An enjoyable puzzle from Orpheus to start the week. No hiddens or reverse hiddens, only one partial and one full anagram, and only one long answer, so a paucity of what would probably be described as the easier clue types, but on the other hand there’s little in the way of obscure vocab, so overall I think a well-balanced offering. Thanks, Orpheus.
The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20161010/19302/
Definitions are underlined, omissions indicated via {}.
| Across | |
| 1 | Underlying principle, one accepted by male singer (5) |
| BASIS – I (one) in (accepted by) BASS (male singer). Presumably BASS is a reference to the vocal range normally only sung by men, rather than Lance Bass, formerly of NSYNC. | |
| 8 | Dressed like monk, fellow lived in (9) |
| INHABITED – IN HABIT (Dressed like monk) + ED (fellow) | |
| 9 | Go round in woman’s garment (5) |
| SKIRT – double definition. I carelessly whacked in SHIFT, even though that left the “round” unused, and only realised my error when the orange Unlucky appeared on the screen. | |
| 10 | Article cracking up musical performance (7) |
| RECITAL – anagram of (cracking up) ARTICLE | |
| 11 | Traveller in capital backing sovereign (7) |
| EMPEROR – REP (Traveller) in ROME (capital), all reversed (backing) | |
| 12 | Richard III, say — king one encountered in strange story (7) |
| YORKIST – K (king) + I (one), in anagram of (strange) STORY. Richard is known for his reburial last year, the Shakespearian tragedy that bears his name, and a mnemonic for the colours of the visible spectrum. | |
| 16 | Italian gentlemen so ignore it endlessly (7) |
| SIGNORI – S{o} IGNOR{e} I{t} (so ignore it endlessly, i.e. the words “so”, “ignore”, and “it”, all without their last letters). I’ve seen this device a few times in the Guardian but, if memory serves, it rarely occurs in the Times. | |
| 17 | Crimson vehicle belonging to the present compiler (7) |
| CARMINE – CAR (vehicle) + MINE (belonging to the present compiler). Orpheus clued this similarly as “Brightly coloured vehicle belonging to the compiler” in Quicky 70. | |
| 20 | Change direction on can — it provides security (3-4) |
| TIN-TACK – TIN (can) + TACK (Change direction). Here security means being secure in the sense of fixed rather than safe. Not hyphenated in any of the usual sources. (Edit: though see jackkt’s comment below.) | |
| 22 | Sea creature’s plaintive cry you can hear (5) |
| WHALE – homophone of (you can hear) WAIL (plaintive cry) | |
| 23 | Resigned from music group, one featuring in commercial (9) |
| ABANDONED – BAND (music group) + ONE, in AD (commercial, i.e. advertisement) | |
| 24 | Give up and give in (5) |
| YIELD – double definition | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Lieutenant initially entering HQ in Swiss city (5) |
| BASLE – L (Lieutenant initially, i.e. the first letter of the word “Lieutenant”) in (entering) BASE (HQ). Famous amongst watch aficionados for its annual Baselworld fair. Also birthplace of one R.Federer. | |
| 2 | Cutting energetic exercise (8) |
| SKIPPING – double definition, the first in the sense of ignoring or omitting | |
| 3 | Indian instrument, one held by celebrity (5) |
| SITAR – I (one) in (held by) STAR (celebrity) | |
| 4 | Choosing the best job in fruit farm? (6-7) |
| CHERRY-PICKING – double definition, the first idiomatic, the second literal | |
| 5 | Abstruse remedy introduced by old surgeon (7) |
| OBSCURE – CURE (remedy), after (introduced by) O (old) + BS (surgeon, i.e. Bachelor of Surgery). I think this is the first occurrence of this meaning of BS in the Quicky – it has previously been the preserve of the main cryptic and Mephisto. | |
| 6 | Way English teacher originally let it remain (4) |
| STET – ST (Way, i.e. street) + E (English) + T (teacher originally, i.e. the first letter of the word “teacher”), for the instruction on (say) proofs, where a word or words have been erroneously marked for deletion | |
| 7 | Obsequiously flatter a mostly dreary goddess (7) |
| ADULATE – A + DUL{l} (mostly dreary, i.e. all but the last letter of the word “dull”) + ATE (goddess). ATE is (Chambers): “The Greek goddess of mischief and of all rash actions and their results”, and is fairly frequently encountered in Crosswordland. | |
| 13 | Show tabby, possibly, kept by private record company (8) |
| INDICATE – CAT (tabby, possibly) in (kept by) INDIE (private record company). I initially thought that “private” was an odd word to choose as part of the definition, but Chambers has “private” and “independent” as a direct equivalence. | |
| 14 | Smokers’ requisite lost outside entrance to hotel (3-4) |
| ASH-TRAY – ASTRAY (lost) around (outside) H (entrance to hospital, i.e. the first letter of the word “hospital”) | |
| 15 | Fellow protégés, lily-livered types (7) |
| COWARDS – fellow protégés could be described as CO–WARDS. I didn’t know that protégé and ward could mean the same thing (Chambers has a direct equivalence) but it didn’t seem like a stretch while I was solving, plus the definition seemed unambiguous. | |
| 18 | Argument over extremely disorderly hooligan (5) |
| ROWDY – ROW (Argument) + D{isorderl}Y (extremely disorderly, i.e. the extremes of the word “disorderly”), with the answer a noun | |
| 19 | Press chief engages male staff to edit (5) |
| EMEND – ED (Press chief, i.e. editor) around (engages) MEN (male staff) | |
| 21 | Well-turned-out ox, for example (4) |
| NEAT – double definition, the second a meaning that’s described as archaic and/or dialect in all the usual sources but is bursting with rude health in Crosswordland in the 21st century | |
Enjoyed this one.
Needed the blog to help check the parsing of:
20a tin tack, 5d bs = surgeon, 7d ate = goddess, 15d co wards.
Neat being something bovine was in my head from previous crosswords.
thanks.
20ac has not made it in any form to the Concise Oxford*, nor is it in the larger Oxford Dictionary of English, but at the very end of its entry for “tack” in this context, the two-volume Shorter Oxford has “carpet-tack, thumb-tack, tin-tack, etc.”
Close attention to wordplay and/or the last checker was required at 1dn as the Swiss city is more commonly spelt Basel.
*reputed to be one of the two official sources for Times crosswords, the other being Collins, however this was a while ago under different crossword editorship and I don’t recall a more recent statement on the subject.
Edited at 2016-10-10 06:46 am (UTC)
JakartaJack
Edited at 2016-10-10 12:49 pm (UTC)
Ethel The Frog
12 minutes in all which is about as fast as I can read the clues and write the answers. I did pause over Tin Tack – a new phrase for me; and Adulate was guessed- I did not know Ate was a goddess but it was a confident punt. Favourite 13d . David
Brian
I hate playing the pedant (I don’t really!) but it wasn’t Richard III, formerly the Duke of Gloucester, who gave battle in vain but his father, the Duke of York.
GeoffH
Thanks to mohn for the blog and clarifications.