A pleasant puzzle without too many difficulties which I managed to complete within my 10 minute target with 15 seconds to spare.
The two clues which did give me some trouble at the very end were 5a and 9a; don’t you just love those so simple and obvious four-letter answers. I’d never heard of or had forgotten 9a and I only knew 5a from crossword land, though that says as much about my lack of world music knowledge as it does about the word being uncommon.
Thanks to Jalna
Sorry that I won’t be available again to respond to any queries or correct any errors until about mid-morning UK time.
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | New gallery housing old, symbolic work of art (8) |
| ALLEGORY – Anagram (‘New’) of GALLERY containing (‘housing’) O (‘old’) | |
| 5 | Jazz tune accompanying a sitar melody (4) |
| RAGA – RAG (‘Jazz tune’) followed by (‘accompanying’) A (‘a’)
Just remembered in time to save an alphabet run-through, which I would not have welcomed at the end of the puzzle. Instant word association for me for ‘sitar’ is Ravi Shankar |
|
| 8 | Demand technical support and invite trouble (3,3,2) |
| ASK FOR IT – ASK FOR IT (‘Demand technical support’)
I parsed the wordplay as a cryptic hint, without drilling down further |
|
| 9 | Religious festival held by Catholics (4) |
| HOLI – Hidden (‘held by’) CatHOLIcs
I should have but didn’t know this Hindu festival. I fell for the surface and wasted a couple of minutes – nothing to do with Catholicism |
|
| 11 | Extra source of debts taken on by ace crime boss (3-2) |
| ADD-ON – D (‘source of debts’=first letter of ‘debts’) contained in (‘taken on by’) A (‘ace’) DON (‘crime boss’) | |
| 12 | Retrospective pieces from magazines I meticulously catalogue (7) |
| ITEMISE – Reverse hidden (‘Retrospective pieces’) from ‘magazinES I METIculously’ | |
| 13 | Stupid people start to slander judge (6) |
| ASSESS – ASSES (‘Stupid people’) S (‘start to slander’=first letter of ‘slander’) | |
| 15 | After noon, attempt to enter bar? Exactly! (4,2) |
| BANG ON – GO (‘attempt’) following (‘After’) N (‘noon’) contained in (‘to enter’) BAN (‘bar’)
I suppose the question mark is present for the surface reading |
|
| 18 | Cook slowly eats the last portion of raw fish? (7) |
| SWIMMER – SIMMER (‘Cook slowly’) contains (‘eats’) W (‘the last portion of raw’=last letter of ‘raw’) | |
| 19 | Firms with extremely tenuous charges (5) |
| COSTS – COS (‘Firms’) TS (‘extremely tenuous’=first and last letters of ‘tenuous’)
COS as an abbreviation for “companies” |
|
| 21 | Compressed mass, oddly chalkier (4) |
| CAKE – Odd letters (‘oddly’) of ‘ChAlKiEr’
A CAKE didn’t initially strike me as a ‘compressed mass’, but I was stuck on the edible variety. Sense 5 in Chambers has “any flattened mass, baked as oatcake, or formed by pressure or drying, as of soap, clay, snow or blood” and Collins has a similar sense, so fair enough, especially for non-edible sorts of cake |
|
| 22 | Mountain dweller seen possibly carrying wooden stake (8) |
| NEPALESE – Anagram (‘possibly’) of SEEN containing (‘carrying’) PALE (‘wooden stake’) | |
| 23 | Kind person (4) |
| SORT – Double definition
‘Kind’ as a noun, not an adjective and ‘person’ as in “a good sort” |
|
| 24 | Weakened pet cried out (8) |
| DECREPIT – Anagram (‘out’) of PET CRIED | |
| Down | |
| 1 | A bishop welcomed by a Buddhist monk somewhere in America (7) |
| ALABAMA – A (‘A’) B (‘bishop’) contained in (‘welcomed by’) A (‘a’) LAMA (‘Buddhist monk’)
The one-l lama, He’s a priest. The two-l llama, He’s a beast etc |
|
| 2 | Enjoyed having a relationship with no obligation, ultimately (5) |
| LIKED – LI |
|
| 3 | Gosh, nothing can be seen in nasty dense smog (8,2) |
| GOODNESS ME – O (‘nothing’) contained in (‘can be seen in’) anagram (‘nasty’) of DENSE SMOG | |
| 4 | Dried fruit is placed in water (6) |
| RAISIN – IS (‘is’) contained in (‘placed in’) RAIN (‘water’) | |
| 6 | Devoted group supporting a party (7) |
| ADORING – RING (‘group’) following (‘supporting’ in a down clue) A (‘a’) DO (‘party’) | |
| 7 | Active US soldier involved in sallies from time to time (5) |
| AGILE – GI (‘US soldier’) contained in (‘involved in’) ALE (‘sallies from time to time’=every second letter of ‘sAlLiEs’) | |
| 10 | I crashed an unusually old carriage (5,5) |
| SEDAN CHAIR – Anagram (‘unusually’) of I CRASHED AN | |
| 14 | Small watch? It might be tacky (7) |
| STICKER – S (‘Small’) TICKER (‘watch?’)
A watch is an example of something which ticks. I liked the surface; not the ‘tacky’ I was originally thinking of |
|
| 16 | Simple tea’s now being prepared (2,5) |
| NO SWEAT – Anagram (‘being prepared’) of TEAS NOW | |
| 17 | A piece of cake or French cheeses picked up (6) |
| BREEZE – Homophone (‘picked up’) of BRIES (‘French cheeses’)
No, nothing to do with a compressed mass this time |
|
| 18 | Lets go of instrument in audition (5) |
| SACKS – Homophone (‘in audition’) of SAX ((a musical) ‘instrument’)
SAX as a common abbreviation for “saxophone”. I would have thought to sack someone is to dismiss them because of poor performance or a transgression, whereas to let someone go (from a job) may not be due to their failings but eg to the organisation being in difficulties. Still, I suppose close enough |
|
| 20 | One in flight crossing east, costing a lot (5) |
| STEEP – STEP (‘One in flight’ (of stairs)) containing (‘crossing’) E (‘east’) | |
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