Thanks to Pangakupu for a fairly breezy Thursday puzzle.
Looking for the traditional Maori Nina I see TEITEI (lofty) in the middle row and MAUNGA (mountain) in the middle column; these occur, I learn, in the aspirational Maori proverb “Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei“, “Seek the treasure you value most dearly; if you must bow your head, let it be only to a lofty mountain.”
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | CHESS MATCHES | Friend’s securing check after check – he wins lots, ultimately, in these (5,7) CH (check) + last letters of hE winS lotS + another CH in MATE’S, with an extended definition |
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| 9 | RINSE | Some farmer in search for swill (5) Hidden in farmeR IN SEarch |
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| 10 | LABYRINTH | Experimental area: year in this removing one’s perplexity (9) LAB (experimental area) + YR + IN THIS less I’S |
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| 11 | FIRSTLY | Trees beside end of street likely gutted at the outset (7) FIRS (trees) + [stree]T + L[ikel]Y |
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| 12 | TUNISIA | Island I found surrounded by fish in part of Africa (7) IS (island) + I in TUNA |
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| 13 | TELEVISUAL | Sadly values-lite, like much broadcasting (10) (VALUES LITE)* |
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| 15 | SWOT | Committed pupil pulls back (4) Reverse of TOWS (pulls) |
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| 18 | SLOE | This gin gets legions drunk (4) This is what is called a “composite anagram &lit” in some circles: LEGIONS is an anagram of SLOE GIN, and the whole clue is the definition |
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| 19 | SENESCENCE | Ageing somehow seen linked to knowledge I released (10) SEEN* + SCIENCE (literally “knowedge”) less I |
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| 22 | REPROOF | Rebuke? Republican hitting ceiling (7) REP + ROOF |
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| 24 | ALEMBIC | Old still beer getting mark with pen (7) ALE + M[ark] + BIC (brand of pen); although it looks as if it should be an adjective, alembic is actually a name for an “old-fashioned type of distilling apparatus”, used in alchemy |
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| 25 | POUND SIGN | Thumps one with Guardian heartlessly – it’s a mark of the Greens? (5,4) POUNDS (thumps) + I (one) + G[uardia]N, with “Greens” meaning mony |
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| 26 | OX-EYE | Flower from old times getting attention (2-3) o[ld] + X (multiplication symbol, times) + EYE (attention) |
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| 27 | DOMESDAY BOOK | Yes, bad mood may be aggravated by merely adequate historic records (8,4) (YES BAD MOOD)* + OK (merely adequate) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | CONTRALTO | Singer’s reduced mastery around key (9) ALT (key on a computer keyboard) in CONTRO[L] |
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| 2 | ELECTIVE | Optional having European active around English court (8) E[uropean] + E CT in LIVE (active) |
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| 3 | SULKY | Light carriage being put out? (5) Double definition; a sulky is “a light two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for one person, used chiefly in trotting races” |
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| 4 | ARBITRATE | Judge Australia to have right measure of information supply (9) A + R + BIT-RATE (the rate of transmission of data, so a measure of information supply) |
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| 5 | CORONA | Expression of surprise regarding one feature of daffodil (6) COR (expression of surprise) + ON (regarding) + A (one) |
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| 6 | ERNES | Holderness home to these seabirds? (5) Hidden in holdERNESs |
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| 7 | PROFIT | Supportive of appropriate gain (6) PRO (supportive of) + FIT (appropriate) |
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| 8 | THWART | Prevent hot fighting in midst of battle (6) H[ot] WAR in [ba]TT[le] |
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| 14 | SIEGFRIED | Wagner opera is upsetting for one supporter withdrawing name (9) Reverse of IS + E.G. (for one) + FRIEND less N |
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| 16 | WINDBREAK | Beach feature to coil on vacation (9) WIND (to coil; rhyming with “signed”) + BREAK (vacation) |
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| 17 | ECCE HOMO | Image of Jesus church’s taken in two ways – half holy, half mock (4,4) CE (church) seen backwards and forwards + halves of HOly + Mock. ECCE HOMO has been depicted be many famous artist, but this is one that found recent fame for the wrong reasons (possibly referenced in the clue) |
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| 18 | SYRUPY | Informant about your University is unnaturally sweet (6) YR (your) U[niversity] in SPY |
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| 20 | ESCHEW | Repudiate key source of hope we elevated (6) ESC (another computer key) + H[ope] + reverse of WE |
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| 21 | FOODIE | One fond of chow initially fond of cartoon dog … (6) F[ond] O[f] ODIE (dog in the Garfield cartoon strip) |
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| 23 | PLUTO | … cartoon dog left in position with repeated character in cartoon (5) L in PUT (to position) + O (the double letter in cartOOn) |
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| 24 | ANNOY | Upset speaker after cutting off opening (5) A headless TANNOY |
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My faves: CHESS MATCHES, SLOE (an AZED style clue), POUND SIGN and WINDBREAK.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
Enjoyed the puzzle so many thanks to Pangakupu, but not in a month of proverbial Sundays would I have figured out the parsing for 18a, so many thanks also to Andrew.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew
After recovering from a mis-start – I looked at 1a and thought DUTCH AUCTION, I’ll parse it later – it went quite quickly, except it took ages to remember SULKY as a carriage.
Not sure the parts of speech quite match for perplexity and LABYRINTH.
I coudn’t parse 18ac.
Favourites: ESCHEW, OX-EYE (loi).
New for me: SULKY = carriage; 21d ODIE = cartoon dog (obviously, my GK does not extend to various old carriage types and US cartoons of the 1970s).
Like muffin@3, I considered DUTCH AUCTION for 1ac.
muffin@3
LABYRINTH
& perplexity both are nouns. They seem to match.
