(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) A tougher than average Cryptic I reckon; 4 down is Prize-worthy, not to mention 22 across, whose definition eluded me for quite a while. Thanks to Orlando for an enjoyable puzzle. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
7 A nameless sentimentalist – like Basil? (8)
AROMATIC : A + “romantic”(a sentimentalist) minus(…less) “n”(abbrev. for “name”).
Defn: A characteristic of;like, basil the herb.
9 What astronomers must do to improve (4,2)
LOOK UP : Cryptic defn: Reference to those who look into outer space.
10 22 down set the ball rolling (4)
OPEN : Double defn.
11 Small mammal with horn, active at sea (10)
CHEVROTAIN : Anagram of(… at sea) HORN, ACTIVE.
Answer: Aka the mousedeer.
12 Specialist in the Middle East has no time for rockery plant (6)
ARABIS : “Arabist”(a specialist in things MiddleEastern) minus(has no) “t”(abbrev. for “time”).
14 Preserve core for Curie in French-Polish setting … (8)
ENSHRINE : The middle letter of(core for) “Curie” contained in(in … setting) [ EN(French for “in”) + SHINE(polish;sheen) ].
15 … college VIP retaining a core here? (7)
REACTOR : RECTOR(a college VIP;principal) containing(retaining) A.
Answer: A nuclear reactor which has a core, the chamber where the reaction takes place.
17 Credit for 22 down, say (7)
ANAGRAM : An example of which;say, is “credit” for “direct”(answer to 22 down).
20 Salt can’t stand and is back first (8)
SULPHATE : HATE(can’t stand;can’t tolerate) placed after(… first) reversal of(… is back) PLUS(and;additional to).
Defn: … from sulphuric acid.
22 When small, I should be with short people (6)
DOTTED : DOT and TED(short forms of “Dorothy” and “Edward” respectively, the names of two people).
Defn: What the written small;lower case letter “I” should be.
23 One’s out to make reductions (10)
DISCOUNTER : Anagram of(out to make) REDUCTIONS. A WIWD(wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.
Answer: … who reduces prices.
24 Predator about to move freely (4)
FLOW : Reversal of(… about) WOLF(a predator).
25 Chap, say, with a wine store (6)
BODEGA : BOD(a chap;fellow, from short for “body”) + EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”;for example;say) plus(with) A.
Defn: … especially in Spanish-speaking countries.
26 French dramatist’s singular Rabelaisian quality (8)
RACINESS : RACINE(Jean Baptiste, French dramatist)‘S + S(abbrev. for “singular”).
Defn: … pertaining to Francois Rabelais’ bawdy jokes and songs.
Down
1 Ripe bananas in an American restaurant (8)
CREPERIE : Anagram of(… bananas) RIPE contained in(in) CREE(a native American).
2 Sign captain up (4)
OMEN : Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) NEMO(fictional captain in Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea).
3 River heard in wood (6)
STICKS : Homophone of(… heard i) “Styx”(the river in Hades).
4 Downtown, say, having dismissed last presenter (8)
CLARKSON : “Clark song”(an example of;say, a song sung by Petula Clark was the 60s hit “Downtown”) minus its last letter(having dismissed last).
Answer: Jeremy, recently dismissed (contract not renewed) presenter of the TV series “Top Gear”. Another WIWD clue.
5 22 down river, OK? (10)
FORTHRIGHT : FORTH(a river in southern Scotland) + RIGHT(okay!).
6 African member of order importing skirts from Burundi area (6)
NUBIAN : NUN(a female member of a religious order) containing(importing) [ the 1st and last letters of(skirts from) “Burundi ” + A(abbrev. for “area”) ].
Defn: … from an ancient region of NE Africa.
8 Smart card’s first used by machine operator (6)
CLEVER : The 1st letter of(…’s first) “card” + LEVER(a device used to operate machinery).
13 Angel holding stuff for traveller (10)
BACKPACKER : BACKER(aka an angel, who comes to the rescue of those/that with financial problems, but at a price of course) containing(holding) PACK(to stuff;to cram into).
Defn: … on the cheap, carrying stuff on his back.
16 Visual artist’s taken in – like Sibyl? (8)
ORACULAR : OCULAR(visual;seen by the eye) containing(…’s taken in) RA(a member of the UK Royal Academy of Arts;an artist).
