Thank you to Kite. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. House Gale’s men (7)
WINDSOR : WIND(a strong example of which is a gale)‘S + OR(abbrev. for “other ranks”, those who are not commissioned officers in the armed forces).
Defn: …/lineage of the current British monarch.
5. Racing management (7)
RUNNING : Double defn: 2nd: …/the overseeing of, say, an organisation.
10. Rock band right to return payment (4)
REEF : R(abbrev. for “right”) + reversal of(to return) FEE(a payment for services).
11. It’s used for cleaning the bottom of fabric and dirty poster (6,4)
TOILET ROLL : TOILE(a translucent linen or cotton fabric) plus(and) TROLL(a dirty poster/an online poster with the intention of stirring trouble).
Defn: … after defecation.
12. Player gets second note about love (6)
STEREO : S(abbrev. for “second” in time notation) + TE(note in the sol-fa musical scale) + RE(about/in reference to) + O(letter signifying 0/love in tennis scores).
Defn: CD, record or cassette tape … with 2 or more speakers producing stereophonic sound.
… and radio too:
13. Bad dates first eaten producing disgust (8)
DISTASTE : Anagram of(Bad) DATES containing(… eaten) IST(first/1st with the Roman numeral substitution).
14. Man complains not exposing at first those covering for rackets (9)
HANDGRIPS : HAND(man/a manual worker) + “gripes”(complains/grumbles) minus(not) 1st letter of(… at first) “exposing“.
Defn: In this case, covering for the handles of tennis racquets.
16. Buffet at church presents difficulty (5)
HITCH : HIT(buffet/punch) plus(at) CH(abbrev. for “church”).
Defn: …/a setback.
17. Charlie perhaps acquires independent group of restaurants (5)
CHAIN : CHAN(an example of which/perhaps, is Charlie Chan, fictional police detective) containing(acquires) I(abbrev. for “Independent”, a politician with no affiliation any political party).
19. Trendy length uniform adopted by guard to show authority (9)
INFLUENCE : IN(trendy/fashionable) + [ L(abbrev. for “length” in physical dimensions) + U(abbrev. for “uniform”)] contained in(adopted by) FENCE(guard/barrier to prevent or control access).
23. Firm butt delivered (8)
STUBBORN : STUB(butt/a shortened remnant of, say, a cigarette or pencil) + BORN(delivered, as applied to babies’ births).
24. Notes poet describing mature woman (6)
GRANNY : N,N(2 x abbrev. for “note”) contained in(… describing) GRAY(Thomas, English poet who wrote “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”).
26. Trip won’t half divide? (5,2,3)
SPLIT IN TWO : Can’t find a reasonable parsing, only speculations. Eg. Anagram of(Trip) “won’t“=”town”, an example of which is SPLIT in Croatia + [IN TWO](half).
Edit: Please refer to comments for the parsing.
27. Kink in pot – sent back (4)
LOOP : Reversal of(… – sent back) POOL(pot/the collective amount of players’ stakes as the prize in gambling).
28. No Parisian soldier takes Holy Communion having come back to get haircut (7)
CHIGNON : Reversal of(… having come back) [NON(“no” in the language of a Parisian) + GI(a soldier in the US Army) plus(takes) HC(abbrev. for “Holy Communion”)].
Defn: …/hairstyle.
29. New net I twist … again (7)
ENTWINE : Anagram of(… twist) NEW NET I.
Defn: …, ie. “twist” (in the clue).
Down
2. Popular queen meeting Spanish aunt resulting in inactivity (7)
INERTIA : IN(popular/trendy + ER(abbrev. for “Elizabeth Regina”, Queen Elizabeth) plus(meeting) TIA(“aunt” in Spanish).
3. Strip the dog? Some might say: hold off (5)
DEFER : Homophone of(…? Some might say) “de-fur”(whimsically, to remove/strip off the coat/fur of a dog).
4. Cross over by university theatre’s entrance in the fresh air (7)
OUTDOOR : Reversal of(… over) ROOD(a cross/crucifix) placed below(by, in a down clue) [OU(abbrev. for the Open University) + 1st letter of(…’s entrance) “theatre“].
6. Upset Teresa enunciates showing anxiety (6)
UNEASE : Hidden in(… showing) reversal of(Upset, in a down clue) “Teresa enunciates“.
7. Rate VAR in broadcast report (9)
NARRATIVE : Anagram of(… broadcast) RATE VAR IN.
