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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29334.
The Don’s vocabulary out in force, with 3D MARAVEDI, 25A RATHOLES containing THOLES, particularly with the verbal sense of endures, and perhaps 26A BELDAM; for some, there may also be the difficulty of a little UK general knowledge. But, as usual with Pasquale, all is well constructed and clearly set out.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CLAMMY |
Sweaty Conservative confronting Labour politician (6)
|
| A charade of C (‘Conservative’) plus LAMMY (David, Shadow Foreign Secretary, ‘Labour politician’). | ||
| 4 | SCRAG END |
Meat in cold paper to dispatch all around (5,3)
|
| An envelope (‘all around’) of C (‘cold’) plus RAG (‘paper’) in SEND (‘dispatch’), for a cut of lamb taken from the neck. | ||
| 9 | LUSTRE |
Shine as one wanting desperately to be heard (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘to be heard’) LUSTER (someone who lusts, ‘one wanting desperately’). | ||
| 10 | ATYPICAL |
Strange capital with unknown content, not as you would expect (8)
|
| An envelope (‘with … content’) of Y (mathematical ‘unknown’) in ATPICAL, an anagram (‘strange’) of ‘capital’. | ||
| 11 | SERVICE STATION |
Engineer vets car on site where one’s been brought in – here? (7,7)
|
| An envelope (‘where … ‘s been brought in’) of I (‘one’) in SERVCESTATION, an anagram (‘engineer’) of ‘vets car on site’ | ||
| 13 | BREADBOARD |
What’s put on the table, raised audibly by directors? (10)
|
| A charade of BREAD, sounding like (‘audibly’) BRED (‘raised’) plus BOARD (‘directors’). | ||
| 14 | AGRA |
City’s sexual stimulant knocking six out (4)
|
| A subtraction: [vi]AGRA (‘sexual stimulant’) minus VI (‘knocking six out’). | ||
| 16 | RYDE |
Daughter entering one town or another (4)
|
| An envelope (‘entering’) of D (‘daughter’) in RYE (‘one town’). | ||
| 18 | INAPPOSITE |
Trendy program on old computer location not appropriate (10)
|
| A charade of IN (‘trendy’) plus APP (‘program’) plus O (‘old’) plus SITE (‘computer location’ – the word ‘computer’ is hardly necessary, but perhaps suggests website). | ||
| 21 | IN THE ASCENDANT |
One restructured NHS attendance, becoming more influential (2,3,9)
|
| A charade of I (‘one’) plus NTHEASCENDANT, an anagram (‘restructured’) of ‘NHS attendance’. | ||
| 23 | TROPICAL |
‘Up-to-the-minute’ is about right for ‘very hot’ (8)
|
| An envelope (‘is about’) of R (‘right’) in TOPICAL (‘up to the minute’). | ||
| 24 | FOURTH |
Scottish river visible around posh quarter (6)
|
| An envelope (‘visible around’) of U (‘posh’) in FORTH (‘Scottish river’). | ||
| 25 | RATHOLES |
Artist endures rooms that aren’t very nice (8)
|
| A charade of RA (Royal Academy member, ‘artist’) plus THOLES (‘endures’). | ||
| 26 | BELDAM |
Old woman blamed for being awkward? (6)
|
| An anagram (‘for being awkward’) of ‘blamed’; alternatively spelled beldame. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COLT |
Young player left in bed (4)
|
| No, not CLOT. An envelope (‘in’) of L (‘left’) in COT (‘bed’). | ||
| 2 | AUSTERE |
A superior holy person before becoming self-abnegating (7)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus U (‘superior’) plus ST (saint, ‘holy person’) plus ERE (‘before’) | ||
| 3 | MARAVEDI |
Mum showed great enthusiasm when given one old coin (8)
|
| A charade of MA (‘mum’) plus RAVED (‘showed greatg enthusiasm’) plus (‘when given’) I (Roman numeral or impersonal personal pronoun, ‘one’), for an old Spanish coin. | ||
