Solving time: 42’
Well, if you know your William Cowper, you’ll have no problem with this puzzle. I don’t. Had to go off and read “The Diverting History of John Gilpin” to make head or tail. Again, not a puzzle for tube riders – unless there’s a wireless Wikipedia feed on the Northern line. Or you teach A-level English. Or you’re just extremely well-read with a good memory. Not much here not to write about.
Across
| 1 | T(EN)ABLE – my last clue: “directions” in this case E[ast] and N[orth]. Of course, could have been any string of N,E,W,S in any order of any number of characters. |
| 5 | CIT=”sit”,I,ZEN – ZEN’s our religion and to “take a pew” is to sit. Also happens to be in the first verse of our theme poem: see 13D. |
| 9 | A,D(V)ENTURE – Sometimes 5 really is just five the number. “Set” as in set of DENTUREs. Rather loose. Ha-ha. |
| 10 | PANIC – two meanings: certainly a question-mark would have been in order for the first: “godly”. |
| 14 | ON FOOT – ”Fidgets, not love of walking”. Def is “walking” but wordplay? Michod below notes that it’s just (not, O, of)* with “fidgets” as the anagrind. I should have seen that, given that I stared at it for a couple of minutes when writing these notes up. |
| 16 | BACON,ER – Francis BACON is our writer and turns out that BACONER is a type of pig (presumably sold at a market). I suppose we’re supposed to think of this little piggy that went to market… |
| 18 | DE(TA)CH – Judy Dench is our actor (well, actress): her heart (N) is replaced by TA (for volunteers). |
| 20 | IMP,LI(CAT)ED – CAT as in a type of whip. |
| 21 | S(P)EW – first time through, I put S(P)IT here. |
| 24 | GR[eat],ASP – ‘eat doesn’t indicate cockney aitchlessness for a change. |
| 25 | ISO(CELE)SES – CELE[brities] in (sessio[n])* – and an ISOSCELES triangle has two equal edges. |
| 26 | SYN=”sin”,O,NYM=”nim” – I think the referenced game is Nim (involving two players and a heap of needles. |
Down
| 1, 3 | TRAIN-BAND – I only worked this out from the first verse of “John Gilpin”: “…a TRAIN-BAND captain…”. Turns out that TRAIN-BAND is a kind of 16C militia: so “service” indicates TRAIN (as in train service I suppose) and BAND=”banned”. The clue should have been numbered 1, 3 and not just 1. |
| 2 | NAVAR[ro],IN – NAVARIN is a kind of stew and Navarro is in the Spanish Basque country. |
| 4 | E,QUALIT[y],ARIANISM – Got lucky on ARIANISM which is heresy to the Catholic church I suppose, since I’m in the middle of Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” where it’s mentioned. |
| 4 | CR(EDIT, AND RE,N)OWN – again ref. the first verse of “John Gilpin”. ANDRE’s our French boy. |
| 6 | TO,PIC,ALITY=Italy* – one of the few clues with a reasonable surface. |
| 7 | ZING,ARO[used] – ZINGARO is a type of gypsy. |
| 13 | JO(HN GI)LPIN – my way in to the puzzle was Scott Joplin, our “ragtime man”: nigh* in JOLPIN which is Joplin with its centre changed. I admit at this point I ran to Wikipedia and discovered “The Diverting History of JOHN GILPIN”. |
| 16 | BRIDGES – two meanings: sad to say I didn’t know that Robert BRIDGES was a Poet Laureate. |
| 17 | C(APT)AIN – another ref. to John Gilpin our “train-band CAPTAIN”. |
| 22 | WASTE=”waist” – ref. waistband |
| 23 | ACER – it’s a type of tree and an ACE is the top card… but shouldn’t top cards yield ACES? How is the R indicated in the wordplay I guess is my question – can R be “cards” somehow? (Ironically my first answer). |
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