8. Loves Mo ignoring back of runner (7)
NILOTIC : NIL & O(“nothing” & letter representing 0: 2 x “love” in tennis scores) + “tick”(a moment, “mo” in short form) minus its last letter(ignoring back).
Defn: …, the runner being the Nile River.
9. Confused deity not ultimately limited by speed? (4,2,2,5)
TIED UP IN KNOTS : Reversal of(… UP) TIED = “deity” minus its last letter(not ultimately) + IN (limited by/within) + KNOTS(speed in terms of sea-miles).
A partial reverse clue.
15. Doctor, one born British, meets Heather running slowly (9)
DRIBBLING : DR(abbrev. for “doctor”) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + B(abbrev. for “born”) + B(abbrev. for “British”) + LING(the common heather plant).
Defn: …, describing liquid falling slowly in drops.
18. Cheek expressing disgust after dwelling on the last character (7)
HUTZPAH : PAH!(expression of disgust) placed below(after, in a down clue) [HUT(a modest dwelling/residence) plus(on) Z(last character in the English alphabet)].
Defn: …/impudence.
20. Hat‘s on instrument (7)
LEGHORN : LEG(on, one side of the cricket pitch) + HORN(a wind musical instrument).
Defn: … made of the material of the same name/fine plaited straw.
21. Associate giving prisoner unfinished spliff (7)
CONJOIN : CON(short for “convict”/prisoner) + “joint”(a spliff/a cannabis cigarette) minus its last letter(unfinished …).
Defn: … as a verb.
22. Piece seen seldom in opera houses (6)
DOMINO : Hidden in(… houses) “seldom in opera“.
25. Permit unused but not at the beginning (5)
ALLOW : “fallow”(unused, in reference to land left uncultivated to let it recover its fertility) minus its 1st letter(but not at the beginning).
Lots of knotty fun although, not being an ex-scout, I only clicked the theme at the end. Favourites included the clever SPLIT IN TWO, TOILET ROLL, HANDGRIPS, HITCH, HUTZPAH, ENTWINE and DRIBBLING. New words, NOLITIC and CHIGNON. Very nice indeed.
Ta Kite & scchua.
I had ‘split’ = ‘rip’ and ‘won’t half’ = ‘wo’ so ‘trip won’t half’ becomes ‘trip wo’ becomes ‘RIP in TWO’.
I think the runner for Nilotic is the archetypal east African distance runner like our adopted Mo Farah
SPLIT IN TWO
Trip won’t half=T RIP WO
Rip=SPLIT, SPLIT IN T WO.
Somewhat convoluted. Maybe there is a cuter parsing.
Theme of knots and knotting, of course. Loads of references in the across clues.
Thank you Kite and scchua.
And not to forget
Thanks to Blogger and Setter. I really liked this puzzle – just right.
SPLIT IN TWO is rip inside two – half of won’t.
Thanks Kite and scchua
Tricky in places. I couldn’t parse SPLIT IN TWO, or account for the UP IN in 9d. I’ve only seen CHUTZPAH. I knew LEGHORN as the English name for Livorno in Italy and a type of chicken, but not a hat. The defintion for HANDGRIPS (LOI) was rather loose.
Some neat hiddens. Favourite DOMINO.
Thanks scchua. I was pleased to spot the theme, albeit after finishing.
Reef the rock band at 10 seemed apposite in a crossword context, as I believe their very name is a play on words/letters, being an anagrammatic reference to the band Free. Thanks too, to Kite for what looked impossible at first but untied very nicely, like all the best puzzles.
Yes I had similar problems with parsing 26a SPLIT IN TWO and 8d NILOTIC. But otherwise all good. Unfortunately, despite being around sailing boats a bit, I missed the “knotty” theme – didn’t realise how central the solve at 9d (TIED UP IN KNOTS) was. Many thanks to Kite and scchua.
ALLOW
Looks like FALLOW is the word intended by the setter.
(used about land) not used for growing plants, especially so that the quality of the land will improve.
KVa @11: my parsing as well.
I meant: FALLOW without the first letter.
A 2 tea- break puzzle.
Couldn’t parse SPLIT IN TWO and still can’t spot the theme which AlanC @1 has seen.
Another who couldn’t parse 26a, so thanks for the help. And saw the theme too late to make use of it.
For 25d I had [f]ALLOW = unused: a field “lying fallow” is one not planted with crops in a particular season.
Thanks scchua and Kite.
AlanC@12
Crossed.
Noted.
