The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29737.
A wild range of clues, from the simple to complex, and a few places where I am not sure what is going on.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DOWNING |
Like this clue? No idea! Now, got to start having a shot (7)
|
| A charade of DOWN (‘like this clue? No’ – it is an across) plus ING (‘Idea Now Got to start). For the definition, a ‘shot’ is a drink. | ||
| 5 | COLLEGE |
Pass over half of legal exercise to finish school (7)
|
| A charade of COL (‘pass’) plus LEG (”half of LEGal – at least, as near to half as you can get from five letters) plus E (‘exercisE to finish’). | ||
| 10 | DAYS |
Revolutionary times back in the Vaisya diaspora (4)
|
| A hidden reversed (‘back in the’) in ‘VaiSYA Diaspora’. |
||
| 11 | TURNTABLES |
Back-channel new beats left spinning on these (10)
|
| A charade of TUR, a reversal (‘back’-) of RUT (-‘channel’) plus N (‘nw’) plus TABLES, an anagram (‘spinning’) of L (‘left’) plus ‘beats’, with an extended definition. | ||
| 12 | BOWLER |
One delivering line in leafy nook (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of L (‘line’) in BOWER (‘leafy nook’). | ||
| 13 | FANTASIA |
One admires performing it as a piece of music (8)
|
| A charade of FAN (‘one admires’ – clearer if ‘who’ were inserted between the two words) plus TASIA, an anagram (‘performing’) of ‘it as a’. | ||
| 14 | ESTABLISH |
Found ecstasy on top of sideboard-like dining furniture? (9)
|
| A charade of E (‘ecstasy’) plus S (‘top of Sideboard’-) plus TABLISH (a whimsical coinage, -‘like dining furnature’). | ||
| 16 | VIRGO |
Sign when Amazon drops off second of packages (5)
|
| A subtraction: VIR[a]GO (‘Amazon’) minus the A (‘dropsoff second of pAckages’). | ||
| 17 | BRAVO |
B–brilliant! (5)
|
| Double definition, the first being the letter B in the NATO alphabet. | ||
| 19 | DOORKNOBS |
Might it be their turn to make an admission? (9)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 23 | HAIRPINS |
At a pinch, they can be used to make do (8)
|
| Am I missing something? It seems like a rather weak cryptic definition, with a play on hairdo. | ||
| 24 | POWERS |
Drives an Austin (6)
|
| Double definition. Austin Powers, the character in films International Man of Mystery, The Spy who Shagged Me, and Goldmember, appeared in yesterday’s Ariel, which made this a write-in. (Sorry for the spoiler). | ||
| 26 | MINISTRIES |
I’m working with sinister governmental organisations (10)
|
| An anagram (‘working’) of ‘I’m’ plus ‘sinister’. | ||
| 27 | LEES |
Heading off, escapes the worst bits (4)
|
| A subtraction: [f]LEES (‘escapes’) minus its first letter (‘heading off’). | ||
| 28 | IMPLANT |
Introduce Soup’s 20th option (7)
|
| A charade of I’M (‘Soup’s’) plus PLAN T (if Plan B is the second option …). | ||
| 29 | PERSIST |
Caught by gamekeepers, I stop, then carry on (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘caught by’) in ‘gamekeePERS I STop’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ORATORS |
Sort out singer Rita’s overhead speakers (7)
|
| A charade of ORA (‘singer Rita’) plus TORS, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘sort’. | ||
| 3 | NASAL |
Gran, as always, somewhat nosy (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘graN AS ALways’. | ||
| 4 | NATURAL |
Lacking art, put up brown painting covering opening (7)
|
| A charade of NAT, a reversal (‘put up’, in a down light) of TAN (‘brown’) plus [m]URAL (‘painting’) minus its first letter (‘covering opening’). | ||
| 6 | OUTING |
Looking for business after starting trip (6)
|
| A subtraction, expressed slightly differently: [t]OUTING (‘looking for business’) minus its first letter (‘after starting’). | ||
| 7 | LIBRARIAN |
I ran around, chasing 16’s follower – she won’t like the noise (9)
|
| A charade of LIBRA (”16’s follower’ – the zodiacal sign following VIRGO) plus RIAN, an anagram (‘around’) of ‘I ran’. | ||
| 8 | GREYING |
Getting older, the Taskmaster suppresses element of negativity (7)
|
