A gentle Vulcan to start the week.
The long solutions slotted in very quickly, giving at least one letter for all the other answers, so I found this a fairly quick solve over all, I’ve seen variations of the clues for UNIFORM and AVERAGE before, so they were write ins. It took me a second to parse HOIST as I wasn’t;t thinking of a TV presenter, but something clicked eventually.
Thanks, Vulcan.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SOUL-DESTROYING |
Extremely boring oldster is young after treatment (4-10)
|
| *(oldster is young) [anag:after treatment] | ||
| 9 | ABIGAIL |
Woman needs a large beer delivered (7)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [delivered] of A BIG ALE (‘a large beer”) | ||
| 10 | LUMPIER |
Less smooth piece of sugar? That is right (7)
|
| LUMP (“piece of sugar”) + i.e. (id est, so “that is”) + R (right) | ||
| 11 | GROWL |
Warning sound from half grey bird (5)
|
| [half] GR(ey) + OWL (“bird”) | ||
| 12 | IMPENDING |
Threatening little devil with termination (9)
|
| IMP (“little devil”) with ENDING (“termination”) | ||
| 13 | DEMAGOGUE |
Democrat, very eager, occasionally pure rabble-rouser (9)
|
| Dem. (Democrat) + AGOG (“very eager”) + [occasionally] (p)U(r)E | ||
| 14 | MAYOR |
PM, or less important office (5)
|
| (Theresa) MAY (one-time “PM”) + OR | ||
| 15 | GRAFT |
Tennis champion finally quit hard work (5)
|
| (Steffi) GRAF (“tennis champion”) + [finally] (qui)T | ||
| 17 | LOUISIANA |
US stateβs old university is covered in creeper (9)
|
| O (old) + U (university) + IS covered in LIANA (“creeper”) | ||
| 20 | TREE HOUSE |
Branch manager may put this up for childrenβs play (4,5)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | LYRIC |
What one can get from really rich poem (5)
|
| Hidden in [what one can get from] “realLY RICh” | ||
| 23 | READIER |
Better prepared to fail in the end (7)
|
| DIE (“to fail”) in REAR (“end”) | ||
| 24 | TITANIA |
The last to leave doomed ship, a drama queen (7)
|
| [the last one to leave] TITANI(c) (“doomed ship”) + A
Titania was the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, hence a “drama queen”. |
||
| 25 | VESTED INTEREST |
Financial claim as tense test drive crashed (6,8)
|
| *(tense test drive) [anag:crashed] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SHAGGY DOG STORY |
Anticlimactic account of oversexed pet? (6,3,5)
|
| A dog that is getting plenty of sex may be shagging a lot, so could conceivably be described as a “shaggy dog”? | ||
| 2 | UNIFORM |
What to wear in college class (7)
|
| UNI (university or “college”) + FORM (“class”) and semi &lit. | ||
| 3 | DEADLIGHT |
Cabin shutter so easy to pick up? (9)
|
| Something that is DEAD LIGHT (as in very light) should be “easy to pick up” | ||
| 4 | SOLVING |
What you are doing is very caring, nothing omitted (7)
|
| SO (“very”) + L(o)VING (“caring”, with O (nothing) omitted) | ||
| 5 | RELAPSE |
Sink back asleep, shattered after run (7)
|
| *(asleep) [anag:shattered] after R (run) | ||
| 6 | YEMEN |
The old folks land (5)
|
| YE (“the old”) + MEN (“folks”) | ||
| 7 | NOISILY |
Inquisitively touring island, while playing loud music? (7)
|
| NOSILY (“inquisitively”) touring I (island) | ||
| 8 | GREGORIAN CHANT |
Grim from the start, hearing cantor messing up old music (9,5)
|
| G(rim) [from the start] + *(hearing cantor) [anag:messing up] | ||
| 14 | MISTLETOE |
Stole time for fixing Christmas decoration (9)
|
| *(stole time) [anag:for fixing] | ||
| 16 | AVERAGE |
Declare period of history unexceptional (7)
|
| AVER (“declare”) + AGE (“period of history”) | ||
| 17 | LOUVRED |
Museum cooled at last, given openings for air (7)
|
| LOUVRE (“museum”) + (coole)D [at last] | ||
| 18 | UNEATEN |
Left you to tidy up (7)
|
| U (you) + NEATEN (“to tidy up”) | ||
| 19 | ARRANGE |
Missing some gear, rang emporium to order (7)
|
| Hidden in [missing some] “geAR RANG Emporium” | ||
| 21 | HOIST |
Raise anchor: I contributed (5)
|
| I contributed to HOST (“anchor” of a TV show) |
Good fun. I would be more likely to use SOUL-DESTROYING to describe a situation when something causes one to lose all hope. But dictionaries assure me that “extremely boring” is fine, so I don’t have a leg to stand on. All a bit soul-destroying.
