Don’t remember doing a Philistine blog before, quite fun though.
A heathly mix of clues, quite a few hidden answers, a few dodgy homophones and “lift and separate” clues to annoy the faithful.
I’m stuck for the definition for 3d being a bit of a philistine myself. Definitions underlined where appropriate.
Across
1,4 Shoe style on many performers in London (6,6)
OXFORD CIRCUS
OXFORD type of shoe & CIRCUS
4 See 1
OXFORD CIRCUS
See 1
9 Postman on the phone (4)
MAIL
A lift and separate clue, as POST & hom of MALE. Bound to annoy some folks
10 Fly down with courage (10)
BLUEBOTTLE
BLUE down & BOTTLE courage
11 Outdo “Vote for Clegg” on the radio (6)
PICNIC
Another lift and separate, split as OUT DO or hom of PICK NICK (clegg).
12 If cheese eating course routinely ends a meal, for starters offer something else (3,5)
ICE CREAM
Initial letters of If Cheese Eating Course Routinely Ends A Meal
13 One taking pictures of Daddy snoring in the middle of karaoke (9)
PAPARAZZO
PAPA daddy & ZZ snoring in (ka)RAO(ke)
15,17 Some wind back through clear gap used at site of battle (4,9)
CAPE TRAFALGAR
A FART rev in [CLEAR GAP]* [Edited to add a missing A]
16,25 Heather’s after hospital with treatment (8)
HANDLING
H(ospital) & AND with & LING heather
17 See 15
CAPE TRAFALGAR
See 15
21 Anorak edges woven with winter clothing (8)
KNITWEAR
[A(nora)K WINTER]*
22 Be somebody, not so flipping Philistine (6)
EMBODY
SOMEBODY without so -> MEBODY flipping me for the setter -> EMBODY
24 “Ground Zero” cast I’d banished (10)
OSTRACIZED
[ZERO CAST ID]* is “ground”
25 See 16
HANDLING
See 16
26 Cried, being deeply hurt (6)
YELPED
[DEEPLY]*
27 Compiler likes men and women to live and drink (6)
IMBIBE
I’M BI & BE to live
Down
1 Instrument back in the middle of republican IRA conspiracy (7)
OCARINA
Hidden reversed in republcAN IRA COnspiracy
2 Lifelong imprisonment for criminal (5)
FELON
Hidden in liFELONg
3 She cavorted with spy in cyberspace while her husband had a close shave (7)
REBECCA
Anagram of SPY & REBECCA gives cyberspace, definition is lost on me, philistine that I am, I assume it alludes to the novel but I’ve not read it.
5 Ciabatta may be said to be exclusively family-made (6)
INBRED
Sounds like IN BREAD
6 Queens on wall heard thus? (9)
CATERWAUL
Female cat & E.R. on hom of WALL, &littish
7 20 silver ointment boxes (7)
SALVAGE
20 = RESCUE defn, AG silver in SALVE ointment
8 Chicken Shock picked up a prestigious award in America (8,5)
PULITZER PRIZE
Hom of PULLET & SURPRISE
14 Sauna bath cures — all stripped naked (2,7)
AU NATUREL
(s)AUN(a) (b)AT(h) (c)URE(s) (a)L(l) all “stripped”
16 Render sharp pen, being straight (7)
HONESTY
HONE sharpen & STY pen
18 Immunity from holding up river (7)
FREEDOM
river DEE reversed in FROM
19 Leisurely, for an Italian poet (7)
ANDANTE
AN & DANTE
20 Greeks regularly need prompt salvation (6)
RESCUE
gReEkS & CUE
23 Endless seafood (5)
BALTI
Another lift/separate for endless BALTI(c)
*anagram
Rebecca’s husband was Isaac, who had a close shave when nearly sacrificed by Abraham.
I’ll buy this one, even given the dodgy homophone at 8d, which I actually enjoyed quite a lot, and the flatus at 15/17a.
One of the better puzzles for me for some time, so thank you Philistine, and, of course, flashling.
Thanks for the blog – I think that it is “A FART” backwards in 15,17 ac otherwise you don’t have enough A’s
[Edit fixed, thanks]
Thanks, flashling.
I’m a great fan of Philistine’s [and of ‘lift and separate’ clues] so I’m happy.
