Another sound and accessible Monday puzzle from Quixote. A good mixture of clue types, with everything clearly indicated, even for the less common words. I know that the Monday Indy puzzle is popular with improving solvers, so I have tried to give full explanations for those that need them. There is one clue that has a typo in it, I think.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 See group backing leader of Conservatives in small room
CLOSET
The cryptic grammar is telling you to put LO! for ‘see’ next to SET for ‘group’ and put that all behind C for the first letter of ‘Conservatives’.
5 Signal functioning by stream
BECKON
A charade of BECK for ‘stream’ and ON for ‘functioning’.
9 Membranes in the country for protecting you and me
INDUSIA
I always like it when I get a new word by figuring out the wordplay. This is US for ‘you and me’ in INDIA. ‘INDUSIUM: any of various thin membranous coverings’, says my SOED. And it follows the ‘rule’ (ish) of Latin-based words ending in -IUM forming their plural in IA, whence INDUSIA. So medium/media, millennium/millennia, equilibrium/equilibria. I’d still write ‘stadiums’, though, because ‘stadia’ when one is talking with one’s fellow aficionados about footie sounds a bit poncy.
10 Sort of car difficult to park initially
HARDTOP
A charade of HARD, TO and P for the first letter of Park.
11 Island stars in a group cutting the corn
CAPRI
If, like baby Jesus, you were born between December 22nd and January 19th, then your ‘stars in a group’ would be CAPRICORN. I’m sure you can work out the rest.
12 A trick by Scotsman against medic is harsh
DRACONIAN
Quixote is taking advantage of the flexibility of words like ‘on’ and ‘against’ this morning. This is A CON for ‘a trick’ followed by IAN for the setters’ favourite Scotsman preceded by DR for ‘doctor’. Although it’s naff all to do with the clue, Dr Finlay and Dr Cameron came into my mind when solving this, but I’m of a certain age.
13 The old man approaching air terminal wobbling, an elected representative?
PARLIAMENTARIAN
A charade of PA for ‘old man’ (AIR TERMINAL)* and AN. The anagrind is ‘wobbling’. Not sure why Quixote has put the question mark in here; it works fine for me without it.
15 Medical beautician coming to rescue ladies finally after mishap
COSMETIC SURGEON
(COMING TO RESCUE S)* Nice surface.
20 One could be seen in tricorn, we fancy
TOWN CRIER
(TRICORN WE)* The anagrind is ‘fancy’ and although we bloggers are allegedly not allowed to say this any more, I would describe this as ‘&littish’.
21 Bit of unceremonious language?
SLANG
I feel on firmer ground here. This is an ‘&lit’ or ‘all-in-one’ clue. The entire clue defines SLANG; the word itself is found hidden in unceremoniouS LANGuage.
23 First of the early travellers had journey in the tube
TETRODE
A charade of TET for the first letters of The Early Travellers and RODE. A TETRODE is a four-element electric tube. Was Quixote by any chance a physicist in a previous life?
24 One may look at chemicals in a lake – nasty bits floating around
ANALYST
An insertion of A L in (NASTY)*
25 Arranges parts of the garden first off
ORDERS
[B]ORDERS
26 Bury old doctor behind department when he may have worked?
ENTOMB
O MB for ‘old doctor’ behind ENT for Ear Nose and Throat, or the hospital ‘department’. But surely the clue should have read ‘where’ and not ‘when’? Was the clue the same in the paper?
Down
2 Prepared the way for the French party in Northern Ireland
LED UP
A charade of LE for one of the words for ‘the’ in French and DUP for the Democratic Unionist Party.
3 Ham is repeatedly chopped up for foreign dish
SASHIMI
Not a familiar word for me, so I had to wait for a few crossers before I could have a stab at the anagram. It’s (HAM IS IS)* and the dish itself is thinly sliced raw seafood. Which doesn’t fit my definition of ‘edible’, and is therefore the reason I’d never heard of it.
