Rufus with a typical mix of double and cryptic definitions. I liked 10ac and 6dn in particular.
Across
7 Army command to be rigidly obeyed (9)
ATTENTION
Cryptic def – a command to stand rigidly.
8 Two officers get together for a drink (5)
COCOA
=”drink”. C[ommanding] O[fficer] x2, plus A
9 Packed audience gives a good hand (4,5)
FULL HOUSE
=”Packed audience”; =”good hand” in poker
10 Turf out? Of course (5)
DIVOT
=”Turf [cut] out Of [a golf] course”
12 Children produced periodically (6)
ISSUES
=”Children”; =”[e.g. magazines that are] produced periodically”
13 Gardener cultivated and gathered in crops (8)
GARNERED
=”gathered in crops”. (Gardener)*
14 Wishes of a worshipful company (7)
PRAYERS
Cryptic def.
17 Inferior articles that don’t last long (7)
SECONDS
=”Inferior articles”; =”[units of time] that don’t last long”
20 Proposal to provide public with running water (8)
OVERTURE
=”Proposal”. OVERT=”public”, plus [the River] URE=”running water”
22 Former model makes a revelation (6)
EXPOSE
=”revelation”. EX=”Former” plus POSE=”model”
24 Exercising we object to in middle age (5)
USING
=”Exercising”. US is the object pronoun to “we” the subject pronoun, plus IN plus [a]G[e]=”middle age”
25 Queen’s favourite isle? Crete, possibly (9)
LEICESTER
The Earl of LEICESTER was Elizabeth I’s favourite. (isle Crete)*
26 Funny business with three blind victims? (5)
COMIC
=”Funny”. CO[mpany]=”business”, plus MIC[e] – the Three Blind Mice have their tails cut off in the nursery rhyme.
27 Meat market’s up for relocation (4,5)
RUMP STEAK
=”Meat”. (markets up)*
Down
1 Plays a guitar for drinks on the street (6)
STRUMS
=”Plays a guitar”. ST[reet] plus RUMS=”drinks”
2 It gives warning to sailors affected by the drink (4,4)
BELL BUOY
=”It gives warning to sailors[, and is] affected by the drink” – a BELL BUOY is rung by the motion of the waves or “the drink”.
3 Sharpens games up (6)
STROPS
=”Sharpens”. rev(sports)=”games up”
4 Study bill for dispatch (7)
CONSIGN
=”dispatch”. CON=”Study” plus SIGN=”bill”
5 Control river pests (6)
POLICE
=”Control”. PO=”river” plus LICE=”pests”
6 Decline to visit daughter (2,2,4)
GO TO SEED
=”Decline”. GO TO SEE D[aughter]
11 Constantly right (4)
TRUE
=”Constantly”; =”right”
15 Preparing for exam? That makes a change (8)
REVISION
=”Preparing for exam”; =”a change”
16 Put to flight right away (4)
ROUT
=”Put to flight”. R[ight] plus OUT=”away”
18 It comes in to resist, or just the contrary (8)
OPPOSITE
=”contrary”. IT inside OPPOSE=”resist”
19 Money coming in from flat in French street (7)
REVENUE
=”Money coming in”. EVEN=”flat” inside RUE=”French street”
21 Managed to get detectives’ rank (6)
RANCID
=”rank”. RAN=”Managed” plus C[riminal] I[nvestigation] D[epartment]=”detectives”
22 and manage to avoid a leakage (6)
ESCAPE
=”manage to avoid”; =”leakage”
23 The bishop’s concern observed in child’s play (3-3)
SEE-SAW
=”child’s play”. SEE=”bishop’s concern” plus SAW=”observed”
Thanks Rufus and manehi
I didn’t see the second definition in BELL BUOY, so thanks for that.
In addition to DIVOT, I thought USING, LEICESTER and COMIC were excellently-constructed clues.
Really enjoyable puzzle. Not too difficult, but some lovely compact and witty clues. Apart from those already mentioned, I thought that the ‘rump steak’ anagram was excellent – I wonder whether it’s been done before.i
Thanks, manehi.
I thought there were some lovely clues here. I particularly liked BELL BUOY, COMIC and RUMP STEAK but top favourite must be the beautifully-constructed LEICESTER – and not just because I live there and love Crete!
I’m not happy with 12ac, though. Surely children = ISSUE?
I think 14ac is a diuble definition.
Many thanks, Rufus, for an enjoyable puzzle [and for bringing back childhood memories of watching my grandpa sharpen hid cut-throat razor on his well-worn strop].
Sorry – ‘his’ for ‘hid’, of course.
Yep,manehi, 6d & 10ac!! Have to admit Rufus is bloomin’ bright. I am 6downing – but do still replace me 10 acrosses!
BELL BUOY new to me too.
I’m with Eileen on ISSUE meaning children plural, so 12a parses imperfectly.
LEICESTER and RUMP STEAK on my tick list also. An early consensus forming … ?
Thanks Rufus and manehi. Enjoyable puzzle with some nice clues.
My DIVOTS are from a racecourse (living in Epsom.) It’s always strange to hear the American pronunciation of BUOY [boo-ee.] They wouldn’t like the homophone for ‘boy,’ especially as BELLBOY is a chiefly American term.
