Time: 07:33
No ParkSolve time to report today as I was on volunteering duty at Parkrun. But this is more than 50% over my median solving time so I’m thinking we have a challenging one on our hands.
And sure enough a quick bit of research confirms that City’s puzzles typically sit at the tougher end of the spectrum. That’s exactly what we want on a leisurely Saturday morning, right? RIGHT?
Let us know how you went, and in particular how much you enjoyed and appreciated the setter’s craft.
(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics. In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc. Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Stars destroyed eg theatre bar (3,5,4) |
| THE GREAT BEAR – (EG THEATRE BAR)*
As in the constellation Ursa Major |
|
| 8 | Get rid of backward content in Eminem review (7) |
| EXAMINE – EXA [AXE (get rid of) backward] + MINE (content in eMINEm)
My LOI by some distance. Hung up on “get rid of” being the definition. |
|
| 9 | Composer left after party (5) |
| RAVEL – L (left) after RAVE (party) | |
| 10 | Artificial river in south-west and south-east (5) |
| FALSE – FAL (river in south-west) + SE (south-east) | |
| 11 | Hot American has turned and fled (7) |
| SAHARAN – SAHA {[A (American) + HAS] reversed (turned)} + RAN (fled)
I guess Saharan for hot works in the same way that Baltic does for cold, the latter being far more common though. |
|
| 12 | Hard fabulist almost recalled prophet (5) |
| HOSEA – H (hard) + OSEA [AESOp (fabulist almost) reversed (recalled)]
Aesop’s Fables was a bit of a standard when I was a kid. |
|
| 14 | Some fancy an ideal poison (7) |
| CYANIDE – Hidden in (some) fanCY AN IDEal | |
| 15 | A nun cries out for protection (9) |
| INSURANCE – (A NUN CRIES)* | |
| 17 | Vital organ not needing exterior organ (3) |
| EAR – hEARt (vital organ) without the first and last letters (not needing exterior) | |
| 19 | She & he dare love madly, being so? (4,4,5) |
| HEAD OVER HEELS – (SHE + HE DARE LOVE)* | |
| 21 | Act like a bird and make tracks (4,2) |
| BEAT IT – BE A TIT (act like a bird)
A bit of a chestnut, but a fun one. |
|
| 22 | Thick end and middle of rye sandwich (5) |
| BUTTY – BUTT (thick end) + Y (middle of rYe) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Play first reserve in chivalrous football team, we hear? (7,5) |
| TWELFTH NIGHT – Homophone (we hear) of TWELFTH KNIGHT (first reserve in chivalrous football team)
Of course The Knights might not actually be a chivalrous team but you get the point. |
|
| 2 | Lab seen changing permits (7) |
| ENABLES – (LAB SEEN)* | |
| 3 | Artist is beginning to enjoy Boost (5) |
| RAISE – RA (artist) + IS + E (beginning to Enjoy) | |
| 4 | Fancier rose regularly spurned for trees (5) |
| ACERS – Alternate letters (regularly spurned) of fAnCiEr RoSe | |
| 5 | Flipping the bird at arrival time? (9) |
| BIRTHDATE – (THE BIRD AT)* | |
| 6 | Plug from TV set remained broken (13) |
| ADVERTISEMENT – (TV SET REMAINED)*
Good clue. |
|
| 7 | Look good ahead of Armstrong? (6) |
| GLANCE – G (good) ahead of LANCE (Armstrong?)
Ah, that Armstrong. Hmmmm. |
|
| 13 | Carriage left transport hub (7) |
| AIRPORT – AIR (carriage) + PORT (left) | |
| 14 | Conservative posted approval (7) |
| CONSENT – CON (Conservative) + SENT (posted) | |
| 16 | How much one gets from second career (5) |
| SHARE – S (second) + HARE (career)
Hare and career as in move rapidly. |
|
| 18 | Sport where Tamworth might be out of practice (5) |
| RUSTY – RU (sport) + STY (where Tamworth might be)
Rugby Union is the sport and a Tamworth is a pig. The fact that the forward pack in rugby is commonly referred to as “the pigs” is irrelevant here. |
|
| 20 | Elf hasn’t observed Boromir at first (3) |
| HOB – Initial letters (at first) of Hasn’t Observed Boromir
A mischievous household spirit from Northern English mythology. Not to be confused with a hobgoblin, in the unlikely event that you encounter one or the other. |
|
Since I am in hurry to go to bed on a Friday night, I biffed my way through. Head over heels, yeah, that must be it. Twelfth Night, that’s a play that fits, good enough. We’ve already see Be A Tit and the RU sty, so those were write-ins. Then a little mopping up – birth date, then Saharan, and there you go.
