08:12. An enjoyable mix of the not so difficult with a few that needed teasing out.
I thought this was pretty much on the money for an ideal QC. There were some good surfaces, starting off with 1a and other smiles along the way, particularly the born-again granny. Any minor frustrations were of my own making. Overall, just what this solver ordered.
Thanks to Dangle
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in wordplay not occurring in answer indicated by strikethrough, insertion point indicated by tilde ∼.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Whimsically extinguish pleasure? (7) |
| DELIGHT – To ‘extinguish’ eg a flame is to DE LIGHT it, ie the reverse of lighting it. Very good; an Uxbridge English Dictionary clue to start with and yes, it is in there. | |
| 5 | Make gentle flapping motion with a newspaper? (4) |
| WAFT – W (‘with’) A (‘a’) FT (‘newspaper’)
Not quite sure of the function of the question mark here. |
|
| 7 | Stay away from American invalid (5) |
| AVOID – A (‘American’) VOID (‘invalid’)
VOID for ‘invalid’ as in “null and void”. I’m embarrassed to admit this was my last in. I couldn’t stop myself trying to work out which of the two common senses of ‘invalid’ was meant, instead of just biffing the answer which I should have done. |
|
| 8 | Surprisingly genial, Charlie is adorable (7) |
| ANGELIC – Anagram (‘surprisingly’) of GENIAL and C (‘Charlie’) | |
| 10 | Cold water lovely when face is scratched (3) |
| ICE – |
|
| 11 | Current business partner (9) |
| ACCOMPANY – AC (‘Current’) COMPANY (‘business’)
Partner as a noun in the surface reading, as a verb for the def. |
|
| 13 | Reported crafty bloke in natural water feature (6) |
| GEYSER – Aural wordplay (‘Reported’) of GEEZER (‘crafty bloke’)
I didn’t know what the ‘crafty’ was doing here, but Chambers has, as sense 3 for GEEZER “A crafty or unscrupulous person” without specifying gender. However, I doubt “geezer” would ever be used to describe a female, ‘crafty’ or not. Oxford Dictionaries also gives (spelt as pronounced) “guyser” (which I would use) and “gayser” as alternative pronunciations of GEYSER. |
|
| 14 | Incentive from coach to become corrupt (6) |
| CARROT – CAR (‘coach’) ROT (‘to become corrupt’)
No, we’re not talking about dodgy dealings in the sports world. |
|
| 17 | Six deliveries in cricket somehow worth extra run (9) |
| OVERTHROW – OVER (‘Six deliveries in cricket’) then anagram (‘somehow’) of WORTH
Ah, the good old days; I’m old enough to remember when there were eight balls in an over. An overthrow is a run scored when the ball is thrown back to the wicket and not retrieved by the fielders there, allowing the batsman time to score an extra run or runs. I’ve always thought it unfair that the overthrow runs are counted against a bowler’s figures (unless things have changed) when it’s often not the bowler’s fault. |
|
| 19 | Turning on setter (3) |
| GEL – A reversal (‘Turning’) of LEG (‘on’)
Two cricket related clues in a row – the leg side being the side or half of the cricket pitch or ground, divided by a line running from the stumps at either end of the pitch, in which the batter has his or her legs / is standing. Well known enough in crossword land, even for non-cricketers. ‘Setter’ here as in something which sets or hardens. |
|
| 20 | Making fun of second Conservative leader (7) |
| MOCKING – MO (‘second’) C (‘Conservative’) KING (‘leader’) | |
| 22 | Setter’s mostly tender feet (5) |
| IAMBI – I AM (‘Setter’s) BI Another use of ‘setter’ after 19a. Good to see that everything is right with the world; IAMBI – just what you think of for ‘feet’, in the world of crosswords anyway. No need for a podiatrist – veterinary or human. |
|
| 23 | Collapse of pound welcomed by dandy (4) |
| FLOP – L (‘pound’) contained in (‘welcomed by’) F∼OP (‘dandy’) | |
| 24 | Disinfect tips in outskirts of Carlisle (7) |
| CLEANSE – LEANS (‘tips’) contained in (‘in’) C You can cleanse eg skin of make-up or skin oils without necessarily disinfecting (attempting to kill bacteria and other microbes), but to cleanse eg a wound usually does imply disinfection. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Contract to tidy up parlour (7,4) |
| DRAWING ROOM – DRAW IN (‘Contract’) GROOM (‘to tidy up’) | |
| 2 | WC Fields’ conclusion on cathedral city, more or less (7) |
| LOOSELY – LOO (‘WC’) I wondered what W. C. Fields might be doing in the fens, but no full stops after ‘W’ and ‘C’ are a clue to “lift and separate” these two letters from ‘Fields’. |
|
| 3 | Gran opted to change into responsible adult (9) |
| GODPARENT – Anagram (‘to change’) of GRAN OPTED
I wonder what sort of mischief she was getting into before? |
|
| 4 | Some idiot ran ceremony in stupor (6) |
| TRANCE – Hidden (‘Some’) in |
|
| 5 | Comedian’s salary cut (3) |
| WAG – WAG |
|
| 6 | Tripped over a guy (5) |
| FELLA – FELL (‘Tripped’) A (‘a’)
In Collins, defined as “a nonstandard variant of fellow”. |
|
| 9 | Make clear: less clarity is bad (11) |
| CRYSTALLISE – Anagram (‘is bad’) of LESS CLARITY | |
| 12 | When email is rewritten? In the interval (9) |
| MEANWHILE – Anagram (‘is rewritten’) of WHEN EMAIL | |
| 15 | Group of soldiers shortened course of treatment (7) |
| REGIMEN – REGIMEN |
|
| 16 | Very sad, finally got something to smoke served up (6) |
| TRAGIC – |
|
| 18 | Surpass 40 in Rome, it’s said (5) |
| EXCEL – Aural wordplay (‘it’s said’) of XL (’40 in Rome’) | |
| 21 | Mischievous child of one politician (3) |
| IMP – I (‘one’) MP (‘politician’)
A couple of gentle ones at the end to wind down. |
|
Not on the wavelength. I started out with waft, and then biffed wit, even though it clearly didn’t parse. We just had iambi, which I saw at once, and we just had carrot, which I did not see for quite a while. I wanted the parlour to be the sitting room, even though it clearly did not parse. Ignorance of cricket held me back with overthrow, and I struggle with the anagram for crystallise.
Time: 13:07
9:22
ACCOMPANY was my LOI by a long shot; it took me forever to see what was going on.
14 minutes. I had a wrong answer at 1ac that delayed me but I can’t remember what it was now. Nice puzzle.