Defn: …, the oracle.
18 What stops a good-for-nothing boozer? (8)
ALEHOUSE : EH(an expression equivalent to the query “What?”) contained in(stops) [A + LOUSE(a good-for-nothing person).
19 Safe container for tungsten alloy (6)
PEWTER : PETER(a safe;a cash box) containing(container for) W(the chemical symbol for the element tungsten, aka wolfram).
Defn: … of tin, lead, and sometimes amounts of other metals such as copper and antimony.
21 Workers collectively embracing socialist leader to show solidarity (6)
UNISON : UNION(workers collectively) containing(embracing) the 1st letter of(… leader) “socialist “.
22 Frank‘s guide (6)
DIRECT : Double defn.
24 Discover stuff in detached houses (4)
FIND : Hidden in(… houses) “stuff in detached “.
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Thanks scchua, including for parsing DOTTED, though the undotted logic still escapes me. It was tough especially in the NE where the 4D presenter barely rang a bell and where CHEVROTAIN was all new – though not for Orlando who had it five years ago in puzzle 25,134. Thanks to the setter though for a good workout.
Never heard of Petula Clark, but managed, eventually, to guess 4D without parsing it.
That was a very enjoyable crossword indeed. Had to think about most clues – very few write-ins. Basil and Sybil hinted at a theme that wasn’t there and the Sybil and Clark clues were favourites.
Fantastic puzzle- thanks scchua for parsing of 18- and for a fine blog overall.
Jason, where have you been all your life? She starred in several films and sold a lot of records (sixty-odd million according to Wikipedia).
Molonglo, a small i should be dotted whereas a capital I isn’t.
‘late presenter’ made 4dn clear enough, but I didn’t know ‘Downtown’ was particularly associated with Pet Clark, so thanks for explanation.
Thanks to Orlando and scchua
Had a few penny-dropping moments with 12 4 and 16.
I totally missed the anagram in 23 and thought it must have been a CD.
Can anyone explain the significance of the ellipsis in 14 and 15? How does it help/hinder finding the solution?
For 9a I took the definition to be look up.
Thanks Kevin for 9a. I underlined a few too many. The defn. is “to improve”, as in “things are looking up”. Blog corrected.
Thanks for dropping in scchua and you are welcome.
[Now for some serious thinking about the picture quiz]
I assumed the ‘core’ and ‘Curie’ in 14a led to ‘core’ in REACTOR in 15a (Mme Curie was Polish, married to a French man, and she is ENSHRINEd in the Panthéon).
It is only just 2:00 pm here in France.
Gaufrid, what is happening now to the time of posts?
Cookie @12
There is a problem with the server clock and all comments posted after about 0930 BST have a timestamp that is 2 hours ahead (better than yesterday afternoon when it was 9 hours!).
Thanks to Orlando and scchua. I needed help parsing DOTTED and took a long time getting CLARKSON (even though I knew Petula and had read about Jeremy). The EH for “what” in ALEHOUSE was new to me like the AH yesterday. Overall,, a very enjoyable puzzle.
Thank you Gaufrid, I thought I was becoming even more batty! Sorry to have troubled you.
Thanks to scchua for the blog. I needed you for several cases where I had the answer but not the parsing.
2d gave me a problem. I thought ‘sign of the zodiac’ which is often what ‘sign’ indicates. None of the Latin names is 4 letters long. The English translations are no use: Lion, Crab, Fish, Bull and Goat. Then I had to start thinking of other sorts of signs but I got there eventually.
Cookie @ 11
If this is a response to my question @8, thank you. I now notice the link between the two clues. But each clue seems to stand in its own right. So why do we need the ellipsis?
I often have trouble with clues like 24a flow/wolf. Either one could be the definition. Is “flow” “wolf about” or is “wolf” “about flow”? Yes, “about flow” isn’t the way one would say it, but setters often reverse things.
Thanks Orlando & scchua.
In retrospect, it was quite a good though difficult puzzle. Once I had slogged out CHEVROTAIN and ARABIS, however, I somewhat lost interest – I thought the Don must have been setting this one.
Although I did know Petula’s Downtown I think the clue is too abstruse to be readily solvable. I’m amazed scchua managed to parse it!