| 5 | CATASTROPHE |
Lion perhaps a pet? That leads to explosive disaster (11)
|
| A charade of CAT (‘lion, perhaps’) plus ‘a’ plus STROP (bad mood, ‘pet’) plus (‘that leads to’) HE (high ‘explosive’). | ||
| 6 | APPEAL |
Seem to have a change of direction? That could be it (6)
|
| APPEAR (‘seem’) with the R changed to an L (‘to have a change of direction’). We are back yet again with Clara Bow, the it girl. | ||
| 7 | ETCHING |
Attractive but not loud, creating an impression (7)
|
| A subtraction: [f]ETCHING (‘attractive’) minus the F (‘but not loud’). | ||
| 8 | DELINEATE |
Describe energy policy during appointment (9)
|
| An envelope (‘during’) of E (‘energy’) plus LINE (‘policy’) in DATE (‘appointment’). | ||
| 12 | CROWN ESTATE |
Bird had to protect its home in national property (5,6)
|
| An envelope (‘to protect’) of NEST (‘its home’) in CROW (‘bird’) plus ATE (‘had’). | ||
| 13 | BARRISTER |
Exceptional arbiter’s primarily real legal expert (9)
|
| An anagram (‘exceptional’) of ‘arbiters’ plus R (‘primarily Real’). | ||
| 15 | COLD SORE |
Aged with hint of spasms in the heart – the effect of a virus (4,4)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) og OLD (‘aged’) plus S (‘hint of Spasms’) in CORE (‘the heart’). | ||
| 17 | DETROIT |
City right for some foreigners outside – and for their sort occupying it (7)
|
| An envelope (‘outside and … occupying it’) of ET (‘their sort’ – the Extraterrestrial being the ultimate foreigner) in DROIT (‘right for some foreigners’ -this time merely the French). | ||
| 19 | IGNORED |
I blush – woman ultimately hugged and treated disrespectfully? (7)
|
| An envelope (‘hugged’) of N (‘womaN ultimately’) in I GO RED (‘I blush’). | ||
| 20 | MERINO |
Sheep tick evident around Ireland (6)
|
| An envelope (‘evident around’) of ERIN (poetic, ‘Ireland’) in MO (moment, ‘tick’). | ||
| 22 | SHEM |
Female and male who survived the Flood (4)
|
| A charade of SHE (‘female’) plus M (‘male’), for one of Noah’s sons. |
Pasquale is in my “Good” list with an added note “plenty of Britishisms”. And I certainly struggled with the two UK towns (though admittedly quite well known), the UK river and the UK politician. But hey, this is a British crossword, so I can’t complain. 😉
Couldn’t parse CATASTROPHE, as these meanings of both “pet” and “strop” are not in my lexicon (although I do vaguely recall having encountered tham at some stage in Crossword Land). Parsing DETROIT was beyond me too. There were five unknowns: SHEM, MARAVEDI, SCRAG END, BELDAM & “thole” to endure.
So not all plain sailing, but enjoyable nevertheless. Thanks Pasquale & PeterO.
Finished this very quickly, was fortunate to do so, as MARAVEDI and THOLES were new to me and couldn’t parse four or five. One of those days where everything just seemed to flow…
Thanks so much to PeterO, I always appreciate your early blogs and thank you to Pasquale for the puzzle.
Re 17: I think DROIT is ‘right for some foreigners’ (i.e. French) & ET is ‘and for their sort’ (also French).
Thank you Peter O. Your intro was apposite for me.
DETROIT was my last to parse, only I had it differently.
DROIT (French right) outside ET, and for their sort (the French).
Oh, as KVa said.
Me@4. Correction, as Flavia said@3. Sorry Flavia. Had a glimpse of the V and A, after the event with the countdown coming.
paddymelon@4
DETROIT
Thanks for remembering me. 😀
MARAVEDI the only unknown. Beldam sans Merci I thought I knew from a Keats’ poem, but it turns out it is La belle dame sans merci!