| An envelope (‘suppresses’) of YIN (element of negativity’ to yang) in GREG (Davies, the ‘Taskmaster’ in the panel game show of the same name). | ||
| 9 | PROFESSORSHIP |
Academic role for further education: primarily study skills, or researching species hybrids in plants (13)
|
| A charade of PRO (‘for’) plus FE (‘further education’ – an initialism given in Chambers, and thus not included under the ‘primarily’ umbrella) plus SSORSHIP (‘primarily Study Skills Or Researching Species Hybrids In Plants’). | ||
| 15 | ADVERBIAL |
Brave lad struggling over one part of speech (9)
|
| An envelope (‘over’) of I (‘one’) in ADVERBAL, an anagram (‘struggling’) of ‘brave lad’. An ADVERBIAL (noun) is a word or group of words functioning gramatically as an adverb. | ||
| 18 | REALISM |
Split up – be withdrawn, miserable, displaying faithfulness (7)
|
| An anagram (‘split up’) of ‘misera[b]l[e]’ minus the letters BE (‘be withdrawn’). The definition applies particularly to works of art. | ||
| 20 | RIPOSTE |
Scientists’ upright support on base for retort (7)
|
| A charade of RI (Royal Institution of Great Britain, a society for the promotion of science; ‘scientists’, on the lines of using RA for artist) plus POST (‘upright support’) plus E (mathematical ‘base’ for Naperian logarithms). | ||
| 21 | BARBERS |
They cut, save and, in a limited fashion, speculate with rupees and shillings (7)
|
| A charade of BAR (‘save’, excepring) plus BE (‘in a limited fashion, speculate’? How we get there from here I do not know) plus R (‘rupees’) plus S (‘shillings’). | ||
| 22 | MILTON |
He wrote of Eden, moonlit – destroying love with devilry (6)
|
| An anagram (‘with devilry’) of ‘m[o]onlit’ minus one O (‘destroying love’). A reference to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. | ||
| 25 | WALES |
Looking up regulations in Kent and Surrey, or another 22 such? (5)
|
| A reversal (‘looking up’ in a down light) of SE LAW (‘regulations in Kent and Surrey’ – the South East). There are 22 principal areas (counties, loosely; divisions for local government) in Wales. |
5ac Over half = more than half?
Agree re 23ac, Peter. Was expecting something like crimpers.
Who cold-solved doorknobs? Congrats. I needed the b before I twigged .. slow!
I have some answers/speculations to answer Peter’s questions.
I agree with gif@1 that you use the “over” to get leg out of legal in COLLEGE.
I first thought revolutionary was redundant with back in 10a, but then realized that a DAY is the time for the Earth to make a revolution.
The “be” is most of “bet” (speculate) in BARBERS.
I thought the 22 in 25d might refer to MILTON, as there is at least one in WALES. But then the “such” is a bit peculiar.
The Wiktionary entry for ADVERBIAL says that it is an adjective (as we all thought) but also a noun (thus making the clue correct), but that some linguistic authorities reject that usage. So go figure!
By chance, I just learned of Rita ORA this week as she is being featured prominently in an ad shown several times during the ESPN broadcasts of Wimbledon.
Me again. I asked Google AI if HAIRPINS pinch, and it said no, they are not supposed to, if used properly. (I don’t use them myself.)
DAYS
Revolutionary times-a reference to our planet’s rotation on its axis (technically, not a revolution).
HAIRPINS
‘pinch’ has some contribution towards the hairdo under discussion? Each pin holds a pinch of hair?
Liked ESTABLISH and BARBERS.
Thanks Soup and PeterO.
21a. BE(T) – a limited bet.
23a: A pinch clip is a type of hair fastener, apparently.
Are we celebrating a DOWNING COLLEGE PROFESSORSHIP, I wonder?
khayyam @9: well spotted! A quick Google reveals that the master of Downing College is Graham VIRGO; the Vice Master is Zoe BARBER, and fellows include Michael BRAVO, William DAY, Amy MILTON, Brendan PLANT and David WALES.
… also Emma LEES
khayyam/cryptor – and the setter is doing his postdoctoral research studies there so I’m hoping he has had good news
… and have just learned that this is indeed the case. Congrats Soup.(Oh, and the puzzle was fun too)
I took hairpins to be hairpin turns in a road which could be pinch points? Tenuous.
