Thank you to Serenos. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. I superfluously join two banks in which the same cards are issued (9,6)
DUPLICATE BRIDGE : An identical second bridge which superfluously joins the two banks of a river.
Defn: Game …, a form of competitive contract bridge where teams at many tables are dealt the same hands.
9. Cats for example not normally considered this? (7)
Cats for example not normally considered this? (7)
MUSICAL : Double defn: 1st: An example of which is Cats, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; and 2nd: Not a normal characteristic of some animals, cats for example.
10. Turning, pig conceals curly bit, a monster (7)
GOLIATH : Reversal of(Turning) [ HOG(a domesticated pig) containing(conceals) TAIL(the curly bit of a pig) ].
Defn: …, in the sense of someone or something gigantic.
11. Indian address the US taxman rejected (3)
SRI : Reversal of(… rejected) IRS(abbrev. for “Internal Revenue Service”, the US Government tax authority).
Defn: …/title of respect for a man or god.
12. Revolutionary’s taking ammunition round: very brief opportunity to finish off king here (6,5)
BULLET CHESS : CHE(Guevara, Argentine Marxist revolutionary)‘S contained in(taking … round) BULLETS(ammunition for firearms).
Defn: A variant of chess, where each player has less than 3 minutes (a very brief window of opportunity), to mate, ie. finish off the opponent’s king.
13. Foolishly let eclair start to curdle in such a storm (10)
ELECTRICAL : Anagram of(Foolishly) [ LET ECLAIR + 1st letter of(start to) “curdle” ].
Defn: .., in this case, a thunderstorm resulting from electrical disturbances in the atmosphere.
15. Understood sourdough not provided with starter (4)
READ : “bread”(an example of which is sourdough) minus its 1st letter(not provided with starter).
Defn: …/looked at and comprehended text.
18. Observer takes in Queen Jane, a heroine (4)
EYRE : EYE(what is used to observe/an observer) containing(takes in) R(abbrev. for “Regina”, a Queen).
Defn: Surname of … in Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre.
20. Favour cured meat, a somewhat dicey business (10)
BACKGAMMON : BACK(to support/to favour) + GAMMON(cured meat, in this case, ham).
Answer: Board game where pieces are moved according to throws of the dice.
23. One small request, excessive space on motorway badly designed (11)
MISBEGOTTEN : [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) + S(abbrev. for “small”) + BEG(to ask for/request) + OTT(abbrev. for “over the top”/excessive) + EN(a unit of space between characters in text) ] placed after(on) M(abbrev. for “motorway”).
25. Laundry regularly returned, lots of it in the cells (1,1,1)
RNA : Reversal of(… returned) 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… regularly) “Laundry”.
Answer: Abbreviation for “ribonucleic acid”, a group of biochemical compounds abundantly found in living cells.
26. Possibly a Russian national tree (and American) (7)
NATASHA : NAT(abbrev. for “national”) + ASH(a genus of trees) plus(and) A(abbrev. for “American”).
Defn: … female.
27. Creature said to take to the water with young on back clinging to side of neck (7)
ROEBUCK : Homophone of(said) “row”(to take to the water in a boat using oars) plus(with) reversal of(… on back) CUB(the young of carnivorous mammals like the fox, lion or bear) plus(clinging to) last letter of(side of) “neck”.
28. This bad-tempered oath a mystery (9,6)
CROSSWORD PUZZLE : CROSS(bad-tempered/in a foul mood) + WORD(a solemn promise/oath) + PUZZLE(a mystery/enigma).
Defn: …, ie. what you’re solving.
Down
1. Block a piece of drama making sudden transformation (9)
DAMASCENE : DAM(to block/barricade) + A + SCENE(a section of a play/a piece of drama).
Answer: Describing a dramatic change in attitude or belief.
2. On rising exude vigour, 4 across examples here (7)
PASTIME : Reversal of(On rising, in a down clue) [ EMIT(to exude/discharge) + SAP(vigour/liveliness).
Defn: …, as highlighted in the grid above.
3. Brood as Guantanamo is extremely tense (8)
INCUBATE : [ IN CUBA ](describing where Guantanamo city is located) + 1st and last letters of(extremely) “tense”.
Defn: To …, as a bird sitting on its eggs to hatch them.
4. Radical supporter on left (5)
ALLYL : ALLY(a supporter/friend) placed above(on, in a down clue) L(abbrev. for “left”).
Answer: A particular radical/a group of atoms acting as a unit in some chemical compounds.
