I was flying through this offering from Orpheus, until suddenly I wasn’t. After 6 minutes (6 minutes!) I had all but three done, but those three held out for another 4 minutes, giving me a time of 10:11.
I’m still very pleased with that, but the interlocking ALASTAIR, SIGNET and UNATTENDED held out as a group, until SIGNET revealed itself, and then the other two fell reasonably quickly. There were plenty of clues in here that almost count as chestnuts: BAND, APPRECIATE, THINKING and DATED as a sample.
I hope you all enjoyed this one, however long it took you.
Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Be thankful for increase in value (10) |
| APPRECIATE – A classic double definition to get us started. | |
| 8 | Poet nursing curious aim to be pub employee (7) |
| BARMAID – Anagram [curious] of AIM inside BARD (poet). | |
| 9 | Bungling players initially employed in popular film (5) |
| INEPT – P ET is the setters’ all-time favourite film, at least for inclusion in clues. |
|
| 10 | Grass certain ruminants brought back (4) |
| REED – DEER (certain ruminants) reversed [brought back]. | |
| 11 | Birds sound contented mostly, finding flowering plant (8) |
| LARKSPUR – LARKS (birds) + PUR I was SO close to putting HAWKSPUR, but then I remembered that there is a town called Larkspur near San Francisco, and it was probably named after something… So this went in with crossed fingers. Turns out that larkspur is a type of delphinium. |
|
| 13 | Direct animal on farm (5) |
| STEER – Another double definition. | |
| 14 | Opening Henry found in Riviera resort (5) |
| NICHE – H (SI abbreviation for Henry, the unit of inductance) in NICE (Riviera resort).
18-year old me could have told you what “inductance” is. Current me will direct you to Wikipedia. |
|
| 16 | Chap demanding a final song, perhaps (8) |
| ALASTAIR – A LAST AIR (a final song).
I looked at the wrong end of this one for ages, trying to come up with synonyms for encore, swansong etc. |
|
| 17 | Group of musicians prohibited on radio (4) |
| BAND – Sounds like [on radio] BANNED (prohibited). | |
| 20 | Mum or Dad’s brother, a pawnbroker (5) |
| UNCLE – Another double definition.
I don’t know that I’ve ever heard “uncle” for “pawnbroker” in real life. |
|
| 21 | Backing school, the French finally sent brief communication (7) |
| NOTELET – ETON (school), reversed [backing] + LE [the, in French] + As ET is to films, so Eton is to schools in crossword clues. Other schools are available. |
|
| 22 | Girl was inclined to accept time alone (10) |
| UNATTENDED – UNA (random girl) + T [time] in TENDED (was inclined).
My LOI. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Warning light in Wokingham, Berks (5) |
| AMBER – Hidden in The middle light of a set of traffic lights is known as “amber” in the UK. |
|
| 2 | Tenacity shown by salesman overturned separation (12) |
| PERSEVERANCE – REP (salesman) backwards [overturned] + SEVERANCE (separation). | |
| 3 | Vivacity of English knight touring US city (4) |
| ELAN – LA (US city) inside E for English and N for knight (from chess notation). | |
| 4 | Asian needing help turned up in lodging-place (6) |
| INDIAN – AID (help) reversed [turned up] in INN (lodging-place). | |
| 5 | Underweight ruler’s philosophy? (8) |
| THINKING – THIN KING. | |
| 6 | A sight in bed, wearing glasses! (12) |
| BESPECTACLED – SPECTACLE (a sight) in BED.
Slightly unusual to see the actual word needed in the answer appear in the clue, but I think the surface wouldn’t be so smooth with any synonym. |
|
| 7 | Stick around entrance to restaurant, but go without food (6) |
| STARVE – STAVE (stick) around [entrance to] R |
|
| 12 | In part, merit reanimated African citizen (8) |
| ERITREAN – Hidden in [in part] |
|
| 13 | Small gallery accommodating high-class sculpture (6) |
| STATUE – S (small) + TATE (gallery) including [accomodating] U (high-class).
I’m going to complain about U for high-class every time it comes up when I’m the blogger. It is outdated and reeks of social snobbery. |
|
| 15 | Seal, or young bird, do we hear? (6) |
| SIGNET – Sounds like [do we hear] CYGNET (young bird).
The meaning of “seal” for “signet” goes back to the time when letters were sealed with wax, and the sender would press their signet ring into the hot wax to show its authenticity to the recipient. |
|
| 18 | Out of fashion, being invited for a tryst (5) |
| DATED – Our fourth double definition. | |
| 19 | Animal pen at end of lane? It’s an eyesore! (4) |
| STYE – STY (animal pen) + [end of] |
|
I was doing quite well time wise, until I too stumbled at 16a. Usually I don’t seek MrB’s help but did today because we going out. He saw it immediately, because it’s his brother’s name (well, almost – one of the many alternative spellings). How incredibly embarrassing 😅
So, together we finished in a combined time of about 10 minutes – does that count? I liked THINKING and STYE.
FOI Amber LOI and COD Alastair
Thanks Orpheus and Doofers
DNF
Spent far too long completing this only to fail on the NHO LARKSPUR. Impossible to get from the wordplay alone if you didn’t know the plant. Went with HAWKSPUR.
Also guilty of some careless biffing with BARHAND which fit the checkers but obviously not the wordplay.
A truly appalling 24 mins (felt much, much longer).
Reading most of the above comments made me realise the full extent of my incompetence. There’s no hope for me if I can’t get the likes of DEER or ERITREAN straight away.
Three and a half years and I’m still inept.
Thanks for the blog.
PS Even failed on the Quintagram.
Hi Gary – please don’t feel bad when I make a request (especially if you’re feeling gloomy with your quickie time today*) but when you mention the Quintagram, it would be great if you didn’t give any answers away. I for one don’t usually do it till later on. I hope you don’t mind me asking, and please DON’T FEEL BAD!
*I know you won’t accept it, but really 24 minutes is fine!
Sorry Penny, how thoughtless of me. Please accept my sincere apologies. I won’t do that again. I’ve amended my post so I don’t give the game away to anyone else.
Really, it’s not a big problem and please don’t take it to heart – I just hope you didn’t mind me mentioning it 😊 I’m going to go and have a look at the Quintagram now!
Best of luck with tomorrow’s puzzles👍
Thanks Penny 😊. You were quite right to mention it.
I hope you were more successful than I was with the Quintagram!
I got stuck on the concise 😅 Couldn’t see two of them!
So it’s not just me!
Very late to the party, but, re ‘uncle’ – check this out! It’s how I knew of the pawnbroker/uncle connection…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxtc4V-7Asw
Thought I’d posted a comment an hour or so ago but it seems not to have made it!
I shan’t repeat it all except to say that 16d also gave me grief. But when MrB took a quick glance at it, he saw it immediately – it’s his brother’s name (although one of the many alternative spellings!) How embarrassing 😅 It was a good clue too!
FOI Amber LOI and COD Alastair
Thanks Orpheus and Doofers
My COD was 16a, natch 🙂