DETROIT defied my parsing, so thanks to several correspondents.
Thanks, also PeterO and Pasquale
I do like MERINO SCRAG END in a slow cooker. Some people wouldn’t call it meat, but they don’t know what they’re missing.
I particularly liked the way the anagram of blamed for BELDAM was indicated. Didn’t know the word, and was fixated on bedlam, but the crossers wouldn’t have it.
“that leads to” in CATASTROPHE led me down the wrong path. I still think ”that” in the middle is awkward in the grammar of the surface and wordplay.
I parsed the last 2 letters as HE for helium, an explosive in hot air balloons (high explosive), but I now see that helium was the preferred gas for hot air balloons, as it was non flammable in most circumstances. And one of the factors in the Hindenburg catastrophe, with hydrogen gas, was that the USA refused to supply helium to the German government of the day.
Was wondering what the purpose of “computer” was in 18a, but web site is probably it, as PeterO suggests.
Another for ET = French “and” in DETROIT, but if the surface were an animal it would have to be taken out and shot.
Yep French right round French and it was. Agree re slow-cooked merino, pdm @8, melts in your mouth. Came across thole for put up with somewhere recently, whereas the Labour polly and the coin were nho but gettable. So all pretty straight, thx PnP.
My top faves:
CATASTROPHE and DETROIT.
BELDAM
She is not to be blamed. Sounds like ageism.
CATASTROPHE
‘He’ is noble. Not to be blamed. Sounds like gasism!
Liked the smooth surface (well. with a lion as a pet, whatever little life one may have will not be smooth, I think).
For the ‘pet’, we have ‘cat’ as well as ‘strop’ (tho in a different sense). Liked this misdirection.
SERVICE STATION
Isn’t it meant to be a CAD?
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO!
[Half a century ago I called them service stations. Remember when you could drive in, wind down the window, and ask “Please fill ‘er up, check the oil, water, tyres and battery and clean the windscreen”? Those were the days. Nowadays I use the term “petrol station”.]
KVa@11. 🙂 And I think you’re right about the CAD.
[GDU@12. You were asking for a lot! I remember my local ‘service station’ coming out to fill ‘er up, about 30+ years ago, one of the last, and that’s before (I think] I looked decidedly old and doddery with a walking stick. Now I really appreciate it when someone offers to carry my bag to the car with heavy milk etc which I’ve got in store. As for the oil and water, and tyres, and windscreen, I always used to do that myself, but can’t now, which could lead to potentially serious consequences. Now there’s an idea for enterprise in my ‘retirement’. Co-opt some younger, fitter, unemployed people in a franchise. WIN WIN WIN. Servo, me and the young ones.]
GDU @1. I got RYDE fairly readily, because both are also Australian towns: Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, and Ryde in the suburbs of Sydney.
I got all but 3d here, but there were quite a few that I couldn’t parse fully, so thanks to PeterO for shining the light.
Mostly straightforward I thought, but the parsing of RATHOLES and AUSTERE escaped me. NHO of RYDE, but I have heard of RYE so no problem. Also BELDAM, MARAVEDI and SHEM needed google checks after decoding the very clear clueing. Not sure I’ll ever want to use the first of those, mind. Thanks for the fun Pasquale and for the blog PeterO, especially for explaining AUSTERE which is now my favourite.
GDU@12 and paddymelon@13 may be interested to know that we still have service stations here in Japan, but they are increasingly being displaced by self-service as happened in most economies some decades ago. Japan has held out against automation in a number of service industries until the declining population has made it impossible to carry on as before.
Nho the Labour polly in CLAMMY but what else could it be. I was also pondering the ‘computer’ in inappoSITE. I’d have gone for “page location”. Fail on parsing DETROIT, but I prefer the et = and as it makes the surface much better (sorry PeterO). wrt RYDE, there’s so many suburbs here named after places in the Old Dart. That’s just one of them just down the road from me as is Epping where I used to live. Preston where I was born is a suburb of Melbourne. Sydney suburbs named after English locations include Liverpool, Cheltenham, Kensington, Newport, Paddington, St Ives, Ramsgate and no doubt many others.
