58 really easy clues, one book that gave me more trouble than it should have and one single clue so ludicrous it probably belongs in a barred puzzle (or preferably in a dustbin). 17 minutes for the first 58, another 3 finding the middle word of the book and another 10 staring at ?O?T trying to decide between POST and FORT, neither of which I could adequately match to the wordplay. A postscript after writing the blog, 17 minutes for all but 2 seems an awfully long time now. I can’t see any clues that couldn’t have been answered almost immediately.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SHATTER – S (close to tearS) the HATTER (milliner) |
| 5 | OPPOSITE – OPPO (counterpart) + E around SIT (pose) |
| 9 | ZLOTYS –anagram of ZY (unknown couple) + LOTS. Is “travelling with” an adequate anagram indicator? Nice definition though – “ready for foreign trip” |
| 13 | AT THE END OF THE DAY – two meanings, one employing a smidgen of whimsy. |
| 14 | AS WELL – A SWELL |
| 16 | PETER PAN – PETER is robbers’ slang for safe |
| 17 | FORT – this is the best answer I could come up with. I hope it’s wrong because, if not, it’s an absolute shocker of a clue. Is a FORT really an “outlying trading station”? I can’t find any evidence that it’s necessarily used for trading. The next bit relies on ABROAD and FORTH being synonymous. Again, I can find nothing but the merest suggestion that they are. I can’t think what the setter was thinking of. This was probably the easiest Jumbo I’ve ever done except for this one clue. It’s almost like it was put in to single-handedly increase the difficulty level. |
| 18 | ENRAPTURE – (REPEAT RUN)* |
| 20 | GENDARME – GEN (information) then (ARMED)* |
| 21 | HORNETS NEST – S in (TENSE NORTH)* |
| 24 | HANGS FIRE – Not sure about HANGS and DECKS being synonymous. I presume it’s the “decorate” meaning of deck, but that’s doesn’t necessarily mean you have to hang something. I await correction |
| 25 | HOUSEMEN – HE-MEN touring O (round) US (of A) |
| 26 | FAR,O |
| 29 | CHEERLEADER – cryptic definition hinging on “hips” being “cheers” (hip hip hooray) |
| 31 | DISINTEREST – DIs (detective inspectors) then INTEREST (return) |
| 33 | PRIVATE EYES – two meanings, one an apostrophised mag |
| 36 | STANDOFFISH – is there anybody left who doesn’t know the “stand of fish” treatment for this word? |
| 38 | ACRE – ACE (one) around R (right) |
| 39 | TIA MARIA – 1 with A MARIA (a girl) after T (time) |
| 41 | CONS,TRAIN |
| 44 | CREST,FALLEN |
| 45 | ENTREPOT – anagram of ONE PRETT[-y] |
| 48 | THICK HEAD – two meanings |
| 49 | ARCH – [-m]ARCH |
| 50 | ADDITION – ADDICTION without C[oke] |
| 52 | RANDOM – RAN DO (organised party) + [ter]M |
| 53 | MAKE BOTH ENDS MEET – a smile at last! “the Channel Tunnel Consortium had to” |
| 54 | ERRATA – RAT in ERA |
| 55 | JACK PLUG – JACK (put up) PLUG (advertise) |
| 56 | EYEWASH – another from the Times Book Of Mouldy Old Chestnuts. E (english) YEW,ASH (trees) |
| Down | |
| 1 | SNAPPY – SPY around NAP |
| 2 | ASTUTE – (STATUE)* |
| 3 | THE,CREEPS |
| 4 | RANK AND FILE – barely crypic def |
| 5 | OBOE |
| 6 | PUT TOGETHER – PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER without TWO AND TWO (four) |
| 7 | SLEUTH HOUND – another barely cryptic definition |
| 8 | TO A DEGREE – two meanings |
| 10 | LAST POST – LAST (least likely) POST (place) |
| 11 | THE QUIET AMERICAN – T[rash] HE (ambassador, His Eminence) QUIET (modest) American (US). An anti-war novel by Graham Greene. Modest for ?U?E? took me a while figure out. I don’t quite know why |
| 12 | SALIENT – ALIEN in ST |
| 15 | TREE FERN – REEFER (spliff) in T[-i]N |
| 19 | FRIENDLY – FLY (smart) around R (run) 1, END |
| 22 | CHICKPEA – HICK (bumpkin) in (CAPE)* |
| 23 | INTERIOR DESIGNER – yet aother barely cryptic definition |
| 27 | OUTSHONE – (NOT HOUSE)* |
| 28 | BEEF – BEE (following, as in a spelling bee) + F (following) |
| 30 | REAL – two meanings |
| 32 | SCARCITY – CAR CITY following S[trike]. Detroit is known as Motor Town but I suppose Car City is close enough |
| 34 | EMIRATES – anagram of TIMESHARE without the H |
| 35 | SPRING A LEAK – SPEAK around RING (washer) + AL (aluminium) |
| 36 | STATE SCHOOL – (SATCHELS TOO)* |
| 37 | DINNER DANCE – I don’t want to keep using the phrase “barely cryptic definition” but how else could I describe this? |
| 40 | MELODRAMA – MELOD[-y] + RAM + A[-bba] |
| 42 | TOOK ISSUE – TOOK (nicked) ISSUE (children) |
| 43 | STAKE OUT – STAKE (post) OUT (abroad) |
| 44 | COTERI E – ERIE (lake) with COT (bed) first |
| 46 | CINEMA – AMEN (last word) I C (caught) all reversed |
| 47 | SNATCH – S (head of State) NATCH (of course, a shortened from of “naturally ” I suppose) |
| 51 | SHAG – hidden in geiSHA Girl. Thankfully defined as “flighty creature) |
I wondered about 17 too, but just bunged it in. It turns out to be a Chambers clue. One of the definitions of “fort” is “outlying trading-station”, and one of the definitions of “forth” is “abroad”.
17ac is a perfectly reasonable clue for an ordinary Times cryptic – as Anonymous says: “think Wild West” for the “outlying trading station”; and as keriothe points out: “forth” = “abroad”.
I think the anagram indicator in 9ac is simply “travelling”, which seems OK to me. On the other hand if I hadn’t known ZLOTYS, I might perhaps have been a little worried about “unknown couple” for Y and Z.
These days I look back over almost every puzzle and think: why on earth did I take so long? You just have to keep telling yourself that 17 minutes is really a very decent time for all but two clues.