Thank you to Nutmeg. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Leading members in favour of rest, we’re told (8)
FOREPAWS : Homophone of(…, we’re told) [ “for”(in favour of, as opposed to “against”) + “pause”(to rest/to stop an activity, perhaps to resume later on) ].
Defn: …/limbs of four-legged animals.
5. Put on stone in one’s declining years (6)
STAGED : ST(abbrev. for “stone”, a unit of weight in the Imperial System of units) + AGED(in one’s declining years, towards the end).
Defn: … the theatre stage, say.
9. Occupants of flat in a tenement of classical style (8)
LATINATE : Hidden in(Occupants of) “flat in a tenement“.
Defn: Descriptive of writing, vocabulary, etc. derived from Latin.
10. Tory squeezing social worker creates political division (6)
CANTON : CON(a Tory/a member of the Conservative Party) containing(squeezing) ANT(a social animal, one of whose castes is the worker).
Defn: … of a country.
12. Scotsman’s following motor route to reach mountains (11)
CARPATHIANS : IAN(a name for a Scotsman) ‘S placed after(following) [ CAR(a motor/a motorised vehicle) + PATH(a route/a course that one travels on) ].
Defn: …/a mountain range in Central Europe.
15. Collect Charlie carrying Matilda’s case (5)
AMASS : ASS(a Charlie/an idiot) containing(carrying) 1st and last letters of(…’s case) “Matilda“.
17. Tale from a bishop in local (9)
NARRATIVE : [ A + RR(abbrev. for “Right Reverend”, a form of address for a bishop) ] contained in(in) NATIVE(local/home-grown).
18, 7. Philistine needs hours in gaol to fight a criminal (7,2,4)
GOLIATH OF GATH : H(abbrev. for “hours”) contained in(in) anagram of(… criminal) GAOL TO FIGHT A.
Defn: … famously slain by David in the Bible.
19. Opposing sides hosting Arsenal initially pass very slowly (5)
LARGO : L,R(a., respectively, “left” and “right”/opposing sides) containing(hosting) 1st letter of(… initially) “Arsenal” + GO(to pass/to elapse, as in “As Time Goes By”)
Defn: …, as a direction to a musician regarding the played music’s tempo.
20. Singer from Cape enthralled by Beatle’s playing (4,7)
PAUL ROBESON : ROBE(a cloak, an sleeveless example of which is the cape) contained in(enthralled by) PAUL(McCartney, one of the Beatles)‘S + ON(playing/performing, as in “who’s on?”).
24. Bound and beaten (6)
LASHED : Double defn: 1st: …/tied with a cord or rope; and 2nd: …/flogged with a whip or rope.
25. Supervises the issue recently produced (8)
BABYSITS : Cryptic defn: The issue recently produced being a baby.
26. Lines written in blank diary inclined to drop off (6)
DROWSY : ROWS(numbers of people or things in lines) contained in(written in) all inner letters deleted from(blank) “diary“.
Defn: … into sleep.
27. Commercial book awards (8)
ADJUDGES : AD(short for “advertisement”, a commercial/promotional material) + JUDGES(a book in the Old Testament of the Bible).
Defn: In law, what a judge does, ie. awards damages, say.
Down
1. Remedy for depleted battery with no reduction in price (4,6)
FULL CHARGE : Double defn.
2. The Spanish raillery about game to be taken back? Precisely (10)
RETURNABLE : Reversal of(… to be taken back) [ EL(Spanish for the article “the”) + BANTER(raillery/an exchange of teasing remarks) containing(about) RU(abbrev. for “Rugby Union”, a form of rugby) ].
Defn: Precisely/as mentioned (thus indicating the double duty served by), “to be taken back”.
3. Father bears also threatened beast (5)
PANDA : PA(familiar term for one’s father) containing(bears) “AND”(also/in addition).
Defn: A species that is threatened but not endangered.
4. Enchanting time with my family’s interrupted by Dynasty (8,4)
WITCHING HOUR : [ WITH + OUR(my family’s with the writer using the plural first person possessive pronoun) ] containing(interrupted by) CHING(or Qing, an imperial dynasty of China).