Thanks KVa, and Hovis. Blog corrected.
Janet @14: knots.
Nicely done and not too tricky, SPLIT IN TWO excepted. I didn’t spot the theme until I’d finished – not sure it would have helped me – but it’s a lovely category to pick with so many words that have utterly different alternative meanings. Might have been nice to see a bit more interlinking of the themers but that’s just wanting icing on my cake. TOIELT ROLL, HITCH, STUBBORN, INFLUENCE and CONJOIN my favourites.
Thanks Kite and scchua
I had to reveal three of these, including NILOTIC. I was initially thrown by DOMINO as I thought it was a play on Domingo (i.e. Placido). It didn’t make sense (not surprising!). I’m usually quite good at spotting hidden words but I think I was thrown by the fact there were two indicators: seen and houses. Anyway, much to enjoy. With thanks to Kite and scchua.
A chignon is not a hair cut it is a hairstyle. A type of bun at the back of the head as in the picture
Led astray with DRIVING for 5 at first.
Right answer, wrong reason – I thought a CALLOW person was inexperienced = unused.
Not the most elegant clues, for reasons stated by others above.
Re KVa and Quirister. Would CALLOW work for 25d? An unused person?
Guess what. I didn’t spot the theme! I’m not sure it would have helped but I did work my way through this relatively steadily. I did think Reef was pretty obscure for a mere ‘rock band’ definition being one hit wonders, though I did see them at Car Fest a few years ago. My LOI was Nilotic, a word I suspect I have very little use for. I’m more used to seeing flower for river but I guess runner is used as well. It’s was a complex clue for a pretty obscure word. (Grumble over!)
Thanks to Kite and scchua.
Sorry Roger @22. Crossing comments!
A good challenge from Kite, whom I don’t think I’ve seen before. Not the toughest but occupied me for a while.
As usual, with my bête noire re pop culture, I have to admit never having heard of REEF, but the write-in was fair. And I’ve always seen CHUTZPAH (a transliteration from the Hebrew and Yiddish) spelt thus, not minus the C – but Chambers allows both.
LEGHORN meaning hat was also new to me – I’ve only seen it as the English version of the Italian port/city Livorno, but having written it I love the misdirection: I was toying with BASSOON but couldn’t see BASSO as any kind of hat…
I didn’t parse OUTDOOR completely: I thought ‘over’ was doing double duty – or perhaps the initial O was left out of the wordplay – not having thought of ‘university’ as OU rather than just U. But now I see it, it’s fine.
So: favourites? I have to put SPLIT IN TWO as no.1 – it’s so rarely that you see a ‘reverse clue’ come across so effectively! Also TOILET ROLL for the naughtiness (shades of Paul!); STUBBORN (ditto); ENTWINE, NARRATIVE- amongst others.
Thanks to Kite and scchua.
will someone please tell me the theme?
I don’t think Kite is requiring us to have obscure music knowledge.
Definition 3 of REEF in Collins Online is:
“a vein of ore, esp one of gold-bearing quartz”.
Thanks to Kite and scchua
davey b: me @18.
Right: there are WINDSOR, RUNNING, REEF and GRANNY knots, a HITCH is a type of knot, and there are probably some others to ENTWINE you and leave you TIED UP IN KNOTS. No, I didn’t see it until I’d finished either. But I did check that Kite had a theme on his previous appearance, so it seemed likely that there was one.
I didn’t know the LEGHORN hat (and when will I ever spot on=leg?), never spelled HUTZPAH like that before, and got DEFUR the wrong way round.
A REEF actually is a band of rock as well as a rock band, thank goodness, as I don’t know the musical one.
Can’t say I am warming to Kite yet, though I did like TOILET ROLL.
I should have added, TIED UP IN KNOTS as another favourite. Another partially-reverse clue where ‘confused’ looks like the anagrind but isn’t… excellent!
Never heard of REEF as a musical rock band so must be pretty obscure: I just assumed it referred to an offshore band of rocks and didn’look any further.
Just the one tick for NILOTIC. Found this a bit loose in parts. Had to check HUTZPAH & LEGHORN were really words although I knew the FOGHORN LEGHORN cartoon character
REEF – a rock band – one hit wonders but what a hit – provide today’s earworm
BTW Chambers Thesaurus has hair style as a synonym for haircut
Ashamed to admit my first thought for VAR was “Value At Risk”
Cheers K&S
The definition “Rock band” for 10a could be the group alluded to by Bullhassocks @9 and JerryG @24, though I have never heard of them (I know Free, though). But I thought it was an underwater reef – a band of rock onto which ships may blunder (though a reef does not need to be underwater, of course: think ‘gold reef’). This took a while, especially NILOTIC. Thanks, Kite and scchua.
