16:11, I struggled with both the long down anagrams, which made the solve slower than it should have been. NHO the slang SHAVER.
As previously noted I learnt my colours from the Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue. And No. SG87 (see below), in 1862, is the 9d STRAW. So if you ever wanted to know what the colour STRAW is, now you know. We can do the same trick with Sepia, Plum, Ultramarine, Vermillion, Buff etc
Definitions underlined in bold , synonyms in (parentheses) (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, other wordplay in [square brackets] and deletions in {curly} brackets.
| Across | |
| 1 | Lacking confidence, note, in the skill shown by media boss (5-7) |
| FAINT-HEARTED – FA (note) + IN + THE + ART (skill) + ED (media boss) | |
| 8 | Ray’s small nudge (5) |
| SPOKE – S{mall} + poke (nudge)
Mathematically speaking, a ray is a radial line from the centre to the edge. And that’s exactly what a spoke is. |
|
| 9 | Force aim on way back to seize leaders of insurgents left in town (7) |
| MILITIA – AIM reversed contains i{nsurgents} l{eft} i{n} t{own} | |
| 10 | Tree, you heard (3) |
| YEW – Sounds like “you” | |
| 11 | General agreement count of people must include acceptable syntax at outset (9) |
| CONSENSUS – CENSUS (count of people) + ON (acceptable) + S{yntax}
ON=acceptable? Best phrase I could come up with is “That plan is on” |
|
| 13 | Around edges of timber noticed pale yellow colour (5) |
| STRAW – SAW (noticed) contains T{imbe}R
See above for an example of STRAW colour. |
|
| 14 | Period of time — something magic maybe (5) |
| SPELL – Double def | |
| 16 | Country a learner enters? Another one (9) |
| AUSTRALIA – AUSTRIA (country) contains A L{earner} | |
| 17 | Party time for girl, briefly (3) |
| DOT – DO (party) + T{ime}
DOT is short for Dorothy, hence “girl briefly” |
|
| 19 | Readily accept emblem (not half!) with speed contest (7) |
| EMBRACE – EMB{lem} + RACE (speed contest) | |
| 21 | Unsuitable home — apartment (5) |
| INAPT – IN (home) + apt (apartment)
Not a very common word. Note that “in” can be clued by just “home” as in “I got home at eleven”, although it is usually clued as “at home” |
|
| 22 | One examining person putting funds in about aid grant oddly absent (12) |
| INVESTIGATOR – INVESTOR (person putting funds in) contains {a}I{d}g{r}a{n}t | |
| Down | |
| 1 | If upset, nervous, suspicious (5) |
| FISHY – FI [upset] + SHY (nervous)
Colloquial use of FISHY for suspicious goes back to the mid 1800s. Not clear where it comes from. I would guess from the notion of “slipperiness,” or of giving off a bad smell. |
|
| 2 | Irk son — row about place of employment (9) |
| IRONWORKS – (IRK SON ROW)* [about] | |
| 3 | Type of combat here, warn craft at sea (6,7) |
| TRENCH WARFARE – (HERE WARN CRAFT)* [at sea]
I saw that WAR was in the anagram, but took quite a few more checkers before this one popped out. |
|
| 4 | Fur, I hesitate to say, belonging to me (6) |
| ERMINE – ER (I hesitate) + MINE (belonging to me) | |
| 5 | Fun on the move, lark, girl notes excitedly (6-7) |
| ROLLER-SKATING – (LARK GIRL NOTES)* [excitedly]
ROLLER COASTER was a quick biff until I actually checked the letters |
|
| 6 | Devour repast, regularly taken (3) |
| EAT – {r}E{p}A{s}T | |
| 7 | Decorative item seen in Malta’s selected (6) |
| TASSEL – hidden in Malta’s selected
There are so many anagram indicators, I thought this might be an anagram of “MALTAS” with “selected” as the indicator. The checkers all fit. So who looked up “matsal” (Swedish for Dining Room) or “tamsal” (a prostate relaxant) ? |
|
| 12 | Resolute holy person, head, failing to start, then period abstaining from food (9) |
| STEADFAST – ST (=saint, holy person) + {h}EAD + FAST {abstaining from food} | |
| 13 | Young fellow, one putting money by, has initially to be welcomed (6) |
| SHAVER – SAVER (one putting money by) contains H{as}
That master of slang, Eric Partridge, says that the term “shaveling” meant a youth because of “the infrequency of his need to shave.” According to him (and Partridge wrote in the 1930s), a “shaver” means a child, and is often preceded by “young” or “little.” I just checked my paper copy of Partridge (1984 printing) and it’s not in. I never heard it |
|
| 15 | Florida tune, moving, graceful (6) |
| FLUENT – FL + (UENT)* [moving] | |
| 18 | One providing education in workers’ organisation to prosper finally (5) |
| TUTOR – TU (Trade Union)[Workers organisation] + TO + {prospe}R
This acronym pops up a lot in crosswords, but almost nowhere else. TUC yes. TO no. |
|
| 20 | Returning, arrest outlaw (3) |
| BAN – NAB (arrest) reversed [returning] | |
I was pathetically grateful to see jackkt and vinyl1, two titans, struggling with this. I’m normally delighted to see Hurley as the setter as I am on their wavelength. Today clues felt like random strings of words.
I had covid last week for the first time ever, and I really think that this has scrambled my faculties from my performance today. I really hope so, as the alternative is too awful to contemplate.
Super chewy, over engineered clues today made this hour plus solve after yesterday’s quickie. LOI Spoke…nho ray. Just a struggle to read the definitions. eg Fun on the move is a poor definition for roller skating in my opinion.
Utterly pathetic DNF
14 minutes but put SHOVE rather than SPOKE.
Truly appalling error. No excuses. Unforgivable given my experience.
Yet another week ruined.
Completed grid on big crossword but errors will doubtless have been made.
Frustrated and fed up. There are no positives to take from today and I’m sick of failure. I get steadily worse.