SHAGGY DOG STORY
Looks like a cryptic def. Or the ‘account’ has to play a double role to make it a DD.
Liked the clue anyway.
SOUL-DESTROYING
All a bit soul-destroying.
GDU@1. hahaha. Liked your comment. I had the same confusion.
Liked UNIFORM, HOIST, NOISILY and MAYOR.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick.
Some very neat clues here, like MAYOR and YEMEN (which is reminiscent of a movie βNo Country for Old Menβ). Thanks Vulcan and loonapick!
Good Monday stuff from Vulcan. Needed a good think in places but my horses are unstartled.
Not heard of DEADLIGHT But enjoyed the wordplay. Also enjoyed SOUL-DESTROYING, SHAGGY DOG STORY, MAYOR, UNEATEN and a host of others.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
I was unsure how to parse 20ac, and the HOST=anchor bit of 21d.
Favourites: YEMEN, SOLVING.
New for me: DEADLIGHT = a protective cover or shutter fitted over a porthole or window on a ship.
Ideal Monday / beginner puzzle, all very neat and tidy. Thought YEMEN was very good.
I tried BLAIR first for MAYOR.
B – Less important LAIR – office
A quick and fun solve. I liked YEMEN, TREE HOUSE, TITANIA and LOUISIANA among others.
Thanks Vulcan and Loonapick.
Thanks…could not parse 4d, which became a bung in.
A couple of other parsings to check.
NHO the port hole shutter.
Thanks both
The womanβs name (this might be anything) at 9ac, and last one in, the nho for me DEADLIGHT, were the only two to hold me up, at the very end. The good long anagram at 1ac was a very helpful launching pad. Many thanks Vulcan and Loonapickβ¦
Straightforward. Tried to put in Louvres but overwritten by the crosser. Failed to parse READIER but laziness on my part as it had to be. Nho DEADLIGHT and had to work it out.
As a matter of principle I donβt like very long anagrams, but each to his own.
Favourites ABIGAIL, AVERAGE, UNEATEN.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
Managed to get myself into a tangle over TITANIA as I wanted it to start with RAT until I remembered that rats are the first not the last to leave a doomed ship!
Good fun.
Favourites were Abigail and deadlight (new word for me).
Thanks both.
Hoping to have a red and white avatar once this is posted…
Nicely done, SHAGGY DOG STORY and GREGORIAN CHANT my favourites.
Forest Fan @13: your avatar reflects you being a fan of the forest.
Ta Vulcan & loonapick.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
A DNF on a Vulcan! I gave up and revealed DEADLIGHT, which (as with others here) I had never heard of, and couldn’t get any farther than the LIGHT (easy to pick up) bit.
Gentle start to the week. Deadlight was new to me. Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
I thought “anticlimactic” was probably the definition with “account of oversexed pet” being the clue.
It’s slightly tenuous, but “that was a bit of a shaggy dog story” and “that was anticlimactic” seem interchangeable.
I have often wondered βWhy shaggy dog?β The explanation on Google AI is in itself rather delightfully anticlimactic.
Not usually keen on “woman” cluing one of thousands of possible names, but in this case there isn’t a famous bearer or a well-known alternative meaning for ABIGAIL, and the pun is funny, so… It was my last in, once I’d finally decided whether LOUISIANA was going to be a state or a creeper.
Nice anagrams, and I also liked MAYOR, YEMEN and UNEATEN.
Nice Monday outing. NHO LIANA or DEADLIGHTS (which my Chambers lists as a plural noun) but managed to finish anyway. 1a my favourite out of several.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick.
As for others here, the ABIGAIL/DEADLIGHT pair were my last in. The former was a real laugh out loud moment when the penny dropped. I carelessly bunged in CAPTAIN at 24a, but crossers soon set me right, and I loved TITANIA when it dropped, especially as we are in Stratford-upon-Avon atm, and Midsummer Night’s Dream is on right now. Thanks, Vulcan and loonapick.
Had to work out DEADLIGHT from first principles and then look it up. Failed on READIER and UNEASTEN, but the rest was pretty easy.
AntonJ @20
Tarzan used lianas to swing through the trees!
Vulcan must have been so (rightfully) pleased with the clue for YEMEN! The drama queen is very funny as well.
Thanks V & loonapick!
