to Twin and Pierre
FrankieG@10. Iām with you.
Thanks T and P
Thanks Twin for an excellent crossword. This hit the sweet spot for me — challenging enough but ultimately solvable. IFFY was my only parsing problem — I hadn’t heard of “niffy”; I thought of “spiffy” but “sp” couldn’t mean note as far I know. I knew a pangram was in the works and placing the “J” helped me get LOCKJAW. I liked all the clues especially INSOMNIACS, AFICIONADO, EARTHQUAKE, BRISTOL, and PICCOLO. Thanks Pierre for the blog.
Too hard for me. After about an hour, I’d got three clues. Came back to it later and got a few more, but my heart wasn’t in it and I gave up.
piccolo: I was working from a picolitre, (pico and l for litre) one trillionth of a litre so a very small volume.
A piccolo is the highest pitched flute.
I had a C and O that I couldn’t account for but stuck it in anyway.
Yeah, I thought this was a super puzzle, too. Thanks S&B.
A piccolo is the smallest bottle of champagne – 187 ml (quarter bottle) so surely an &lit?
Xmac@20 – a fellow Kinks fan? š
WordPlodder@20 – a fellow fan of FreddieM? š But CROW “not the most exciting bird”? – I couldn’t disagree more. Here’s a gratuitous off-topic ornithological link. This clever corvid is using the “lid from a jar of mayonnaise” to invent snowboarding for crows in 2012. Chris Packham explains:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05rkc46
Or, if you’re outside the UK and that link doesn’t work, here’s the original footage from Yekaterinburg, which mentions “a coffee cup lid”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GKk2NxSgQ4
WordPlodder@19
For piccolo, I think it is an &lit, with the wordplay being POLO containg 1cc. Apologies if this has already been established.
Great puzzle – thanks Twin.
Late to this but just have to echo Petert @16 – the Salt Lake City trick for BRISTOL is quite brilliant. Great puzzle, thanks Twin and Pierre.
I did say in the blog that PICCOLO was a cad – a clue-as-definition – which is what some people used to refer to, and some people still do, as an &lit.
Sorry Pierre I was being blind and/or stupid – thanks for the blog.