A tough solve, and a lot of parsing slowly worked out while blogging. Favourites were 9ac, 10ac, and 18dn. Thanks to Vlad for the challenge
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | IMPERFECT |
Continuing past main road turning right? Absolutely! (9)
|
| definition: the past imperfect tense is used for actions that were continuing in the past
MI=the M1=”main road” reversed/”turning right”; plus PERFECT (e.g. said in reply to a suggestion)=”Absolutely” edit thanks to Quirister in comments: reversal indicator “turning” and PERFECT from “right? Absolutely” |
||
| 10 | HEADY |
Over here taking puff, it’s exhilarating (5)
|
| HEY=called out to get attention=”Over here”; around AD (advertisement)=”puff” as in praise, promotion | ||
| 11 | HASTENS |
German takes road east and puts his foot down (7)
|
| definition: to put one’s foot down meaning to accelerate
HANS=”German [name]”; around ST (street, “road”) plus E (east) |
||
| 12 | ILLYRIA |
Wrongly flippant about ancient region (7)
|
| ILL=”Wrongly” plus AIRY=”flippant” reversed/”about” | ||
| 13 | ALLOT |
Set aside vote to sack leader (5)
|
| [b]-ALLOT=”vote” without the leading letter | ||
| 14 | SET THEORY |
Put right over what reactionary branch of mathematics? (3,6)
|
| SET=”Put” plus TORY=Conservative=”right”; around/”over” EH=exclamation similar to ‘what?’ reversed/”reactionary” | ||
| 16 | MISS OTIS REGRETS |
Card rejected, sisters got angry on being detained – apology noted (4,4,7)
|
| definition: the name of a song [wiki]; “noted” meaning ‘set to musical notes’
SIM (sim card for a phone)=”Card” reversed/”rejected”; plus anagram/”angry’ of (sisters got)* with RE=about, concerning=”on” detained inside |
||
| 19 | NAMESAKES |
Foreign seamen’s applications kept upfront – they’ll all be handled the same (9)
|
| for definition: ‘handle’ as in a name, which will be shared / “the same” between namesakes
anagram/”Foreign” of (seamen’s a k)*, with the a k from the “upfront” first letters of a-[pplications] k-[ept] |
||
| 21, 6 | GO THE WHOLE HOG |
Become a total bore, might you say? (2,3,5,3)
|
| I think the core idea of the wordplay is that “bore” sounds like (“might you say”) ‘boar’ i.e. a HOG
not sure if there’s something more to the definition/wordplay |
||
| 22 | YEAR DOT |
Still escorting Desperate Dora, a very old date (4,3)
|
| YET=”Still” around anagram/”Desperate” of (Dora)* | ||
| 23 | INFIELD |
Ground with different entrance nearer the action (7)
|
| [A]-NFIELD the football stadium=”Ground”, with a different first letter/”entrance” | ||
| 24 | DELTA |
Passed out moving closer to Bermuda Triangle (5)
|
| definition: the triangular shape associated with a capital Greek letter delta
DE-[A]-LT=”Passed out [e.g. playing cards]”; moving the letter A which is the end/”closer” of Bermud-[A] |
||
| 25 | PROFANITY |
Don very deficient in self-regard? F——-! (9)
|
| PROF (Professor, “Don”); with [V]-ANITY=”self-regard” missing V for “very” | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HIGHWAYMAN |
One holding up other road users (10)
|
| cryptic definition: a highwayman ‘holds up’ as in ‘robs’ road users; the surface could instead be read with “holding up” meaning ‘delaying’ | ||
| 2 | EPISTLES |
Premature ejaculation initially upsetting – maybe it’s the French letters (8)
|
| initials of P-[remature] E-[jaculation] reversed/”upsetting”; plus anagram/”maybe” of (it’s)*, plus LES=”the [in] French” | ||
| 3 | PRIEST |
Minister a bore about his subject (6)
|
| PEST=”bore” around RI (religious instruction, a priest’s subject) | ||
| 4 | TEAS |
Guy called out for drinks (4)
|
| sounds like (called out) ‘tease’
to ‘guy’ can mean to ‘tease’ |
||
| 5 | STRICTURES |
Half of street parking removed, snaps seeing constraints (10)
|
| half of STR-[eet], plus [p]-ICTURES=”snaps” with p for “parking” removed | ||
| 6 | GO THE WHOLE HOG |
See 21 Across
|
| 7 | BARRIO |