I thought the same thing about HAIRPINS as a crytpic def. Having no hair I have little context but I’d say the hairpin might actually pinch the hair to keep it in place. I did like DOORKNOBS as the other cryptic def. Could not parse one or two, especially IMPLANT. I want to compliment the blog format where Peter O explains the parsing, starting with the type of clue and then the explanation each time. And thanks to Soup for a great puzzle
Some very convoluted clueing indeed, I thought, in places. A dnf as I rather ran out of patience, and couldn’t quite fathom the two cryptic definitions or whatever they may be described as – HAIRPINS and DOORKNOBS, even with all the crossers in place. Nor WALES (why? – ah, many thanks for unravelling that particularly tortuous one, PeterO).
…and as for the revelation by khayyam@9 about the Downing College connection, extremely well done with spotting that. Though Robert PLant is so much more familiar to me than Brendan PLANT especially as I was watching Becoming Led Zeppelin late last night…
I enjoyed this, with some reservations, but ‘split up’ as an anagrind doesn’t work for me. Liked DOORKNOBS (when the penny dropped), ADVERBIAL and LEES.
I, too, thought HAIRPINS was a bit weak.
The rest of this puzzle fairly fizzed with inventiveness, exemplified by the subtleties of a DAY being a revolutionary time and there being 22 local government divisions in Wales.
And, indeed, that not only is Soup aka Dr Hamish Symington at Downing College, Cambridge, but he is in the Department of Plant Sciences. And Downing’s website tells us that he is interested in pollination and plant-pollinator interactions, and that he is also interested in undergraduate teaching and is a Bye-Fellow in Study Skills. Which all makes 9 down one of the most brilliant clues for some time.
Chapeau (or mortar-board), Soup. And many thanks PeterO for the blog.
I don’t know if HAIRPINS pinch but they certainly don’t grip. My wife puts a few in on Monday and there are hundreds throughout the house by Friday. They must breed. They are the bane of my life.
Mix of the straightforward to the very diffficult in this. Not helped by getting LIBRARIAN before the linking clue and confidently writing in LIBRA for the sign.
Liked DOWNING. I thought it had been put in the wrong position at first before I realised that NOT was not clueing the first N.
Liked GREYING as it referenced one of my few TV viewings.
Thanks Soup and PeterO. The blog got a good read today.
WOW!
Congrats Soup!
Thanks Soup and PeterO
“Singer Rita” means Coolidge to me – it’s an age thing. Also no idea bout GREG Davies.
I’m not sure that 6d explains losing the first letter of “touting” satisfactorily.
I chuckled at DOORKNOBS.
Sounds like a lot of clever clogs in the solutions and well done to the spotters. Indeed a mixed bag but most enjoyable with POWERS being a write-in, as Peter points out. I did manage to cold solve DOORKNOBS from the definition so was pleased with that and HAIRPINS seems fair enough. Also liked ESTABLISH and MINISTRIES.
Congratulations Soup and thanks PeterO.
Hairpins don’t pinch, but hairgrips do. Has Soup (who I assume doesn’t use either item) got them mixed up?
I’m no sort of expert on this, but Wiki tells me that what I think of when I think of hairpins are actually bobby pins (US term for hair grips) and are “a type of hairpin”. So those very grippy/pinchy things are, I think, fairly defined as hairpins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_pin
Thanks Soup for a great puzzle. I wondered if there was some significance to 1a 5a, but missed the rest of the theme. In my defence it’s nearly 40 years since I was a student there . . . but I should at least have recognised Graham 16a who was a contemporary of mine.
Many thanks, Peter O, for your clear and helpful explanations; I don’t know how you do it. I could make little sense of this crossword until I came here. Managed PROFESSORSHIP, FANTASIA, ADVERBIAL and GREYING (I have watched Taskmaster) but that was about it. Is this considered a ‘better’ crossword than yesterday’s Ariel which attracted some criticism? I find it hard to assess crosswords beyond whether I can do it or not but surely ‘tablish’ is pushing it and some of the charades seemed overcomplicated.
Congratulations to Soup for both a fine puzzle and a fine achievement. Keep those bees buzzing, for all our sakes!
Why are LEES the worst bits? I had LIES as the answer (from FLIES) which isn’t very good either.
Digger @28, get yourself a dictionary. They’re very useful when solving crosswords. I can recommend Chambers…..
lees
plural noun
Sediment that forms during the fermentation or aging of an alcoholic liquor, eg wine
The worst part or parts
ODE….
lees
• plural noun the sediment of wine in the barrel; dregs.
