Time: 10:29
Happy Twixtmas to everyone.
Not my favourite word, though encountered at least once before in crossword land. I’m glad to say it didn’t make an appearance today in this classy offering from Joker. I usually find Joker’s puzzles quite challenging and today’s was no exception with only a few write-ins. I had some minor queries as outlined below but I didn’t think there was anything unfair in terms of obscurity or difficulty.
Thanks to Joker
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions or letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | British sailor leaked and divulged secrets? (7) |
| BABBLED – B (‘British’) AB (‘sailor’) BLED (‘divulged secrets?’)
The question mark is here as “babbling” may just mean speaking incoherently and not necessarily divulging secrets. On edit: Thanks to Jolly Contrarian below for pointing out the error. The parsing should be: B (‘British’) AB (‘sailor’) BLED (‘leaked’) |
|
| 5 | Large swallow in Cork returning (4) |
| GULP – A reversal (‘returning’) of PLUG (‘Cork’) | |
| 7 | Little criticism about editor’s reliability (6) |
| CREDIT – CRIT (‘Little criticism’) containing (‘about’) ED (‘editor’)
CRIT as an abbreviation for ‘criticism’, eg a book or theatre CRIT. Not a sense of ‘reliability’ that came to mind immediately but covered by sense 3 in Collins: the quality of being believable or trustworthy. |
|
| 8 | Small crackers not consistent in quality (6) |
| SPOTTY – S (‘Small’) POTTY (‘crackers’) | |
| 9 | Displays grand hat — something put on to great effect (11) |
| SHOWSTOPPER – SHOWS (‘Displays’) TOPPER (‘grand hat’) | |
| 10 | Weed burner, person feeding fire with millions where there’s time (6) |
| SMOKER – STOKER (‘person feeding fire’) with M (‘millions’) replacing (‘where there’s’) T (‘time’)
Whimsical definition – ‘Weed burner’ as in someone who smokes weed, eg tobacco or marijuana. |
|
| 12 | Complication is beginning of tight corner (6) |
| TANGLE – T |
|
| 14 | Whence one gets curds is said to be obscure (3-2-3-3) |
| OUT-OF-THE-WAY – Aural wordplay (‘is said’) for OUT OF THE WHEY (‘Whence one gets curds’)
No prizes for guessing which nursery rhyme came to mind and the answer tells us what she did. My COD. |
|
| 17 | Retain damaged part of organ (6) |
| RETINA – Anagram (‘damaged’) of RETAIN | |
| 18 | Black bird that is recent arrival (6) |
| ROOKIE – ROOK (‘Black bird’) IE (‘that is’)
A usually young person who has just become a member of a sporting team (a ROOKIE) could be described as a ‘recent arrival’ to the team. 13d gives another take on a ‘recent arrival’. |
|
| 20 | Boss of horse-breeding establishment (4) |
| STUD – Double definition
‘Boss’ or STUD as a protuberance, often decorative. |
|
| 21 | Me? One in running (7) |
| NOMINEE – I’ll tempt fate. Whole clue as both cryptic definition and comprising all the word play – anagram (‘running’) of ME ONE IN = &lit | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pub’s almost empty (3) |
| BAR – BAR |
|
| 2 | What underlies plot over diamond? (7) |
| BEDROCK – Cryptic definition with wordplay BED (‘plot’) ROCK (‘diamond?’)
After much umming and ahing, I’ve classified this as a (semi-&lit) cryptic definition, though I’m not entirely convinced and Joker may have intended just ‘What underlies’ to be the definition for BEDROCK in a figurative sense. |
|
| 3 | Water lily parasite mostly eating tons (5) |
| LOTUS – LOUS |
|
| 4 | I had taken up turn to buy a round to share (4,3) |
| DISH OUT – DI, a reversal (‘taken up’) of I’D (‘I had’) SHOUT (‘turn to buy a round’) | |
| 5 | Stop being silly shunning wife’s company (5) |
| GROUP – GROW UP (‘Stop being silly’) with W deleted (‘shunning wife’) and then combined into one word.
Looks easy now but this was my last in. |
|
| 6 | Last-minute exchange of shots to the side (9) |
| LATERALLY – LATE (‘Last minute’) RALLY (‘exchange of shots’)
LATE for ‘last-minute’ as in occurring towards the end of a period of time; it doesn’t have to mean “overdue”. For example, someone putting in a job application just before the specified deadline might be described as making a late or last-minute application. |
|
| 9 | Dozy men lost on manoeuvres (9) |
| SOMNOLENT – Anagram (‘manoeuvres’) of MEN LOST ON | |
| 11 | Hold oneself back with shower perhaps chasing umpire (7) |
| REFRAIN – RAIN (‘shower perhaps’) following (‘chasing’) REF (‘umpire’) | |
| 13 | Very recently arrived, Bronwen is confused (7) |
| NEWBORN – Anagram (‘is confused’) of BRONWEN
Our second recent arrival of the day. |
|
| 15 | Proven united around king (5) |
| TRIED – TIED (‘united’) containing (‘around’) R (‘king’)
As in “tried and tested”. |
|
| 16 | Seraglio run by male (5) |
| HAREM – HARE (‘run’) M (‘male’)
HARE as a verb for ‘run’. I believe that a male running a seraglio had er… um… certain bits missing. |
|
| 19 | What’s found in Arctic expanses (3) |
| ICE – Hidden (‘found in’) Whole clue as definition with only ‘What’s’ not part of the wordplay so would do as another semi-&lit. |
|
Back again, and just – and only just – escaped the SCC.
Are we getting slower?
Possibly…
Fun nevertheless and thank you to all.
12:08. Just thought BABBLED had to be mistake. Oh well. Thanks Joker and BR