No ParkSolve time to report. Running’s on hold due to a frustratingly extended run of poor health (not serious I hasten to add, just frustrating).
On the bright side there’s always a puzzle to solve and Teazel has delivered the goods today. The full range of clue types is on display including a nice smattering of anagrams, which usually serve me well.
My COD prize (not quite the Nobel) goes to 11ac for the well-disguised definition.
Not sure how it will be perceived in terms of difficulty, so I look forward as usual to reading your comments. FWIW I completed it in about my median time.
(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics. In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc. Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | More impressive kitchen tool announced (7) |
| GREATER – Homophone (announced) of GRATER (kitchen tool) | |
| 7 | Fashionable poem not finished by social creature (7) |
| ELEGANT – ELEG [ELEGY (poem) “not finished”] + ANT (social creature) | |
| 9 | Indifferent Nature reshaped loch (7) |
| NEUTRAL – (NATURE)* + L (loch) | |
| 10 | Republic a dreadful crime area (7) |
| AMERICA – A + (CRIME)* + A (area)
Enough said. |
|
| 11 | Top of bill, turned over, gives information (4) |
| RATS – STAR (top of bill) reversed (turned over)
Love the definition. To rat on somebody is to give away sensitive information. |
|
| 12 | Particular shutter for museum (3,6) |
| THE LOUVRE – THE LOUVRE [the (particular) shutter]
Not any old shutter, the shutter. |
|
| 14 | A few words by daughter given judge’s decision (9) |
| SENTENCED – SENTENCE (a few words) + D (daughter) | |
| 16 | It’s very hot coming down the slopes (4) |
| LAVA – Cryptic definition
Quite a good one too. |
|
| 17 | One more answer by different woman? (7) |
| ANOTHER – A (answer) + NOT HER (different woman?)
I recall being completely baffled by almost this exact clue in my early days on this site. It came fairly easily today so I guess the 10,000 hours of solving since then has paid dividends. |
|
| 20 | Showing bias relating to some (7) |
| PARTIAL – Double definition | |
| 21 | One engaged to secure new funding (7) |
| FINANCE – FIANCE (one engaged) “to secure” N (new) | |
| 22 | Attempt to introduce ancient play (7) |
| TRAGEDY – TRY (attempt) “to introduce” AGED (ancient) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Officer support for military planners (7,5) |
| GENERAL STAFF – GENERAL (officer) + STAFF (support) | |
| 2 | Maths statement mangled in a quote (8) |
| EQUATION – (IN A QUOTE)*
Is there anything as beautiful as an insightful maths equation? We’re told we’ll never see a poem as lovely as a tree, but I think (for example) the Euler product formula has them both covered. |
|
| 3 | Raced to middle of area (4) |
| TORE – TO + RE (middle of aREa) | |
| 4 | Romance on vacation overdue to recount (6) |
| RELATE – RE [RomancE without the inside letters (on vacation)] + LATE (overdue) | |
| 5 | Cow at this place to wade across (8) |
| HEREFORD – HERE (at this place) + FORD (wade across) | |
| 6 | Carrying burden I hired car (4) |
| TAXI – I “carrying” TAX (burden)
It’s a down clue, so the TAX can be seen as being supported or carried by the I. |
|
| 8 | Lastly, have me roam around Oxford area (6,6) |
| THAMES VALLEY – (LASTLY HAVE ME)*
I didn’t have all of the required geographical knowledge here, but once you have the anagrist, the enumeration and a couple of checkers it’s not much of a stretch. |
|
| 12 | Item under shirt is cause of baby’s discomfort (8) |
| TEETHING – THING (item) under TEE (shirt) | |
| 13 | A vile lot manufactured explosive (8) |
| VOLATILE – (A VILE LOT)* | |
| 15 | One floored by reprimand (6) |
| CARPET – Double definition | |
| 18 | Has formal dresses, not grand (4) |
| OWNS – Sneaky little definition. |
|
| 19 | Somewhat variable feature of opera (4) |
| ARIA – Hidden in (somewhat) vARIAble | |
Nice blog Galspray – I hope you get back on the road soon. I have not been able to run for the entire summer here and it’s definitely affecting the old noggin.
I also liked RATS.
I was all green in about 11:53 which is a bit slower than usual – was not on the wavelength at all and it took me over two minutes to enter a first answer. That said I attempted it having woken from a brandy induced slumber in the armchair and maybe could have been better had I left it until morning proper.