Time: 8:45.
13 minutes, delayed a little by SHARE and SAHARAN where I was too busy try to biff and not finding a word to fit the checkers. The answer came eventually when I stopped and forced myself to follow the wordplay.
I struggled through but got there in the end. However, I don’t see how AIR relates to carriage. What am I missing please?
Twelfth Night both amused and irked me! Begrudgingly my COD.
Think of someones appearance/attitude rather than a vehicle – ‘he had an air of confidence about him’
he had a carriage of confidence about him?
Now think of carriage in terms of personal deportment.
“He walks along the Bois de Boulogne with an independent air…”
Walks along with an Independent Carriage? Presumably one procured from your bus company!
Ah understood. Thank you for the kind explanations.
I wish it was my company, but alas, not!
This one got the grey matter working but all was fairly clued.
I spent some time trying to find a hidden for EXAMINE and life would have been easier if either of the 1s had gong in at first glance but …
Started with RAVEL and finished with EXAMINE in 8.47.
Thanks to Galspray and City
14:38 Difficulty when I got to Examine Hosea Butty but otherwise quite palatable😉
Ta GAC
I found this tough, and was very slow to get going. Long and difficult anagrams on an empty grid not ideal starter material! Perseverance eventually gave me a toehold, then a few more, and the last clues all came in a bit of a rush – the opposite of a breezeblock. But by then the clock had ticked on to 19:05 for Difficult Day.
Too many holdups to list then all but a special mention for EXAMINE, where I was convinced until the A appeared that it was a reverse hidden (“backward content”). Devilish misleading!
Many thanks Galspray for the blog (glad this was your Saturday not mine!) and a good weekend to all.
Tough, a few biffs and needed the blog to understand some, EXAMINE particularly, but generally enjoyable. BEAT IT is new to me if not to others, and was a highlight.
Tricky for us – SAHARAN and BIRTHDATE still incomplete when we had to call it a day at 21 minutes… things to do…
NHO Tamworth pig, knew not of FAY however had to be FALSE. BEAT IT brought a chuckle when we finally understood its workings.
Blog proved very helpful.
Many thanks to Galspray and to City.
Having recorded WITCH of well sub-100 in 4 out of 5 days of regular week I was most definitely not on City’s wavelength today taking almost twice as long as my par and only narrowly avoiding SCC.
LOI SAHARAN as I’d convinced myself I was looking for a synonym of fled. Could not parse EXAMINE, but otherwise really enjoyed this quite testing puzzle today. Thanks City and Galspray.
All bar three in an hour.
CoD 1d
LoI head over heels
Missing three down, I still don’t get RA for artist I was thinking Man Ray but that’s not it.
16d ?
12ac lack of GK
Thanks setter and blogger
RA stands for Royal Academician, ie an academician at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
Not something I’d have been aware of except that it comes up very frequently in these puzzles. Keep an eye out for it.
Thank you
In the US, we have the National Academy, but I’ve never seen American artist used to clue NA.
The difference is that Royal Academicians are entitled to put the letters RA after their name in the same way that Doctors of Philosophy can append PhD following theirs.
Yes, on each finished canvas the American painters will sign their name, comma, N.A.
DNF SAHARAN (Scheran), SHARE (put Stake).
Took me ages to think of the right Armstrong – Louis, Neil? Another late solve was EXAMINE.
I didn’t enjoy this one so much, despite easy 1a.
Biffed RUSTY, though perhaps Wodehouse’s Lord Emsworth’s pig was a Tamworth. Looked up prophets for HOSEA.
Liked BEAT IT, ACERS, EAR and FALSE.
Thanks vm, Galspray. Blog much needed.
Later – No, Lord E’s pig was a Berkshire
From ENABLES to SHARE in 11:20, so on the trickier end of the spectrum. Took a whie to see EXAMINE and SAHARAN. Liked TWELFTH NIGHT. Thanks City and Galspray.
8:04
Nothing unknown, though I did biff TWELFTH NIGHT entirely on the NIGHT/knight homophone – I didn’t twig the TWELFTH part (doh!). Had to write out HOSEA to see that it looked correct and INSURANCE needed four checkers before the answer became obvious.
Thanks Galspray and City
15:34
Hosea, the first Hispanic fireman. Hoseb the second.
Thanks, g.
Dnf…
21 mins, but put “Stake” for 16dn knowing it didn’t feel quite right. I then forgot to go back and relook at it before submitting. A tough one from City, who tends to be one of the harder setters I think.
FOI – 2dn “Enables”
LOI – 21ac “Beat It”
COD – 7dn “Glance” – I initially thought of the astronaut.
Thanks as usual!
