15:14 for me. Dangle has a nice puzzle for us, with some head scratchers in the SW corner which held me up after a rapid start.
I draw your attention to Parseword , created by Wordle’s Josh Wardle. It’s designed as an accessible introduction for people curious about cryptic crosswords, breaking the wordplay down into clear, sequential steps. It’s a smart way to introduce different clue types, and, like Wordle, there’s just one puzzle each day.
Across
| 1 | Son remains in more than one band (6) |
| SASHES – S{on} + ASHES (remains) | |
| 4 | Ignore idiot bitten by young dog (4,2) |
| PASS UP – ASS (Idiot) contained in P^UP (young dog) | |
| 8 | Broadcast entertaining recommendation for allowance (7) |
| STIPEND – S^END (broadcast) contains TIP (recommendation) | |
| 10 | Fast food item enthralling male primate (5) |
| CHIMP – CHI^P (fast food item) contains M{ale} | |
| 11 | Lemon is fresh fruit (5) |
| MELON – (LEMON)*
“Is fresh” is an anagram indicator, the letters are in a fresh order. |
|
| 12 | State stopping clandestine servitude (7) |
| SLAVERY – AVER (state) contained in SL^Y (clandestine) | |
| 13 | Slightly cowardly cry over desire (9) |
| YELLOWISH – YELL (cry) + O{ver} + WISH (desire)
In older medical theory, the liver was the seat of courage. A “brave” person had a liver full of red blood, while a coward’s liver was supposed to be yellow “white as a lily” (lily-livered) In Giotto’s, The Arrest of Christ fresco (1304) Judas wears a bright yellow robe. |
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| 17 | Reduce value of collection housed in exhibition centre the wrong way (7) |
| CHEAPEN – HEAP (collection) contained in NE^C (exhibition centre) reversed
That’s the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. |
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| 19 | Silly act following foul play regularly ignored (5) |
| FOLLY – F{ollowing} + {f}O{u}L{p}L{a}Y | |
| 20 | Outcast quietly wearing lascivious grin (5) |
| LEPER – LE^ER (outcast) contains P(quietly)
Lepers have been outcasts since at least Old Testament times. Figurative sense “outcast” dates from the late Middle English period.
Modern style guides describe the metaphor as stigmatising and dehumanising. Best avoided.
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| 21 | Criticise one’s boring second husband from Madrid? (7) |
| SPANISH – PAN (criticise) + I (one) contained in S{econd} H{usband}
I went down a rathole looking for a “husband from Madrid” which had to be SENOR |
|
| 22 | Produce canines, perhaps and support them, mostly (6) |
| TEETHE – TEE (support) + THE{m}
This is the verb. I saw canines=teeth and struggled with t sixth letter, even considering the double-plural “teeths” |
|
| 23 | Rage corrupted a new American president (6) |
| REAGAN – (RAGE)* + A + N{ew} |
Down
| 1 | Oil producer unchanged after surprise on vacation (6) |
| SESAME – SAME (unchanged) preceded by S{urpris}E | |
| 2 | I let my helpers cast child star (7,6) |
| SHIRLEY TEMPLE – (I LET MY HELPERS)*
Made her screen debut at age 3, became famous at age 6 for her song “On the Good Ship Lollipop”. Less well known, she was the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989 and personally witnessed the collapse of communism during the Velvet Revolution. |
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| 3 | Cross taken from outside is everlasting (7) |
| ETERNAL – E{x}TERNAL (outside) with the X=cross omitted | |
| 5 | Bend over following a cold in African city (5) |
| ACCRA – ARC (bend) preceded by A C{old}
Capital of Ghana, but you all knew that. |
|
| 6 | Old rhino eating pine cone’s top is horrifying (5-8) |
| SPINE CHILLING – SHILLING (old rhino) contains PINE + C{one}
I think this is correct. While “rhino” is still technically recognized as British slang for money, it has largely fallen out of common everyday use and is now considered archaic or rare. A recent 2019 study (“Decoding the Dough“) found that “rhino” was the most confusing money slang term, with 49% of people baffled by its meaning. |
|
| 7 | Father and young adult in tree (6) |
| PAPAYA – PAPA (Father) + YA (Young Adult)
YA is an abbreviation used in publishing. At my second-hand bookshop I have to identify these by cover only. If the title sounds like a particularly dramatic three-word shopping list for a Goth wedding (e.g., A Court of Silk and Cyanide), you’re halfway there. The cover will almost certainly feature a crown made of something wildly impractical like frozen tears or jagged obsidian. It’s a book that says, “I may be 400 pages of emotional upheaval, but I will look absolutely stunning on your shelf next to your scented candles.” |
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| 9 | Eats a meal around some weird state capital (3,6) |
| DES MOINES – D^INES (eats a meal) contains (SOME)*
I resent having to be familiar with all 50 American State capitals, when we are never asked about our own County Towns. |
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| 14 | Blow up trendy apartment close to Knightsbridge (7) |
| INFLATE – IN (trendy) + FLAT (apartment) + {knightsbridg)E | |
| 15 | Stole coat on the counter, partly for fur (6) |
| OCELOT – Reverse hidden [on the counter, partly] in Stole coat
This was hard. Ocelot is an animal (an American Leopard), which I confuse with the also obscure OUNCE and AI. All beloved of crossword setters. |
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| 16 | One might be constricted by this skimpy thong, somewhat (6) |
| PYTHON – hidden in skimpy thong
Pythons are non‑venomous snakes that kill their prey by constriction. |
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| 18 | Place of rest in a church (5) |
| PERCH – PER (a) + CH{urch}
Tricky stuff. PER=A is use in expressions in “three times a week”. This was my LOI. I thought it must be a cryptic definition, where part of a church was the answer. Parts of churches like Nave, Apse, Transept often crop up. |
A reasonably quick, and enjoyable, 10:20 for us though with a MER at clueing OCELOT with ‘fur’. It’s a beautiful animal and though it was widely hunted for its pelt decades ago (along with many other animals of course) its population suffered greatly for it. Thanks, Merlin and Dangle.
Please don’t try and tell me this qualifies as a QC !! very annoying
But did you enjoy the bits you could do?!
I got a truly pathetic 19 on the 15 x 15. So many answers where I just don’t have any idea what is going on. Gave up in disgust at myself after an hour of toil. Another day to forget in crosswordland.
11:06, and really liked the puzzle, joining the applause for OCELOT, with more smiles at PYTHON and TEETHE. I think this is my first successful recognition of PER for “a”, hurray (I seem to be joining a club with that). I had to take CHEAPEN (NHO NEC) and SPINE CHILLING on faith. I was appropriately fooled by FOLLY, already having the F which I accounted for as the first letter of “foul”, getting FUPA + one letter for “act”, uh oh. I moved on and let PYTHON help me out. Thanks Dangle and Merlin.
21a one’s = I’S, so PAN I’S inside S+H = SPANISH
Good puzzle, but only one thing bugs me more than cycling clues: clues that contain part of the answer.