Another quite tricky QC.
I had a fairly empty grid after a first pass of the acrosses (managing 1,4,8,20,22,25), and then was held up at the end with CHAD, GO WALKIES and SWEEPING all taking some extra thought.
I came in at 7:58, which was actually about a minute slower than yesterday’s done just before, but I would guess the quitch is a good bit lower today. Much enjoyed – many thanks to Mara!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Attempt of father to make cake? (6) |
| PASTRY – PA’S TRY = father’s attempt | |
| 4 | Job in agriculture a long way off, worth abandoning it (6) |
| FARMER – FAR (a long way off) MERIT (worth) “abandons” IT | |
| 8 | Downfall of God, nun I suspect! (7) |
| UNDOING – anagram ( suspect) of GOD NUN I | |
| 10 | Clean teeth — with candy? (5) |
| FLOSS – double definition | |
| 11 | Country cousin initially fooled (4) |
| CHAD – C (Cousin “initially”) HAD (fooled) – “I was royally had”, for example. | |
| 12 | General clearing things up (8) |
| SWEEPING – double definition | |
| 14 | Lost sample CID doctored (9) |
| MISPLACED – anagram (doctored) of SAMPLE CID. Bit of time spent wondering if the definition was going to be LOST or DOCTORED | |
| 18 | For example, Iberian spinach I cooked (8) |
| HISPANIC – anagram (cooked) of SPINACH I | |
| 20 | Rejection of some parliamentary post (4) |
| MAIL – “rejection” = reversed, “some” = partly, in the word parLIAMentary | |
| 22 | Chose part included in Oxford English Dictionary (5) |
| OPTED – PT. (part) in OED | |
| 23 | Crossword writing environs (7) |
| SETTING – double definition | |
| 24 | Invalid reason for woman, 18 (6) |
| SENORA – anagram (invalid) of REASON; 18 referring to 18ac | |
| 25 | Exact measurement ultimately fills ladle (4-2) |
| SPOT-ON – T (measuremenT “ultimately”) fills SPOON (ladle). A very British saying, I’ve started to hear it being used more frequently in US TV shows and the like. Intriguingly, the Collins usage chart shows it being popular from around 1700-1900, before tailing off, whereas the OED’s first citation is from 1920. I think I’d trust the OED on this one. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chap upset about a French corporation (6) |
| PAUNCH – anagram (upset) of CHAP about UN (A, in French). CORPORATION for BELLY, TUM, etc crops up every so often. The OED’s first citation is Smollett in 1753, “Sirrah! my corporation is made up of good wholsome English fat.” | |
| 2 | Revolutionary admires weapon (7) |
| SIDEARM – anagram (revolutionary) of ADMIRES. More ofen a reversal indicator, it clearly also works for anagrams. | |
| 3 | Bar likely to break, top sheared off (4) |
| RAIL – FRAIL (likely to break) “top sheared off” | |
| 5 | Sore calf massaged outside (8) |
| ALFRESCO – anagram (massaged) of SORE CALF | |
| 6 | I wander up to see 13 down (5) |
| MAORI – I ROAM (I wander) “up” = reverse | |
| 7 | Leave leader of gang stuck in viscous substance (6) |
| RESIGN – G (“leader” of Gang) stuck in RESIN (viscous substance) | |
| 9 | Get lost, as might canine in the morning? (2,7) |
| GO WALKIES – double-ish definition. I would use this to mean “stolen” rather than lost, but Collins lists both. | |
| 13 | Brit, say, learns ID has been forged (8) |
| ISLANDER – anagram (has been forged) of LEARNS ID | |
| 15 | Mounted attack is beginning to terrify Frank? (7) |
| DIARIST – RAID (attack) “mounted”, IS, T (“beginning” to Terrify). As in Anne Frank. | |
| 16 | Wife rings, uh-oh! (6) |
| WHOOPS – W(ife) HOOPS (rings). Made easier by a similar clue in the 15×15 earlier in the week. | |
| 17 | Mark on large bottle (6) |
| FLAGON – FLAG (mark) ON | |
| 19 | Material placed at home (5) |
| SATIN – SAT (placed) IN (at home) | |
| 21 | Plenty turned up to stay (4) |
| STOP – POTS (plenty) “turned up” | |
14.40 Mostly a steady solve but I spent a good four minutes on LOI DIARIST. Thanks rolytoly and Mara.
Looking at comments quite happy to be home and hosed in 10:12. LOI
and COD DIARIST.
Aargh, DNF SE corner, namely DIARIST, SPOT ON, STOP.
Liked SETTING, WHOOPS, PAUNCH. Some easy but most difficult. Had Dragoon for Mounted Attack at one stage.
Thanks vm, Roly.
I normally find Mara a kindly setter, but not today. Progress was slower than average and then I was held up for ages and ages and ….. ages by my L3I. They were GO WALKIES and SWEEPING (both unsurprisingly, perhaps) and POTS (very surprisingly). At least I avoided a second consecutive DNF, I suppose.
I’m not really a fan of linked clues, but I had no problems with 6a and 13d today. In fact, I solved both quite quickly with no checkers and somehow got MĀORI (the dependent clue) before ISLANDER. Weird!
Many thanks to Rolytoly and Mara.
I posted this on the 15*15, so I’m reposting here. Apologies to all.
My thanks to Mara and rolytoly.
I found this unusually hard, but then I was being unusually thick.
4a LOI Farmer, easy but I couldn’t see it, and wondered how to cram Farming into 6 letters.
14a Misplaced, I biffed mislaid and didn’t notice it was 2 letters short, so couldn’t see Go Walkies for a while. DOH!
15d Diarist, I wondered about the Frank connection. Had I thought of Anne I would have thought she was Franks. Wrong. I finally decided that Pepys was pretty frank so bunged him in.
All in all I’m relieved I finished.
Some tough clues for me, but very grateful for the explanations. Thanks
LOI GO WALKIES (by quite a few minutes). As Jack mentioned, very much associated with Barbara Woodhouse. Otherwise (for me) more straightforward than of late. Liked PAUNCH and WHOOPS. Thanks RT.
11:10
Like yesterday, DNF about about an hour. NHO GO WALKIES for get lost. Also failed on DIARIST and didn’t parse MAIL. There seem to be nearly as many words meaning “reverse” as there are “anagram”?
And in my word cake and pastry are very different!
Breeze-blocked on 15d diarist and guessed incorrectly dualist. Annoying!
18 minutes. Hardly a cause for celebration.
Not far short of 1.5 hours on 15 x 15. Need I say more?
Woke up this morning and finished the last four clues. I think the brain works on them overnight but perhaps it is just refreshed after a sleep.
45 minutes in total with some pretty tricky clues.
LOI DIARIST by a process of elimination having missed the significance of ‘mounted’ in the clue.
Thanks both