Many thanks to Fed for the puzzle – my favourites were 11ac, 4/22, 18dn, and especially 15ac.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | FARMYARD |
Head of Defence follows one branch of military around protecting another in rural setting (8)
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the first/"Head" letter of D-[efence], following: RAF (Royal Air Force, "one branch of military") reversed/"around" and containing/"protecting" ARMY="another" branch of the military |
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| 9 | HAUNCH |
Feeling about a quarter (6)
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definition: the haunch of an animal is also known as the hind quarter HUNCH="Feeling" around A (from surface) |
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| 10 | BARD |
Right to interrupt awful poet (4)
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R (Right) inside BAD="awful" |
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| 11 | INSOUCIANT |
Toscanini initially upset with orchestration, it should be breezy (10)
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anagram/"with orchestration" of (Toscanini u-[pset])* |
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| 12 | BOLDER |
More mature book starts to be more daring (6)
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OLDER="More mature", with B (book) starting / going in front |
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| 14 | SIDESTEP |
Evasive action leads to swearing if Dawn French is recording (8)
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"leads"/leading letters of S-[wearing] I-[f] D-[awn]; plus EST="French [for] is"; plus EP (Extended Play record, a music recording) |
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| 15 | GIRAFFE |
Yogi Bear ultimately stops Boo-Boo becoming zoo attraction? (7)
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last/ultimate letters of [Yog]-I [Bea]-R stopping inside GAFFE="Boo-Boo"=minor mistake/accident for the surface reading, Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo are both cartoon characters from The Yogi Bear Show |
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| 17 | GROUCHO |
Progress without regulation – to begin with that hurt Marx? (7)
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definition: Groucho Marx the comedian GO="Progress" outside of ("without"): beginning of R-[egulation] + OUCH="that hurt" |
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| 20 | SHARPISH |
Quickly be silent for screening – 17’s brother mostly is (8)
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SH=shush="be silent" around/"screening" HARP-[o]="17's brother mostly" + IS (from surface) Harpo Marx was Groucho's [17ac] brother |
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| 22 | BREATH |
The two making love on back of sofa pant? (6)
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B-O-TH, but making the O into RE+A BOTH="The two" O=zero in tennis="love" RE=about, concerning="on" A from back of sof-[A] |
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| 23 | GIANT PANDA |
Doctor adapting an endangered species (5,5)
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anagram/"Doctor" of (adapting an)* |
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| 24 | CARP |
Complain about rep on vacation (4)
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CA (circa, approximately/"about") plus R-[e]-P vacated of its inner letter |
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| 25 | SEVERN |
Cut ending to Moon River (6)
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SEVER="Cut" plus ending to [moo]-N |
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| 26 | PRECINCT |
Area policeman handling case of revenge in court (8)
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PC (Police Constable, "policeman") around the "case" (outer letters) of R-[eveng]-E; plus IN (from surface) + CT (court) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MACARONI |
Type of pasta a vehicle on motorway is carrying (8)
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A CAR ON="a vehicle on", with MI=M1="motorway" containing/carrying this |
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| 2 | AMID |
Surrounded by morning papers (4)
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AM (ante meridian, "morning") + ID (identification "papers") |
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| 3 | RAPIER |
Somehow parried short sword (6)
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anagram/"Somehow" of (parrie-[d])* |
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| 4, 22 | SHOULDER BLADES |
Bears eating, say, 3 bones (8,6)
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SHOULDERS as a verb="Bears", around/eating BLADE (e.g. RAPIER at 3dn) |
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| 5 | RUBIKS CUBE |
Puzzle annoys over one thousand (e.g. 1,331) (6,4)
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RUBS="annoys" around/"over" both of: I="one" + K (kilo, "thousand"); plus CUBE=cube number e.g. 1,331 is equal to 11 cubed |
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| 6 | SCONCE |
After supporting small carbon light fitting (6)
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ONCE="After" e.g. 'once/after you arrive…'; following S (small) + C (atomic symbol for carbon) |
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| 8 | DESIST |
What’s found inside commodes is toxic – stop! (6)
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hidden inside [commo]-DES IS T-[oxic] |
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| 13 | DEAD RINGER |
Lookalike not working with band, Queen (4,6)
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DEAD (e.g. of an electronic device)="not working"; plus RING="band" (e.g. a wedding ring/band); plus ER (Elizabeth Regina, "Queen") |
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| 16 | FLIPPANT |
Facetious old man’s boring flick books (8)
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PA=father="old man", boring into FLIP="flick" + NT (New Testament, "books" of the Bible) |
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| 18 | HAT TRICK |
Sporting achievement of bowler – perhaps fast one (3,5)
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definition: a hat trick could be 3 goals in one game in football, or 3 wickets in 3 consecutive deliveries by a cricket bowler HAT="bowler – perhaps" as in a bowler hat; plus TRICK="fast one" e.g. 'to pull a fast one' is to trick someone |
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| 19 | CHIN UP |
Look on the bright side and exercise (4,2)
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double definition: '[keep your] chin up' as a message of encouragement; or a chin-up as a physical exercise |
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| 21 | HEIFER |
Next in line holds iron lower (6)
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definition: "lower" as in 'low-er', an animal that makes lowing sounds HEIR="Next in line" around FE (chemical symbol for iron) |
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| 22 | SHOULDER BLADES |
See 4
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| 24 | COIL |
Charlie painting snake (4)
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C (Charlie, NATO alphabet) + OIL (type of "painting") |
thanks M and F! Especially since I couldn’t parse BREATH though the surface left me a bit breathless (in a good way)
I found this Fed more approachable than some I recall. And there are fewer contemporary references in this one. I share with our blogger a liking for HAT TRICK, INSOUCIANT and GIRAFFE and, because it is my local river, I was taken by SEVERN. The substitution in BREATH is quite evil – not the first time Fed has delivered something like this – and I see it confused quite a few solvers on the G’s own site. I was undone at the very end by COIL – just did not think of the painting.