Back to bed now to listen to more Sherlock Holmes and dream about having a friend who insists on filling his cigar case ahead of getting a steam train from Charing Cross
So it’s not just me who likes a little bit of pre-slumber Conan Doyle!
Nicely paced puzzle I thought. Finished an annoying one minute and a smidge outside my target time of 15 minutes for no obvious reason other than my own sluggishness. No doubt the imminent dog walk will sort that problem! The first canine excursion of the day is generally overseen by Mr K but he’s off running 50km this weekend so the pooch is having to make do with the reserve human. (Sorry to rub it in for those missing their runs).
10:55
This took me ages, and I don’t know why. It all seemed straightforward at the time.
9 Minutes. No problems other than failing to spot how ANOTHER worked until after I had stopped the clock.
15.05 with no major concerns, though I never knew GENERAL STAFF meant military planners.
Pi ❤️
PS: No pun intended with my use of “major”.
One man’s COD is another’s DNF – could not work out what was going on with RATS at all. Even a letter search on R-T- did not produce the answer. Relatively even-paced till then, though I was held up by LAVA (I always am by straight cryptic clues as I naively try to find some wordplay where there isn’t any).
Many thanks Galspray for the blog, and a good weekend to all.
Nice one from Teazel with some stretchy clues to get the old brain cells working on a Saturday morning.
33 minutes to finish with TAXI the LOI after an alphabet crawl.
Rather liked AMERICA, RATS and THE LOUVRE
Thanks Galspay. I hope you’re back to fitness soon; it’s very frustrating to be laid up.
A steady solve, quite quick, in fact. FOI GENERAL STAFF helped. LOI THE LOUVRE. Liked POI PARTIAL, CARPET, and TRAGEDY, among others.
CNP RATS (!), but it had to be. Hesitant at first about ANOTHER too.
Thanks vm, Galspray. Hope all well soon.
8.38
Incredibly [or choose a more appropriate adverb] bunged in DYNAMITE from the definition and checkers (well, there was an A and a T in there) making the museum perplexing.
Some rather good clues – RATS and AMERICA among others.
Enjoyable blog Gallers as always. Good luck getting back on the road/treadmill.
Ps thx Teazel
What a great puzzle, one where we had a decent time of 17.06 but probably spent 2 of those enjoying the setter’s art.
Liked carpet, went off piste to begin with thinking “one floored” might be some kind of bungalow. The Louvre was LOL.
Thanks Galspray for the blog, have sent your comments to our daughter who is a maths graduate and loves all things Euler.
Thanks Teazel, nice one.
We two slightly quicker than you two today coming in at 14.16 after an almost blank first run through. We have also just sent the maths comment on – to our son-in-law who is a maths graduate and loves all such things.
I was miles off the pace today – seeing either of the 1s early would have helped considerably but they were amongst the last to fall.
My travails can be summed up by my bemusement trying to unravel THAMES VALLEY which just happens to be where I live 🤦♂️. In my defence I assumed that the answer would be part of the university.
Despite my struggles I thought it was an excellent puzzle and my COD goes to ANOTHER for the PDM.
Started with FINANCE and finished with LAVA in 12.44.
Thanks to Galspray and Teazel
I could not see Rats. Even after reading the blog, it wasn’t obvious to me. I went through bills to pay, bills on headlines, bills as banknotes. It was only as I typed this comment as a plea for more help, that I recalled bills outside theatres. Doh…. I like it now I see it and enjoyed the rest!
I looked at this and thought ‘Oh, no! A Teaze’ and thought I should come back to it after an appointment at 10.30 but I couldn’t resist a quick look and, of course, got sucked in.
Luckily, I finished in 17 mins and am now ready to leave on time.
I thought there were some brilliant clues and will have to explore them (and the blog) properly when I get back home.
Thanks, Teazel.
The fact that even the likes of Galspray once stared, perplexed, at ANOTHER makes me feel just a little less self critical. It had to be, but… Oh well, if I can log another 9,750 hours or so of puzzling I might improve?
Enjoyed this one, and thanks to Galspray for putting me out of my misery.
Enjoyable and fun, well within my ability to solve. Especially enjoyed America, Rats, The Louvre, Greater and Another. Managed within 2 large coffee’s or 39 minutes.
Thanks Teazel and Galspray.
24:21 to stagger home. Few acrosses solved at first pass, but a few more downs went in and gradually the grid was completed with a couple of biffs (ANOTHER and RELATE). On the hard side I felt.