Very straightforward
Good start to the week with some excellent surfaces. I liked the SOUL-DESTROYING oldster, ABIGAIL, although it would have been better with some description (gladys @19, there is ABIGAIL Adams and in the UK a famous TV play called ABIGAIL’s party, so ‘party woman’ would have helped some), READIER for fail in the end, the sexy SHAGGY DOG STORY, and the well-hidden ARRANGE.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
[Robi @26
A good trick question is “who played Abigail in Abigail’s party?“]
I”m surprised that no one so far has said that “ye” never was a form of “the” unless we just go back a bit to whatever decade it was when people gave things names like “Ye Olde Tea Shoppe.” (Has anyone actually ever seen an Olde Tea Shoppe or something like it?)
I’ve never heard of DEADLIGHT either, and had to find ways to google it to get past the Stephen King novel and the grisly-sounding video game.
To me a shaggy dog story isn’t anticlimactic, it’s one that leads, usually at great length to a My Word! – style story that ends in a mangled version of a familiar phrase. For example a story I can’t remember about a piano tuner named Oppernockety that manages to end with “Oppernockety tunes but once.”
Thanks,Vulcan and loonapick.
All good clean fun. Thanks both
I must have slept very badly last night, as I found this more like an Imogen than a Vulcan. DEADLIGHT was last in, and I had to Google it to prove that it was a word (I had split ‘cabin’ and ‘shutter’, never thinking that the pair together were a thing). The ‘beer delivered’ was definitely not a normal Vulcan clue whereas TREEHOUSE, one of my first in, very much was.
I had MAJOR for the PM, and it’s a ‘less important office’ too; obviously there are not many words ending in J so I was forced to rethink. π€π
I hope my week improves. Thanks to Vulcan for clearing out some cobwebs, and thanks to Loonapick for telling me how easy this was. π
Come to think of it, there’s a pharmacy near here called The Medicine Shoppe. No “ye”, though.
I think “One of two blokes intone old music” would be a nice clue for GREGORIAN CHANT. Doesn’t look like it’s been used before from a quick search.
I seemed to find today’s trickier than most others… perhaps my brain is not in gear today.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
Valentine @28: we’ve had this discussion lots of times before! Of course “the” used to be spelled with the old letter called a thorn which had a “th” sound and looked a bit like a Y. When moveable type came along there was usually no character for the thorn, so the letter Y was quite often substituted for it. So βyeβ can reasonably be said to be βthe oldβ in that sense.
(There’s a Ye Olde Vape Shoppe near us.)
Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Vulcan and loonapick.
Fun puzzle to end the weekend by. Like many others here, liked YEMEN and the drama queen.
I wonder how many solvers DID know DEADLIGHT before this puzzle.
Lord Jim @33 – thanks for that. π
Crucible’s wonderful “He wrote ‘The Ancient Mariner’ (6)” remains lovingly enshrined in my little book of classic clues. π
Enjoyable puzzle, with some good challenges. I was working away at some tough knots, and then the last few fell fairly quickly, and I was surprised I was finished
Surprised not to see more praise for my top favourite 18d UNEATEN, which wins the trifecta for the surprising definition, good surface, and brevity. Others, 9a ABIGAIL (funny), 14a MAYOR (good surface), 6d YEMEN (concise), 21d HOIST (βanchorβ = HOST)
Eileen@35 That clue is quoted a lot. Could it be the greatest clue of all time?
Thanks both
Mig @36 – I confess to being the author of multiple quotations here! (I thought Lord Jim, especially, might be surprised if I didn’t chip in again today.) It’s certainly one of my all-time favourites: I use it a lot to try to introduce others to the magic of cryptic crosswords
If you look at pictures of Caxton’s printing of The Canterbury Tales you will see that he uses “th” not “y” for the thorn symbol which had dropped out of English spelling some time before printing came along
Thanks for the blog , good clues and perfect for a Monday . There should be two puzzles like this every week , give the newer solvers a chance .
Mig@36 , the greatest clue of all time is the clue for Euripides from the legendary “Knock Knock” puzzle by Torquemada .
David Mansell @38: the use of “y” for thorn in print persisted until at least the early 17th C., in particular for common abbreviations copied over from before the arrival of movable type that would still be recognized by contemporary readers. In particular, (from Wikip), “The first printing of the King James Version of the Bible in 1611 used ye for “the” in places such as Job 1:9, John 15:1, and Romans 15:29. It also used yt as an abbreviation for “that”, in places such as 2 Corinthians 13:7.”
So the decline (already underway when movable type came to British shores) and eventual disappearance of thorn was a gradual process.
