Good morning all, and we have a fairly gentle puzzle from Trelawney to entertain us today. A couple of clues held me up and required a bit more thought, but I still reached the finishing line in a sprightly (for me) 9:06.
There are a couple of film-connected pieces of GK which might escape anyone who last went to the cinema in the last century, but other than that I think this is an excellent example of a puzzle that eschews obscure words, knowledge which is more specialist than generalist and unusual wordplay techniques, but nevertheless manages to entertain. In other words, a very good QC, and if you have a friend or relative you wish to introduce cryptic crosswords to this weekend, this might be just the one to start them on.
So thank you Trelawney. How did everyone else get on?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (abc)* indicates an anagram of abc, and strike-through-text shows deletions.
| Across | |
| 1 | Greek character assesses joint for Jack Sparrow’s vessel, say (6,4) |
| PIRATE SHIP – PI (Greek character) + RATES (assesses) + HIP (joint). And very nice to see PI not clued as an abbreviation for pious, for a change.
Captain Jack Sparrow was the pirate captain in the 2003 film “Pirates of the Caribbean”, so his vessel was a pirate ship. The film was a huge success for both Disney, who made it, and Johnny Depp, who played Sparrow, and over the next 14 years or so spawned no less than 4 sequels. |
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| 8 | Wander street, then go round and round (6) |
| STROLL – ST (street) + ROLL (go round and round). | |
| 9 | Piece of yarn earl yanked, just about (6) |
| NEARLY – A hidden, in yarN EARL Yanked, with the hidden indicator being “piece of”. One might quibble that “nearly” suggests “not quite” rather than “just about”, but the meanings are “just about” the same. | |
| 10 | Writer’s project regularly displayed (4) |
| POET – Every other letter of PrOjEcT, indicated by “regularly displayed”. | |
| 11 | With great delight, attach video game controller (8) |
| JOYSTICK – JOY (great delight) + STICK (attach, as in attach with eg glue). Video games with hand-held controllers and joysticks feel somewhat dated now: these days most games seem to be played on people’s phones. | |
| 12 | Right, leave the plane quickly, loser! (6) |
| REJECT – R (right) + EJECT (leave the plane quickly, ie via the ejector seat). Again one might quibble that “reject” and “loser” are not exact synonyms, but Trelawney’s intention is clear enough. | |
| 14 | So tube is moving slow? (6) |
| OBTUSE – (so tube)*, with the anagram indicator being “is moving”. Slow as in slow of mind, slow-witted. | |
| 16 | Genuinely divine outside cosy home (8) |
| HONESTLY – HOLY (divine) outside NEST (cosy home). This was my POI, and it took me time to see it – not sure why, as it is a straightforward and honest inclusion. | |
| 18 | Starts to question unusual inventor patenting joke (4) |
| QUIP – Formed from the first letters of (indicated by “starts to”) Question Unusual Inventor Patenting. | |
| 20 | Declares leader of Ecuador is disinclined (6) |
| AVERSE – AVERS (declares) + E (leader of, ie first letter of, Ecuador). | |
| 21 | Young lady’s assistance accepted by some guys (6) |
| MAIDEN – AID (assistance) inserted into (“accepted by”) MEN (some guys). | |
| 22 | Make barrel in an unusual way? Extraordinary (10) |
| REMARKABLE – (make barrel)*, the anagram indicator being “in an unusual way”. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Prelude of some quaint romances (5) |
| INTRO – A hidden, in quaINT ROmances, the hidden indicator being “some”. | |
| 3 | Disciple’s letters covered in beer (7) |
| APOSTLE – POST (letters) included in (“covered in”) ALE (beer). | |
| 4 | Losing head, touch slippery fish (3) |
| EEL – |
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| 5 | Muscular companion of Nemo is perfectly fine (5-4) |
| HUNKY-DORY – HUNKY (muscular) + DORY (a friend of the fish Nemo in the film Finding Nemo).
This was my LOI and I needed the Y checker at the end of it before light dawned. The reference is to the 2003 animated film Finding Nemo, which tells the story of an overprotective clownfish named Marlin who, along with a forgetful regal blue tang named Dory, searches for his missing son Nemo. |
|
| 6 | Factory put underground? (5) |
| PLANT – A DD. One might more usually think of planting something being the act of putting it in the ground rather than underground, but the two are close enough for Trelawney’s purposes and “underground” makes for a smoother surface. | |
| 7 | Surrey’s opener doesn’t have trousers! (6) |
| SLACKS – S (Surrey’s opener, ie first letter) + LACKS (doesn’t have). | |
| 11 | High winds disrupted street jam (3,6) |
| JET STREAM – (street jam)*, with the anagram indicator being “disrupted”. The definition “High winds” is as in winds that are high up in the upper atmosphere, which is where the jet stream is to be found, rather than as in strong or fierce winds. | |
| 13 | Develop gun with no edges (6) |
| EVOLVE – |
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| 15 | Quit ale, weirdly, and drink this instead? (7) |
| TEQUILA – (quit ale)*, with the anagram indicator being “weirdly”.
A clue where unusually, the definition is not quite at the end of the clue – and Trelawney could easily have worded the clue “Quit ale, weirdly, and instead drink this?” too if he had wanted to. |
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| 17 | Wear armour regularly? That would be a mistake (5) |
| ERROR – Every other letter of wEaR aRmOuR, given by the indicator “regularly”. | |
| 19 | I give out cards? That’s just perfect (5) |
| IDEAL – I (from the clue) + DEAL (give out cards). A bit of a chestnut – even I have seen this one before. | |
| 21 | Spoil horse with no tail (3) |
| MAR – MAR |
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20 minutes to solve this fairly gentle offering, having biffed HUNKY DORY.
As a newcomer to the world of cryptics, I was just able to fully solve my first QC without any errors or dictionary help last week. Today’s puzzle was a huge confidence boost with my time coming in at 8:33 and with no errors!
This blog has been an enormous help to me in decrypting the clue writing. Thanks so much for all you do!
I don’t solve on a Saturday as I only solve using the physical newspaper and I’m not an online subscriber. That means I’ve missed a Trelawney, the setter I was hoping to see on Monday.
So many great times and PBs. Well done if that applies to you! I can’t compete with all this excellence.
No doubt it will be something difficult tomorrow to start the week. Just what I need after Friday’s horror show.