An enjoyable puzzle from Mara without obscurities or overly complicated parsing.
No proper time as I was interrupted during solving but this took me about 10 minutes. Some nice surfaces to brighten the day, particularly 14a, 2d and 21d.
Thanks to Mara
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Dog daughter found in Dorset town (6) |
| POODLE – D (‘daughter’) contained in (‘found in’) POOLE (‘Dorset town’) | |
| 4 | Wife has rings: that was careless! (6) |
| WHOOPS – W (‘Wife’) HOOPS (‘rings’)
I’m not fussed – whoops, woops or oops |
|
| 8 | Smoker’s accessory easier to carry? (7) |
| LIGHTER – Definition with cryptic hint
When I saw that first L (supplied by 1d) and then ‘carry’, I immediately thought of “luggage” |
|
| 10 | Relative in Greece I need to return (5) |
| NIECE – Reverse hidden (‘in… to return’) in ‘GreECE I Need’ | |
| 11 | Bit of money delivered, by the sound of it? (4) |
| CENT – Homophone (‘by the sound of it?’) of SENT (‘delivered’) | |
| 12 | Herb keeps step in modern times (5,3) |
| SPACE AGE – SAGE (‘Herb’) contains (‘keeps’) PACE (‘step’) | |
| 14 | Oh please, get down from there! (4,3,2) |
| COME OFF IT – Idiomatic definition with cryptic hint | |
| 18 | Sulk about crew backing blackout (5,3) |
| POWER CUT – POUT (‘sulk’) containing (‘about’) WERC (‘crew backing’=reversal of ‘crew’) | |
| 20 | Initially coming in, also out — “hi” or ‘bye”! (4) |
| CIAO – First letters of (‘initially’) of ‘Coming In, Also Out’)
CIAO can mean either ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’. I didn’t know this, but ciao comes from schiavo, “your obedient servant,” or literally, “I am your slave” |
|
| 22 | Finger, for example, like it (5) |
| DIGIT – DIG (‘like’) IT (‘it’) | |
| 23 | Mountain most steep, though not the first (7) |
| EVEREST – |
|
| 24 | Place importance on anxiety (6) |
| STRESS – Double definition | |
| 25 | Alter reforms attached to Conservative business association (6) |
| CARTEL – Anagram (‘reforms’) of ALTER and C (‘Conservative’) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | One criminal originally arrested by European constabulary (6) |
| POLICE – I (‘One’) C (‘criminal originally’=first letter of ‘Criminal’) contained in (‘arrested by’) POLE (an example of a ‘European’) | |
| 2 | Living in car, go all over the place (7) |
| ORGANIC – Anagram (‘all over the place’) of IN CAR GO
My favourite today; something which grows organically can also imply that it has grown in a haphazard way, that is’ all over the place’ |
|
| 3 | Many nicked, almost all turning up (4) |
| LOTS – Reversal of (‘turning up’) STOL |
|
| 5 | Restrain worker on strike (8) |
| HANDCUFF – HAND (‘worker’) before in a down clue (‘on’) CUFF (‘strike’) | |
| 6 | Old giant, Greek character (5) |
| OMEGA – O (‘Old’) MEGA (‘giant’) | |
| 7 | Pip kidnapping Queen, get angry (3,3) |
| SEE RED – SEED (‘Pip’) containing (‘kidnapping’) ER (‘Queen’) | |
| 9 | Fresh procedure for clone (9) |
| REPRODUCE – Anagram (‘Fresh’) of PROCEDURE | |
| 13 | Items are designed in Abu Dhabi etc (8) |
| EMIRATES – Anagram (‘designed’) of ITEMS ARE
Can you name them all? I can’t |
|
| 15 | Spear I’d thrown in river (7) |
| TRIDENT – ID (‘I’d’) contained in (‘thrown in’) TRENT (‘river’) | |
| 16 | Set of thirteen cards passed around (6) |
| SPADES – Anagram (‘around’) of PASSED | |
| 17 | Accommodation found in chalet, so hard up (6) |
| HOSTEL – Reverse hidden (‘found in… up’) in ‘chaLET SO Hard’ | |
| 19 | Bet it’s time to wear coat for winter (5) |
| WAGER – AGE (‘time’) contained in (‘to wear’) W and R (‘coat for winter’=first and last letters of ‘WinteR‘) | |
| 21 | Cheese, if the worst, gorgonzola last of all (4) |
| FETA – Final letters of (‘last of all’) of ‘iF thE worsT gorgonzolA‘)
I agree; if the ranking is from worst to best, ‘gorgonzola’ is ‘last of all’. Yum |
|
Felt I slowed down in the middle of this, but still made 15:52 so it can’t have taken too much of a toll. LOI was SPADES, should have got SPACE AGE quicker too. Thanks all.
I thought Mara was gentle with us today. A very enjoyable puzzle.
FOI 1a Poodle
LOI 7d simply because I was too busy elsewhere in the grid to write it in earlier, See Red
COD 5d Handcuff – I thought this very clever.
A lovely stroll into the (sparsely populated) SCC. Great QC. Good mix of clues, no obscure words (living in Poole helped 1a!!). Happy day.