Not too demanding a puzzle from Gurney,,,
but solid clueing and the odd flash of wit.
No theme that I can see, although the middle row of unches, played slowly, make a nice, Satie-esque melody.
Thanks to Gurney.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SHREWISH | Quiet about desire to be like Kate (8) |
| SH (‘quiet!’) + RE + WISH (‘desire’). Kate from ‘Taming of the Shrew’, of course. | ||
| 5 | LOATHE | Dislike French article about swearword (6) |
| LE (Fr.’article’) around OATH. | ||
| 9 | ABSENTEE | One missing president, tense, upset inwardly (8) |
| ABE (Lincoln) surrounds anagram (‘upset’) of TENSE. | ||
| 10 | DEMAND | Insistence of daughters to welcome celebrity rebuffed (6) |
| 2 x D[aughter] surround reversal of NAME (‘celebrity’). | ||
| 11 | CUL-DE-SAC | Learner, accused unfairly – one way out here? (3-2-3) |
| Anagram (‘unfairly’) of L[earner] + ACCUSED. | ||
| 12 | METEOR | Measuring device on both sides of old Comet (6) |
| METE.R (‘measuring device’) around O[ld]. | ||
| 14 | BIPARTISAN | Versatile bar pianist having broad support (10) |
| Anagram (‘versatile’) of BAR PIANIST. | ||
| 18 | ICE-BREAKER | It helps to start conversation in ship (3-7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 22 | MARKET | Place selling old currency gets stripped (6) |
| MARK (former German ‘currency’) + innards of ‘gETs’. | ||
| 23 | MORTGAGE | Again accepting that ultimately disclosure ban is needed for loan (8) |
| MOR.E surrounds last of ‘thaT + GAG (‘disclosure ban’). | ||
| 24 | TEMPLE | One working for time at extremely large place of worship (6) |
| TEMP (‘one working for time’) + ends of ‘LargE’. | ||
| 25 | SAPPHIRE | A Parish Priest in county setting – a jewel! (8) |
| A + P[arish] + P[riest] in S.HIRE. | ||
| 26 | RUN DRY | Have no more water – divers getting new start! (3,3) |
| sUNDRY (various, ‘divers’) with new 1st letter. | ||
| 27 | SERENEST | Sherries served regularly at secluded place, tranquil in extreme (8) |
| Alternate letters of ‘ShErRiEs’ + NEST (‘secluded place’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCARCE | Rarely encountered blemish – Church providing support (6) |
| SCAR (‘blemish’) w CE (‘church’) below. | ||
| 2 | RASHLY | Artist heads off sadly having left you in ill-considered way (6) |
| RA (‘artist’) + 1st letters of ‘Sadly Having Left You’. | ||
| 3 | WINTER | It’s part of law in term time (6) |
| Hidden in ‘laW IN TERm’. | ||
| 4 | SHENANIGAN | Ha! An ensign out to create mischief (10) |
| Anagram (‘out’) of HA AN ENSIGN. Never seen a single shenanigan before. | ||
| 6 | OMELETTE | Where cockney lives, character not finishing dish (8) |
| ‘OME (a Cockney’s ‘ouse) + shortened LETTEr. | ||
| 7 | TRAVERSE | Cross note about partygoers (8) |
| TE (‘note’ in sol-fa) around RAVERS. | ||
| 8 | ENDURING | Permanent outcome, you heard, imposed on group (8) |
| END (‘outcome’) + U (‘you’ as heard) + RING (‘group’). | ||
| 13 | FACE TO FACE | Confronting foe newly with fact – brought over expert (4,2,4) |
| Anagram (‘newly’) of FOE & FACT + ACE (‘expert’). | ||
| 15 | DIAMETER | Line slimmer perhaps has adopted in the morning (8) |
| DI.ETER around AM. | ||
| 16 | FERRYMAN | Spooner’s cheerful admirer – he’ll get you across the water (8) |
| Spoonerism of ‘merry fan’. | ||
| 17 | CRUELLER | More severe – cold leader suppressing the Spanish (8) |
| C[old] + RULER (‘leader’) around EL (Sp. ‘the’). | ||
| 19 | STAPLE | Principal means of fastening papers (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 20 | CANINE | Animal container, popular, English (6) |
| CAN + IN (‘popular’) + E[nglish]. | ||
| 21 | DECENT | Respectable kind (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
Straight-forward clues today, as you say, Grant. Entertaining nevertheless. I, too, am more accustomed to 4d in the plural – a clever clue, though, which made me smile in memory of Iago. (Didn’t he appear quite recently in the FT?)
ICE-BREAKER was a favourite and 16d was among the more readily accessible Spoonerisms that I’ve seen of late. Thanks for the blog. And thank you Gurney.
Thanks for the blog, Grant.
I agree with your preamble and with what Diane said. I’m far from being a fan of Spoonerisms but liked this one because both halves made sense – they so often don’t.
I also liked SHREWISH, MORTGAGE and the versatile bar pianist.
Thanks to Gurney for an enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Gurney and Grant
A bit easier than yesterday’s pipe opener, but still very enjoyable.
Did puzzle over a METEOR being the same as a comet. No other issues.
Finished in the SE corner with the very close double definition for DECENT and CANINE as the last couple in.
Not too demanding but an enjoyable solve with a few more difficult ones such as SHREWISH and good words such as SHENANIGAN.
I had the same query as brucew@aus @3. My knowledge of astronomy is rudimentary but I thought a ‘comet’ and a METEOR weren’t the same thing. Looking it up post-solve I see that a comet is made of ice and orbits the sun, often far from Earth, whereas a meteor is made of rock and is only seen as a ‘shooting star’ when it enters the earth’s atmosphere. Maybe the words are used interchangeably in everyday use though.
Thanks to Gurney and Grant
Thanks to Gurney and Grant. I too took a while figuring out CANINE and DECENT. In 2 down should the wording of the clue be of rather than off?
acd @ 5
I think either would work (Take the tins off/from the shelf), but ‘off’ is definitely a better misdirection as it means ‘heads’ is a verb in the surface but a noun in the wordplay.
All done and dusted in two quick passes. Enjoyable, though.
A musical nina? What next? (We tried it out and it does sound a bit like Satie.)
Thanks, Gurney and Grant.
Pleasant solve over breakfast — favorites included SHREWISH, ABSENTEE, and MARKET. Thanks Grant for parsing — didn’t fully understand RUN DRY and RASHLY until I read the blog. Thanks Gurney for the fun.
I also found 16D (the spoonerism) to be more accessible. I rarely get them, but I got this one right away. I’m always last to comment because I live in New York City (Manhattan). I start the puzzle over breakfast and continue during lunch and dinner. I enjoy hearing everyone’s perspectives.
All done and dusted relatively painlessly. Thanks for explaining Rashly, which I got, but couldn’t understand quite why. I too don’t like spoonerisms but got this one immediately.
Thanks, Grant, for the excellent blog and thanks also to all who commented.
Collins online dictionary gives METEOR as a synonym for COMET but looking at definitions of the two words in the same source, maybe this is a bit loose.
Good spot of all those notes in one of the rows of unchecked cells – this was, needless to say, totally unintended and not even noticed!
In other guises, Gurney has done quite a few musically themed puzzles, but, for the most part, very far from the world of Satie.