I was a bit slow on this one, but any perceived difficulty was down to cleverness of clueing and some non-obvious definitions rather than outright obscurity.
Hope you enjoyed it.
(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 | Worker on vegetables? Could be (7) |
| PEASANT – ANT (worker) on PEAS (vegetables)
Sort of an all-in-one self-referential semi-cryptic to kick us off. |
|
| 5 | Closed one large book (4) |
| TOME – TO (closed) + ME (one)
I only know TO = closed from crosswords. A fairly dated (or perhaps regional?) usage I think, but others here have commented previously that they use the expression. |
|
| 7 | Like a bloom locust oddly destroyed (3) |
| OUT – Even letters only (oddly destroyed) of lOcUsT | |
| 8 | Indoor footwear beginning to yield as it is on ice (8) |
| SLIPPERY – SLIPPER (indoor footwear) + Y (beginning to Yield) | |
| 10 | Share the view a deadly sin has no end (5) |
| AGREE – A + GREE |
|
| 11 | Reason for doing something on energy is sensitive (7) |
| EMOTIVE – MOTIVE (reason for doing something) on E (energy) | |
| 13 | Strange rant about the French horn (6) |
| ANTLER – (RANT)* “about” LE (“the” in French) | |
| 15 | Make changes to retain viewer’s backing? (6) |
| RETINA – (RETAIN)*
Viewer in this case meaning eye. |
|
| 17 | Incline vocally to give approval to painting on two panels (7) |
| DIPTYCH – DIP (incline) + TYCH [homophone (vocally) of TICK (to give approval to)
Possibly an obscure term? Or perhaps not, given the erudition of our little community here. I just inferred it from the more familiar (to me) triptych. |
|
| 18 | Go quickly small bird (5) |
| SCOOT – S (small) + COOT (bird) | |
| 20 | Underclothes hang around airer regularly (8) |
| LINGERIE – LINGER (hang around) + alternate letters (regularly) of aIrEr | |
| 22 | Front to shoe, ultimately (3) |
| TOE – TO + E [last letter (ultimately) of shoE] | |
| 23 | Concerning morning paper (4) |
| REAM – RE (concerning) + AM (morning) | |
| 24 | Retreat’s ghastly, not the last time (7) |
| HIDEOUT – [HIDEOU |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Info that’s spread on behalf of heathen father (10) |
| PROPAGANDA – PRO (on behalf of) + PAGAN (heathen) + DA (father)
We don’t hear “Da” much down here, but it always reminds me of Christy Brown as portrayed in My Left Foot. “Respect for Da” is the line he utters before instigating a pub brawl from his wheelchair. Great stuff. |
|
| 2 | Rubbish about rising thespian (5) |
| ACTOR – [ROT (rubbish) + CA (about)] all reversed (rising)
For the newcomers, CA (or C) for circa, meaning “about” gets a guernsey in every second crossword, so it’s worth being aware of. |
|
| 3 | Rule as yet misguidedly in a severe manner (9) |
| AUSTERELY – (RULE AS YET)* | |
| 4 | Kept an eye on temperature — felt unwell (6) |
| TAILED – T (temperature) + AILED (felt unwell) | |
| 5 | Money for waiting at table? Mine’s raised (3) |
| TIP – PIT (mine) reversed (raised) | |
| 6 | Damage can with one cocktail (7) |
| MARTINI – MAR (damage) + TIN (can) + I (one) | |
| 9 | Term pedant confused in specialised area (10) |
| DEPARTMENT – (TERM PEDANT)* | |
| 12 | Buy too much — lots of deliveries await settlement (9) |
| OVERSPEND – OVERS (lots of deliveries) + PEND (await settlement)
An over in cricket is a set (or a “lot”) of six legitimate deliveries. |
|
| 14 | Kills fish on ship’s upper deck (7) |
| TOPSIDE – TOPS (kills) + IDE (fish) | |
| 16 | Wartime PM’s not bad for organised religion (6) |
| CHURCH – CHURCH |
|
| 19 | Top garden party? (5) |
| OUTDO – OUT DO (“outside” or garden party)
Not sure you’d ever talk about hosting an “out do”, but this is Crosswordland after all. |
|
| 21 | Stick up easy target (3) |
| GUM – MUG (easy target) reversed (up)
For anyone but Yoda, the clue taken on its own leads more to MUG than to GUM, but the checkers put paid to any doubts. |
|
6:13
Straightforward, no problems. Joker has made a number of clues more QC-like, including phrases he might well have omitted in a 15×15: large (5ac), indoor (8ac), at table (5d), wartime (16d).
Well, it was hard for me. I did fairly well for a while, but just couldn’t get started in the SE – hideout, scoot, department, outdo. Those took longer than the rest of the puzzle.
Time: 9:58
12 minutes. My only query was TOPSIDE which I was unaware can be a nautical term – though not particularly surprised. I knew it only as a cut of beef. SCOOT was my LOI.
A better week of QCs for me with 2 solved within 10 minutes and the other 4 within 15 minutes.
SCC Dipstick!
TAJAG