I did like the BELL BUOY and OVERTURE. My history failed me with LEICESTER – had to look him up. 🙁
A gentle start to the week, although I was stuck on 26ac for a while because I took “preparing” in 15dn to mean that the answer was “revising”.
Thanks manehi and Rufus
I too got stuck temporarily with ‘revising’.
Some very nice clues – my favourites were 26a, 27a, and 5d.
“Prayers” I parsed as a double def. “Wishes” / “worshipful community,” as in, the people who pray are prayers.
Also, maybe it’s because I’m a dumb American, but “Plays a guitar for drinks on the street” = St. plus Rums (in a down clue): Since the ST is on top, isn’t the street on the drinks, not the other way round?
I agree with Eileen that children are issue, not issues. Unless your children are very ill-behaved, that is, in which case they are issue with issues.
I must have been on Rufus’s wavelength today because I raced through this one. ESCAPE was my LOI after the excellent LEICESTER.
I agree with the quibbles about ISSUES, and I thought post-solve that a rogue “s” had jumped from 22ac, where I saw the definition as “makes a revelation” which would have given EXPOSES, but then I realised the definition is just “revelation” and relates to the noun EXPOS.
Pretty straightforward stuff, but a pleasant start to the week. RAN CID has been used a few times before, but the use of rank’s two meanings was a nice twist.
Can someone help me out and use TRUE in a sentence where it means “constantly” (11d)? I’m sure it’s possible; I must be a little obtuse this morning.
And this dumb American wasn’t familiar with REVISION in the exam preparation sense. On this side of the drink, we usually talk about exam REVIEW.
Keeper, yeah–today’s Britishism was definitely “revision.”
“True” can mean “constant,” of course (in the “unwavering” sense–true love, true north, etc), and if you plug it in next to a verb, you could possibly read it as “constantly.” As in, “The archer released, and the arrow sailed true to the target.” Weak, I know, but that’s all I can come up with.
–M.
Thanks to manehi for the blog.
On 14a I got stuck on the idea of ‘worshipful company’ referring to one of the livery companies and that held me up for quite a while 🙁 Excellent misdirection by Rufus.
Similarly, 27a had me trying to make Smithfield go in there – until I saw the light! Again excellent misdirection.
Thank you, Manhi, and Rufus for another smooth offering.
Others have mentioned it but does the wording of 15d really yield REVISION? Surely the clue requires a verb to make it work. Can anyone defend the parsing?
Nice week, all.
I don’t really see the problem with 15d. In common usage, preparing for an exam is revision, and an alteration (to a text for example) is a revision. Good enough for me anyway, and thanks to William for good wishes for the week.
Keeper:
I wondered the same thing. Shorter OED gives four different senses in which “true” may be used as an adverb, e.g., “if report speak true” “instruments did not read true”
George, there’s not a problem with 15d. Us Yanks were just saying that “revision” to mean “studying for a test” isn’t a usage we have over here. Everyone else was simply saying they got the wrong end of the stick at first.
(In practically British crossword, there’s at least one entry that doesn’t work quite right in American English, or making a cultural reference we don’t have. But that’s our fault for trying to do another country’s puzzles. (Oh, and speaking of which, in America crosswords are constructed by constructors, not set by setters.))
Made a hash of that last comment, sorry. Should have read:
“In practically every British crossword, there’s at least one entry that doesn’t work quite right in American English, or makes a cultural reference that we don’t have. But that’s our fault for trying to do another country’s puzzles, not the setter’s fault. (Oh, and speaking of which, in America crosswords are constructed by constructors, not set by setters.)”
Another nice start to the week from Rufus.
Thanks all
Quite enjoyable for a Monday; I never did get the ‘buoy’part.
I hesitated for a while over 22ac but ANDY B @11 has reassured me with expos.
Robert @17: Thanks. I guess my question is whether, in any of those adverbial senses, “true” could be replaced with “constantly”. In the example from mrpenney @13, “true” could be replaced with “unwaveringly” or “unswervingly” but not, IMO, “constantly.”
Hi Keeper
How about Elvis’s ‘Love me tender, love me true’?
tupu – love it.
Yes, tupu, I think that’s a winner.
But shouldn’t it have been “Love me tenderly…”? OK, I’ll shut up now.
Well the usual Monday stroll but at least we had a couple of nice clues in 6d and 26a.
I may even come to the defense of Rufus.
Re “issues”. I can imagine a sentence describing the children of several families as the “issues”.
And surely we can allow Rufus, of all setters, to have “Constantly right” as a CD for “True”. No adverbial usage problems there!
Thanks to manehi and Rufus.
Hello mrpenney,
Thanks for your message. I was actually responding to William @15 hoping to make him feel happier about the parsing of ‘revision’, but I appreciate your remarks. I constantly wonder at the ability of overseas solvers to tackle British cryptic crosswords: I’m sure I would have no success with a U.S. equivalent.
Regards,
George Clements
George Clements: Alas, American cryptics are very hard to find. There used to be some good ones in The Atlantic and Harpers (both monthlies), but I think they have both disappeared. Just occasionally the New York Times includes one at the weekend as a bonus extra, but by and large my adopted countrymen favor (sic) those sprawling grids where nothing is self-checking until you have got it all.