I found today’s offering from Peto rather on the sophisticated side, but ultimately solvable.
I think that there is minor error in 9A.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ABRUPT |
Curt’s likely to take in game against Belgium (6)
|
| APT (likely) around (to take in) {B (Belgium) + RU (game)} | ||
| 4 | THANKS |
An expression of gratitude for husband packing fails completely (6)
|
| H (husband) inside (packing) TANKS (fails completely) | ||
| 8 | BOUNDER |
Rotter certain to jeer, regularly ignored (7)
|
| BOUND (certain) + alternate letters of (regularly ignored) [J]E[E]R | ||
| 9 | SIGMOID |
Incomplete symbol on my French dulcimer originally S-shaped (7)
|
| I think this is intended to parse as: SIG[N] (symbol) minus last letter (incomplete) + MOI (my [in] French) + first letter of (originally) D[ULCIMER]. From what I remember of French, “moi” translates to “me,” not “my.” | ||
| 11 | ONTOLOGIST |
Expert in the nature of being Tito so long mysterious (10)
|
| Anagram of (mysterious) TITO SO LONG | ||
| 12 | NIBS |
Note on condition of writers (4)
|
| N (note) + IBS (condition) | ||
| 13 | BURKE |
Silence Whig statesman (5)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to Edmund Burke | ||
| 14 | COBBLERS |
Stone Roses drained by nonsense (8)
|
| COBBLE (stone) + R[OSE]S minus interior letters (drained) | ||
| 16 | TRUNCATE |
Right about new whip cut short (8)
|
| TRUE (right) around (about) {N (new) + CAT (whip)} | ||
| 18 | AISLE |
Wool fabric trimmed at both ends found in passageway (5)
|
| [P]AISLE[Y] (wool fabric) minus outside letters (trimmed at both ends) | ||
| 20 | NEED |
Born and died in want (4)
|
| NÉE (born) + D (died) | ||
| 21 | INIMITABLE |
Small back on piece of Italian furniture perhaps is unique (10)
|
| MINI (small) reversed (back) + first letter of (piece of) I[TALIAN] + TABLE (furniture perhaps) | ||
| 23 | POPULAR |
Finished retreating stopping directly opposite common (7)
|
| UP (finished) reversed (retreating) and inside (stopping) POLAR (directly opposite) | ||
| 24 | TEST ACT |
Diplomacy after setback caused by old anti-Catholic law (4,3)
|
| SET reversed (-back) + TACT (diplomacy) | ||
| 25 | ENTICE |
Seduce English conservationists in charge with final promise (6)
|
| E (English) + NT (conservationists) + I/C (in charge) + last letter of (final) [PROMIS]E | ||
| 26 | GLANCE |
Stroke German weapon (6)
|
| G (German) + LANCE (weapon) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ADORN |
Decorate area before beginning broadcast (5)
|
| A (area) + homophone of (broadcast) DAWN (beginning) | ||
| 2 | RANCOUR |
Managed to cut short amorous approaches with spite (7)
|
| RAN (managed) + COUR[T] (amorous approaches) minus last letter (cut short) | ||
| 3 | PHENOMENA |
Only women finding prophetic significance in father’s remarkable things (9)
|
| {HEN (only women, as in hen party) + OMEN (prophetic significance)} inside (in) PA (father) | ||
| 5 | HOIST |
Jack up for robbery having nothing for defence essentially (5)
|
| H[E]IST (robbery) exchanging (having . . . ) O (nothing) (. . . for) middle letter of (essentially) [DEF]E[NCE] | ||
| 6 | NOMINAL |
Theoretical possibility of loan over a short time (7)
|
| Anagram of (possibility of) LOAN around (over) MIN. (a short time) | ||
| 7 | SWINBURNE |
Poet and critic Brook involved in something difficult to deal with (9)
|
| BURN (brook) inside (involved in) SWINE (something difficult to deal with), with a capitalization misdirection, referring to Algernon Charles Swinburne | ||
| 10 | DISCREDIT |
Damage the reputation of Ruby found at it on counter (9)
|
| DISC (counter) + RED (ruby) + IT | ||
| 13 | BARGEPOLE |
Lighter European type of propeller (9)
|
| BARGE (lighter) + POLE (European) | ||
| 15 | BEAU IDEAL |
Audible eccentric describing each embodiment of the highest excellence (4,5)
|
| Anagram of (eccentric) AUDIBLE around (describing) EA. (each) | ||
| 17 | NO DOUBT |
Bound to change surely (2,5)
|
| Anagram of (change) BOUND TO. Nice clue | ||
| 19 | START ON |
Pick a quarrel with celebrity working overtime (5,2)
|
| {STAR (celebrity) + ON (working)} around (over-) T (time) | ||
| 21 | ISAAC |
Found in arnica as intimated on the way back by Old Testament patriarch (5)
|
| Hidden in (found in) [ARNI]CA AS I[NTIMATED] inverted (on the way back) | ||
| 22 | LUCRE |
About to be overwhelmed by temptation of riches (5)
|
| C (about) inside (to be overwhelmed by) LURE (temptation) |
Comment #1
Thanks Peto and Cineraria!