Cut in pub brawl in Mexican neighbourhood (6)
|
| definition: a Spanish word meaning ‘neighbourhood’
BAR RIO-[t]=”pub brawl”, cut short |
||
| 8 | MYNA |
Picked up small bird (4)
|
| definition: a type of bird
sounds like (“Picked up”) ‘minor’=”small” |
||
| 14 | STICKY TAPE |
Joiner Snug’s first key tip – act differently (6,4)
|
| first letter of S-[nug], plus anagram/”differently” of (key tip act)* | ||
| 15 | YESTERDAYS |
Previous times OK – runs during training steady (10)
|
| YES=”OK”; plus R (runs, cricket scoring abbreviation) inside anagram/”training” of (steady)* | ||
| 17 | OBSIDIAN |
Rock band’s origin occasionally embellished (8)
|
| anagram/”embellished” of (bands o i i)*; with the last three letters of the anagram fodder taken occasionally from o-[r]-i-[g]-i-[n] | ||
| 18 | ESTHETIC |
Cast! She finally got callback regarding American Beauty (8)
|
| definition: an American spelling of aesthetic, which means ‘regarding beauty’
anagram/”Cast” of (She t)*, with t from final letter of [go]-t; plus reversal/”back” of CITE=”call” |
||
| 20 | MEASLY |
Very few spotted? (6)
|
| could also be ready as ‘measles-like’ i.e. having spots like measles | ||
| 21 | GUFFAW |
Have a good laugh at bull that’s cute? (6)
|
| GUFF=nonsense=”bull” plus AW=exclamation/comment meaning “that’s cute” | ||
| 22 | YODA |
Why worry about alien? (4)
|
| definition: reference to the alien character from Star Wars [wiki]
Y (letter pronounced as “Why”); plus ADO=”worry” reversed/”about” |
||
| 23 | IRON |
Going over the top, Romeo’s tackling very hard (4)
|
| reversal/”Going over” of NO I (No. 1, number one, “the top”); with R (Romeo, NATO alphabet) inside |
thanks M for the clear blog and V! I was very amused by the EPISTLES surface reading. I thought though the definition of MISS OTIS REGRETS deserved a question-mark
In 9a, I think the reversal indicator is just “turning”, then PERFECT = “right? Absolutely” = absolutely right.
For no apparent reason, my comment @2 has been “deleted or awaiting moderation”.
Anyway, thanks Vlad and manehi
Lots not parsed. I had HARDENS @ 11a first, which I think works quite well (put foot down = harden attitude). I also put HAIRDO (cut) for 7d until I checked – the “in” is very misleading.
I see what he meant for 21,6, but I don’t think it works. There’s no definition, for one.
I was unsure how to parse check 21ac/6d but I like manehi’s idea of bore/boar.
23ac I see I parsed it incorrectly, never having heard of Anfield stadium. I was thinking of OUTfield changed to INfield ie different ‘entrance’ (IN/OUT) with infield being closer to the action on the sports field 😉
Favourites: SET THEORY, PROFANITY, IMPERFECT, STRICTURES, ESTHETIC.
New for me: MISS OTIS REGRETS (thanks, google), and RI = religious instruction (but guessable) – I am more used to seeing RE = religious education in cryptics.
Tough – on my first run through the only one I managed to get was the splendidly Pauline EPISTLES (see what I did there?). But immaculately clued, and a rewarding way to spend an hour or so first thing.
I have banged on of late about the Graun’s fondness for unfriendly grids. I did note that Vlad made use of one of the friendlier ones – lots of initial letters from the crossers, and no lights with a majority of unchecked letters.
Not really fair to single things out, but MISS OTIS REGRETS was especially fine, I thought.
Thanks, both
I thought the puzzle was hard but very rewarding. I had never heard of the Cole Porter song “Miss Otis Regrets” which made for some strange expressions when I had some of the crosses. Once I figured out that SIM was card things fell into place and after googling I discovered what the phrase meant. That led to listening to a few of the different recordings (I prefer Bette Midler’s version to either Ethel Waters’ or Ella Fitzgerald’s). So, a fun puzzle and lots of enjoyment beyond the grid. Thanks Vlad, time well spent!
