Brummie starts the week in fine style
A well constructed puzzle with a variety of clue types with smooth surfaces and some clever anagrams at 5ac, 20ac, 8dn and 15dn, raising several smiles.
My favourites were 5ac SANCTIFY, 17ac JUNGFRAU, 24ac ALFRESCO, 26ac YORUBA, 3dn WELL BEING and 15dn NIGHTWEAR.
Thanks to Brummie for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Church at rear of Newcastle United’s ground (6)
CHEWED
CH (church) + [newcastl]E + WED (united)
5 City fans unruly but free from sin? (8)
SANCTIFY
An anagram (unruly) of CITY FANS
9 South American country seizes medic and, briefly, kids (8)
CHILDREN
CHILE (South American country) round DR (medic) + N (‘and’, briefly, as in ‘fish ‘n’ chips)
10 Crew on capsized craft chant (6)
MANTRA
MAN (crew) + a reversal (capsized) of ART (craft)
11 Like the Two Ronnies’ big show in base (12)
BESPECTACLED
SPECTACLE (big show) in BED (base)
13 Southern French town omits one from legal defence (4)
ALBI
AL[i]BI (legal defence) minus i (one)
14 Wicked, popular, mature repartee (8)
BADINAGE
BAD (wicked) + IN (popular) + AGE (mature) – an old favourite crossword charade, which I haven’t seen for a while
17 Peak month for initially tucking into ragu perhaps (8)
JUNGFRAU
JUN (month) + F[or] in an anagram (perhaps) of RAGU
18 Working to dispose of international medal (4)
GONG
GO[i]NG (working) minus i (international)
20 Fancy teen’s garment split (12)
ESTRANGEMENT
An anagram (fancy) of TEEN’S GARMENT
23 Doorstep lacking its end material (6)
CANVAS
CANVASS (doorstep, as a verb – to solicit votes or interviews) minus [it]s – or, simply, CANVAS[s]
24 A large French supermarket has no opening outside (8)
ALFRESCO
A L (a large) + FR (French) + [t]ESCO (supermarket) minus its opening
25 Ruled again to recruit Conservative, being laid back (8)
RECLINED
RELINED (ruled again) round C (Conservative)
26 Rocky Bay houses our poor African people (6)
YORUBA
An anagram (rocky) of BAY Round (houses) an anagram (poor) of OUR
Down
2 In truth, a Hampshire country estate feature (2-2)
HA-HA
Hidden in trutH A HAmpshire – another crossword classic
3 Disheartened Brummie enters spouting ‘Good health!’ (9)
WELLBEING
B[rummi]E in WELLING (spouting)
4 Force gets you finally in gear (6)
DURESS
[yo]U in DRESS (gear)
5 Classic film debut of Sesame Street not established internally (6,9)
SUNSET BOULEVARD
S[esame] + BOULEVARD (street) round UNSET (not established)
6 Meant to change some lines for worm (8)
NEMATODE
An anagram (to change) of MEANT + ODE (some lines)
7 Tight garment cut in circles (5)
TUNIC
An anagram (circles) of CUT IN – a tight-fitting garment as worn by soldiers or police officers
8 It can douse the flames of passion – e.g. with nine shakes (4,6)
FIRE ENGINE
FIRE (passion) + an anagram (shakes) of EG + NINE
12 Nebulous picture of cold, obtrusive, southern promontory (10)
CLOUDSCAPE
C (cold) + LOUD (obtrusive) + S (south) + CAPE (promontory)
15 Teddy possibly exploding with anger (9)
NIGHTWEAR
An anagram (exploding) of WITH ANGER
16 Thousands of pounds prior to working – it’s all relative (8)
GRANDSON
GRANDS (thousands of pounds) + ON (working)
19 Fairy king goes in through part of tower (6)
BELFRY
ELF (fairy) + R (king) in BY (through)
21 Become entangled with party on left (5)
RAVEL
RAVE (party) + L (left)
22 Second vehicle provides wound protection (4)
SCAB
S (second) + CAB (vehicle)
Nice Monday morning start to the week. Some fun clues but nothing too taxing
Thanks Brummie and Eileen
Bright and breezy start to the week from Brummie. Top ticks for CHEWED, NEMATODE & HA-HA which made me laugh 🙂
Cheers E&B
I found this quite challenging for a Monday, but perhaps my brain was just not properly engaged today.
Maybe I had a hard weekend, but I found this a brute! A couple of googles needed, and still a DNF. Thanks Brummie and Eileen.
That was a nice puzzle. I found this easier than a Vulcan Monday as I am useless at cryptic clues and double definitions.
Good to be reminded of SUNSET BOULEVARD, great film and I can still see the William Holden/Gloria Swanson saying “You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.” Norma replies, “I am big, it’s the pictures that got small!”