6. Naval star running historic part of southern Africa (9)
TRANSVAAL : Anagram of(… running) NAVAL STAR.
7. See 18
8. Puts on robes for academics (4)
DONS : Double defn: 1st: …, or other garments; and 2nd: … in a university.
11. Boris’s wife, we hear, presuming to move to next position (5,7)
CARRY FORWARD : Homophone of(…, we hear) “Carrie”(wife of Boris Johnson) + FORWARD(presuming/with a bold or overfamiliar manner).
13. Clothing worn by mounted soldier going astray (10)
DIGRESSING : DRESSING(clothing/a particular outfit) containing(worn by) reversal of(mounted, in a down clue) GI(an American soldier).
14. Spots onset of growth during complex recession (10)
RECOGNISES : 1st letter of(onset of) “growth” contained in(during) anagram of(complex) RECESSION.
16. Cunning, a desirable quality in pictures but not music (9)
SHARPNESS : The degree of focus or definition in pictures taken with, say, a camera; or the degree of harshness on the ears in music.
Defn: …/shrewdness.
21. Solver pursuing Boatman up marshy creek (5)
BAYOU : YOU(as the setter calls the solver, using the second-person pronoun) placed below(pursuing, in a down clue) reversal of(… up, in a down clue) AB(abbrev. for for “able bodied seaman”/a boatman/one working on a boat).
22. Tramp pocketing pound, in case (4)
PLOD : L(or £, symbol for pound sterling) contained in(in) POD(a case/a shell).
I was thrown off by the positioning in the clue of “pocketing”, usually a containment indicator,.
23. Media’s topical content is concerning (2,2)
AS TO : Hidden in(… content) “Media’s topical“.
Defn: …/regarding.
Thank you scchua for your detailed and beautifully illustrated blog. I have particular fondness for Paul Robeson from listening to recordings on my grandfather’s HMV phonograph, and amongst other things, his Australian connection when he came to support the construction workers building the Sydney Opera House. Liked the misdirection with Cape.
I’ve just reported myself on the Guardian blog for mentioning the setters’ connection in Nutmeg’s fine puzzle, and kudos to her for her acknowledgment. There may be more, but the ones I noted either in the clue or the answer, going down the clues above, were CARPATHIAN, MATILDA, PHILISTINE, GOLIATH, PAUL, (DON? Pasquale), BOATMAN, TRAMP, and there’s a solver in (BA)YOU.
Thoroughly enjoyable today, with no sticky moments, except perhaps Paul Roberson, with whom I was not familiar.
Thanks Nutmeg, & Pictorial Scchua!
Another real treat from Nutmeg. I believe that Paul Robeson regretted making ‘Sanders of the River’ but his singing in the film was great.
Missed the hidden in LATINATE, mainly because I had Fast CHARGE instead of FULL CHARGE. Clearly I missed the ‘depleted’ as well, which was probably an extra nudge from Nutmeg.
I should also be mindful that Nutmeg usually sets a couple of religious clues. Didn’t know GOLIATH OF GATH, but got there from wordplay. Great clue for Philistine, wonderful discovery in the anagrist.
pdm @1 – there’s also ANTO, SHED, and PAN as a nina.
Nice puzzle, nice tribute. Big fun on the BAYOU. Thanks N & s.
Nutmeg always welcome here.
Very elegant spot paddymelon @1. I’m in awe. This was a bit of a write in for me, but that’s not to say that it wasn’t both challenging and entertaining. Cheers to all.
Btw I took SHARPNESS as being “higher in pitch than required” – the opposite of flatness.
(…in relation to being undesirable in music, that is)
So did I essexboy @8,9
As always, so much to like. Piecing together CARPATHIANS, WITCHING HOUR and RETURNABLE, the glorious anagram for GOLIATH, the lovely homophone for FOREPAWS, the clean charades in ADJUDGES and BAYOU, that delightful hidden for LATINATE. And the theme is subtly done. I struggled to see the cryptic def for SHARPNESS for far too long and, like scchua, was thrown by the usage of ‘pocketing’ at the very end: surely pocketing already incorporates the concept of putting something in. Does one ‘pocket in’? ‘Tramp, in case, pocketing pound’ is less elegant but might have sidestepped the slight awkwardness?
