I found this QC from Wurm to be of above average difficulty. There were some less common senses of familiar words or expressions, eg 1a and 7d. A few words eg 19a, 11d and 14d which I can’t remember seeing in QC-land before added to the challenge.
I limped over the line in 12;56, finishing with the impression of MCC Members in the pavilion behaving badly, as conveyed by my LOI 16d.
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.
Thanks to Wurm
| Across | |
| 1 | Be proud and resolute going outside (5,3) |
| STAND OUT – STOUT (‘resolute’) containing (‘going outside’) AND (‘and’)
I took ‘Be proud’ to be in the sense of projecting slightly above a surface, as in a nail which has not been fully hammered in. Not the first sense of ‘proud’ to occur, particularly when followed by the misleading ‘resolute’. |
|
| 6 | Play involving black fellow (4) |
| TOBY – TOY (‘Play’) containing (‘involving’) B (‘black’) | |
| 8 | Leading character is somewhat lecherous (4) |
| HERO – Hidden (‘is somewhat’) in ‘ |
|
| 9 | Drive away duck circling one small lake (8) |
| DISLODGE – DODGE (‘duck’) containing (‘circling’) I (‘one’) S (‘small’) L (‘lake’) | |
| 10 | Welsh aim wrecked in London borough (8) |
| LEWISHAM – Anagram (‘wrecked’) of WELSH AIM | |
| 12 | Too much love for German fellow (4) |
| OTTO – OTT (‘Too much’) O (‘love’)
OTT an initialism for “over the top”. |
|
| 13 | Organ swell that might hamper listener? (6) |
| EARWAX – EAR (‘Organ’) WAX (‘swell’)
Wax for ‘swell’, or getting bigger, as in the waxing of the moon. The answer isn’t exactly music-related! |
|
| 15 | Shows disapproval about our heartless lecturers (6) |
| TUTORS –TUTS (‘Shows disapproval’) containing (‘about’) O The second QC appearance in two days for TUT which was clued yesterday by ‘rebuke’. |
|
| 17 | Addict from southeast in ancient city (4) |
| USER – SE (‘southeast’) contained in (‘in’) UR (‘ancient city’) | |
| 19 | Wood in stacks sheltering a pig (8) |
| MAHOGANY – MANY (‘stacks’) containing (‘sheltering’) A HOG (‘a pig’)
No, Oink is not today’s setter. I see MAHOGANY has appeared in QC’s before; in 2016, 2020 and 2021. For the sense of MANY, ‘stacks’ is usually followed by ‘of’. |
|
| 21 | Tyrant adroit manoeuvring around court (8) |
| DICTATOR – Anagram (‘manoeuvring’) of ADROIT containing (‘around’) CT (‘court’) | |
| 23 | Turned on by Irish film genre (4) |
| NOIR – Reversal (‘turned’) of ON then IR (‘Irish’)
I like the Wikipedia description of “a style of Hollywood crime dramas that emphasises cynical attitudes and motivations”, although Hollywood wasn’t the only place to make films in this style. I can already hear the zither. |
|
| 24 | Boss in educational activity mostly (4) |
| STUD – STUD A ‘boss’ is a STUD on eg the centre of a shield. |
|
| 25 | Force breaches defences (8) |
| RAMPARTS – RAM (‘Force’) PARTS (‘breaches’)
PARTS for ‘breaches’ as in “separates” as a verb. Again, this sense didn’t immediately come to mind. |
|
| Down | |
| 2 | Perhaps May article on Salvation Army (7) |
| THERESA – THE (‘article’) RE (‘on’) SA (‘Salvation Army’)
The first name of the former PM. |
|
| 3 | Girl raised grouse on island (5) |
| NAOMI – Reversal (‘raised’) of MOAN (‘grouse’) above (in a down clue) (‘on’) I (‘island’) | |
| 4 | No spring chicken daring to go topless (3) |
| OLD – Amusing surface. Not always a good look. |
|
| 5 | Check striker fit for international? (4,5) |
| TEST MATCH – TEST (‘Check’) MATCH (‘striker’)
‘International’ in the sense of a sporting event between two countries. Our first cricketing reference. I think ‘fit’ is here just for the surface. |
|
| 6 | Fish sandwiches to present without thought (4,3) |
| TROT OUT – TROUT (‘Fish’) contains (‘sandwiches’) TO (‘to’) | |
| 7 | Intolerant sort to leave in short while (5) |
| BIGOT – GO (‘to leave’) contained in (‘in’) BIT (‘short while’)
Not the sense for BIT that immediately came to mind: “I’ll see you in a bit / in a short while”. |
|
| 11 | Six-footer encountered in verse? (9) |
| HEXAMETER – Cryptic definition
A HEXAMETER is a line of verse containing six metrical feet, hence the non-entomological ‘Six-footer’ (very good). I may be missing some wordplay here with MET for ‘encountered’, but if so I can’t see how the rest of the wordplay works. This has appeared once before in a QC in 2022. |
|
| 14 | Material from most evil news boss (7) |
| WORSTED – WORST (‘most evil’) ED (‘news boss’)
“A fine smooth yarn spun from combed long-staple wool” according to Oxford Dictionaries. Are we meant to be thinking of someone specific here? No comment. Like the previous answer, has appeared once before in a QC in 2016. |
|
| 16 | Go berserk in high-scoring Lord’s game? (3,4) |
| RUN RIOT – Double definition, the second a somewhat cryptic cricket-related one, referring to a game in which many runs are scored. | |
| 18 | Sell battered fish over time (5) |
| SHIFT – Anagram (‘battered’) of FISH above (‘over’) T (‘time’)
Sounds like Arthur Daley-speak; “Terry, we need to shift these motors”. |
|
| 20 | Italian city an ego destroyed (5) |
| GENOA – Anagram (‘destroyed’) of AN EGO
I’m not sure if there is any significance to the surface. Looking it up, there was a siege of Genoa, occupied by a French garrison at the time, in 1800 during which 30,000 people died. Napoleon’s name (?’ego’) comes up when reading about it, but I’m not sure he was directly involved. |
|
| 22 | Strange Caribbean spirit (3) |
| RUM – Double definition | |
Some tricky ones today. Difficult to get started and unable to develop any rhythm. Both 6a Toby and 8a Dislodge brought MERs from me. OTOH I liked 13a Earwax! Not a cricketing fan but doubted 16d Run Riot would be used as such. 12a seems a desperate use of another name to get a word that fits O-T- when there are alternatives to clue eg OATH
FOI 8a Hero
LOI 12a Otto
COD 16a Ramparts.
I finished this in a reasonable time (for me, which I won’t share because it is so much longer than all of you clever clogses). COD EARWAX. Thanks all!
DNF, found it hard, but made the ones I did figure out that much better. Very clever clues. Thank you for the blog 😁
To say I struggled would be an understatement
17 mins. Poor.
Six (SIX) acrosses blank after first pass but the downs all went in and mopping up followed. LOI MAHOGANY, COD EARWAX. All done in 07:56 for a Decent Day. Many thanks Bletchers and His Wiggles.
I got just 8 on 15 x 15. An utter humiliation.
Why do I bother when I am this bad? I have learnt nothing in my time here if this is the sum total of my efforts. Dreadful.
Late to this but found it straightforward finishing in 20:57.
Initially had RUN AMOK for 16d but settled for the unparsed RUN RIOT.
COD NOIR
Thanks both.
What reasoning did the author give for interpreting “Be proud” in the clue for 1 Across?
Regard : S2 Akuntansi