Neo is this morning’s setter.
I started slowly, but got into a rhythm eventually and the last few answers fell into place thanks to the crossers. The Big Bang Theory and Fingal’s Cave in particular opened up the grid. My LOI was ESSEX MAN, which I was unsure was actually a thing (I’d heard of Essex Girls from a series of sexist jokes). There was a fair bit of general knowledge, but nothing terribly obscure. Most people will have heard of The Big Bang Theory, A Few Good Men and Benedict Cumberbatch, I imagine.
Thanks Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CUMBERBATCH |
Fruit consignment one copper leaves for actor (11)
|
| Cu (chemical symbol for “copper”) leaves (cu)CUMBER (“fruit”) + BATCH (“consignment”)
Refers to English actor Benedict Cumberbatch. |
||
| 7 | SOT |
Glaswegian perhaps lacking Charlie in boozer (3)
|
| S(c)OT (“Glaswegian perhaps”) lacking C (Charlie, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 9 | ECLAT |
Chapter in story reversed brilliant success (5)
|
| C (chapter) in <=TALE (“story”, reversed) | ||
| 10 | TIMESCALE |
Intoxicant consumed in restraint for duration (9)
|
| MESCAL (“intoxicant”) consumed in TIE (“constraint”) | ||
| 11 | RETENTIVE |
Such memories good about wine Neo has (9)
|
| RE (“about”) + TENT (“wine”) + I’VE (“Neo has”) | ||
| 12 | OFFER |
Tender assassin? (5)
|
| One who kills people (an “assassin”) would off people, so would be an OFFER | ||
| 13/18 | FINGALS CAVE |
Student into saving face mismanaged overture (7,4)
|
| L (learner, so “student”) into *(saving face) [anag:mismanaged]
Fingal’s Cave is an overture by Felix Mendelssohn inspired by a trip to the Hebrides. |
||
| 15 | AVID |
Greedy old king sacrificing first daughter (4)
|
| (d)AVID (“old king”) sacrificing first D (daughter) | ||
| 20 | BANKERS |
Certain things from Thames & Hudson perhaps (7)
|
| Thames and Hudson are rivers, which in Crosswordland are also tenuously known as BANKERS in that they have banks | ||
| 23 | ACT UP |
Behave badly in a court before a judge (3,2)
|
| A + Ct. (court) + UP (“before the.judge”) | ||
| 24 | RIGMAROLE |
Palaver bringing motorway through capital part (9)
|
| M (motorway) through RIGA (“capital” of Latvia) + ROLE (“part”) | ||
| 26 | SIMULACRA |
Images from eccentric musical artist (9)
|
| *(musical) [anag:eccentric] + RA (Member of the Royal Academy, so “artist”) | ||
| 27 | AXIOM |
Saw US chopper land in Irish Sea (5)
|
| AX (American version of “axe”, so “US chopper”) + IOM (Isle of Man, so “land in Irish Sea”) | ||
| 28/20 Down/8 | THE BIG BANG THEORY |
Critical report in articles appearing with Circle Line series (3,3,4,6)
|
| BIG BANG (“critical report”) in THE + THE (“articles”) with O (circle) + Ry. (railway “line”)
The Big Bang Theory was an American sitcom that ran from 2005 to 2017. |
||
| 29 | A FEW GOOD MEN |
Some spirit — grotesque demon in film (1,3,4,3)
|
| A FEW (“some”) + GO (“spirit”) + *(demon) [anag:grotesque] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CLEAR OFF |
Leave fair with Dicky (5,3)
|
| CLEAR (“fair”, as in weather) + OFF (“dicky”) | ||
| 2 | MILITANT |
Activist set on fire by American in plant (8)
|
| LIT (“set on fire”) by A (American) in MINT (“plant”) | ||
| 3 | EATEN |
Mentioned college as courses enjoyed? (5)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [mentioned] of ETON (College) | ||
| 4 | BUTTIES |
Suet bit suspect in sandwiches (7)
|
| *(suet bit) [anag:suspect] | ||
| 5 | TEMPERA |
Paddy ace in painting technique (7)
|
| TEMPER (“paddy”, as in fit of temper) + A (ace) | ||
| 6 | HISTORIAN |
