Time: 06:34
A very enjoyable offering from Trelawney today for which I didn’t have any major queries. Just right to put me in a good mood to enjoy what should be a pleasant Tuesday here.
Thanks to Trelawney
Definitions underlined in bold, letters in wordplay not appearing in answer and deletions indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Latvian’s yarn about Dracula’s home (12) |
| TRANSYLVANIA – Anagram (‘about’) of LATVIANS YARN
A confidence builder to start with. |
|
| 8 | Release what prisoners do in retirement (4) |
| EMIT – Reversal (‘in retirement’) of TIME (‘what prisoners do’)
TIME as in a jail sentence, marked in Collins as informal. |
|
| 9 | Depot an awful place to write (7) |
| NOTEPAD – Anagram (‘awful’) of DEPOT AN | |
| 11 | Prepare to grab at ape, say (7) |
| PRIMATE – PRIME (‘Prepare’) containing (‘to grab’) AT (‘at’)
An ‘ape’ being one example of an order of mammals of which there are 376-524 species according to Wikipedia, a number which surprised me. |
|
| 12 | Sussex town featured in terrible western (5) |
| LEWES – Hidden (‘featured in’) Continuing my fortnightly Tuesday geography lesson of British towns, though this is one I am familiar with. |
|
| 14 | Led astray following free puzzle (6) |
| RIDDLE – Anagram (‘astray’) of LED after (‘following’) RID (‘free’) | |
| 15 | Bury some linen Tom bought (6) |
| ENTOMB – Hidden (‘some’) in The definition a reference to yet more English towns; x2 this time. |
|
| 18 | Cancel vigorous clean (5) |
| SCRUB – Double definition | |
| 20 | Interrupt detectives beginning to relax in bath (7) |
| DISTURB – DIS (‘detectives’) R |
|
| 21 | Tire out smoker at back of vehicle? (7) |
| EXHAUST – Definition with cryptic hint (‘smoker at back of vehicle?’)
Given the spelling of “tyre” in N. America, the surface may have been more misleading for US and Canadian solvers. |
|
| 23 | Curse jazz improvisation needing xylophone primarily (4) |
| JINX – J Being unfamiliar with jazz lingo, I admit I spent some time thinking that jin might be an alternative to jam as a form of ‘jazz improvisation’. |
|
| 24 | Again share out wine before one small testimonial (12) |
| REDISTRIBUTE – RED (‘wine’) I (‘one’) S (‘small’) TRIBUTE (‘testimonial’) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Prompt to accommodate a rest (9) |
| REMAINDER – REMINDER (‘Prompt’) containing (‘to accommodate’) A (‘a’) | |
| 3 | Ten set up formal party game (7) |
| NETBALL – Reversal (‘set up’) of TEN then BALL (‘formal party’)
I wonder if the whole clue might also be an extended definition. Looking it up, there can be up to twelve players in a NETBALL team squad, but there are only seven players on the court at any time. Maybe unintended, but there happens to be a link with the answer to 10(‘Ten’)d. |
|
| 4 | New York baseball player to tug lever regularly (6) |
| YANKEE – YANK (‘to tug’) |
|
| 5 | Essential small bottle contains last of reagent (5) |
| VITAL – VIAL (‘small bottle’) containing (‘contains’) |
|
| 6 | Criticise turning up for snooze (3) |
| NAP – Reversal (‘turning up for’) of PAN (‘Criticise’) | |
| 7 | Tally is five good marks — capital! (5,5) |
| ADDIS ABABA –ADD (‘Tally’) IS (‘is’) A B A B A (‘five good marks’)
OK, I’ll own up; I biffed this one from the enumeration and a couple of crossing letters. |
|
| 10 | After second drink, pledge tracksuit perhaps (10) |
| SPORTSWEAR – S (‘second’) then PORT (‘drink’) SWEAR (‘pledge’)
Maybe not everyone approves but I was amused to see that “trackies” is in Collins as a noun and both “trackie” as an adjective and “trackies” as a noun are in Chambers; alas, no “tracky dacks” yet but give it time. |
|
| 13 | Hound twin developing murder mystery (9) |