Thanks Orlando and scchua.
A fun puzzle, especially ANAGRAM, OMEN, STICKS, DOTTED, ORACULAR and BACKPACKER. I kept expecting Fawlty Towers…
DOWNTOWN was beyond me, extra thanks scchua!
I even had Petula Clark singing Downtown in my head while attempting to solve CLARKSON, but I thought it was an unwelcome distraction so tried to suppress it.
Needed help with CHEVROTAIN, though knew it was an anagram, didn’t understand NUBIAN, annoyed I didn’t get ANAGRAM till very late etc etc. Wish I’d been on a long train journey today.
The time now is 2:14 pm BST, in case anyone wants to check the times of posts.
I liked CLARKSON-never thought I’d write that-and thought it quite easy to parse. Indeed I liked the puzzle as a whole even though I had a lot of trouble with DOTTED and only partially parsed it. But lots to like- PEWTER, UNISON, ORACULAR etc.
More like this.
Thanks Orlando.
Peter @22 I did think that “lout” would have been a more precise definition than “presenter” but I suppose it would have been too much of a giveaway.
Anyone else think that 25a was SELLER or CELLAR?
Definitely at the trickier end of Orlando’s spectrum, but an entertaining challenge. I’m not sure whether a paper copy would have made me more scrupulous but I found myself using guess and check quite a lot.
Thanks to Orlando and scchua
While (mercifully) not as tough as Vlad on Tuesday, I still found it hard work. CHEVROTAIN and CREPERIE were new to me, but I knew ARABIS because I’ve grown it in the past. Although I got CLARKSON, I thought it was rather too GK for a cryptic, and younger solvers and non-Europeans may well have not have heard of Pet Clark.
Isn’t “in” doing double duty in 14a, both cluing EN and suggesting inclusion? I didn’t like that.
Favourites were ANAGRAM, DISCOUNTER, RACINESS, BACKPACKER, ALEHOUSE and PEWTER.
scchua, you have “predator” underlined for 24a instead of “to move freely”.
Thanks to Orlando and scchua.
Nice and difficult but like Cookie@20, CLARKSON eluded me – and also ENSHRINE. Plenty of fine clues including ANAGRAM, AROMATIC and ALEHOUSE. Many thanks to Orlando and scchua.
Hard but good. DISCOUNTER was brilliant.
Missed dotted. Getting there though. Thanks all.
Thanks Orlando and scchua
Great puzzle with the clues full of grist and challenge. Was pleased to be able to fully parse all but one of them – didn’t spot the anagram for DISCOUNTERS. Needed electronic help to find the Petula Clark song (clever clue). The misdirection with ARABIS was also very good – spent way too long trying to find a plant with either M—-E or A—-S and a ‘specialist with no T’ in the middle.
CHEVROTAIN was a new term. Thank you cookie for bringing another dimension to the 14,15 surface.
Glad that this setter is back in the fold !!
With The Guardian’s politics shown to be nothing but reactionary trash these last few days, Rusbridger & Co could do with a few good crosswords. And this is probably at least three, distilled and polished. What a great puzzle.
A lovely puzzle indeed – and less time-consuming than some Thursday crosswords. Scchua – I can’t agree with your parsing of the delightful CLARKSON I’m afraid; cannot see that it’s a “WIWD” – the definition is ‘presenter’ with the remainder being the wordplay. Perhaps you can explain….?
Many thanks to B & S.
Ah Robi@19, I had first hand knowledge of the Swinging Sixties in London.
Thanks jennyk@26 for 24 ac. Blog corrected.
William F P@32: Clarkson was the last presenter of Top Gear, and he was dismissed.
Thanks scchua and Orlando – who is definitely growing on me. This was tough but steady and rewarding work and I was pleased to parse all successfully.
I had very few on my first pass and with”like Basil” at 7ac and “like Sibyl” at 16dn I spent a while looking for a Fawlty Towers theme which wasn’t there.
I think that 17ac, 6dn and especially DOTTED at 22ac are worth particular applause for their clever construction.
My only niggle is that we seem to be seeing EH for WHAT a lot recently – in 18dn here. So much so that it’s starting to feel a bit trite.
Not sure which setter started it but maybe leave it out for a few weeks? Pretty please?