5. From lectern, offer for sale one or two birds of prey (5-4)
EAGLE-HAWK : EAGLE(a type of lectern/standing desk on which to support books or documents while reading from them, in this case one in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings) + HAWK(to carry and offer goods for sale).
Answer: With the hyphen, one bird of prey, or without the hyphen, two birds of prey.
From Australia:
6. Old widow taking lid off article for repair (6)
RELICT : Anagram of(… for repair) “article” minus its 1st letter(taking lid off …, in a down clue).
Defn: An archaic/old term for a widow.
7. Marksman’s expressionless gaze (7)
DEADEYE : DEAD(dull/expressionless) + EYE(gaze/stare).
Defn: An expert ….
8. Distinctive character of those cycling (5)
ETHOS : “those” with its last letter moved to the front(cycling).
14. Soon desert old sweetheart (9)
INAMORATO : [IN A MO](in a moment/soon) + RAT(to desert/abandon one’s party, side or cause) + O(abbrev. for “old”).
Defn: …, in this case one’s male lover.
16. Teacher, put my way some work I don’t know (4,3,2)
DON’T ASK ME : DON(a teacher/lecturer at a university) + [TASK ME](give me some work/put some work in my way or put my way some work, in Yodaspeak).
17. From people in leading university high-level options here (4,4)
MAIN MENU : MEN(people in general) contained in(in) [ MAIN(leading/chief) U(abbrev. for “university”) ].
Defn: … on computer software or on a website.
19. Cook, first to offer to stir dish (7)
RISOTTO : Anagram of(Cook) [ 1st letter of(first to) “offer” + TO STIR ].
Defn: A … in Italian cuisine.
21. Nobel laureate’s emblem unknown (7)
MÁRQUEZ : MARQUE(a trademark/an emblem) + Z(symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics).
Answer: …, Gabriel Garcia, a Nobel Prize laureate for Literature.
22. Leg straps for James and Norman (6)
JESSES : Plural of JESSE(one for Jesse James, an infamous American outlaw, and one for Jesse Norman, a British Conservative politician).
Defn: … round a hawk’s or falcon’s legs.
23. Computer receiving new input initially furiously busy (5)
MANIC : MAC(short for “Mackintosh”, a range of computers made by Apple Inc.) containing(receiving) [ N(abbrev. for “new”) + 1st letter of(… initially) “input” ].
24. Ready to drop some older items over (5)
TIRED : Hidden in(some) reversal of(… over, in a down clue) “older items”.
Defn: …/collapse from exhaustion.
Very reluctant to put DON’T as part of the answer for 16d, as the word is already in the clue.
I found this hard, owing to gaps in my general knowledge, so did quite a bit of searching for things like falcons’ leg straps.
However, I think that this is about par for Friday difficulty. It strikes me that the newer setters generally seem to be at this level of toughness.
Thanks everyone.
Plenty of answers new to me today: DUPLICATE BRIDGE and BULLET CHESS, the EAGLE HAWK, SRI and Jesse Norman… but the only one that defeated me was ALLYL. I liked the unmusical cats.
Not all cats are unmusical.
I thought this was very challenging but a satisfying finish in the end. I thought READ as in reading books was the fourth PASTIME until my loi DUPLICATE BRIDGE which was a nho. I thought we were heading for a pangram so was trying to put an x in the last few clues. I really liked GOLIATH, EYRE, MISBEGOTTEN and CROSSWORD PUZZLE. EAGLE HAWK and ALLYL were just lucky guesses, and a sad reminder of the tragic Lady Jane Grey.
Ta Serenos & scchua.
Mostly gettable except for a couple of unknowns (ALLYL and the BULLET form of chess).
García Márquez would never have been known only by his second (mother’s) surname. EIther both of them or just García.
Yes, 1ac, 12ac, ALLYL and MAIN MENU all new terms, words or expressions to me too. So I struggled at times with this. But I thought INORAMORATO an excellent fitting together of its parts. MISBEGOTTEN not often heard these days, but rolls off the tongue rather pleasingly. A GOLIATH can be a large combination bet with a lot of hopeful selections…
…INAMORATO, even…
12a ‘very brief’ = s(0)
I think it’s CHE’S in BULLETS for the correct parsing, scchua.
Like Tony@9 I parsed 12A’s second S as very brief, accepting that was then doing double duty. AlanC @10’s parsing is much cleaner.
I seem to be seeing esses every day now.