4 Mad sort going beserk in old ruler’s office
TSARDOM
(MAD SORT)*
5 Country genius stifles exclamation of surprise
BAHRAIN
The setter is asking you to insert AH! into BRAIN.
6 Start of charming song enthralling company turning up for dance
CARIOCA
The second clue this morning where I was quite chuffed to work out what it must be and then check afterwards. It’s C for the first letter of ‘charming’ followed by OC for ‘company’ reversed in ARIA. ‘Turning up’ works as the reversal indicator because it’s a down clue. It’s the dance performed here by Fred and Ginger, which if you’ve got two and a half minutes should put a smile on your face this morning. It also made me smile because it reminded me of Astaire’s first screen test report: ‘Can’t sing. Can’t act. Balding. Can dance a little.’ Except Astaire later remarked that this version – which became folklore – wasn’t correct.
7 Threatening to make a breakthrough that could be dangerous
ON THIN ICE
A cd.
8 First time to see the stars?
OPENING NIGHT
Another cd, from a setter who – in this avatar at least – isn’t renowned for them.
9 Take power away from a captain – cite misbehaving
INCAPACITATE
(A CAPTAIN CITE)*
14 Very delicate towers are crumbling
ROSE-WATER
(TOWERS ARE)* My SOED confirms that ROSE-WATER can be used adjectivally in this way.
16 Put in uncapped barrier to surround lake that’s very large
ENCLOSE
The ‘barrier’ is FENCE. Take the first letter away and insert L and OS for ‘lake’ and ‘very large’ and you’ve got your answer.
17 Old company head shows frigidity
ICINESS
A charade of ICI and NESS. Imperial Chemical Industries, long since gone as an entity.
18 Emerge as great coastline champion?
SURFACE
A dd cum cd. A ‘great coastline champion’ might be a SURF ACE. Hence the question mark.
19 Begin again to show skill after relaxation
RESTART
A charade of REST and ART.
22 Bottomless pit revealed by baby’s mouth
ABYSM
Hidden in bABYS Mouth.
Many thanks to Quixote for this one.
The clue was the same in the paper (26ac) and I also had it marked down as a typo in an otherwise fine puzzle.
Homer nodding — sorry!
I thought this was a very entertaining puzzle.
I agree with Pierre, vis-a-vis the three words I didn’t know, INDUSIA, CARIOCA and TETRODE, were clued very clearly. This is something I have always appreciated about the Don’s cluing both here and in the Guardian. I didn’t notice the where/when issue in 26ac.
Very nice from the Don. Especially liked TOWN CRIER and SURFACE.
Two questions, if I may.
First, I’m not sure I can see what the ‘for’ is doing in the clue for 9a.
Second, I understand that using, say, ‘First Lady’ to indicate L (first letter selection) would be frowned on. But ‘[ ] first off’ (see clue for 25a) seems to be OK for first letter deletion. Am I missing something?
Two different things,. but I agree aboiut 9ac!!
R.
Rowland @ 5
Can you explain how the two things are different?
@Newmarketsausage I’ve never really understood the whinges about First Lady being L, Sweetheart being E seems to give no problems – still back to today, easy enough despite one or two rarer words but Q’s heavier reliance on the wordplay rather than say Rufus’s “cryptic” definitions are a plus for me.
Oh and thanks Pierre and Q, most remiss of me.
It is because you KNOW it, flaslgn, if you did not, tyou would not knwo what to do.
@first off’ works in grammar to remove a first letter, ‘First Lady’ (=L) does not. It is ‘first of lady’ that would work.
That is the argument, I’m in favout, don’t mind if you’re not.
I spent ages trying to work out why 4dn “stardom”. Apart from that no real problems – neither too difficult nor too easy.
Still a bit puzzled, Rowland @ 9. You say ‘first off’ works grammatically. But don’t you have to read it as meaning ‘first [letter] or first [letter of] off’ for it to make sense? In other words, you somehow assume the ‘letter/letter of’.