Enjoyable puzzle.
New for me: town of RYDE; SHEM , son of Noah; THOLE = endure; MARAVEDI.
I could not parse 20d apart from ERIN = Ireland.
Thanks, both.
Geoff@12 – I agree on the difference between service/petrol stations…
Hadn’t heard of MARAVEDI or THOLES but as usual with Pasquale the wordplay was clear enough to get me there.
While like Dave Ellison @7 I thought of Keats’ poem, the form BELDAM didn’t throw me too much because I was aware of Roy Beldam (1925-2010), an appeal judge who was once confronted with an angry litigant brandishing a gun. ‘Madam, justice cannot be dispensed at the barrel of a gun’, he is reported to have said. He must have said it very impressively, for she fled. He was one of the victims of COVID, but you’re allowed to be the victim of something when you’re 95.
SERVICE STATIONs – ah, I remember those. “Shots” of alleged upper cylinder lubricant, too. Those were the days, writes greybeard of 72.
Thanks to Pasquale for a most enjoyable puzzle and to PeterO for a very prompt blog.
A very pleasant solve, many thanks to Pasquale and PeterO
Good clean fun with the usual smattering of Biblical references and lesser-spotted vocab nicely clued.
I’d not heard of RYDE, but knew RYE as my family’s from the area, so took a punt. Thought that one rather tricky, maybe even for some UK solvers.
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO.
I knew we’d had THOLE before and on checking I see it was (of course) Pasquale again, in 27,940, a puzzle that also contained that memorable fish the TAUTOG. What stuck in my mind was a particular comment (Roberto @36): “All those who don’t like it will have to thole in silence while dining on a steamed tautog.”
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO.
Thole is Yorkshire dialect (it’s one of the words “translated” on a mug my daughter acquired living there, like this).
I found this a quicker solve than Pasquale often is, with only one unknown, the MARAVEDI.
Thank you to PeterO and Pasquale.
Haha! Well remembered, Lord Jim. The thole tinkled the faintest of bells but was forced to dive for reference for the coin.
All over far too quickly for such a pleasant solve.
Many thanks, both.
Typical Pasquale
1 had to be CLAMMY-just didnt know whether to google AMMY or LAMMY so thanks Peter O-I wish him well!
The Don on good form here.
Very straightforward apart from the words highlighted by PeterO, although I remembered SHEM, (Ham and Japheth) from relentless visits to Sunday School. paddymelon @8: I must try SCRAG END some time. My favourites were CLAMMY, IN THE ASCENDANT, CROWN ESTATE and COLD SORE.
Ta Pasquale & PeterO
Disappointed to discover that Rido is not a Pasqualean term for another. CROWN ESTATE was my favourite.
I have to hang my head in shame for failing to parse DETROIT: been living in France for 50 years and still couldn’t see it.
I must have missed the previous appearance of THOLE and needed to look that one up to confirm its existence. The coin, I worked out from the WP and it rings faint bells. Some very enjoyable constructions in here with DETROIT, CROWN ESTATE, COLD SORE, SHEM and the &littish SERVICE STATION being my favourites.
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO
I admit to revealing DETROIT, but I
liked the parsing (the “and” version rather than the alien). My dictionary gives THOLE as Scots – I remembered that and MARAVEDI from somewhere or other.
I doubt if the SCRAG END of my childhood was MERINO. Not sure how easy it is to get these days: it was the scrag end as opposed to “best” end of neck – a very cheap cut with lots of bones, but tasty when cooked well.
Anyone else think the daughter in one town or another might have been Nora?
[TimC@17: I have some friends who live in Shorncliffe, near Sandgate, Kent and another set who emigrated to Shorncliffe, near Sandgate, Brisbane. It can get confusing.]