Generally slow throughout and had to at least begin to write out the long anagrams before they appeared. Cheated by revealing the second letter of EXAMINE as I didn’t have a clue what was going on. Very obvious with hindsight! My favourites were BE A TIT and RU STY. Very easily pleased 😁 HEAD OVER HEELS also very good. Many thanks both.
About 6 mins on phone. Good quality all round and no stand-out clue for me today. I agree with the MER at air/carriage but think it is probably fine.
26 mins which is very slow.
I thought Hosea a bit obscure for a QC.
Thanks Galspray and City
My slowest of the month, and definitely at the tougher end of the spectrum.
FOI THE GREAT BEAR
LOI EXAMINE
COD RUSTY
TIME 4:59
Too much for me, gave up with 9 remaining. 21a across was mildly amusing, but otherwise an unrewarding slog. Thanks City and galspray.
Two to the bad – both bunged in after 25 mins, having made no sense of either. Thought a fabulist was going to equate to some sort of fantacist, liar etc. Was nowhere near a reverse partial aesop. Went for swage at 16d having failed to think of anything else. Share is entirely fair, of course.
FOI The great bear
LOI Dnf
COF Birthdate
thanks City and Galspray
10.14 I was held up for several minutes by a careless ENABLED and I failed to parse LOI BEAT IT. I’ll blame the hangover. I liked HEAD OVER HEELS. Thanks galspray and City.
Comfortably quicker than yesterday, which, given that this was a standing room only solve, says more about the scale of Friday’s disaster.
Started reasonably well, and made steady progress, but the last few, especially Examine, dragged out the time. All the same, quite an enjoyable solve.
CoD to Rusty for the smile. Invariant
Certainly slower than average for us at 15:40 with most of the damage done by SHARE. Perfectly fair clue but it required us to do a lot of staring and alphabet trawling. We needed the checkers for EXAMINE and, though we have seen it before, BE A TIT did not immediately spring to mind. On the whole it was ‘tricky in parts’ and we enjoyed the challenge. Thanks to galspray and City.
Better than usual today. Still slower than most but only a few stretches of continued confusion and staring at blank cells.
Never heard of BUTTY but it fit with everything around it and the wordplay. I kept imagining fabulist as liar so I had to back into HOSEA eventually after filling in ENABLES. ADVERTISEMENT came to me easier than a big anagram usually does so I like it for that. My COD was probably BIRTHDATE. It took a while to parse but was absolutely obvious in retrospect which is always fun. LOI was BEAT IT which was also a struggle followed by a face palm.
Time: 40:48
34-35 minutes for me, which is ~15% over my half-hour target, but I was close to being much faster.
TWELFTH NIGHT came very late in the day, but I really needed it to get EXAMINE and HOSEA, both of which had me completely stumped. But it was the straightforward SHARE that really did for me. I must have spent 3-4 minutes on it (on and off) on the way through and it definitely held me up for a further 5 minutes at the end. A breezeblock clue for me, if there ever was one.
FOI: THE GREAT BEAR
COD: BEAT IT
LOI: SHARE
Thanks to Galspray and City
Found this hard and unable to parse several. A long 30:21 to struggle home. Definitely way off the wavelength today.
12.12.
The Tamworth Two were a pair of pigs that escaped while being unloaded from a lorry at an abattoir in the English town of Malmesbury, Wiltshire in January 1998. The pigs (later named Butch and Sundance after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) were on the run for more than a week, and the search for them caused a huge media sensation, as well as immense public interest, both in Britain and abroad.
I thought that Tamworth must be a well-known breed of pigs, albeit not to me. That they had their 15 mins of fame nearly 30 years ago is surely one of the most obscure references that we have ever had. I expect they are in Collins though!
Tamworth is indeed a breed of pig, so the clue is not as obscure as you think!
21:29 for me. I’d NHO ACERS, that went in with crossed fingers. We seem to have had a week with lots of long anagrams, but I’ve no data to back that up.
Thanks to City and galspray.
Tough but lots to enjoy amongst the MERs listed by others above. I was away for all of Saturday and couldn’t face this when I returned home at 10pm.
I finished it and parsed ’em all but entered HOB with fingers crossed. Air/Carriage had to be but……
Very slow – well into the SCC. My norm for a City ‘QC’. I keep thinking he will get the hang of ‘Q’ with time and still live in hope. COD HOSEA.
Only got to this on Sunday morning. Very enjoyable tussle but some tough clues – TWELFTH NIGHT particularly elliptical, I thought. COD RUSTY.
All in vain, however, since I got two DPSs having lazily put STAKE instead of SHARE, assuming that “career” was going to be the 23rd sense of “take” in the OED. Alas not.
Many thanks City and Gallers.