An ingenious mid-week teaser from Brendan
A fine example of Brendan’s mastery of grid-filling, based on the ‘two nations divided by a common language’, or, as here, by the central 8dn.
I found the cluing and parsing mainly straightforward: the ingenuity is in the construction – for instance, the West / East division of the grid, the complementary first two clues and the symmetrical placing of 11ac JAIL and 21ac GAOL. There are subtleties in the wordplay, too, which could be easily overlooked, I think.
As so often with Brendan’s puzzles, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. My top favourite clues were 24ac KEYPAD and 15dn REGALITY,
Many thanks for the puzzle to Brendan who, I think, had fun compiling it. I certainly enjoyed solving it.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
5 Racket having undergone extraction of uranium in US (6)
CLAMOR
CLAMO[u]R (the English spelling, minus u – uranium)
6 Comedy that has elite doubled up in London, not New York (6)
HUMOUR
U (elite) appears twice in the English spelling – neat use of ‘doubled up’
9 Relaxing holiday for American Oscar winner (6)
CRUISE
Double definition
10 Missing part of garment for Friar Tuck or Robin? Not so (8)
HOODLESS
Cryptic definition
11 Trouble after judge shortened sentence to clink (4)
JAIL
J [judge] + AIL (trouble)
12 Heard about a British undergarment being misrepresented (10)
TRAVESTIED
TRIED (heard) round A VEST (a British undergarment – an outer garment for Americans)
13 United States and Queen Elizabeth II, for example (5,6)
OCEAN LINERS
Barely cryptic definition
18 Coffees with no cream, as I originally ordered (10)
AMERICANOS
An anagram (originally ordered) of NO CREAM AS I
21 Lass hiding nothing one’s put inside here (4)
GAOL
GAL (lass) round O (nothing)
22 Posse – it goes East, then West, to get these outlaws (8)
BANDITTI
BAND (posse) + IT + a reversal of IT (going East then West)
23 Status of US historically terminated, coming to pass on 4th of July (6)
COLONY
COL (pass) + ON + [jul]Y
24 Accessory for device in Floridian’s island home (6)
KEYPAD
Cryptic definition: a Floridian’s island home could be a KEY PAD
25 Less than noble Brits initially gained admission (6)
GENTRY
G[ained] + ENTRY (admission) – the social class just below the nobility
Down
1 SOB I summon turned up in auto (8)
CADILLAC
CAD (SOB – American slang) + I + a reversal (up) 0f CALL (summon)
2 Extremely aware of social injustice acceptable in cowboy country (6)
WOKEST
OK (acceptable) in (the) West (cowboy country)
3 Regret having overturned launch carrying article from this part of world (8)
EUROPEAN
A reversal (having overturned) of RUE (regret) + OPEN (launch) round A (article)
4 John translated for English poet, turning up on time (6)
TOILET
A reversal (turning up) of the familiar crossword clue for (T S) ELIOT (poet) + T (time) – Eliot was born in America but became a British subject in 1927
5 Put in enclosure or apprehend, having changed sides throughout (6)
CORRAL
COLLAR (apprehend) with the Rs and Ls exchanged
7 Less sensible ingredient of English breakfast (6)
RASHER
Double definition
8 Main area separating Yanks and Limeys (3,8)
THE ATLANTIC
Cryptic definition, depending on the play on ‘main’
14 From a large kind of yacht endlessly make fun of infamous island (8)
ALCATRAZ
A L (a large)+ CAT(amaran) (kind of yacht) + RAZ[z] (endlessly make fun of
15 Defining characteristic of King George’s head, in fact (8)
REGALITY
G[eorge] in REALITY (fact)
16 Doctor in Eastern state briefly put on board (6)
EMBARK
MB (doctor) in E (Eastern) ARK(ansas) (state)
17 Determine how many years in part of UK (6)
COUNTY
COUNT (determine how many) + Y (years)
19 Kind of whisky that fly-by-nights take? (6)
REDEYE
Double definition: I think the first should be two words and there should be an e in whiskey and the second is usually hyphenated
20 Person making big hit, so to speak, in English sport (6)
SOCCER
Sounds like ‘socker’ (person making big hit)
I liked CORRAL, WOKEST and RASHER but felt the theme suffocated the crossword somewhat. But I guess that’s a recurring thing with Brendan. I thought CLAMOR, HUMOUR and HOODLESS were a bit lame
Cheers E&B
Yes, great fun all round, with a bit of social comment thrown in. My favourites were CORRAL, BANDITTI and WOKEST. Didn’t quite understand HOODLESS, but it had to be the answer. Many thanks to Eileen and Brendan.
