12:23 for me. Two NHOs in here which is a bit out of order for the QC, I think.
Definitions underlined in bold , synonyms in (parentheses) (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, other wordplay in [square brackets] and deletions in {curly} brackets.
| Across | |
| 1 | Painter is successful as parliamentary candidate? (12) |
| GAINSBOROUGH – A parliamentary candidate GAINS a BOROUGH.
Although really its a seat or a constituency these days. The term Borough is only used in a technical sense, or in archaic forms such as “Rotten Boroughs”. Thomas Gainsborough, painter and chestnut creator. |
|
| 8 | Shock tactics initially revealed in tabloid newspaper (4) |
| STUN – T{actics} inside SUN (tabloid newspaper) | |
| 9 | Knock back second dram and vegetable (7) |
| PARSNIP – RAP (Knock, reversed) + S{econd} + NIP (dram) | |
| 11 | Like the Venus de Milo, posing no risk to Cockneys? (7) |
| ARMLESS – {H}ARMLESS
Ho ho. The Venus de Milo has famously lots its arms, and the cockney has lost his Hs. “Arms of the Venus de Milo found in Greek field” was a cracking April Fool a few years back. |
|
| 12 | Long rope with noose the Spanish thus used (5) |
| LASSO – LAS (The Spanish) + SO (thus)
LAS is the feminine plural, as in Las Vegas (The meadows) |
|
| 14 | Lying hidden in US city shelter (6) |
| LATENT – LA (US City) + TENT (Shelter)
I had this one inside out looking for a word for Lying (or Lying Hidden) inside LA, my LOI. |
|
| 15 | It’s what William Tell was, more roguish! (6) |
| ARCHER – Double def
William Tell: famous Archer, and arch=roguish |
|
| 18 | Cancel article withdrawn from yearbook (5) |
| ANNUL – ANNU{A} L (yearbook)
Another chestnut. |
|
| 20 | Ancient instrument, part of brass, is trumpet (7) |
| SISTRUM – brass, is trumpet
Well sign-posted, and although ASSIST is a valid word, the Sistrum looked right. I knew trump, and shawm from the Bible but not this. Closest modern instrument might be the maracas. |
|
| 21 | Hug English doctor before contest (7) |
| EMBRACE – E{nglish} + MB (Doctor) + RACE (contest) | |
| 23 | Change course, finding security device (4) |
| TACK – Double def
Security device is a device that secures, so a tack? |
|
| 24 | Retailers in top deal peers mishandled (12) |
| TRADESPEOPLE – (TOP DEAL PEERS)*
Tough one, as I was sure that the clue would end with S. |
|
| Down | |
| 2 | High-class fruit eaten by an android (9) |
| AUTOMATON – U (High Class) + TOMATO (fruit) inside AN | |
| 3 | Old lady eager to produce hard-wearing fabric (7) |
| NANKEEN – NAN (old lady) + KEEN (eager)
NHO this one, a pale yellowish cloth, originally made at Nanking from a yellow variety of cotton |
|
| 4 | Ring road extremely busy? I can’t answer that (6) |
| BYPASS – B{us}Y + PASS (I can’t answer that) | |
| 5 | Country game artist loved to begin with (5) |
| RURAL – RU (game) + RA (artist) + L{ove}
Definitely a chestnut, always has me looking for 5 letter countries. |
|
| 6 | Reportedly bring in vessel (3) |
| URN – Sounds like EARN (bring in)
Plenty of three letter vessels out there (pot, bin, cup, tin, jug etc), I needed a checker to help. |
|
| 7 | Thick-skinned type finally visited city music hall (10) |
| HIPPODROME – HIPPO (Thick skinned type) + {visite}D + ROME (city) | |
| 10 | Irish boy held by mum or dad in legislative assembly (10) |
| PARLIAMENT – LIAM (Irish boy) inside PARENT (Mum or Dad) | |
| 13 | Oddly, his place across river is shaped like a ball (9) |
| SPHERICAL – (HIS PLACE + R)*
Until I sat down to parse it I vaguely thought “Oddly” was cueing up alternate letters, with an easy definition I didn’t bother to check. But its actually an anagram indicator today. |
|
| 16 | Italian dish drunkard primarily takes in port (7) |
| RISOTTO – RIO (Port) contains SOT (drunkard) + T{akes}
In crosswordland Sot is common for drunkard, even though it is hardly used anywhere else. |
|
| 17 | Snake outside shelter having forty winks (6) |
| ASLEEP – ASP (Snake) contains LEE (Shelter) | |
| 19 | Permission to depart (5) |
| LEAVE – Double def, and a chestnut | |
| 22 | Graduate pinching old stole (3) |
| BOA – BA (Graduate) contains O{ld}
Orpheus gives us a break here, as “stole” can be hidden as a verb. |
|
I would say medium difficulty for this one, the chestnuts being outnumbered by the tricky/obscure ones. I biffed sistrum and nankeen from the parsing (hoping for the best) and I worked out tradespeople which helped with six of the downs. SCC again for me, but with a satisfied feeling overall – job well done!
From URN to LATENT in 6:22. DNK SISTRUM or NANKEEN. Solved so late in the day that I’m outside the top 100 which makes me think that a lot of solvers found this easy.
15:50
Nothing too tricky but took a while to crack the NE corner. Once I worked out GAINSBOROUGH the rest fell into place without too much trouble l
11 minutes
Not disappointed, but neither am I putting out the bunting because this didn’t really feel like a cryptic crossword. I found so many were biffable with a few checkers, so not much parsing required. Perhaps I was just fortunate?
Thanks for the blog.
PS Well over an hour on big crossword and several answers beyond me. ☹️☹️☹️
The hippodrome, recently flattened, in Dudley was definitely a music hall
I always understood that Retailers were Traders and Tradespeople were carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers, decorators, plumbers etc. Minor observation because it was obviously an anagram.