It’s me again, with my scheduled blog this time. Thanks to Brummie for a typically entertaining puzzle. No theme that I can see, but you never know.
| Across | ||||||||
| 8 | INTIMATE | Rather personal hint (8) Double definition, with “hint” as a verb |
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| 9 | RIOJA | Wine jar adapted to store a frigid body (5) IO (moon of Jupiter, so a cold body) in JAR* |
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| 10,11 | FULL COMPLEMENT | Entire workforce satisfied with speaker’s praise? (4,10) FULL (satisfied) + homophone of “compliment” |
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| 12 | ENCAMP | Rejected premier with expert going round north to make a pitch (6) Reverse of PM + N[orth] in ACE |
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| 14 | DEPONENT | Testifier calls for reduction to include page 1 (8) P[age] ONE in DENT (reduction) |
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| 16 | KON-TIKI | The craft of stirring kith and kin with love (not hard) (3-4) Anagram of KITH KIN O less H |
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| 18 | ACCOUNT | A college matter, for the record (7) A + C[ollege] + COUNT (to matter) |
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| 21 | OSSIFIED | Hardened, sibilant vocalist’s ‘turned into the Prince of Darkness’? (8) A more sibilant pronunciation of “Oz-ified”, i.e. turned into Ozzy Osbourne, nicknamed the Prince of Darkness |
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| 23 | MODIFY | Reform’s ‘no extremist’ condition meets with dismay ultimately (6) MOD (moderate, not an extremist) + IF (condition) + [disma]Y |
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| 24,26 | BARGAINING CHIP | Leverage of drinking establishment securing Nick (10,4) BAR + GAINING + NICK |
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| 27 | PANTO | Lowbrow entertainment – Gasp! Exclamation! (5) PANT (gasp) + O! (exclamation) |
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| 28 | ANTI-ROLL | Stabilising article by online pest suppressing ego (4-4) AN (indifinite article) + I (ego) in TROLL |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | INNUENDO | Slur sees liberal undone after having got elected (8) IN (elected) + UNDONE* |
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| 3 | MADCAP | Daredevil bats taking cover (6) MAD (crazy, bats) + CAP (cover) |
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| 4 | BERMUDA | Dumber pants, a forerunner of shorts? (7) DUMBER* + A |
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| 5 | ORAL | In respect of failing to start a Latin exam (4) [f]OR (in respect of) + A + L[atin] |
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| 6 | COMMON COLD | ‘Green’s getting stony!’ – a familiar complaint (6,4) COMMON (green, as in a piece of land) + COLD (stony, aloof) |
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| 7 | TANNIN | Wine component almost turning brown! (6) TANNIN[g] |
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| 13 | ASTRINGENT | Under a terrible strain, man is scathing (10) STRAIN* + GENT |
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| 15 | PIC | Groundbreaker’s rejected last quarter’s image (3) PIC[k] |
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| 17 | KOI | Agreed to return one’s pet fish (3) Reverse of OK (agreed) + I |
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| 19 | NO FRILLS | Plain refusal by father to take on troubles (2-6) NO (refusal) + FR + ILLS |
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| 20 | ADMIRAL | Officer has to revere virtually everybody? Not quite (7) ADMIR[E] + AL[L] |
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| 22 | SNAPPY | Stylish, small disposable pad (6) S + NAPPY |
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| 23 | MIGHTY | Grand = 1,000 (+ 80 – e) (6) M (1000, in Roman numerals) + EIGHTY less E – reminiscent of Qaos’s mathematical clues |
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| 25,2 | IRON WILL | Smooth over Shakespeare’s unrelenting resolve? (4,4) IRON (to smooth) + WILL |
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| 26 | CURD | Cheese-maker’s dog food tip (4) CUR + [foo]D |
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Couldn’t parse 21a, now I see why!
