I found this enjoyable offering from Dangle toward the easier end of the QC spectrum with no uncommon words or complicated wordplay. A welcome change from the last few weeks when I’ve found at least a few difficult clues in each puzzle. Finished in 07:35.
Thanks to Dangle for QC number five – look forward to more.
A very big thanks to Merlin for filling in for me for the last few weeks.
Definitions underlined in bold, letter deletions or wordplay not appearing in the answer shown by strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Person exploring underground Conservative state (5) |
| CAVER – C (‘Conservative’) AVER (‘state’) | |
| 4 | Left bread-winner for student (7) |
| LEARNER – L (‘Left’) EARNER (‘bread-winner’) | |
| 8 | Very legal petition (7) |
| SOLICIT –SO (‘Very’) LICIT (‘legal’) | |
| 9 | Make it less bright, on reflection, lacking courage (5) |
| TIMID – Reversal (‘on reflection’) of DIM IT (‘Make it less bright’) | |
| 10 | Where to purchase delicious buffet ie pastries (10) |
| PATISSERIE – Whole clue as definition (not really cryptic), with part of the clue as wordplay: anagram (‘buffet’) of IE PASTRIES, so a semi-&lit clue | |
| 14 | Circle in iron border (6) |
| FRINGE – RING (‘Circle’) contained in (‘in’) FE (‘iron’) | |
| 15 | Leader of Union aboard public transport getting a shock (6) |
| TRAUMA – U |
|
| 17 | Ninth bloke badly failing (2,3,5) |
| ON THE BLINK – Anagram (‘badly’) of NINTH BLOKE | |
| 20 | Endless shortage of water is harsh (5) |
| ROUGH – We know all about that here at the moment. Fires in Europe as well – very ‘harsh’. |
|
| 22 | Official waste abandoned next to road (7) |
| STEWARD – Anagram (‘abandoned’) of WASTE then (‘next to’) RD (‘road’) | |
| 23 | Notices Toni Arthur entertaining country (7) |
| ESTONIA – Hidden in (‘entertaining’) |
|
| 24 | I distribute cards? Perfect (5) |
| IDEAL –I (‘I’) DEAL (‘distribute cards?’)
Not quite sure of the function of the question mark here. Maybe to ‘distribute cards’ is an example of to DEAL. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Price of lettuce with Truss’s face attached (4) |
| COST – COS (‘lettuce’) T Up to the minute biting political comment. Without knowing all the details, I believe the lettuce won. |
|
| 2 | Glen’s manservant taking time off (4) |
| VALE – VALE |
|
| 3 | The shape of football pitch in playing field introducing confusion (9) |
| RECTANGLE – REC (‘playing field’) preceding (‘introducing’) TANGLE (‘confusion’) | |
| 4 | Speak without restraint contributing to indefensible tripe (3,3) |
| LET RIP – Hidden in (‘contributing to’) |
|
| 5 | A court edict (3) |
| ACT – A (‘A’) CT (‘court’) | |
| 6 | Many signs of hesitation surrounded by common sense (8) |
| NUMEROUS – UM ER (‘signs of hesitation’) contained in (‘surrounded by’) NOUS (‘common sense’) | |
| 7 | Marxist cared about tree (3,5) |
| RED CEDAR – RED (‘Marxist’) than anagram (‘about’) of CARED | |
| 11 | Green site around African plains (9) |
| SERENGETI – Anagram (‘around’) of GREEN SITE | |
| 12 | Wayward female leaves, obviously (2,6) |
| OF COURSE – OF |
|
| 13 | Suspect water vapour is associated with corrosion (8) |
| MISTRUST – MIST (‘water vapour’) RUST (‘corrosion’) | |
| 16 | Climbing mountain with son and mother gives a bit of blood (6) |
| PLASMA – PLA, a reversal (‘climbing’) of ALP (‘mountain’) S (‘son’) MA (‘mother’)
The ‘bit of blood’ without the cellular components. |
|
| 18 | Child found in brambles, periodically (4) |
| BABE – B |
|
| 19 | Report of unemployed person who is greatly admired (4) |
| IDOL – Aural wordplay (‘Report of’) of IDLE (‘unemployed’) | |
| 21 | Fella with new bird (3) |
| HEN – HE (‘Fella’) N (‘new’)
Straight out of the vernacular of the 60’s. Maybe not very exciting but my COD. |
|
8:22 and we really ought to have been faster since it was pretty straightforward. I’m putting it down to the heat down here in the south! COD NUMEROUS. Thanks, BR and Dangle.
Feeling a bit behind as I haven’t had the chance to do yesterday’s QC yet… Found this very gentle. COD to COST which made me laugh out loud. Thanks BR and Dangle.
8:04. OF COURSE was my favourite. I have an issue with the clue for COST. COS for lettuce and T from face of Truss are obvious but what does the surface mean? Is it just an insult to an unpopular politician?
When Liz Truss was PM and it was clear how awful she was going to be; one of the tabloid newspapers put a lettuce on webcam and just left it to rot. The question was which would last longer. The lettuce won!
Last story here … https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63334457
Thanks, ND, now I get it!
11:56 for me, and it should probably have been a bit quicker but I will blame the heat. Enjoyed it a lot.
Thank you for the blog!
Good QC for new solvers.
Thought I’d done really well on 15 x 15 until I saw how ‘easy’ it was according to Snitch.
Yes I agree!
6:05 but outside the top 100!
13:50, only the second clean finish for me after yesterday. Enjoyable, nothing too taxing. Top left slowed me a bit
FOI CAVER
LOI SOLICIT
COD MISTRUST
A perfect Quickie. Toni Arthur! What a fabulously specific reference to dig up. I’m guessing I’m a very similar age to Dangle