Two new additions to “Times For The Times” today: a report on the Club Monthly special crossword, and me as blogger.
The Club Monthly is only available to Crossword Club members (link below right) and is noticeably harder than the daily cryptic. I would say it was roughly equivalent to the easier Mephistos we have been seeing lately, but I would be interested in others’ views.
I had trouble with 1ac because I wanted to get NAM in there somewhere so kept looking for PANAMx places that didn’t exist, which held up progress rather. Last in was the NE corner, with the strange DESSYATINE last of all.
Best clue Irukandji, but favourite clue Dogy.. I solved this three weeks ago, before offering to blog it, but I have done my best to remember everything.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PARAMARIBO– PA+RAM(ARI = air*)BO; the capital of Surinam |
| 6 | USED – odd letters of “unsteady.” |
| 10 | omitted – ask if puzzled |
| 11 | DIELYTRAS – DIES containing ARTY L rev. The species bleeding hearts used to be, apparently they are DICENTRAS nowadays |
| 12 | ODD COME SHORTLY – (MODs cold theory)* marked as “an early day (archaic)” in my Chambers, and rightly so |
| 14 | INSULIN– INSUL(t) + IN = pancreatic hormone |
| 15 | YAHWIST – (This way)* = OT writer of passages in the Pentateuch |
| 17 | BESEECH – BEECHES with the ES taken inside = ask.. thanks to Nestor for pointing that one out |
| 19 | MESQUIN – moi = ME + SQUIN(t) = mean, ungracious |
| 20 | SHAWL WAISTCOAT – Irish dramatist = SHAW + AWL rev + I = 1 + ST(C = caught)OAT, resulting in a garment “with a large prominent pattern” |
| 23 | MOTOSCAFI – MO + TOSCA + as long as = IF rev., Italian for motorboat. I was looking for it to be the better known VAPORETTI |
| 24 | ON-DIT – hidden, (sec)ON-DIT(em), no sweat for us Georgette Heyer fans |
| 25 | DOGY – DO(d)GY, a motherless calf. If you do nothing else today, click on this link, it is why I laughed out loud when I got this, a word most people my age have heard but very few actually used. |
| 26 | HOMONYMITY – HOITY (- toity) containing my rev. and MON, its French equivalent. It all works, I think.. |
| Down | |
| 1 | PAUA PA(d = duke)UA, a New Zealand name for the abalone shell |
| 2 | RIGIDISES – RISES containing I DIG = taunt, rev. |
| 3 | MAGICAL REALISM – (A small grimace)* – a fancy name for fantasy |
| 4 | RODSMAN – DS = detective sergeant in ROMAN, the ordinary upright type of type that isn’t italic etc. |
| 5 | BHEESTY – HE EST. inside BY making Bheesty, an Indian water carrier. If you knew this, you are a better man than I.. |
| 7 | omitted – ask if puzzled |
| 8 | DESSYATINE – DESTINE containing SAY* = some land in Russia, specifically 2.7 acres thereof – not difficult, except for the resulting word. Why not use rods, like my Parish Council does? |
| 9 | HYPOPHYSECTOMY – H(eres)y twice around POP = popular, + SECT + O MY = cripes, at least if you’re Billy Bunter it might |
| 13 | DISBOSOMED = revealed, (B-side’s mood)* |
| 16 | IRUKANDJI – a stinging jellyfish: IR + UK + AND + J + I. Nice surface. It held me up for a while because it is only in the more recent Chambers editions, not the 9th Ed. I keep under my chair.. |
| 18 | HUANACO – a wild llama found from the first letters of “herds using altiplano not at coastal outlands” |
| 19 | MISKITO – KIT = utensils inside MISO salty paste, to find a Central American I’d never heard of |
| 21 | ANTI-G – a reference to Sophocles’ tragedy ANTIG(one) |
| 22 | STEY – YET = still, S = succeeded, in ascent |
I agree with you that this was certainly on a par with some of our recent Mephistos and actually harder than than the ludicrously easy one we had three weeks ago.
I don’t see any other explanation to 17A and thought it a little weak. The rest very good. I don’t recall how long it took me to solve.