A mixture of easier clues and others that needed some thought so about the right level of difficulty for a QC. Finished in 8:38 which overall made it on the gentler side.
A nice popular culture reference at 10d had me scurrying down a few burrows to familiarise myself with the already extensive literature on the subject, so I’ll opt for this as my favourite.
Thanks to Orpheus
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions or letters from words in the clue not appearing in the answer indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Area police officer lacking flexibility (8) |
| DISTRICT – DI (‘police officer’) STRICT (‘lacking flexibility’) | |
| 5 | Sign made by wife leaving those of her sex (4) |
| OMEN – |
|
| 8 | Unusually posh gear brought back by large retail assistant (8) |
| SHOPGIRL – Anagram (‘unusually’) of POSH followed by reversal (‘brought back’) of RIG (‘gear’) then L (‘large’) | |
| 9 | South European serf, briefly (4) |
| SLAV – SLAV I wondered if I’d swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker here as I always thought SLAV was used to describe Eastern and central Europe and this is supported by the usual dictionary sources. However, Wikipedia tells me that the modern Slavonic people can be classified into three groups: West (eg Czechs), East (eg Russians and Ukrainians) and South (eg Bulgarians and Serbs) so I guess the latter group covers it. |
|
| 11 | A structural member at right angles to a ship (5) |
| ABEAM –A (‘A’) BEAM (‘structural member’)
Can also be used in relation to the fuselage of an aircraft. |
|
| 12 | Metal works located by railway (7) |
| FOUNDRY – FOUND (‘located’) RY (‘railway’) | |
| 13 | Old chap enthralled by cover of religious book (6) |
| ROMANS – O (‘Old’) MAN (‘chap’) contained in (‘enthralled by’) R Paul’s Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament. On edit: As pointed out by Invariant in the comments below, the definition is just ‘book’ with ‘religious’ just part of the wordplay. Otherwise ‘religious’ would be part of both wordplay and definition, a no-no these days. |
|
| 15 | North Yorkshire resort’s colourful transport (6) |
| REDCAR – RED (‘colourful’) CAR (‘transport’)
REDCAR has a racecourse where I suspect you may see the odd TOUT (qv) or two. |
|
| 18 | Jazz fan entertaining worker, perhaps with a choral composition (7) |
| CANTATA – CAT (‘Jazz fan’) containing (‘entertaining’) ANT (‘worker, perhaps’) then A (‘a’)
CAT for ‘jazz fan’ as in a “hep cat”. Very generous of Orpheus to add the ‘perhaps’ to ‘worker’ for ANT, to the point of making me wonder if there was something else intended. Good surface, mixing two different worlds of music. |
|
| 19 | Corpulent southern racecourse spy (5) |
| STOUT – S (‘southern’) TOUT (‘racecourse spy’)
A racetrack TOUT is someone with self-proclaimed expertise or inside knowledge about horse racing who offers tips or inside information, usually for a share of any winnings as a result of the information provided. Flash Harry (George Cole) in the St. Trinian’s films comes to mind, though he had a few more strings to his bow. |
|
| 21 | Stiffly formal first person’s behind pair (4) |
| PRIM – I’M (‘first person’s’) following (‘behind’) PR (‘pair’)
Mainly for my own benefit, first person’s = first person is = I am = I’m. |
|
| 22 | Toothless old PM associated with gallery (8) |
| EDENTATE – EDEN (‘old PM’) TATE (‘gallery’)
Probably just how he felt after the Suez Crisis. |
|
| 23 | Volcano appearing in street name (4) |
| ETNA – Today’s hidden (‘appearing in’) streET NAme
The usual crossword ‘volcano’. I’m sure Orpheus would have loved to have included Eyjafjallajökull (yes, I cut and pasted that); pity about the thirteen-letter limit. |
|
| 24 | Tendency to compose simple song (8) |
| PENCHANT – PEN (‘compose’) CHANT (‘simple song’) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Loss of hope of the French couple (7) |
| DESPAIR – DES (‘of the French’) PAIR (‘couple’) | |
| 2 | Misappropriated neckwear? (5) |
| STOLE – Double definition
As a noun, a woman’s shawl or long scarf worn over the shoulders (hence the question mark with ‘neckwear’), or a priest’s long vestment hanging to the knee. As a woman’s garment, I tend to think of a stole as made of fur and a boa of feathers, but apparently a stole can be made of fabrics such as wool or silk and a there is such a thing as a fur boa. |
|
| 3 | Like section of army team, linger appallingly (10) |
| REGIMENTAL – Anagram (‘appallingly’) of TEAM LINGER | |
| 4 | Glass container artist found in coffee bar (6) |
| CARAFE – RA (‘artist’) contained in (‘found in’) CAFÉ (‘coffee bar’)
Our usual artist, RA for Royal Academician. |
|
| 6 | Tuneful little operetta primarily penned by doctor (7) |
| MELODIC – L |
|
| 7 | Labourer in Ventnor initially welcomed into fighting force (5) |
| NAVVY –V A canal or artificial waterway is a rarely used sense of the word “navigation” and NAVVY is an abbreviation of “navigator” for the workers who built the navigations (canals) at the beginning of the 19th century. Now used for labourers involved in road building etc. |
|
| 10 | Lovely hedgehog capable of great speed (10) |
| SUPERSONIC – SUPER (‘Lovely’) SONIC (‘hedgehog’)
I have to admit to probably being the only person on the planet who didn’t know this, but Sonic the Hedgehog, the video game and animation character, does indeed run at SUPERSONIC speed and I presume is very appealing so the whole clue is also a non-cryptic definition. |
