A very enjoyable pangram from Zamorca this morning.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle – lots of witty surfaces and misdirections that kept me on my toes. 2D might be tricky for non-Brits (or those who prefer to turn a blind eye to politics). I doubt I would have easily solved 23A without the crossers, but otherwise I think this was a fair, albeit nicely challenging puzzle. So many good clues, but I’ll give special mention to these favourites: APERTURE, FIRST THING, PROTOCOL, QUINTET. Many thanks to Zamorca!
PI (letter from Greece) + (GONE)* (*astray)
FUMED (seethed) after (REP)< (agent, <revolutionary)
(LABEL)* (*about); I (Iodine) inside
ALL DOWN (everyone’s sad) after F (fellow)
A + P (quiet) + [ov]ERTURE (introductory piece; O V (nothing, very) abandoned)
BO[w]LER (hat, W (won) out) + O (over)
E[ve]N (hollow) + V (victory) + [controvers]Y (ending in)
LIEU (French place) + TENANT (one who rents)
THIN (light) + G (good) behind FIRS (trees) + T (model: Ford Model T)
(CRAS[h])* (*terrible); H (husband)’s come out
P[la]Y (heartless); SNAP (game) to get ahead
LEAP (bound) + (FOR)* (*potential) + G[lory] (at first)
PRO (expert) + C (caught) blocking TOOL (apparatus)
SENOR (Spanish gentleman)’s taking over I (island)
WEAK (delicate) cutting TIN (can) + G[uts] (intially)
(HIS NEW)* (*organisation)
Under P (pressure) “AIL” (get sick, “reportedly”, twice)
GOVE (Brexiteer) adopting LAZE (idle); + R (resistance)
[Pimlic]O FLAT E[xit] (locked up)
EX (former) + AM (morning)
FLOWER (rose perhaps) welcoming O (old) + L (liberal)
MOO (low) + S[tabl]E (housing)
[n]INE (number, heading off) on D (day) + OUT (away)
MIGHT (may) possess RR (posh car; Rolls Royce)
QU (question) + INTE[n]T (purpose; [whe]N (finally) leaving)
ACCORD (harmony) + IN (at home) broken by O (love)
POTS< (vessels, <rise) + COCK (tip)
F (loudly) taking ([i]SSU[e])* (*about, cutting edges) on POT (grass)
Double definition
SEE (watch); P (priest) during + CH (church)
AWE (wonder) about OK (agreement)
(J[a]NI[t]O[r])* (*building, getting rid of RAT)
A good steady puzzle from Zamorca to kick off the week. A first run-through filled up half the grid with the added pleasure of a pangram to chase down. Answers to 1ac, 20ac and 7d left little room for doubt but, as Teacow says, they were engagingly clued. I liked MOOSE, GLAZE OVER and most of all, BOLERO.
23ac posed no problems – clear enough from the wordplay – and sat happily alongside LEAPFROG but I’m not sure why it took so long to twig 28ac as my last one in. And I wouldn’t have parsed 11d correctly without Teacow’s help.
Thanks, Zamorca – it was fun.
Thanks Zamorca and Teacow
Reasonably quick solve, but as you say some wonderful surfaces and some where the wordplay took some working out. Did notice a lot of use of single letters from ‘ending’, ‘initially’ and ‘at first’ type indicators, as well as a number of single letter abbreviations. Particularly liked unravelling FIRST THING, SNAPPY, LEAPFROG, QUINTET and AWOKE.
After doing these puzzles for so many years, I probably know more about British politicians and lesser known geographical places than I do down here !!!
Finished in the SE corner with SPEECH, SENIOR and REGARDS as the last one in.
Thanks Z and T. Diane B @1, probably because, like me, you were looking for “high ranking Spanish gentleman” with “o” for an island rather than “Spanish gentleman” with an “i” for “high ranking”.
My LOI was “bolero” helped by still looking for a “b” for the pangram.
Pleasant enough without being too easy — enjoyed PERFUMED, LIEUTENANT, and FIRST THING. Thanks Teacow for explaining GLAZE OVER and parsing BOLERO, two I got by definition and crossings. Thanks Zamorca for the fun.
Something that I don’t always get: should there be an anagram indicator for “rat” in 26d, and if not, why not?
Nila Palin @5 The anagram indicator, “building,” refers to “janitor,” minus (getting rid of) the letters r-a-t. There’s no need for an anagram indicator for letters that won’t be used.
Nila @5,
R-a-t are the letters one’s ‘getting rid of’ from ‘janitor’ to form ‘join’.
Sorry, Tony. You got there first
Thanks, but I should have been clearer and said a second anagram indicator, because the letters in rat don’t appear in that order in janitor.
See 7d INVERT here https://www.fifteensquared.net/2018/04/30/quiptic-963-by-moley/ which Sil @ comment 8 suggest might need another anagrind for similar reasons.
And see blogger Andrew’s comment alongside 20d HETERO here https://www.fifteensquared.net/2015/09/29/guardian-26689-otterden/ where a second anagram indicator is used by the setter to show the removed word’s letters don’t appear in that order in the original fodder.
Maybe it’s a matter of taste rather than right or wrong, who knows?!
Nila Palin @9 Interesting point — while I’ve done American cryptics for decades I’ve only entered the British waters relatively recently. I’m not sure what the rules are but John Halpern (Mudd/Paul) holds Zoom chats periodically and he would be one to ask. Personally, I prefer simple surfaces that flow smoothly; second anagrinds can increase the chances for clunky readings.
Tony, I agree that the lack of a second anagram indicator is less likely to confuse the surface – and after all, it’s simple enough to remove the letters one by one whatever order they’re in.
It might boil down to libertarian v Ximenean, like a lot of other things. If JH is setting a Paul in the Guardian he might be a bit looser (despite the Otterden example above being from that paper); whereas if he’s setting in The Times (which I think he still does, anonymously), he might need that second anagrind.
I’d be interested to hear his take if you do get the chance to ask him. (I’ll check this thread or the General Discussion forum http://www.fifteensquared.net/2019/12/08/general-discussion-5/ in case you post feedback.)
Nila Palin — Pee Dee’s blog posted February 12th 2020 of Monk’s FT16,398 puzzle contains a discussion of your topic. Monk responded: [With two anagram indicators] the clue would have strayed into compound-anagram (CA) territory, which by convention (I know not why) is seemingly verboten in daily puzzles.
Thank you psmith, I’ve just read the blog now. Interesting comment from Monk.
It probably happens so infrequently now that few people notice or care (us crossword enthusiasts excepted). Clue-writing contests and published guides to cryptic crosswords seem to require the second anagrind, but it looks like it might be fading away in standard puzzles.