Another beauty from Brendan…
… with an obvious theme of pluses and minuses (and similar terms) in both the clues and answers. There are a couple of clues where the wordplay seems a little vague, or (more likely) I’ve missed something.
Thanks to Brendan for the puzzle.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | POSITIVE SIGNS | Sure indications, two of which are apparent in this puzzle (8,5) There are two plus signs formed by black squares in the grid (and perhaps smaller minus signs made from three squares beside them) |
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| 10 | OPPOSED | Against being briefly affirmative in written opinion (7) POS[itive] in OP-ED (an opinion piece in a newspaper) |
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| 11 | CAPSULE | Plus ça change with European medicine (7) (PLUS CA)*+ E |
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| 12 | GLEAM | Shine with half-century in fluctuating game (5) L (50, a half-century) in GAME* |
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| 13 | SURPLUSES | Positive about asset’s small excesses (9) PLUS (an asset) in SURE (positive) + S[mall] |
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| 14 | EASEL | Soften line, something that artist can work on (5) EASE (soften) + L[ine] |
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| 16 | SAINTLIKE | Setter’s beginning – isn’t fancy, or as good as Paul (or Brendan)? (9) S[etter] + AIN’T + LIKE (to fancy) – Paul and Brendan are both names of saints |
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| 18 | TURNTABLE | Revolutionary device for playing truant out of order – nearly ran (9) TRUANT* + BLE[d] (ran, as paint or ink on a page) |
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| 19 | CROSS | Go over something obvious left (5) Not sure about this, but a cross could be something obvious left on a page etc |
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| 20 | MINUSCULE | Indication to remove awful clue, not easy to see (9) MINUS (indication to remove something) + CLUE* |
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| 23 | PEACE | Calm tips from positive pro (5) The outer letters or “tips” or PositivE, plus ACE (professional) |
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| 24 | TERMINI | Final points, one of which is negative in its conclusion (7) The termini of an electrical device are positive and negative |
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| 25 | TOURIST | Visitor is interrupting perturbed tutor (7) IS in TUTOR |
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| 26 | PHOTOGRAPHING | Shooting with negative, then positive, results (13) Cryptic definition, describing how photography with film works |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 2 | OPPRESSOR | Work on academic cancelling of tyrant (9) OP (work) + PROFESSOR less OF |
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| 3 | IN SUM | By way of review, minus changes (2,3) MINUS* |
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| 4 | INDUS | River trade subtracting tax at the end (5) INDUSTRY less TRY (to tax) |
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| 5 | EXCURSIVE | In kinky sex and vice you are audibly digressing (9) U R (“you are”) in (SEX VICE)* |
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| 6 | IMPOLITIC | Mostly rude, mostly unfriendly, totally foolish (9) IMPOLIT[e] + IC[y] |
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| 7 | NOUNS | Parts of speech using negative pieces from Sun (5) NO (negative) + SUN* |
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| 8 | ROUGH ESTIMATE | More or less inaccurate guess upset this team in red (5,8) (THIS TEAM)* in ROUGE |
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| 9 | REASSESSMENTS | Remarks that may require revisions, up or down (13) This could be just a more or less straight definition, with “Remarks” to be read as “Re-marks” (as in an exam paper) but maybe there’s more to it than that |
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| 15 | LATE SHIFT | Some overnight for this and others turning up quickly go (4,5) Reverse of ET AL (others) + SHIFT (move quickly) |
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| 16 | SUBSUMING | Adding fix minus bugs (9) (MINUS BUGS)* – one definition of “subsume” is “to include in something larger”, which could be to add it |
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| 17 | ISOLATION | One sequence of notes being performed in which person’s unaccompanied (9) I (one) + SO LA TI (sol-fa notes) + ON (being performed) |
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| 21 | NORTH | Somewhat unorthodox position of negative pole (5) Hidden in uNORTHodox. The Earth’s magnetic north pole attracts the north pole of a magnet, so is itself a south pole, which could be regarded as “negative” |
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| 22 | EXTRA | Positive contribution, taken out of context randomly (5) Hidden in contEXT RAndomly |
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| 23 | PLUSH | Luxurious and hot (5) PLUS (and) + H[ot] |
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Another superb puzzle which was delightful from start to finish. I thought POSITIVE SIGNS with the two hidden CROSSes in the grid was very clever. A lot of ticks but especially liked CAPSULE, SAINTLIKE, MINUSCULE, ROUGH ESTIMATE and ISOLATION. I think I have run out of superlatives to describe his ingenuity.
Ta Brendan & Andrew.
I parsed CROSS as one of the hidden plus signs directly left of the solution but that seems a bit iffy.
Thanks Brendan and Andrew.
As always with Brendan, too many “Huh?”s for me, though PHOTOGRAPHING made me chuckle when I got it.