• the most worthless part or parts of something: the lees of the Venetian underworld.
Definite Enigmatist overtones, some inspired clues, especially liked WALES and DOORKNOBS, and I wish I’d managed to parse ‘plan T’. BRAVO Soup and thank you PeterO
Well, khayyam@9, I’m very impressed, I _really_ wasn’t expecting anyone to notice. I realise it’s a bit self-indulgent to set a crossword for a national newspaper to mark a personal thing, but yes, I’ve today been appointed to a College Associate Professorship (which means I’m not called Professor, by the way, I’m still only Doctor!) at Downing College, as Head of Academic Skills (though I’ll still hopefully have a bit of time to research species hybrids in plants). And it’s graduation here at Cambridge today, so all the students are in their finery and I get to wear the scarlet facings on my gown, which is always fun.
Someone on the Guardian site commented “My dear greyhound used to race off, tear around, and then come back looking bemused but very pleased with himself. That’s how I feel on completing this puzzle.” I’ll take that! A few quibbles here (and there), which feel a mix of fair and personal preference. I’m not sure my self of ‘Soup’s’ for I’M – ‘Soup is’ to ‘I AM’ makes me mildly uncomfortable. My favourite bit was TABLISH. Surprised there aren’t more howls about that one.
Back to the Governing Body meeting…
Quirister@25 – I’m sitting next to him, are you willing to share your real-world name?
TABLISH was worthy of an entry in the Uxbridge English Dictionary.
[Hamish/Soup @32: if you remind him that there were only 2 women in our year at Downing doing Engineering, and I’m the one with a Classics background who did a lot of choral singing, he’ll probably work it out. We’ve caught up at a few college events over the years, though not recently. Say hello from me – thank you.]
Thanks to Soup on behalf of the Taskmaster fan community. This hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Gosh, last week there were nostalgic references to The Dreaming Spires of The Other Place on this blog. Today it’s a modern Downing College, Cambridge thing. I think I’ll keep my head down from now on, or choose another newspaper to read/cryptic crossword to solve…
Hamish/Soup@ 31 – Rest assured, there was a howl (of approval) from me for ESTABLISH. Like homophones and Spoonerisms, the more outrageous such coinages manage to be, the better.
I sympathise about an associate professorship not entitling you to be called Professor. I spent 16 years as a District Judge and officially “Judge” was reserved for people higher up the food chain. In practice, however (a) virtually everyone addressed District Judges as “Judge” and to hell with the protocol and (b) I wasn’t really bothered what people called me so long as it wasn’t too rude (my favourite, from a litigant in person, was “my lovely”). I suspect that (b) will apply to you even if (a) doesn’t. Congratulations, anyway.
I enjoyed this – lots of variety, and some very nice surfaces, and the theme was very cleverly worked without detracting from the puzzle for those of us who missed it.
For 19A I needed all the crossers, even though I immediately grokked the cryptic intent of the surface. NHO Rita Ora nor Greg Davies, so solved but failed to parse those two.
1A 5A reminded me that there used to be a lovely baked potato shop across the street, IIRC; long gone, I’m sure.
Hamish/Soup: Congratulations on the new post, and thanks for an entertaining puzzle. I agree with you about TABLISH – I do enjoy a whimsical coinage.
No theme for me, as per. In fact I even failed to spot DOWNING COLLEGE on the top row. But perhaps I have a better excuse than Quirister @25 as it is almost 50 years since I left Cambridge with my PhD (they used to say you knew you were getting old when the policemen looked young; now the Pope looks young to me – he is younger than me, alas).
I’m with you there, Ronald@36.
This was a mix of easy and impenetrable. I’d never heard of Rita Ora, the Taskmaster (British TV might as well be snooker for all I know about either), FE further education, RI or the 22 parts of
Wales.
A bobby pin (thanks for the link, now I know what kirby grips are) has two flat arms, one of them wavy, and rubber tips on the ends, an the two arms are close together and can grip. A hairpin’s two arms are wire, not flat, wavy and separated by a quarter inch or so, and can hold, say, a bun to the head by being inserted in the hair. They are the models for hairpin turns, I should think.
Thanks and congratulations to Soup (what are Academic Skills in a curriculum?) and thanks to PeterO for much-needed help.
Very nice puzzle, though there were a few I solved without parsing. Loved the conversation on the blog too!
Thanks all
Thanks to Soup for the fun puzzle and to PeterO for making sense of the bits I couldn’t get, as well as to contributors for sussing out the theme and back story.
