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) | |
| 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) | |
18:29 Took ages to Create Blue Redstart.
Ta RAJ
Last days in NZ or perhaps not if Emirates cannot transit Dubai airspace next Tuesday…
7:35
I took a long time to get FLOUNDERING & LOI REDSTART.
9 minutes. I lost time over FLOUNDERING as it required several revisits and all its checkers in place before the answer occurred to me.
10 minutes. Nothing to cause any major headaches but I was generally a bit slow and spent a while trying unsuccessfully to parse APPOINTMENT. Like Jack and Kevin, FLOUNDERING also didn’t come straight away and was an appropriate one for my LOI.
Yes, I agree that DREADNOUGHT was a v. good anagram.
Thanks to Roly and Jalna
If you don’t read the clue you can get the wrong answer! SCRAmBLE. What was I thinking? Pity as I’d had to work hard and had been pleased to finish relatively quickly.
All done in 9:56 but REDSTART put in on trust as I DK the bird, and FLOUNDERING guessed and only parsed later (much later). Also not entirely sure how Particular = Point in APPOINTMENT. LOI was BROADWAY for which I needed all the checkers. Did enjoy the DREADNOUGHT anagram.
Many thanks Roly for the blog.
Right on the wavelength today storming to a very decent and all parsed 12.31. Helped by getting Broadway at first glance with the B in place. Thought we might be going sub 10 for a bit but the bottom proved more chewy. Haven’t seen singer for bird in a while so that had to be dredged up.
Thanks Jalna and Roly
An interrupted solve which delayed me more than once but I managed to complete it before stepping into the SCC. A close thing, though.
Last in were OVERDUE and DESSERT WINE. I was surprised that the last one didn’t click sooner because I had WINE early on. Perhaps I should have had pen and paper on hand.
Thanks both.
Bifd REDSTART but had no idea what that was all about until I read Cedric’s comment. Thank you.
I liked DREADNOUGHT, pity ours are a bit thin on the ground (sic) at the moment. Spent longer than needed on APPOINTMENT which dropped in as the checkers fell into place.
LOI FLOUNDERING which is apposite to my usual cryptic performance.
26 mins for a bit slower than usual.
Thanks Roly and Jalna
I had trouble with definitions today, either looking at the wrong end of the clue or failing to lift and separate. I was convinced the definition at 4d was ‘make wooden’, making what was a relatively simple clue much more tricky and spent time wondering if there was a technical term for sheep giving birth at 7d 🤦♂️.
An enjoyable workout, starting with BALL and finishing with CREATE in 8.36. COD to DREADNOUGHT.
Thanks to Roly and Jalna