I thought athlete and singer for 22d, but he was Owens not James and she was Jessye with a y … totally off, pretty much how I did overall, needing help in 20% of it. Back to the Oz Open semis 🙂
I failed 22d and 5d apart from EAGLE (what a magnificent-looking bird).
New for me: ALLYL; DEADEYE = marksman; RELICT = widow; RAT=desert/abandon (for 14d) as well as BULLET CHESS and DUPLICATE BRIDGE.
Like AlanC@5, I was thinking this might turn out to be a pangram.
I agree with Ronald@7 that INAMORATO & MISBEGOTTEN were nicely constructed.
Thanks Serenos and scchua
Mostly straightforward, though I had never heard of that chess variant,
A bit surprised at the enumeration for RNA. Isn’t it Guardian style to give these as (3)?
Favourite INAMORATO.
AlanC beat me to it for CHE’S.
ALLYL was a jorum, but otherwise fairly straightforward.
michelle @13: turns out there is no F or V, so that was a blind alley 🙂
An enjoyable challenge. I spent some time trying to crowbar iv into 2d before the penny dropped. Favourite clue 3d. Thanks both
I thought of Jesse Norman the soprano for the JESSES, rather than the obscure MP, but apparently it’s not spelt that way (Jessye, but Googling Jesse finds her). I knew JESSES from The Once and Future King, but also seeing falconry in action and having occasionally handled the birds, it’s one of the those tactile words in my mind because I can feel them when I hear the word.
It took a while to get this to open up, but when it did, it made sense, and I also wondered about READ as a PASTIME.
Interesting seeing how Serenos has set at this level and also the Quick Cryptic a few weeks back – and these are very different puzzles.
Thank you to Serenos and scchua
Great fun! Had to word-search for ALLYL.
What is the starting ‘I’ doing in the clue for 1a? To me it would read better without.
Just realised I never did go back to figure out the James/Normans – but seeing the answer, I doubt I ever would have (Norman who?). Snap, simonc@1. I popped in DNA until I realised that the letters, though there, weren’t regular. Otherwise, pretty good, though I did have to check that the DUPLICATE… and BULLET… were actually a thing. Entering PUZZLE also gave me a pause – I’m going to need answers ending in U and Z? But they came in good time. Thanks, Serenos and scchua.
Great puzzle, though I was defeated by three NHOs, unfortunately…
Did not know DUPLICATE BRIDGE as a term and could not come up with the second word, even though in hindsight I should have been able to.
RELICT unknown and did not spot the anagram.
JESSES unknown and was misled into thinking I needed a surname rather than a first name, so didn’t come up with it (and did not know Mr Norman, too UKGK for this non-UK solver).
Minor quiblet would be that the second definition for MUSICAL really is very oblique, though it couldn’t be anything else.
Very much liked BULLET CHESS, MISBEGOTTEN, and GOLIATH!
Thanks scchua and Serenos!
Thanks AlanC@10. I had this when solving, but missed putting it (‘S) when I wrote the blog. Now corrected.
There are hawk-eagles, but eagle-hawk is an obsolete name for a wedge-tailed eagle (Australia) and the OED says it’s usage is one in ten million. I’m an ornithologist and it was new to me. Clear from the clue, however.
I’ve been an avid, globe-trotting birder for over 40 years so it always pains me when birds turn up in puzzles. Setters always seem to find arcane bird names to fit in their grids. I doubt if even Australian solvers would have heard of eagle hawk. Lots of hawk-eagles around the tropics, though.
Otherwise, good Friday fare. Thanks both.
Loved the puzzle
Knew relict for widow from my obsession with old cemeteries
copland@23 and Alastair@24: EAGLE-HAWK was the first thing that popped into my head. But I am no birder. Could be because of Eaglehawk Neck not an hour from where I live.
Tough but fair. Nho ALLYL and needed help for this clue. Also nho BULLET CHESS. Had a spare s in the parsing until the Penny dropped as AlanC@10 suggests.
Liked INCUBATE as well.
[TassieTim spent 3 weeks there in early December. Lovely place to be]
Am I the only one who misparsed RELICT as (dubiously) “Remove the first two letters from derelict in its noun form”?
I thought this was great, albeit I had to reveal SRI and ALLYL, and I carelessly bunged in DNA instead of RNA. I got off to a flying start, then stalled, then revved up again as the penny dropped with DUPLICATE BRIDGE – big tick for that one. So welcome, Serenos, and I look forward to more like this.
