A very enjoyable puzzle – I particularly liked 15ac, 25ac, 18dn, and 20dn. Thanks to Philistine
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TITFER |
Row about newspaper backing Panama? (6)
|
| definition: TITFER is rhyming slang: ‘titfer tat’ => ‘hat’; and a Panama is a type of hat
TIER=”Row”, around FT (Financial Times, “newspaper”) reversed/”backing” |
||
| 4 | STUPID |
Silly positions must be rejected – I would (6)
|
| PUTS=”positions” (as a verb), reversed/”rejected”; plus I’D=”I would” | ||
| 9 | FEATHER ONE’S NEST |
Exploit flyer with imperfect tenses to get personal benefit (7,4,4)
|
| FEAT=”Exploit” (as a noun) + HERON=”flyer” + anagram/”imperfect” of (tenses)* | ||
| 10 | ATTEST |
Bowler may be here to give evidence (6)
|
| a cricket bowler may be AT a TEST match | ||
| 11 | LANDLORD |
Proprietor with joiner in funny comeback (8)
|
| AND=joining word=”joiner”, inside DROLL=”funny” reversed/coming back | ||
| 12 | HEN PARTY |
Nightcap on vacation during jovial preparatory celebration (3,5)
|
| N-[ightca]-P, vacated of its inner letters; inside HEARTY=”jovial”
edit to correct typo in “HEN PARTY” – thanks to AlanC in the comments |
||
| 14 | TOILET |
John is one outwardly for hire (6)
|
| I=”one”, with TO LET=”for hire” on the outside | ||
| 15 | ABSENT |
First couple of letters dispatched, so not here (6)
|
| AB=”First couple of letters [in the alphabet]”; plus SENT=”dispatched” | ||
| 18 | SPARSITY |
Sounds like Bath perhaps being in short supply (8)
|
| sounds like ‘spa city’, such as “Bath perhaps” | ||
| 21 | FOOTWEAR |
Settle where stated in Oxford or Derby (8)
|
| definition: Oxford and Derby are types of shoes
to FOOT or “Settle” a bill; plus WEAR which sounds (“stated”) like ‘where’ |
||
| 22 | ANTLER |
Learnt to play the horn (6)
|
| anagram/”to play” of (Learnt)* | ||
| 24 | THE FAT OF THE LAND |
Best in everything for big Brits (3,3,2,3,4)
|
| definition: an idiom describing the best part among what is available
big Brits might be described as ‘the fat of the land/Britain’ |
||
| 25 | RELIEF |
Ease with which judge accepts falsehood (6)
|
| REF (referee, “judge”); around LIE=”falsehood” | ||
| 26 | ADHERE |
Stick poster, but not over there! (6)
|
| AD (advertisement, “poster”) + HERE (as opposed to “over there”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | THEATRE |
From Goethe, a tremendous play enacted here (7)
|
| hidden in [Goe]-THE A TRE-[mendous] | ||
| 2, 5 | TO TIE THE KNOT |
I then took odds on twenty in order to get hitched (2,3,3,4)
|
| anagram/’in order” of (I then took t e t)*, with t e t coming from the “odds”/odd letters of twenty | ||
| 3 | ELECTOR |
One chooses shock treatment in role reversal (7)
|
| ECT (ElectroConvulsive Therapy, “shock treatment”); inside reversal of ROLE | ||
| 5 | TO TIE THE KNOT |
See 2
|
| 6 | PENALTIES |
Palestine suffering sanctions (9)
|
| anagram/”suffering” of (Palestine)* | ||
| 7 | DESIREE |
Want to start eating potato (7)
|
| definition: a variety of potato
DESIRE=”Want” + start of E-[ating] |
||
| 8 | MOTLEY |
Disparate motel with a twist in the tail? End of story! (6)
|
| MOT-EL with a switch in order (“twist”) of the two “tail” letters; plus end of [stor]-Y | ||
| 13 | PLENTIFUL |
Fill up ten forms, that’s more than enough (9)
|
| anagram/’formed from’: (Fill up ten)* | ||
| 16 | BROTHER |
Relative souper? (7)
|
| BROTH=’soup’, so perhaps BROTH-ER=soup-er | ||
| 17 | TRESTLE |
Prepared letters of support (7)
|
| anagram/”Prepared” of (letters)* | ||
| 18 | STRIFE |
First and last to arrive can generate conflict (6)
|
| anagram/’generated from’: (First e)*, with the e from the last letter of [arriv]-e | ||
| 19 | ABASHED |
Embarrassed to display university degree in an outhouse (7)
|
| BA (Bachelor of Arts, “university degree”) in A SHED=”an outhouse” | ||
| 20 | TWEENIE |
Cute name that is for a youngster (7)
|
| TWEE=”Cute” + N (name) + IE=id est=”that is” | ||
| 23 | TILDE |
Finally enrol in crash diet mañana, got that, but not tomorrow (5)
|
| definition: mañana has a tilde symbol (and the ‘tomorrow’ does not)
final letter of [enro]-L in anagram/”crash” of (diet)* |
A reasonably straightforward offering today with some amusing surfaces. I liked FEATHER ONES NEST, LANDLORD, FOOTWEAR, MOTLEY, PLENTIFUL, BROTHER and STRIFE. Although not my homophone, I did like SPARSITY, but I gave up trying to parse TO TIE THE KNOT after much frustration, so thanks for that. Slight typo in your HEN PARTY.