From TORE to THE LOUVRE in 7:44. Took a moment or two to see THAMES VALLEY. Nice puzzle. Hope you get over your health tribulations soon G. I’ve been struggling with the cold I acquired at Skipton, which seems to be gradually easing off, hopefully in time for me to sing at the open mics my daughter will be taking me to in Somerset when I visit her next week. Thanks Teazel and Galspray.
11:52. FOI AMERICA and LOI ELEGANT. Lots to like, including THE LOUVRE and of course RATS. All done in the time available; like Blighter above I have a 10:30 appointment although mine is at 11:24. Many thanks to Teazel and galspray.
18 mins…
Struggled on my first pass at this, but once I had a few at the bottom the rest seemed to drop in. Biffed “Byte” at first for 11ac, although I knew it didn’t look right. Only other hold ups were sorting out the parsing for 17ac “Another” (still didn’t come to me straight away) and trying to find a specific explosive 13dn.
FOI – 10ac “America”
LOI – 9ac “Neutral”
COD – 11ac “Rats”
Thanks as usual!
24:46 (average: 35, target: 36)
I found this quite hard while I was doing it, but ended up with quite a quick time for me.
As a relative beginner I find cryptic definition clues like LAVA quite confusing especially in the QC. I guess it’s the process of seeing some apparently obvious wordplay which turns out not to be there that really makes the clue and it really is the surface reading that gives the answer when as a beginner you’re doing your best to ignore the surface – at least until you have the answer. But the overall effect leaves me feeling the clue should really be in the concise crosswords. It’s difficult as a beginner to appreciate when you’ve missed something or when it’s actually just a cryptic definition. Still feel like I’m’ missing the full beauty of that clue.
Thanks Galspray for a really nice write up and thanks Teazel for an interesting QC.
15 FoI rats LoI partial CoD tragedy
I don’t care for the Thames Valley being described as Oxford Area. In days gone by it was the boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire. My home village used to be in Berkshire and is now in South Oxfordshire.
I think I’m going to measure myself by adding up the number of clues I solve over the six day period and possibly make that into a moving rolling average.
Thanks tounge and groove
I grew up in a village that was in Berkshire until 1971 and in my head still is 😂
I grew up in that same segment of land (ex-Berkshire, now Oxfordshire) but the clue said Oxford area, not Oxford county, so I don’t think we can complain.
For the benefit of overseas solvers, the THAMES VALLEY is a rather nondescript area that only officially exists as the name (and area of coverage) of a police force. Notably, the drainage basin of the Thames is over twice the size of the area served by Thames Valley Police and if there is a “valley” at all, its banks are so inconspicuous and far apart that you’d never realise you were in one.
Most regional police forces in the UK are named after the constituent country or county/ies they serve, but three have slight odd names, the other two being West Mercia and Metropolitan.
In my book, the right level of difficulty for a QC and a pleasant way to pass 10 minutes pre-lunch. Like galspray, I’d seen the ANOTHER trick before which saved me time trying to parse it from first principles. The surface for AMERICA was my favourite, closely followed by RATS with its well disguised definition.
Thanks to Teazel and galspray
Don’t know how long it took to me finish, but managed to do so! LOI was my COD with RATS. Kept thinking of STAR for top of the bill, but never put that together with “turned over”. The light bulb moment felt very good 😆 Thank you for the blog 😁
I couldn’t parse Another. I had the A and Other (different) …..but just could not figure out what to do with woman
9.27 RATS was nice. I needed a couple of looks before I realised why it was right. Thanks galspray and Teazel.
We found that to be a proper workout but perhaps the more enjoyable for that. Working through the acrosses we had nothing on the grid until we got right down to the bottom. We were surprisingly slow to see THAMES VALLEY. We live in it (further downstream) but don’t associate it with Oxford, despite having walked through Oxford on the Thames Path! All done in a rather slow 15:43 and without having understood the NOT HER part of 17a. Thanks, Galspray and Teazel.
5.54. It seems that I was on a roll today.
10:50. Morse worked for Thames Valley Police, not sure if it was a real force but it stuck in my head.
Thought LAVA was a bit vague. Held up for a while by typoing RELATW and thinking the museum was NEW something. LOI RATS.
Thanks both.
Feeling better about my over-average 07:54 after reading through above. RATS and LAVA both gave me a lot of grief, and then LOI ELEGANT held out bitterly.
Very good puzzle, many thanks Teazel and gallers (get better soon).
Perfect level of difficulty. I usally almost finish much faster, but am stymied by something NHO, so an honest 40:12 on a Saturday is okay by me.
Laughed out loud at ANOTHER.