11 minutes, delayed a little at the end in the NE segment by 6 & 7dn and 5 & 10ac. The surface readings struck me as particularly smooth today. This is Heron’s third puzzle and my first opportunity to blog him/her. My QC blog count now stands at 350, way behind Chris’s probably unbeatable record of around 450!
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 | Dog next to railway is mine (8) |
| COLLIERY – COLLIE (dog), RY (railway) | |
| 5 | Plaintiffs covering up small disagreement (4) |
| TIFF – Hidden in [covering up] {plain}TIFF{s} | |
| 9 | Start to faint moving last parts of set (5) |
| FLATS – F{aint} [start to…], anagram [moving] of LAST. I missed the definition until I came to blog this one. ‘Flats’ and ‘set’ refer to scenery on a stage. | |
| 10 | Intellectual burying a hatchet (7) |
| CLEAVER – CLE~VER (intellectual) containing [burying] A | |
| 11 | Not the principals in bronze medal events? (5,7) |
| THIRD PARTIES – THIRD (bronze medal), PARTIES (events). A bronze medal is customarily a third prize in a race or competition. | |
| 13 | Coolness of a head of policing left in front of angry mob (6) |
| APLOMB – A, P{olicing} [head of…], L (left), anagram [angry] of MOB | |
| 15 | Globe is special present (6) |
| SPHERE – SP (special), HERE (present) | |
| 17 | Details snags needing repair in decorative surface (7,5) |
| STAINED GLASS – Anagram [needing repair] of DETAILS SNAGS | |
| 20 | Mould a new girth initially for horse (7) |
| MUSTANG – MUST (mould), A, N (new), G{irth} [initially]. I don’t recall meeting ‘must’ in this sense, but ‘musty’ is commonplace. | |
| 21 | American leader of government not backing country (5) |
| TONGA – A (American) + G{overnment} [leader of…] + NOT all reversed [backing] | |
| 22 | Study temperature in hollow (4) |
| DENT – DEN (study) + T (temperature) | |
| 23 | Advises assemblies in the auditorium (8) |
| COUNSELS – Aural wordplay [in the auditorium]: “councils” (assemblies) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Starts to clean and iron for diner (4) |
| CAFE – C{lean} + A{nd} [starts to…], FE (iron) | |
| 2 | Drain meadow by church (5) |
| LEACH – LEA (meadow), CH (church) | |
| 3 | Influential piece of music without vocals (12) |
| INSTRUMENTAL – Two meanings | |
| 4 | Summaries concerning headgear (6) |
| RECAPS – RE (concerning), CAPS (headgear) | |
| 6 | Bill is fashionable singer (7) |
| INVOICE – IN (fashionable), VOICE (singer) | |
| 7 | Woodworker in favour of floral smelling compound (8) |
| FORESTER – FOR (in favour of), ESTER (floral smelling compound). Not mentioned in the dictionaries I have looked at, but some esters occur naturally in petals and fruits, apparently. | |
| 8 | Arrange optional term for city resident (12) |
| METROPOLITAN – Anagram [arrange] of OPTIONAL TERM | |
| 12 | Paid money to release declared amount in foreign currency (8) |
| RANSOMED – Aural wordplay [declared] SOME / “sum” (amount) contained by [in] RAN~D (foreign currency). | |
| 14 | Meeting a lion is reckless (7) |
| LIAISON – Anagram [reckless] of A LION IS | |
| 16 | Slow movement essential to Lady Gaga gig now (6) |
| ADAGIO – {l}AD{y} + {g}AG{a} + {g}I{g} + {n}O{w} [essential to…] | |
| 18 | Burn candles in genuine bottles (5) |
| SINGE – Hidden in [bottles] {candle}S IN GE{nuine} | |
| 19 | Young girl in American city starts to sing songs (4) |
| LASS – LA (American city), S{ing} + S{ongs} [starts to…] | |
Didn’t know that meaning of FLATS and assumed it was something to do with music. Liked APLOMB, RANSOMED and ADAGIO. Missed the events/parties link in THIRD PARTIES but it went in from the definition.
Thanks Jack and setter.
7:21
FLATS was a long time coming before I finally thought of stage sets. I didn’t care for ‘intellectual’ as a definition for CLEVER.
I was fortunate to get colliery and instrumental almost immediately, getting off to a good start. But then I had to jump around the grid, picking off the obvious ones to get crossing letters. Metropolitan seemed a little strange, but the cryptic clearly pointed to it.
Time: 7:52
5.39, so a quick day for me. Everything seemed to flow in without a hitch, starting with COLLIERY and ending with COUNSEL. Didn’t get what FLATS was about either but it couldn’t be anything else. Thanks Jack, thanks Heron.