I’m covering for the regular blogger, so you’ve got my take on this today.
It’s always a relief when covering to get a tractable puzzle with helpful long anagrams to open up the grid, which is what we have here.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PATIENCE |
Job’s showing people this game (8)
|
| cryptic definition – from the Bible story of Job, who shows great PATIENCE in response to a series of personal disasters | ||
| 5 | GALLOP |
Move fast coming from meeting — all opposed (6)
|
| hidden text (coming from) in meetinG ALL OPposed | ||
| 10 | EMPEROR |
European parliamentarian associated with mistake disheartened ruler (7)
|
| charade of E (European) + MP (parliamentarian) + ERrOR (mistake disheartened) | ||
| 11 | REACTOR |
Almost arrive at hill’s energy facility (7)
|
| charade of REACh (almost arrive) + TOR (hill) | ||
| 12 | ALLEY |
Narrow passage in kitchen, not good (5)
|
| deletion – (not good) – gALLEY (kitchen – with the G removed) | ||
| 13 | UNCLEARED |
Not yet approved — global body was concerned about the French (9)
|
| charade of UN (global body) + CARED (was concerned) (about) with LE (the French) inserted | ||
| 14 | CARAVAN SITES |
Places to stay, vacant, as rise subject to review (7,5)
|
| anagram (subject to review) of (VACANT AS RISE)* | ||
| 18 | NONESSENTIAL |
After day in Rome, despatched — finally regularly ignored as unimportant (12)
|
| charade of NONES (days in the Roman calendar) + SENT + fInAlLy (IAL from finally regularly ignored) | ||
| 21 | TRAGEDIAN |
Specialist actor was furious after time, I advised nervously at first (9)
|
| RAGED (furious) after T (time) + I A N (from I Advised Nervously at first) | ||
| 23 | COWER |
Quail, caught by old, wide, English river (5)
|
| charade of C (caught – cricket abbreviation) + O (old) + W (wide) + E (English) + R (river – from maps) | ||
| 24 | EL GRECO |
At outset extremely loud grumbling rattles employee, company painter (2,5)
|
| acrostic (at outset) of Extremely Loud Grumbling Rattles Employee + CO (company) | ||
| 25 | TRIPLET |
Group member’s outing authorised (7)
|
| charade of TRIP (outing) + LET (authorised) | ||
| 26 | AFRESH |
Again a fight initially about quiet (6)
|
| charade of A (from the clue) + F (fight initially) + RE (about) + SH (quiet) | ||
| 27 | GRANDEUR |
Magnificence of Greece with continent following (not half!) (8)
|
| charade of GR (Greece – IVR code) + AND (with) + EUR (continent EURope, not half) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PREFAB |
Fear changes in lead house? (6)
|
| insertion of an anagram (changes) of (FEAR)* in Pb (chemical symbol for lead) | ||
| 2 | TIPPLE |
Something for Scrabble player clutching very quiet drink (6)
|
| insertion of TILE (something for Scrabble player) around (clutching) PP (very quiet) | ||
| 3 | EARLY DAYS |
Lady’s year worked out? Too soon to be sure (5,4)
|
| Anagram (worked out) of (LADY’S YEAR)* | ||
| 4 | CORRUGATED IRON |
Racer I invested in got round somehow, that’s groovy? (10,4)
|
| anagram (somehow) of (RACER I + GOT ROUND)* – the clue actually says it’s an anagram of (RACER I)* inside (invested in) an anagram of (GOT ROUND)* but I can’t see how that works, but a straight anagram does | ||
| 6 | ADAGE |
Byword of a daughter, mature (5)
|
| charade of A (from the clue) + D (daughter) + AGE (mature) | ||
| 7 | LITERATI |
Scholarly ones featuring in US volume — factoid given regular exposure (8)
|
| charade of LITER (US volume – American spelling of litre) + A T I (fAcToId – factoid given regular exposure) | ||
| 8 | PARODIST |
One sending up standard poet (8)
|
| charade of PAR (standard) + ODIST (poet) | ||
| 9 | PROCRASTINATOR |
In play actor roars “Pint!” — one to make him wait for it? (14)
|
| anagram (in play) of (ACTOR ROARS PINT)* | ||
| 15 | STANCHION |
Pole’s church welcomed by new nations (9)
|
| insertion of (welcomed in) of CH (church) an anagram (new) of (NATIONS)* | ||
| 16 | ANATHEMA |
Four articles about panjandrum ultimately one detested (8)
|
| the four articles are AN A THE A around (about) M from the last letter of panjandruM (ultimately) | ||
| 17 | ENDANGER |
Imperil objective: wrath follows (8)
|
| charade of END (objective) + ANGER (wrath) | ||
| 19 | TWELVE |
Cardinal at first toying with experimental liturgy, very ephemeral (6)
|
| acrostic (at first) of Toying With Experimental Liturgy Very Ephemeral – for a cardinal number, but the surface is suggesting a RC Cardinal setting up services | ||
| 20 | ORATOR |
Speaker from floor, a Tory (6)
|
| hidden (from) in floOR A TORy | ||
| 22 | EVENS |
Odds? Yes (strange as it may seem!) (5)
|
| cryptic definition – betting odds could be EVENS |
US volume = LITER is rather ironic given no-one in US seems to know what that is. I thought this was a set of mainly nice clues with good surfaces, and it turned out to be a quick solve. I usually do not think much of acrostics, but TWELVE hit the spot as the best clue. There were some nice anagrams to admire as well, although I scratched my head at CORRUGATED IRON for a while for reasons mentioned in the blog.
Even after solving from the crossers, I had to read PATIENCE three or four times before it clicked
Thanks Gurney and Shanne
A very entertaining solve. Loved anathema and many others. Thx both.
Agree with previous comments; it was a steady and enjoyable solve.
Liked PREFAB best
Thanks Gurney and Shanne for stepping in, especially for parsing of non-essential.
Martyn@1: In the US, soft drinks are packaged in a standard two-liter bottle, so (for better or for worse) everyone here knows what that is.
Good blog.
Many thanks, Shanne, for the excellent blog, and thanks also to all who commented.
BTW the Corrugated Iron Appreciation Society (sic) on Facebook is very appreciative of 4D. I assumed you would all be members already.
An enjoyable solve with the right amount of challenge. We liked PROCRASTINATOR and STANCHION.
Regarding 7dn, ‘liter’ is also the spelling in German, Dutch, Danish and probably other languages too.
Thanks, Gurney and Shanne.
Cineraria@4 that is very interesting. My guess is that shows the power of global soft drink companies.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of neat clues .
CORRUGATED IRON – I liked the use of groovy , a word I use a lot with the students to gently mock their modern slang , I can’t say swinging anymore .
I suppose it could be GOT (RACER I) ROUND and then the anagram (somehow) , unusual but valid .
Yes, soft drinks and wine are metric in the US, while beer and milk are still imperial. You can thus leave a US market with six 12-ounce cans of beer, a 750 ml bottle of wine, a quart of milk, and a liter of Coke.
4dn: I think Roz@9 has nailed this one.
Just like here , milk is pints on doorstep delivery , beer is pints in the pubs but sold in half litre bottles in shops and I think 440ml for cans . Wine virtually all 750ml and soft drinks mainly 2 litre bottles and 330ml cans .
Re CORRUGATED IRON, the intention was an anagram of RACER with I included (“invested in”) GOT ROUND with anagram indicator “somehow”.