Andrew – I think the definition for TURNTABLE is Revolutionary device for playing, otherwise the “for playing” seems redundant.
Re 19ac, CROSS – I was fairly sure (not quite positive) that this referred to the obvious black plus-sign to the left of the answer. I always love the way Brendan signals his themes. Seems so very much like an open, friendly engagement with the solver. Thank you Brendan and Andrew.
Agree with Crispy @3 re TURNTABLE. At first I thought ‘for playing’ was the anagrind but it is covered by ‘out of order’.
Thanks Brendan and Andrew
I too thought the CROSS referred to the black one just beside, but it’s a bit weak.
I’ve never heard of magnetic poles referred to as positive and negative – bit of a stretch.
“nearly ran” is rather loose for BLE.
Otherwise, great fun, with a theme that even I saw.
For “termini” I had that “one of which” is a “terMINUS” i.e. negative in its conclusion – a very clever device.
I am going to come right out and say that calling either pole of a magnet “negative” is just plain wrong. There is no scientific or lay justification for it at all. Positive and negative are terms associated with electrical charge, north and south with magnetism. Either this is an error or we need a better explanation for the clue, but I could not see one.
I, too, was puzzled by “cross” and am glad to see I’m not the only one struggling to parse it.
Many thanks Brendan and Andrew.
Lots of ticks as always with Brendan. I took REASSESSMENTS as a double definition.
I seem to row against the tide when it comes to Brendan puzzles, which are a clear highlight for many. So I fully expect to be in the minority when I say that this wasn’t one of my favourites from him. Perhaps it was that a couple of surfaces seemed a bit clunky (OPPRESSOR, LATE SHIFT), and that a couple of clues felt like hostages to the theme (such as REASSESSMENTS where re-marks was great but the second half of the clue didn’t add much value; while POSITIVE SIGNS and CROSS will be a matter of personal taste, c.f. TerriBlislow@4). And I don’t think it’s just sour grapes for failing to get SAINTLIKE! The checkers let me down there, and Saint Brendan somehow didn’t come to mind, which was a pity because the concept was fun.
Indeed, the puzzle had its goodies, of course. Terminus is brilliant now that JoFT@7 has parsed it, and I enjoyed IMPOLITIC a lot. I felt that NIGHT SHIFT would have been excellent if the surface were clearer; perhaps “Some stay overnight for this while others turning up quickly go”. (As it was, I couldn’t make much sense of it until the answer made clear what it was referring to.)
The challenge was gratefully received, as ever, so thanks to Brendan for the workout, and of course to Andrew.
I liked JoFT’s take on TERMINI @7.
There are two written PLUSes in the puzzle too – surPLUSes and PLUSh, as well as the black crosses. Well, that’s how I interpreted that clue.
Fun puzzle, thank you to Brendan and Andrew.
Shanne@11 and two direct uses of the word “positive” in the clues. There’s no doubting his thoroughness!
[me@9 I meant LATE SHIFT, not NIGHT SHIFT, of course.]
I had three I wasn’t sure about the parsing of. It turns out nor was Andrew, so I feel better about that. The cross/plus sign thing seems fair enough, not something I’d ever be looking for. I’m with JOFT @7 on TERMINI.
I thought “for playing” was useful if not integral for TURNTABLE. As a former DJ it led me to the solution quickly.
The puzzle took slightly longer than I thought. It felt just as accessible as yesterday’s. I liked SAINTLIKE and SURPLUSES.
Thanks Brendan and Andrew
I read CROSS as “X marks the spot”
19A – X marks the spot?
Loved this one. Very creative to weave the minus/plus theme into the clues as well as make use of the grid shape for POSITIVE SIGNS and CROSS (which I parsed as the cross left of where the answer is to be inserted). My favourite two today but so many other great ones – PHOTOGRAPHY etc.
Had to stare at SAINTLIKE for a while before the penny dropped. Thought it was a bit big headed at first of the setter before realising both setters were also names of saints.
Superb blog and puzzle. Thanks Brendan and Andrew.
An object lesson in how ‘obvious’ is a very subjective concept….
Favourites: POSITIVE SIGNS for the fun visuals; CAPSULE; SAINTLIKE, TERMINI – I agree with Jack@7, that is how I parsed it too.
New for me: the alternative spelling of MINUSCULE which I have always written as miniscule and I imagine that it affects the way it is pronounced.
I could not parse 26ac – ah, I see now it’s a cd.
I was unsure how to parse the ‘something obvious left’ bit of 19ac and also 9d.
Noticed lots of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ in the clues and thought that was it, totally missing the two nice big crosses .. dim! Fun puzzle, lots of Brendonian ingenuity, ta him, and Andrew.
Fantastic crossword in spite of a few tiny quibbles. Surely there must be something more to REASSESSMENTS, my loi. Thanks, Brendan and Andrew.