A very nice puzzle, with a few rough edges: broken grammar in the DOMINO clue (‘Piece played…’, extending the definition, to replace the faulty ‘seen’ maybe); lying rather than fairly misleading punctuation in the DEFER clue (defur is indicated as it stands); and ugly definition in HANDGRIPS (‘those coveringS for rackets’ or ‘those covering rackets’ work (though not in the surface), but the words written mean something different). Enjoyed everything else very much. Nicely done knotty stuff as well as the knots themselves.
Gladys @30 – thanks, I missed ‘rock band’ = band of rock = REEF entirely!
And I should have spotted all the KNOTS. Possibly CHIGNON could be described as one too – I assume to create one you have to tie your hair in a sort of ‘knot’.
Not something I can achieve with what’s left of my hair!
No comments on ‘rock band’ when I started mine, but…!!
I am surprised that almost everyone seems to suppose that REEF alluded to an obscure rock group. I agree with Tassie Tim @34. A REEF, to quote the Cambridge dictionary is “a line of rocks or sand just above or just below the surface of the sea” – in other words, a band of rock. That seemed perfectly sound as a definition to me.
bodycheetah @33: yes it was a great song, thanks for that. I assumed the clue alluded to the group.
That was hard to disentangle but rewarding.
Could SPLIT IN TWO refer to Alexander’s solution to the Gordian Knot?
Thanks Kite and scchua.
Completed without seeing the theme. Had to lookup NILOTIC and CHIGNON but word play was fair.
Over all quite hard work.
Thanks both.
Great theme, which we missed of course…. found many of the definitions lacked precision, the worst being HANDGRIPS.
Found this tough and fiddly. Some very clever clues, particularly liked the concise and clever STUBBORN. Thought TOILET ROLL clue of the day – who’d have thought it? Couldn’t quite parse SPLIT IN TWO. Had to look up NILOTIC as last one in – nothing else fitted. Are there any other such adjectives around that describe any of the world’s rivers in such a way? Does Thamesian exist as a word, for instance? Learnt quite a few pieces of GK today along the way…
Interesting puzzle. Self-referentally knotty in parts (though I didn’t spot, or look for, the theme).
Like muffin @8, the parsing of SPLIT IN TWO was beyond me, chutzpah is the only spelling I knew, and LEGHORN registered only as a chicken from Livorno, but I got there with the wordplay.
Lots of good words and some neat constructions, with some bizarre surfaces.
The clue for NILOTIC has a superficial reference to Mo Farah, though he is of Somali rather than Sudanese origin. I knew the word only as the name of a language family, of which Maasai is probably the best known.
Thanks to S&B
JamesG@23
I thought only of FARROW and it worked for me.
CALLOW: I am not sure.
FALLOW*
I agree with Shirley@21 re 28ac a CHIGNON is not a haircut, it’s a hairstyle – a knot or coil of hair arranged on the back of a woman’s head.
I could not parse 3d or 26ac – ah, very clever!
Favourites: REEF, NILOTIC.
New for me: HUTZPAH which I nomrally see as CHUTZPAH.
Thanks, both.
In LEGHORN I remembered the leg=on for once, so I could assemble the word, and was left flat baffled. A leghorn is a chicken, since when is it a hat? The blog and Wikipedia this morning explained. Is it Georgian?
I’ve never seen “chutzpah” without its first letter. I would never have solved this’n.
A CHIGNON is not a haircut. A hair style, yes, but you couldn’t create one by cutting.
I’ve never heard of REEF the rock band either. Like Gladys@30 I thought of a reef as a band of rock under water — a bit stretched, I’m afraid.
Thanks to Kite and scchua — as ever, I enjoyed the pictures.
Just a point, regardless of what dictionaries say, a fallow field is worked but not sown. The idea is to encourage weed seeds to germinate and rhizomes to exhaust themselves to clear weeds and provide green manure.
This required two sessions with tea and toast providing fuel for the second. A friend who completes The Times cryptic had shared LEGHORN a while back when it appeared there; a significant help!
Not keen on the definition of my LOI – NILOTIC. Only the wordplay and crossers got me there.
Good workout though – thanks to both Kite and scchua.