For what it’s worth, ‘First Lady’ would be fine for me to indicate ‘L’, but I know some people don’t like it. ‘Gateshead’ for G? Check. ‘Midnight’ for the same letter? Check. But different setters have different ‘rules’; I guess that it’s a question of getting used to each one’s style.
Indeed pierre and ns not to be confused as nms. As a not so young solver I really find some so called ximean solvers problems. It’s meant to be cryptic! My gosh the word of is missing! Shock. I can show many studies that will show that is missed deliberately. And noone notices. Of deliberately redacted. 🙂
Yes, Pierre @ 12. But the reason I thought I’d ask, and the reason I’m puzzled, is that setters whose rules would not allow them to use ‘first’ on its own to indicate first letter selection don’t seem to find it a problem to use ‘first’ on its own to signal first letter deletion.
I struggle to see the logic in it but it may well be that I’m missing something. It wouldn’t be the first time 🙂
Then if Quixote is still listening, newmarketsausauge, perhaps he can answer your question. He’s written books about this kind of stuff. Like you, I struggle to see logic in quite a lot of crossword clues … but still enjoy having a crack at them.
Late as usual starting the puzzle!
We thought it was a little harder than usual for the Don. We were held up in the SE corner although it could have been the late night TV that was distracting us as the clues were very clear – once we’d solved them!
We are not going to enter into the debate above – we just enjoy the crosswords.
Thanks Q and P.
It’s not ‘first of off’ though, is it? Ellipsis isn’t a grammatical error, is it? And isn’t ‘(the) first’ a noun in any case? As it were?
Harumph.
‘First off’ is in apposition to what precedes it and it is (to my mind) a legitimate grammatical way of indicating that the first letter of the preceding indicated letters must be removed. However, ‘first lady’ cannot (to my mind) indicate the first letter of ‘lady’as a grammatical construction. That’s how I see it — I have no doubt ( when I look at other puzzles) that other setters and editors see things differently. The imporatnt thing is that in my eyes and my editor’s all the clues in this puzzle were deemed within an acceptable band of soundness. What other people get up to is generally beyond my powers ( except as Church Times crossword editor) but you well know that somethings that are deemed smart or innovative make me squirm!Do feel free to talk among yourselves — and thanks for the blog!
I fully agree with Quixote’s view on “first” (@18) but what about that what happens in 23ac.
“First of the early travellers” for t/e/t.
Shouldn’t that ideally be “Firsts of …” (which, of course, doesn’t make much sense within the surface)?
On the hand, I often see “initially” and “finally” being used for multiple letter selection. Which is not much different from what happens here.
This is no criticism, I am just curious.
You have a point. I will think about this. Incidentally I solve Azed comps on the first Sunday of January, February, March, … — Sundays strictly, but a plurality is sort of implied, I think, he said wriggling! Enough for now, I hope!
You see the singular indicating the plural (more than one first letter) quite often though, so fair play to the Don there, but you also see stuff like ‘beginners in’, ‘lasts in’ (which is nice, as it suggests endurance), and I’ve been waiting to use ‘ends in disaster’ for something or other for yonks.
Question is, is that DR or ER?
From this solver’s point of view, Paul, either …
Thank you Quixote for taking the time to think about my query (in which, at some point, the word ‘other’ was missing).
Paul, ‘ends in disaster’?
This is exactly the thing I asked you about recently.
In my opinion, a word has only one end (if one thinks of where it ends).
Therefore ER doesn’t work for me.
DR is fine.
Or are we all nitpickers?
Hear, hear, Pierre!
If you missed my point look up studies where most people ignore the word “of” if it’s there but moan if it’s not. No joke. Ask folks to count the letter f in a paragraph most people ignore “of”.
Thanks Quixote for an enjoyable puzzle and for your comments and Pierre for the blog.
Flashling @25: I am sure that the studies you mention are valid for their purposes, but do not see their relevance to legitimate opinion on what to accept in a crossword. The world of crosswords is big enough to accept a variety of opinions, and I will be happy as long as there are setters such as Don Manley in his various guises who show the ability to construct satisfactory clues within strict rules of grammar.