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua
I couldn’t explain the E in FOREPAWS but I see now it comes from FORE a homophone of FOR.
Thanks scchua (especially for the low note of “land in gaol”) and Nutmeg
Lovely Puzzle, I noticed the setters in the clues then forgot all about them. Especially liked BABYSITTER, GOLIATH OF GATH ( although I had to check where he was from as I had 4 letters with at least 4 possible sounding places), FOREPAWS and CANTON.
Thanks Nutmeg & Scchua
Another great puzzle from Nutmeg and enjoyed finding all the various setters including the ones highlighted by essexboy @5. My favourite by far was GOLIATH OF GATH. Lovely stuff.
Ta Nutmeg & scchua for the super blog.
Very enjoyable puzzle from Nutmeg again. Nice to be reminded of PAUL ROBESON, and BAYOU made me think of this.
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua.
Crossbar@15 I always heard this as “I’m blue by you”, so thanks for putting me straight
[A propos earworms, as well as the Big O and Jambalaya, here’s Born on the Bayou.]
And thanks to scchua for the definition of RETURNABLE. Parsed okay but couldn’t define it. I didn’t twig to the double duty in ”to be taken back”. Don’t mind the odd double duty. This one was pretty clever.
essexboy@5, and nearly LUDIC as a nina at Line 4. So close.
I enjoyed that, Nutmeg is very good at smooth and interesting surfaces. My favourite was CARPATHIANS. I spotted most but not all of the setter name clues. I didn’t know GOLIATH was OF GATH but got there with fodder and crossers. I’ve just realised that I got to the end of this without cracking open either a dictionary or a thesaurus, and that doesn’t happen every day.
Many thanks both!
@scchua — your notes for 26a DROWSY seem to have a tiny error… you say the first and last letters of ‘diary’ are deleted, when they are kept and the inside letters are deleted 🙂
I found this on the easier side for a Nutmeg puzzle (or perhaps I’m just getting better at these puzzles). Much to enjoy. As ever there are one or two clues with a connection to religion. I’d forgotten the “OF GATH” bit, but it was obvious when it could only be GOLIATH. I note also a reference to the book of Juges in ADJUDGES. With thanks to both.
Thanks scchua, fantastic 20A link [also thanks essexboy, while I know the song I enjoyed that accompanying video for memories of leisurely wildlife spotting trips on various waterways]. i wasn’t entirely happy with 2d as to me it means “may be” rather than “to be” returned (thus not “precisely”), but I liked the construction, and top marks to 13d for misdirection, thanks Nutmeg.
For once I spotted the theme of fellow setters! Although I did not get them all, viz Don, Shed and Anto. Thanks Nutmeg for a fab puzzle, and thanks scchua and fellow bloggers yet again.
To my shame, I got stuck for a while with FOREPLAY at 1a; well it does involve leading members, after all.
Good puzzle.
I think the plural DONS refers to the setter having various Don-related aliases: Pasquale, Bradman, Quixote and so on: he’s the DONS. A nice subtly-done theme and I didn’t spot all of them.
Thanks Nutmeg, a great puzzle this week and a satisfying solve. We particularly liked puzzling out GOLIATH OF GATH and RETURNABLE. Came very close to giving up before finally cracking final few clues.
I often have one wrong solution before the right one comes to me,but today I had FAST and FLAT before FULL CHARGE. I liked finally seeing the definition of RETURNABLE when I had worked it out from the wordplay, but couldn’t see how it meant “precisely”
Delightful, thanks, Nutmeg & scchua.
Thought I was being clever spotting all the setters but I missed PAN. Nicely done.
Found this pleasantly straightforward, with the biggest pause when I hadn’t noticed the ghost like apostrophe in 12ac, and could see how CARPATHIAN(S) stretched to 11 squares rather than 10, with the Scotsman bringing up the rear. Last one in was BABYSITS. Long time since I did that…
Couldn’t see (the wood for the trees)…
Thanks Dave Ellison and Rob T. Blog corrected accordingly .
New for me: I had heard of Goliath but did not know about GATH; ADJUDGES.
