Thanks to Pangakupu, who doesn’t seem to have set a weekday cryptic since mid-August (though there have been Quiptics and a Prize from him), so a welcome return.
As always I looked for the Maori Nina, and saw KARAUN in row 2 and ATANGA in row 14. ATANGA means to adorn or embellish, but for the former I can only find KARAUNA, meaning a crown. I’m no expert on the language so maybe the shortened version is a variant. The other thing to look out for in Pangakupu’s puzzles is a reference to their sequence number. I believe this is number 53, and 1953 is the year in which the late Queen was CROWNed (and also the year of my birth, as it happens, though I was a few months late for the coronation).
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | POETIC | Lyrical film about regular parts of forest (6) Alternate letters of fOrEsT in PIC (film) |
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| 5 | MR BEAN | Comic character being nasty about R’n’B (2,4) R and B in MEAN (nasty) |
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| 8 | BELLINI | Roar in Italy for opera composer (7) BELL IN I – bell can mean to roar or bellow |
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| 9 | GELATIN | Grand yarn twisted in glue (7) G + reverse of TALE (a yarn) + IN |
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| 11 | SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT | Excitedly recording chats about origin of Sasquatch, a creature that may not exist (12,3) S[asquatch] in (RECORDING CHATS)* – referring to the famous thought experiment of Quantum Mechanics |
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| 12 | JAMS | Blocks German agreement most regularly ignored (4) JA (German “yes”, agreement) + alternate letters of MoSt |
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| 13 | BIDDING WAR | Waiting to involve extra director before mostly heated attempt to secure rights (7,3) BIDING (waiting) with an extra D + WAR[m] (heated) |
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| 17 | MONTGOMERY | Wartime leader the writer found occupying French elevation, covered in blood (10) ME (the writer) in MONT (French mountain, elevation) + GORY (bloody) |
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| 18 | FOIL | Scotch: old fool at first returned one litre (4) Reverse of O[ld] F[ool] + 1 L |
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| 20 | INATTENTIVENESS | Failure to notice sensitive tenant is upset (15) (SENSITIVE TENANT)* |
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| 23 | GUESSES | Reckons French are investing in good applications (7) ES (as is French tu es = you are) in G USES |
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| 24 | ICINESS | Film aboard spacecraft getting cool reception? (7) CINE ([relating to] film) in ISS (International Space Staion) |
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| 25 | EDISON | Inventor is absorbed by revolutionary point (6) IS in reverse of NODE. “Inventor” as a definition of Edison is always bit of a giveaway |
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| 26 | GENTLE | Amiable spy with beer ignored by Americans (6) AGENT + ALE less both A[mericans] |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 2 | OKLAHOMAN | Fine US city initially helps odd chap from another state (9) OK (fine) + LA (Los Angeles) + H[elps] O[dd] + MAN |
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| 3 | TAILOR | Make adjustments to weaker batsmen over runs (6) TAIL (the weaker batsmen in a cricket team) + O[ver] R[uns] |
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| 4 | CRITICISM | Disapproval is following involuntary response in a lot of bad behaviour (9) TIC + IS in CRIM[e] |
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| 5 | MAGOG | Millions curious to see legendary giant (5) M + AGOG |
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| 6 | BULLRING | Papal directive to surround Birmingham market area (8) BULL (papal directive) + RING (to surround) |
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| 7 | ANTIC | Temperature in a French resort almost doing for lark (5) T in A NIC[e] |
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| 8 | BASE JUMPING | HQ excited with parachute action (4,7) BASE (HQ) + JUMPING (excited). The BASE in the name of this perilous sport is an acronym from the types of thing participants can jump from: Buildings, Antennas (radio masts), Spans (bridges) and Earth (cliffs). |
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| 10 | NATURALISTS | Experts in botany, say, are left enthralled by uncovered figures (11) A (are, the unit of area) + L[eft] in NATURISTS |
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| 14 | DERAILING | Obstructing Democrat’s opening for energetic complaining (9) D[emocrat] + E[nergetic] + RAILING (complaining) |
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| 15 | WHOLEMEAL | Response to accusation almost completely about the French flour (9) LE (French “the”) in WHO, ME? (reponse to an accusation) + AL[L] (completely) |
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| 16 | EGOTISTS | Say it’s so wrong to involve first of these show-offs (8) E.G. (say) + T[hese] in (IT’S SO)* |
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| 19 | BENIGN | Friendly African country welcoming invasion by Gabon (6) G (International Vehicle Registration for Gabon) in BENIN |
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| 21 | AHEAD | Sounded surprised about Australian leading (5) A[ustralian] in AHED (i.e. said “ah”, sounded surprised) |
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| 22 | NISAN | March/April period in Japan is angelic (5) Hidden in japaN IS ANgelic. Nisan is a month in the Hebrew calendar, occurring in March-April |
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This went in pretty quickly. The only oddity was NISAN: my wife is Japanese and I have enough of a smattering of the language to know that NISAN means two- three, which sounds like Feb & March rather than March-April! So I was nicely misdirected. Thanks to P & A.