Trivia of the day…William Holden was the first man my mum fell in love with.
Thanks both.
Yes, a very nice puzzle indeed. Took a bit of time; particularly liked BESPECTACLED, CHEWED and SUNSET BOULEVARD. Hadn’t heard of a Teddy – must have led a sheltered life. Many thanks to Brummie and to Eileen as ever.
Very entertaining puzzle with ticks for CHEWED, MANTRA, BESPECTACLED, SUNSET BOULEVARD, NIGHTWEAR and BELFRY.
Ta Brummie & Eileen.
Quite tricky.
I could not parse 1ac (the EWED bit) and I wondered about 16d the ‘it’s all’ bit.
NHO YORUBA or ALBI, but clearly clued. Bashed this out last night in one sitting, as it was fun.
Nice going for a Monday – 22 mins.
Slowed down by JUNGFRAU and YORUBA so had to look them up to confirm my parsing – Jungfrau is a Burnese Peak, and Yoruba is an ethnic group from West Africa.
Imaginary Cerebellum @ 10 – it’s good to welcome you as a fairly new commenter.
Just a friendly note: it’s not the usual practice here to post solving times. 😉
‘circles’… another word to add to the ever-growing list of weird anagram indicators
Didn’t like ‘circles’ as an anagrind. Is this generally accepted? Doesn’t seem to work except in the sense of a rotation.
Missed BESPECTACLED, but so obvious once seen. I liked the rest of the puzzle.
I found this hard going and needed some internet assistance to finish it. All fairly clued and fun to solve.
I had forgotten YORUBA but dredged it up from buried memory. I also remembered ALBI and looked it up on the web to see why. Very interesting history and added to my bucket list of French cities to visit.
I thought 5d was a bit weak, but it gave me a good bunch of crossers.
I liked ALFRESCO and JUNGFRAU.
Thanks Brummie and Eileen.
Circles as an anagrind? (I see others have also mentioned this.)
I found this a lot tougher than I would expect for a Monday but it all came together and was fun and fair. A few which were vaguely heard of but able to get there with fair clueing.
Enjoyed BESPECTACLED. Maybe I should take it as a sign to watch some classic clips on YouTube.
Thanks Brummie and Eileen
Good start to the week with one or two more difficult ones. I liked the CHEWED ground, the fairy king’s BELFRY and the BESPECTACLED Two Ronnies. I thought a teddy was just underwear but I see a ‘sleep teddy’ is a loose-fitting teddy designed as sleepwear.
Thanks Brummie and Eileen.
Initially, I harrumphed at the “it’s all” in 16d, but after giving it some consideration I think it’s all quite justifiable and a nice crafty innovation.
Some of us work on anagrams by writing the letters in a circle, though that’s not really relevant, I suppose.
In an otherwise enjoyable puzzle, my one little gripe is that ART is not a CRAFT.
Thanks for the blog, Eileen.
I’m in the camp that found this harder rather than easier – but I’m well aware that the “Easier” Monday thing died long ago.
I, too, was initially thrown by “circles” as an anagrind – and then resisted putting in TUNIC for ages, as I had been thinking of the loose, Medieval peasants’ garb rather than the formal modern military item.
I liked CHILDREN, NEMATODE, CANVAS and the surface for ALBI (which is not far from us and yes, PhilB, it’s well worth a visit!).
I thought BESPECTACLED was a tad unfair for non-British solvers: a detail relating to a Brit TV comedy series from the 70s & 80s. But maybe the Four Candles sketch has reached wider realms online and therefore increased the awareness of the two men…
Thank you Brummie
Wellbeck@20 Though neither Ronnie wears glasses in that sketch!
Good point, Judge!
BM@19: in one particular sense of ‘art’ it is distinct from ‘craft’ — but in usage such as “the art of war” or “to understand the art of diplomacy…” surely ‘art’ and ‘craft’ are interchangeable?
Top half went in more swiftly than the bottom half. And only got YORUBA as loi as the crossers were all by now conveniently in place.
The Two Ronnies clue reminded me of the time a 9 year old in my primary school class came back after a little medical procedure/op to facilitate two of his important male items to belatedly drop into place. When asked why he’d been away for a while he proudly announced – “I’ve had my spectacles lowered”…
Wellbeck@20 I’m not British and/or familiar with the the 2 Rs, so BESPECTACLED was one of my later solves. But the cluing was straightforward; I feel more gruntled than disgruntled. 🙂 I think for recent generations SUNSET BOULEVARD is the “unfair” reference. No one under 40 watches the classics I’m afraid.
Thanks Brummie and Eileen.
Is there something cryptic about ‘tight garment’=’tunic’ that I’m missing, as I would have thought tunics are distinctively loose?
