Solving time: 12:37
Eight multi-word answers today, but frustratingly I managed just two of these on first look (12ac and 15dn) which made this feel slow. Only after finishing did I notice the large number of Ks in the grid (13 I think) – surely deliberate? Noticing this earlier would certainly have helped me with the troublesome 11ac!
Beginners’ tips of the day: ‘fair’ = OK, ‘good guy’ = ST (saint), ‘tea’ = CHA or CHAR
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | COOKBOOK – a cryptic definition, which has to be read something like: ‘“How to prepare course” work‘, i.e. a work (= book) which tells you ‘how to prepare course (= dish)’. I considered this a long time before I was confident enough to write it in. |
| 6 | I + C(I for H)EST |
| 9 | B + ART + OK (= fair) – Béla Bartók was a Hungarian composer. |
| 10 | S inside UNCLEA[n] + M (= Monsieur) |
| 11 | “SEEK” – this took me two minutes at the end. For some reason I ignored the obvious religious meaning of ‘Guru’s disciple’. Not very good. |
| 14 | CH(EN)ILLE[r] – my penultimate solve, and not a word I knew. Apparently Chenille is ‘a velvety cord or yarn of silk or worsted, for embroidery, fringes, etc‘ and is French for ‘caterpillar’. |
| 16 | O + VID[eo] – ‘FA’ here means nothing, as in ‘sweet FA’ (= sweet Fanny Adams), the gruesome origins of which can be read here. |
| 18 | rev. of (I + PIT) – an alternative spelling of teepee or tepee; there may be others. The Delaware are an American Indian tribe, who appear in The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. |
| 22 | alt. letters of ‘for my sake’ – straightforward wordplay to Omsk in Siberia |
| 24 | GLAD + I(OL[d])I |
| 27 | D + WIGHT – the clue refers to 7dn. In the printed version of The Times, whenever one clue refers to another (which happens much less often than in, say, The Independent or The Guardian), the clue number appears as a digit. However, for some reason the online version, which I printed off and used today, can’t display numbers in the clues, so this clue started ‘Seven…’. I really can’t understand why this should be, and it held me up here. |
| 28 | [c]HAR + A + KIR + I – the wordplay should help to avoid spelling errors, provided that you know the drink kir and the Timesism that ‘one’ can be I but not A (at least I think Peter B said this recently!). I don’t have Chambers to hand but I have a feeling harikari is also listed there, possibly as an erroneous variant. |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | OKAPI (hidden) – apparently to ‘browse’ can mean to wander around nibbling at tall plants, as an okapi might, in a similar sense to ‘graze’. |
| 3 | KITCHEN SINK – double definition; the second is fairly obvious but I didn’t know the phrase ‘kitchen sink drama’, which apparently is ‘a theatrical genre that included John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1956) and the plays by Arnold Wesker using working-class settings rather than the drawing-rooms of polite comedy‘. |
| 4 | anag. of [rev]OKE and PAPAL [corrected from APPLE] – I took the wrong half of ‘revoke’ on the first look but didn’t try the second half till much later. |
| 5 | KNUCKLE SANDWICH – I can’t decide whether I like this clue (“Lunch packed with punch?”) or not. It’s a clever rhyme, but when solving it I was looking for a type of sandwich, like doorstop or wedge, whereas in fact the question mark really refers to ‘lunch’ rather than ‘punch’ which is the actual definition. But I think I’m just being uncharitable because I was so slow to get the first word. |
| 6 | IN(CUR)S – the ‘ins’ are the party in government, or any people in charge as opposed to the ‘outs’. I don’t remember seeing this in a daily crossword before, though it’s used in the Listener from time to time. |
| 7 | [l]IKE – the nickname of President Eisenhower |
| 13 | A B(ONE TOPIC)K – more complex wordplay than it seemed on first look, and another that took me a while. BK is “book’s covers”. |
| 17 | K + AND (= with) + AHA + R – ‘crushes’ in the clue indicates ‘on top of’, so this would only work with a down clue. |
COOKBOOK – I think you can interpret it as a charade – you prepare courses (= dishes) by cooking them, and a “work” can be a book.
4d also amended, thanks.
7m29s for me today, which felt a very good time for some reason. After about 8 answers, I was certain that all would have a K in, and am still sure the puzzle started out as an effort of that sort. Some more would be easy to fit in/restore, e.g. KIWI, SAKER/HOICKS but harder to clue.
I’m beginning to suspect that if the clue number is the first thing in clue they have to use a word (perhaps because otherwise the software gets confused and thinks it’s part of that clue’s number itself).
be nice if they straightened this out…
Last clue solved was CHENILLE, not helped by the fact that my H from 15D looked like an N! I did like the clue (14A) though. Also liked 16A – seemed an inventive and deceptive way to clue OVID.
12a (Keep a CD for)* playing that’s unreadable = POKER FACE ( a clue before Lady Gaga made the term more famous)
19a (Weak and)* ultimately vil(e)* brew stirred = AWAKENED
21a Some tennis shots are not straight = BACKHANDED
26a Good guy in house is providing lifts = HO I ST S
8d Drink that’s twist with nip added = SNAKE BITE
15d One might succeed (with a real)* burst = HEIR-AT-LAW
20d Skip (v)*erse that (actor)*’s mad about = CAVORT
23d It takes pluck, one going into lead = S I TAR
25d Understand criticism = DIG (DD – dig it? This is not a dig at the original blogger)