A rather curious puzzle, the shorter clues were more of a struggle than the longer ones. I found it irritating and enjoyable at the same time, if that’s possible.
EDIT late in the day, as I’ve been travelling to cold and snowy Norfolk; I wasn’t aware that this was a semi-final TCC puzzle until I read the comments below. My online version wasn’t so marked.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | What obsessive polisher would do, endlessly, for US city? (7) |
| BUFFALO – such a polisher would BUFF A LO[t]. | |
| 5 | Fancying a nibble, like a kiss? (7) |
| PECKISH – double definition. | |
| 9 | Cross Irish river, date swimming on it (9) |
| IRRITATED – IR[ish], R[iver], IT, (DATE)*. | |
| 10 | Alexander and Alexander, say? (5) |
| POPES – Well, there have been nine popes called Alexander, and then there’s Alexander Pope the poet. But I needed the checking letters to make it obvious who we were talking about. | |
| 11 | Flying back on time in summer, dropping from the sky? (5) |
| GUANO – Reversed (“flying back”), ON, AUG (time in summer). Guano certainly drops on my car from the sky. | |
| 12 | Forge with great speed sealing iron chest, initially (9) |
| FABRICATE – a FAB RATE would be a great speed, insert I[ron], C[hest]. | |
| 14 | Thus mum keeps her wool not wholly for knitting, in a way (7,2,5) |
| SOMEHOW OR OTHER – SO (thus), MOTHER (mum), insert (HER WOO[L])*. | |
| 17 | A stone’s throw from pond life? (5,3,6) |
| DUCKS AND DRAKES – I had to guess this without fully understanding it until I looked it up. Although I had heard of a game called ducks and drakes I didn’t know what it was. Apparently it is the practice of skimming stones across a pond or still water. So the answer is a sort of double definition. | |
| 21 | Mark is accompanying Elizabeth, pioneer (9) |
| COLONISER – COLON (punctuation mark), IS ER (Elizabeth Regina). | |
| 23 | Use lead on excitable dinosaur going the wrong way (5) |
| EXERT – reverse T-REX E[xcitable]. I thought of the dinosaur first and worked it back to the definition. | |
| 24 | He abandons the lady of the family for tease (5) |
| TAUNT – T[he], AUNT. | |
| 25 | Sets down a drink, American port (9) |
| PENSACOLA – PENS (sets down) A COLA. City in Florida near the Alabama border. | |
| 26 | American hawk pursues Republican pacifist (7) |
| RUSSELL – R (Republican), US, SELL (hawk). Bertrand Russell was a famous pacifist and ban-the-bomb campaigner as well as being a noted philosopher. For a while I was imagining an “ussell” was some kind of American raptor until the more obvious explanation arrived. My favourite Russell quote is perhaps relevant today: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” |
|
| 27 | Breather following girl’s massive uphill challenge (7) |
| EVEREST – EVE, REST = breather. Phew! | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Rest used in snooker game (6) |
| BRIDGE – double definition. In snooker, which I can play badly, you use your fingers to form a “bridge” or rest to run the cue along. And bridge is of course the best card game in the world. Even better than poker. | |
| 2 | Long way back after run — that’s very chaotic (7) |
| FARRAGO – FAR (long), R( run), AGO (way back). | |
| 3 | Novel she ’as out? That’s about right! (9) |
| AUTHORESS – (SHE AS OUT )* with R inserted. | |
| 4 | A no-no, like whacked kangaroo? (3,2,6) |
| OUT OF BOUNDS – a whacked kangaroo is too tired to bound along, I guess. | |
| 5 | Flat cushion (3) |
| PAD – double definition. | |
| 6 | Island is cold most of spring month (5) |
| CAPRI – C[old], APRI[L]. | |
| 7 | Charge dime after peeling fruit (7) |
| IMPEACH – [d]IM[e], PEACH a fruit. Seen this before, I think. | |
| 8 | Others, lamentably, extremely drunk in pub (8) |
| HOSTELRY – (OTHERS L Y)*, the L Y being lamentably extremely. | |
| 13 | Juicy thing in family house (5,6) |
| BLOOD ORANGE – BLOOD = family, ORANGE as in the House of. | |
| 15 | Person embracing prayer, bully typically (2,7) |
| ON AVERAGE – ONE (person) “embraces” AVE (a prayer), RAG (bully). | |
| 16 | Drawer opened by a teacher (8) |
| EDUCATOR – once I realise it had to begin with AD or ED, I saw EDUCATOR and decided EDUCTOR (without the A) sounded a like word for someone or something that “draws”. | |
| 18 | Business lowers flag (7) |
| COLOURS – CO, LOURS. Collins says lour is an alternative spelling of lower. | |
| 19 | The old thus stopping before monstrous carbuncle (7) |
| EYESORE – YE (the, old), SO (thus), inserted into ERE (before. | |
| 20 | Channel showing one filling pastries after a turnover? (6) |
| STRAIT – TARTS with I inserted, reversed. | |
| 22 | Salt in ravioli, but never penne, ultimately (5) |
| NITRE – well, nitre is an old name for potassium nitrate, a salt. It’s the last letters of iN raviolI buT neveR pennE. | |
| 25 | Old fruit, whitish when cut (3) |
| PAL – PAL[e]. My LOI. Faced with P?L, I eventually accepted that an “old fruit” was a Jeeves-like expression for a pal. Like old bean, perhaps. | |
About 30 mins in two goes. Gave up the first effort after 11 minutes with very little in but returned later and got some momentum going. LOI was colours preceded by Russell, ducks and drakes and coloniser. Taunt was one of the earlier solves. COD Buffalo.
Good puzzle and definitely more of a challenge than the first two this week.
51″00′
Circumspect pace throughout.
Having assumed that, flagged or not, this was semi-final No.2, I was determined to get round without incident. Along with Amoeba, I’m certain the Florida port has appeared in a grid before.
Thank you to the setter, I enjoyed this lots, Pip, I’m with you on Bridge’s position in the pantheon of games, and to Keriothe for Russell’s Teapot!
Around 40 minutes, but I did find it enjoyable, unlike quite a few of the recent cryptics. Interesting to see the statistic ‘correctly solved by 54 contestants’ but how many took part in the semi finals? Can anybody tell me?
Finished in two goes, the second on Thursday eve. 37’21”. Quite an effort, especially the bottom left COLONISER-COLOURS-TAUNT-NITRE nexus. Knew PENSACOLA from once having performed in the musical DAMES AT SEA:
Do you remember Pensacola?
Sultry dеsire, passion on fire, under thе moon
Those nights of splendor in Pensacola
Lost in your arms, under the palms, near the lagoon
You were so tender in Pensacola
While guitars played a haunting, taunting tune.
Fun times.