Super challenge from Basilisk.
Took me longer than usual to get through this puzzle – a good thing in my book! I had to seek assistance on 15d which had me stumped but really is a wittily crafted bit of wordplay.
Otherwise some fantastic clues. I particularly enjoyed the longer book names around the edge of the grid but each clue is well thought out, carefully constructed and provided its own challenge. Many thanks to Basilisk!
I had originally not made the connection in clue 19d that it was a reference to clue 4d, so thank you to Gaufrid and Phil for pointing out my error.
(NAME BENEATH TRIO)* (*cast adrift) &lit
An 1889 novel by Jerome K. Jerome
(GENIUS)* (*eccentric) acquires N (new)
TRIE[r] (judge, waiving r (right)) to lodge BUT (objection)
T (time) heralded by NIGH (near)
Cryptic definition
“Bottom drawer” is the British term for a piece of furniture in which a bride-to-be might collect her trousseau
[capta]INS IN CERE[monial] (guards)
(X-RATE[d])* (*shot; D (director) censored)
IN AN “E” (E[ssays]; E[xams]) – cryptic definition
ATTITUDES (positions), gaining P (power) over T (time)
RE (about, >retrospectively); LETTING (renting) houses
Cryptic definition
MAA (bleat) about SCAR (result of suffering)
RANGE (diversity) found in [m]OS[t] (peeled)
Score of meeting records would be TWENTY MINUTES, one short is NINETEEN
Refers to the 2007 novel by Jodi Picoult
(EVIL BANISHMENT I)* (*recollected)
The H. G. Wells novel of 1897
REIGNS (rules) limiting [busines]S (close of)
[s]EXIST [m]EN (initially spurned) + CE (church)
[w]EIGHT (eminence, overlooked at first)
Also works as [h]EIGHT if you prefer
(TV [w]RITER ON)* (leaving W (wife), *becomes)
[as]SAILA[ant] (covered, >up)
U (university) + LENT (temporarily provided); OP (work) leads
RISES (rebels) supporting THE SUN (newspaper) + ALSO (as well as)
Referring to the 1926 novel by Ernest Hemingway
E (energy) + RADIATE (spread out) around C (the speed of light)
Cryptic definition – ENTER “TAIN” into deed to get detained
employed by [upst]ART IS AN[noyed)
(Definition is as 15d: entertain)
D (500) plus EIGHT (from 4d) divided by L (50)
Corrected from original post, thank you
(TAX)* (*indirect) using C[ustoms] and E[xcise] (tips of)
Double definition
Thanks Teacow
No typo in 19dn, the entry at 4 is EIGHT.
Tough one for me: I left four uncompleted. But I enjoyed the remainder especially the outstanding surfaces. Thanks Basilisk (and a very thorough Teacow)
I felt that there was more to TROUSSEAU. T (the top) + ROUSSEAU (drawer) – there are a couple of artists called Rousseau but I’m more familiar with the philosopher. Having said that, I couldn’t make the parsing work. Didn’t have a problem with 4 referring to EIGHT.
Could somebody explain how the definition works for ENTERTAIN. I saw the cryptic reading.
Thanks to Basilisk and Teacow.
Had trouble justifying my entries for 12a and 15d, but knew they were both correct. I considered looking for a nina when I’d finished, but then decided not to bother as it’s not a Serpent.
Hovis @3. 12a. I read the whole clue as being cryptic. “Duds” ia another word for clothes (which I didn’t know) and “match” is of course a marriage – so they form a Trousseau which goes into the bottom drawer.
To Hovis @3 re ENTERTAIN:
Just to expand a little on Teacow’s parsing: the way I read it is that the ‘deed’ one has to do is to enter ‘tain’.
I do think there’s a bit of double-duty going on but it was still quite fun, as was the whole puzzle.
Thanks to both. See you all tomorrow morning.
This was not the gentle Monday warm-up I had been expecting! I did enjoy the challenge, especially literary framework, starting off with “Three Men in a Boat” though I’m not familiar with the Picoult novel.
I ran into difficulties in the SE corner and failed to solve or parse a few there. I have a minor quibble with 24ac; it was obviously MASCARA though, to my mind, bleating is more usually ‘baa’ and it is applied TO lashes. An “application of lashes” suggests a fake lash treatment like, perhaps, the mink ones J.Lo sported.
Anyway, thanks to Basilisk and Teacow for today’s brain-tickler.
Thanks to Basilica and Teacow. Tough going but enjoyable. I struggled with the parsing of ENTERTAIN, did not know TROUSSEAU as a drawer, parsed NINETEEN MINUTES without knowing the novel title, and took a while to see the hidden ALIAS.
Thanks Teacow for the blog — there were quite a few clues I got by definition and crossings but had trouble fully parsing — TROUSSEAU, ENTERTAIN, and ERADICATE among them. I found this to be a difficult slog but eventually doable. Nonetheless, there was some fun amongst the toil — INANE, MASCARA, NINETEEN MINUTES, and EXISTENCE were favorites. Thanks Basilisk.
A nice challenge especially on a Monday – thanks to Basilisk and Teacow
Thanks for the blog, Teacow – super challenge indeed and I enjoyed it immensely.
1ac was a splendid start and I gave it two ticks immediately. From then on, I was ticking too many to list but, in answer to Diane B, I’d like to put in a word for MASCARA, which was one of my favourites: I remember learning as a child that ‘baa’ is the sound a sheep makes and ‘maa’ is the sound of a goat. I’ve just looked in Chambers and found baa as the bleat of a sheep and maa the bleat of a goat. I see what you mean about the application, Diane, but I realise I’d read the clue a bit differently, taking ‘of’ as meaning ‘to do with’, so it didn’t strike me as odd. Chambers gives one meaning of ‘of’ as ‘with respect to’.
I struggled to parse ENTERTAIN, too and, since I didn’t know duds were clothes, I couldn’t explain TROUSSEAU, either.
Many thanks to Basilisk for the fun.
Thanks, Eileen. I shall listen intently to the bleating of goats and sheep on my next visit to the countryside to discern th difference – whenever that might be…
Sorry, the difference
Many thanks to Teacow for the excellent blog and to everyone who has been kind enough to comment.
The clue for ENTERTAIN is perhaps too oblique, the definition being “this host”. I hope it didn’t spoil any one’s entertain(ment) too much.
Thanks, Basilisk and Teacow. I got DELIGHT before ENTERTAIN which was LOI – thanks for explanation of this and of TROUSSEAU (I got “match” for wedding but didn’t know the “bottom drawer” aspect). Liked wordplay for INANE! Book titles clever, though I thought of Ralph Ellison rather than Wells for INVISIBLE MAN at first – then realized Wells has “The” in front.
A great perimeter. I’ve read two of them and liked the Hemingway.I must have seen TV series on the Wells- hadnt heard of the other 19 book but easily gettable. As for the boat trip….It makes Tristram Shandy seem amusing
Many thanks to
SerpentBasilisk.Thanks Basilisk and Teacow
Actually did this on Monday but only got to check it off this morning. Was pleasantly surprised to get this early week challenge that took up a number of sittings to get out. Had only read the 1a novel (and that was many years ago when I was collecting the old original Penguin books) but enjoyed figuring out the other ones here.
Got TROUSSEAU but didn’t see the clever construction of T (the top) + ROUSSEAU (drawer) – checked post solve on some of those crossword solver sites and see that variations of this have been used before. Thought that the clues for DELIGHT and ENTERTAIN were excellent and was happy to have figured them out.
Finished in the SE corner with APTITUDES, RULER (which I had more as a double definition, with the second one a whimsical one) and that ENTERTAIN as the last few in.