Gervase @44 Mo Salah? And he’s Egyptian
Enjoyable but still bemused by SPLIT IN TWO?
I found this rather easier than the last Kite puzzle I tackled, so perhaps I was on his/her wavelength today.
My quibblet is the same as Michelle’s and Shirley’s and Valentine’s: a CHIGNON is a hairstyle or hairdo, not a haircut. Chambers may maintain that haircut can be a synonym for hairstyle – but it doesn’t work the other way around: if I put my hair up in a chignon I’m simply fastening it in a particular way, not getting it cut.
But, like I said, it’s a quibblet, nothing more.
I’m another who saw REEF as meaning rock rather than rock band; like others, this is the first time I’ve seen CHUTZPAH spelled without the C – not that that made it difficult to solve.
STUBBORN, DEFER and TOILET ROLL made me grin – and I only spotted the theme after finishing!
Many thanks to Kite and scchua
Thanks to scchua for a great, colourful blog and to all the contributors/posters.
My intention for REEF was for a band of rock, just serendipity that it is also a rock band. I take the points raised about CHIGNON; Collins gives: The style in which hair has been cut, which I assumed was near enough but I bow to the experts. Unfortunately, hairstyle wouldn’t have worked very well in the surface. (c)HUTZPAH is an alternative in all the main dictionaries, including Chambers. NILOTIC was difficult but hopefully the wordplay led to the right answer. There are 9 knots in there, excluding TIED UP IN KNOTS.
bodycheetah @41: True, but he is a footballer rather than a runner
I’m bemused so many saw REEF as referring to a rock band rather than being a band of rock!
I missed the theme completely and couldn’t parse SPLIT IN TWO, but now I think it’s a great clue. My other favourite was NILOTIC.
Thanks Kite and scchua
Was wondering early on if there was a drug theme going on with the words “Charlie”, “trip”, “speed”, “spliff” and “pot” all appearing in the clues, but it seems to be without significance.
Roman@57… and I suppose if the invasive knotweed had appeared anywhere we might have been even more perplexed as to the main theme….
I just thought of coral reef, and thought that was OK for a band of rock
Some clever ones here but not quite on the wavelength of this one, had to do a lot of revealing. Though sometimes that is certainly the clue being fair and me not being clever to work out something out of my usual rut–after staring at TIED UP IN KNOTS for a while it clicked, and same with HANDGRIPS. Missed the theme completely though.
However I wish that HUTZPAH, which can be found in all the usual dictionaries, had stayed there. I went so far as to search the British National Corpus and it is found there only once.
Thanks to Kite and scchua, hope that next time my mind is a bit less 9d!
ronald@43 I can only think of Rhenish and maybe Gangetic though the latter is not in Chambers.
Re 10a REEF, I too thought of coral reef, but then hesitated, because a coral reef is not a band of rock. It wasn’t until I realized that a reef doesn’t have to be made of coral that I wrote it in with confidence.
Michele@47, could a “man-bun” be called a CHIGNON?
I think this is only the second Kite I have tackled, and that might explain the chewiness of the puzzle. After the fact it all seemed fair and well constructed. More Kite please, so I can get on his wavelength.
Favourite was 3d DEFER for the excellent aural wordplay. Thanks Kite and sschua for the engaging puzzle and blog.
Peter T @61 & Ronald @43: Amazonian
Petert & ronald: Although such terms are obviously derived from the names of rivers, they are used more often to describe things geographically related, rather than the rivers themselves: Nilotic fro peoples and languages, Rhenish for wines, Mississippian for a division of a geological period.
… Amazonian for rainforest 🙂
Thanks Kite, that was enjoyable. I liked many of the clues including CHAIN (nice to see Charlie mean more than the letter C), STUBBORN (nice compact surface), GRANNY, CHIGNON (a new word for me that was obtainable by the crystal clear wordplay), and OUTDOOR. I couldn’t fully parse TIED UP IN KNOTS or the convoluted SPLIT IN TWO and I missed the theme but I wasn’t looking for one. Thanks scchua for the blog.
Tony Santucci@66…I agree – about the Charlie Chan reference – as immediately I was thinking about the very nice Chinese restaurant of that name (with an added apostrophe) in the city where I live…
A real game of two halves. I thought a write in was on the cards early on, as I bagged WINDSOR and REEF (parsed in the marine geology sense like others, though I’m sure it’s an intentional double allusion) right away, which yielded the theme and hence 9d. But I got bogged down by the spelling of HUTZPAH, an inability to parse SPLIT IN TWO and the crossing LEGHORN and GRANNY (an intersection of habitual personal weak GK points: millinery and poetry). I thought TOILET ROLL was clever and amusing and liked the “buffet” misdirection in HITCH. Kite is new to me, to my recollection, so thanks to them for the puzzle and to schhua for another lovely blog.
