Time: 20 minutes. I was generally slow around the grid but then became completely bogged down with 5 or 6 answers missing on the RH side. Gradually they fell into place.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | I don’t think a lot can be changed (8) |
| FATALIST – cryptic | |
| 6 | Charlie deceived in African country (4) |
| CHAD – C (Charlie), HAD (deceived) | |
| 8 | Young girl’s fib taking in fool (6) |
| LASSIE – L~IE (fib) containing [taking in] ASS (fool) | |
| 9 | Fearful of an attack on female (6) |
| AFRAID – A (an)m, F (female), RAID (attack) | |
| 10 | Maybe aunt is keeping lover (4) |
| BEAU – Hidden in [is keeping] {may}BE AU{nt} | |
| 11 | Others not so agitated (8) |
| RESTLESS – REST (others), LESS (not so) | |
| 12 | Additional person playing minor role (5) |
| EXTRA – two meanings | |
| 13 | Ludicrous election beginning thus? (5) |
| INANE – IN AN ‘E’ (election beginning thus) | |
| 15 | Doctor praised a perfect world (8) |
| PARADISE – Anagram [doctor] of PRAISED A | |
| 17 | English vehicle coming back for test of speed (4) |
| RACE – E (English) + CAR (vehicle) reversed [coming back] | |
| 19 | Mull over and absorb summary of information (6) |
| DIGEST – Three meanings | |
| 20 | Looted pistol enemy holds (6) |
| STOLEN – Hidden in [holds] {pi}STOL EN{emy} | |
| 21 | Join Wally, did you say? (4) |
| KNIT – Aural wordplay [did you say]: “nit” (Wally) | |
| 22 | Rebuke Fidel ally drinking wine with son (8) |
| CHASTISE – CH~E (Fidel Castro ally) containing [drinking] ASTI (wine) + S (son) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Conscious of conflict in A&E (5) |
| AWARE – WAR (conflict) contained by [in] A~E (A&E) | |
| 3 | Attack a sailor in speech (7) |
| ASSAULT – Aural wordplay [in speech]: “a salt” (a sailor) | |
| 4 | Freeze in kitchen periodically (3) |
| ICE – {k}I{t}C{h}E{n} [periodically] | |
| 5 | It’s become apparent priest ran off (9) |
| TRANSPIRE – Anagram [off] of PRIEST RAN | |
| 6 | Woman run over in California (5) |
| CAROL – R (run) + O (over) contained by [in] CA~L (California) | |
| 7 | A Tesla problem under discussion (2,5) |
| AT ISSUE – A, T (Tesla), ISSUE (problem) | |
| 11 | Lifelike articles I designed (9) |
| REALISTIC – Anagram [designed] of ARTICLES I | |
| 12 | Happiness of niece perhaps after dumping Republican (7) |
| ELATION – {r}ELATION (niece perhaps) [dumping Republican] | |
| 14 | Drunken prior at Heathrow? (7) |
| AIRPORT – Anagram [drunken] of PRIOR AT | |
| 16 | American fellow, member of the FBI? (5) |
| AGENT – A (American), GENT (fellow) | |
| 18 | Musical game (5) |
| CHESS – two meanings | |
| 20 | Endless argument in Baden-Baden maybe (3) |
| SPA – SPA{t} (argument) [endless] | |
I had to be a realist and accept my fate! Yes, it was 1a. Otherwise I quite enjoyed this – I’ve seen INANE clued like this a few times but it still makes me smile, as did the drunk monk.
I did this hours ago and can’t remember any details, not even FOI!
DNF I had done the lot in about 8 minutes, but FATALIST well and truly did for me.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Jack.
We’ve booked a spur of the moment trip to Johninterred-land later this week – just an over-nighter to do a bit of exploring while the weather’s nice. Who knows – our paths might cross 😉
Too hard for a Monday. Are we really expected to know German towns with a population of 50,000? Made for a terrible surface as well and it’s one of those that’ll make it really obvious if you know the place and impossible if you don’t. Could’ve been rewritten in so many better ways.
15 minute DNF.
What a disaster! Another resounding fail after putting UNIT for 21ac. A bad mistake because it clearly doesn’t parse. I gain no pleasure whatsoever from a crossword I do not complete.
That’s another week ruined and it’s only Monday. I DNF more regularly than I did 3 years ago. How is that possible?
Got very few on Sunday Times crossword yesterday and failed by several on 15 x 15 today. Also got just 3 on Quintagram.
More fed up than ever with my inability to do this. I should stick to GK puzzles.
You know what..? This has cheered me up immensely. Our progress has not followed a ‘delicious slow but ever upward trajectory’- our ability to achieve in this arena is far from clear. Lap of Gods and all that – and what devils those Gods can be.
I love the ‘week ruined and it’s only Monday’.
Not sure that you aimed to entertain as well as share your pain – but in our world, you have done both.
I sympathise and I thank you. Bloggers like you remind me that this can be fun and delightful as well as not fun and awful… and like a lot of life that’s what makes it worth doing. Forest Gump… Alanis Morissette and her ‘Hit by a bus..do it again’….. it’s kind of nice to not be able to control it. Good luck.
Thanks 🙂, and well done on the SCC escape 👍
19.19 -YAY out of SCC…(we seem to have been there a few times recently after a reasonably long absence). Completed on a plane between Malta and Frankfurt. Whispering between the seats.
Would have been well out of said corner had KNIT not held us up…for ever (exaggeration obviously, but for a very long time).
Really liked 11A and 13A
As all too often, after reading blog not quite so sure why we needed so many minutes – but we did. So…
Thank you to Pipsqueak and Jakkt
9:36, with FATALIST my LOI, not fully understood. Thanks Jack for explaining how the “lot” made it work.
I still don’t understand In-an-e