Time: 10 minutes. Today we have a very enjoyable puzzle from Oink to mark the return of a classic QC following some of the excesses of the past week. I hope you liked it as much as I did.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Second person falling for nightclub artiste? (8) |
| STRIPPER – S (second), TRIPPER (person falling) | |
| 6 | Husband withdrawn from Hunt inquiry (4) |
| CASE – C{h}ASE (hunt) [husband withdrawn from…] | |
| 8 | Member of Pride? (4) |
| LION – Cryptic with reference to the collective noun, a pride of lions. | |
| 9 | Who gets gran shot? (8) |
| GANGSTER – Anagram [shot] of GETS GRAN | |
| 10 | Australian state champion backing AI (8) |
| VICTORIA – VICTOR (champion) then AI reversed [backing] | |
| 12 | Couple of policemen I knocked over (4) |
| ITEM – MET (policemen – Metropolitan Police) + I, reversed [knocked over]. ODE: item – a couple involved in an established romantic or sexual relationship. | |
| 13 | Socialist darlings changing leader (6) |
| ENGELS – ANGELS (darlings) when changing leader can become ENGELS. Friedrich Engels (1820 – 1895). | |
| 15 | Line the pockets of Frenchmen Richelieu entertains (6) |
| ENRICH – Hidden. {Frenchm}EN RICH{elieu} [entertains]. | |
| 17 | Complain Trump is protecting Republican (4) |
| CARP – CA~P (trump) contains [is protecting] R (Republican) | |
| 19 | A little off colour, as golfer may be (5,3) |
| BELOW PAR – Two meanings, |
|
| 21 | Practise on slow-moving vehicle (8) |
| REHEARSE – RE (on), HEARSE (slow-moving vehicle) | |
| 23 | Bachelor leaving dull country (4) |
| LAND – {b}LAND (dull) [Bachelor leaving] | |
| 24 | Old man’s sons go by (4) |
| PASS – PA’S (old man’s), S (sons) | |
| 25 | Lousy ref worried solver in particular (8) |
| YOURSELF -Anagram [worried] of LOUSY REF | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Giving lessons to Inuit in trouble (7) |
| TUITION – Anagram [in trouble] of TO INUIT | |
| 3 | Pub first, then sex, right? (5) |
| INNIT – INN (pub), IT (sex) | |
| 4 | Retired GP eating last of salami? Greedy chap (3) |
| PIG – G~P reversed [retired] containing [eating] {salam}I [last of…]. Our setter’s customary porcine reference. | |
| 5 | Sound familiar, as Quasimodo should do? (4,1,4) |
| RING A BELL – The hint refers to The Hunchback of Notre Dame. | |
| 6 | I search all over the place for sack (7) |
| CASHIER – Anagram [all over the place] of I SEARCH | |
| 7 | Reportedly witnessed incident (5) |
| SCENE – Aural wordplay [reportedly]: “seen” (witnessed) | |
| 11 | Jam-maker’s disgusted utterance (9) |
| RASPBERRY – Two meanings | |
| 14 | Former journalist, say (7) |
| EXPRESS – EX (former), PRESS (journalist) | |
| 16 | French fashion designer taking new course (7) |
| CHANNEL – CHAN~EL (French fashion designer) containing [taking] N (new) | |
| 18 | Regularly agree on North American stadium (5) |
| ARENA – A{g}R{e}E [regularly], NA (North American) | |
| 20 | Mournful cries heard in the Principality (5) |
| WALES – Aural wordplay [heard]: “wails” (mournful cries) | |
| 22 | Aussie speedster married in Brussels (3) |
| EMU – M (married) contained by [in] E~U (Brussels) | |
Yes, a nice start to the week with a very friendly offering from Oink. Pretty much everything went in from definitions with the exception of ITEM, as I was thinking it might start with ‘ID’ for one of two policeman reversed before I saw the ‘couple’ meaning: a classic case of needing to lift and separate. Liked RASPBERRY and CASHIER. COD to YOURSELF.
Thanks Jack and setter.
8:34
Very slow for some reason (just about bottom o the SNITCH). I suspect that BELOW PAR (=off color) doesn’t derive from golf; a golfer shooting below par is doing well.
Quite right. I should have realised that myself!
I, too, was a quite slow on this – I should have seen answers like stripper and ring a bell instantly. Well, at least I saw and parsed item right away, but I had to leave the obvious lion until last, hoping when I came back it would be obvious – and it was.
Time: 8:24
8.27, so smack in the middle of the peloton. Had to think about GANGSTER for a while but was pleased to get VICTORIA promptly, seeing I’m sitting in it. Thanks to Jack and Oink.
Getting to ‘angel’ from ‘darling’ was tough and I wasn’t thinking of individual socialists so ENGELS added a good old chunk of time at the end. BELOW PAR started life as ‘under par’ but quickly corrected. LAND and REHEARSE were were a both solve to come to mind. All green in 9.33 after getting seven on the first pass of acrosses.
Oh dear, came here hoping to see comments on how tough it was. A real battle to finally get over the line in a whopping 30.45
After a nice quick start we ground to a halt and L2I Engels and Lion just wouldn’t come for ages.
Thanks!
Fairly straightforward apart from ENGELS where I had a double whammy. Like Mendesest, I struggled with angel/darling and my ignornance meant that I had no idea he was a socialist. If I’d had to put money on it I’d have linked him with Hitler’s mob.
Started with LION and finished with ITEM in 7.04.
Thanks to Jack and Oink
15:45 with a lot of time taken to rehearse Engels raspberry. Would have been well below par otherwise.
TaJAO