(Medieval scribes invented many abbreviations for obvious reasons, some of which are still in use today including cc, pp, and ff – the doubling was an efficient way of indicating a plural.)
[Roz @39 – did the clue involve trousers?]
In the pictures I can find of the first printing of the King James bible, “the” is printed “the” not “ye” so I am not inclined to agree with Joseph.
Muffin@41 , definitely . I cannot show it here , it needs to be cut up into separate words and distributed randomly . Someone once read two words consecutively and had to spend weeks in hospital .
David Mansell @42, I must respectfully disagree with your disagreement! Having just scanned a PDF of the 1611 printing of the KJV, Joseph @40 is quite right to say that there are a few occasions on which “ye” is used for “the”, and in the particular places he mentions. Presumably this was to save space on the tight measure the printers used. As you suggest, “the” is used far more often but in 1611 the transition was not yet complete.
[Roz@39 et al, would that be “Playwright who preceded Eumenides, reportedly”?]
Eileen, I know you’ve revealed it before, but I’ve forgotten. What was the answer to the Ancient Mariner clue?
Valentine @46
In case Eileen doesn’t see this, it’s POPEYE (POPE YE)
Thank you, muffin. (We bloggers always get emails of comments on our blogs.)
PS – a bit behind: I was eating at the time. π
Really, Eileen? You didn’t blog this one, though
[ Mig@45 nice try but no cigar , I can’t say more , need to conserve my screen minutes for later in the week . ]
muffin @50
Fair enough! I do, though, like you, keep up with the daily blogs, though, as today, without necessarily having commented on the puzzle and so I do automatically react to queries about my comments.
I’m just throwing this out for interest, rather than wanting to spark discussion at this stage in the evening – I’ll be heading for bed soon: I’ve been searching the archives for Roz’s (39 ) ‘greatest clue of all time’ and found my own earliest recollection of mention of it in a blog of mine of a Crucible puzzle, https://fifteensquared.net/2020/01/23/guardian-28037-crucible/
where there was a bit of discussion (with contributions from several current commentators here) as to its origin.
Perhaps the good folks of Fifteensquared can help me out here – I’ve recently started setting my own crosswords (in earnest, having dabbled in the past).
If we look at 9A as an example and I borrow loonapick’s excellent blogging:
Woman needs a large beer delivered (7)
Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [delivered] of A BIG ALE (βa large beerβ)
So, if I’m reading it correctly, “woman” is defn., “a large beer delivered” is the wordplay (homophone), which means that “needs” serves simply as the link word. Now, one thing I really struggle with in clue writing is linking the halves of the clue together in a way that doesn’t bring in unwanted new material to either half. “Needs” seems awfully loose, from that perspective – is it me? Is the Guardian more permissive/less Ximenean? Is that even how others understand Ximenean principles?
Thank you, from a confused would-be compiler!
I enjoyed this, a lot. Thank you Vulcan and loonapick.
Eileen @35, that really is a fine clue! I would never have solved it, but laughed when I saw the answer.
Eileen, could you please explain the breakdown of POPEYE?
Where do POPE & YE come from in that clue about the ancient mariner?
Steffen@56:
He wrote = Alexander POPE
The Ancient = YE (as in 6d YEMEN in this puzzle)
Mariner = POPEYE
wrows at 53
I think needs is ok here – I read it as short for “in order to get the woman’s name you need the following parts”
I do agree that some connecting words are redundant and I find them irritating – “in” is one of them
wrows@53: I think it’s very much an open question, even among Ximenean “purists”, whether, and under what circumstances, linking words/phrases are a Good Thing. Here’s a discussion on Clue Clinic (a site well-regarded by established setters I believe), where “needs” is listed as an appropriate linker in this case (per the mechanism described by DaveEllison@58).
But, following your inclination, some might say that “Woman delivered a large beer (7)” is superior. It may come down to how much the linker enhances the surface.
This is an interesting question. I’d recommend you re-post it in “General Discussion” for greater visibility.
Wrows@53 there is only one rule for crosswords – the setter sets and we try to solve – a clue either works or does not , the one you mention clearly works .
My advice would be to avoid all the so-called rules and cryptic grammar and just use your imagination , good luck .
Miserableoldhack, it is not “ye” in Job 1:9, but a small e above what looks like a y. This is very similar to what Caxton used as an abbreviation for “the”, a small e above a thorn as can be seen in illustrations of his first printing of Chaucer’s Reeve’s tale. Despite what Wikipedia says, Caxton did have type pieces which represented a thorn with a small e above it (for “the”) and a thorn with a small t above it (for “that”).
Good fun, thanks to you both.