Ta Philistine & manehi.
Thanks Philistine and manehi
Not as hard as usual from this setter, Favourites MOTLEY and BROTHER.
Biologically, antlers aren’t horns. In particular, they regrow each year, whereas horns are permanent.
ANTLER, PENALTIES and TRESTLE smooth examples of this fine setter’s art today. Not too taxing, but a delight from start to finish…
Easier than usual for Philistine, I found. Only real hold-up was TILDE where the word-salad clue confused me for a while, but is now one of my favourites, along with THE FAT OF THE LAND, FEATHER ONES NEST, HEN PARTY and others.
Thanks both.
Just before I go out, I’d like to point out that antlers are not horns. Horns are permanent, antlers are temporary
I had a feeling someone with more confidence than I would put the record straight re ANTLERS.
Fairly rapid solve of a most enjoyable crossword, although not over-keen on BROTHER. What’s a souper?
Many thanks both.
A thick fog = pea-souper?
Good fun, and nothing too taxing. I didn’t understand foot/settle, but your explanation, manehi, makes sense.
A jolly start to the day, from the very first clue.
My ticks were for FEATHER ONE’S NEST, HEN PARTY, SPARSITY, STRIFE, and TILDE and I particularly liked the clever allusive surface of MOTLEY.
Thanks to Philistine for the fun and to manehi for the blog.
New for me: TITFER (and TIFTER) = hat/Panama, DESIREE potato.
Favourites: THE FAT OF THE LAND, SPARSITY.
Enjoyable puzzle. After TO TIE THE KNOT and HEN PARTY I thought there might be a theme, but it seems not.
For 19d I toyed with the idea of ASHAMED which nearly works but the MA is the wrong way round. (And it doesn’t fit with the crossers!)
Many thanks Philistine and manehi.
Got there in tne end despite the “homophone” and not knowing the potato. TITFER is pretty obscure (does anyone actually use this word?) and it took a while to remember. The rest pretty smooth all the same.
What everybody else said, plus a big hand for the souper-slick surfaces.
[I have seen them on trips to England but, although Desirée sounds like a French name I don’t think I’ve ever seen that variety on sale here in France. Unlike the (truly exceptional, if you can get them) Bonnottes de Noirmoutier, currently in the shops. Grab your Eurostar tickets now: they’re only available about ten days a year.]
…I think we had a similar clue to the Soup-er = Broth-er one recently. Something along the lines of Box-er = Chest-er. If I’m not providing an obvious spoiler…
William @6 – according to Collins a souper is an Irish word for someone who serves soup in the name of charity or a person who has been converted to Protestantism through the receipt of soup as charity!!
I enjoyed this and thanks to P and M.
I found this easy with some nice clues. I’ve never seen the Palestine/penalties anagram which I thought neat. The two 15-letter answers went in quickly which helped. Slowed up by bunging in ashamed instead of ABASHED.
Liked SPARSITY and TITFER which I have not heard in many years.
Thanks Philistine and manehi.