Edit: okay, now having read another comment @20 I see it’s referring to a military tunic. I still wouldn’t think of that as especially tight – most pics in google just look like jackets – but hussars tunics do look pretty restricting.
Rob S @26/27 from Chambers: A close-fitting soldier’s or police officer’s jacket
Rob S @25 As Eileen notes, it’s the tight-fitting military/officer tunic that 7D references, not the loose-fitting garment that most of us picture.
Not an easy Monday for me. I would have expected “circled” to indicate a cycling-letters clue rather than an anagram, and didn’t think teddies were specifically NIGHTWEAR (though they can be). Funnily enough, ALBI and YORUBA were my first entries, though I’m not all that familiar with either of them.
Rob S @26 – all my tunics are loose and so I did look up ‘tunic’ (for tight garment). (Thanks, Nakamova @29. 😉 )
I started a bit slowly — perhaps the coffee had not yet set in — but finished at a gallop. Good fun for the most part, although a couple of the surfaces left me scratching my head (notably 13A)
I found it quite easy as it goes. I liked GRANDSON, CLOUDSCAPE and ALFRESCO. I had to check YORUBA in the dictionary. I also held off on TUNIC for a while due to lack of perceived tightness. I used to live about an hour from Albi. I have never and will never see SUNSET BOULEVARD in any of its incarnations.
(My posts are so I, I, I. Poor writing.)
Thanks Brummie and Eileen
I learned some new stuff today. I only use ravel as a synonym for unravel; the opposite is actually the first definition in my Chambers. I also hadn’t heard doorstep in that context, though it makes perfect sense. Albi was new to me, and I am another who doesn’t normally think of a tunic as being tight.
Fairly straightforward puzzle, but my dictionary does not have “welling” as “spouting” re 2 down.
Thanks both,
Tougher than I was expecting for a Monday.
The Two Ronnies logo was simply two pairs of black framed glasses, one above the other.
I now have a new three-letter vehicle to add to the fleet of CAR, BUS and VAN. Don’t know why I haven’t seen CAB before.
Did nobody except me try the (admittedly unparsable) OBERON for the fairy king? He lasted until ESTRANGEMENT put an E where I’d thought a B ought to be. Took all the crossers for me to fill it in a part of a tower and even then I had no idea why till Eileen put me right. Oh, okay, elf = fairy. Fairy enough.
Thanks, Brummie and Eileen.
RAVEL has been a synonym for “unravel” at least since Shakespeare wrote about “Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleeve of care”. Does anyone have an example of it meaning tangled? (apart from Chambers)
Gladys @38 my Granny used to complain of her knitting bag contents “getting all ravelled up”
Often followed by recruiting my arms to be held forward, on which to unravel/rewind the wool.
Ha-ha not explained… must be less obscure than I imagined. Happily revealed the peak and African people, as I find a rapid DNF feels more rewarding than a laboured full solve, and looking stuff up or resorting to ‘guess and check’ even when there are only a few anagram combinations feel like cheating anyway…
Pretty tough for Monday, but finally got there with a lot of perseverance and guesswork, which was more than I managed with yesterday’s quiptic! Most annoyed that I did not see the parsing of CHEWED which it had to be from the crossers.
.
Very enjoyable; though, as others have said, hard-ish going for a Monday. I’d never have got ALBI, but many TTS&B.
I had only heard of a ha-ha from the Amandaland Christmas special.
Took me all day, but all fair.
Came across Albi many years ago on a motorbike trip. Well worth a visit.
Maybe it’s me, but in the two years since I swore off crosswords, and only lately returned, I find the content of contributions to this blog has become much less interesting.
Can I make a plea that contributors confine themselves to a) observations about the quality and/or fairness of clues; b) amusing asides about tangential facts relating to answer words. And that people stop themselves from telling us a) which bits they completed first or last; b) which answer words they had NHO and c) the wrong answers they nearly put in.
It is all getting a bit like looking at people’s holiday snaps.
Thanks for all your comments. I’ve been out all afternoon so just catching up …
Rosie @35 – I didn’t look up well/spout this morning: I just thought of tears welling up. I’ve now found that Collins has, for well, ‘to flow or cause to flow outwards or upwards’ and, for spout, ‘to discharge a liquid in a continuous jet or in spurts; to gush thus’, which passes muster for me.
Tyngewick @ 36 – I chose that link for the blog, because it included the logo for the show.
Valentine @37 – yes, Oberon was my first thought, of course!
Gladys @38 – I’ve always thought of Macbeth’s ‘ravell’d sleave of care’ as being knotted or tangled. I see now that Collins has ‘ravel: 1. to tangle threads; 2. to unravel’!
AndrewF @39 – I have identical memories of my grandma!
