Time: 13:02. I’ll be interested to hear what others think, but I found this pretty hard; maybe it was just me though.
Most of the long answers weren’t gimmes and some such as 5d are uncommon words. Still, nothing overtly unfair and it’s OK to be given a stiffer challenge than usual every now and then so I’m not complaining.
Thanks to Hurley
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answers indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reduction of tension once sail date is rearranged (2-10) |
| DE-ESCALATION – Anagram (‘is rearranged’) of ONCE SAIL DATE | |
| 9 | Firework question interrupting sibling (5) |
| SQUIB – QU (‘question’) contained in (‘interrupting’) SIB (‘sibling’)
‘Question’ for Qu. is in Chambers. A SQUIB is a type of firework that makes a hissing noise before exploding, but Collins also has as the second sense a firework that does not explode. The idiomatic non-pyrotechnic “damp squib” therefore may be tautological. |
|
| 10 | Fool that is not disheartened or wise (7) |
| SAPIENT – SAP (‘Fool’) IE (‘that is’) N |
|
| 11 | Severe part of dialectic: it’s arduous, in retrospect (7) |
| DRASTIC – Reverse hidden (‘part of… in retrospect’) in dialetiC: ITS ARDuous
Amusing surface. I agree – any ‘part of dialectic’ sounds very arduous to me, and not just ‘in retrospect’. Hegel, Kant, Marx – a fun group of guys! |
|
| 12 | Device with blades, reversible (5) |
| ROTOR – ‘reversible’ indicating a palindrome
A bit of a chestnut but it still took me a while to spot it. |
|
| 13 | Rest as site redeveloped (6) |
| SIESTA – Anagram (‘redeveloped’) of AS SITE
There was a learned discussion about the time of day at which a SIESTA is taken in keriothe’s blog for Sunday Times 5204 by Robert Price (scroll down to about two-thirds of the way through the comments) a bit more than a week ago. |
|
| 14 | Gun shop is to license guards (6) |
| PISTOL – Hidden (‘guards’) in |
|
| 17 | Suitable punch (5) |
| RIGHT – Double definition
For the second definition, as in “Joe Frazier felled him with a powerful right”; more usually followed by eg “hook” but can be used by itself. This sense of “right” is in all three usual sources. |
|
| 19 | Stock policy ahead of time (7) |
| LINEAGE – LINE (‘policy’) then (‘ahead of’) AGE (‘time’)
‘Stock’ for ancestry or line of descent/lineage. “Line” for “policy” as in “What’s the Labour Party line on tariffs?” |
|
| 21 | Responsibility to include euro — you missed out — very demanding (7) |
| ONEROUS – ONUS (‘Responsibility’) containing (‘to include’) E |
|
| 22 | Record one making regular payment starting late (5) |
| ENTER – ‘Starting late’ to indicate a first letter deletion. |
|
| 23 | Elite troops admitting note works all right (12) |
| SATISFACTORY – SAS (‘Elite troops’) containing (‘admitting’) TI (‘note’) then FACTORY (‘works’) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Teach Early English, introducing coin of past (7) |
| EDUCATE – EE (‘Early English’) containing (‘introducing’) DUCAT (‘coin of past’)
Both Collins and Chambers have ‘Early English’ for EE. I’m sure you’ll want to know this, but in NZ EE can also stand for “ewe equivalent”. I knew the word for ‘coin of past’, but not the details. Ducats were various gold or silver coins originating in Venice in the thirteenth century and used in many European countries up to as recently as the early twentieth century. |
|
| 3 | Bus isn’t out — it’s in need of repair — changes made (13) |
| SUBSTITUTIONS – Anagram (‘in need of repair’) of BUS ISNT OUT ITS | |
| 4 | Taking part in trials, a certain European region (6) |
| ALSACE – Hidden (‘Taking part in’) in triALS A CErtain | |
| 5 | Important changes with open distribution of share (13) |
| APPORTIONMENT – Anagram (‘changes’) of IMPORTANT ‘with’ OPEN | |
| 6 | Bungling at home, starts to embarrass people totally (5) |
| INEPT – IN (‘at home’) E |
|
| 7 | Not sharp or flat, as is to be expected (7) |
| NATURAL – Double definition
