Nothing particularly taxing about this one with my only pause at 3D, where the wordplay was clear enough even if the answer wasn’t familiar to me. So thanks to Grumpy for a gentle start to the week. Commiserations to anyone living in a country that doesn’t have a public holiday today (Easter Monday), however there’s a full suite of normal/Jumbo concise and cryptic puzzles as compensation.
The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20160328/13910/
Definitions are underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Tough guys breaking ribs? Sure! (8) |
| BRUISERS – anagram (breaking) of RIBS SURE. The surface arguably makes this an extended definition. | |
| 5 | Like one with a large landmass (4) |
| ASIA – AS (Like) + I (one) + A | |
| 9 | Queen follows favourite saint (5) |
| PETER – ER (Queen) follows PET (favourite) | |
| 10 | A word we hear in a German accent? So it’s alleged (7) |
| AVERRED – A + homophone (we hear) of WORD as a German would supposedly pronounce it (i.e. with the w as a v). I guess this falls into the same niche category of homophones that also includes the supposed pronunciation quirks of drunks, Sean Connery, people with colds, etc. | |
| 11 | Cooler that is cold inside (3) |
| ICE – C (cold) inside IE (that is) | |
| 12 | Proposed name I don’t change (9) |
| NOMINATED – anagram (change) of NAME I DON’T | |
| 13 | I’m taken aback by anger? That’s an illusion (6) |
| MIRAGE – reversal (taken aback) of I’M, + RAGE (anger) | |
| 15 | Sibling ignoring the second disturbance (6) |
| BOTHER – B{r}OTHER (Sibling ignoring the second, i.e. “brother” without its second letter) | |
| 17 | Lorna’s family has least amount of data to contribute (2,4,3) |
| DO ONES BIT – DOONES (Lorna’s family, referring to R.D. Blackmore’s Lorna Doone) + BIT (least amount of data, i.e. from a computer storage point of view). A similar Lorna Doone clue came up in the first preliminary of last year’s Times Crossword Championship. | |
| 19 | Sprite seen in hotel foyer (3) |
| ELF – hidden (seen) in hotEL Foyer | |
| 20 | Tie up an awkward flower (7) |
| PETUNIA – anagram (awkward) of TIE UP AN | |
| 21 | Confused when sailing? (2,3) |
| AT SEA – double definition | |
| 22 | Mormon’s end beside salt lake (4) |
| TARN – TAR (salt, i.e. a sailor) + {Mormo}N (Mormon’s end, i.e. the last letter of “Mormon”) | |
| 23 | Begin to understand material one doesn’t finish (6,2) |
| COTTON ON – COTTON (material) + ON{e} (one doesn’t finish, i.e. “one” without its last letter) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Initiation that’s suitable is in British Museum (7) |
| BAPTISM – APT (suitable) + IS, all inside BM (British Museum) | |
| 2 | Family member doesn’t start to let loose (5) |
| UNTIE – {A}UNTIE (Family member doesn’t start, i.e. “Auntie” without its initial letter) | |
| 3 | Jump on places for putting veg (6,6) |
| SPRING GREENS – SPRING (Jump) on GREENS (places for putting, i.e. in golf). Not a phrase I was familiar with, but Collins tells me they are: “cabbage leaves that are harvested before the plants develop hearts” | |
| 4 | Province in actual centre of Germany (5) |
| REALM – REAL (actual) + {Ger}M{any} (centre of Germany, i.e. the middle letter of “Germany”) | |
| 6 | Withdraw with minor injury (7) |
| SCRATCH – double definition | |
| 7 | Extra snake almost died (5) |
| ADDED – ADDE{r} (snake almost, i.e. “adder” without its last letter) + D (died) | |
| 8 | Simple dish — not as snob ate in mess (5,2,5) |
| BEANS ON TOAST – anagram (in mess) of NOT AS SNOB ATE | |
| 14 | Cock Robin initially waving to Rose (7) |
| ROOSTER – R{obin} (Robin initially, i.e. the first letter of “Robin”) + anagram (waving) of TO ROSE. Just don’t dwell on one possible ambiguity of the surface reading. | |
| 16 | Hold back from the chorus (7) |
| REFRAIN – double definition | |
| 17 | Extremely desirable drug store (5) |
| DEPOT – D{esirabl}E (Extremely desirable, i.e. the first and last letters of “desirable”) + POT (drug) | |
| 18 | Encouraging word for Charlie’s predecessor (5) |
| BRAVO – double definition, the second referring to the letter names used in, e.g., the NATO phonetic alphabet (Alfa/Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc) | |
| 19 | Uncommon sense in a German city (5) |
| ESSEN – anagram (Uncommon) of SENSE, for perhaps Crosswordland’s favourite German city. According to Chambers, there are 3 other anagrams of ESSEN that are valid words, but I doubt any of them would ever appear in a Quicky. | |
What is it with Germany today? Three mentions here and another in the main!
Overall a good and fair crossword, I thought, thanks setter..
Plett11
I managed 17 correct answers today so I’m well chuffed.
From experience, dark chocolate and a nice glass of cold milk are very agreeable solving companions. Unfortunately the Easter eggs I received this year were both rather sickly milk chocolate 🙁