According to google. KARAUNA TANGA means coronation, so that’s the link.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew
Not difficult if you had the requisite GK, but very enjoyable. Favourites BULLRING for the misleading “surrounding”, and WHOLEMEAL for “Who, me?”
Only one unparsed was AHEAD, as AHED didn’t look like a word to me.
Slip of the keyboard at 1a – POETIC
Thanks Panga and Andrew. I found this fairly gentle for a Panga.
The answer for 1A is incorrect, you have CRITICISM instead of POETIC though you have the correct parse
Nice straightforward puzzle from Pangakupu. Thanks Andrew. Faves were MRBEAN and SCHRÖDINGERSCAT.
A good challenge.
I couldn’t parse 15d apart from LE (French “the”) and the 2nd A in 10d.
New for me: NISAN, BASE JUMPING, BELLINI = opera composer (I’m more familiar with the family of painters) – also BELL = roar of stag or buck.
Well, having spent the day convinced that there was an unaccounted-for ‘a’ in NATURALISTS, I’m now unlikely to overlook ‘are’ for a while. Live and learn.
@Drofle1 I had the same thought about NISAN (and I believe number words are used in the names of months?).
Wasn’t keen on ‘ignored by’ in the surface of 26A – seems to me that ‘ignoring Americans’ would’ve been truer to what the solver was expected to do. Many highlights tho – among them WHOLEMEAL, MONTGOMERY and SCHRODINGER’S CAT.
DNF for me. I put in DAMS not JAMS, and so just couldn’t see an option for HQ excited, and revealed the parachute action. Would have thought I would pick up rudimentary German from something like the television series Bad Banks, but nyet.
1 across amended
Friendlier than usual from Pangakupu. Most my troubles were from a mistyped SHRODINGERS CAT blocking a lot of fairly straight forward answers including the BULLRING which I used to walk through every workday.
Liked BIDDING WAR and OKLAHOMAN
Thanks blogger and setter
Is it me, or are this setter’s puzzles getting easier? I used to give up on them (even one “quick”) but this was manageable and enjoyable. MAGOG & NISAN were new to me. Bell/roar was perplexing, and I couldn’t account for the A in NATURALISTS, despite having seen the are trick before. Derailing and obstructing probably aren’t quite the same.
Bell=Roar was the only aspect at 8ac that I wasn’t at all sure about. And I misread the clue at 26ac, not noticing that there were 2 American A’s to subtract. Wondering therefore why Gent=Spy…
Apart from those two, this was a very smooth and satisfying solve this morning. Many thanks setter (I’m forever struggling to correctly spell that name) and Andrew…
Agree with the general consensus that this was on a milder side of Pangakupu. Very enjoyable. I would question MAGOG being a “legendary giant” – never heard of such; it is usually considered to refer to either a land or a tribe/people. And, though I know I’m splitting hairs, the uncertainty about SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT is not whether it exists but whether it is dead or alive. Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew!
How do you get the number 53 out of this?
Layman @14
Wiki has a long article about Gog and Magog. Originally Magog was the land that Gog ruled, as you said, but the meaning seems to have travelled a long way from that!
I knew Magog from the Gog Magog Hills near Cambridge – I have even walked the length of them.
When, oh! when will I remember A for ‘Are’? Grrr hate it when I repeat mistakes.
Nho BELL for roar but standing by to forget it next time.
COD for me was the elegant EGOTISTS.
Many thanks both.