|
| 14 | Husband and child going round island’s imposing dwelling (7) |
| MANSION – MAN (‘Husband’) SON (‘child’) containing (‘going round’) I (‘island’) | |
| 16 | Withdraw place of refuge (7) |
| RETREAT – Double definition | |
| 17 | Item of tack or lumber (6) |
| SADDLE – Double definition
The first definition as a noun, the second as a verb. For the noun, ‘tack’ as an abbreviation or synonym for “tackle” in the sense of equipment for horse riding. The verb sense as in to eg lumber or saddle with debt. A simple surface, but it misled me into thinking of a timber component of a horse’s harness. |
|
| 18 | Manage to fence in small wood (5) |
| COPSE – COPE (‘Manage’) containing (‘to fence in’) S (‘small’) | |
| 20 | Outstanding king touring a key Japanese port (5) |
| OSAKA – OS (‘Outstanding’) K (‘king’) containing (‘touring’) A (‘a’) then A (‘key’)
This was my LOI. The third largest city in Japan after Tokyo and Yokohama. I had a mental blank for Japanese ports other than Yokohama and looking at the clue now, the parsing is quite tricky. I didn’t know OS for ‘outstanding’, as opposed to outsize or oversize, but Collins gives it as an abbreviation used in the banking world. |
|
Enjoyable puzzle, solved left side first, and after a slow start, the right hand fell into place. one error, we had amen for 5a.
After one wrong letter (OWL club) in the 15×15, this was a nice steady all correct in about 25 minutes over tea and cake.
I found this to be at the trickier end of the “reasonable” section of the difficulty spectrum, with more unusual vocab than normal (cantata, abeam, edentate). CANTATA came quite easily thanks to my mother’s frequent references in the early nineties to the Manchester United striker Eric Cantata, which I expect was a deliberate attempt to wind me up.
My eyebrows remained untroubled upon recognising SLAV, because I don’t know any geography.
Thank you for the blog!
Edit: oh yeah, 17:44, and mainly just relieved to break my DNF streak.
I had a pink square today even though I know I entered the correct letter. A bit of a problem when solving on the iPad as it’s very easy to find oneself swapping from Acrosses to downs (and vice-versa) without realising, and then failing to correct letters that have overwritten. For what it’s worth, my time would have been about 8.15. A pleasant puzzle.
Got there in a much longer time than anyone else. My aim is to just complete the grid which is why yesterdays DNF was a niggle.
Struggled with SUPERSONIC until PENCHANT went in, and that was me finished. All the racing, horsey, and country sports stuff is good for me so no problem with REDCAR or SADDLE. “Tack” is perfectly understood as horse equipment, but has leaked over in the farming community to indicate machinery too.
I too thought the SLAV clue was a bit limp.
Late to this but I did enjoy it despite being stuck in the SE until the dam burst with STOUT.
Spotted SADDLE right away. In Glasgow slang a lumber is a member of the opposite sex that you meet at a party or a dance as in ‘did you get a lumber last night?’ I don’t know why but maybe it’s because they get saddled with each other.
Thanks BR and Orpheus.
I’d have assumed the lumber is a bit like the morning wood!
14:00. I enjoyed it all but was really scratching my head at 10d my LOI. Finally twigged when I went for a short walk… Thank you both.
A very sprightly 8:17 for me today. My first thoughts turned out to be correct most of the time, and I only missed two acrosses on my first pass through, which gave me lots of crossers for the downs. Now watch me get an absolute stinker tomorrow when I’m on blogging duty.
COD to SUPERSONIC.
Thanks to Orpheus and BR.
No-one is forcing you to read this….
27 minutes
Another display of sheer incompetence. Took forever to get RETREAT! Why? Such an easy clue.
My mind seems to go into meltdown as soon as I pick up the paper and begin the puzzle.
Several short on 15 x 15. Another lousy showing.
Today would have dented my confidence had there been anything left to dent.
Almost at the hour mark for the week on the QC. I am so frustrated when I look at some of the other times that are recorded.
All that effort (2 hours plus each day) and I am nowhere with this. ☹️
‘My mind seems to go into meltdown as soon as I pick up the paper and pen and begin the puzzle’
It’s well-documented that pressure has a negative impact on tasks involving mental skills or cognition. I’d focus on why you feel so under pressure solving a crossword and only then, if you still want to continue, whether there are strategies that might help. This might involve some soul-searching and ‘meaning of life stuff’ along the way which is no bad enterprise for any of us!
Thanks fabian.
Don’t give up – it does all come eventually.
I tried the 15×15 occasionally before QC started and it must have been at least 4 or 5 years before I actually completed one. My record now for the 15×15 is 59mins (still about 70% DNF’s) and 7:50 for the QC which I have been doing since No 1. I never do more than 10mins or so at a time, get up and do something else – it stops the frustration building. 2878 (admitted the hardest QC I have ever seen) took me 6 days of 10 minute bursts!
Thanks Graham 😊
Great xword thanks. Perfect level of difficulty for me. Navigation is very commonly used to mean canal amongst canal buffs (like me), and is the name of no fewer than 21 pubs in the UK (presumably all sited on canals).