Quite tricky but with a couple of easy starters to get me going, thanks IO.
I really messed this up, first by mistakenly writing the solution to 4dn in the grid at 10dn, then later by entering ‘news on the street’ instead of ‘word on the street’, misspelling EEYORE as EYEORE and finally accidentally deleting the entire blog just before I was ready to publish. What a nightmare!
Across
7 Monopolised by FT compilers? O, no! We went down on them! (3,5)
ALL FOURS
ALL oF OURS (what is monopolised by FT compilers) missing O – I am not 100% sure of this explanation
8 Simpletons executed a lot (6)
OODLES
nOODLES decapitated
11 Massage divers naked (5)
KNEAD
NAKED*
12 Like poetical (spring?) hares in huge numbers? (9)
ABOUNDING
A-BOUNDING – leaping like a March hare
13 Real fddler fxing on the end (3- 4)
NON-ZERO
ON Z (the end) in NERO (fiddler)
14 I used to paint and draw explorer (7)
TIEPOLO
TIE (draw) and Marco POLO (explorer) – Giovanni Tiepolo, Venetian painter and print artist
15 The latest information on future soap storylines? (4,2,3,6)
WORD ON THE STREET
cryptic definition – Coronation Street
18 Not obvious an ulcer burst (7)
UNCLEAR
(AN ULCER)* – this was obvious I thought
20 Seems an alternative in a body (2,5)
EN MASSE
(SEEMS AN)*
22 Churn-fller’s passport, say, following a lot back (9)
DAIRY MAID
ID (passport) following A MYRIAD (lot) reversed – nice construction!
23 Duff consumer? He’ll be back! (5)
HOMER
Homer Simpson drinks Duff Beer
24 Gloomy doctor takes year off (6)
DREARY
DR (doctor) YEAR*
25 Coding system for consumers – loads caught out (1,7)
E-NUMBERS
ENcUMBERS (loads) missing E
Down
1 In conflict we laid down guns, finally ousted by monarch, hurt? (7,7)
WALKING WOUNDED
(WE LAID DOWN GUNs/K)* with K (king, monarch) replacing S (last of guns)
2 Inform about nuclei undergoing fission (4,2)
CLUE IN
NUCLEI*
3 Wrapping not quite 8, also so long? (6-2)
TOODLE-OO
TOO (also) wrapping OODLEs (8 across) not finished
4 Cooking ingredient came for errant sailors (5,2,6)
CREAM OF TARTAR
(CAME FOR)* and TAR TAR (two sailors)
5 I’ll get caught by rabid pet on tiptoe (6)
POINTE
I (will be) caught by (PET ON)*
6 Relies on farcical setting for play (8)
ELSINORE
(RELIES ON)* – setting for Hamlet
9 I mean to say Bless You x (4,2,3,5)
SIGN OF THE CROSS
double definition – traditionally X is how illiterates sign documents
10 Dug-out not required for this generator’s activity (6-7)
BOTTLE FEEDING
cryptic definition – a dug is a breast, a generator is someone who has children
16 Runner restricts reformation of EEC fence (8)
RECEIVER
EEC* in RIVER (something that runs) – a receiver of stolen goods
17 General hitch overcome by woman of the night (3,5)
TOM THUMB
THUMB (hitch hike) behind (overcome by) TOM (a prostitute) – General Tom Thumb was Stage name of Charles Stratton, circus performer
19 Finally, three year old breaks before donkey (6)
EEYORE
threE (final letter) Y (year) O (old) in ERE (before) – donkey from Winnie-the-Pooh
21 Congress takes in space and time: material for terrorists (6)
SEMTEX
EM (space, printing) T (time) in SEX (congress) – explosive favoured by terrorists
*anagram
It is O getting the ‘no’. So you are right! But it could have been ALL OURS anyway, so not the best trick. I thought some here didn’t make a lor of sense, but still an enjoyable run-out.
Thanks,
Rowly.
Thanks Io for an enjoyable crossword and PeeDee for the blog. Favourite clue 22ac and I needed PeeDee’s explanation for 23ac and 10dn.
7ac: I agree with PeeDee’s explanation (I agree with all of the others as well, but he expressed doubt about this one).
13ac: My one grumble with this crossword. Nero was a real person, but the story of him fiddling while Rome burnt is almost certainly untrue: at best he will have played a plucked stringed instrument such as a lyre. To me, that means we need some indication of the dubious nature of the definition.
5dn: When solving, I wondered if “on” was doing double duty here, but Chambers 2008 gives pointe as “the extreme tip of the toe, or the position of standing on it”, so “tiptoe” is a sufficient definition.
Having had an enforced week off from crosswords/reading anything at all, I did wonder how I was going to cope with an IO on my first day back but I didn’t have any problems at all and enjoyed myself into the bargain. Always a fan of a crossword where my favourite miserable donkey makes an appearance.
Thanks to IO for entertaining me greatly while proving that my brain still works and to PeeDee for the blog.
Thanks very much, Io and PeeDee.
In 13ac, I’m wondering about the definition ‘Real’ and the solution ‘NON-ZERO’.
In mathematics, zero is a real number:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_number
mike04@4 re 13ac: The first definition of real in Chambers 2011 is “actually existing”. Try a sentence like “there is a real effect”: you could replace “real” by “non-zero” in that.
Thanks, Pelham.
I should’ve considered ‘non-zero’ in the sense of ‘not equal to zero’.
With hindsight, of course, it’s rather obvious!
Being a mathematician I had the same concerns as you mike, but then on second thoughts came to the same conclusion as Pelham. I had written some comemnts in the original blog to that effect, but then for some completely numpty reason I acidentally deleted it and ha to write another more rushed attempt.