Good morning solvers.
A pretty tough challenge from Monk this morning. My advice: have Wikipedia* or your Brittanica* at the ready!
I have to confess before I solved this my knowledge of Norse mythology was pretty much based on Marvel superheroes rather than classic north European literature. I’m confident I wouldn’t have got 15 down without the aid of a google search. Having said that, it’s a belter of a clue construction. I also took an age to parse the reference in 22 down, as although Asgard was referred to as the home of Thor, Loki et al, it wasn’t immediately clear that should be a reference to heaven. I thought that was “Valhalla”, but it turns out having watched all series of The Last Kingdom doesn’t make me an authority on such matters!
Seems I was doing quite a lot of overthinking on this one. I got rather stuck on 5 down with “Blotto nan’s…”. I’ve seen references to drunkenness in clues as a hint to “half-cut” (take away half the letters). I spent a long time trying to work out what nan-related word would leave you EN by taking another two letters, before common sense reasserted itself.
I thought the theme might turn out to be Norse mythology. However, looking at the answers it seems instead to be potty-mouthed punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Bronze Adonis is one of his many songs, but I can’t see any more hidden in there.
Thank you to Monk for the grid.
* Other encyclopedias are available
Surface definitions in the clues are underlined.
ACROSS
1. Rule against dodgy video including boob (8)
OVERRIDE
Dodgy video [anag. VIDEO] including boob [ERR]
6. British individual absorbing variable tan (6)
BRONZE
British [BR] individual [ONE] absorbing variable [Z]
9. Youth these days wants johnnies regularly (6)
ADONIS
These days [AD= anno domini] wants johnnies regularly [even letters = ONIS]
10. Melee cut short small investigation (8)
SCRUTINY
Melee cut short [SCRUM] small [TINY]
11. Left after dam ruined coral island (8)
MALLORCA
Left [L] after dam [MA] ruined coral [anag. CORAL]
13. Vital force falls back having secured India (6)
SPIRIT
Falls back [TRIPS backwards] having secured India [I]
14. Swiss family Robinson, finally caught, proceed together (4)
SYNC
Swiss family Robinson, finally [last letters = SYN] caught [C]
16. Gas temperature set by wheat chef cooked (4,3,3)
CHEW THE FAT
Temperature [T] set by wheat chef cooked [anag. WHEAT CHEF]
18. Sarge gives out, instigating attack (10)
AGGRESSIVE
[Anag. SARGE GIVES]
20. What’s run into sink? (4)
DRIP
Run [R] into sink [DIP]
21. Gutter criminal – that’s about right (6)
TROUGH
Criminal [TOUGH] about right [R]
23. Blocking complaint he waylaid to some extent (2,3,3)
IN THE WAY
“To some extent” = hidden word : complaint he waylaid
25. Judge’s note about equally dividing property (8)
ESTIMATE
Note about [“I’M] equally dividing property [ESTATE]
26. Well-known shop on about craftsman (6)
COOPER
Well-known shop [COOP] on about [RE backwards]
Note to setters: come on people: it’s 2023. Please can we stop using gender-specific job titles?!
28. Sci-fi guru having frolic in church (6)
CLARKE
Frolic [LARK] in church [CE]
Reference here is to Arthur C. Clarke
29. Petition involving son shuts up apprehension (8)
SUSPENSE
Petition [SUE] involving son [S] shuts up [PENS]
DOWN
2. Perhaps clap when welcoming over king before a drink at the Kremlin? (5)
VODKA
Perhaps clap [VD] when welcoming over [O placed between V and D] king [K] before a [A]
3. Managed projects each one in seconds (3)
RAN
Second latters of: pRojects, eAch and oNe
4. Directs NUS with strict changes (9)
INSTRUCTS
Anag of NUS and STRICT
5. Blotto nan’s stopping before gin (7)
ENSNARE
Blotto nan’s [anag. NANS] stopping [inside] before [ERE]
6. Fool’s county (5)
BERKS
Fool=”Berk”. Berks is the short version of Berkshire
7. Skating manoeuvre exposes brave act in extremely imposing final of routine (7,4)
OUTSIDE EDGE
Exposes [OUTS] brave act [DEED] in extremely imposing [IG] final of routine [E]
8. Former islander’s wacky mostly unknown pub between islands (9)
ZANZIBARI
Wacky mostly [ZANY] unknown [Z] pub [BAR] between islands [I I]
Some of you may be more learned on the “Former Islander” reference and be able to help. As I understand it “Zanzibar” was only an informal name for the island of Unguja off Tanzania. In recent times the customary practice is to refer to it by that given by the original inhabitants.
12. He designed new centre in Barcelona with greater diligence (2,9)
LE CORBUSIER
New centre in Barcelona [rearranged middle letters of Barcelona = LECOR] with greater diligence [BUSIER]
15. According to mythology, ash and slack covering road up – even bits of hills (9)
YGGDRASIL
Slack [SAGGY] covering road [RD] up [upside down] – even bits of hills [even letters = IL]
17. Rambling thickets beginning to swamp rural areas (3,6)
THE STICKS
Rambling thickets [anag THICKETS] beginning to swamp [S]
“The sticks” is a phrase that’s always puzzled me. I think it’s a reference to trees.