I also liked CAPE TRAFALGAR, PULITZER PRIZE and REBECCA, which I read the same way as Ian SW3.
Many thanks to Philistine for the usual fun.
Very enjoyable. 14d includes (a)L(l) stripped
Thanks flashling and Philistine
An enjoyable puzzle that unravelled more quickly than I initially expected.
Rather a lot of ‘sound like’ clues.
Thanks Ian for reminding me about Rebecca and Isaac. My first thought was Delilah but of course this won’t fit. I then assumed it must be the novel, failing to take the ‘close shave’ metaphorically. A clever clue.
If I remember rightly Isaac had more than a close shave after the incident since part of Abraham’s subsequent covenant with God was for true believers to be circumcised.
I ticked 15,17 though I got it as a hunch and only saw the parsing afterwards. I also ticked 2d, 5d, 14d, 20d, and 23d among many good clues.
@Charles #5 so it does, ta.
Very enjoyable puzzle – best for a while. Thanks for the blog.
I enjoyed this a lot after a slow start. PICNIC is a great clue, as is IMBIBE. Thanks to flashling and Philistine.
Silly me! I thought 3d was all about a certain court case, and it’s revelations, currently being splashed across the media. I still got the answer right though.
Thanks Philistine and Flashling for an enjoyable solve, although I, too, couldn’t parse REBECCA as I also thought it must be related to something in the novel.
I loved ‘ZER PRIZE and the picture of Daddy snoring in the middle of karaoke.
Thanks, flashling
My comments echo tupu @6 – remarkably straightforward for Philistine and curiously heavy on the homophones. 8d is a rather well-known Mondegreen.
Very enjoyable, nevertheless; my favourites being 11a (clever def), 2d (I’m surprised I haven’t seen this clever little ‘hidden’ clue before), 14d (nice construction and surface).
Spliting “HANDLING” into HAND-LING seems a bit silly, but other than that, a great puzzle. I don’t quite get 5d, though: why would a ciabatta be “in bread”? Surely it is bread!
As soon as I clicked submit, I realised that Philistine was presumably referring to ciabatta as a fashionable (“in”) sort of bread. Oops.
I took in to mean ‘in’ meaning popular.
Loved 11 ac – and 8d.
Very enjoyable thank you Philistine and Flashling.
This was fun! Thanks Philistine & Flashling. Last one in for me was PICNIC- nice cryptic definition.
Really excellent stuff- a good variety, a few slightly naughty tricks but always clearly-enough clued to leave absolutely no complaints.
Thanks Philistine!
Thanks to flashling for the blog. You explained a couple where I had the answer but not the parsing.
I strongly object to 24: there is no indication in the clue that a foreign spelling is wanted!
Very enjoyable – I particularly liked BALTI, IMBIBE and PULITZER PRIZE. I missed the Biblical part of REBECCA but once the crossers were there it had to be right. Last in was CAPE TRAFALGAR after CATERWAUL.
Chas @19 – I can’t see anything wrong with 24 – we may think of -ize as an American spelling but it used to be common here too and the wordplay indicates the Z so it doesn’t depend on the crosser.
Thanks to Philistine and flashling
Re OSTRACIZE
It really pained me to write that in but I’m further mortified, on looking it up, to find that all my dictinaries give it as the first spelling. [Apart from anything else, it just looks, to my eyes, so ugly on the page.]
I’m like Eileen: the anagram fodder showed it had to end in IZE but I hated to write that in. I have just checked my Chambers and that, sadly, has ize as the first spelling. 🙁
-ize is apparently older that -ise. We were told off for using -ise at my (very famous and influential) school. I think there must be exceptions but by and large it was “-ise” that we were told to regard as a modern perversion, not -ize. I still try to favour -ize, though the pressure to conform gets ever greater.
I would also say ostracise looks very odd to me, but maybe I’m seeing it through my English teacher’s eyes. I must have learnt something after all.
“Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter!” King Lear, Act 2 Scene 2
Two nice comments on the Guardian site –
BogdanP @1.13 on 8D and
JollyS @5.51 on 15,13.
I’m another who hates -IZE. As an editor I would always change it to -ISE in line with house style (which I had set) – indeed Guardian house style does the same I think.
