SLORMGORM kicks off the week…
A good solid puzzle with some lovely surfaces. I probably struggled more than I should have.
Thanks SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
7. Resting place of Francis of Assisi (4)
SOFA
[franci]S OF A[ssisi] (of)
8. Perform rites of a clergyman over dragoon at the front (10)
ADMINISTER
(A + MINISTER (clergyman)) over D[ragoon] (at the front)
10. A course of action announced for strike? (6)
ATTACK
“a tack” = ATTACK (a course of action, “announced”)
11. Old ship at sea catching new creatures (8)
DOLPHINS
(OLD SHIP)* (*at sea) catching N (new)
12. Persons involved without okay primarily? (8)
SNOOPERS
(PERSONS)* (*involved) without O[kay] (primarily) & lit
13. Priest ultimately led church in dazed state (6)
TRANCE
[pries]T (ultimately) + RAN (led) + CE (church)
15. A huge threat to South American colonists? (5,8)
GIANT ANTEATER
18. Winger going round northern back from Bradford City (6)
LONDON
LOON (winger) going round (N (northern) + [bradfor]D (back from))
20. Part of speech given by friend over the phone? (8)
VERBALLY
VERB (part of speech) given by ALLY (friend)
22. Old doctor mostly visits US prison to see The Joker (8)
COMEDIAN
(O (old) + MEDI[c] (doctor, mostly)) visits CAN (US prison)
24. Posh priest seen in function lying on back (6)
SUPINE
(U (posh) + P (priest)) seen in SINE (function)
25. Reorganise tape-holder to find I’m in Love with My Car? (10)
PETROLHEAD
(TAPE HOLDER)* (*reorganise)
26. One crosses line in small driving compartment (4)
SCAB
S (small) + CAB (driving compartment)
DOWN
1. Mentor gone travelling in European country (10)
MONTENEGRO
(MENTOR GONE)* (*travelling)
2. Handy footballer hurt by a fellow athlete’s header (8)
MARADONA
MAR (hurt) by A DON (fellow) + A[thlete] (header)
3. Lie about vacuous cook’s meat and two veg? (6)
TACKLE
TALE (lie) about C[oo]K (vacuous)
4. Remove garments from hot uncle in need of treatment (8)
UNCLOTHE
(HOT UNCLE)* (*in need of treatment)
5. A way old lady gets to grips with hard affliction (6)
ASTHMA
(A + ST (way) + MA (old lady)) gets to grips with H (hard)
6. Plant or shrub essentially native to marshland (4)
FERN
[sh]R[ub] (essentially) native to FEN (marshland)
9. Advertising space? (7,6)
MADISON AVENUE
(vaguely) Cryptic definition
14. American religious song by hip guy like Dury? (10)
CAROLINIAN
CAROL (religious song) by IN (hip) + IAN (guy like Dury)
16. Concrete Belgian mixed beneath crown of trees (8)
TANGIBLE
(BELGIAN)* (*mixed) beneath T[rees] (crown of)
17. Gin drink knocked over by tense silent type? (8)
TRAPPIST
TRAP (gin) + (SIP)< (drink, <knocked over) by T (tense)
19. Drinking last of lager, my love becomes gloomy (6)
DREARY
DEARY (my love), drinking [lage]R (last of)
21. Board of brie regularly served with port? (6)
RESIDE
[b]R[i]E (regularly) served with SIDE (port?)
23. Unopened port can be concerning (4)
OVER
Nho that definition of TACKLE in 3d. Otherwise enjoyed this puzzle especially 15ac GIANT ANTEATER.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.
Probably just me – Mondayitis is my excuse – but I found this as difficult a Slormgorm puzzle as I can ever remember doing. The two long crossing cryptic defs were, like many cryptic defs, only easy in retrospect and the ‘Handy footballer’ took me ages to work out. The same for the ‘meat and two veg?’ def (though I suppose I should have been quicker on the uptake knowing our setter) and the ‘One crosses line’ def for SCAB. Favourite was the SNOOPERS &lit.
Challenging but good fun and satisfying to eventually get the “Well done” message.
Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow
For those puzzling over why Maradona is a “handy” footballer: he is perhaps best known for what Wikipedia describes as “an unpenalized handling foul known as the “Hand of God”. This resulted in a goal in the 1986 World Cup quarter final and a 2–1 victory over England.
Yes, it was 40 years ago.
And no, we haven’t forgotten.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
3dn: ODE 2010 gives “meat and two veg Brit. informal” (p 1098) and “tackle (also wedding tackle) Brit. vulgar slang” (p 1809) both meaning a man’s genitals.
I am definitely NOT asking for harder puzzles in general, BUT this was really enjoyable despite being harder than usual for Slormgorm IMO and still doable on the morning train. Fell into place quite quickly once a few hard won crossers were in place.
Some excellent clues including Sofa, Dolphins, Giant Anteater, Petrolhead, Montenegro, Madison Avenue.
Thanks both. More like this please, Mr Gorm.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.
MADISON AVENUE
I agree with the blogger in the absence of any better idea. Possible
I am missing something.
I now usually start with the four-letter clues as they are generally more straight forward. I think Slormgorm was onto me, as they were all quite difficult today. In fact, FERN was a bit of a guess as I could not parse it
I liked SCAB, ATTACK, TRANCE, ASTHMA, CAROLINIAN (I did know who Ian Drury was), and TRAPPIST made me smile once I finally worked it out
“Handy footballer” was a bit of a giveaway, even for a person with little interest in football. I also not know the slang associated with TACKLE, so I needed to back parse.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
I may be being dim (not uncharacteristic), but I don’t get either of the long cryptic definitions. I managed to guess them after I’d got letters in place but I’m still scratching my head.
I did enjoy it none the less and, as a beginner, managed to complete it with only a couple of checks, so I’m happy.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow!
Red Tin Dave @8 , anteaters well known for destroying and eating ant colonies . I assume Madison Avenue is the centre of NY advertising industry ?
Ah, thanks I hadn’t thought of ants as colonists!
Thanks for the blog , I thought this was very good but not so Cyclops this time .
Too difficult for me. It wasn’t helped by some rather vague definitions. I guessed ATTACK but was very uncertain whether it was right, thinking to myself “Is a tack really a course of action?“ (rather than just a course.) And I’m struggling to think of a sentence in which I might use OVER as meaning “concerning”. I’m sure there are plenty of instances. Can someone suggest one please?
Didn’t get GIANT ANTEATER, MADISON AVENUE or MARADONA so I was at quite a disadvantage today.
23dn: ODE 2010 p 1264 has over preposition 7 on the subject of: a long and heated debate over unemployment.
Thanks PB#13. That will do nicely, though it’s not a usage I myself would adopt as I find it particularly inelegant.
Roz @9, yes, to the point where Madison Avenue is, in AmEng, metonymy for advertising in general. This despite the fact that there are ad firms in many other major cities, and presumably also in many other places in Manhattan.
9dn further to mrpenney@15: My usual dictionaries all have entries for Madison Avenue.
ODE 2010 p 1063 has “a street in New York City, centre of the American advertising business”.
Chambers 2016 p 917 has “the US advertising and public relations industries; the characteristic methods or attitudes of these. [From the street which is their centre in New York City]”. This conforms to their normal policy of not defining a proper name in a main dictionary entry unless there is some special meaning attached to that name.
Incidentally, I hope we are not going to get into any arguments about streets going one way and avenues the other way in American cities.
PB@16 – I agree with your last comment on avenues and streets. The Sts and Aves go in different directions only in some parts of NY city, and that rule does not apply at all in some other US cities.
I agree with Red Tin Dave. Neither of the two long cryptic definitions worked for me at all.
In fact they were just bad clues.
A pity, as the rest of it was pretty solid and mostly enjoyable.
I think Slormgorm woke up and said “I’m going to make life difficult for Tilloubill”. I normally sail through a Slormgorm but had to give up halfway through.
Difficulty solve for me but eventually got all but two (MARADONA and SNOOPERS). US here so MADISON AVENUE resonated. Particularly happy with TACKLE – brought back memories of Only Fools and Horses.
M@16 – Sts and Aves must show up as a musical clue soon!