Congratulations to Soup!
My favourites were DOWNING, LIBRARIAN, BOWLER, DOORKNOBS and ESTABLISH.
I was unable to parse RIPOSTE or to work out what ‘another 22 such’ meant in WALES, misdirected into wondering how it related to MILTON at 22d.
muffin@33, thank you for the link to the Uxbridge English Dictionary. I hadn’t heard of it. Maybe this can be appealed to in future crossword semantic disputes.
Really enjoyed this puzzle, even with some bits that I wasn’t able to power through. Always pleased to see some more recent cultural references too!
grantinfreo @1
Indeed, I should have included ‘only’ in the instructions.
Dr. WhatsOn @3
The BE[t] in 21D BARBERS came to me out of thin air when I woke up at 5am. this morning (I did get back to sleep).
Hamish/Soup @31
Congratulations on your appointment, and thanks for dropping in. I am fairly sure that I would never have spotted the theme, even given more time – but it is a sign of good use of a theme that one can be quite unaware of its existence without detracting from the puzzle.
Always nice to see the setter engaging below the line. Congratulations on the appointment. My favourite was ORATORS, largely because I surprised myself (an oldie) by remembering Ora. Perhaps something to do with holding a party during COVID stuck in my mind? Thanks Soup, and thanks PeterO for explaining a couple where the parsing eluded me.
Thanks Soup for a lovely puzzle and congratulations. I enjoyed the way the impenetrable slowly unfolded and the sun finally cut through the murk. Thanks PeterO as well.
I was another who wondered about hairpins and hairgrips, assuming pins to be like hat pins. But then we have hairpin bends which would make no sense at all so I figured I must be wrong.
Just regarding RI = scientists and the blog I am going to get all pedantic. Soup is fine to use “scientists” as the RI is an Insitute of/for scientists so collectively is a group of such. Similarly RA could be used for artists as the Royal Academy is a group for/of artists. However, RA can also be used for artist (singular) as it is also a title (Royal Academician) which can be put after a name. RI is not such a title so cannot represent “scientist”. It is similar to how a person can *be* a BA or MA but cannot *be* an A level, yet both are also qualifications.
So, along those lines: Eminent scientist hugs a few trees (4)
A bit more from me before I puddle in the heat…
Q@34: He says hello 🙂
DF@35: I wasn’t sure if this would be kosher, but it was less about whether GREG for ‘Taskmaster’ was ok and more about the fact that there are different taskmasters in different countries. Given it’s now in series 19 I feel it’s an acceptable reference.
R@36/A@40: You don’t need to know anything about Cam/Downing to solve this, so I’d hope that the mere reference of the place isn’t too much to put you off!
All: Hairpins. Bobby pins. Kirby grips. Do they pinch? Should they? Wretched hairpins. I hate hairpins. (I thought about clueing them to do with tight turns, but that’s a ‘hairpin bend’, so not fair in my book.)
J@47: Your explanation of RI/RA is excellent.
V@41: Academic skills can broadly be thought of as ‘learning how to learn’. I find that students at A Level are taught how to learn what’s needed to pass exams, which is different to how things are at Cambridge – if you regurgitate what’s taught in the lectures you’ll get maximum a low 2:1. We need to teach them how to think about the lecture material, connect bits of the lecture course together, structure an argument, write an essay which answers what the question is asking (and not what they want the question to be), how to revise, how to read scientific literature in a way which doesn’t take ages… Lots of people will say ‘but I didn’t have to be taught that in my day’, to which I feel the answer is either a) no, but I bet you wish you had been, or b) …but you might have been taught it at school and it’s done WAY less now, particularly in the context of schools who don’t have such a history of sending students to Cambridge. As a job, it is HUGELY rewarding – I see students having the penny-drop moment like solvers do with clues – and can really see them start to engage with their learning and with the course. It’s just joyful.
Many thanks Soup…I had not solved a Soup puzzle before, it was mucho enjoyable.
Never heard of Rita Ora or Greg Whatshisname. Not heard of the gameshow either. NHO VIRAGO.
Good stuff all round.
Thanks to Peter for filling the gaps.
Really enjoyed this. Excellent ideas and parsings. Failed at the last (HAIRPINS) putting hairties instead, which Collins tells me is two words. Oh well, c’est la vie.
Congratulations, Soup! I think I’m for Soup’s is fine, btw.
