9:12. That’s my slowest Quickie for a while. So was it a tough one or did I just drop the ball? Discuss.
Wait, wait, I just saw something!!! There was a quirky element with the 4-letter answers, like one of those word puzzles where you have to change one letter at a time:
WORK, WORE, SORE, SOLE, ROLE, RULE
Didn’t see it whilst solving but, Dear Reader, this marks the first time I’ve ever noticed one of these things without having it pointed out to me. What a moment.
Hope you enjoyed the puzzle.
(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics. In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc. Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hostile political period beginning to linger in Anglo-Icelandic dispute (4,3) |
| COLD WAR – L (beginning to Linger) in COD WAR (Anglo-Icelandic dispute)
Northern Europe’s version of the Emu Wars I guess. I’d rather fight a cod than an emu though. |
|
| 7 | Where seeds could be enjoying continued success (2,1,4) |
| ON A ROLL – Double definition
Seeds could be, and often are, on a roll. |
|
| 9 | Ban business qualification run in eg capital of Oman (7) |
| EMBARGO – [MBA (business qualification) + R (run)] in EG + O (capital of Oman) | |
| 10 | The most daring juxtaposition of two underwear items (7) |
| BRAVEST – BRA (underwear item) + VEST (underwear item) | |
| 11 | Irritable Greek god flipped (4) |
| SORE – EROS (Greek god) reversed (flipped) | |
| 12 | Buffoon Republican bitten by healthy baby, one of many (9) |
| HARLEQUIN – R (Republican) “bitten by” HALE (healthy) + QUIN (baby, one of many)
They’re all clowns to me. |
|
| 14 | Maybe watch emcee I tip extravagantly (9) |
| TIMEPIECE – (EMCEE I TIP)* | |
| 16 | Only small exclamation of approval in 8? (4) |
| SOLE – S (small) + OLE (expression of approval in Latin America)
“8” is a reference to the answer at 8dn. Some people don’t like cross-reference clues, as we’ll no doubt discover in the comments. |
|
| 17 | Chocolate bar leads to burst in calories relating to strenuous exercise (7) |
| AEROBIC – AERO (chocolate bar) + BIC [leads to (first letters of) Burst In Calories] | |
| 20 | Recalled excerpt from Puccini duo heralding escape artist (7) |
| HOUDINI – Reverse hidden in (recalled excerpt from) puccINI DUO Heralding | |
| 21 | Second learner trapped in empty, flashy display (7) |
| SPLURGE – S (second) + L (learner) in PURGE (empty) | |
| 22 | Ranges of colours in fancy carpets (7) |
| SPECTRA – (CARPETS)* | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chasers distributed with sweet and savoury snacks (6,6) |
| CHEESE STRAWS – (CHASERS + SWEET)*
Some type of food apparently. |
|
| 2 | Chopped up extremely unusual Burman poisonous tree (8) |
| LABURNUM – [UL (“extremely” UnusuaL) + BURMAN]*
I wasn’t familiar with the tree but it was guessable from the anagrist and the checkers. Although I guess it could have been LUBARNUM. |
|
| 3 | Labour function (4) |
| WORK – Double definition | |
| 4 | Vehicle protection against eg Skippy, boar or bats (3,3) |
| ROO BAR – (BOAR OR)*
An unfortunate necessity for large vehicles driving in the country at night. A pain in the **** in urban carparks. |
|
| 5 | Jokes about article on East Asian language (8) |
| JAPANESE – [JAPES (jokes) “about” AN (article)] + E (East) | |
| 6 | Displayed possible choice of bridge partners (4) |
| WORE – W (West) OR E (East)
Players in bridge (the card game) are generally designated as N, S , E and W. Which may be news to some of you. |
|
| 8 | New in Malta, Heather’s country collection? (5,7) |
| LATIN AMERICA – (IN MALTA)* + ERICA (heather) | |
| 12 | German family served up food, dad interrupting mum (8) |
| HAPSBURG – GRUB (food) + SPAH [PA (dad) “interrupting” SH (mum)] all reversed (served up)
Austrian, German, whatever. I don’t really understand royal stuff, but it appears they made their presence felt all over the place. Tough clue for a Quickie imho. |
|
| 13 | Opponent of Irish Home Rule is tense following agreement (8) |
| UNIONIST – IS + T (tense) following UNION (agreement) | |
| 15 | Vividly imprints drawings after first pair are scrapped (6) |
| ETCHES – |
|
| 18 | Part of some Byelorussian uprising (4) |
| ROLE – Reverse (uprising) hidden (some) in byELORussian
When you see a word as bizarrely obscure as Byelorussian in a clue, start looking for a hidden. |
|
| 19 | Regret introducing Liberal government (4) |
| RULE – RUE (regret) “introducing” L (Liberal) | |
The puzzle was definitely a bit on the chewy side. While I could biff some, many clues required a bit of analysis – harlequin, roo bar, splurge, cold war, cheese straws. I did biff Hapsburg, Latin America, Japanese, embargo. Curiously, I had heard of laburnum.
Time: 10:00
13 minutes with HAPSBURG as my LOI. Undoubtedly Germanic, but one tends to think Austria-Hungary first when the subject comes up so I was a bit slow to think of the name. It’s as well the P was checked as the family can also be spelt with a B.
The P forms part of the wordplay as well.
I see what you did there, Galspray (6d).
Pi ❤️
I found this easier that some of Cheeko’s offerings and educational as well. I never realised that HARLEQUIN meant buffoon, but it helps to explain how the team I follow is playing at the moment.
Started with COD COLD WAR and finished with WORE in 7.32 but with HAPSBURG unparsed.
Thanks to Galspray and Cheeko
Dnf…
At least 5 not completed. From reviewing the blog above, there are some that feel beyond QC level, and I’m not sure I would have got even with more time – 12dn “Hapsburg” and 12ac “Harleqin” come to mind. I also put “Pole” for 6dn.
Don’t mind some tough clues – but not sure the balance was right on this.
FOI – 1ac “Cold War”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 17ac “Aerobic”
Thanks as usual!
6:08 so, yes, on the chewy side, but not unduly so to my mind. LOI ON A ROLL as I was thinking of sowing the seeds to start. I need the H from HARLEQUIN to see the German family. Thank-you Cheeko for the mental workout and Galspray for the blog… and spotting the 4-letter word device, which I had missed.