Solving Time: 10 minutes. A very enjoyable puzzle. The arrival of so many new setters recently has led to innovation and a degree of inconsistency that I’ve found a little unsettling at times, so it was a pleasure to be in the hands of one of the tried and trusted ‘old school’ today.
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 | Generous to burn one item of furniture (10) |
| CHARITABLE – CHAR (burn), I (one), TABLE (item of furniture) | |
| 8 | Shrub originally planted next to metal bolt (6) |
| PRIVET – P{lanted} [originally], RIVET (metal bolt) | |
| 9 | Competitor seen on board carrying right club? (6) |
| DRIVER – D~IVER (competitor seen on board) containing [carrying] R (right) | |
| 10 | Miserly average (4) |
| MEAN – Two meanings | |
| 11 | Main toilet, on reflection, is ancient (8) |
| PRIMEVAL – PRIME (main), then LAV (toilet) reversed [on reflection] | |
| 12 | Writer initially organises references skilfully (6) |
| ORWELL – O{rganises} + R{eferences} [initially], WELL (skilfully) | |
| 14 | Sample fresh treats (6) |
| TASTER – Anagram [fresh] of TREATS | |
| 16 | Famous physicist from nineties confused (8) |
| EINSTEIN – Anagram [confused] of NINETIES | |
| 18 | Scheme relying upon search engine primarily (4) |
| RUSE – R{elying} + U{pon} + S{earch} + E{ngine} [primarily] | |
| 20 | Clandestine faction adopts religious education (6) |
| SECRET – SEC~T (faction) contains [adopts] RE (religious education) | |
| 21 | So last year hot lad worked out? (3,3) |
| OLD HAT – Anagram [worked out] of HOT LAD | |
| 22 | Marginal queue at customs? (10) |
| BORDERLINE – BORDER LINE. A cryptic hint supports the literal | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Mob with gardening tool circling road (5) |
| HORDE – HO~E (gardening tool) containing [circling] RD (road) | |
| 3 | Income from extremely remote location (7) |
| REVENUE – R{emot}E [extremely], VENUE (location) | |
| 4 | Young child to blow horn half-heartedly? (3) |
| TOT – TO{o}T (blow horn) [half-heartedly] | |
| 5 | Poor place for making money playing sport (9) |
| BADMINTON – BAD (poor), MINT (place for making money), ON (playing) | |
| 6 | Best piece of Chinese literature (5) |
| ELITE – Hidden in [piece of] {Chines}E LITE{rature} | |
| 7 | Threaten chaps with excellent service? (6) |
| MENACE – MEN (chaps), ACE (excellent service) | |
| 11 | Dancing to Presley’s material (9) |
| POLYESTER – Anagram [dancing] of TO PRESLEY | |
| 13 | Felt bad about keeping home that’s wrecked (6) |
| RUINED – RU~ED (felt bad about) containing [keeping] IN (home) | |
| 15 | Dessert rustled strangely (7) |
| STRUDEL – Anagram [strangely] of RUSTLED | |
| 17 | Vigorously wash undergrowth (5) |
| SCRUB – Two meanings | |
| 19 | Generate small chess piece (5) |
| SPAWN – S (small), PAWN (chess piece) | |
| 21 | Poem stevedore partially recalled (3) |
| ODE – Hidden and reversed [partially recalled] in {stev}EDO{re} | |
I thought 1a was an anagram (with burn as the anagrind) and this slowed me down taking 28 minutes to finish. It’s often the case that answering one clue can unlock a whole section but failing to solve it can do the opposite.
COD to DRIVER. Penny finally dropped on that one.
Thanks Trelawney and Jack
Probably a bit late in the day for my brain, which seemed to struggle unnecessarily with some of the anagrams (POLYESTER) and clues (BORDERLINE). But a satisfying solve when I finally got there (18.08).
As one who struggled with the ‘new’ setters I agree with the bloggers comments
Nice level today.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but things have calmed down a bit now. (Early Christmas celebrations with visiting family means everything is almost out of the way – a very strange feeling!)
I’ve been picking my way through quickies and biggies over the last fortnight and only have 4 half-done 15x15s to complete now, although at this stage, I doubt that I ever will 😅
This morning’s quickie solve was most enjoyable, as was the biggie (17 minutes there). So, as others have recommended – and if it’s not too late for you – it might be a nice one to look at if you’re not a regular.
8:22 FOI Mean LOI and COD Driver
Thanks Trelawney and Jack
12 mins…
A straight forward start to the week I thought. Main issue was spelling “Strudel” and a slight hesitation on the “Orwell” and “Ruined” axis.
FOI – 2dn “Horde”
LOI – 13dn “Ruined”
COD – 1ac “Charitable”
Thanks as usual!
Done on plane on way to the Arctic ((our children cannot escape us in the Christmas season).
Around 12.20. A Very Pleasing Day. Anything below 13 triggers a rush of childish pleasure. Childhood was a very long time ago, so return visits are welcome.
Much enjoyed. Needed blog to see char in CHARITABLE ( erroneously thought chair= furniture, then couldn’t parse the rest).
COD BORDERLINE
Thanks Trelawney and Jakkt.
No dips in the sea this holiday I suppose then. Or at least I hope.
So true about the welcome childish pleasures.
🥶 nope…..
12:04 while being distracted by football on the telly – miraculously fast for me, so I’m guessing it was an easy day!
took me a while to get 9A. kept thinking of chess pieces!