2009 Championship Qualifier No.3

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: About another 10% added to the time for No. 2, which took me about 25% longer than No.1. Others found 2 easier than 1 and just might have found this even easier. Four answers entered without full wordplay understanding: 4, 1D, 16, 21.

There’s a bit of food and drink here (5 answers), and quite a few C- or M- answers (C wins by 6 answers to 4).

Across
1 COTTON – from “cotton on” = “Begin to understand”
4 (a/c)CUS(TOM)ER – tom=male, as in cats
10 M(AGNES,I)UM
11 BAR=restriction,ON=relating to. Barons and fat cats are both wealthy industrialists.
12 S(HERB)ET – a sweet in the news fairly recently when the iconic but useless “sherbet fountain” was revamped
13 NO.=small number,THING=obsession. “Cipher” shares word origins and some meanings with “zero”. “Small number” is a small word for “number”
14 TE(SS=steamship)A – char=TEA
15 CHIN(a)-CHIN(a) – remember your rhyming slang mate=china (plate)
18 MAN,DO=party,LIN=nil reversed. More number fun here as 13 had to be replaced by the answer to clue 13 so in this puzzle, 13 = 0.
20 M(OCH)A – until a visit to Scotland a while back, I was convinced that “och” was only said by fictional Scots, but one B&B lady used it to start nearly every sentence she uttered.
23 ANAGRAM – “licensed trade” being an anag. of “decentralised”
25 BO(M.B.)ARD
26 LYDIA – hidden word. See wiki if you want to know where in Asia Minor …
27 INELEGANT – (gal in teens – S)*
28 D,YNA=any rev.,MITE=child
29 S(TRIP)Y – 2 being 2D TIGRESS, and SY the outskirts of ShrewsburY
 
Down
1 C.(A MP’S IT)E. – IT=(sex) appeal
2 T(I,G)RESS
3 OVERBOARD – ref. the metaphorical “to go overboard” = be enthusiastic
5 UNMENTIONABLES – ancient slang for underwear = “slips, possibly”
6 T=”must ultimately”,I(BE=occupy a position)T – a nice bit of wordplay to untangle in a hurry.
7 MARTINI(que=”in Paris that”)
8 REN(e.g.)E – there are so many Frenchmen – please can we have Valéry, François, Jacques, Gaston or Emile a bit more often?
9 FIFTH=not the first,COLUMNIST=press writer
16 CA(ME M.B.E. = “honoured writer”!)RT – probably my favourite clue in the puzzle
17 BAND(ITR=”is too rife, at first”)Y – bandy=trade as in “trade insults”
19 A,BAND,ON
21 CHA(PAT=a little butter)I(n) – for once butter does not indicate a goat – “a little butter” could have been KID.
22 BAL=Lab. rev.,LAD
24 REA(L)M – ream=papers

5 comments on “2009 Championship Qualifier No.3”

  1. Solving time: about 3% taken off the time for No. 2, which took me about 1% less time than No. 1.  These variations are statistically insignificant, with each time hovering around the x-minute mark.

    I thought this was a nice puzzle.  I don’t get the surface reading of 28ac (BOMBARD), though: “Blow up daughter, rejecting any child.”  And in 21dn (CHAPATI) “Hotel group” is rather specific for CHAIN.

    1. 28’s surface is a mystery to me too! “Hotel group”: not minding unindicated def by example, I’m maybe not the best person to comment, but this setter did indicate it at 12A and 5D. “Hotel group=>CHAIN” seems less of a leap in category (or numbers involved) than “sweet basil=>HERB” and hence more permissible for the sake of a good surface reading – “Business grouping briefly keeping a little butter for bread” doesn’t really fly.
      1. Yes, it’s certainly less of a leap.  In my less inquisitorial moments I don’t mind sacrificing rigour in the interests of an otherwise good clue, and this just about squeaks through on that count.  What I find unacceptable is when a false generalization has no compensating features, and just argues laziness, carelessness or (whisper it) dim-wittedness on the part of the setter.
        1. I’m a tad confused. Mark’s mention of s/r for 28A would be for DYNAMITE (which fits the clue as quoted) not BOMBARD which is at 25A. I haven’t seen the puzzle so can’t comment on the latter, but I’d be interested to see the BOMBARD clue in its entirety if that’s the one causing confusion.
          1. Sorry, that was dim-wittedness on my part.  The clue with the inexplicable surface reading is indeed the one I correctly quoted and numbered – but then I looked down at the grid for the answer, saw BOMBARD, and must have unthinkingly linked it to ‘Blow up’.  BOMBARD is irrelevant to the above discussion.  In case you still want to see it, 25ac reads: “Attack doctor dividing committee”.

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