I certainly enjoyed this, despite not understanding everything as usual
But I feel much less dumb knowing others were struggling to explain Cross
Thanks to Brendan, Andrew and all commenters who helped clear things up
An apt day to celebrate the spirit of hedgehoggy with a few negative comments about the clueing. 11a CAPSULE – where is the instruction to lose the cedilla? 13a SURPLUSES – how does “asset’s” become “plus”? 8d ROUGH ESTIMATES – where is the foreign language indicator for “rouge” to be “red”?
Was also going to complain about 24a TERMINI, in that the electrical devices are terminals, until Jack of All Trades @7 put me right.
I am rowing the same boat as AP @9 in finding these constrained crosswords less than wholly satisfying.
A struggle for me. Luckily the grid was friendly so I could put in answers to finish, but I had severe problems with the parsing. Having read the blog, I’m going ‘of course’ over some but I’m pleased to see that the parsings of CROSS and REASSESSMENTS are unclear.
Btw it’s definitely minuscule as opposed to majuscule as a description of letters.
Despite everything I enjoyed this is a rather masochistic way.
Thanks to Brendan and Andrew.
I originally thought NORTH was ‘anode’.
JOFT@7 The ‘electromagnet’ page of wikipedia has diagrams that could give the false impression of the north pole always being associated with the negative electrode rather than the current flow/winding direction of the solenoid (right hand rule).
Many thanks for the blog, Andrew, it helped a lot.
Whenever I tackle a Brendan oeuvre I generally have wtf scrawled beside at least a couple of solutions – and today was no different.
I came here to be enlightened about the parsings for CROSS and REASSESSMENTS (and was greatly comforted by the blogger also being unsure). I can now see what’s going on with CROSS – though I agree with Muffin that’s it rather weak.
The other: oh well…
I also agree with JOFT regarding poles.
GLEAM and TOURIST had pleasing surfaces, and SAINTLIKE made me grin.
I have to confess, I’m not a huge fan of themes – but I know many others are, and I should imagine they increase the fun and liven things up for the setters.
Rich @24
ANODE occurred to me too, but the “negative pole” would be the cathode.
[When I was very little, the family lived in Maidstone. We used to catch the bus into the terminus, or “turnybus” as I thought, as that’s what they did there.]
The unparsed CROSS was puzzling, but the explanation is ingenious and a device I can’t remember seeing before. Top marks and thanks Brendan, and thanks Andrew.
Michelle#18 ‘miniscule’ made it into Bill Bryson’s ‘Troublesome Words’ as a common misspelling of MINUSCULE. It’s a great little book. Loved the crossword, thanks Brendan and Andrew.
Oofyprosser @27
The same device is used rather more convincingly for POSITIVE SIGNS.
There’s always something going on in a Brendan puzzle. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s not, and sometimes, like today, I can see it but I wonder if there’s something more that I’m missing!
VW @22. CAPSULE: the normal convention is to ignore accent marks. ROUGH ESTIMATES: Chambers includes “rouge” to mean “red” as in French wines. SURPLUSES: “asset” is “plus” and I think the apostrophe S in the cryptic reading means “has”.
Many thanks Brendan and Andrew.
I had the same doubts as some, now mostly resolved. One additional quibble is the “audibly” in 5d. There appears to be no need for it. Digressions can happen in print as well as in speech.
Rather than being hostage, AP @9, I thought the obverse, that the theme was what earned reassessments the simplicity of “revisions, up or down”.
“Cross” is to go over, as in to cross a river. “Cross out” is to go over something and “out” is obvious which has left, but given the theme of the crossword, I think the obvious plus sign to the left of the clue is likely the intended target.
I too raised an eyebrow at the use of positive and negative in connection with magnetic poles.
Several years ago, there was an episode of QI in which magnetic levitation was explained in terms of positive and negative poles. I wrote to the BBC to complain, and received a reply justifying the terminology, and quoting a 1926 maths textbook in support.
Brendan’s a mathematician, isn’t he?
If a TURNTABLE is a “revolutionary device for playing”, what is being played, here, I wonder?
Totally missed the enormous plus signs, but managed to finish anyway.
poc@31 – my take is that audibly indicates that “you are” is included as “UR”.
Many thanks to Brendan & Andrew
poc @ 31 “audibly” is necessary in 5D to turn “you are” into U R for the anagrist
Thanks Brendan and Andrew
William @35. Records. See me @13
Brendan can work a theme, to be sure. I was puzzled by CROSS, not having spotted the + signs in the grid (I only look at the white squares).
Van Winkle @22 – I think the apostrophe-s in “asset’s” (13a SURPLUSES) can be read as an elision of “asset has.”
Jack of Few Trades @7 et al
It had never occurred to me until now that the Earth’s north pole is actually a magnetic south pole. Perhaps negative just means it is the opposite of what it appears to be?