| Across |
| 1 |
Excellent physical education: hurting all over? (6) |
|
PEACHY – PE + ACHY |
| 4 |
Chap requiring some oxygen, temporarily (4) |
|
GENT – hidden word: oxyGEN Temporarily |
| 9 |
Nilote worked with hard, stone tool (7) |
|
NEOLITH – Anagram (‘worked’) of NILOTE + H for hard |
| 10 |
Greek letter is nothing fantastic (5) |
|
OMEGA – O + MEGA |
| 11 |
Lacking will, hitch-hiker finally abandons US highway (9) |
|
INTESTATE – INTERSTATE minus R (last letter of HITCH-HIKER) |
| 12 |
Have beef perhaps, but no starter (3) |
|
EAT – [M]EAT |
| 13 |
No attempt to catch a solicitor (6) |
|
NOTARY – NO + TRY with A inside |
| 15 |
Information about university rank (6) |
|
STATUS – STATS outside U for university |
| 17 |
Ancho that’s somewhat spicy (3) |
|
HOT – hidden word: ancHO Thats. Behold Curarist’s 39th law: if a clue contains an unfamiliar word, don’t look it up, look for a hidden word or anagram. See also 9 ac |
| 18 |
Female — one leaving an Egyptian city (9) |
|
ALEXANDRA – ALEXANDRIA minus I |
| 21 |
Piece of music is not a soul track primarily (5) |
|
NONET – NONE (not a soul) + T for track |
| 22 |
Type of ball — extremely large — pings around (3,4) |
|
LEG SPIN – LE (‘extremes’ of LARGE) + anagram (‘around’) of PINGS. Not sure the definition quite fits – I don’t think anyone says ‘what a great leg spin that was!’ You’d say ‘leg break’ or maybe ‘leg spinner’. ‘Leg spin’ means a style of bowling, not an individual delivery. [Note for Americans: in cricket, a leg spin delivery is a ball bowled with rotation that causes it to deviate off the pitch from the leg side towards the off side, thus attempting to beat the outside edge of the bat, assuming the batsman is right handed. Clear? Good. You’re welcome.] |
| 23 |
Chuck out every other bit of your cake, it’s gross! (4) |
|
YUCK – alternate letters of YoUr CaKe |
| 24 |
Small, small person is a pain (6) |
|
STITCH – S + TITCH. A sharp, pleuritic chest pain that I haven’t experienced since I was made to do cross-country runs at prep school |
4:36 this afternoon, after a morning dodging a plethora of potholes in Central Edinburgh with Mrs P.
From my point of view, the puzzle completed a week of QCs mostly of average difficulty, apart from Tuesday.
Only hold up was in the NW corner, having failed to nail 1 ac” peachy” and 3d “hairs breadth”at the outset but returning to find helpful crossers in place. Can’t say I’ve used peachy much in day to day conversation!
Maybe a peachy dinner from Mrs P tonight?
Thanks to Jalna and Curarist.
16:04
Fooled by HANDY, especially having biffed SONET so was held up for a couple of minutes in the SW until the penny dropped.
The setter’s technique for “handy” is relatively common and is worth storing in the memory banks.
A real challenge today, but very enjoyable. I came home in around 25 mins, which I will happily take. Jalna is a great setter, with some chewy but ‘gettable’ clues.
FOI – GENT
LOI – NONET
PDM – WHOA
COD – TITANIC
Thanks to Curarist for an excellent blog and best wishes to everyone for the weekend.
PS Just read the obituary for David Horry. I loved the tonsils prank. A life well-lived.
Very late to this today but an enjoyable 11 minute solve. It is interesting how often cricketing terms feature in these crosswords – and how often they lead to comment on this site.
Many thanks to Curarist for the blog and a good weekend to all
Cedric
dnf with handy not having met this clue before
one word from 5 over 5
🤯
Loved this. I was 66 on the morning of 17th so officially became an OAP. And what should the first clue be but PENSION! (As if I needed reminding!) Spooky or what?