After two easier days in a row, I was braced for a struggle, which was reinforced when I saw the name of the setter. But I found it very approachable, and finished in 12:18.
There were two words that were new to me, and one clue’s definition continues to escape me entirely, but the word-play and the crossing letters were friendly.
Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | Distinct part played with ease (8) |
| SEPARATE – Anagram [played] of PART EASE. | |
| 5 | Vehicle parking? Grumble (4) |
| CARP – CAR (vehicle) + P [parking, as on signs]. | |
| 8 | Males revolting in US city (5) |
| SALEM – Anagram [revolting] of MALES.
There are at least two Salems in the US: one was the site of the witch trials featured in The Crucible, and the other one I know of is the state capital of Oregon. Apologies if you live in another Salem. |
|
| 9 | Greek character, villain in canoe (7) |
| PIROGUE – PI (Greek letter, character) + ROGUE (villain).
Not a word I knew. But the checkers were helpful: I had P_R_G__, so PI was an obvious candidate, and then ROGUE came to me. Today I learned the difference between a pirogue (a canoe) and a pierogi (a dumpling). |
|
| 11 | Activists — people in tents drinking a gin excitedly (11) |
| CAMPAIGNERS – CAMPERS (people in tents) containing [drinking] an anagram [excitedly] of A GIN. | |
| 13 | Something in wardrobe husband found with annoyance (6) |
| HANGER – H [husband] + ANGER (annoyance). | |
| 14 | Food component — gorge to get energy needed initially (6) |
| GLUTEN – GLUT (gorge) + E I had a MER at ‘glut’ for ‘gorge’, as I’m struggling to come up with a sentence in which they are interchangeable. But my dictionary has “verb trans. Feed to repletion; indulge (appetite) to the utmost”, which certainly matches my mental definition of “gorge”. So fair enough. |
|
| 17 | Emotional part of hospital involved in various ailments (11) |
| SENTIMENTAL – ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat – part of hospital) inside an anagram [various] of AILMENTS. | |
| 20 | Needing to make arrangements for the match? (7) |
| ENGAGED – a cryptic definition. Once you are engaged, you need to make arrangements for the wedding, or match. | |
| 21 | Delayed in a slippery situation? (2,3) |
| ON ICE – A double definition. | |
| 22 | Time to demand a job (4) |
| TASK – T [time] + ASK (to demand) | |
| 23 | One of the 11 less sophisticated, going round South Africa (8) |
| CRUSADER – CRUDER (less sophisticated) containing [going round] SA (South Africa).
I guess the definition has to be “One of the 11”, but I have no idea what it is referring to. Mr Google tells me that:
I look forward to learning what I missed here. Edit: well, that didn’t take long. In the very first comment below, LindsayO points out that this is a cross-reference clue, referring to CAMPAIGNERS at 11ac. A crusade is a military campaign, therefore a crusader is a campaigner. I’ve never liked cross-reference clues. Harrumph. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Thus repeatedly less than brilliant (2-2) |
| SO-SO – SO (thus), repeatedly. | |
| 2 | Bird priest trapped in soft container (7) |
| PELICAN – ELI (Biblical priest) inside [trapped in] P (soft, from music) CAN (container).
You have to lift and separate “soft container”. ELI for priest is worth remembering. |
|
| 3 | Recalling English person in club, in clique? (11) |
| REMEMBERING – E [English] + MEMBER (person in club), all inside RING (clique). | |
| 4 | Piece of headgear that is seen outside work (3,3) |
| TOP HAT – THAT (um, ‘THAT’) outside OP (work, opus). | |
| 6 | View of one of Britain’s invaders? (5) |
| ANGLE – double definition.
The Angles and the Saxons together give us the adjective Anglo-Saxon. |
|
| 7 | Request to render song is delightful (8) |
| PLEASING – PLEA (request) + SING (render song).
I almost entered PLEASANT here, but fortunately common sense kicked in just in time. |
|
| 10 | Members of family embracing good upper-class rules (11) |
| REGULATIONS – RELATIONS (members of family) containing [embracing] G [good] + U [upper-class].
As Eton is to Merlin, so U for upper-class is for me. I swear they put it in specially for my blogging days. |
|
| 12 | Most pure Charles facing ordeal? (8) |
| CHASTEST – CHAS [abbreviation for Charles] + TEST (ordeal).
In my youth, I knew a Charles who went by Chas. I’ve never met another since. |
|
| 15 | Agreed to be restricted about everything (7) |
| TALLIED – TIED (to be restricted) containing [about] ALL (everything).
That’s ‘agreed’ in the sense of accounts balancing, for example. “The numbers agreed with each other”. |
|
| 16 | Top person offers newspaper article (6) |
| LEADER – A double definition.
I tried to convince myself that this was a triple definition, with “offers” being a reference to “loss leaders”. But I wasn’t persuasive enough, so it stays as a double. |
|
| 18 | Emperor, say, being entertained by rising star (5) |
| NEGUS – EG (say) inside [being entertained by] SUN (star), reversed [rising].
Another word I did not know. Turns out to be the Ethiopian Semitic word for “king” or “emperor”. The wordplay was helpful, even without knowing the word. |
|
| 19 | Explosive Irish fellow expecting to succeed? (4) |
| HEIR – HE (High Explosive) + IR (Irish).
That’s “succeed” in the sense of “inherit”, of course. |
|
25 min. Was smugly flying through. Stayed in a fab hotel in Mauritius called La Pirogue, so that clue offered little resistance. But Negus NHO and Heir slowed me down. Was reluctant to accept the checker E could be HE as the double use of explosive. Relented in the end.
Thanks Izetti and Doof
Didn’t find this quite as tricky as most Izetti. Didn’t know PIROGUE or NEGUS but got them from the parsing. I always forget about ‘Eli’ being a priest …
DNF
Put PLEASANT and beaten by LOI HEIR as DNK HE for explosive. Annoying as the trickier vocab, PIROGUE and NEGUS went in without problem.
Damn, run of completeds ended by putting peer instead of heir. PE being plastic explosive and a peer inherits.
🥴🥴🥴🥴
BiffedPIROUGUE and NEGUS 21:14, a best for me. One of the reasons I keep away from 15×15 is thedanger that the answer is way outside my GK and I stand no chance
Like others, NHO pirogue and negus, and tend to the view they should be seen in the main crossword but not the QC- but then I spoil my own argument by the fact the wordplay was friendly enough I got them right!