Typically Donnish puzzle, with the usual ecclesiastical reference and some fairly recondite vocab.
MARAVEDI was the only unknown for me. BELDAM I recalled from Keats’s ‘The Eve of St Agnes’. I remember enough OT stories to recognise the sons of Noah (traditionally believed to be the ancestors of various ethnicities – SHEM was thought to be the forefather of the Near and Middle Eastern peoples, hence the term ‘Semitic’).
Clearly clued and lightly flavoured with chestnuts. I particularly liked the two longish anagrams and DETROIT (parsed by me with a French ‘and’).
Thanks to S&B
Good and interesting puzzle and blog – thank you both. I took Service Station along the Motorway Services line – where fuel is merely one of the services being offered. Several new words for me – but then that’s one of my reasons for doing puzzles.
A relatively easy one, as I solved all but 5 of the clues in just over 15 mins but 5 left unsolved in the bottom half, so DNF. I certainly think of ‘thole’ as being a ‘gey Scoa’esh wurrud’ that I believe appears in some of Burns’s poems but perhaps it’s also a ‘Yorkshirism’.
Maravedi, Beldam, and Tholes were new to me but did not get in the way of solving. Also NHO of Lammy.
Regarding SITE in 18A, I immediately thought of the expression “on site” which meant being physically at the location of a computer, typically to diagnose and fix problems: “an engineer will be on site today”. It was universal in the computer industry in my time, but I don’t know whether it was specific to our industry.
I remembered MARAVEDI from G&S Iolanthe “not worth a maravedi” (rhyming with “won fair lady”) – also as Gervase@32 mentions the usual Pasquale biblical reference to Shem – which reminds me that both sides in Gaza could be described as ‘semitic. .
That was a nice brain tickler today. MARAVEDI was a new word to me, but the crossers helped. As an exiled Yorkshireman, I remember hearing “thoil” meaning to tolerate or endure. I thought “thole” was was more Scottish as LTL@34 says.
AGRA elicited a groan, and IGNORED raised a smile too. A fun Tuesday altogether. Thank you to the Don & PeterO.
It’s appropriate that DETROIT is clued in French, since the city’s name is derived from French. The Detroit River was named by early French explorers–détroit means strait, and since the river flows from Lake St Clair to Lake Erie, it is a strait of sorts. The city is named after the river.
[I imagine that the Detroit got that name instead of the St Clair (which connects Lake St Clair with Lake Huron) or the St Mary’s (connects Huron and Superior) because as you’re going upriver, and thus inland, the Detroit is the first of the bunch. Well, the second–but the first is the Niagara (between Lakes Erie and Ontario) which is, um, non-navigable.]
Very satisfying solve apart of course from the Tholes element of RATHOLES which was a complete unknown. Wasn’t quite sure exactly how APPEAL worked, and did think that DETROIT might be a trial for Francophobes. Those little quibbles aside, I did enjoy this, even the easily gettable from the clueing obscure coinage.
Gervase @33: many thanks for the Semitic derivation, fascinating.
TYPICAL Pasquale with precise cluing for the unknowns. I’m glad that RYE and RYDE are also known outside the UK (not so for LAMMY unfortunately).
I liked the good surface and anagram for SERVICE STATION and the wordplays for CATASTROPHE, COLD SORE and for some foreigners DETROIT.
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO.
Thole turns up in one of Michael Innes’s novels, so that was was fine. On the other hand Masefield’s stately Spanish galleon’s gold moidores were a bit of a distraction for 3D.
Thank you Blogger and Setter.
Surprisingly straightforward! All good fun and the more unusual words were clearly signposted.
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO
Having worked out the Sweaty/CLAMMY Conservative at 1ac and then coming across RYDE later on made me think of the tiny, in a basement museum in that IOW town that I visited last May. A magnificent display of just about the entire collection of saucy/smutty postcards produced by Donald McGill. Certainly worth a visit there after hopping off the hovercraft from Southsea….
Excellent, never heard of THOLES but solved by the definition.