A joyless grind that I was just glad to have over.
Quote a step up in difficulty from the week’s earlier puzzles. Finally solved before the third mug of coffee cooled too much. NW corner remained empty until the very end.
Nice PDM for MISS OTIS REGRETS – once the crossers pointed at regrets as the last word I dimly remembered the song from I don’t know where. Had to come here for the parsing, though, as I hadn’t thought of SIM for “card”; one to tuck away for future use. COTD.
A bit of PROFANITY is often a good start to the day…
Thanks to Vlad for a muscular workout and to manehi for clarifying several parses where I couldnt quite see it.
I too had HARDENS at first for 11a.
Failed on most of this so I won’t elaborate, other than to protest (again) the supposed MYNA=minor equivalence in 8d. A real fingernails on blackboard moment.
GO THE WHOLE HOG
The WP: as in the blog
+
The whole clue could act as a humorous/whimsical def:
If you want to be a bore, become a total bore—GO THE WHOLE HOG
michelle@5
You have company here in respect of INFIELD.
Me@9 – add EPISTLES in as joint COTD. Nice fluid (ahem) surface leading one from the profane to the possibly sacred.
“St Paul the Apostle,
He had an epistle
So very colossal
It made the girls whistle!”
Thanks manehi for parsing the many I couldn’t get anywhere near. Vlad is nearly always tricky, but usually more fun than this, so I gave up about halfway through.
poc@10 re MYNA / minor… It depends on your accent. Mine is a bit of a north Midlands – central southern hodgepodge (Nottingham/Oxford), and, by me, myna and minor are pronounced very nearly the same. (I have just now been practising sotto voce.) The more rhotic (Scots?) would distinguish between them much more clearly.
Recently we’ve had TOOK and TUCK , and there the regionality of the homophone was rightly flagged, but I think that for minor / myna(h) it’s not so local.
Opinions will vary, no doubt!
Muffin@4: another HARDENS here, which I think does fit the clue if not the crossers.
Well and truly impaled today with many unparsed and several unsolved, but I liked PROFANITY, ILLYRIA, YEAR DOT and MEASLY.
For the record, MYNA/minor works for me.
DTS@12: presumably the Epistle to the Colossians?
This was hard, and I needed loads of help from checking letters and google. Like Michelle@5 and KvA@11, I didnt know Anfield, so this one was left uparsed, as several others. NHO Miss Otis Regrets, but was happy I managed to parse it after getting the answer from google. Revealed Delta (kicked myself afterwards) and myna (NHO, and these soundalikes don’t work for me; I pronounce the final letter at least to some extent). Some ingenious clues and surfaces, but most too difficult for me. Thanks, Vlad and Manehi
Meh, only 60% done before I started using the reveals and checks. Shame as I had finished the last few Vlad puzzles and thought I had cracked him.
Did like GO THE WHOLE HOG and YODA
Thanks Vlad and Manehi. Back to my bloody impalings from this setter
3d still confuses me. RI is fine, by how is PEST derived from BORE?
I’m another whose pride at completing recent Vlads has come before a fall today. Whij@19 both a bore and a pest can be annoying people.
Yes, this was very hard, which I/we’ve come to expect from Vlad. Finished, but missed the “handled” bit of NAMESAKES – very clever. Also liked IMPERFECT.
Another thoroughly disappointing effort.
I’ve never heard of Miss Otis Regrets.
Being a photographer, I can’t handle the word snaps to mean pictures
Very difficult for me. For many, I just looked at what might fit in and then parsed. The only one I didn’t understand was OBSIDIAN. I liked the whimsical GO THE WHOLE HOG, the DELTA Bermuda Triangle, the EPISTLES of Paul (the setter!), and the American Beauty’s ESTHETIC. poc @10, you might save your fingernails if you listen to dictionary pronunciations eg the ODE, Collins etc. 😊 My pet hate is Y being clued as why (it is normally wye when written) unless it has a homophone or text indicator.
Thanks Vlad and manehi.