Thanks, both.
Delightful, as ever.
GOLIATH Of GATH top of a long list of favourites.
Many thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
I went wrong on 23d with CLAD ,
guessing one.meaning of cad might be a tramp, pocketing. L to make in case
Nutmeg’s clues are always beautiful: precise, pithy and well-balanced, with smooth surfaces. Sometimes their brilliance defeats me – but I must have been on the right wavelength today, for it was an utter joy from start to finish, with all those setters’ names as the cherries on the top.
I even spotted the nina of Pan!
Far too many ticks to list them all, but PANDA, BAYOU, the neatly-hidden LATINATE and the mounted soldier were especially satisfying.
Thank you scchua for the blog and illustrations, and a 21-gun salute to Nutmeg
Unlike Nuntius @21 I found this very tough and completely missed the nicely done theme. FOREPAWS, RETURNABLE, WITCHING HOUR, SHARPNESS and the never heard of GOLIATH OF GATH were especially difficult for me.
Definitely a worthy and clever Thursday challenge.
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua
Maybe I got out of bed on the wrong side but I found this a bit pedestrian. I didn’t actively dislike it but I ended up with no ticks which is pretty rare. On the plus side I did spot the theme and was chuffed to remember the singer from his previous appearances in crosswords. With hindsight perhaps a tick for RETURNABLE
Cheers S&N
Very nicely done by Nutmeg.
Nutmeg, smooth as ever, with a good themed crossword.
I liked FOREPAWS as a nice homophone (which seems to have eluded the usual homophone police), the well-hidden LATINATE, and PAUL ROBESON for the Beatle’s playing. Like some others I suspect, I was fixated for a while by anagrams of Beatles.
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua.
… oh, and RETURNABLE for the interesting nudge to the definition.
Having spotted the setters theme early on, the crossers gave me an unparsed VLAD for 22 down. Managed to find the right answer in time. A lovely puzzle – thanks.
I see (A)MASS is also a setter for the Indy/Listener.
Nice to see PAUL ROBESON, though it took me a long time to work out cape=robe, and I never did get to the bottom of RETURNABLE. Also got fixed on LARGO being L…R which wouldn’t work. Favourites the neatly hidden LATINATE, FOREPAWS, BABYSITS and GOLIATH OF GATH (a place which I think may now be Gaza?)
Elegant puzzle from the Spice Girl.
Lots of good clues – special mention for RETURNABLE, where ‘precisely’ nicely indicates the doubled usage of a phrase so that it isn’t left to do ‘double duty’.
The Biblical giant reminded me of the verse (song?) intended to be performed drunkenly:
Goliath of Gath, with hith helmet of brath,
Wath theated one day, upon the gween gwath,
When up jumped young David, a thervant of Thaul,
And thaid ‘I will thmite thee, although I’m tho thmall‘.
Thanks to S&B
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua. Loved it. Not easy but it was enormously satisying to “nut out” the solutions as the puzzle gradually unfolded. I particularly relished the inclusion of some of my favourite setters in the clues. I’ve enjoyed reading the illustrated blog and the comments very much. I really liked your verse about GOLIATH OF GATH, Gervase@44.
Can only add my congrats to the general plaudits for this fine puzzle. Difficult enough to provide a decent challenge but very fairly clued. Thanks Nutmeg and sschua for the pictorial blog.
Thanks to Nutmeg for yet another enjoyable experience. IMHO whereas some setters seen to delight in the impossibly obscure, Nutmeg, although at times complex, seems to encourage solvers to find solutions. As ever these are crafted and challenging clues, but they entice you towards solving them. Great theme even though I missed a few.
Thx also to scchua for the blog and links, especially for the great Paul Robeson, who was one of my dear mother’s favourite singers.
Very enjoyable, with RETURNABLE my last one in and all the more satisfying for that. And even more so because for a second or two I was trying to make RITORNELLO fit!
Mark @11. re ‘pocketing pound, in case’, I think it works in the sense of making it clear that the pound is not being pocketed in an actual … pocket.
