I found this to be a puzzle of easy to medium difficulty, finishing in 11:04. After my first pass through the acrosses, I had only missed three, which is very good for me. The downs put up a bit more resistance, but everything went in correctly in the end.
I think today’s living person definitely passes the fame test and will still be known when this puzzle is printed in a book and rediscovered in 10, 20 or 30 years.
COD to LEGALESE for the completely misleading and very smooth surface.
Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough. Anagram indicators italicised in the clue, anagram fodder indicated like (this)*.
| Across | |
| 7 | Boy eating duck in no time at all (4) |
| SOON – O [duck – from cricket] inside SON (boy). | |
| 8 | FBI lease renewed? It’s possible (8) |
| FEASIBLE – (FBI LEASE)* | |
| 9 | Actor a little wooden, ironically (2,4) |
| DE NIRO – Hidden in [a little] wooDEN IROnically. | |
| 10 | One disposing of wine collection, did you hear? (6) |
| SELLER – Homophone [did you hear?] of “cellar” (wine collection).
I could make arguments either way for whether “of” is part of the definition or not. |
|
| 11 | Lock up silver in church (4) |
| CAGE – AG (chemical symbol for silver) in CE (Church (of England)). | |
| 12 | Northern hauliers St Nicholas employs? (8) |
| REINDEER – Cryptic definition. | |
| 15 | Criminal alleges ecstasy’s the talk of the bar? (8) |
| LEGALESE – (ALLEGES)* + E Lovely clue. |
|
| 17 | Check nothing will get you a ban (4) |
| VETO – VET (check) + O (nothing). | |
| 18 | A minor thoroughfare overseas (6) |
| ABROAD – A B-road.
For those not up on UK road nomenclature, B-roads are the third classification of roads, after motorways and A-roads. |
|
| 21 | Official cast regularly fails (6) |
| FORMAL – FORM (cast, as in plaster cast) + every other letter [regularly] of f A i L s. | |
| 22 | Daily argument (8) |
| DOMESTIC – double definition, although I think both are pretty archaic and ready to be retired. | |
| 23 | Husband leaving comfortable position in French city (4) |
| NICE – H for husband leaving NIC |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Unfortunately Rome date not up to much (8) |
| MODERATE – (ROME DATE)* | |
| 2 | Encourage awareness, might one say? (6) |
| INCITE – Homophone [might one say] of “insight” (awareness).
I realised as I typed the explanation that “insight” is a single word that can mean “awareness”. I had been going to tell you all that I didn’t really like “in sight” to mean “awareness” and that the crossers led me to conside ENTICE as well. But now the penny has fallen, I like this clue a lot. |
|
| 3 | Foreign Office back on track? Absolutely (2,6) |
| OF COURSE – FO (Foreign Office), reversed [back] followed by [on] COURSE (track, as in racing). | |
| 4 | Be successful while away (4) |
| PASS – double definition, the first as in exams, the second as in time. | |
| 5 | Asked to pay but sick in bed (6) |
| BILLED – ILL (sick) in BED (er, bed). | |
| 6 | Navy almost making escape (4) |
| FLEE – FLEE I had this one backwards to start with and tried to figure out how BLUE was a shortened version of something meaning “escape”. |
|
| 13 | All but fifteen caught out (2,6) |
| IN EFFECT – (FIFTEEN + C)*
C for caught is from cricket, that useful game’s second appearance in this puzzle. |
|
| 14 | Transport lobby (8) |
| ENTRANCE – another double definition, the first as in “transport with delight” and the second being a room in a building. | |
| 16 | United with daughter, made amends (6) |
| ATONED – AT ONE (united) with D for daughter.
With A_O as the start, my brain smugly told me “oh, I know this one!.” But would it tell me? Not for ages. So strange when that happens. |
|
| 17 | An old vicar retiring in Italian city (6) |
| VERONA – AN + O for old + REV (vicar), all reversed [retiring]. | |
| 19 | Express disapproval of bishop? That would be a mistake (4) |
| BOOB – BOO (express disapproval) + B for bishop [chess]. | |
| 20 | Turning up a little information (4) |
| DATA – A TAD (a little), reversed [turning up].
Is this phrase used in the UK now? When I left, 30 years ago, I’m pretty sure this would have been considered a vile Americanism. Maybe it still is! |
|
Solving on my laptop for a change so well and truly put in my place with 328th on the leaderboard with 2 errors and 11:06. In fairness I had to get to a lesson so was a little rushed. I rely far too much on the “reveal” tool on my phone so I suppose the only way to get better is to make mistakes.
I thought A minor (the key) written musically as Ab sometimes. (Ab + Road ). Anyway got the same answer!
Just like most Quick Cryptics:A LOAD OF GARBAGE!