Thanks both
Good while it lasted.
I enjoyed piecing the wordplay together on the likes of FARMYARD, SHARPISH, MACARONI well, most of them really.
Excellent stuff. Thanks Fed and manehi
Thanks Fed and manehi
I too needed the parsing for BREATH.
Favourites GIRAFFE and HEIFER.
Thanks manehi. I also liked the clue for GIRAFFE with Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo and the zoo attraction.
HEIFER I liked because it was all in my GK. Father a butcher. I grew up around cattle. Knew the rest.
BREATH was just plainly (not to me) devious (to me) in the parsing.
Learned a lot about 1,331 in numerology, Angel Number, before I found it was a cube.
That was fun.
Thanks F’n’M.
I, too, am among the company of the breath non-parsers.
A lot of these were guess-first parse-later, though the parsing for SIDESTEP defeated me (I kept struggling to see how the french word for dawn fitted in) and as for BREATH, honestly I wouldn’t have figured that out in a million years.
I liked the surfaces for HEIFER, CHIN UP and SEVERN – and GROUCHO made me grin. As the man himself often does.
Many thanks manehi and Fed
I could not parse 22ac and also 7ac apart from reverse of RAF = one branch of military and D = first letter of Defence.
Favourites: SIDESTEP, GROUCHO, SHARPISH. Will look out for a Marx Bros film on youtube soon, I wonder if they still seem funny…
New for me: 1331 = 11 cubed. Not something I really need to know in my daily life 😉
Definitely one of Fed’s easier puzzles, I found myself filling in answers and then parsing later. Still much fun to be had, of course. I particularly enjoyed HEIFER and the surface for GIRAFFE was excellent.
Thanks Fed and manehi.
A good crossword for me – enough clues to get started then the rest gradually falling in place as the crossers appear. Breath was my last one in and I finally managed to spot all the elements but still couldn’t see how to assemble them for the clue to make sense. Pant and breath don’t seem quite the same thing to me, but near enough. I think my problem is that I can’t imagine using pant as a synonym of breath in the singular. Maybe somebody can give me an example?
I liked FARMYARD for the wordplay, GROUCHO and Harpo appearing together, SIDESTEP for the trademark separation of the celebrity and GIRAFFE for keeping me on my toes and not separating Yogi and Bear.
Thanks Fed and manehi.
COTD: BREATH
Other picks: GIRAFFE, RUBIKS CUBE and HAT TRICK.
SHARPISH
SH for screening HARPIS=SH to screen HARPIS?
The cryptic grammar must be right.
Just…the ‘for’ confused me a bit.
Ravenrider#11. How about ” I could hear a pant/breath getting louder behind me “?
I got as far as the reverse of RAF and guessed FARMLAND which turns out to be wrong – but as the dud letters were not crossers it didn’t hold me up. I like the real answer. Couldn’t parse BREATH of course.
I enjoyed the rest – just hard enough to be rewarding, and very nicely clued: ticks for SEVERN and GIRAFFE.
BREATH
Def=pant?
pant ⊆ BREATH
Yes?
Breath is an alpha-level builder clue. Find a synonym for “the two”, then recognise love as the o, then swap it out for re + a (re = on = about; a = back of sofa). Hard yacca, as we say down under.
Another enjoyable puzzle from Fed.
7ac FARMYARD was a great introduction and gained one of my many ticks for the clever construction and excellent surface.
I won’t list all the rest: my top picks were 11ac INSOUCIANT (lovely word), 15ac GIRAFFE and 5dn RUBIK’S CUBE. Like others, I groaned when the penny dropped with BREATH.
