Thanks to IO for the challenge!
I started off very well and managed to get about 50% completed confidently, but then got rather stuck with some of the unknown (to me) solutions, and tricky parsing. But I do appreciate the change of pace that IO brings, and the extra effort involved adds to the sense of satisfaction when it all falls into place. Eventually. Many thanks to IO.
What BOAR (swine) exhibits, trampling on I (one) in CUP[i]D (model of adoration) + LOVE (nothing) – &lit
(O[n] P[a]RA[d]E (from the solution to 7D; AND missing))* (*in bits)
PA (Panama) adopts (A + TAG (label) + ON (attached to) + I (independent))
Cryptic definition
A play on the concept of ‘roaring’
H + H (hours) during which I have EAT (to dine)
Sir Edward Heath was Prime Minister of the UK between 1970 and 1974
Cryptic definition
A Managing Director might oversee the rest of the Board; ‘main’ referring to the sea
(TO (heading for) + RHEA (bird)) under protection of MOD (rival?)
Methods of Destruction or M.O.D. could be considered a rival to Motorhead, both being metal(ish) bands from the same(ish) era
EY UP (ow’re thee) stalling [W]E[nsl]E[ydal]E (most common, i.e. the letter E)
EY UP is Yorkshire’s informal ‘hello’ or ‘how are you?’ and they stereotypically drop the ‘h’ sound
(VOLUNTEER + [r]SP[b] [h]E[s] [l]EF[t] [o]F[f] (packing))* (*for some excitement)
GRATINS* (*supply) crusts PE (exercise, Physical Education)
[mea]T AT OU[r] (homes)
A tatou is a giant armadillo
(TASK RA[r]E (R (recipe) light) TREAT)* (*cooking) – &lit
Cryptic definition
For the straight definition: ‘cloud chambers’ are particle detectors
IO might use Chambers (the dictionary) for reference, and this could be online, indicated by ‘e’ or in the ‘cloud’
Cryptic definition
For El Greco (i.e. someone Greek), in the alphabet sequence, we find PI as letter 16 and ETA as letter 7
‘Pieta’ is Michelangelo’s famous Madonna and Jesus sculpture from the Renaissance era
Double definition
(E (English) + SUPER (police chief))< (<retired) nursing RPO (Beecham’s baby)
Sir Thomas Beecham founded the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1946, remaining its conductor and director until his death in 1961.
Before ETON (school); L (lecturer)
BUTT (bottom) + GETABLE (within reach)) in VEER (swing)
ONE (a) boxing (AD (poster) that appears to be sub PAR (standard))
(TAPE UNDERWEAR)* (*to bustle)
[restaur]ANT EVER T[aking] (employed in)
‘Antevert’ means to slope forwards, anatomically, e.g. as the uterus does
S[ense] T[roub]e (starts to) after (DICE SAY)* (*rolling)
An ‘ecdysiast’ is a stripper or erotic dancer
(APP[r]OP[riately] (LITERARY leaves))* (*kicked about)
‘Uncle Sam’ indicating an Americanism
[of]F AT WA[terloo] (you need this to get)
Without the letters FATWA you can’t complete the phrase ‘off at Waterloo’
A wonderful puzzle from Io. Thanks.
A matching superb blob from Oriel. Thanks.
A couple of observations:
MOTORHEAD
I find that MODs and rockers were two conflicting subcultures that began in the late 1950s London. Maybe what the
blogger says is the same.
VEGETABLE BUTTER
Took the pharse ‘bottom within reach’ as ‘GETABLE BUTT’.
Thanks Oriel. In 16, though, I think rival is a reference to Mods and Rockers, not another band. (I should have typed faster…)
Thanks oriel.
Again I completed with a lot of cheats and seeing the blog I never would have finished otherwise. I don’t even bother to try these unassisted any more and enjoy them far less as a result. This setter is a complete outlier compared to the others in the FT roster who are generally far more fun.
16a is simpler than the blog I think. Mods and rockers used to amuse themselves with mass brawls in the sixties, on the basis that their opponents were wearing the wrong clothes.
Think in 16 the rival is a Mod (modernist) as in mods and rockers
Far too subtle for my talents, I managed to get Heath and On Another Planet and that was it.
Re Overboard: an MD oversees a business, the Board is overseen by the Chairman.
Re Eye Up – in my experience the normal Yorkshire greeting is Now Then: Aye up or Ey Up being more a Lancashire and Cheshire thing.
Ecdysiast? Really?
Make that three for rivals being Mods and Rockers. Also, I think 14A is a double definition with “in the main” also being OVERBOARD. Don’t usually finish an IO so I take this to be more IO lite. Thanks IO and Oriel!
Yep, familiar Brit cultural history to oldies, mods and rockers. 15d took all the crossers and wrestling the rest, only then recalling that strange word for stripper. Enigio with his customary gnarl. Ta both.
Thanks Io and Oriel. I actually managed to solve this in one session, taking just over double my notional “par” time for a normal FT crossword.
14ac: Others may have hinted at this, but (as I read it) “MD’s position” is OVER BOARD – strictly speaking, this is wordplay as it enumerates as (4,5) not (9) – and then “in the main?” is a somewhat cryptic definition for having fallen off a ship or boat.
16ac: I agree with everyone else about Mods and Rockers.
A couple more points from me:
17ac: I think “most common” is the indication that E is the only letter occurring three times in “Wensleydale”. I do not think there is anything about dropping aitches in this clue.
6dn: I took this the same way as KVa@1. I think GETABLE BUTT needs to be taken together, as there is no other indication of the order of those two words in the solution.
PB@9
EYE UP
I was also looking for an aitch dropped or the first letter of an expression dropped, because the clue says ‘ow (not how).
Though I had the same parsing as the blogger and you (E in EY UP), I still have this question: Why is it clued as ‘ow, but
not how?
Unsurprisingly this was tricky and I am grateful to Oriel for the blog which explained a few I had not parsed. I am not a great fan of clues like that for “heath” where there is a lot of superfluity. “I have to dine” = “eat” (or, I suppose “I have” refers to the setter having “to dine” placed there). I don’t think the grammar quite matches up either. Ditto in 1ac, why is “what swine exhibits” = “boar” rather than it just being a swine? Often it’s the case there is some elucidation here which changes my mind about a clue once I see its subtleties, so fingers crossed!
Incidentally the grid is exceptionally “white dense” and every single solution is crossed at every other letter, with lots of helpful first letters. Perhaps one of the friendliest grids I’ve seen in that respect.
Thanks for the blog , a surprising number of answers to write in straight away and lots of letters to help with the harder ones . Only two first letters not checked which always helps .
CLOUD CHAMBERS not seriously used for about 70 years but I still get them out because they are so visual and exciting . Famously captured the positron in1932 after prediction by Dirac .
Too slow , JOFT beat me to it on the grid .
KVa @10 – ow’re thee , or more usually , ow at , are equivalent greetings to ey up .
KVa@10 re 17ac: I really meant to say that I do not think “most common” in the clue has anything to do with dropping aitches.
1ac: I think “What swine exhibits” forms an essential part of the clue as definition. How much of the rest of the clue really belongs to the definition I would rather not say.