A similar solve to the last couple of days.
A fairly breezy 5:33 today, within a half-minute of the previous two days – all done in a row though, which I think might have given me a bit of a warm-up advantage, as this seemed a touch trickier.
Lots to like, including a couple of very neat anagrams – many thanks to Jalna!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Book everything for party (4) |
| BALL – B(ook) ALL (everything) | |
| 3 | Game ultimately attracts frantic, unruly crowd (8) |
| SCRABBLE – the “ultimate” letters of attractS frantiC, and RABBLE (unruly crowd) | |
| 8 | Late deliveries initially didn’t unsettle employees (7) |
| OVERDUE – OVER (deliveries, in cricket) “initially” Didn’t Unsettle Employees | |
| 10 | Storyline probed by one introductory episode (5) |
| PILOT – PLOT (storyline) probed by I (one). Helped a notch by another PILOT yesterday. | |
| 11 | Horribly westernised, sweet drink (7,4) |
| DESSERT WINE – anagram (horribly) of WESTERNISED. Always love a single word anagram, although there can’t be many original ones left: this has appeared once before in the TftT era (in Jumbo 1699 from 2024 blogged by Jackkt) as “Artificially westernised Muscat”. I prefer today’s formulation. | |
| 13 | Where you may find gaming machines are broken open by scoundrel (6) |
| ARCADE – ARE in plain sight, broken open by CAD (scoundrel). CAD derives from the same idea as CADET and CADDIE, originally being a somewhat lowly helper to a skilled worker: the required shift was from “uneducated, ill-mannered, and unsophisticated” to “dishonest and dishonourable.” | |
| 15 | Greek goddess seen in Sparta, then Alexandria (6) |
| ATHENA – “seen in” spartA THEN Alexandria | |
| 17 | Struggling Romeo finally falling short in casual relationship (11) |
| FLOUNDERING – O (romeO “finally”) UNDER (falling short) in FLING (casual relationship) | |
| 20 | Held cold item in chest? (5) |
| CLUNG – C(old) LUNG (item in chest) | |
| 21 | He’s not troubled by first hint of severe spice level (7) |
| HOTNESS – anagram (troubled) of HES NOT, by S (“first hint” of Severe) | |
| 22 | Singer looking embarrassed prior to intro (8) |
| REDSTART – RED (looking embarrassed) prior to START (intro) | |
| 23 | Dismal Conservative (4) |
| BLUE – double definition, the first as in feeling blue/sad/dismal | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Good place to go for long run in New York? (8) |
| BROADWAY – cryptic definition, as in the “run” of a musical, etc. | |
| 2 | Northern city is ahead of all others, according to reports (5) |
| LEEDS – or LEADS “according to reports” | |
| 4 | Make wooden box to be filled with earth (6) |
| CREATE – CRATE (wooden box) filled with E (Earth, in solar system notation and the like, I imagine). Edit: as Newbie suggests below, “I thought E for earth was an electrical reference: Live Neutral Earth LNE.” Which seems rather more useful and plausible. | |
| 5 | Particular guys involved in relevant meeting (11) |
| APPOINTMENT – POINT (particular) MEN (guys) in APT (relevant). A POINT = a particular in, well, a meeting. Very nice! | |
| 6 | Bishop and priest almost always have faith (7) |
| BELIEVE – B(ishop) and our favourite priest ELI, and EVER (always) “almost” | |
| 7 | Has lamb and chicken, say, but without a starter (4) |
| EATS – lamb and chicken are of course MEATS, take the starter and throw it away | |
| 9 | Huge warship a thunder god destroyed (11) |
| DREADNOUGHT – anagram (destroyed) of A THUNDER GOD. Another lovely anagram. The word has appeared various times in the TffT era, including a couple of times as an anagram: (HAD GO + TURNED) and (GOT A HUNDRED) – I much prefer the thunder god idea! | |
| 12 | System periodically supporting big charity (8) |
| LARGESSE – SSE (the “periodic” letters of S y S t E m) supporting/underneath LARGE (big) | |
| 14 | Jointly start company with nothing in kitty (2-5) |
| CO-FOUND – CO(mpany) with O (nothing) in FUND (kitty) | |
| 16 | An endless job for lead TV presenter (6) |
| ANCHOR – AN in plain sight and CHORE (job) going “endless”. Same answer in the same spot as Tuesdays puzzle. | |
| 18 | Perfect current agreement (5) |
| IDEAL – I (symbol for current, in SI notation) DEAL (agreement) | |
| 19 | Sign of damage in rear end of goods vehicle (4) |
| SCAR – S (“rear end” of goodS) CAR (vehicle) | |
Done earlier, but then had to set off on the long drive to Herefordshire for a family funeral tomorrow. However, I remember being delighted with my time of 16-17 minutes, which included a minute or two at the end trying to find APPOINTMENT.
Jalna was in a benign mood today. A confidence boost after my 4-clue DNF with Wurm yesterday.
Many thanks to Roly and Jalna.