Gave up with 9 blanks. Just too obscure. The DETROIT parsing was just plain rubbish.
I have a theory that non-prize puzzles have got harder because they assume you can do check/reveal online. Tough for us hard copy solvers.
I had heard of David Lammy but not Ryde (or tholes, which Merriam-Webster says tholes in some Northern English dialects). Also had to search to make sure it wasn’t maraveid or something. Overall very fair and clever, though, thanks Pasquale and PeterO!
The whole world @n
I must be doing too many crosswords: seeing ET in 17D DETROIT, I automatically settled on its significance, and did not even stop to think of the far more appropriate French.
KVa @11
11A SERVICE STATION: Yes. I could/should have referred to the clue as having an extended definition (not an &lit, since ‘here’ does not contribute to the wordplay). The term CAD as generally used covers both.
I’m guessing this was at the easier end of Pasquale’s repertoire as I just completed it while jet lagged and on a tour of Saigon’s finest craft beer bars. Most of it on autopilot to be fair. Enjoyed expanding my vocab via the excellently precise wordplay
Cheers P&P
D(ET)ROIT Mon Dieu!
Brilliant FrankieG@50!
Dave Ellison@7 La belle dame sans merci was a beautiful (if cruel) lady. A beldam is a hag. Go figure.
Enjoyed this one. Thanks to Pasquale and PeterO.
PeterO@48
DETROIT
The whole world @n 😀
SERVICE STATION
Looks like my understanding is somewhat flawed.
I have been thinking that CAD meant that it is a clue-as-def but not an &lit.
And ‘Extended Def’ when the clue reads like a description associated
with the solution rather than defining the solution.
From what you say, ‘CAD’ could mean ‘& lit’ too (I have seen a couple of other
bloggers use ‘CAD’ to mean ‘& lit’).
I will correct myself keeping your comment/feedback in view.
Thanks.
Thanks for the blog, good range of neat clues here , CROWN ESTATE a clever construction .
The sun will cross the Celestial Equator at 3.06am tomorrow GMT , try and celebrate in the traditional way.
KVa @53: an & lit is where the entire clue is both the wordplay and the definition, as in “I’m one involved with cost (9)” for ECONOMIST. A semi & lit is where the whole clue is (or could be) the definition but the wordplay does not constitute the whole clue, for example “Denomination spreading abroad ‘Christ doeth much’? (9,6)” for METHODIST CHURCH, the first word not being part of the wordplay. (Examples from the Chambers Crossword Manual.)
CAD, or clue-as-definition, is a term invented by our blogger Pierre who felt that “& lit” was perhaps not very easily understandable particularly for beginners. As the name suggests it applies to any clue where the whole clue is the definition, and therefore to both & lit and semi & lit clues.
… a semi & lit could also be called an extended definition.
I’m another who got RYDE from Rye in Kent. AGRA made me grin, and it was nice to see Ireland clued as “Erin” for a change.
I enjoyed the surfaces to 11A & 13D – also the delicious, deceptive simplicity to the clues for SHEM and FOURTH.
Thanks Pasquale and PeterO
Lord Jim@53
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
I have been describing such clues in three different ways:
1. &lit (where the complete clue is the def and also every word of the clue is utilised in (required for) the wordplay.
Just as you have explained. I am a little finicky about & lit and so are many bloggers and commenters.
2. CAD: Clue-as-def only to say that the entire clue works as the def but it’s not an &lit (there are words in the clue not utilised in the wordplay). This part of my understanding seems flawed. I intend to mention ‘CAD, but not & lit’ henceforth instead of just mentioning ‘CAD’. 🙂
3. Extended Def: My view as mentioned @53.
I am somewhat averse to using the description ‘semi &lit’ as of date. I may change my view one of these days.
Thanks again.
PS: Normally, I indicate which solution my comment/comments is/are related to. SERVICE STATION initiated this.
Hey – when you are listed as doing it at 2.48 a.m are you in Australia ? What time do you get the crossword ?