Glad I didn’t go down in flames on this one – it helped knowing all the pastimes, although I needed a couple of letters to remember the name for that variant of bridge.
Thanks for the puzzle and blog.
I’m another who carelessly plonked in DNA at first; I should know better. I liked the GOLIATH turning pig, MISBEGOTTEN, where badly designed wasn’t an anagrind, and INAMORATO with a good surface and nice LEGO clue.
Thanks Serenos and scchua.
Blaise#29 Re 6 down – no, you were not alone!
Thanks to Serenos for the puzzle and to scchua for the blog.
This was above my level. Only got there with a lot of help. However eaglehawk was easy, as although that name is obsolete, there is an Eaglehawk Rd not far from my home. And I regularly see them soaring overhead.
We thought it was an excellent crossword
Quite a few solutions, including 3 of the pastimes, with double (duplicate) letters, enough for a mini-theme?
BULLET CHESS
BACKGAMMON
MISBEGOTTEN
CROSSWORD PUZZLE
ALLYL
JESSES
(M-M as starting letters of MAIN MENU)
Also isn’t RNA involved in DNA duplication?
I thought this excellent – INCUBATE raised a chuckle, as did INAMORATO. More please!
I failed on JESSES but enjoyed the puzzle. DUPLICATE BRIDGE is a great surface. I also liked INCUBATE, INAMORATO, DEADEYE, MISBEGOTTEN (haven’t seen the word before – only ill-begotten – but makes sense) and NATASHA. ALLYL was a jorum. Apparently the definition by example indicator is missing in READ… Thanks Serenos and scchua!
Found this quite easy but then I’m used to the setter as he does the Oldie each month. This is a UK monthly magazine for those of an age like me (84). It’s the first time I’ve seen him in a national paper. Ta for blog.
Wordplay a bit verbose in places. JESSE not in Chambers so tricky to confirm without further recourse to google. Ticks for INCUBATE and INAMORATO although they do use similar wordplay
Better than Ludwig and Omnibus. I’ll leave it at that 🙂
Cheers S&S
There’s another pastime – Go(liath).
Disappointed to read how many contributors haven’t heard of Duplcate Bridge. But perhaps as a former Chair of the English Bridge Union, the organising body of Duplicate Bridge in England) I may be a little skewed in my world view…
It was helpful of Serenos to tell us that there would be 4 across PASTIMES. I had vaguely heard of DUPLICATE BRIDGE and BULLET CHESS though I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about either of them. I thought the “superfluously” in the former was brilliant, implying both its normal meaning and, whimsically, “going over a flow”.
AlanC @5: yes I thought of Lady Jane Grey too. Alternative Queen Janes include Jane Seymour and Bob Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately”.
Like muffin @14 I was a little surprised to see RNA enumerated as 1,1,1, which did make it a bit of a giveaway.
Many thanks Serenos and scchua.
Great puzzle on the harder side in which I had to reveal JESSES.
Not heard of DUPLICATE BRIDGE which I solved from checking letters.
ALLYL recalled from crosswords past but not a clue what one is.
Lots of ticks but ROEBUCK my favourite today.
Thanks Scchua and serenos
bodycheetah @40 JESS is the singular for the falconry straps
#40 Jesses is the plural of Jess.
I found this mostly straightforward apart from a couple of clues that hung me up at the end. New to me were ALLYL and JESSES; other than that I had the requisite GK for once. The parsing of ROEBUCK escaped me, and MARQUEZ took an embarrassingly long time to drop even with all the crossers. “See U, think Q” should have been applied!
Defeated in the end by JESSES–neither the leg straps nor the MP being familiar to me, though looking at Norman’s Wikipedia entry his thesis “Visual Reasoning in Euclid’s Geometry:
An Epistemology of Diagrams” seems very interesting! Wish he’d stayed in the business. Also NHO the Eagle lectern but had guessed that from the rest of the definition.
Stared at 21d for a while wondering if it could be MAHFOUZ. Didn’t help that I was one of those who carelessly bunged in DNA.
Ticks for GOLIATH, INCUBATED, and INAMORATO (the last two for the clever “in Cuba” and “in a mo”–I’ve seen INAMORATO a bunch but never with that device I think?)
Thanks Serenos and scchua!
Nice one. Tough for me, but enjoyed it. Liked many, smiled at SRI for obvious reasons!
Fun Puzzle. With EYRE and NATASHA solved, but only the last two crossers of PASTIME filled in, I spent a lot of time trying to justify HEROINE for 2d.