My picks: TRUNCATE, NEED, INIMITABLE, PHENOMENA and NO DOUBT.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of neat clues , I can’t help you with the French , still learning English ,
BURKE = silence is new to me but found it in Chambers93 and I see it is from the infamous partner of Hare .
NEED was an elegant clue, along with NO DOUBT.
I didn’t know the first meaning of BURKE either so thanks to Cineraria (and Roz for further info) with whom I agree re ‘moi’ cluing ‘me’ rather than ‘my’ (mon/ma/mes) in SIGMOID.
Thanks also to Peto for adding to my vocabulary.
I saw this as a mix of write-ins and very difficult clues. It badly broke my NHO limit.
I ticked LUCRE, BARGEPOLE and NEED, and finished with several clues unparsed. Despite the fine blog, there are still a couple of things I do not understand: why does IBS = condition and DISC = counter?
Thanks Peto and Cineraria
Martyn,
IBS stands for irritable bowel syndrome and a ‘disc’ may be a ‘counter’ or piece in a game such as Ludo.
I too did not know the other meaning of BURKE. I discovered that there is
a pop singer called Alexandra Burke who had a hit called The Silence.
Thanks Peto and Cineraria.
Comment #8
Also never heard of the other meaning of BURKE. Agree with moi meaning me. I had originally put in SIGMOND thinking it might be an alternative but fixed it when SWINBURNE finally appeared. I’ve earned my second cup of coffee.
Yep, coupla nhos, Burke as silence and beau ideal — didn’t suss the anag and had to reveal the u. Also moi aussi for me not my. Fun though, ta both.
Well, I completed; and I enjoyed a lot of the puzzle, but not all. Bizarros and “le coque up” not much fun.
Burke, I think it’s an old verb “to cover up” or “hush up”, thus, silence. Might be urban myth, but it seems to link to Burke & Hare, who “silenced” their victims, or “burked” them.
11(ac), the “Tito”, is pretty poor. HOIST and BARGEPOLE, pretty good.
A shaky thumbs up, but thanks Peto, and thanks to Cineraria
I seem to be seeing the “comment is deleted or awaiting moderation”, quite a lot? ( @1, here ).
Is this by admin? ( or could it be a “self deletion”?)
What’s the main cause/ what are the rules?
( It can’t be stupidity, or I would be getting some! )
Thank you Diane @6
As Burke is sometimes considered to be a founding father of conservatism, I was surprised to discover he was a Whig, though my knowledge of history is more akin to Roz’s knowledge of French than to her knowledge of astrophysics.
I thought perhaps “moi” might be an exclamation equivalent to [Oh] My! but my admittedly small French dictionary doesn’t seem to think so. It does give “a moi” as meaning “my” and I suppose, being generous, one could extend the word “incomplete” at the beginning of 9 to include the words “my French” as well as “symbol”so as to justify losing the a, but is it ever OK to use “incomplete” to suggest that a letter has been removed from the beginning of a word rather than the end?
Probably just the sort of error I would have made when doing French composition many years ago.
Back in the dim, distant past when I did French, moi was me and mon was my.
I usually enjoy Peto, but less so this one. I’m all for creative wordplays, but obscure meanings(Burke) takes the fun out of things because if you don’t already know them they are tough to puzzle out.
Phew. That took a long time. I was with most of you on BURKE and I’d forgotten BARGE for lighter too. I hadn’t heard of Messrs BURKE or SWINBURNE either.
Quite tough. Good to be challenged.
Thanks PETO and Cineraria.
I was initially unhappy with “moi”, too, but I think it can be justified – “c’est moi” can equal “it’s me” (think of Louis XIV), though one could pedantically argue that it should be translated as “it’s I”: near enough, though, I think, in a crossword.