Thanks, Peter.
Digger@28
I had lows for the worst parts, which I thought was reasonable, but I guess ‘blows’ for ‘flees’ is a slight stretch.
Soup@31: although the grammatical incongruence in 28a is perfectly legitimate, I did find it jarring.
I enjoyed the VIRGO/LIBRARIAN pairing.
I really enjoyed this. Didn’t spot any of the downing college stuff, but I could complete the puzzle without it so I don’t mind! Congrats soup!
Surprised I got as far as I did. Maybe the red wine helped! Puzzled for a long time over 25 dn WALES. It seemed it must fit, but why? Thanks to SOUP and all the master solvers for their comments.
I don’t think I knew the setter before, but I enjoyed this. Anyway, I think 21 is actually quite straightforward– In a limited fashion, speculate, is BE/T.
Late to fray… I did enjoy this.
Thank you to Peter O for his excellent blogs – defining the type of clue first and then explaining it.
To Soup congratulations for your ‘promotion’ in the world of academia… At least, if there is an annoying long queue, you can still call out, “let me through! I’m a Doctor!” I only managed an MA about a thousand years’ ago. Have a wonderful evening. My very best wishes and looking forward to more brain exercise.
Even later to the fray. I read a lot of the comments too, as usual. Firstly, let’s not be put off by Oxbridge chatter. If you can solve these things, you belong, and it’s a good place to be.
This was one of those puzzles where I started slowly, gathered momentum and expected that trend to continue. It mostly did until I came off the road at a hairpin. There was toil and trouble with those three in the corner: HAIRPINS, REALISM and IMPLANT took ages to bubble to the surface. I liked DOORKNOBS and was surprised by some relatively modern references.
Definitely a challenge, but a good one. Thanks and congratulations Soup. Excellent work Peter.
This felt like a masterclass in creative ways to to subtract letters. I made a bit of a meal of this but it turned out to be quite a tasty one. Top ticks for IMPLANTS, DOORKNOBS & OUTING
Cheers S&P
Oh, and ’22 such’ came from the Editor; Wales is not simple when it comes to political boundaries, and he said that there are some people who get curiously exercised over that sort of thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_areas_of_Wales has more; there are eleven true counties and several county boroughs.
I am amused that people are getting more exercised over ’22 such’ than they might over just ’22’.
Soup@59 FWIW I thought it was beautifully worded because it reads strangely at first but on solving makes perfect sense. And you get a bonus buzz when you Google ‘how many counties in Wales?’ and 22 is confirmed.. I reckon ‘another 22’ without the ’such’ wouldn’t have been fair. Would it be cheeky to ask how much editing takes place, is it a real to and fro collaboration with several iterations or a very light touch one or two clues affair?
Ace @38: Are you thinking of Tatties? I seem to remember that being on the same side of Regent Street as Downing College (but I could be wrong). It does still exist, but in a different location with a broadened remit (i.e. baked potatoes but other things too).
H@61: In this one it was two or three clues, the rest are as I wrote them.
G@61: It was indeed on the same side as Downing, and is now the Tiffin Truck (also good) – see https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/history/how-one-cambridge-street-changed-31103768 if you can get past the adverts.
DOWNING was the last but one. And of course was obvious followed by COLLEGE in the grid. Back in my day there were only 3 ladies in the whole University engineering student intake (out of 200 students).
LYI was HAIRPINS as a result of a word search in the Chambers app. It is breakfast time the day after and I was distracted by the culinary nature of the clue’s surface.
As for 22 “counties” in Cymru…..
Kicking myself for missing Downing College – my father went there, and we lived in a house on Lensfield Road, leased from Downing. The college kept peacocks in the grounds, much to my mother’s annoyance
What a wonderful puzzle, blog, and commentary today! I loved reading about all the hidden elements and connections, which I never would have known about without this great online community!
I loved the puzzle, and managed to solve everything except, ironically enough, 1a. I thought of DOWNING but couldn’t justify it either from the wordplay (assuming “No” was for the initial N) or definition (Shot? Go? Try? Anagrist?), and nho the COLLEGE, so grrr!
Loved the quirky references like “TABLISH” for “like dining furniture”, “revolutionary times” for DAYS, “one delivering” for BOWLER, “20th option” for PLANT (which I failed to parse), and the two CDs for 19a DOORKNOBS and 23a HAIRPINS. On top of it all the surfaces were outstanding — BRAVO!