Re: SHARPNESS being an undesirable quality in music, here’s something I came across last night on YouTube about the singer Sade, which shows that it can sometimes produce interesting and beautiful results. (It’s a 20 minute watch, but skippable.)
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
Enjoyed this, all very well crafted, as others have said. Also thanks for the Paul Robeson link, have not heard that for a long while. RETURNABLE ultimately defeated me, but was as nicely constructed as expected. Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
1a I would say that FOREPAWS belong to some quadrupeds, but not to, for instance a hippo or a horse.
Thanks for parsing RETURNABLE, scchua, which I just biffed in.
Anybody else start by assuming that 4dn had to contain “Ming”?
DONS doesn’t mean “puts on robes,” it just means “puts on.”
I’m with essexboy (not for the first time) on SHARPNESS. It’s a performance problem which plagues me, actually, I tend to sing sharp.
Where are ANTO and SHED?
RobT@19 I knew GOLIATH was OF GATH, but didn’t know he was a setter.
Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
Thanks Nutmeg, it’s always a joy. I like smooth surfaces so there was plenty to like here. My top picks were CARPATHIANS, BAYOU, and FOREPAWS. I gave up trying to parse my guess of PAUL ROBESON so thanks scchua for the blog.
A gentle solve, which suited me fine today.
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua
Valentine @50. DONS doesn’t mean “puts on robes,” it just means “puts on.” I agree that DONS means puts on, but donning can mean robing – especially if the people doing the donning are … dons.
Re your singing voice, please see my link @48 which will show that you share SHARPNESS with the singer Sade – and that it actually helped make her voice so distinctive and beautiful.
Anto is hidden in 10a CANTON and Shed is in 24a LASHED.
Valentine@50 – I took it to be anto in ‘canton’ and shed in ‘lashed’.
Great to get all the setters in. Nutmeg on top form as usual . (Saw Paul Robeson at Brighton circa 1957/8 with just an piano accompanist. He signed the programme afterwards came over as a super guy. Never forget the way his colour was criticised as a Welsh miner in a film until a comment made “we are all black down here”
Thanks both and more or less what jina@45 said – it took me two sessions to nut it all out.
The usual minor quibble with the likes of PAUL ROBESON who left us in 1976 – I remember him well and he was very well known at his peak (for a variety of reasons) but to expect anyone born after, say, 1970 to pick him out from the definition ‘singer’ is a bit of an ask imo. I was pleased to crack him and it opened up the southern half of the puzzle – but it did take something of a leap.
Lovely puzzle, on the milder side for Nutmeg, I thought. Got the theme early, which helped with a couple (PAUL and GOLIATH), although I missed the embedded ANTO and SHED.
I didn’t see PAN until coming here, but I wonder if it was intentional, since it was the only nina. Losing it would have allowed VLAD instead of PLOD (cf JB@41), but then we’d have lost Tramp in the clue. Compromises, compromises.
Valentine @50 – I only found this out recently myself but Goliath is the FT alter ego of the Guardian’s Philistine.
Alphalpha @56 – although I do kind of know what you mean, there is general knowledge used crosswords that goes back decades, sometimes centuries, so any 20th century ‘cut-off’ before using a qualifier (‘old’, ‘once’ etc) is going to be somewhat arbitrary. I happened to know PAUL ROBESON – although funnily enough I first heard of him via a Manic Street Preachers song! – but in most cases when early/mid-20th century popular culture knowledge bamboozles me, I just put it down as a GK gap in the same way as I don’t know much about geography or opera i.e. I learn something new and try to file it away! 🙂
Rob T @ 59 I’m with you on that.
An ‘obscurity’ is just something you don’t know and an opportunity to learn something new.
And ‘obscurities’ are all subjective / relative anyway.
Nicely crafted puzzle. There’s almost an appearance by HARPo and PLODGE makes it in as an anagram in the southwest. Also hints of ViGO in the east, but not quite all there, but already referenced anyway, as she’s CARPATHIAN in the G.
Fun theme, which I failed to spot (surprise, surprise!).
Thanks, Nutmeg and scchua.
Lovely puzzle, not finished, the planets would have to align for that to happen.
Thanks both.