Still, some great stuff here, especially when REBECCA and the chicken surprise were explained to me. AU NATUREL my personal favourite.
Hello, everyone –
I’m new to cryptic crosswords as of 2014 and still fail on a few clues most days. However, I’ve been pleased to discover that being American is not as much of a handicap as I thought it might be (and in fact it helped on 24a today!).
my reason for writing today is to thank all of you, both bloggers and commenters, for the valuable guidance you give to novices like me. Beyond helping me to improve my own skills, you have allowed me to appreciate the skills of the setters and to recognize their different styles.
Thanks also to Philistine, one of my favorites, for today’s puzzle.
Nicely put Dave. I wish you continued enjoyment from the puzzles and the blog.
Hear, hear – welcome, Dave! 😉
I was delighted by the mondegreen, not knowing it was well known, and despite the fact that where Joseph Pulitzer settled and established his prize they pronounce his name “PEW-litzer” (and yet they’d also say “Dook of Wellington” — go figure).
Thanks to Philistine and flashling.
Thanks flashling and Philistine. Enjoyable.
Re the ise/ize controversy, my last job was with an international organization (there I go!) that tried to use a version of “international” English. In effect it seemed closest to Canadian English – but it didn’t match anyone’s native version. Net result was that even good spellers had to keep checking the guide to see what they should be using – and we would still get caught out (judgment, fulfill and improvise come to mind). I don’t think there is any completely consistent, one-size-fits-all set of rules – maybe that’s part of the fun (and frustration).
Re -ise and -ize – when I had to program in Cobol (over 20 years ago now), I used to hate being forced to write initialize and initialization. It was exposure to my late and very English grandfather’s family history notes and his consistent use of “baptize” that made me think about how the accepted common usage in Britain has changed!
My gut feeling would still be on the side of Chas and Eileen, but that is clearly a modern viewpoint…
An enjoyable puzzle. Strange that my FOI (MAIL) and LOI (BALTI) were “lift and separate” clues, the latter of which I only saw after the excellent IMBIBED. I don’t understand why some people are getting so upset about OSTRACIZED. The answer is clear enough from the anagram fodder irrespective of whether or not the Z is checked, although in this case I’m glad it was checked because it led me to PULITZER PRIZE without having to parse the clue.
Thanks all
Recently I have seen Philistine enter the top ranks of compilers but I didn’t think this one was right up there although a decent run out.
I liked 11 and 22 across.
My last in was 15 ac since I did not know the location was other than just Trafalgar!
New word for me today: mondegreen. Thank you. In fact I got 8d early, couldn’t be bothered to parse it in my haste to finish the puzzle, and then had a chuckle when I returned to it later on. Lots of fun today.
Enjoyable, straightforward puzzle from always reliable Philistine. Lovely surface at 2d, and definition for picnic is neat.
Q: given that the blues group were called Chicken Shack, doesn’t 8d warrant a question mark to acknowledge the necessary deviation in the clue’s surface?
Thanks to Flashling
A very fine puzzle from Philistine which I enjoyed immensely. Nothing to add as everything has been said.
Thanks to Flashling and Philistine.
P.S. Late today after enjoying the thrashing of “duselig Bayern”. Nicht so duselig heute Abend 😉
So many lovely things here. I thought BLUEBOTTLE was very neat, and AU NATUREL is a terrific clue.
My list of favourite setters is growing!
I meant to post a compliment to the setter last night, for this solid, well constructed puzzle.
It was a pleasure to do in the pub, as no searching for obscure knowledge was needed, the challenge being in the many clever devices.
I guessed REBECCA had something to do with the OT, but that was our only sloppiness.
Thanks all.
Another potential interpretation of 3D: While Rebecca (Brooks) was spying her husband was Ross Kemp who was known for having a close shave…
The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follet is a spy thriller. Read it very long time ago, so details escape me. Some channel island, invalid husband, storm wrecked German spy, Wife has an affair with spy, realizes he was spy. Fights him. Remember her putting fingers into an electrical socket to blow the fuse to thwart the spy from using the radio. But not sure her name was Rebecca. He has written so many, I have read them all, plot and names keep getting muddled. Triple, Key to Rebecca, Eye of the Needle, all mixed up in my mind.
Nick Clegg, I could not have gotten.
All in all, one of my better showings. Thanks for the explanations.