On this day in 1856, H. Rider Haggard was born. Haggard wrote arguably the most popular book in Crosswordland, the adventure novel She. It’s definitely worth remembering for beginners, along with its counterparts in other artistic domains – Kipling’s poem If and Spielberg’s film ET.
A pleasant puzzle from Izetti today with nothing obscure or likely to cause consternation (apart from maybe 3D if you aren’t up on your cricket fielding positions). COD to 8A for the nicely disguised anagram indicator.
The puzzle can be found here if the normal channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20150622/6583/
Definitions are underlined. Please ask in the comments if you have any questions.
| Across | |
| 1 | Good apartments for chaps getting married (6) |
| GROOMS – G (Good) + ROOMS (apartments) | |
| 4 | Looked fixedly about, happy to be outside (6) |
| GLARED – GLAD (happy) outside RE (about) | |
| 8 | Ensure bandage is tight for cow (8,5) |
| ABERDEEN ANGUS – anagram (tight – in the sense of drunk) of ENSURE BANDAGE | |
| 10 | Grumble‘s increased audibly (5) |
| GROAN – homophone (audibly) of GROWN (increased) | |
| 11 | Old Turk‘s seat (7) |
| OTTOMAN – double definition, the second referring to (as per Collins) “a low padded seat, usually armless, sometimes in the form of a chest”. Note that Ottoman in the first sense can be a noun or an adjective, so the apostrophe s could either be a mere link or part of the definition – take your pick. | |
| 12 | Putting slant on things, the way a printer does? (11) |
| ITALICISING – mildly cryptic definition, in which the surface invites you to think that a printer is imposing his/her own views | |
| 16 | See mine blowing up fighters on the other side (7) |
| ENEMIES – anagram (blowing up) of SEE MINE | |
| 17 | Companion has manner that goes with professorial position (5) |
| CHAIR – CH (Companion, i.e. Companion of Honour) + AIR (manner) | |
| 18 | Something that has to be seen will be spoiling daughter? (3,4,2,4) |
| TOO GOOD TO MISS – double definition, the second slightly cryptic. If you are “too good to Miss” then you may be spoiling a girl (daughter?) | |
| 19 | Solemn – is teased terribly (6) |
| SEDATE – anagram (terribly) of TEASED | |
| 20 | Quiet sweetheart may be a hypocrite (6) |
| PHONEY – P (Quiet, i.e. piano) + HONEY (sweetheart). I wanted to put in “plover” here at first because it fitted the wordplay but common sense prevailed. Chambers does tell me though that “plover” has two old slang meanings of which I was unaware – dupe and prostitute – though these are Listener/Mephisto definitions rather than Quicky/main cryptic ones. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Farmhouse finally looming over mountains (6) |
| GRANGE – G (finally looming, i.e. the last letter of “looming”) + RANGE (mountains) | |
| 2 | A supporter of motorway development? It takes some swallowing finally (3,3,3,4) |
| ONE FOR THE ROAD – double definition, the first a literal reading (if you are for something then you are a supporter of it) and the second cryptic and referring to a last drink | |
| 3 | After start of match one fellow gets position on cricket field (3-2) |
| MID-ON – M (start of match, i.e. the first letter of “match”) + I (one) + DON (fellow) | |
| 5 | The French worker thus put up sheds (4-3) |
| LEAN-TOS – LE (The French, i.e. one of the French words for “The”) + ANT (worker) + OS (thus put up, i.e. “so” reversed). Such an odd-looking word in the plural – seems as though it should perhaps be the name of a Greek island. | |
| 6 | I meet ignorant rowdy – strict discipline needed (13) |
| REGIMENTATION – anagram (rowdy) of I MEET IGNORANT. Nice surface. | |
| 7 | Giving medicine to Carol after party (6) |
| DOSING – SING (Carol) after DO (party). Note the misleading use of capitalisation here – as has been mentioned before, capitalising a word that wouldn’t normally be capitalised is generally considered acceptable, but not capitalising a word that would normally be capitalised is likely to lead to a session in the stocks. Or at least a trip to the Guardian. I don’t have any particularly strongly feelings about this myself, but I think this convention is always followed in puzzles in the Times. | |
| 9 | Soldiers inside got rid of – got rid of as evil devils (9) |
| EXORCISED – OR (Soldiers, i.e. Other Ranks) inside EXCISED (got rid of). I think the “as” might have been left in from a draft version of the clue, as it doesn’t seem to be necessary. | |
| 13 | Presented unruly fellow, having brought in help (4,3) |
| LAID OUT – LOUT (unruly fellow) around AID (help) | |
| 14 | Former PM’s wastelands? (6) |
| HEATHS – HEATH’S (referring to Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the UK from 1970 to 1974) | |
| 15 | Surly Conservative out of touch? (6) |
| CRUSTY – C (Conservative) + RUSTY (out of touch) | |
| 17 | Idiot given hard material (5) |
| CLOTH – CLOT (Idiot) + H (hard). In case you were wondering, “cooth” doesn’t exist as a word. | |
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