GOZO kicks off the week…
A nice gentle and enjoyable challenge for a Monday.
Thanks GOZO!
ACROSS
1. Minor difficulty at midnight, having landed by church (6)
GLITCH
[ni]G[ht] (mid) having LIT (landed) by CH (church)
4. Egyptian god’s very big flag (6)
OSIRIS
OS (very big) + IRIS (flag)
8. Last Letter from America about historian and disciples’ father (7)
ZEBEDEE
ZEE (last letter from America) about BEDE (historian)
9. View circular wing (7)
OPINION
O (circular) + PINION (wing)
11. This tune will cause tension (6)
STRAIN
12. Soft-soaps in cricket trousers (8)
FLANNELS
13. African expresses disapproval to Indian leader (5)
TUTSI
TUTS (expresses disapproval) to I[ndian] (leader)
14. Client’s habit with Her Majesty (8)
CUSTOMER
CUSTOM (habit) with ER (her majesty)
16. Playwright could be art giant (8)
RATTIGAN
18. Some progressive giants? (5)
OGRES
20. Sees term out with six-month course (8)
SEMESTER
22. Drunk seen at assembly (6)
SENATE
24. Not just fed, having used a hosepipe (7)
WATERED
Double (cryptic) definition
25. Gusher will ensure there’s no friction (3,4)
OIL WELL
Double (cryptic) definition
26. Cockerel lost love on duty? (6)
ROSTER
RO[o]STER (cockerel, lost O (love))
27. Democrats use missing member to place troops strategically (6)
DEPLOY
D (democrats) + E[m]PLOY (use, missing M (member))
DOWN
1. Roll out the red carpet and burst into tears (5)
GREET
2. 10 multiplied by one hundred — a solution that’s inaccurate (7)
INEXACT
(TEN + X (multiplied) by I (one) + C (hundred) + A)* (*solution)
3. Removing impurities from single can (9)
CLEANSING
5. Page one edged with deep colour (5)
SEPIA
(P (page) + I (one)) edged with SEA (deep)
6. Meet — by accident? (3,4)
RUN INTO
Double (cryptic) definition
7. Takes responsibility but rebuffs, when cold (9)
SHOULDERS
Double (cryptic) definition
10. Slightly misaligned, not wanting recent changes (3-6)
OFF-CENTRE
OFF (not wanting) + (RECENT)* (*changes)
13. This showcase for businesses exchanges ethical economic policy (5,4)
TRADE FAIR
FAIR TRADE (ethical economic policy), exchanges
15. Northerners long for tree in Caledonian forest (5,4)
SCOTS PINE
SCOTS (northerners) + PINE (long for)
17. Greek hero comes from America after the Home Counties (7)
THESEUS
US (America) after (THE + SE (home counties))
19. Genuine novel included in restoration (7)
RENEWAL
REAL (genuine), NEW included
21. Consolation, if repeated, at that point (5)
THERE
Double (cryptic) definition
23. Match label (5)
TALLY
Yes, enjoyable as ever and rattled off pretty quickly so perfect for a Monday solve over coffee. Top pick was THESEUS.
Many thanks to Gozo and Teacow.
I was unfamiliar with ZEBEDEE outside of the Magic Roundabout but the wordplay was clear
I thought GLITCH, INEXACT & ZEBEDEE raised the difficulty dial a notch
Cheers T&G
A gentle and enjoyable solve. Zebedee last one in for me.
Thanks Teacow and Gozo,
As Diane noted a quick solve, I seemed to be on Gozo’s wavelength.
What is the justification for “at” in 1A, apart from providing a filler for the surface reading? It doesn’t appear to form part of the wordplay and, as “DEFINITION at WORDPLAY” is meaningless, it cannot sensibly function as a link.
Bagpuss@5 I suppose “at midnight” is a way of indicating the “g” ? Gozo has had something else going on in recent puzzles, but I can’t see anything here.
Gozo’s FT crossword is hidden if you look.
