I can’t really give a time for this, as I made the mistake of doing it on the newspaper site rather than the club, on a notebook computer, wrestling with manoeuvring around the grid and the “skip filled squares” option which I failed to turn off. Combined with my already pathetic keyboard skills, most entries took several goes to put into place.
But I thought (through the frustrations) this was quite gentle, with only one clue, the one about tortillas, defying resolution for any length of time and my last in. I make mine with egg and potato!
My definitions are underlined in bold italics, and most omitted letters are shown in []. Everything else is either self explanatory or I could have written it better.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Small island dividing two areas where pandas are native (4) |
| ASIA – S[mall] I[sland] set between A[rea] and A[rea]. China might want to say it’s only their bit of Asia, but a simple enough starter. | |
| 4 | Saw ideal ground, certainly by one side of the wicket (4,4,2) |
| LAID EYES ON – An anagram (ground) of IDEAL, then YES for certainly and ON for the cricket side to the right of a right hand batsman as he stands at the wicket. | |
| 9 | Job for the summer? (10) |
| ARITHMETIC – Someone who sums is doing the job of arithmetic. I initially tried MATHEMATIC, but to be correct it would need an S on the end or just the first four letters for Americans. | |
| 10 | Something cheesy as basis for tortilla (4) |
| CORN – My last in, where the first definition plays on corny and cheesy as (more or less) synonyms for old hat, hackneyed. I’m reliably informed that a tortilla wrap is made with maize flour. | |
| 11 | Boring place for remote workers? (3,3) |
| OIL RIG – Just a cryptic definition, relying on the assumption that oil rigs are far out to sea. | |
| 12 | First canal location is found close to Kuwait (8) |
| EARLIEST – You have a canal in your EAR, which is also for this purpose found, i.e. LIES by the last letter of KuwaiT. | |
| 14 | Tiny piece, mostly lacking in colour (4) |
| WHIT – Lacking in colour is WHITE; remove the last letter. | |
| 15 | Superficial knowledge is ultimately making a difference (10) |
| SMATTERING – The ultimate letter of is is S, add MATTERING for making a difference. | |
| 17 | Food taken unlawfully, for instance, by gang’s leader (7,3) |
| POACHED EGG – Taken unlawfully POACHED, for example EG and the first letter (leader) of Gang. | |
| 20 | State time to get the ball rolling? (4) |
| PUTT – I PUT it to you… plus T[ime] | |
| 21 | Australian Football League, say, in an excited state (8) |
| AFLUTTER – Take the initials AFL, and add UTTER for say. I believe the AFL plays Aussie Rules, the other game being Soccer to an Ocker | |
| 23 | Type of card penned by a very old, retired writer (6) |
| ASIMOV – The type of card is the diddy one you have in your mobile, a SIM. “Pen” it between A and a reversed V[ery] O[ld]. Asimov is a bit more than retired. | |
| 24 | Epic spinach arancini for starters (4) |
| SAGA – SAG is spinach in Indian cookery, to which you add the first letter of Arancini, the delicious Sicilian fried risotto balls (the ones I had in Rome were both cheap and delicious). I think you have to ignore the plural starters. | |
| 25 | Developed work at The New York Times had to be screened by lead journalist (10) |
| ELABORATED – “At the New York Times” only indicates that we need the American spelling of LABO[U]R, work. Had gives ATE (I had two delicious arancini), and both sections are wrapped (screened) in our beloved ED, the head journalist. | |
| 26 | Singer who’s high? Good heavens, totally! (10) |
| ALTOGETHER – A singer who’s high is an ALTO, then good heavens is intended as an approximation of (ooh) GET HER! Other than they are both expressions indicating incredulity, there’s not much going for the equivalence. I’ve just realised it’s also G[ood] ETHER, which is obviously better. | |
| 27 | Group dismissing article about scandalous gossip (4) |
| DIRT – Take the A article out of TRIAD then reverse it (about). | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Wandering aristocrat picked up without hesitation (8,3) |
| STRAIGHT OFF – Aural wordplay (picked up), in which wandering STRAY, and TOFF aristocrat provide the sound of our entry. | |
| 3 | Escapade involving cart travelling from way down south (9) |
| ANTARCTIC – ANTIC for escapade contains an anagram (travelling) of CART. | |
| 4 | City known for porcelain fabrications featuring cat (7) |
| LIMOGES – Fabrications are LIES, insert a MOG for cat. | |
| 5 | Almost immediately, he is there with Batman, oddly (2,3,4,6) |
| IN THE SAME BREATH – An anagram (oddly) of HE IS THERE and BATMAN. | |
| 6 | Scrap right inside bar (7) |
| EXCERPT – Perhaps one of the less likely meanings of scrap. R[ight] is inserted into EXCEPT for bar. “All the clues were fine except/bar this one”. | |
| 7 | Effed and blinded with painful bites (5) |
| SWORE – The word SORE for painful consumes W[ith]. | |
| 8 | Composition’s instruction to exclude snare? (5) |
| NONET – Or NO NET, go without a snare. | |
| 13 | One demanding coercive measures — ones certain to be overturned (11) |
| SANCTIONEER – An anagram (overturned) of ONES CERTAIN. I didn’t know this precise noun, but the anagram doesn’t allow anything else. | |
| 16 | Republican dying to eclipse Italian’s first lecture (9) |
| REPRIMAND – Unparsed until now: R[epublican] END for dying, takes in (eclipses) PRIMA, Italian for first as in prima donna. | |
| 18 | Limit of money initially invested in former plant (7) |
| EXTREME – The initial M of money placed in former EX and TREE for the most generic of plants. | |
| 19 | Star quality of extremely genteel loved one (7) |
| GLAMOUR – The extremes (either end) of GenteeL plus AMOUR for loved one. | |
| 21 | A Welsh team periodically turned up, and lost (2,3) |
| AT SEA – The alternate letters of A WElShTeAm reversed (turned up). | |
| 22 | Run away for real (5) |
| LEGIT – Lets call this a DD, the first being two words, LEG IT. | |
I was held up at the end with REPRIMAND since I couldn’t fit any other word but could not make the wordplay work (I didn’t have PUTT at that point). I didn’t think of PRIMA even though it was staring me in the face. Then I had to do an alphabet trawl to get PUTT anyway, since I wasn’t sure what was going on with getting the ball rolling.
I’m not sure an ALTO counts as high. It’s too high for a male tenor and low for a woman.
BTW Tortillas can be made with either corn/maize or flour (wheat). As it happens, I had an enchilada for lunch, leftover from the dinner I made last night.
I wouldn’t call 22 a DD, since the enumeration is (5), not (3,2), but a cryptic hint.
Rememberd SAG as spinach from somewhere, but it’s not in Collins, only “saag,” with no variant given. It is in Chambers, though.
A very enjoyable solve that took me 45 minutes. REPRIMAND went in as my LOI because it fitted and then I saw the definition, but the wordplay evaded me. I share misgivings over ALTO as high.
Well, the word means “high.” Such terms are relative. I vividly remember from my childhood a guy who sang the alti parts in church (from our hymnal with shaped notes), higher than the other fellows.
Not quick but enjoyed the challenge, failing to parse REPRIMAND (thanks, Zed) and finishing with CORN.
46 minutes
Surely we have a TACO as well as a tortilla, in that the sanctioneer is always overturned?
27:18
Hah!