A bit trickier than Izetti’s puzzle a couple of weeks ago, especially some of the longer answers.
Finished in 11:18, so overall of about average difficulty for me. Thank goodness, no alphabet trawls today. I liked the cryptic def at 12d.
Thanks to Izetti
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Grumbler — mean or crazy? (6) |
| MOANER – Anagram (‘crazy?’) of MEAN OR | |
| 4 | Improvement in Hampshire for many (6) |
| REFORM – Hidden (‘in’) |
|
| 8 | Terribly tired in the mind, to ill effect (13) |
| DETRIMENTALLY – Anagram (‘terribly’) of TIRED then MENTALLY (‘in the mind’)
Fortunately there are 14 letters in ‘tired in the mind’, but even so this was one of the longer ones I didn’t find easy. |
|
| 10 | One getting left out to suffer superficial damage? (5) |
| SINGE – SING |
|
| 11 | Run into difficulty and feel a stinging sensation (7) |
| PRICKLE – R (‘Run’) contained by (‘into’) PICKLE (‘difficulty’)
I thought this was going to be a double def, but you need to separate the ‘Run’ and ‘into’. |
|
| 13 | Shamelessness of my demo: it’s out of order (9) |
| IMMODESTY – Anagram (‘out of order’) of MY DEMO ITS | |
| 17 | Messenger last to see person receiving gift (7) |
| LEGATEE – LEGATE (‘Messenger’) |
|
| 18 | Hit it off and made progress (3,2) |
| GOT ON – Double definition
No need to lift and separate this time. |
|
| 19 | Immediate sensation aunt produced somehow (13) |
| INSTANTANEOUS – Anagram (‘produced somehow’) of SENSATION AUNT | |
| 21 | Young woman belonging to Amsterdam’s elite (6) |
| DAMSEL – Hidden (‘belonging to’) |
|
| 22 | Bird, one flying by animal on farm (6) |
| PIGEON – Anagram (‘flying’) of ONE following (‘by’) PIG (‘animal on the farm’)
Thinking of “Pigs might fly” helped here, as it was probably intended to. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Fashionable instant meal (6) |
| MODISH – MO (‘instant’) DISH (‘meal’) | |
| 2 | Paying heed at tense conclusion (9) |
| ATTENDING – AT (‘at’) T (‘tense’) ENDING (‘conclusion’) | |
| 3 | English literature, fifth of subjects chosen (5) |
| ELITE – E (‘English’) LIT (‘literature’) |
|
| 5 | Guards heading off for gates? (7) |
| ENTRIES – |
|
| 6 | Member of Parliament depressed, first to last (3) |
| OWL – LOW (‘depressed’) with the first letter L moved to become the last letter (‘first to last’)
Good to see no pedal power mentioned here. This sense of ‘parliament’ isn’t even in the Collins app and is noted by Chambers as a “little-used term” and by Oxford Dictionaries (online) as “rare”. A perusal of a few crosswords may put them right. |
|
| 7 | Month on edge — an unsettling experience (6) |
| MAYHEM – MAY (‘Month’) HEM (‘edge’)
I would have thought of “chaos” or “havoc” rather than ‘an unsettling experience’ but I suppose “chaos” would be very unsettling to go through. I didn’t know that originally mayhem was the act of deliberately injuring someone, particularly the injury or removal of a limb or “maiming”. |
|
| 9 | Excluding physical exercise, surprisingly I tend to be fit (9) |
| EXPEDIENT – EX PE (‘Excluding physical exercise’) then anagram (‘surprisingly’) of I TEND
New to me but ‘Excluding’ as in “without” as in financial terms such as “ex dividend”. With senses of either suitable/appropriate (as here) or convenient or advantageous rather than fair, I wondered if EXPEDIENT qualifies as a contronym, but my browser AI says “No” and that the second sense is “a nuance of meaning, not a complete opposite”. It hardly settles the question once and for all, but I think that’s probably correct. |
|
| 12 | Depression in front of a computer screen? (9) |
| KEYSTROKE – Cryptic definition
Pressing down a key on a computer keyboard (KEYSTROKE) is making a ‘Depression in front of a computer screen’. My LOI and only with all the crossing letters. Opinions may differ, but I thought this was a good cryptic definition. |
|
| 14 | Gas satisfied hotel — a new source of energy (7) |
| METHANE – MET (‘satisfied’) H (‘hotel’) A (‘a’) N (‘new’) E |
|
| 15 | A Liberal was deceitful in league with others (6) |
| ALLIED – A (‘A’) L (‘Liberal’) LIED (‘was deceitful’) | |
| 16 | Group of workers sealing terms ultimately for agreement (6) |
| UNISON – UNION (‘Group of workers’) containing (‘sealing’) |
|
| 18 | Spirits dope one repeatedly (5) |
| GENII – GEN (‘dope’) I and I (‘one repeatedly’)
GEN and ‘dope’ as informal terms for “information” or “news” both frequently seen in this sense in crossword land. |
|
| 20 | The total amount? Just a bit of it, by the sound of it (3) |
| SUM – Aural wordplay (‘by the sound of it’) of SOME (‘Just a bit of it’) | |
Another chance for me to demonstrate my ineptitude.
33 minutes of pure hell. Yes I finished but where is the pleasure in taking that long?
I struggled throughout and will never get how this works. After 5 years of effort, this should not be taking such a long time.
Also, disaster on Quintagram and well short on proper crossword.
An awful day (as usual).
Thanks to John for his work on the migration.
PS Turns out I had a DNF as I had GET ON. Why do I bother? Yet again my week is smashed to smithereens. Most commenters fly through these puzzles. Why can’t I? I try hard and get nowhere.
16:40 but with a pink square, you know why. I felt a little silly for how long it took me to think through PIGEON and UNISON.
Liked KEYSTROKE, which is noteworthy because I don’t like cryptics in general.
Also liked IMMODESTY.
Thanks to Izetti and Bletch, and many thanks to John for the hard work of getting the site back up.