Yes, TITFER is an example of rhyming slang that is occasionally used outside the capital.
I went through the northern half of this quickly. The south took a bit longer with FOOTWEAR my last in despite having been alive to the connection. Like Lord Jim @11 I wasn’t at my sharpest on ABASHED. I wasn’t so familiar with SPARSITY as I would have been with scarcity, paucity etc. but I should have worked it out quicker than I did. Bath is not famous for thatmuch.
I remember always wanting to add an “I” on To Let signs when I was very young, maybe a marker of future cruciverbal tendencies.
I liked this in general.
Thanks Philistine and manehi
Martin@17. You reminded me of an article, I think in the Meet the Setter series, where whoever it was traced his cruciverbal tendencies back to spotting that the labels on the Garston vinegar bottles contained an anagram of snotrag…
Good fun on the whole. I’m another who tutted at horn for ANTLER. They are different. But maybe in colloquial speech?
Chambers has for horn:
A hard outgrowth on the head of an animal, sometimes confined to the hollow structure on an ox, sheep, goat, etc, sometimes extended to a deer’s antler, the growth on a giraffe’s head, on a rhinoceros’s snout, etc
Miche @19: good point. The SOED includes for “horn”: “Each of the two branched appendages on the head of a deer”.
Is this one of those cases where there is a distinction for scientific purposes that is not necessarily observed in everyday language? (As in the discussion about “concentration” the other week.)
Thought a Derby was a titfer, didn’t know it was a shoe too — always a-learnin’ …
If an antler is a horn, why do we need a different word for it?
A complete delight! 16d made me groan and laugh. Thank you Philistine
Delightful puzzle with some imaginative clues. I liked the LANDLORD’s funny comeback, the TOILET for hire, the good anagram for TO TIE THE KNOT, and STRIFE, where ‘first’ was unusually part of the fodder. As all the main dictionaries have horn=antler, I think the setter can be excused.
Thanks Philistine and manehi.
I saw 1 and 10 and thought that there would be a hat theme to the puzzle, but even the bowler in 10 wasn’t one, nor the Derby in 21 (I’ve never heard of a Derby shoe). Thank you Philistine and manehi.
A great puzzle, tricky but doable and some clever surfaces. Highlights were TOILET, SPARSITY, ADHERE and STRIFE. Thanks all.
muffin@22: if we didn’t have more than one word in English for the same thing, how on earth would we have cryptic crosswords? 😁
Nice puzzle, but for some of us sparcity will never, ever sound like spa city.
I’m the wrong sex to know about Derby shoes – I only knew it as a hat. There is (or was, I haven’t looked recently) a local hat shop called Tit For Tat, and I have heard titfer in conversation.
Nothing hugely difficult today, and it didn’t take long, but all neat and fun to work out. Favourite FEATHER ONE’S NEST and the sadly appropriate clue for PENALTIES.
TassieTim @27
🙂
Quite enjoyable, very straightforward.
21a was the best
Had problems parsing 18a &21a
Spa/spar and wear/where just don’t sound the same if you’re not English. Often have to adopt my Michael Caine accent to figure out sound-alike clues
I got 24a early and started looking for Jilted Generation, Voodoo, Breathe, Firestarter, but my wait for a Prodigy-themed crossword goes on!
(In the last act of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff wears a deer’s antlers (“For me, I am here a Windsor stag”) and these are consistently referred to as horns. If it’s good enough for Shakespeare…)
I also put in “ashamed” instead of ABASHED. I had carefully checked it first, and discovered that AM is a valid (if rare) alternative to MA!
BROTHER made me laugh even though the clue didn’t make too much sense.
Some fine wordplay but I’m sorry 16d BROTHER ‘souper’ is v.clunky and really doesn’t work in my book even with its question-mark. Other than that it was all good. 12a and 18a were my favourites. Thanks Philistine and manehi.
Thank you Philistine. Some good challenges. Completion delayed by pesky non-rhotic soundalike in 18d SPARSITY. I had a feeling they’d come in bunches. LOI 21a FOOTWEAR. When will I remember “Settle” = FOOT?