| WHODUNNIT – Anagram (‘developing’) of HOUND TWIN
Echoes of Dartmoor. |
|
| 16 | Reportedly recognises one who suffered operation (4,3) |
| NOSE JOB – Aural wordplay (‘reportedly’) of KNOWS (‘recognises’) JOB (‘one who suffered’) | |
| 17 | Newspaper employee rioted unfortunately (6) |
| EDITOR – Anagram (‘unfortunately’) of RIOTED | |
| 19 | Contests objections involving nothing (5) |
| BOUTS – BUTS (‘objections’) containing (‘involving’) O (‘nothing’)
BUTS for ‘objections’ as in “No ifs, ands or buts”. |
|
| 22 | Concealed greeting card finally (3) |
| HID – HI (‘greeting’) |
|
Just under 10 minutes for a very enjoyable workout. Starting in Transylvania, I began to look for a Dracula theme with riddle, entomb, jinx and hid, but just chance I suppose. An old embassy cabaret song I penned began:
I am the very model of a Foreign Office diplomat
I’ve served in several missions from Addis Ababa to Rabat….
So 7 d went straight in with 5 good marks for the great clue!
I do enjoy Trelawney. Many thanks, setter and blogger
Enigma on Monday RIDDLE on Tuesday, next a WHODUNNIT or mystery or conundrum. Actually I prefer Whodunit but who would quibble with gentle Trelawney. Thank you for prompting us with a nice Rest and NAP today, oh wake up it’s REMAINDER.
Our relatively quick 8:47 now looks pedestrian compared to many of the times posted. COD a toss up between ADDIS ABABA and NOSE JOB. We’re grateful that we didn’t have to guess at the NHO ‘trackie dacks’ though! Thanks, BR and Trelawney.
NOSE JOB certainly gave me a wry smile when it finally clicked!
6.05.
When I break the 10 minute barrier, it’s the sign of a VERY straightforward puzzle!
Well, after a couple of years of trying, that’s 5 complete QCs in a row! I still start every puzzle thinking “how the blazes am I supposed to do this???” but something is clearly starting to click!
Thanks to all the folks on here who have always responded with encouragement. Appreciate every one of your words of wisdom!
It’s a bit fun, this crossword lark 😀
May your machinery continue to click! It IS fun, isn’t it!
An enjoyable puzzle. Got slightly blocked on the NW corner
Only know Lewes for traffic jams
6:24 for a very rare sub-8 finish for me. And if I had realized how quickly it was going, I might have sprinted for a PB — and probably gotten a pink square for my pains. A nice all-round selection of clue types, I felt, and COD to ADDIS ABABA. NOSE JOB also amusing. So glad LEWES was a hidden since I can’t name any Sussex towns.
Congratulations to all the PBs that I haven’t seen yet!
Thanks Trelawney and Bletch. “Tracky dacks”, really? And you people say American slang is ugly, hah.
15ish min cruise. Got most the first time of asking. Others came quickly with some checkers. Thanks BR and Trelawney
REMAINDER held me up, otherwise a great canter through the always furst rate Trelawny
9 minutes.
Great puzzle for new solvers but not much help for transitioning to the 15 x 15 (on which I spent well over an hour and got about 60% of the clues ☹️☹️☹️☹️).
My confidence level remains very low with puzzles that present any kind of challenge.
Found this much tougher than the average Trelawney for some reason. I can only think that my brain doesn’t work as well after a day at work, followed by the gym, as it does in the morning. The best thing I can say about my 18:22 is that it was a minute and a half better than yesterday. Great puzzle though. Thanks Trelawney and BR.
A day after finishing this in 5:54, one of my fastest times ever, I realised that I hadn’t posted it here and so it wouldn’t show up on the Snitch! Posting late on the off-chance that it will be picked up.
Thanks as ever to Trelawney and BR.