Past master broadcast this on air (9)
|
| *(this on air) [anag:broadcast] | ||
| 7 | STAFFA |
Man on a 13 18 location (6)
|
| STAFF (“man”) on A
Staffa is an uninhabited Hebridean island, the location of Fingal’s Cave (solution to 13/18) |
||
| 14 | A CAPPELLA |
A better jazz singer without piano, unaccompanied (1,8)
|
| A + CAP (“better”) + ELLA (Fitzgerald) (“jazz singer”) without (i.e. outside of) P (piano, in music notation) | ||
| 16 | NEPOTISM |
What might get me in post corruptly? (8)
|
| *(me in post) [anag:corruptly] and &lit. | ||
| 17 | ESSEX MAN |
Lowbrow loony means to pen classical number (5,3)
|
| *(means) [anag:loony] to pen SEX (Latin for six, so “classical number”)
Essex Man is a term for a working class male who lacks culture, but has plenty of disposable income. |
||
| 19 | EARACHE |
Discomfort each Biblical wife reduced (7)
|
| ea. (each) + RACHE(l) (“Biblical wife”, reduced) | ||
| 21 | BASSET |
Fish tails in sausage meat for hound (6)
|
| BASS (“fish”) + [tails in] (sausag)E (mea)T | ||
| 22 | STYMIE |
Pen one used during this writer’s block (6)
|
| STY (“pen”) + I (one) used during ME (“this writer”) | ||
| 25 | ALAMO |
Medical Officer succeeding after mission (5)
|
| MO (Medical Officer) succeeding A LA (“after”, as in “in the style of”) |
Thanks for the blog , good set of interesting clues . CUMBERBATCH very precise with one copper leaving , similar for AVID with first daughter , NEPOTISM very neat .
Very minor point for RETENTIVE , good is part of the definition . Your last explanation seems to have been cut off .
I always thought of saw as more folk wisdom-ish, while an axiom is a self-evident fundamental truth. Not a great worry though …
Thanks Roz – will edit when I get a chance.
I tend to agree Grant@2 but perhaps the setter was thinking of the ZFC axioms .
NB both saw (at 4) and axiom (at 1) are defined in SOED as maxim, hence the synonymy.
Thank Neo and Loonapick. I have probably seen the title A Few Good Men on many occasions, but it had not stuck in my mind.
27ac: Collins 2023 gives us the following:
p 140 axiom n 1 a proposition or principle, sanctioned by experience; maxim.
p 1772 saw³ n a wise saying, maxim, or proverb.
I am satisfied that maxim is being used in the same sense in both definitions.
I see Neo beat me to it, but at least I am giving a different source which supports the one he gave.
Very accomplished compiling, no groans, and an eclectic range of definitions.
I initially went ADAGE for SAW, having the opening A in early on; I don’t think AXIOM is the same thing at all, so a slight quibble there.
BANKERS was a nice reversal of the cryptic version becoming the derivation of non-cryptic rivers.
Not aware of the ESSEX MAN usage; I went off-course searching for an adjective.
The various GK was not too testing, but the wordplays for same are not as clever as other clues.
Overall, nice job, and enjoyable; thanks to NEO and loonapick.
I tend to agree with those ‘saying’ that “saw” and “axiom” are not synonyms. Maxim can mean a proverb, as can saw. Maxim can also mean a rule, as can axiom. But these are 2 different meanings for maxim imo.
Continuing the discussion on 27ac, Collins Online includes “axiom” in its list of synonyms in British English for saw (noun) in the sense of saying. However, the same source defines synonym as “a word that means the same or nearly the same as another word, such as bucket and pail“. These pesky words “or nearly the same” are the reason I prefer to avoid the use of the word “synonym” in any discussion of the validity of a definition.
