Everything here went in pretty smoothly for me. There were a couple of clues (17A and 5D) that pushed me to the edge of my GK, but they still went in straight away because in each case the rest of the clue left no room for ambiguity. 17A came out of my horticultural knowledge black hole, but I vaguely remembered the plant in question and the cryptic was very kind. And in 5D I didn’t know the Scottish farm labourer (in spite of my Scottish ancestry) but the definition was so straightforward that the cryptic was almost superfluous. Thanks very much to Orpheus for a gentle start to the week.
My FOI was 1A, and I think my LOI was 18A. No particular stand-out COD but I’ll go with 4D.
Definitions are underlined and everything else is explained just as I see it as simply as I can.
| Across | |
| 1 | Policeman left girl: that’s the problem (7) |
| DILEMMA – DI (Detective Inspector, policeman) + L (left) + EMMA (girl). | |
| 5 | Embrace European of substantial proportions (4) |
| HUGE – HUG (embrace) + E (European). | |
| 7 | Lament extinct bird in Scottish mountain (6) |
| BEMOAN – MOA (extinct bird) ‘in’ BEN (Scottish mountain, as in Ben Nevis). | |
| 8 | Proceed on horseback in American territory (6) |
| CANTER – hidden word: ‘in’ AmeriCAN TERritory. | |
| 9 | Eg hotel booking giving rise to doubt? (11) |
| RESERVATION – double definition. | |
| 10 | Stick publicity notice in this place (6) |
| ADHERE – AD (publicity notice) + HERE (in this place). | |
| 12 | Part of school day — full stop! (6) |
| PERIOD – double definition. | |
| 14 | Confined criminals given regular coaching (11) |
| CONSTRAINED – CONS (convicts, criminals) + TRAINED (given regular coaching). | |
| 17 | Showy plant in lodging-place, one in borders of Zambia (6) |
| ZINNIA – INN (lodging place) + I (one) ‘in’ ZA (the ‘borders’ of ZambiA). | |
| 18 | Authority to keep daughter’s cosmetic (6) |
| POWDER – POWER (authority) ‘keeping’ D (daughter). | |
| 20 | Covered in writing fluid — and smelly? No way (4) |
| INKY – |
|
| 21 | Huntsman’s cry produced by friend in front of this house (5-2) |
| TALLY-HO – ALLY (friend) ‘in’ T (front of This) + HO (house). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Female creature drover regularly observed (3) |
| DOE – DrOvEr ‘regularly observed’. | |
| 2 | Quick inspection from king in flowing robe, ultimately? (4-3) |
| LOOK-SEE – K (king) ‘in’ LOOSE (flowing) + E (robE ‘ultimately’). | |
| 3 | Pit employee of little importance, do we hear? (5) |
| MINER – sounds like (‘do we hear?’) MINOR (of little importance). | |
| 4 | A vice securing top of rotating light (3,4) |
| ARC LAMP – A CLAMP (a vice) ‘securing’ R (‘top’ of Rotating). | |
| 5 | Old Scottish farmworker, initially identifying Asian language (5) |
| HINDI – HIND (old Scottish farmworker) + I (‘initially’ Identifying). | |
| 6 | One gored badly crossing western forest (9) |
| GREENWOOD – anagram (‘badly’) of ONE GORED ‘crossing’ W (western). | |
| 9 | Revolutionary undertaking, preparation for publishing (9) |
| REDACTION – RED (revolutionary) + ACTION (undertaking). | |
| 11 | Passage from old religious pamphlet (7) |
| EXTRACT – EX (old) + TRACT (religious pamphlet). | |
| 13 | Fugitive Garda finally found in part of airport (7) |
| RUNAWAY – A (GardA ‘finally’) ‘found in’ RUNWAY (part of airport). | |
| 15 | Girl’s granny, extremely canny (5) |
| NANCY – NAN (granny) + CY (CannY ‘extremely’ (i.e. taking the ‘extremes’ of the word)). | |
| 16 | Horrify a friend, parking in the centre (5) |
| APPAL – A PAL (a friend) with P (parking) in the centre. | |
| 19 | For example, one’s initial self-importance (3) |
| EGO – EG (for example) + O (One’s initial). | |
The bad news was that I had “nanny” at 15D. “NINNY” would have been more apposite (stomps off, muttering oaths under his breath….)
Having watched a Verlaine video or two — www. Twitch. TV — search for opheliafailure — I can see how the likes of him and Phil and others make the super-fast times — congratulations Phil for today!!
I had a panic over the LOI — Bemoan — because I was not familiar with Moa, but fortunately Ben Nevis came to mind to rescue me…
As others Hind NHO for Scottish farmworker but it had to be.
I liked the stinky Inky.
So thanks Orpheus! Even made me smile today!!
Thanks all
John George
Thanks all round as usual
… and little to add to earlier comments. 8 minutes for me, with (like many others) 5D Hindi biffed — NHO Hind. But it was generously clued.
20A Inky my COD, a very nice clue.
Many thanks to Don for the blog
Cedric