Generally not too keen on the surfaces, but 22a ANTLER and 6d PENALTIES worked really well
Like michelle@10 my nho’s were 1a TITFER, 7d DESIREE
16d BROTHER, we don’t have to justify “souper” as a real word. It’s wordplay, with a question mark, as with ronald’s example @14
Thanks manehi for a great blog
Well said, Lord Jim! Lovely puzzle from my favourite setter.
Thanks Philistine for the fun. I found this on the easier end of the Philistine spectrum with my favourites being STUPID, HEN PARTY, ANTLER, THE FAT OF THE LAND, RELIEF, and STRIFE. TITFER was new to me but it couldn’t be anything else. Thanks manehi for the blog.
Some were easy to guess but not obvious to parse. And yet another cricketing reference. How would crossword setters manage if cricket did not exist?
bristle@33 you should have a go at Guardian Cryptic 27,961 by Qaos. 🔥👹
That was the easiest Philistine for a good while, I thought – although it did depend on recognizing TITFER.
Faves were TILDE and ANTLER, despite the quibble over the latter. Science is not exactly an exact science in crosswordland, nor even in real life. But as been said, if it was good enough for Shakespeare…
LOI was FOOTWEAR, having only known a derby as a hat. No excuse for not having rustled up WEAR earlier though. I was also open to the competition meaning, which was a hindrance.
Thanks both
Perhaps manehi’s explanation of TITFER missed out that “titfer tat” is a corruption of the expression “tit for tat”.
That someone 400 plus years ago didn’t recognise the distintion between antlers and horns is hardly justification for accepting it now! After all, at about the same time, Archbishop Ussher determined that the Earth was created in 4004BC, and he was wrong too.
Completely thrown by the “homophone” of course. I did briefly wonder if Speysighty was a word but then gave up.
Warning to anyone studying animal anatomy: do NOT use Shakespeare as your reference
Mig@37: you’re right about the clue to BROTHER, but I was pleased to find that “souper” is indeed a real word, and an interesting one too. I hadn’t come across it before.
Souper is a derogatory term in Ireland for someone whose ancestors “took the soup”. During the famine, many Protestant “charities” set up soup kitchens but would only serve the starving souls who agreed to convert from Catholicism to get some food. There were of course also members of the Protestant faiths who genuinely tried to help and refused no-one, but the stigma of The Souper remains.
Thanks, Esme, for adding context to the dictionary definition.
Thanks Esme for that bit of history. I like to learn something new everyday and you provided me with the appropriate tidbit.
Very enjoyable sums it up.
Thanks Philistine and all.
Esme@47: thanks for the elaboration. When I was growing up in Belfast, the expression “he/they took the soup” meant exactly that.
Thanks for the blog , very late but I have been busy , as always a fine set of neat clues from this setter .
BROTHER I took as the trademark fission clue . soup er = broth er .
TO TIE THE KNOT – I have done this 33 times .
Roz@52 Trying to figure out what kind of knot you might have tied 33 times. Probably not your shoes, unless someone else usually does it for you. Mooring the boat after sailing? Wait — annual renewal of wedding vows?
Mig @53 all with the same person , it is “handfasting” , renew your vows after a year and a day .
Actually it is 34 times , the first time is Year Zero .
Beautiful!
Bit of a bird theme, with TITfer, FEATHER/HERON, NEST and HEN. This caused me grief with 21A when I had -O-T-E– and my mind immediately leapt to the Great NORTHERN (from Arthur Ransome), which seemed to work since Settle is nearly due north of both Oxford and Derby!
I got TILDE, but had to check what it was before the clue made sense. Also realised it must be HEN PARTY, but couldn’t parse it. Otherwise a relatively straightforward one for me, but enjoyable all the same! Thanks for the explanations always.
I’m another who confidently put in ASHAMED for 19dn. I think that it works: I’m fairly sure that some universities that give their degrees in Latin call the master of arts degree an AM rather than an MA. (Personally, I have an AB and an MA, having switched from an old-fashioned place to a modern place between undergraduate and graduate school.)
I lacked several bits of knowledge for this puzzle. TITFER is a bit of rhyming slang I didn’t know. The DESIREE potato was knew to me. And I knew that a derby was a hat but not a shoe. That last one defeated me: I had to reveal 21ac, so I failed to complete the puzzle.