There is nothing too troublesome here, but some solvers might get a bit held up by the slightly suspect definitions. Bang on 6 minutes for me.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | Seldom met with Mark before church (6) |
| SCARCE – SCAR + CE | |
| 8 | Reprimand coach standing by favourite (6) |
| CARPET – CAR + PET. Supposedly so named for when workers were hauled in front of the boss, whose office was carpeted. | |
| 9 | Intervening period led to EMI going west (8) |
| MEANTIME – MEANT (led to) + EMI backwards | |
| 10 | Circle round pub game (4) |
| POOL – LOOP backwards | |
| 11 | Sing into main microphone finally (6) |
| INTONE – INTO + [ |
|
| 13 | Father meets new femme fatale (5) |
| SIREN – SIRE (father, verb) + N | |
| 14 | In truth, humdrum existence (3) |
| RUT – hidden word | |
| 15 | Correspond with tango partner (5) |
| TALLY – T (tango, NATO alphabet) + ALLY | |
| 17 | What’s cutting criminal charge — that is right (6) |
| RAPIER – RAP + I.E. + R | |
| 19 | Ruin atmosphere when returning (4) |
| DOOM – MOOD backwards | |
| 20 | SHAPE military headquarters (8) |
| PENTAGON – double definition | |
| 22 | What could be Kalahari rat (6) |
| DESERT – double definition, noun then verb | |
| 23 | Path following sheltered margin (6) |
| LEEWAY – LEE (sheltered) + WAY. Hmm, not sure about LEE as an adjective? It’s not listed as such in my dictionary, but I suppose ‘lee side’ is adjectival | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Run in fabulous area (4) |
| ACRE – ACE (fabulous) with R inserted | |
| 2 | Wild horse, breed mostly seen around North Carolina (6) |
| BRONCO – BROO[ |
|
| 3 | Concerned with valuable clothing? This will get oil out (8) |
| REFINERY – RE + FINERY. I always imagine that you put oil IN to a refinery, but I suppose some of the end products are oils of some description. | |
| 4 | Skin disease found in seven cases retrospectively (4) |
| ACNE – reverse hidden word | |
| 5 | Support former queen as appropriate (6) |
| PROPER – PROP (support) + ER (former HM the Q) | |
| 6 | Condemn study with little weight (8) |
| DENOUNCE – DEN + OUNCE | |
| 12 | Part of air in mobile ringtone (8) |
| NITROGEN – Anagram (‘mobile’) of RINGTONE. I may have seen this before but it’s very nicely concealed here. | |
| 13 | Check back of car concealed by street corner (8) |
| STRANGLE – [ |
|
| 16 | Clingy individual allowed to hold naughty child (6) |
| LIMPET – LET with IMP inside | |
| 18 | Earth? Tons supporting tree (6) |
| PLANET – PLANE (tree) + T | |
| 20 | Cause for regret is mine over years (4) |
| PITY – PIT (mine) + Y | |
| 21 | Gemstone ring carried by friend (4) |
| OPAL – O + PAL. The chestnuttiest chestnut to finish with. | |
12 minutes. MER here also at ‘breed / brood’. I’d be interested in seeing an example where than can be substituted.
Pretty quick progress today. Slowed by POOL where I had a mental blank once ‘skittles’ wouldn’t fit and then by INTONE where I’d been massively overcomplicating things. Good one, all green in 9.22.
Collins has ‘a group of a particular kind; breed’ for one sense of BROOD. Maybe a breeder could drop by and enlighten us.
I share our blogger’s doubts about both Breed = Brood and Lee for Sheltered, but luckily both answers were very biffable. I also took time to see Led to = Meant in MEANTIME, but another that was easy to guess the answer to and then worry about the parsing later. My main holdups though, and my L2I, were the pair PROPER and POOL; these two pushed me out to a not very sparkling 13:02. Not obvious once I got them why they took so long, but that’s often the way!
Many thanks Curarist for the blog.
Lee can be an adjective meaning sheltered e.g. the lee side.
Re sheltered = lee, I can sympathize. The only reason why it was a write-in for me is that it’s been bog standard NYT crosswordese since I started solving in the late 90s. Having said that, the vast majority of times it’s actually been “alee,” which is both more apt as an adjective and a word I’ve been waiting to see a setter utilise. I’m sure it’s happened, but I can’t remember an instance in the four years of Times cryptics I’ve gone through. Then again, memory is a FLEETING thing.
I was on a sub-6 pace before getting bogged down for a couple of minutes in the SW corner because of NHO LIMPET and the awkwardly clued DESERT. Confidently bunged the former because the wordplay was straightforward; bunged-and-prayed the latter. In the verb form of desert, I “rat on” someone or “rat them out.” I don’t simply “rat them.” The preposition seems to always accompany it.
Regardless of that MER, it was a fun and fair puzzle. COD was actually LIMPET because it’s an example of my favorite type (esp being an American trying to swim in these deep, cryptic waters): a NOH that’s approachable to suss out, which makes it a pleasant bit of education.
For RAT, Collins has the slang meaning, ‘ to desert or betray a cause.’
I had the same MER as some others but overall I enjoyed the puzzle which I thought was towards the easier end of things.
Started with SCARCE and finished with LEEWAY in 6.47.
Thanks to Curarist and Joker
11:24. All perfectly fair and not too difficult for a QC from Joker but a few blocks along the way – MEANT for ‘Led to’, like Cedric and making INTONE seem harder than it was, like Mendesest.
Sorry to be the usual pain, especially as it didn’t occur to me during or after solving, but in the entry for BROOD, Collins has as sense 3: a group of a particular kind; breed and sense 5 in Chambers has much the same thing.
Thanks to Curarist and Joker
24 Slow for us, though enjoyed the challenge. Just not on the wavelength.
Held up by MEANTIME and CARPET (NHO) and by trying to parse brumby (which was never going to work).
We, too queried BREED and BROOD, though have no issue with LEE and sheltered – father used to tell us to get on the lee side of the hill when it was windy…(we of course ran around the top enjoying the gale).
Thanks to Joker and Curarist
From SCARCE to LEEWAY in 7:28. Thanks Joker and Curarist.
I thought this was a pretty much average difficulty, and QUITCH seems to agree. I always hate puzzles where the crossers give you mostly 2nd, 4th, 6th in the word (often vowels, and few first letters). Is there a TftT word for that? I think there should be. Suggestions if none exists?
A C# Minor puzzle, where you start on a black note/box?
It’s a result of the symmetry constraint on this particular puzzle. The western across clues have even checkers, whereas the eastern have odd checkers. Meanwhile, the southern down clues have odd checkers, whereas the northern have even checkers.
Not at the races today.