Thanks, Eileen. The theme-ette didn’t really occur to me, beyond finding interesting the two prisons. Hadn’t heard of Red Eye whisky, but otherwise all went in smoothly and was enjoyed.
Agree about HOODLESS, to me the weakest of an otherwise mostly strong set of clues.
Thanks to Eileen and Brendan
Agree with Bodycheetah @1 in that the theme suffocated the crossword.
Also, in CLAMOR, surely “in the US” needs to be part fo the definition, in which case the definition is split?
For HOODLESS, I parsed it as ‘Robin?’ = HOOD, + ‘not so’ = LESS (as in ‘not so fast’).
Neither CLAMOR nor HUMOUR is a satisfactory clue – each being a more-or-less straight definition, followed by an indication that it was to be spelt with / without a ‘u’.
Thank you Brendan and Eileen.
I think the definition in 11 is “sentence to clink”, otherwise “sentence to” seems to be little but filler.
Simon S @7 – you’re right, of course: I’ll amend the blog.
Not the greatest, but a good challenge. I don’t understand HOODLESS and wasted time trying to find something cryptic about the two boats.
The blog was good though. Thanks Eileen.
Having already got the matching GAOL/JAIL, I initially entered HOODLUMS for 10a (American baddies to match the symmetrically positioned European BANDITTI) – but it wasn’t to be.
The idea here is a fun one, but I also think that Brendan’s enormous skill at themed grid-making sometimes comes at the cost of the quality of his individual clues: the CDs here for the OCEAN LINERS crossing THE ATLANTIC are quite weak (though I liked the KEY PAD) and we get words like HOODLESS, WOKEST and REGALITY. Anyway, thanks, Brendan and Eileen. I enjoyed CORRAL and BANDITTI.
I crossed with Menander @6. Between them and Eileen, I can sort of see HOODLESS. Now I’m with bodycheetah and just think it’s a bit substandard.
Tricky puzzle which I found difficult, especially the top half. Noticed the theme after I finished the puzzle.
I could not parse 6ac, 10ac, 23ac.
I agree with Eileen that 13ac is barely cryptic and for me, the same goes for 8d. I also agree with gladys@10 ‘that Brendan’s enormous skill at themed grid-making sometimes comes at the cost of the quality of his individual clues.’
New for me: REDEYE = cheap whisky; SS United States ocean liner built in 1950 (for 13ac); the fact that Tom Cruise won an Oscar (for 9ac). Also new for me is the fact that T.S. Eliot was born in the USA and moved to the UK aged 25 years.
Hmm. Timely as today’s theme is, I felt like saying “enough, already”. [From an aesthetic point of view I dislike these grids with few border lights, but…] TTSandB for their respective efforts.
Eileen – just a bit of nitpicking, but in the blog for 5D it’s the Rs and Ls which need to be exchanged.
I felt on thin ice with many of these clues where the definitions were not very explicit. But I thought the E-W divide was brilliant.
I agree with Meander about HOODLESS, which I thought was a good clue. I liked TRAVESTIED too, even if it is a bit odd as a verb.
Thanks, simonc @14 – blog amended.
Apart from the American on the LHS and British on the RHS isn’t there a nautical theme including 13ac, 8d, 16d, 9ac; a mini theme of jail, gaol and Alcatraz; and I noticed toilet humour, too.
AI tells me: Irish distillers added the “e” in the 19th century to separate their product from Scottish whisky. Irish immigrants brought this spelling to the United States.
Of late, Brendan does seem to have favoured grids with many short words especially near the edges.
Thanks Eileen and Brendan
A weary cowboy walks into a bar, (all goes quiet), says to bartender “Gimme a shot of redeye”
Sure I’ve seen that scene in several old westerns! Thought this was great fun, and don’t agree with the criticisms. Thanks Brendan and Eileen.