Many thanks to Fed and to manehi.
Breathless here, too.
On the whole, more do-able than previous offerings from this setter.
Favourite was HAT TRICK.
Fed is obviously a Yogi fan. From 9th August: Character from cartoon strip voiced by unknown old soldier (4,4)
Sign me up to the Unparsed Breath Club — that was pretty gnarly, but “The two”=BOTH was a fair chance for us to get a foot in the door.
I really appreciated the balance between wordplay and surface in Fed’s offering today, so that most of the solves provided a satisfying “ker-ching” moment for me.
That was great fun – I especially liked all the bears, which fell into my Goldilocks zone, and the Marx brothers.
Thanks to Fed and manehi
An enjoyable start to the day. LHS went in very quickly, apart from 20ac, but looking at that one in parallel with 17ac got me both of them together. SHOULDER BLADES held out for a while, but once the penny dropped for that one, the rest could be picked off. Could not parse BREATH or SIDESTEP, so many thanks to manehi for clarification. Some really nice surfaces, but the picker-nick basket goes to the GIRAFFE, even if the ranger doesn’t like it.
Good one, FED.
gladys @14, FARMLAND was my mistake as well. It is annoying as the correct answer is clearly clued and I really felt that I should have done better.
Glad I wasn’t the only one. Makes me feel a little better about myself.
Great stuff from Fed. I thought he had upped his difficulty in his last few offerings but felt this was back towards par.
I did parse BREATH but after I had written it in. I think I’ve got these ‘partial substitution’ (is there a better phrase?) clues which are becoming a hallmark of Fed.
Like RUBIKS CUBE although took it on trust that 1,331 was a cube.
Thanks Fed and Manehi
Re, the Blog on GIRAFFE, my memory is that, before Yogi Bear got his own show due to his popularity, he and Boo-Boo were second fiddle to Huckleberry Hound in his show, where they were followed by Pixie and Dixie and their feline arch-foe, Mr Jinks (“I hate those meeces to pieces”).
Another floored by the parsing of BREATH. There is a class of clue which is easy to fill because the definition is clear, along with the crossers, but which is a challenge to parse. This is a prime example. As such I think it’s in a way self-defeating. I seriously doubt that anyone at all solved this from the cryptic fodder plus definition as one is “supposed” to. Too clever by half in other words.
Good fun today with GIRAFFE and SHOULDER BLADES, clear favourites, and GIANT PANDA was a neat anagram. I thought that Fed was being generous by referring to a Marx bother in SHARPISH, being able to dismiss Chico and Zeppo straightaway. Incidentally, this time last week, Imogen clued PRECINCT as ‘District court in pursuit of wayward Prince’.
Ta Fed & manehi.
You definitely have range Balfour @25. On this occasion, I can keep up!
(Please take this as entirely positive.)
I particularly liked Harpo being mostly silent.
Thanks Fed and manehi
Another one who couldn’t parse BREATH, but otherwise nothing here to frighten the horses. Thanks as ever to setter and blogger.
Another fine puzzle from Fed… they’re always a pleasure. My experience matched that of DTS@22 and Staticman1@24.
[FWIW I found Sunday’s Quiptic to be harder than both yesterday’s cryptic and the Puzzle That Should Not Yet Be Mentioned and at about the same level aa this puzzle (albeit without quite reaching the level of the most devious two clues of today’s one).]
I tentatively had “scanty” – light fitting [clothing] – for SCONCE, until SIDESTEP finally disabused me of that idea. Which meant that BREATH wasn’t my LOI but it was my last one to parse; I pencilled it in once I’d come up with “both”, but needed to revisit it at the end to complete the parsing. Lovely stuff.
[To poc@26’s point, I’m not sure one is “supposed” to solve only from the wordplay. I continue to say that presumably all of us solve in both directions at once, whether we’re intending to or not. I certainly can’t switch off the part of my brain that looks for a synonym whilst I’m thinking “back of sofa will be ‘a'”, and I don’t think there’s any reason why we should, either. Part of the joy of the clues is deciphering the parsing, and to me it doesn’t matter if that happens before or after the writing in. In fact I go further and believe that you haven’t really solved a clue if you haven’t fully grokked the parsing; a completed grid is sufficient for submitting the Prize but not for having really finished the puzzle – but that’s my personal view for myself, and no-one else needs to share it nor care what I think!]
Thanks both
Having read “sporting achievement of bowler”, the parsing involving the bowler hat was more or less unnecessary – that one was a write-in.
(AP@31: I absolutely agree about the “proper” way to solve clues. I’m not that good at cold solving so most of them go in whichever way first occurs to me, though I do like to check parsing to prove I’m right: something I should have done with FARMLAND)
Relieved to see that I am far from alone with BREATH. Overall lots of fun and some impressive surfaces.