There seems to have been something of a mix-up because this puzzle was apparently on the website yesterday, so I was unsure what was going to be there today. Was I going to be able to solve online, or would I have to go out and buy a paper?
Anyway, Scorpion has given us his usual very satisfactory crossword. Some of his puzzles are difficult, but I don’t think this was one of them. There were two that I couldn’t parse before doing the blog; now the number is down to one and it will be interesting to find out what is the correct interpretation of 1dn.
The word SET appears in many of the answers (and Scorpion makes use of its many similes), but is there more to it than that? What is today the anniversary of?
Definitions in italics, in one case separated by /.
Across
8 Boy adjusted underwear (6)
CORSET
Cor! set — cor! = boy! — set = adjusted
9 Fliers, first-class, heading for Russia with foreboding (8)
AIRWOMEN
A1 R{ussia} w omen
10 Leaves gang in store to wander (8)
ROSETTES
set in (store)* — I was unaware of this meaning of the word, but Chambers has ‘a close radiating group of leaves …’ — set = gang
11 Old bread hardened with vegetable outside (6)
PESETA
pe(set)a — bread as the informal word for money — set = hardened
12 American plant specified in guide, central feature of aviary (10)
POINSETTIA
poin(set)t {av}ia{ry} — point = guide, set = specified
13 Towards back, leader of puppetry works mouth (4)
TRAP
(p{uppetry} art)rev. — art = works — ‘Towards back’ is the reversal indicator
15 Not all of these maisonettes rejected cat (7)
SIAMESE
Hidden rev. in thESE MAISonettes
17 Former PM set aside money, left for football club (2,5)
AC MILAN
Macmillan with l and the first m missing
20 Jimmy Greaves’ second in match (4)
PEER
pee {G}r{eaves} — pee as in Jimmy Riddle, rhyming slang
21 Fixed amount nurses prescribe finally turning red (3,3-4)
MAO TSE-TUNG
(amount)* round set {turnin}g — the anagram indicator ‘Fixed’, inclusion indicated by ‘nurses’, set = prescribe
23 Batting during maiden’s currently effective (2-4)
IN-FORM
in for m — in = batting, for = during
25 Tender / meat’s produced by his livestock? (8)
SHEPHERD
2 defs — a shepherd is someone who tends
26 English territory established on an impressive river (8)
SOMERSET
some r set — some as in ‘Chatsworth House is some building’ — set = established
27 Fly rearmost in aircraft having allocated vacant space (6)
TSETSE
{aircraf}t set s{pac}e — set = allocated
Down
1 Able to move by oneself in order to live around lake (10)
LOCOMOTIVE
It looks as if the clue is faulty, but it probably isn’t and perhaps I just fail to grasp its intricacies: it seems to be lot [= order] around Como [Lake Como] with ‘live’ all round, but if so then the l is accounted for twice. Is ‘ot’ the order? If it is, then I’ve never heard of it. As has been quickly pointed out by Gaufrid and K’s D (and probably more to come), it’s simply (to live)* round Como, with the anagram indicated by ‘in order’. Perfectly simple really.
2 Like bird’s behind (6)
ASTERN
as tern
3 Son perfect in test regularly given for speech defects (8)
STUTTERS
s utter in t{e}s{t} — utter = perfect
4 Dogs determined to disturb fish (7)
BASSETS
bas(set)s — set = determined
5 Doctor receives criticism heading for another brandy (6)
GRAPPA
G(rap)P a{nother} — rap = criticism
6 Painter decided to enrich food in Switzerland? (8)
ROSSETTI
ros(set)ti — set = decided
7 Firm beginning to transport paving stone (4)
SETT
set t{ransport} — set = firm
14 Expert driver patrols ground around main road before noon (5,5)
ALAIN PROST
(patrols)* round (A1 n) — anagram indicated by ‘ground’
16 Little monkey hurt doctor with compendium (8)
MARMOSET
mar MO set — set = compendium
18 Music player ready during race (8)
CASSETTE
cas(set)te — set = ready
19 ‘Party time’ attracts regular here in Durham (7)
CONSETT
(Con t) around set — Con = Conservative, set = regular
21 Tropical shrub standing very close to aquarium in design (6)
MIMOSA
((so {aquariu}m) in aim)rev. — so = very, aim = design
22 Hauled up dangerous fish under control (2,4)
TO HEEL
(hot)rev. eel
24 Corner not cut well (4)
NOOK
no{t} OK
Thanks John
1dn is an anagram (in order) of TO LIVE around COMO (lake).
Thanks, John.
My first two in were the intersecting PESETA and SETT, which even a theme-blind muppet like me saw might mean something. Looking for the other uses of SET in the puzzle was a help and a hindrance, but it was good fun.
I think Scorpion is just being playful with SET: its claim to fame is that in the OED, it has the longest entry, taking 60,000 words to explain all its meanings. So it’s got to be a gift to setters.
LOCOMOTIVE is COMO in (TO LIVE)*
Fine puzzle, thank you to the the man who SET it.
Your typing’s faster than mine, Gaufrid …
A failure for me after I confidently entered “gusset” at 8ac because it fitted both the wordplay and the definition and I didn’t bother going back to check it, even when I couldn’t make sense of 1dn, and in the end at 1dn I went with an unparsed “automobile” which seemed to fit the definition. Good puzzle though.
And you’re bother quicker than me. I was hoping to be first on to parse LOCOMOTIVE after I read the preamble, but judging by the frequency with which Gaufrid is No. 1 I think he must sit in front of his computer with his engine revving.
Foiled again.
Thanks to Scorpion and John, than whom I found this more difficult.
Re comment #4, I don’t think ‘gusset’ fits the definition as it’s only part of a garment. Quite a tour de force, this puzzle.
Your ‘confident gusset entry’ is, however, a pleasing image.
1 down is anagram of ‘TO LIVE’ and ‘COMO(lake)’ – ‘in order’ signifies anagram
The whole point of gussets is that they’re designed to give confidence, Paul. Should’ve thought a man of your experience would have known that … I did once write a village panto where one of the dames was Fanny Gusset. Half the audience was outraged; the other half oblivious.
You are right of course K’s D, as so often. Big Dave’s Gusset was advertised, or sploshed in builder’s paint, on a hoarding around by London Bridge station for many years, though I think that’s been taken down (if that’s the right phrase) just recently. Were they a band? Was or is he an actual person? Will we ever know? Well, there’s no point getting up tight about it. Or being cheeky. Poor chap was already the butt of jokes.
And in a desperate attempt to seem on topic, I should say that ‘pants’ as an (hopefully adjectival) anagram indicator has become popular of late. Having researched the matter, I’m able to say that it was NOT used in this excellent ‘set’ from Scorps.
Led astray once or twice trying to work SET into answers which didn’t include it, but got back on the right path eventually.
Some ingenious cluing – thanks, Scorpion – and John.
You might not have thought this a difficult puzzle, John, but it quite defeated me. Got about half a dozen answers all day, even after spotting the multiple occurrences of “set”.
Did know 19dn, though. My mother died there. 🙁
Sad to hear that, Dormouse at #12. Like you, I found this a very difficult puzzle.
Phew, this was difficult!
We had to give up with half the grid complete last night before finishing this morning. The SE corner was the tricky bit. We think that we’ll have to start Tuesday puzzles earlier in future – it used to be Thursdays that we woried about that!
Thanks Scorpion – you must have had difficulty SETTING this one!
Thanks John for the blog!