Solving time – 9:37
An easy end to what (I think) has been an easy week for the Times. No standout COD but I liked 21 so I’ll go for that.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 5 | CHASER – double definition as a CHASER is a horse of the steeplechasing variety. |
| 10 | [-r]OSIER |
| 12 | (MIGHT SOAR)* – HISTOGRAM. “Representation blocked” is a tricky definition to get your head around, or it was for me at any rate. |
| 14 | NIT,RITE |
| 20 | IM< in BOHEA – I knew that BOHEA was a tea as BOHEA Lapsang is one of my favourites but as BOHEA is not the first word that leaps to mind when I see “tea” in a puzzle, I guess it was lucky that I solved this from the definition and a guess that the letter pattern was ????MI?. |
| 26 | hidden in “letteR ON DOormat” |
| 27 | D,IS in NUT – have to quibble with the definition here as I can’t see how “exhibitionist” (COED: Exhibitionism – “extravagant behaviour that is intended to attract attention to oneself”) can possibly be a synonym for “nudism” (Chambers Online: “the practice of not wearing clothes, as a matter of principle”). I imagine that many NUDISTs might be quite offended to be described as exhibitionists. |
| 28 | ICE SKATE – nice definition here though: “Curry required more than one”, a reference to the figure skating champion John Curry. |
| Down | |
| 1 | SO,O,THING |
| 3 | BARROW-IN-FURNESS – NESS for “head” was the first thing I saw, which made this fairly easy given the enumeration of 6-2-7. |
| 7 | OUR in SCREAM – “these people” would surely be THEM rather than OUR wouldn’t it? |
| 15 | (DIET ELVES)* – TELEVISED. Somewhat surreal surface reading. |
| 19 | Y,EARLY |
| 20 | BALD,RIC[-h] |
| 21 | HOG in SUN – “a recipe for pork crackling”. Geddit? |
| 24 | TANG,A – luckily there’s no such thing as MINGA briefs. |
There was only one clue where I was unable to see the wordplay at the time of solving and having just spotted it it has to be my COD: 21D.
Btw, I think nudists might not like to be defined as “exhibitionist”.
I took a while to realise that “Curry” at 28A is a reference to John Curry (olympic champion figure skater I think) and I’m not wholly convinced by “crackling” at 21D for “hog in the sun”. Overseas solvers will have trouble with 9D BEAMER which is a somewhat obscure cricketing reference. Jimbo.
“Noun, 1. beaner – a baseball deliberately thrown at the batter’s head …
So not difficult.
Tom B.
3, 9 and 28 were probably all tricky for non-Brit solvers.
In 7 I’m assuming the apostrophe+s is serving double-duty as a possesive to give the ‘our’ and as an ‘is’ to cue the definition, but it’s a mite confusing.
I had totally forgotten ‘Baldric’ – good to be reminded of the meaning.
15 gave me a smile, as did 21, of course. I’ll never look at ‘Shogun’ the same way again, and, for that, thank you. COD.
Really enjoyed this one, albeit briefly. The only weakness was 18 but in fairness it’s a pretty awful word and it’s more than made up for with excellent clues elsewhere. Even if the “crackling” ref in 21 is mildly shaky I still thought it a very good wordplay so it gets COD for me. Like others I questioned OUR in 7 but only after solving and it didn’t spoil things for me.
Looking forward to a week’s holiday now although I may get chance to bob in from time to time.
Misled by 20a for a while as I always assume tea to be cha.
JohnPMarshall
I didn’t understand the wordplays to SHOGUN (which I entered quickly from the definition alone) and BEAMER. Thanks to the explanations above, though I’m not as enthusiastic as others about the wordplay to SHOGUN.
I can’t say I was particularly keen on 1ac; a fairly poor pun in my view, or if it’s SCAB grabbing the head of BARD I couldn’t see that from the wordplay. Nor did I like 14, unless I’ve misunderstood it; it seems to be RITE appearing after NIT. Possibly ‘ahead of’ but why ‘passing’?