Good clean fun. I enjoyed INNUENDO for “sees Liberal undone”, and loved OSSIFIED (my loi and which needed some thinking and the final checker in order to pad out my “FIED”) – though it was already becoming clear that alas it was going to be nothing to do with Peter Mandelson.
Thanks both
Not convinced sibilance gives you the zee sound in Ozzy
Top ticks for the Qaotic MIGHTY, ADMIRAL and BERMUDA for the forerunner penny drop
Cheers A&B
Not as tricky as Brummie can be, perhaps I’m just on a good day. Couldn’t parse OSSIFIED, even though Mr Osbourne is a great hero of mine. Numerous fine clues, particularly liked KOI and TANNIN.
Like Shirl@1 I was mystified by 21a, trying to think of alternative names for Satan. Beyond my ken. I also forgot about the moon IO in RIOJA, which I should have known. So thanks to Andrew for the explanations. ANTI-ROLL I got from the word-play, not being familiar with the term. KON-TIKI took me back about 65 years to a book about Thor Heyerdahl i was awarded as a school prize, and was my FOI, to my relief after failing on all the across clues up to that. Liked MADCAP and COMMON COLD. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew
New for me: DEPONENT; 9ac IO=a frigid body.
I could not parse 21ac as I am not familiar with Ozzy Osbourne.
Thanks to the very late finish of the tennis, I’m awake at an hour when I can comment early for a change. But I find I don’t have a whole lot to say this time. I’m another who was mystified by OSSIFIED.
Easier than the average Brummie, I thought.
23d borrowed from Qaos! “Ozzy” never occurred to me when solving 21a.
Io is the least “frigid” of Jupiter’s moons, characterised as it is by tidal heating resulting in widespread volcanic activity.
Thanks to A & B.
Thanks for the blog, Andrew (and explaining 21ac) and the puzzle Brummie.
Bodycheetah@3: I *think* that the idea is that you start with “turned into the prince of darkness” = “ozzified” and apply the modifier “sibilant vocalist” to it i.e. a sibilant vocalist’s version of “ozzified” which changes the z to an s, not vice versa. But I may be completely wrong.
I managed to be in the just the wrong (or right) part of Birmingham for the celebrations on the anniversary of Ozzy’s death.
“Io” is interesting as, although the surface temperature is a pretty chilly -130C or so it has a lot of geological and volcanic activity with liquid sulfur making it (literally) as hot as hell in places. There’s quite a good article in “A Random Walk in Science” in which someone uses thermodynamics to prove that heaven is hotter than hell – to do with the melting point of sulfur and the radiance of heaven.
It’s a Brummie. It’s a good crossword.
JOFT @9 and Andrew – you are absolutely correct about OSSIFIED – quibble withdrawn – I blame man flu
My English teacher was fond of saying “English teachers ossify language” which he seemed to think was hilarious. Still, the word stuck in what remains of my brain and finally came in useful 🙂
OSSIFIED
Consonantal sound changes such as: /p/ to /b/ or /t/ to /d/ or /s/ to /z/ are known as softening or weakening.
Welsh speakers tend to be very proud of these changes (or ‘mutations’) but they occur universally.
Compare Finnish ‘katu’ (nominative – ‘street’) but ‘kadulla’ (adessive – ‘on/in the street’).
Here in Helsinki ‘viisi’ (five) is nearly always pronounced /viizi/, (with a zed sound)
In the light of which, I’m not quite sure of the function of the word ‘hardened’ in the clue.
Enjoyed all the contributions to justifying OSSIFIED, but I still feel it’s a stretch.
The Cousins might struggle with nappy at 22d. I believe they prefer diaper.
Enjoyable crossword with (blessedly) no discernible theme.
Many thanks both.
Anna @12 thanks, interesting. Hardened is the definition.
Something tells me KON-TIKI is the clue to a theme? The Kon-tiki expedition?
Really enjoyed this. 21A OSSIFIED was my LOI after failing to squeeze Lucas into the answer….