As PeterO said, all clearly set out, a Pasquale trademark. I got everything but BELDAM despite a lot new words (and people) just by following the wordplay. I thought DETROIT was genius.
Thanks Pasquale for a stimulating crossword with LUSTRE, SERVICE STATION, IN THE ASCENDANT, FOURTH, and APPEAL being my picks. I missed RYDE and guessed RILO instead even though Rio is more than a ‘town’. [Rilo’s apparently not a town anywhere but it is a word that describes ongoing feuds between Philippine clans. Who knew?] Thanks PeterO for filling in my parsing gaps.
Never heard of MARAVEDI nor THOLES so I just wrote in and then looked up. I had heard of ‘thole-pin’ which is a sort of rowlock on a rowing-boat, but couldn’t make sense of that.
Also failed to parse CATASTROPHE but could have kicked myself – I realised afterwards that I knew both STROP and PET as words for ‘tantrum’ or the like. And I should have twigged that HE = high explosive (makes a change from ‘ambassador’ or ‘that man’).
All the rest went in smoothly enough. I wondered whether BELDAM should have an E at the end, but apparently the short form is OK.
I guess SERVICE STATION is tops – a very clever and elaborate &lit.
Thanks to Don and Peter.
Thanks both,
I solved this in the car between Wimborne and Southampton, so quick for me. I propose that a place is not obscure if there’s a reasonably well-known Limerick about it.
There was a young lady of Ryde,
Who ate some green apples and died.
The apples fermented
Inside the lamented
Making cider inside her inside.
Elizabeth@59
(The crossword is available at 0.00 hrs GMT throughout the World. The time shown is the posting time, GMT, of the comment. These posts can be from anywhere as there are contributors in many countries, some of the earliest are from the USA where it is early evening, India where it is early morning and Australia where it is lunchtime. There are also a lots of night owls in Uk/Europe, which sometimes includes me)
I love how people feel the need to classify clues after they have solved them. AL (and literally), SAL (semi-AL), CAD (clue as definition), CAD-but-not-AL, ED (extended definition), etc. (extra-terrestrial clue?)
When I solve such a clue and get the wordplay I am happy to classify it as a CC (clever clue), and move on to the next one.
Thanks Pasquale for all the CCs, and PeterO for the excellent and very useful blog.
Whether it’s an &lit, an extended definition, or just a ‘clever clue’ (thanks CM@65) – all I know is that, donning my setter’s hat, such clues are awfully difficult to contrive! So top marks to Don for giving us an excellent … whatever-it-is.
FOURTH made me smile a bit. During my working life I spent a lot of time developing software in the Forth language. The story goes that its inventor, one Charles H Moore, wanted to name the language ‘FOURTH’ – it being a 4th-generation language – but the minicomputer he was working on back then in the 1960s only allowed 5-letter filenames, so he named it FORTH instead. You can see why 24a brought back memories!
Like Peter M (@36), we found our immersion in Gilbert & Sullivan has once again helped us out (MARAVEDI). Had to guess on the Labour politician, though.
Around these parts, t`hole is where we put t`wood when we shut the door.
Tolerably good fun.
Thanks PandPO
Merino was a really good clue, I thought
Elizabeth @ 59 & CliveInFrance @ 64 …
Crosswords appear at midnight in London. At present that’s 11 am where I am, but I’m looking forward to daylight saving ending here and starting there in the next few weeks, whereupon they’ll appear at 9 am.
I could be being harsh, but whenever I do a Pasquale I feel they slip one or two obscure words with sufficiently indefinite cluing, to make sure I don’t finish. In this case 3d and 23a. There was me thinking the point of crosswords was to let the solver win after a struggle. But this setter seems to think the point is to make sure I always finish 2 short.
Thanks PeterO as always for the enlightenment
Sometimes it’s an advantage being Scottish! THOLE has been familiar to me from childhood.
Rrgmitchell @72. It is always an advantage to be Scottish!