One at the easier end of the spectrum from Hurley today. At least, that’s how I found it, but I have a sample size of one.
I finished in 13:13, inside my target, which always makes me happy on a blogging day. I started with PEP and ended with STAMP, correcting it from the SHARP that I had first entered with some qualms.
For some reason, I couldn’t get the script that generates the shell of this post from the completed crossword to work, so I’ve had to retype all the clues, numbers and answers as well as the explanations below. Please let me know if you spot any typos or mistakes (or, God forbid, leftover clues from the page I copied!).
Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Refusal to accept as true bids I feel flawed (9) |
| DISBELIEF – anagram [flawed] of BIDS I FEEL. | |
| 6 | Upkeep oddly absent – energy found (3) |
| PEP – Just the even-numbered letters [oddly absent] of |
|
| 8 | Frank character (5) |
| STAMP – Double definition, the first being in the sense of franking a letter, the second as in “the stamp of the man”.
This was my LOI: I had almost convinced myself that SHARP worked, but reconsidered before submitting: glad I did! |
|
| 9 | Dog’s range that is large (7) |
| SPANIEL – SPAN (range), I.E. (that is), L (large). | |
| 10 | Bombastic speech, extremely rich, recalled rote initially is cringeworthy (8) |
| RHETORIC – first and last letters [extremely] of R A MER at “Bombastic”: rhetoric can also be the study of effective writing and speechmaking. |
|
| 11 | 50 percent with time for female in end (4) |
| HALT – HALF (50%) with a T replacing the F [time for female]. | |
| 13 | Trickery is fashionable – yearn for reform (9) |
| CHICANERY – CHIC (fashionable) + an anagram [for reform] of YEARN. | |
| 16 | What about showing more friendliness? (4) |
| THAW – anagram [about] of WHAT. | |
| 17 | Member of clergy one’s seen in church (8) |
| MINISTER – MINSTER (church, as in York Minster) with I (one) inserted [one’s seen in].
I cannot get this one to stick in my mind. I’ve probably seen variants on this half a dozen times or more and it always takes me ages. |
|
| 20 | Medic, one with distinctive quality, describing some cinemas (5-2) |
| DRIVE-IN – DR (medic), I (one), VEIN (distinctive quality or manner, as in “a humorous vein”). | |
| 21 | Trouble in Wag group (5) |
| AGGRO – Hidden in [in] British slang for trouble, as in a fight. The surface reading refers to Wives And Girlfriends, an acronym apparently first used by a Dubai hotel when the England football team were staying in 2002. |
|
| 22 | Revealed to be inaccurate (3) |
| OUT – double definition. |
|
| 23 | Friend initially mocking one’s attempt to supply fortune telling (9) |
| PALMISTRY – PAL (friend), M [initially M |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Abandon unproductive area (6) |
| DESERT – Double definition | |
| 2 | Pack member‘s place to live in Home Counties (5) |
| SPADE – PAD (place to live) in SE (the Home Counties are in the south-east of England).
Ohh, THAT sort of pack. |
|
| 3 | High spirits in Brussels over four we hear – no case for bias (8) |
| EUPHORIA – EU (Brussels, headquarters of the European Union), PHOR (homonym [we hear] of “four”), plus Most of the examples I could come up with where you can substitute “EU” for “Brussels” sound like Daily Mail headlines, so I’ll spare you. |
|
| 4 | Very encouraging to see home piano trials arranged (13) |
| INSPIRATIONAL – IN (home) + anagram [arranged] of PIANO TRIALS.
I biffed this one with about 4 of the crossers in place. |
|
| 5 | Female prisoner to tire (4) |
| FLAG – F for female + LAG (prisoner). | |
| 6 | Most important to be proper, cautious, when wife away? (7) |
| PRIMARY – PRIM (proper) + |
|
| 7 | Taste dish including hint of avocado (6) |
| PALATE – PLATE (dish) including A [hint of avocado].
I’m a bit dubious about “hint of” to mean the first letter. Unless Hurley is thinking of sandwich names where an A can stand for avocado, as in the BLAST from my local sandwich shop, which is Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, Swiss cheese and Tomato and highly recommended. |
|
| 12 | Food that epicure recommends if you are kept indoors at first (8) |
| TERIYAKI – First letters [at first] of T I gazed at this one in utter bewilderment, until I spotted “at first” at the end & thought “ah ha”. That’s quite an achievement to make a comprehensible sentence with those first letters. Bravo. |
|
| 13 | Drink leading to disturbance in vehicle (7) |
| CHARIOT – CHA (slang for tea) + RIOT (disturbance).
Ancient slang gives us an ancient vehicle. |
|
| 14 | Hard-working, but missing us in workplace (6) |
| STUDIO – STUDIO |
|
| 15 | Cross, stopping by, introspective (6) |
| BROODY – ROOD (cross) inside [stopping, like a cork] BY. | |
| 18 | Difficult being merry (5) |
| TIGHT – double definition, the first as in a tight spot, the second being another of the million words that can mean drunk.
Thanks to Jackkt for the “tight spot” usage, which is better than the “tight fit” I originally had. |
|
| 19 | Bound to be referring to year of particular type (4) |
| LEAP – Double definition. | |
I found this one quite tricky, but on the other hand it’s the first one this week that I’ve finished, in 22:38. Took a very, very long time to spot HALT and SPADE and was firmly expecting my third consecutive DNF.
Thank you to Doofenschmirtz for the blog!
Finally, I threw in the towel with about three to go in the SW. I have spent well over an hour getting that far. Although some were fun (not necessarily easy) my travails not helped by entering the answer for 14d in 13d (plus an ‘s’ for the implied plural). I wonder whether I might have completed if I had not made that error – but I still found the rest had really difficult moments. These were already sufficient for me to conclude I was not enjoying this one – and that being the first reason for tackling them. Heartened by the difficulties expressed here by others I just hope to have an enjoyable workout tomorrow.
Hey ho another DNF. Well and truly caught out by SPADE. Why did I not think of that meaning for pack???? I had worked out how the clue was constructed yet it took ages for the penny to drop even when I had looked up the answer. Oh dear. Too much else on my mind, that’s my excuse.
Thanks Hurley and Doofers.
I appreciated the clue for Teriyaki, as I knew the word but wouldn’t have been able to spell it.
Tough one done overnight. Beaten by STAMP and SPADE in the end.