Well spotted. Hovis
Thanks Gozo for the Monday fun. This was a relatively quick solve but I still needed a nudge to unravel ZEBEDEE and OPINION. Favourites included STRAIN, SHOULDERS, and TRADE FAIR. I was a bit surprised to see ‘solution’ and ‘from’ as anagram indicators but my biggest beef is that I still get ‘surprised’ at such things. I also enjoyed the hidden extra; thanks Hovis @7 for the tip-off and thanks Pierre for the blog.
A pleasant solve over our mid-afternoon cuppa. Favourites were FLANNELS and OFF-CENTRE.
In 1ac we see ‘at’ as indicating that LIT CH is at, i.e. next to, G. On the other hand in 25ac ‘will’ seems to be just a link word, with ‘gusher’ defining a oil well and ‘oil well’ being an instruction to ensure there’s no friction.
A couple of minor niggles, too. To be pedantic, strain does not cause tension – it’s the other way round although we’re aware that ‘stress’ and ‘strain’ are used very loosely in everyday parlance. And in 14ac isn’t ER for ‘Her Majesty’ a bit out of date?
Thanks, though, to Gozo and Teacow.
Thanks Hovis @7. I hadn’t spotted the first letter of each answer spelt that. Very clever, thanks Gozo!
Big Al@10 I suppose the intention in 1A could perhaps be that “at” acts as a juxtaposition indicator, but I’m not convinced because “having” serves that purpose, although it’s not really appropriate, being suggestive of containment.
Peter T @5, the “g” is indicated by “midnight” (interpreting this as “middle of night”) without more.
In my view the “at” is padding and that weakens the clue. It would have been better to have structured things differently in order to avoid anything superfluous.
I was going very quickly until the last three in the north West. Very similar to Bodycheetah except it was GREET not GLITCH for me as I didn’t know the tearful definition.
Thanks Gozo and Teacow.
I was distracted as I was solving this, but I thought there was a decent helping of unknowns (including some unusual indicators) and even an indirect anagram, but it was short of nice surfaces.
I ticked SENATE.
Sorry to swim against the tide, but this one did not do much for me. So saying, I will always be sure to visit SCOTS PINE when in the UK.
Thanks Gozo and Teacow
Good old Gozo. I got it all but couldn’t parse 24a WATERED because I was convinced that fed = ATE and therefore struggled to explain the W and RED.
I get it now, fed and watered. City boy here, learning the country ways.
Well spotted, Hovis. I had hought of checking the grid on completion but promptly forgot again. That’s a neat extra from Gozo.
Big Al@10, if I strain my eyes trying to see something far away, could that cause tension, both physical and psychological?
Bagpuss@12, if the 8-word clue at 1a GLITCH is too long by two letters and should be restructured, how would you restructure it? I was unable to make it any more concise.
I thought Gozo did a great job of getting his acrostic (which I didn’t see – thanks Hovis@7 for spotting it) into the grid without putting undue stress, strain or tension on any of the clues. Thanks G&T for the delicious Monday refreshment.
Cellomanic@17 I didn’t say the clue was too long. My objection is to the inclusion of stuff that performs no function other than padding. That could have been avoided readily enough. For example
Landed by church after finally resolving minor difficulty
Thanks Gozo and Teacow
11ac: Further to Cellomaniac@17, strain and tension are long-standing synonyms in ordinary English, which are given special meanings by physicists for their own purposes. Compare force/pressure, group/set, probability/likelihood, etc, etc, etc, from various walks of life.
14ac: I agree with Big Al@10 that “Her Majesty” for ER is out of date.
Bagpuss@18, nicely done.
Big Al@10 and PB@19, I’ve seen queen used to indicate Anne, or Victoria (or VR). Is Her Majesty an acceptable synonym for queen? Perhaps it needs the DBE qualification now.
Cellomaniac@20: There should be no problem with “Queen” on its own indicating any past Queen, but my view is that “the Queen” in a UK context can currently only mean Queen Camilla. “Her Majesty” is “the Queen”. Something like “Her Majesty once” should be all right here.