Thanks for the blog, good puzzle with a bit of head-scratching in parts. SPLIT IN TWO was very clever. Would be good to see Kite more often.
What is the definitive parsing for SPLIT IN TWO? I’ve seen several suggestions, but haven’t been convinced by any yet.
[Roz @69: I agree — more Kite as well as more Soup and more Jack would be fine by me.]
TRIP + WONT half i.e. WO gives TRIPWO = T( RIP ) WO
I spent far too much time thinking about someone using a whole TOILET ROLL to do whatever is necessary to their bottom, before finally shrugging and writing it in.
No such leeway for SPLIT IN TWO, as far as I’m concerned. (I got the answer from definition and ennumeration, but couldn’t write it in without parsing the clue, or getting a confirmatory P in 18d, which was not immediately forthcoming.)
If the answer is a clue – synonym for SPLIT inserted into T and WO to make ‘trip wo’ – shouldn’t there also be a clue in the answer for NT to add to it? ( Split in two National Trust?) Because the ur-clue says ‘trip won’t‘.
And if ‘half’ is an indication to take NT off ‘won’t‘, aren’t we now looking at two clues, one for taking off NT to leave WO, and the other – the reverse clue – where ‘split in two’ is the clue and the answer is formed by the remainder of ‘won’t’ together with the first letter of ‘trip’? (I get that T RIP is a lift and separate.) Plus NT. And now my head really is spinning.
I understand the idea, but I just don’t think it works. (The number of commenters who also didn’t parse this one is a bit of a hint that I’m not alone.) And if it doesn’t work then it’s not really fair. Lord only knows what the Ximeneans make of it. It’s all far too convoluted for the likes of us simpletons here on the Guardian Cryptic. Save it for a Genius, please.
Thanks to Kite for everything else (especially liked DEFUR!) and scchua for the blog.
Thanks Roz
I think I get it, but it’s way out of the range of a daily puzzle. I agree with SH @73. In general I don’t like clues where you have to guess the answer, then (excrutiatingly in this case) work out the parsing. Dreadful clue, as far as I’m concerned 🙂
Did this with a lot of groans but am surprised that Charlie=Chan got no comments. The Charlie Chan series was so long ago that I thought I was the last one remembering it! Pre-TV and very racist by modern standards. Still there were some clever clues and the knotty theme was worthwhile.
sheffieldhatter@73
SPLIT IN TWO
(Refer M@4)
I think we can proceed from the clue itself instead of
working out backward from the solution.
T RIP WO=RIP IN TWO=SPLIT IN TWO.
Hovis and AlanC said the same thing in different words,
I think.
I saw the theme just in time to enter GRANNY. Some tricky clues here but enjoyable nonetheless. Thank you Kite and scchua.
Reef = rock band or band of rock? Brilliant! I wonder if the band realised that when choosing their name?
Spotted the theme early on this one which never usually happens for me
I think I get the reversal in Split in Two, but I struggle with the absence of the indicator of ‘up’ in the clue to Tied Up in Knots ….
@80 Deity without the ‘y’ is ‘Deit’, which could also be described as ‘Tied Up’ in a down clue. I don’t love the clue personally, because it’s the sort you only parse after you’ve written it in, and stared at it for about five minutes.
AlexF @73; deit is TIED UP, if that helps.
What a delight – all ways round; Scchua’s blog too
(SPLIT IN TWO – great fun; one I solved “forwards” with no need for post-solve – parsing as KVa@76 suggests, though I wouldn’t have minded – it still would have raised a smile; and quite right and more than acceptable in a daily, no matter what others may think!)
Many thanks
Thanks Niall @80 and Kite @81 – I love the helpfulness of this blog & setters’ willingness to help the slower members of the class like me!
As this puzzle was posted as the Guardian Cryptic again on 14th November, I did this puzzle for a second time today and still had to come here to check parsings of 26ac, 9d.
Thanks again, both.
Americans know to adapt their spellings for these puzzles: -ize becomes -ise, -or becomes -our, etc. I did not expect to have to adapt all of the Yiddish terms as well, but this is two in the past week. SHMUCK and HUTZPAH are not spelled that way in the US.