As others have said, more straightforward than usual for this setter. I did raise a eyebrow at 11a. The point of the thought experiment is not the existence of the cat but whether it’s alive or dead.
Thanks for pointing out the significance of 53, I found the Ninas last night but couldn’t make sense of them. Like others, I found this fairly straightforward but most enjoyable as ever. I thought the two long anagrams were particularly good and also liked ICINESS, GENTLE, CRITICISM, BULLRING and WHOLEMEAL.
Ta Pangakupu & Andrew.
poc @18
I’ve always thought that the cat would be capable of collapsing the wave function.
(When she was about 10, my daughter used it as her challenge in a family “Twenty Questions”. She had heard about it from a physicist friend and taken in the concept!)
At the gentler end of the scale and yet another one who missed the are for a trick in 10D. Thanks to P and A.
muffin@16 – the article is long indeed; I’ve skimmed through it but haven’t come across a giant with that name – do you have a particular reference in mind?
I thought this was pretty good; maybe it was milder for the setter, maybe we’re all just improving. I was going to share what BASE stood for, but Andrew already did. I shared POC and Layman’s thoughts on SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT, but I still enjoyed that one. WHOLEMEAL was my favourite. I don’t think I’ll waste any brain cells remembering NISAN.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
poc@18 I think in cruciverbalese we can equate “exists” with “lives”?
Solid puzzle with nothing to scare the horses but maybe a bit lacking in surprise and delight
Cheers P&A
Layman@22 – see the third definition here
Thanks to Pangakupu and Andrew
Thanks, Pangakupu and Andrew. I agree with the general view that this was on the easier side for P, but lots to enjoy. WHOLEMEAL my favourite. NISAN is worth remembering; I’m sure I’ve seen it several times in crosswords, particularly in Azeds. It’s also Turkish for April, if that’s any help.
I like Pangakupu’s crosswords, nicely chewy and can [nearly always] finish them. Not altogether happy to see O for ODD and OVER in the same puzzle, or with AHED but it works for me. Couldn’t properly parse GENTLE – I omitted the A in ALE but didn’t think about the first A, so was left thinking about a gentleman spy or something. Favourite was SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT.
On the easier side. I put in MAGOG after the Gog Magog hills without further thought. Now more enlightened. Ditto SCHRODINGER’S CAT though Layman@14 makes a good point. Needed help with a couple of parsings.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
I can’t remember how many times I’ve forgotten the ARE for A trick. Maybe the clue for 21 down will finally help fix it in my memory… Living in France I’m quite used to seeing areas expressed in hectares, abbreviated “ha”. So the mnemonic goes: “A?” “Aha…” “A!!!”
Wolf@27 – In the clue for TAILOR, “over” = O.
But in the clue for OKLAHOMAN, “odd” doesn’t really equal O. Rather, “initially helps odd” = HO.
So I think it’s okay.
Enjoyable solve with some good clues. I liked the good anagram for SCHRODINGER’S CAT, the bloody leader MONTGOMERY, the bare NATURALISTS, and the response to accusation leading to WHOLEMEAL. I was another, like ronald @13, wondering why Gent was a spy, doh!
Thanks Pan and Andrew.
For Gog & Magog as giants, see Brewer.
I enjoyed this, especially the “WHO ME?”
Spent a couple of minutes going nina-hunting. Was puzzled by KARAUN because it looked like it was trying to be a nina, but I know that no regular Polynesian words, not just Maori, end in consonants.
As an adolescent I learned that, according to legend, having defeated the giants, Brutus set Gog and Magog to guard the gates of his palace in London. Also, in Greek references, before the island was renamed Britain (for Brutus), it was known as Albion, a name that still occasionally appears in the expression “Perfidious Albion”.
Only much later did I learn of the Biblical usage.
Like others, I found this at the gentler end of this setter’s offerings. I particularly liked the constructions for WHOLEMEAL (pity about the surface), MONTGOMERY and GUESSES, and the two long anagrams. (As S’s CAT is just the protagonist of a thought experiment, we can be confident that it does not exist – no doubt here!)
NISAN is the only Hebrew month I know, because Pesach (Passover) falls within it.
Thanks to Pangakupu and Andrew
DuncT@25 and Jacob@34, thanks a lot – interesting!