Sorry you who wait with bated breath for my Monday blog (yes, both of you!) but I just seem to have run out of that precious timey-wimey commodity this week as Dr Who might have it. So I’m not up to saying much, and certainly not up to composing ridiculous stories from the wrack left behind by the receding tide of my mental efforts.
Those mental efforts were not unduly strenuous today, most of the across clues slipping into their beds like well-trained contortionists (sorry, don’t know where that unpleasant simile came from, but it is just after 4.00 am from where I am sitting), and leaving the down clues to fall into place like well-oiled tumblers (there we go again). FOI was 1A as the Lord hath ordained in his infinite wisdom and tender mercy and LOI I think was 23A (one of only a couple that did not go in first time round). Many thanks to Teazel (pleased to meet you once again! My first ever date on this blog!) for about 8 minutes of pleasurable distraction, the height of which probably came with my COD 8D which, although a fairly straightforward anagram struck me as being a neat and well-rounded clue without any chips on its shoulders (or was it well-balanced with chips on both its shoulders? Like me and most of the other alumni of my alma mater? Enough, already, away with you and your proliferation of Latin dogtags!).
Definitions underlined in italics, and all explanations given just as they present themselves to my fuzzled (is that a word? If not it ought to be as that is what it feels like at this time in the morning) mind.
| Across | |
| 1 | The main picture? (8) |
| SEASCAPE – cryptic definition, with main in the sense of the ‘main expanse’, meaning the sea. | |
| 5 | One in a suit in the Athenaeum, for example (4) |
| CLUB – double definition, being a card in the suit of clubs, or a members’ club such as the Athenaeum. | |
| 9 | Concerned with a contest (5) |
| ABOUT – A + BOUT (contest). | |
| 10 | Reaching the highest area in old capital (7) |
| PEAKING – PEKING is the ‘old’ capital of China, i.e. before we all started calling it Beijing. Insert A for area, and you have the definition. | |
| 11 | Container not altogether minute (3) |
| TIN – TINY (minute), but ‘not altogether’ gives TIN. | |
| 12 | Rustic at first helping sick goat (9) |
| HILLBILLY – H (at first helping) + ILL (sick) + BILLY (goat). | |
| 13 | Lure with some succulent ices (6) |
| ENTICE – hidden in succulENT ICEs. | |
| 15 | Appear to embarrass (4,2) |
| SHOW UP – double definition. | |
| 17 | Was interested to follow cricket scores: be very nervous (3,6) |
| RUN SCARED – CARED (was interested) to follow RUNS (cricket scores). | |
| 19 | Slippery customer starts to explain: evident lies (3) |
| EEL – the ‘starts to’ Explain: Evident Lies. | |
| 20 | Top clue represented in lines of verse (7) |
| COUPLET – Anagram of TOP CLUE (‘re-presented’). | |
| 21 | Violence in an attempt to capture king (5) |
| AGGRO – A GO (an attempt) to ‘capture’ GR (GEORGIVS REX as they say in Latin). | |
| 22 | We hear aristocrat is a seaside attraction (4) |
| PIER – homophone, PEER = PIER. | |
| 23 | Home in sacred surroundings? Well, really! (8) |
| HONESTLY – NEST (home) in HOLY (sacred) surroundings. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Country mansion let out in American port (7) |
| SEATTLE – SEAT (country mansion) + anagram of LET (‘out’). | |
| 2 | A crop that is produced by a tree (5) |
| ACORN – A + CORN (crop). Also could just about be an & lit, as I suppose an acorn is a crop of sorts produced by an oak tree. Certainly you could say something like “I shook the oak’s branches and obtained a fine crop of acorns with which to feed the pigs.” So it probably holds up, but I don’t know if it was intended as such. | |
| 3 | Shut those geese up and get to the point (3,3,6) |
| CUT THE CACKLE – double definition, first one just a shade cryptic. | |
| 4 | One learning this is part of the eye (5) |
| PUPIL – double definition. | |
| 6 | Struck by illness, desperately do a will (4,3) |
| LAID LOW – anagram of DO A WILL (‘desperately’). | |
| 7 | Light vehicle that is full of listening devices? (5) |
| BUGGY – Double definition, one cryptic. The light vehicle could alternatively be full of insects, or mistakes in a computer program, but in this case the poor baby (or golfer?) is travelling with hidden microphones. | |
| 8 | Hot crab, ready cooked, that provides energy (12) |
| CARBOHYDRATE – anagram of HOT CRAB READY (‘cooked’). | |
| 14 | Haircut not raised, certainly (7) |
| TONSURE – TON (‘not’ in this down clue ‘raised’) + SURE (certainly). | |
| 16 | Ancient punishment, one bitter to swallow, or finally deadly (7) |
| PILLORY – a PILL is about the only thing we swallow that is by tradition ‘bitter’. Maybe there is bitter gall, but I think that ususally goes in the opposite direction. PILL + OR + Y (finally deadlY) gets you there. | |
| 17 | Step right up to summarise (5) |
| RECAP – PACE (step) + R (right) written ‘up’ in this down clue. | |
| 18 | Proportion found in peroration (5) |
| RATIO – hidden in peroRATIOn. | |
| 19 | Rowing team’s bulk initially reduced (5) |
| EIGHT – WEIGHT (bulk) losing its first letter (initially reduced). | |
Edited at 2018-02-26 05:17 am (UTC)
Edited at 2018-02-26 10:33 am (UTC)
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
5’10”
15:22. A good puzzle, though did not know CUT THE CACKLE.
LOI 23a as quite a few words fit the checkers : I tried to make COVENTRY fit for a while.
COD 12a as with just the Y in it could have been -NANNY.
Are we still doing MAIN=sea? Not a fan of these private crossword in-jokes, for homonyms that are desperately dated (in the OED marked as ‘now chiefly poetic)
Certainly see nothing wrong with sea = “main”.. O’er the hills and o’er the main…..
PlayUpPompey
A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle, at the easy end of the spectrum for me. Thanks to Teazel and don. It took my mind off the disastrous commute, as Network Rail decided to start the chaos early by a signal failure at London Bridge.
Templar
My solve was interrupted by lunch but was in the 15-20 minute range. David