Comment #47
Mostly enjoyable, though perhaps a bit tough for a Monday.
Newbie question on JUNGFRAU. For JUN to be a month, should there not be some indication that it’s an abbreviation that’s needed?
#48. Not needed I think- we blithely bunge in AB for sailor or DR for medic without any indication. I didnt realize until I read this blog that I had put in SCAR instead of SCAB which sort of fits but SCAB is more protection although one could argue (weakly) scars hide old wounds..
NTP @ 48
Both Collins and Chambers give JUN as an abbreviation – plus abbreviations of all the months as given on calendars.
Be prepared for ‘last month = DEC’: it crops up quite often.
Thanks for the blog , started with CHEWED , worked through all the Across clues except ALBI , new to me , nearly put in ALIB . Cold-solved the Downs in order without the grid starting with HA-HA and ending with YUROBA , missed out NIGHTWEAR thinking it was WINTERHAG , the teddy-bear from Tales of the Unexpected Toys . Mopping up with the grid I put in NIGHTWEAR and last of all ALBI .
Paul@48 in crosswordland months are usually the first three letters and they all seem to get used . I have seen Sept occasionally .
Just thought I’d mention that JUNGFRAU was one of my first entries having had Facebook remind me that one year ago I was at Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest railway station
54 is the new 42 .
Agree with Eileen’s assessment. My loi 17a JUNGFRAU, it took a long time for my brain to stop insisting that AUG is the only month with U in the middle!
Favourites 5a SANCTIFY (anagram and surface), 11a BESPECTACLED (the Ronnies raised a smile — this Canadian knows them), 23a CANVAS (“Doorstep” verb), 6d NEMATODE (nice word. Made me think of Arthur MEGAPODE, an early title candidate for Monty Python), 12d CLOUDSCAPE (another nice word, with a neat definition and surface)
Thank you Eileen and Brummie
Thanks Brummie and Eileen
CLOUDSCAPE is my favourite type of clue – build it up from its parts. I also liked the image in SANCTIFY – which city fans do you think Brummie was thinking of?
ALBI is notorious for the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars (which I suspect PhilB was referring to earlier).
muffin @56 The Crusade in question was of course against the Albigensian Heresy, as Catharism is sometimes called. Anyone who has read Montaillou will need no introduction.
Balfour @57
I have read Montaillou. A strange but wonderful book!
I always enjoy Brummie’s puzzles but I found this one to be especially good. Thanks Brummie for a fun solve and thank you to Eileen for a great blog.
Alec@45, I guess it’s a matter of taste. While I welcome wider discussion, I find it enlightening to know the nhos (in passing) and particularly the last ones in, which can be used as a proxy for which clues misled or stumped people the longest – which in turn gives us all the opportunity to reappraise those clues in that light. I also enjoy discovering the almost-rans that people were toying with. Mine for today was TANGA.
Since I find such things interesting, I’m wont to include them in my own comments for other who might also do so. I find one quickly learns what kind of comment the regular commenters produce; there’s nothing to stop anyone from skipping over commenters they don’t enjoy.
None of which detracts from your suggestion that people include asides, of course.
Also, others will have their own peeves. One of mine is people who insist on writing 16d instead of putting the solution (in caps). I don’t have the grid memorised when I’m scrolling through the comments!
CANVAS kept me hanging on. I only finally realised that doorstep could be a verb as well as a noun after filling in from crossers.
Many thanks each.
I was caught out by the use of “perhaps” as an anagram indicator in 17 and am surprised no-one else has commented on this. I notice that Eileen has misquoted it as “possibly” in the blog.
1a Eileen. My guess is that your first reaction on seeing “ground” was to look for an anagram. It was mine
Pino @63 – you’re dead right, of course!
Max @62 – well spotted! For the sake of the archive, I’ll amend it now. I think ‘perhaps’ is a fairly familiar anagram indicator? I have no qualms about it.
Eileen – interesting, I interpreted it as a indicator of a definition by example. I don’t recall seeing perhaps used this way before, but will note it for the future.
Eileen, perhaps no one will see this but you, but I’ll pop it in anyway — something I forgot to add yesterday.
SANCTIFY reminds me of my favorite anagram: “Sanctity” = “tiny cats.” Just thinking of tiny cats makes me happy all over.
Alec@45. I assume all your friends have been similarly told off for showing you the pictures they took on their holidays. If we’re banning things, I would ban the expression “holiday snaps”. 😉
I’m not that interested in solvers’ lists of their favourite clues (sorry, Eileen 😔 ) but it’s easy enough to let my eyes drift over them, and I don’t get irritated.
Hearing about people’s solving experiences can be amusing, especially if they were held up for several hours by a wrong answer or a misplaced letter. And if they feel capable of describing it amusingly. 😁