Solving time : 4m46s – welcome relief for me after a taxing few days at the blockface. Quite a variety of feelings about the clues – two elegant &lits, some other very felicitous phrasing, but then some very laboured clues and some very dull crosswordese. (In that sentence, two adjectives have quite the opposite meaning of their surface – ‘felicitous’ means ‘I bet it didn’t just happen like that, lots of work involved’, and ‘laboured’ means ‘I don’t think a lot of work went into this one’! Apologies if that means I have used the wrong words.)
I shan’t be contributing again until the New Year, so very happy holidays to all, especially the setters who provide such top-notch entertainment.
Across
| 1 | SUN + COLD AIR, anag, &lit – This clue is lovely, aided by the useful vocabulary of meteorology. |
| 6 | OTIC, hidden – The way to read this is that the word (or letter-string) NOTICEABLE ‘stops’ the answer (in the sense of ‘restrains’ or ‘limits’). |
| 9 | (s)MACKIN(g) + TOSH – Can’t claim I understood this – my last entry – within the time, but the answer seemed clear nonetheless. Rather as I suspected, though to my surprise (if that makes sense), TOSH is in Chambers now as ‘friend, chum’. I think I had always assumed the old Alexei Sayle ad catchphrase “Hello, Tosh, got a Toshiba?” was just using a made-up word. Now what was that advertising?… |
| 10 | ”MAY’S” – Lovely surface, for some reason my favourite clue of the puzzle. |
| 12 | DOES THE TRICK, 2 defs – “Attempts” is a bit tenuous and seems to have been used in an effort to make the two definitions appear to be different rather than just the metaphor and its origin. |
| 17 | O in ONE’S, anag – Again a very neat &lit, well-constructed for a word that has been clued many many times and rarely this well. |
| 24 | X in EA + M – A nice surface, but this got me wondering why EA for Each is OK in a broadsheet – not exactly a commonly-used abbreviation. |
| 27 | INFER + ALL in NY – Can’t really make out what ‘so’ is doing in the clue |
Down
| 1 | P moved to end of PROM – Good use of linkable clue parts. |
| 2 | INCH, 2 defs – Two of the ‘islands’ that crossworders need to know appear, her and at 18. |
| 3 | COIN-OPERATED, cryptic def – An experienced puzzler will realise that the surface reads so naturally for a long answer that this must be a cryptic definition, and that ‘bit’ is far the most likely candidate for a hidden meaning. |
| 4 | (oc)E(an in (b)OATS – ‘Sails’ has so many genuine ‘translations’ that I’m not a fan of using it in a figurative meaning (especially a short and truncated one) |
| 5 | DIS CHARGE, pun – A little bit of knowledge (that it cost one obol to cross the Styx) can be a dangerous thing if it leads you to look for OBOL-containing answers; I came up with DISCOBOLI before retuning. On reflection, is it a bit unfortunate that Dis is Roman and Charon Greek? |
| 7 | CIGAR (rev) in TOM + I + C(ough) – quite a good example of complicated wordplay executed smoothly, and ‘seriously funny’ is a clever definition. |
| 8 | ”CZECH REIGNS” – can’t claim I knew this answer (all one word in Chambers) but wordplay was pretty clear. |
| 14 | MIT + T + ERRAND – the Times rule about not using living people is a useful check on whether someone is still alive occasionally. Quite a good example of why the reason I have heard stated (because living people’s reputations can change quickly) is a bit disingenuous as the former French leader’s reputation did alter posthumously, especially when his funeral was attended by at least one mistress. MIT is very predictable as “US college” – so much so that I was delighted to come up with CORNELL on Wednesday! |
| 22 | PA + U(nconventiona)L – ‘Fellow’ is a lame definition, in my opinion, for a name. This could be a signature potentially but I doubt it given the other clues. |
Merry Xmas!
Oddly enough I had DAZE=”days” which seemed close enough to “puzzle” and a month has lots of them.
8: CHECK REINS was new to me too – for non-horsey folk the Wikipedia Horse tack category list looks very handy.
15a Last man in trouble boarding boat? = T AIL ENDER – where a tender is a small boat used to travel between a big boat moored in the harbour and the jetty. Ail is trouble of course. Nice Cricket clue for those of us who are fans.
18a Very large island’s west-facing port in former times = OS TIA – where very large is OS or “out-size” and AIT backwards or “west facing” is an island in a river back’rds. Ostia was an ancient port near Rome.
19 Forecast first in psychology with appropriate preparation = P REVISION
20a Reversal of roles in garage transaction, perhaps = PART EXCHANGE
25a Having rejected a dram, officer gets woman cocktail = PINA COLADA – where A NIP rejected or back’rds is accompanied by the officer COL with his lady friend ADA.
26a Foreign litreature is (dead)* complicated = EDDA – the EDDA are Icelandic sagas.
11d Tendering resignation, having status lowered = STANDING DOWN – where status = standing and does not in any way = stepping so I was barking up the wrong tree with my POOSE!
13d (The PM arose)*, dispersing prevailing mood = ATMOSPHERE
16d The way people talk about English painter’s initial drawing = D EP ICTION
21d Brave horse goes fast = APACE – apac(h)e
23d Soldier leading unknown legion = MAN Y – where the Grand Old Duke of York had 10,000 men (soldiers) so one would be a “man” and he led one of the “unknowns” x, y and z, to the top of the hill?