19. Chill with chemical industry head (7)
ICINESS
Chemical industry [I.C.I] head [NESS]
22. Haul knight out of Asgard, say? (5)
HEAVE
Knight out of Asgard, say [HEAVEN]
24. Helps offender since being impaled with stake (5)
ABETS
Since [AS] being impaled with stake [BET]
27. Old men change in Sweden (3)
ÖRE
Old [O] men [RE = Royal Engineers]
The Öre is the minor currency unit of the Swedish Krone.
8d – ZANZIBARI – Here’s the most famous “Former islander” – FreddieM
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/06/freddie-mercurys-gaen-door-sells-for-over-400000-as-his-belongings-auctioned
‘Freddie Mercury piano sells for £1.74m in auction of singer’s belongings’
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/06/freddie-mercurys-garden-door-sells-for-over-400000-as-his-belongings-auctioned
I thoroughly enjoyed this. I didn’t spot the JCC reference but I believe MALLORCA is also one of his poems. AGGRESSIVE DRIP sounds like it should be one but I don’t think it is.
There’s a (very) small typo in 25a. It should be IM for MI (note about) not I’M
Thanks Leedsclimber and Monk
Wow. I’m having a new front door on Monday. Think my old one will be worth about nothing.
Lots to enjoy and some very cute devices. I particularly enjoyed the &littish DRIP, the change in Sweden ORE, the construction of MALLORCA and the two cheeky surfaces for OVERRIDE and ADONIS. YGGDRASIL was very neatly constructed: I have only encountered it once before in a crossword, where it was gloriously defined as ‘Ash everywhere’. My only raised eyebrow was ‘chemical industry’ = ICI: not only did the group disappear 15 years ago but the two are not synonymous, one being a part of the other.
Note to blogger: I’m still happy to leave it to setters’ discretion wrt job titles, whether it’s 2023 or not. Some are now considered demeaning – waitress, say – but I see no offence to either gender in craftsman or craftswoman. As I wouldn’t in policeman or policewoman. ‘Craftsperson’ would be a horribly ugly alternative to ‘craftsman’ which has been in use for 800 odd years, ‘crafter’ does not have the same sense and ditching the word altogether in favour of, say, artisan, just makes the language the poorer.
Thanks Monk and Leedsclimber
JWW@3 – MALLORCA – but JCC spells it the English way
https://johncooperclarke.com/poems/majorca
Managed to nearly complete this in record time for a Monk. Some good fortune on the way, like guessing SCUTINY then spotting it fitted, but had to cheat to get LE CORBUSIER. Didn’t know ‘gin’ could be a verb as well as a noun but Chambers confirmed this.
I have read (and still read) Marvel comics so YGGDRASIL was a write-in. I also think of ‘valhalla’ rather than ‘asgard’ for ‘heaven’. Asgard is the home of the gods but heroes dying in battle go to Valhalla. Nevertheless, I did get this at first read.
DRIP
It’s a clue-as-def, I think.
Referring to (a) DRIP (a channel cut to train seepage/leakage water), probably.
‘DRIP’s run into sink’ seems to work all right.
There could be a simpler explanation.
A nice stretch of the cryptic grey matter
Thanks to Monk and Leedsclimber
PostMark @5. Did you know there us a word ‘waitron’ for a waiter/waitress? I think it’s an awful word though and doubt it will ever catch on.
This was certainly a challenge but we’re feeling quite smug as no encyclopaedia was needed. Not that we’re into Norse mythology but we had heard of YGGDRASIL and having got Y and G as crossers it was a write-in once we’d checked the spelling in Chambers. It did take us a little while, though, to realise that we weren’t looking for another name from Norse mythology in 22dn.
Elsewhere we liked SCRUTINY, TROUGH, RAN, ENSNARE (not encountered ‘gin’ as a verb before) and ABETS.
Thanks, Monk and Leedsclimber.
Certainly a challenge. Even though I saw YGGDRASIL once I had a couple of crossers, the rest of the SW corner took me about as long as the rest combined! For some reason none of TROUGH, HEAVE, and ESTIMATE – as well as, less surprisingly, LE CORBUSIER – easily came to mind.
Lots to enjoy. Thanks Monk for the workout & Leedsclimber for the blog.
Thanks both. Not hugely rewarding for me, as I didn’t know much of what was needed, including Asgard, LE CORBUSIER and YGGDRASIL the look of which even with a few crossers was never tempting me to look for 5 consonants at the beginning
Thanks Monk for the ongoing excellence in writing clues. Even though I never heard of John Cooper Clarke I found much to enjoy due to clues like VODKA, ENSNARE, and DRIP among others. For once the GK in the crossword hastened my solving instead of slowing it down. I was beaten by ORE but that’s “small change” to me. Thanks Leedsclimber for the blog.
Re: the gender specific job titles. I think that the use of “Craftsman” is strongly suggestive of the surname based on traditional crafts (eg Fletcher, Wainwright, Carter etc).
There is a blatant reference to John Cooper Clarke at 26a and 28a
I agree with PM@5. ‘What’s run into sink?’ for DRIP is &lit.
It’s short and snappy. It has a question mark at the end although so can CD’s. It uses the container which is a frequently-used wordplay style so, R in DIP. The entire clue is the definition but it is also the wordplay.
I’m not sure what KVa@8 means by clue-as-defintion. Possibly CD.
CD (cryptic definition) clues do not have a separate definition and wordplay. The entire clue is one single definition, ambiguously worded and needing some lateral thinking to be solved.
Clue as definition, or CAD, means the whole clue works as the definition. It is more general than an &lit though, as it includes semi &lits where some of the clue does not form part of the wordplay.
Hovis@17 Thanks.