Great crossword, nothing too scary on the vocab: 11:34 for me, with LOI the very simple 21D.
Todays clue of 14A is a duplicate of one from last Thursday (QC 3127). I presume that when the editor selects and checks puzzles, they are not done on a sequential basis. Otherwise I think he would have asked for it to have been changed. Here’s my alternative: Large beer without head is rubbish (6).
Across
| 1 | Imitative police officer last to annoy queen? (7) |
| COPY CAT – COP(police officer) +{anno}Y + CAT (queen)
A female cat, a term used by cat breeders. |
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| 5 | Firm, northeastern, solid (4) |
| CONE – CO (firm) + NE(northeastern)
A Cone is a solid, mathematically-speaking. The ice cream cone was popularized in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair, when a waffle maker helped out a nearby ice cream vendor by rolling up waffles into cones. Genius. |
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| 7 | Less important vitamin — order reduced (5) |
| MINOR – Hidden in vitamin order
The dash in the middle of this word, is the EM dash, which used to be a mark of erudition, but is now a mark of AI. |
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| 8 | Mob rage about trade restriction (7) |
| EMBARGO – (MOB RAGE)* | |
| 10 | Title, Afghan, regularly forgotten (3) |
| AGA – A{f}G{h}A{n}
And pleasingly, Aga is a term used in Afghanistan, where it is used as a mark of respect for leaders or elders, (originally linked to Persian and Turkic traditions) The AGA Khan is the spiritual leader of the some of the Muslims in Afghanistan. |
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| 11 | Miss target time as eel proves slippery (9) |
| OVERSLEEP – (EEL PROVES)*
A bit of an odd definition, but I guess you only oversleep if you had a specific (target) time when you wanted to wake up. |
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| 13 | Buck’s party everyone recalled, rave at the outset (6) |
| DOLLAR – DO (party) + ALL (everyone) reversed + R{ave}
Etymology of Buck for dollar is not definitive. One theory (which sounds unlikely to me) is that on the American frontier, deerskins (buckskins) were used as trade goods and valued like money — so a ‘buck’ (skin) became a sort of unit, and when paper dollars came in, the word stuck. |
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| 14 | Refuse young group (6) |
| LITTER – Double definition, the second as a Litter of puppies.
Appeared last Thursday (QC 3127), as Refuse group of newborn (6) |
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| 17 | European shipmate upset — show compassion (9) |
| EMPATHISE -E + (SHIPMATE)*
I’d say that “showing compassion” is Sympathy rather than Empathy. |
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| 19 | Australian native, Mike, visiting European Union (3) |
| EMU – M{Ike} contained in [visiting] EU
ROO was my immediate thought, until the word play disabused me of it. |
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| 20 | Poles in characteristic movement (7) |
| TRANSIT – NS (North & South, Poles) inside TRAIT (characteristic) | |
| 22 | Those introducing tune, uplifting, thankful, that is to be sung by all performers (5) |
| TUTTI – Initial letters of [Those Introducing] of “Tune Uplifting Thankful That is”
This is written on a musical score after a solo section to tell everyone to join in. Italian for All. As in Tutti Frutti. |
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| 23 | Damp, dreary on the outside, we returned inside (4) |
| DEWY – D{rear}Y contains EW (= WE reversed) | |
| 24 | Beginning to develop new climb (7) |
| NASCENT – N{ew} + ASCENT (climb) |
Down
| 1 | Remark about fellow, Democrat, one of ten? (11) |
| COMMANDMENT – COM^MENT (remark) contains MAN (fellow) + D{emocrat}
The Ten Commandments, obvs. |
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| 2 | Game — option periodically used before formal event (7) |
| PINBALL – {o}P{t}I{o}N + BALL (formal event) | |
| 3 | End of spin in unusual motor car, a flier! (9) |
| CORMORANT – (MOTOR CAR)* contains {spi}N
Cormorant is a bird, hence a “Flier”. If you’re new here, note this one along with “flower” (a river) |
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| 4 | Ancient city article, matchless? Not entirely (6) |
| THEBES – THE BES{t} (matchless)
Not UR this time. THEBES was one of Egypt’s greatest cities, home to the temples of Karnak and Luxor. The Greeks also had a city of the same name. For those who like to plan ahead, there’s a total Eclipse of the Sun right over ancient THEBES in August 2027. |
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| 5 | Vehicle seen in America, Britain (3) |
| CAB – Hidden in “America Britain” | |
| 6 | Carer, not usually rattled, seemed edgy at first (5) |
| NURSE – Initial letters of “not usually rattled, seemed edgy” | |
| 9 | Moving up into sport, one seeing opening (11) |
| OPPORTUNIST – (UP INTO SPORT)* | |
| 12 | Tilts toes awkwardly in these? (9) |
| STILETTOS – (TILTS TOES)*
A Semi &lit, since stiletto shoes do indeed tilt one’s toes. |
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| 15 | Playhouse that welcomes English, extremely reasonable (7) |
| THEATRE – TH^AT contains E{nglish} + R{easonabl}E | |
| 16 | Animal finally sick, clear up after it! (6) |
| KITTEN – {sic}K + IT + TEN [=NET (clear) reversed, up]
This is NET as in Net Profit, which is profit clear of tax, overheads etc. |
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| 18 | Tranquillity of bishop or knight, say? (5) |
| PEACE – sounds like PIECE [bishop and knight being chess pieces] | |
| 21 | Heaven ultimately lasts a thousand years (3) |
| SKY – {last}S + K (thousand) + Y{ears}
And I seriously thought about whether SMY might be heaven in some religion. |
Lovely relaxing start to the day. 11:17 despite have to solve on my phone which always feels slower. Of course I can’t actually do a comparison so that may not actually be true.
Another awful day.
14 minutes for QC , but failed by 3 on a 15 x 15 that the blogger suggested was like a QC. Guess how that made me feel after an hour of toil and suffering? I try hard and get nowhere with this.