Loon’s fourth puzzle, a bit gentler than the others.
Loon’s previous puzzles have been 101, 131, 109 on the Quitch. I found this to be on softer terrain, with the top half being a fairly straight solve, and, despite a few stickier things in the south, I came home in a nice neat 5:55.
Much enjoyed – many thanks to Loon!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | Australian native’s time to settle down (5) |
| ROOST – ROO’S (Australian native’s) T(ime) | |
| 8 | This suggests Laura’s excited to receive love (7) |
| AROUSAL – anagram (excited) of LAURAS to receive O (love), with the definition referring to the rest of the clue. | |
| 10 | I retain peculiar disinclination to move (7) |
| INERTIA – anagram (peculiar) of I RETAIN | |
| 11 | Son follows description of six and eight irons? (5) |
| EVENS – S(on) follows EVEN (description of six and eight). As in to iron/press/flatten/even. Hands up if you briefly joined the “what on earth do eight irons have to do with evens?” club. | |
| 12 | Item from bakery and fizzy water brought up for auditor (4,5) |
| SODA BREAD – SODA (fizzy water) and BREAD “for the auditor” sounds the same as BRED (brought up/raised) | |
| 14 | Friend coming round for drink (3) |
| LAP – PAL (friend) reversed | |
| 15 | What encourages Sergio García? Endless holes (3) |
| OLE – is HOLES “less the ends”. Very nice! | |
| 16 | Chopped up wood taken for one-on-one combat (9) |
| TAEKWONDO – anagram (chopped up) of WOOD TAKEN. Can be three words or one. | |
| 18 | Having returned, make strong argument against potato? (5) |
| TUBER – reverse REBUT (make strong argument against) | |
| 20 | Herbivore’s blunder eating skinned bird (7) |
| GIRAFFE – GAFFE (blunder) eating IR (“skinned” |
|
| 22 | Unusual small portion is tasty snack (7) |
| RAREBIT – RARE (unusual) BIT (small portion) | |
| 23 | Assign everybody books (5) |
| ALLOT – ALL (everybody) OT (Old Testament = books) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reputedly boring individual teaches ceramicist (12) |
| TRAINSPOTTER – TRAINS (teaches) POTTER (ceramicist) | |
| 2 | Too lazy to work, Blondie beginning to eat bananas (4,4) |
| BONE IDLE – anagram (bananas) of BLONDIE and “beginning” of E |
|
| 3 | Restore this section of permafrost ethically (4) |
| STET – “section of” permafroST EThically. Latin for let it stand, used in editing, etc. that I first encountered in a crossword (and have never seen in the wild). | |
| 4 | Ruin wild party pinching silver (6) |
| RAVAGE – RAVE (wild party) pinching AG (silver) | |
| 5 | Sweetheart delivered sufficient melon (8) |
| HONEYDEW – HONEY (sweetheart) and then DEW is “delivered” or spoken the same as DUE (sufficient) | |
| 6 | Ascending sequence in Handel’s Imeneo is key (4) |
| ISLE – “Ascending sequence” in handELS Imeneo. KEY for ISLE from Spanish cayo. | |
| 9 | Changing sport, reply to office for recovery of kit (4,8) |
| LOST PROPERTY – anagram (changing) of SPORT REPLY TO | |
| 13 | Bad breath surrounds old boy in loose clothing (8) |
| BATHROBE – anagram (bad) of BREATH surrounding OB (old boy: abbrev. as in a school alumnus) | |
| 14 | Descend below ground, where cruise ends (8) |
| LANDFALL – FALL (descend) goes below LAND (ground) | |
| 17 | Some scores important having lost wicket (6) |
| EIGHTY – WEIGHTY (important) having lost W(icket). In the score = 20 sense, of course. | |
| 19 | Scottish child, heartlessly, in outhouse (4) |
| BARN – BAIRN (Scotting child) “heartlessly” = remove the centre | |
| 21 | Raise seat (4) |
| REAR – double definition: the first as in either to lift up or to breed; the second as in REAR-END, with Chambers defining the relevant sense of SEAT rather strangely as “That part of the body or of a garment on which on sits”. | |