This started out with some difficult early clues but my solving pace accelerated under the influence of the well-known phenomenon of grid gravity and I just managed to sneak in under the 10-minute barrier at 09:36. I didn’t find anything to complain about, either in clue construction (apart from a minor quibble with 8a) or word esotericism (I think I made that up). Favourites were the surfaces for 18a and 23a and the clever cross-reference for 13d.
Thanks to Mara
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Mischievous thing eatin’ by the sound of it? (6) |
| GOBLIN – Aural wordplay (‘by the sound of it?’) of GOBBLIN’ (‘eatin”) | |
| 4 | Energy drink (6) |
| SPIRIT – Double definition | |
| 8 | Travel document cut one high point for sightseer (7) |
| VISITOR – VIS I agree that a ‘sightseer’ is usually a VISITOR somewhere, but perhaps a “?” or “maybe” could have been included as a ‘sightseer’ is one sort of VISITOR and eg a guest or caller are others. |
|
| 10 | Judge confronting queen, direct (5) |
| REFER – REF (‘Judge’) in front of (‘confronting’) ER (‘queen’)
‘Direct’ as a verb. REF as an abbreviation for REFEREE, which I miss every time, even though it’s our setters’ favourite ‘Judge’ |
|
| 11 | Bar situated in Madeira I like (4) |
| RAIL – Hidden (‘situated in’) MadeiRA I Like | |
| 12 | Dark omen, loss shocking (8) |
| MOONLESS – Anagram (‘shocking’) of OMEN LOSS | |
| 14 | Rodent found in African country by gannet (6,3) |
| GUINEA PIG – GUINEA (‘African country’) PIG (‘gannet’)
‘Gannet’ for a greedy eater or PIG. Capybaras are my favourite rodents, but guinea pigs are high up on the cuteness scale. |
|
| 18 | Amorous actor in plays about marriage, primarily (8) |
| ROMANTIC – Anagram (‘plays’) of ACTOR IN containing (‘about’) M Good surface. I was looking for the name of a heartthrob ROMANTIC actor, which lead to the correct answer |
|
| 20 | Military force cracked when leader lost (4) |
| ARMY – Being a cricket fan helped with this one |
|
| 22 | Launch some motif, linguistically (5) |
| FLING – Hidden (‘some’) in motiF LINGuistically | |
| 23 | Hands down, armpits dry? (2,5) |
| NO SWEAT – Double definition, the first an expression meaning decisively or easily, the second, more literal one, a cryptic hint | |
| 24 | Object in tin, yet rotten (6) |
| ENTITY – Anagram (‘rotten’) of TIN YET | |
| 25 | Physical things are important (6) |
| MATTER – Double definition | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Run finished in outskirts of Gijon (6) |
| GOVERN – OVER (‘finished’) contained in (‘in’) G Not that it mattered in solving the clue, but I’m embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t heard of this Spanish city |
|
| 2 | Transport leader playing for cash (7) |
| BUSKING – BUS (‘Transport’) KING (‘leader’) | |
| 3 | Greek letter is omitted, taken away initially (4) |
| IOTA – First letters of (‘initially’) Is Omitted Taken Away | |
| 5 | Root vegetables, standard crops (8) |
| PARSNIPS – PAR (‘standard’) SNIPS (‘crops’)
Yum…, or maybe not |
|
| 6 | Steal and carry off weapon (5) |
| RIFLE – Double definition
I was unsure whether to parse this as a triple definition but couldn’t convince myself that to ‘carry off’ by itself was the same thing as ‘rifle’. Collins agrees and has one sense of ‘rifle’ as “to steal and carry off”. |
|
| 7 | Winger in hurry after touch on both wings (6) |
| THRUSH – RUSH (‘hurry’) after T Nothing to do with rugby, as my initial reading of the clue had me believe |
|
| 9 | Old African tailors and hosier (9) |
| RHODESIAN – Anagram (‘tailors’) of AND HOSIER | |
| 13 | I had thing adjusted below a thousand — twelve (8) |
| MIDNIGHT – ID (‘I had’) anagram (‘adjusted’) of THING both under (‘below’) M (‘a thousand’)
I like the way this also refers back to the answer for 12a. |
|
| 15 | Item of clothing where man has pinned something inside sleeve (7) |
| GARMENT – GENT (‘man’) contains (‘has pinned’) ARM (‘something inside sleeve’) | |
| 16 | Sweet thing of little consequence (6) |
| TRIFLE – Double definition
BAGATELLE on my last watch but clearly didn’t fit this time. I don’t want to overdo the U vs non-U thing, but I was brought up to believe that ‘sweet’ was definitely the latter, as was any other word for “pudding”. |
|
| 17 | New store stocks variable seafood (6) |
| OYSTER – Anagram (‘New’) of STORE containing (‘stocks’) Y (‘variable’) | |
| 19 | Damp haze enveloping capital in Oman (5) |
| MOIST – MIST (‘haze’) containing (‘enveloping’) O |
|
| 21 | Continent in Americas I assume (4) |
| ASIA – Hidden (‘in’) AmericAS I Assume | |
8:33 no errors. Another enjoyable puzzle from Mara. I especially likes GOVERN and COD MATTER for the surface. Also a new record for a Mara beating my old one of 9:00, and 9th best overall (out of just over 800 according to my records). FOI – GOBLIN, LOI – GARMENT. Thanks Mara and BR.
A rare finish in one sitting and on day of publication. COD Midnight – surprised myself in parsing it with no checkers 😁