KVa @5
Yes, but LABYRINTH is concrete, while perplexity is abstract.
So how many people just wrote in yell-Ow! In 5D?
Very clever puzzle which I persisted with to the finish last night. I thought CHESS MATCHES and DOMESDAY BOOK were quite simply brilliant and I liked the composite SLOE. Spotted the 2 Ninas but can’t see anything relevant to his next number, 46?
Ta Pangakupu & Andrew
46 was a bit of a brute to pin down, but there are 46 peaks in the Adirondacks, and walkers try to bag them all. Nearest I could get to significant mountains.
I try to work a few puzzles in hand, so I can tell you that 47 was even worse to find something for. And that no. 48 will precede it in publication order, for editorial reasons.
Thanks for that Pangakupu, good luck with the sequence.
Could parse only RINSE and PROFIT,so obviously no favourites.Thanks anyway.
Thanks Andrew. I was feeling pleased I had parsed it all until I came here and found that the POUND SIGNS weren’t on the greens in the greengrocer’s.
Glad I was able to devote the time to enjoy the solve and Pangakupu’s cluing, the charades especially, and the labyrinthine twists and turns.
Slow in the south west corner (with a bunged in GOOFIE- a misspelling of Goofy) taking an age to correct to FOODIE. Only knew one half of the SULKY definition and was a guess between a few words. Otherwise a quicker solve of this setter than usual.
Enjoyed CHESS MATCHES, DOMESDAY BOOK and LABYRINTH
Thanks Andrew and Pangakupu
Unchallenging for a Thursday sadly but a very pleasant, tidy solve happily
And some great clues
Thanks to Phi and Andrew
Not very familiar with ALEMBIC or SENESCENCE. Knew about Cartoon Dog PLUTO, but not Odie, so FOODIE was last one in. Fairly smooth otherwise, and I’m glad others search willingly for those Maori references, for I never do.
Many thanks Pangakapu and Andrew…
I’ve never been a fan of this setter, but after completing and enjoying this one I’ll have to change my mind! A couple of new words for me, SULKY and ECCE HOMO, but well enough clued to be gettable with the help of a few crossers and dictionary. Thanks to P and A.
Took me a long time to remember Odie (I was trying to make either POODLE or DOODLE fit), though Garfield has certainly been around more recently than the 1970s (there have been a couple of films, too). As for the other dog, both PLUTO the hound and PLUTO the planet first appeared in 1930, with the hound being named after the newly-discovered planet.
I failed to parse CHESS MATCHES, but DOMESDAY BOOK was brilliant and I really liked SLOE. And we have another appearance of one of the Crossword Birds – has anyone actually called the creature an ERNE within living memory? Some good surfaces today, too.
Couldn’t parse SLOE but it had to be that. I don’t think I’ve come across this clue type before.
Pounds haven’t been green for decades. Do non-Americans really say ‘greens’ (plural) for money?
I liked ALEMBIC, ECCE HOMO, and quite a few others.
Comment #19
A bit less LABYRINTHine than some previous Pang ones. I liked the friends’ CHESS MATCHES, the legions getting drunk on SLOE gin, THWARTing battle, and the dog-loving FOODIE.
Thanks Pang and Andrew.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. 24d’s tannoy reference seems to remind me of a correction/apology in the Grauniad many moons ago, along the lines of “We reported the failure of a tannoy system. We are happy to make clear that it was not in fact manufactured by Tannoy.”
Lots to enjoy here. My Chambers App has esp. dollar bills for the money definition of Greens, but I suppose it extends to pounds.
I could not complete parse chess matches and sloe, but I see now they are brilliant. Sloe gin (which my husband and I like to make) does not necessarily make you drunk; it depends on the amount you drink :-). Muffin@3 and Michelle@4: Ironically, I had not heard of Dutch Auction before, so was not tempted by that. I had initially misspelled Tunisia as Tunesia (it is spelled Tunesie in Dutch), and found out that there exist an island called Es, so it worked…. Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
Sadly SULKY is all too well known to Dubliners. Illegal sulky racing in the city recently caused the death of one pregnant mare and her unborn foal. It’s not uncommon for them to race on motorways too…at great risk to themselves, their horses and legitimate vehicles.
I enjoyed the puzzle – especially SLOE, which was masterful. Thank you Pangakupu and Andrew.
NHO ox-eye so a DNF for me. Also the parsing of 18A escaped me. Otherwise plenty of fun.
I haven’t heard “greens” for money in a long time, but it was widely used in the 1940s at least [I write novels set in the period]. Also “greenback” used to be very common in the US, apparently originating from the Civil War.
Thank you Pangakupu and Andrew.
Ace @25
Ox-eye is more fully ox-eye daisy.
Very entertaining. CHESS MATCHES and DOMESDAY BOOK were both excellent across the top and bottom.
Chambers includes for LABYRINTH, “A perplexity”, though I must admit that offhand I can’t really think of a context where it could be used to mean that.
Many thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
@Major#7 Yes, me!
Needed two bites at this one to finish.
SLOE I had to leave unparsed – thank you, Andrew, for sorting that out. Clearly there are some things for which I need to up my game…
I dredged SULKY from some distant memory.
DOMESDAY BOOK gets my COTD – a nice anagram with a nifty tail to make up a neat surface.
WINDBREAK reminded me of a local newspaper headline reproduced in one of Private Eye’s Books of Boobs – “Save our trees – they break wind”.
Thanks P & A!
I really enjoyed teasing out the clues of this crossword. I was another one who tried Dutch Auction for 1A. Needed all crossers for 17D which was a great clue. Thanks to P & A.