Having said all that, I appreciate the substance of the point being made by Hovis@8, but my natural inclination is to give the benefit of any reasonable doubt to the setter.
As a former Essex man (as in formerly from Essex), I enjoyed 17D.
Tricky in places but all solvable. Interestingly, for 27ac we initially had an incompletely parsed ‘maxim’ but after a PDM to see NEPOTISM we realised our mistake. In fact NEPOTISM was our favourite but we also liked Neo’s other self-reference, RETENTIVE, as well as RIGMAROLE.
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
I don’t think BANKERS to mean rivers should be encouraged. “Flowers” is just about acceptable because they flow, but to call them bankers just because they have banks strikes me as a step too far. By the same token they could be called bedders because they have beds, or fields could be called hedgers because they have hedges.
Thanks Neo for challenging my brain. With the exception of the unfamiliar CUMBERBATCH, I managed to solve this with my top picks being OFFER, BANKERS, ACT UP, SIMULACRA, MILITANT, and NEPOTISM. Thanks loonapick for filling in my parsing gaps.
Babbler @12: Collins has a definition (Australian) for ‘banker’ as
a river near flood level, the water being almost bank high.
20ac further to Tony@13: SOED 2007 p 184 also has banker noun³ 3 A river flooded to the top of its banks. This is marked Austral. & NZ. and dated from mid 19th century. However, I am not sure that it really helps for the use of “banker” as a general term for the name of any river, since it seems to relate to the temporary state of a river, not the river as such.
I liked EARACHE, TIMESCALE (I love Mescal), OFFER, A FEW GOOD MEN and NEPOTISM.
ALAMO was my last one in. I didn’t remember it being a mission, despite visiting as a kid, but the clue was fair.
Thanks Neo and loonapick.
The thing about terms like flower and banker, or runner, is that you can argue for or against them until you are blue in the face, and it won’t make the slightest difference, as such terms are completely and utterly accepted among most crossworders, and have been for some considerable time. That’s right, it’s only you who objects. So what’s the point? And what’s the point in disagreeing with definitions that are sourced from and confirmed by the best dictionaries on the planet, except to create an unnecessary fuss? Carping here will get you nowhere, although, to be fair, nor will writing to the editors of those esteemed publications to air your grievances. Your missive goes straight into their bins.
At least banker can create an unexpected angle for a compiler clueing a word like lender, where she might be looking at END in LE R. ‘Oh what a fine misleading clue’, the blogger might say. Perhaps.
Paul b #16. I was not carping. I merely said that I didn’t think the use of the term should be encouraged, for a reason I gave. I am happy to believe you when you say that “banker” has been treated as a word for “river” for some considerable time, though I have been doing crosswords for 40 years or more and don’t recall ever coming across it. If, as I supposed, it was a recent coinage, I felt it set a dangerous precedent.
Banker has been used in the FT crossword to refer to a river as recently as April and before that November. It’s also been used in the Independent and Guardian this year. It’s not a rarity. It may be a chestnut and widely accepted, but it’s pretty loose in any real-world context.
On the tedium of disagreeing with definitions which the setter has so obviously checked in advance. I couldn’t agree more.
As is often the case for me with Neo this was a bit tricky and hard work. 11A: Tent= wine? 16D NEPOTISM was a wonderful clue, though.
11ac: Chambers 2016 p 1608 tent³ n a deep-red Spanish wine.
Many thanks, @Pelham Barton 🙏. One lives and learns.
Looking at 20a I immediately thought of BANKERS, and wondered if Thames and Hudson was the name of a bank, which would have made the clue even cleverer. So I looked it up and discovered it’s the name of a publishing house. That made me rethink the solution and, attributing the same degree of cleverness to the setter, I changed my answer to BINDERS. A rare example of a solver being too clever by half.