I’ve classified this as a double definition, but ‘Not sharp or flat’, in the musical sense, I suppose could be seen as a cryptic hint. |
|
| 8 | Worn American media boss (4) |
| USED – US (‘American’) ED (‘media boss’) | |
| 13 | Son, with sign of hesitation, promises to pay — not joking! (7) |
| SERIOUS – S (‘Son’) ER (‘sign of hesitation’) IOUS (‘promises to pay’) | |
| 15 | Expert leaving device to measure angles in farm vehicle (7) |
| TRACTOR – PRO (‘Expert’) deleted from (‘leaving’) PROTRACTOR (‘device to measure angles’)
My COD. The humble protractor (remembered from school geometry sets) contrasts with the hi-tech instrumentation seen in tractors these days. |
|
| 16 | Purchased land unfortunately knocked America to begin with (6) |
| ALASKA – ALAS (‘unfortunately’) K Referring to the purchase of Alaska by the USA from the Russian Empire in 1867. Again, something I was aware of, but know very little about. |
|
| 18 | One at wedding maybe judged correctly, we hear (5) |
| GUEST – Aural wordplay (‘we hear’) of GUESSED (‘judged correctly’) | |
| 20 | Merit attention? Not at first (4) |
| EARN – EAR (‘attention?’) N I spent a while trying to make ‘Not at first’ into a first letter deletion indicator for a word meaning ‘attention’. EAR in this sense of ‘attention’ as in a “sympathetic ear”, or “lend me your ear” = give me your attention. |
|
4:47. Roughly median difficulty by my estimation but maybe I just had a good day. Liked SAPIENT and ALASKA.
Nice one Hurley and thanks for the blog Bletch.
Whizzed through three quarters in record time then hit the buffers with ALASKA/LINEAGE. Threw in the towel at 15 minutes. Nicely played Hurley. Thanks BR for a helpful blog.
Me too
Really got engrossed in this. Wrecked it by overtyping a B with an N when inventing a SUnSTITUTION at the end. That ruined SQUIB too, which I’d been pleased to get on first sight. SATISFACTORY was LOI and was a mystery until GUEST finally went in. APPORTIONMENT was made hard by whacking in SAlIENT before a necessary revisting made it clear. About my average time but with average typing accuracy too.
10 minutes. Nice puzzle.
Took a lot of thinking then a trip to the thesaurus to get line=policy, which then dropped Alaska as LOI in 24.23.
Had the long anagrams written out but took lots of crossers before they revealed themselves, not helped by assuming sibling must be sis so having a rogue s in there!
Thanks Hurley and BR
6:25
I biffed the four long anagrams, trusting the anagrist was all there, and never bothered to parse them. ‘Not sharp or flat’ didn’t seem cryptic; is there a fourth category of notes?
I felt decidedly 7d solving this one, particularly in the SE where the LINEAGE, EARN, ALASKA combo put up stiff resistance.
Every time NATURAL for musical notes comes up I have to re-learn it so hopefully this time it will stick.
Started promisingly with DE ESCALATION and finished with PISTOL in a sluggish 9.05. COD to ALASKA.
Thanks to BR and Hurley
7d? Or 6d? Not that I’d ever suggest anyone was the latter.
I didn’t find this as hard as our blogger, as my time of 9:11 indicates, though this was much helped by getting the long anagrams quickly – including 1a as my FOI which certainly set the tone. Thereafter a steady solve, though I did not parse my LOI EARN.
APPORTIONMENT is indeed a not-very-common word, but the surface for the clue is so good that it gets my COD.
Many thanks BR for the blog.
Long anagrams all dropped straight in and I was flying till I hit the bottom … couldn’t see GUEST, I think because I wasn’t really confident in RIGHT and was second guessing the G, until I finally had SATISFACTORY. That then also gave ALASKA leaving me staring at LINEAGE (trawl) and finally EARN (never understood, thinking it was a first letter deletion).
So a fast start ended up in a very average 07:24 and an OK Day.
Many thanks Hurley and Bletchers.
Enjoyed this and it felt easier than my approximately par time of 9:03 suggests. Thanks all.