Quality puzzle from Mara, about average difficulty.
Some lovely things on show today, with the trickier things tempered by five or six long anagrams to keep things ticking along. I think my favourite was the neatly-constructed PULL UP.
We have a couple of down clues at the very end, with NIECE and NUT, that are about as chestnutty as a couple of chestnuts can hope to get: this tallies with the theory that setters (as well as solvers) can sometimes run out of steam a bit towards the end, so can be a good place to look for an easier clue. (Of course, if it’s your first time seeing said chestnut, it’s simply a good clue.)
I finished up in 5:09, and much enjoyed it – many thanks to Mara!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Provider of food feeding endless tea to nurse? (7) |
| CATERER – TE (“endless” tea) fed to CARER (nurse) | |
| 5 | Boy in lift? (4) |
| JACK – double definition. | |
| 7 | Shattered, bound to keep resting at first (5) |
| TIRED – TIED (bound) to keep R (Resting “at first”) | |
| 8 | US state partly over Montana (7) |
| VERMONT – “Partly” oVER MONTana | |
| 10 | Observe letter that’s read out? (3) |
| SEE – spoken the same as the letter C | |
| 11 | All at sea on certain vessel (9) |
| CONTAINER – anagram (all at sea) of ON CERTAIN | |
| 13 | Keep Territorial Army in control (6) |
| RETAIN – TA in REIN (control) | |
| 14 | Girl writing story about idiot (6) |
| LASSIE – write LIE (story) about ASS (idiot). LASS derives from the Old Norse lasqar, meaning unmarried. | |
| 17 | Naples Uni developed strip of land (9) |
| PENINSULA – anagram (developed) of NAPLES UNI | |
| 19 | Return of figure after tax (3) |
| NET – return/reverse TEN (figure) | |
| 20 | Forever fashionable ultimately, navy with bluish-green trim (7) |
| ETERNAL – E (fashionablE “ultimately”), RN (Royal Navy = Navy) with TEAL (bluish-green) going around (ie, providing a “trim” for it) | |
| 22 | Good lord and soldier — royal favourite? (5) |
| CORGI – COR! (Good lord!) and GI (soldier). The breed favoured by ERII, and possibly others. | |
| 23 | Construction in one’s tree? (4) |
| NEST – “in” oNES Tree | |
| 24 | Overcome, minister has filled bucket (7) |
| PREVAIL – REV. (minister) has filled PAIL (bucket) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Char’s teapot broken — disaster! (11) |
| CATASTROPHE – anagram (broken) of CHARS TEAPOT | |
| 2 | Huge amount to lease out, accommodating first of residents (7) |
| TORRENT – TO, RENT (lease out) accommodating R (“first” of Residents) | |
| 3 | Fall on cue, dirt all over the place (9) |
| REDUCTION – anagram (all over the place) of ON CUE DIRT | |
| 4 | A grape plant south of river in gorge (6) |
| RAVINE – A, VINE (grape plant) south of R(iver) | |
| 5 | Pot slightly open, lid off (3) |
| JAR – AJAR (slightly open), “lid off”. AJAR is a corruption of “on char” meaning “in the act of shutting”, with char being an obsolete word for return/backward movement. | |
| 6 | Top money once (5) |
| CROWN – double definition | |
| 9 | Others in trailer scattered on the ground (11) |
| TERRESTRIAL – REST (others) in an anagram (scattered) of TRAILER | |
| 12 | A menacing high roller? (9) |
| AVALANCHE – cryptic definition | |
| 15 | Grain, as brewed for alcoholic drink (7) |
| SANGRIA – anagram (brewed) of GRAIN AS | |
| 16 | Stop — the same thing capsizing? (4,2) |
| PULL UP – a palindrome, hence the same thing capsizing/reversing. To PULL UP, in the sense of a vehicle coming to a stop somewhere. | |
| 18 | Relative somewhere in the south of France, we hear? (5) |
| NIECE – “we hear” the same as NICE (the city). | |
| 21 | Head idiot (3) |
| NUT – double definition | |
pleasant puzzle which we were pleased to solve fairly quickly for us. S E corner took us some time.
Jammed in Emerald without thinking too hard but luckily PULL UP pulled me up, and I uncovered a lovely cryptic ETERNAL. A bit vague about the writing story thing would that be Lying, I do see the LASSIE construction but am confused. And AVALANCHE was a fit but no idea why, sorry!
By the way, if I could remember all the chestnuts I would be a real nut and I’d have got NUT a lot sooner, though I’m certain a chestnut is not a nut and I find I’m quite wrong!
You need to separate “writing” from “story”. Story is LIE and you’re writing it around ASS.
Yes, got it, many thanks
5:29, very nearly a PB. Avalanche was the only hold-up. Must have been a good day for me as I’m normally slower than most on here! Found it easy.
5.41
LOI PULL UP – nice
5.41
Liked PULL UP. Thanks Mara and RT.
If anyone is still reading this at this time of the evening, I’d like to point out that an Avalanche can also describe a rockfall and that they most certainly roll.
Still early round here 😅
Thanks, I’m sure that explains it.
14:39 High slider doesn’t work as well does it…
Ta MAR
Not unless you are a baseball pitcher …
Snow use worrying about avalanches!
High rollers were an apt description of Mrs T’s eyes as I resisted putting in the AVALANCHE that she thought so obvious as a cryptic definition. Not my finest day in fact as I also convinced myself that I vaguely recalled etal as a bluish green colour – at least it still led to ETERNAL. Anyway, a relatively speedy 8:03 for us. Thanks, Roly and Mara.
8:04. Quite tricky I thought. I needed all the checkers to get AVALANCHE, and several others needed a bit of head scratching to get. good level of difficulty for the QC.
12 minutes.
3 short on 15 x 15 in 1.5 hours.
It is what it is.
16:44 post work, gym and tea. I can live with that. I can live with just not dozing off in the middle to be honest. Thanks all.