Solving time 16:57
Had all but four solved in about 10 minutes and then a mighty struggle. Those four were in the SW corner that troubled many – 20/23/21/19. I didn’t understand cannabis commonly = ’emp when soplving, but have no objectiohn on seeing the explanation.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | PREPA=paper*,RED=socialist – the initial anagram only dawned on me from checking letters, which was a bit slow. |
9 | OVER=finish,FALL=trip – a stretch of turbulent water that was new to me but clear from wordplay |
11 | FREE,STANDING – independent of another, er, structure, he says after looking it up |
13 | RIT(U)A,L – nicely worked in ref. to Educating Rita |
14 | AIR SCOUT = (atroci(o)us)* – a Scout who beings to a troop specialising in flying, gliding, etc. New to me but clear from “troop” |
15 | STUDDED = “studied” – which I’m slightly surprised to see raised no hackles (true when I typed this, but no longer…) |
16 | TRINITY – a Christian “threesome” and a univeristy and legal term |
20 | AN,GEL,ENO=’one rebuffed’ – GEL = posh girl requires Chambers rather than COD or Collins but is a “facetious rendering of an upper-class rendering of ‘girl'” – so maybe an “upper-class ‘girl'” rather than an “upper-class girl”. “Gal” is “slang” of “North American informal” for ‘girl’, depending where you look. Both matched my memory. Oh, and Angelenos are denizens of LA. |
22 | TO,ECAP = pace rev. |
23 | PASSE,P,ART,OUT – which I didn’t know was a picture frame, only knowing the word from Round the World in 80 Days |
25 | fArMhOuSe – an Old Testament prophet once heard about on the Picadilly line – the Gill Sans font used on the tube makes it easy to misread Arnos Grove, esp. if you’re a stranger to London (maps on trains rather than station signs which are upper case). Doubly effective when done in a strong Yorkshire accent. “Look, Obadiah, Amos Grove!”. (OK, I made up Obadiah, but the rest is true) |
26 | SHOE TREE – cryptic def. based on Oxford = shoe, as opposed to type of trousers or marmalade, University, movement, etc. etc. |
27 | SO,LITAR=trial*,Y=Jury, ultimately |
 | |
Down | |
2 | RALLY,1ST |
3 | PRO,FOUND,NESS |
4 | R.(EVE,ILL)E. |
5 | DOG STAR – 2 defs |
6 | REP AIR |
7 | RAN,I = island briefly |
8 | S(LIGHT)LY |
12 | D,ECONGESTANT=(nose can’t get)* |
15 | SHAR(e),PISH |
17 | RATIONAL – letter change at beginning of ‘national (newspaper)’ |
18 | TRAPDOOR = (rood part) rev. – rood=cross (look up rood for more), part=section |
19 | COURSES – 2 defs – an improvement on my initial guess at ENTREES, not written in fortunately. |
21 | ‘EMP.,IRE – ’emp = “cannabis, commonly”, ire = “strong emotion”, NY being the “Empire State”, independently of the building |
24 | S,LOG – a big hit, esp. in cricket |
With the lunch break over I’ve given it about 50 minutes. Can’t offer a QED rating yet, of course, but fairly sure the difficulty reading will get the full 10.
I’m not complaining, though. I think it was Sotira who mentioned in a previous blog that occasionally we need a really tough one to keep us on our toes.
There is going to be some debate, I think, about 26, but – while I didn’t find it on dictionary.com, I did find companies selling shoe-trees and my initial concern over the clue was based on me thinking a shoe-tree was an apparatus for storing several pairs, whereas it is a singular item so the clue seems fair enough.
Q-0 E-6 D-10 COD 23
‘EMP as a common pronunciation of HEMP seems fair enough, and it’s a well-established device in crosswordland.
COURSES at 19D is just a double definition; a course is a direction as in east, north etc., and a course as part of a meal may well be the starter.
I’m going to stubbornly stick with my zero quibbles count!
Do not self-destruct. How could I survive a day without being able to gaze upon those lovely long ears?
I then spent twice that time polishing off the SE and making very little progress in the SW.
By the time I resorted to on-line help I had spent over an hour on it and had three unsolved at 20, 21, 23. The solver cracked 23 for me and there I stayed stuck in the mire for the whole morning, looking at it again whenever I got the opportunity at work.
Over lunch I got into a discussion about it in another thread and found I had made a mistake at 19, and having put that right I solved the two remaining clues, though I still don’t get the cannabis reference in 21.
I’m having a very bad run at the moment. Apart from the Saturday and Sunday puzzles I have had to use on-line help for a couple of clues every day since Thursday.
PASSEPARTOUT: PASSE (faded) + P(re-Raphaelites) + OUT (square). Devilishly good.
Having entered sprint, American comes first (5,4)
Love the “ablutions” ‘gram!
Barbara
My guess on that one, posted on the previous thread, was ALBERTAN and I nearly convinced myself it was right. “North American citizen” as the definition was no problem but the rest of it took some justification and required stretching things a bit i.e. ALBERTIN is a variant of Albertine, the female equivalent of Albert, and surely only a posh woman would have a name such as this? And “one rebuffed by a” had to be a replacement indicator, so change the I (or 1) in ALBERTIN to make it ALBERTAN.
These were desperate times this morning!
Off for a lie-down now.
Jack
Don’t understand why there should be any objection to the studded/studied homophone. They are both pronounced in exactly the same way – unless you’re some kind of Martian.
Michael H
‘EMP ‘IRE
A shop in Soho where you can do rent-a-reefer?
I managed to navigate through ALL of the rapids of the SW corner except for the common cannabis at 21d. Once I came here to find the solution I removed the 26a SHOE TREE from my self-kickers and applied the 22a TOECAP in 15d SHARPISH fashion.
Just the solitary “easy” left out at 10a:
10a Singer from Scotland making comeback (4)
ALTO. Hidden reverse in dn ALTO cs. Summoned up images of the return of the White Heather Club! Och noooo.