20:39. This was mostly gentle, though I spent quite a long time trying to work out the lower-left corner.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Piece of hair cut at an angle requires this (4) |
| LOCK – perhaps a reference to a lock mitre? something to do with a canal? I feel unconvinced by this. Perhaps it’s a reverse hidden and there’s some word with LOCK in it? | |
| 3 | Turned up again outside wine bars (10) |
| RESURFACED – RED (wine) around (bars) SURFACE (outside) | |
| 9 | Military commander pierced by tip of this weapon (7) |
| SHOTGUN – SHOGUN (military commander) around (pierced by) first letter (tip) of THIS | |
| 11 | Small-scale scene I love in theatre (7) |
| DIORAMA – I O (love) in DRAMA (theatre) | |
| 12 | Person with money wearing more elaborate clothes (9) |
| FINANCIER – FANCIER (more elaborate) around (clothes) IN (wearing) | |
| 13 | Britpop band rocked on the radio (5) |
| SUEDE – homophone (on the radio) SWAYED (rocked) | |
| 14 | This part of magazine could be recent (6,6) |
| CENTRE SPREAD – reverse anagram (SPREAD) of CENTRE (recent) | |
| 18 | Epic historical work [is] somewhat over-the-top (3,9) |
| OLD TESTAMENT – OTT (over-the-top) reduced by a letter (somewhat) | |
| 21 | One likely to wade in after getting pushed around (5) |
| EGRET – hidden in (in) AFTER GETTING reversed (pushed around) | |
| 22 | Making good broadcast on a revolutionary (9) |
| REPAIRING – AIRING (broadcast) on PER (a) reversed (revolutionary) | |
| 24 | ChatGPT possibly invents things [and] is relevant (7) |
| APPLIES – APP (ChatGPT possibly) LIES (invents things) | |
| 25 | Old despot from America [is] difficult to deal with (7) |
| ONEROUS – O (old) NERO (despot) US (from America) | |
| 26 | Countenance / particular means of communicating (10) |
| EXPRESSION – double definition | |
| 27 | Criminal / tendency (4) |
| BENT – double definition | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Coral reefs with no resistance to change look less good (4,4) |
| LOSE FACE – CORAL REEFS with R (resistance) completely removed (no) anagrammed (to change) | |
| 2 | The King having his investiture? (8) |
| CROWNING – CR (the King) OWNING (having)
(Thanks to vinyl for parsing.) |
|
| 4 | Sullen nuisance displaying listlessness and dissatisfaction (5) |
| ENNUI – hidden in (displaying) SULLEN NUISANCE | |
| 5 | Prepared to fight, subject to members’ control (5,4) |
| UNDER ARMS – UNDER ARMS (subject to members’ control) | |
| 6 | State where ignorance is bliss? (5,8) |
| FOOL’S PARADISE – cryptic definition | |
| 7 | Head of cage bird that’s black [and] yellow (6) |
| CRAVEN – first letter (head) of CAGE + RAVEN (bird that’s black) | |
| 8 | Duke and bishop filled with fear [in] tower (6) |
| DRAWER – D (duke) + (and) RR (bishop) around (filled with) AWE (fear)
As in, to tow or draw. |
|
| 10 | Senior officer’s way of getting around mass protest (7,6) |
| GENERAL STRIKE – GENERAL’S (senior officer’s) TRIKE (way of getting around) | |
| 15 | Artists in a funny way capturing lives? (9) |
| SATIRISTS – ARTISTS anagrammed (in a funny way) around (capturing) IS (lives) | |
| 16 | Small interval recalled by individual (8) |
| SEMITONE – reversal of (recalled) TIMES (by) + ONE (individual) | |
| 17 | Seats get vandalised [in] flats and properties (5,3) |
| STAGE SET – SEATS GET anagrammed (vandalised)
‘Flats’ are flat pieces of scenery. ‘Properties’ are perhaps better known as props. |
|
| 19 | Tell family member to avoid Roman square (6) |
| RELATE – RELATIVE (family member) – (to avoid) IV (Roman square = 4) | |
| 20 | Support for young boxer? (4,2) |
| PROP UP – PRO (for) PUP (young boxer?) | |
| 23 | Petty officer fences stolen picture (5) |
| PHOTO – PO (petty officer) around (fences) HOT (stolen) | |
I found this one hard but not too hard, and like Jeremy I couldn’t make much of the second definition for lock. Our texting back and forth about the clue didn’t help; well, it’s either woodworking or canals. On the other hand, relate, financier, and centre spread were pretty good.
Time: 47:23
My thoughts were on the canal on which a ‘cut’ is a stretch of water: “cut at an angle requires this” = A canal (“cut”) running at an incline (“at an angle”) requires this (a LOCK) to function.
Slow but mostly sure (apart from the parsing of 1ac) until I hit a brick wall with intersecting answers 21 and 19 outstanding .With 55 minutes on the clock I abandoned it for the night and after some sleep I spotted the reverse hidden EGRET immediately. RELATE came easily after that.
An enjoyable challenge.
25.52, so pretty tame for a Friday I thought. I too was flummoxed by lock and needed Jeremy’s assistance to see RESURFACED, SEMITONE (I missed the ‘by’) and what Roman square was all about. Very enjoyable and nicely pitched puzzle.
From Mississippi:
All my powers of EXPRESSION, and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
13:53, my fastest Friday solve ever, yet still slowed down by the fact that I didn’t know SUEDE as a band nor FOOL’S PARADISE as an expression. Nice puzzle.
14:20. Quite a tough workout I thought. If Jack’s parsing of LOCK is correct (and I can’t think of an alternative) then sheesh, it’s a bit much isn’t it?
Got STAGE SET without knowing why (thanks Jeremy) and also mis-parsed SEMITONE which is a better clue than I’d realised.
Never heard of SUEDE (did Sweet and Slade merge in the 90s?) but it had to be.
Liked the Roman square and the clues for SATIRISTS and ONEROUS. Excellent puzzle overall.