Had to bash this out fast as a result of (a) work and then (b) champagne as the fruits of work. No frills; no time either (see point (b) above). Hope you enjoyed it.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Makeshift quantity of butter he’d put in cup (7-2) |
| PATCHED-UP – PAT [quantity of butter] + HE’D inside CUP. | |
| 6 | Pet fur? Nothing shed (3) |
| CAT – C{o}AT. A coat could be “fur”, remove the o [nothing shed]) | |
| 8 | Glamour in good collection of puppies? (7) |
| GLITTER – G [good] + LITTER [collection of puppies]. | |
| 9 | Some assassin in Japan (5) |
| NINJA – hidden, and an &Lit. | |
| 10 | Confirm nastiest tuba is melted down (12) |
| SUBSTANTIATE– anagram [is melted down] of “nastiest tuba”. | |
| 12 | Hard wood is what steerer holds (4) |
| HELM – H [hard] + ELM [wood]. I got fixated on “ash” for the wood and had to move on till the E arrived. | |
| 13 | Boy returned hot food (4) |
| NOSH – NOS [boy returned, i.e. reversal of “son”] + H [hot]. There used to be a takeaway van on the pier at Tobermory called Posh Nosh, marvellous scallops straight off the boats. | |
| 17 | Emergency worker can name album that’s playing (12) |
| AMBULANCEMAN – anagram [that’s playing] of “can name album”. | |
| 20 | Skill retaining O and A in key supply of blood (5) |
| AORTA – ART [skill] including O [retaining O] + A [and A]. | |
| 21 | Emergency mission, perhaps, first couple of chaps having fallen from mountain transport (7) |
| AIRLIFT – {ch}AIRLIFT. Chairlift is “mountain transport”; remove the CH [first couple of chaps having fallen]. | |
| 23 | Popular name for place to get drinks (3) |
| INN – IN [popular] + N [name]. | |
| 24 | Precocious child — great new source of exasperation, possibly (9) |
| TWEENAGER – anagram [possibly] of “great new” and E [source of exasperation]. Chambers doesn’t list tweenager at all. Collins just has it as “a child of approximately eight to fourteen years of age”, nothing to do with being precocious. Not totally convinced by the definition, therefore, but I don’t have online OED and my paper one is far too elderly to have it, so one source unchecked. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Servant opening up over closure of palace (4) |
| PAGE – PAG [opening up, i.e. reversal of “gap”] above [over] E [closure of palace]. | |
| 2 | Compliment family welcoming aunt regularly (7) |
| TRIBUTE – TRIBE [family] containing [welcoming] UT [aunt regularly]. | |
| 3 | Attractive MC disowning son (3) |
| HOT – “host” [MC, i.e. Master of Ceremonies] without the S [disowning son]. | |
| 4 | Doctor to act badly around university city (6) |
| DURHAM – DR [doctor] + HAM [to act badly] going outside [around] U [university]. | |
| 5 | Little change about English idiot? A sorry state (9) |
| PENITENCE – PENCE [little change] going around [about] E [English] + NIT [idiot]. | |
| 6 | Conservative General Assembly dance (5) |
| CONGA -CON [Conservative] + GA [General Assembly, no doubt a valid abbreviation somewhere for someone]. | |
| 7 | In the morning, diving into the southern river (6) |
| THAMES – AM [in the morning] going inside [diving into] THE + S [the southern]. | |
| 11 | Time to support distribution of musical’s programme on different media? (9) |
| SIMULCAST – T [time] at the bottom of [to support] an anagram [distribution of] “musical’s”. | |
| 14 | Winter sport takings revived (7) |
| SKATING – anagram [revived] of “takings”. | |
| 15 | Question one kidnapping a sailor from Arab country (6) |
| QATARI – Q [question] + I [one] containing [kidnapping] A TAR [a sailor]. Doesn’t look right without a U, does it? | |
| 16 | I am at end of line welcoming new resident (6) |
| INMATE – I’M [I am] + AT [at] + E [end of line] containing [welcoming] N [new]. | |
| 18 | Dull person endlessly referring to chemical element (5) |
| BORON – BOR{e} [dull person endlessly] + ON [referring to]. | |
| 19 | Celebrity’s backing singers (4) |
| STAR – people who “sing” (grass, squeal, inform) are sometimes called “rats”. Reversal gives you STAR. I hate it when the reversal indicator is the middle of three words. Rats/star, star/rats. No real way to be sure which it was so I waited for checkers. | |
| 22 | Sprint disaster — I must drop out (3) |
| RUN – “ruin” [disaster] without the I [I must drop out]. | |
You might have an older Chambers, Templar. I think it was the 2014 Chambers that was the first to include the following definition of tweenager: A child who, although not yet a teenager, has already developed an interest in fashion, pop music, and exasperating his or her parents.
5:25, got held up by the long anagrams.
14 minutes with time lost on TWEENAGER and ruling out HASH at 12ac. The former appeared once before in a QC 4 years ago.
We have TIMES QUICK across the middle.
Good catch!
Seeing TIMES QUICK didn’t help me with a quick time and I just avoided the SCC at 19 minutes. Never really got going and I thought there were some hard ones here, especially TWEENAGER (love the Chambers def) and SIMULCAST. I agree with Templar about the positioning of the reversal indicator for STAR at 19d, especially as the across clues providing crossing letters weren’t easy.
Favourites were NINJA and THAMES; I imagine not too much morning diving taking place with your current weather.
Thanks to Pedro and Templar – enjoy the champers
Surprisingly straightforward with some chestnuts and anagrams that jumped out into place. Finished in 16mins for a good result. Cold wind dropped the temperature to forego fishing so opted for a sweater and bike ride instead. Definitely exercised pedalling back against the wind.
Thanks Pedro and Templar.