Very enjoyable puzzle with likes for IRON WILL, BERMUDA, OSSIFIED and MODIFY. The parsing of BARGAINING CHIP needs changed from NICK to CHIP.
Ta Brummie & Andrew.
Jack of Few Trades@9: Fascinating re IO, and Heaven and Hell. Actually, I think Dante has Satan at the centre of Hell entombed in ice (at least partially: as he feasts on the likes of Judas). So for those who prefer a cooler climate it may not be all bad news, in any event.
Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.
Liked ENCAMP, BERMUDA and KON-TIKI.
But PANTO? Lowbrow entertainment? Oh no it isn’t!
I really enjoyed this puzzle, having some wry smiles along the way, as I chanced to remember how I used to think Brummie’s surfaces left rather a lot to be desired – which seems a long time ago now. This is a particularly fine set, illustrated in all my favourites: INTIMATE, FULL COMPLEMENT, ACCOUNT, INNUENDO, ASTRINGENT and ADMIRAL. In fact, I can’t see any that jarred in any way.
Many thanks to Brummie for a very amiable start to the day and to Andrew for the customary fine blog.
Good fun.
I’m another who failed to parse OSSIFIED. Which, as a Brummie myself, I ought to have been able to get – as has been observed (pace Anna of the five Finns @12), Brummies ride on buzzes.
Thanks to Brummie, Andrew, and some informative fellow-commenters
Anna@12, but the clue is inviting us to go from ‘z’ to ‘s’, so in fact hardening would presumably be appropriate! But of course “hardened” is simply the clue’s definition.
Tough going. OSSIFIED was a guess and DEPONENT I only knew from previous crosswords. INTIMATE turns up quite often as a DD.
Ta both.
Thanks, I also had OSSIFIED unparsed.
25,2 is IRON ‘smooth over’? I know it’s a down clue and would normally parse as A over B but in the grid WILL is at the top and IRON at the bottom.
I thought ‘a’ in the clue for ASTRINGENT could have been omitted.
To me it felt rather tough and a bit too wordy (eg the “calls for” in DEPONENT held me up for a while, and it turns out that it doesn’t play any role). But good fun all the same. Among lots of good ones my favourites are COMMON COLD and IRON WILL. Thanks Brummie and Andrew!
Well done Andrew for sorting out OSSIFIED. I didn’t have a clue how that worked. Also had to get lucky with the letter order for the unknown KON TIKI.
Liked INNUENDO, BARGAINING CHIP and ENCAMP
Thanks Andrew and Brummie
Anna @12 What you’re describing is voicing, whereas softening/hardening has to do with palatalisation, i.e. how you place the tongue in your mouth. P, S and T are the unvoiced versions of B, Z and D respectively. The tongue and mouth make the same movements regardless of whether the consonant is voiced or unvoiced. Some hard/soft pairs instead are: n and ñ, d and j, t and ch, s and sh.
Not easy but within my capabilities apart from parsing 21a.
I wrote in bingo for the lowbrow entertainment which slowed me up. Otherwise a steady solve.
Thanks to Brummie and to Andrew for the parsing of 21a and RIOJA.
My first two were RIOJA and TANNIN, so I congratulated myself on (for once) spotting the [nonexistent] theme right away.
Thanks for the blog!
I only knew ASTRINGENT in relation to the effect of aftershave, but absolutely fine to be able to add another string to my bow.
Some very pleasing clues today. Many thanks B and A…
A very slow start for me with only ACCOUNT going in on the first pass through the Across clues, but I did better with the Downs and after that it was a steady and satisfying solve. Like many others, OSSIFIED baffled me. I was happy to remember IO, which comes up fairly often as it is so handy for setters.
Clyde@18: Oh yes it is!