Reviewing the clues, I cannot find anything that stands out for its surface and/or wordplay. The best is probably 6 so that’s my COD. Sorry to be so negative.
What you might call “negative” is certainly nothing to be sorry about.
Valentine
I see no problem in 7d. Them would be those people surely? These people’s seems fine for our and I don’t see that the ‘s is doing double duty at all. You don’t necessarily always have to have an “is”, “gets” or “leads to” or whatever to precede the definition surely? 1d isn’t “very old concept’s peaceful” for instance.
Bohea came easily to mind having once used it in a crossword based around “A nice cup of tea”. I think I had it as a container in “Some mumbo-jumbo health drink”. It’s also a much-loved word of P G Wodehouse, whom everybody should read. (e.g. “So Jeeves very sportingly shot Cyril out into the crisp morning air, and didn’t let me know of his existence till he brought his card in with the Bohea.”).
Where was I? Ah yes, only quibble would be in the double def at 6, if you hold all the cards then it’s a duff deal rather than the best one, isn’t it? What do the other players play with?
Lots of clues worthy of a COD nom on another day like 3d, but 21 is just too good to pass over.
COD goes to 12a
Intrigued to see both scabbard and baldric in the same puzzle. And at 7D, “these people’s” = OUR, as opposed to “those people’s”, = THEIR seemed to make sense.
Also noted the safe ‘Cumbrian town’ def at 3, though Barrow seems to fit “industrial” better than Stockport.
It’s true that the dictionaries support “silly or trivial” rather than “sentimental” (except via ‘soft’ perhaps), but “Are cuddly toys so” is a second def which eliminates most other possibilities. I went for WOOLLY first but not with great conviction. With TELEVISED and B in F as fairly easy providers of the L and F, pretty hard to get wrong.
And to be fair to the setter, “thing”: the first Collins def. has ‘object, fact, affair, circumstance or concept’.
This was a of fun with some imaginative and amusing clues. I was stuck for ages on my last two – the POI ICE-SKATE at 28a where I finally remembered John Curry and the LOI BALDRIC where the C in ICE made the answer obvious. On finishing with BALDRIC(K) I went into a reverie of Cunning Plans and the demise of the dinosaurs which most Earth Scientists now ascribe to a meteorite impact at Chixlub in Yucatan, Mexico. That is unless they have seen Blackadder Goes Back and Forth in which case they will know that it was Baldrick’s underwear wot done it.
Our esteemed blogmeister deemed this SOOOO easy that there are a near record 13 omissions from the blog:
1a Weapon held here, as one crossing the writers’ picket line? (8)
SCAB BARD. I would like to see that picket line. I would hope to see the best written placards in the history of the Trade Union movement.
11a Outfit providing bomb action (5,4)
SHELL SUIT
13a Line on graph accountant reversed, showing capital (5)
AC CRA. Reversed ARC and C.A.
16a Wave that flattens lawn (6)
ROLLER
18a Are cuddly toys so sentimental? (6)
FLUFFY. This was obvious once the checkers ?L?F?Y were in place but I would not have got FLUFFY = SENTIMENTAL otherwise.
23a Little boy found to be set aside (9)
AL LOCATED
25a Leave witch, perhaps, to become religious type (9)
GO SPELLER
2d A voyage taken up in another name (5)
A LIAS. A then SAIL upside down.
4d Spare book (7)
RESERVE
6d Appear in control having been given the best deal? (4,3,3,5)
HOLD ALL THE CARDS. All the cards in this case being the trick winning cards – THE cards.
8d Unpleasant type beat palm (6)
RAT TAN
9d One smiling as ball flying past ear?(6)
BEAMER. In cricket a beamer is a non-bouncing delivery arriving at the batsman above waist height so not necessarily past the ear. I think of bouncers usually to fill the role of whizzing past the ear.
17d Worker has part that’s large (8)
HAND SOME