This was the first puzzle in preliminary session B of the championship, and it was solved by 53 per cent of the competitors. After some daft mistakes in the last few days (see next Mephisto report as well as comments on Times puzzles), I’m quite pleased to have finished it at all! The W side (corrected from “E side” after posting) came out first, then the S three rows or so. I ended up fairly well stuck on 5,11,17,6 and 8. Got these as pairs of 17 and 8, then 11 and 6, and finally 5 – most of which were annoying as the tricks behind them were all pretty simple and familiar. Adding up my times for session B and adding a bit for prior knowledge gives about 33 mins – probably good enough to qualify, but in about 8th place, I’d guess, so the nerves might have been jangling.
Across
| 1 | T.U.,TO,RAGE – wasted time pondering tutelage |
| 5 | (ban)JOISTS – basic idea has certainly been used in clues for ‘banjoist(s)’ |
| 11 | SHAFT – 2 meanings |
| 12 | PI(e)TY |
| 13 | F(I,RED)RILL – red = a signal currently showing red |
| 15 | A,S(TONI)SHED – wasted time looking where to put an “It.” |
| 17 | W(est) HAM is the soccer team |
| 20 | WEATHERMAN – MA in anag. of ‘new heart’ |
| 22 | OR,CHEST,R.A. – beginners note this fairly standard break-up of a useful word |
| 24 | W.,ARM |
| 27 | ESTATE CAR – state=”condition checked” in rev. of race |
Down
| 1 | TOM,E – a little joke about the fact that competitors could not “thumb dictionaries” you’d think, except that these were supposedly randomly selected puzzles. |
| 3 | REA(m),DYING |
| 4 | GO,OFF – simple wordplay, but I usually “nod off” rather than “go off” – to the irritation or amusement of those with me after a few glasses. |
| 6 | ONSIDE – on=leg from cricket – beginners note this one, “onside” = in a good (well, legal) position in various forms of football, hockey etc. |
| 7 | SPANISH AMERICAN – fell right into the “Mexican criminal” fake anagram trap, then remembered hearing about this clue when this clearly didn’t fit with AMERICAN as second word. ‘shame’ in anag. of ‘in Paris can’. “A admit B” = put B in A is a bit of a stretch for my tastes – the wordplay really wants “admitting”. With ‘can’ at the end, it seems possible to do something like “… criminal in Paris admitting humiliation in front of prison”. |
| 9 | WE,A R(I=middle of shift)EST |
| 14 | F(ASTB=anag. of bats)OWLER – if a fowler hunts birds he can be “out for a duck” |
| 18 | SEAWATER – anag – “drink”=slang for seawater |
| 21 | REVE(A)L – possibly an old chestnut but a very nice clue |
| 23 | ACT,ON – London district with several tube stations, Wormwood Scrubs and the Thames Valley Harriers track now called “Linford Christie Stadium”. |
| 25 | BRIE(f) |
Shameless advertising
On 20th January next year, I’m holding a one-day “how to do cryptics” course in aid of a local good cause. This is NOT for those of you who read this to see whether you took PB x 3 or PB x 4 today – it’s for people who can just do a few clues in a broadsheet cryptic, or who have never tried but might think “my mate Steve can do them and I’m just as smart as him, so how come I can’t?”. More details here.
My times for puzzles since my last posting
23,442 – 7:57
23,443 – 6:22
23,444 – 7:58
23,445 – 20:00 – one wrong answer
23,446 – 9:27 – but EAST for ERST. Good thing Virgilius in the Indy was doable!
Obviously helped that I did not fall for the Mexican criminal “anagram”, in fact I got that one almost immediately with just the S from JOISTS in the grid.
Loved the way the definition was worked into 20A, WEATHERMAN!
I eventually figured out the wordplay for 7, and finished the rest less than 2 minutes later.
Today, as in previous weeks, I didn’t remember the puzzle at first (and had started writing in CENTR… again when I twigged)
I’ve encountered plenty of new words and meanings since doing The Times crossword – and reading through the comments here certainly helps to cement them in my mind.
19a Duck taking drink by side of lake = TEA L
26a From cad somewhat unscrupuLOUS Exploit = LOUSE (HA)
28a Once more recount story about Swiss hero = RE TELL
29a In refurbished (centre a n)*ew doorway = ENTRANCE
2d Consider how to increase funds in bank = TAKE INTO ACCOUNT (although you would never say “I’m Taking funds into my account”!)
8d Community charge paid off with this = SETTLEMENT ( a good example of “Lift and Separate” where the Double Definition DD is “Community” and “charge paid off with this” and the plausible word pair of Community charge is a smokescreen)
16d Humbugs, say, for the little darlings = SWEETIES (another DD but not descriptive of many kids I have known)