Good challenge that took a couple of sessions. Some decent lateral thinking required, with some satisfying pdm’s and a few gettable nho’s
Favourites 9a RIOJA (“frigid body” = IO), 16a KON-TIKI (captivated by the story at the time), 24/26 BARGAINING CHIP (“Leverage” — Andrew, CHIP not NICK), 17d KOI (surface tells a story), 20d ADMIRAL (interesting wordplay)
Another unparsed 21a OSSIFIED. Groan
Thanks both
Lobster@28: having completed most of the Left side first, I too thought I’d spotted the theme with PANTO, CAMP and INNUENDO. FULL would no doubt lead to HOUSE I thought. Could we include IRON perhaps, as the onstage safety curtain is known? Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Theme aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the playfulness of Brummie today, so many thanks to him and Andrew
Add me to the flummoxees of OSSIFIED. I do remember when Ozzie died recently and lots of news around that, but had ho idea of anything actually about him. Flummox extended to MODIFY, so thanks for the enlightenment there, Andrew.
I’ve wanted to see a panto all my life and won’t accept this sneer at it, even though I know panto only at second hand.
Thanks to Brummie and Andrew for this blog and for stepping in yesterday.
William @13: you don’t become an American who does British crosswords without already knowing a few Britishisms, and nappy for diaper is one of the basic ones! So no, I’m a sample size of one, but I was not at all baffled by that.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues with many neat touches . OSSIFIED was fine for me as I know the nickname and I actually pronounce S as Z for many words including Roslyn .
Good to get a language lesson from Anna@12 , more often please . Used to enjoy lessons from MrEssexboy and PDM , hope they return one day .
Io is frigid globally but very hot locally , the IVO mission plans to visit but no approval yet . It is just so hard , right inside the gravity well and intense radiation bands . Europa Clipper and Juice on the way to visit the other three major moons . It is IO Wednesday in the FT today , quite volcanic in parts .
Mark Butcher mentioned the Prince of Darkness in his opening gambit during today’s cricket commentary; it was a timely intervention. Being at Edgbaston (Birmingham) was the reason. If Brummie is indeed a Brummie, he will be well aware.
I may have commented on Io if I’d solved this puzzle more quickly, but the topic has been admirably covered.
Like Lobsterdarts @28 I started with RIOJA and TANNIN and hoped for a theme (that’s a strong topic for me) but no.
I eventually finished with MADCAP, ENCAMP and CURD.
Thanks all.
Nice crossword. I did it while watching the test match from Birmingham, and Mark Butcher made a reference to The Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. So that helped me!
It is I0 day in the FT, so I turned to the Guardian. I enjoyed this for the variety and inventiveness. I picked INTIMATE, lRON WILL, and BARGAINING CHIP as my favourites. OSSIFIED was the only unparsed clue and thanks to all for the various and educational explanations of the answer.
Thanks Brumme and Andrew
Not only Ozzy Osbourne or Peter Mandelson, but apparently Miles Davis the great jazz musician was also dubbed The Prince Of Darkness at some point. Though with Brummie on the case today and the sibilance directing us in the clue for OSSIFIED it could only have referred to Mr Osbourne…
@18, 30, well, it is a long-established and respected part of the theatre canon; lighter than Lear, yes, but maybe lowbrow is a bit harsh …
Perfect timing again , nothing wrong with PANTO being lowbrow , we used to take the sprogs every year , good fun .
I was going to watch the cricket but our grass has started growing again so I needed to check it .
Dracula is or used to be quite a common nickname for lighting directors in film and television. Oh how we laughed…
Cheers all.
Chiming in on 21a, which I didn’t parse either, having toyed with all manner of demonic names until the crossers & definition clicked. Call it sour grapes, but I don’t like “sibilant” because I think of both S and Z as such: as Bexi notes @26, the difference between them is that Z is voiced. I’d be much happier with something like “whispery vocalist’s” (or just “whispered”) to mark that.
I had a bit of a slow start, with the Across especially, but seemed to ‘tune in’ pretty quickly on subsequent passes. LOI was 12a, for which I kept thinking of ONRAMP (among several other wrong senses of “pitch”).