@scchua & Paddy Melon @18 & Gazzh @22 & Peter T @27 & Gervase @44 & Valentine @50: I appear to be the only one to understand “precisely” as part of the definition, rather than a doubling down. When a customer returns goods to a retailer, the merchandise will only be accepted if it is in the same condition as when it was purchased, with no signs of wear or tear. Therefore its condition must be “precisely” the same as when it was originally purchased. Only in that case is it RETURNABLE
Wonderful stuff! I love nutmeg’s puzzles. On setters: what happened to Pan? Have they retired? Haven’t seen a Pan for months.
I just hope Nutmeg is in good health and wasn’t sending us a message as occurred to me with CARRY FORWARD in the central position, and the theme. It’s been said here that she hasn’t been well.
All best wishes to Nutmeg. Love your puzzles.
Andrew Tyndall@63
Goods are also returnable if they don’t work or don’t match the descrption on the packet or in an advertisement.
Paul Robeson sings of the south wind “blowin’ round the old bayou” in “Mah Lindy Lou” available on YouTube. It’s a lovely tune.
Pino @66: fair enough. Well, at least I tried!
Several people have mentioned the nina of PAN, but no-one seems to have pointed out that there’s PANDA as well. (Which makes me wonder if the nina was unintentional.)
Re Paul Robeson, much more than a “singer”. A class American college football player, debater, actor, black achiever and sufferer of extreme racial prejudice, life-long socialist , Marxist and activist, qualified lawyer, falling foul of McArthyism was denied a US passport for some years (his attitude to the USSR and Stalin was however naive), exiled in UK (a serious Anglophile, and wildly popular in the UK) and Europe, supporter of the Republican cause in revolutionary Spain, supporter of black and indigenous peoples around the world, long term friend of Albert Einstein, he died after some years of failing health due to severe mental distress and suicidality, exacerbated by the extremes of difficulties he had to overcome in his life., To summarise, a black renaissance man (as in the historic meaning and in the meaning of his pioneering of leadership of his own race) and most succinctly a good, generous and great man. As to being unknown to a younger generation, as I read in the comments here, that’s their loss, as he should be as well known as Nelson Mandela .
Thank you scchua for the Paul Robeson link. John M@69, you have said what needs to be said about this truly great man. For me, although his reworded Ol’ Man River is compelling, nothing beats his version of “There is a balm in Gilead”. And thank you Nutmeg, not just for 20a, but for an entire crossword of delight.
Oops@70, my real name appeared in place of Cellomaniac. (My error.)
John M@69
Hear Hear. May he live on in crossword clues forever. Everyone who hasn’t heard of him should jump at the chance to improve their general knowledge (and musical taste) and achieve the pleasant jogging of the memory one gets from solving these fine clues:
Guardian Quiptic 1187 by Pasquale August 15, 2022 blogged by scchua: Singer and friend outside university with academic attire on? (4,7)
Independent 10,929 by Hoskins October 22, 2021 blogged by RatkojaRiku: Old US singer wearing graduation clothes?(7)
Independent 10,535 by Wiglaf July 18, 2020 blogged by twencelas: US bass-baritone has abandoned nudism? (7)
Guardian Cryptic 28,137 by Crucible May 19, 2020 blogged by PeterO: US singer‘s instruction to peers before procession? (7)
Even as far back as:
Financial Times 14,176 by Cincinnus December 13, 2012 blogged by Pete Maclean: so old the actual clue is not in the blog. I’m guessing:
Old/US/bass-baritone/singer could make SOPRANO BLUE(4,7) – What an anagram!
And lest we forget, 15 years ago:
Guardian Christmas Special Prize 24,267 by Araucaria December 22, 2007 blogged by rightback: Singer formally attired? (7)
Aargh – I’m such a beginner that this was v hard for me – so much to learn that I even struggle to understand some of the comments: what’s a nina, please?
Hi New Chum @73, good to see you here. Don’t worry, it’s a frequently asked question – in fact, so much so that it’s in the Frequently Asked Questions 🙂
The nina in Nutmeg’s puzzle – if indeed it was intentional on her part – is hidden in the 12th row, just above the L, S, and E of LASHED, and spells out PAN, the name of one of her fellow-setters.