Well, I hope you all had your anagram hats on today. I count a whopping seven anagrams in this one from Mara. Anagrams are my crosswording kryptonite so I’m happy to have finished below my target, taking 12:21. We also had a fair sprinkling of double definitions (four) and hidden words (three), so if those are your cup of tea, you probably had little trouble with this.
If, on the other hand, anagrams, double definitions and hidden words are your three least favourite types of clues, then that’s unlucky. But there’s always tomorrow.
My COD goes to SHAMROCK, because I love a good Dad joke.
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 | |
| 1 | Flask of rum or meths (7) |
| THERMOS – (or meths)*
This one may be harder for non-UK based folks. “Meths” is a abbreviation for “methylated spirits”, used as a fuel for camping stoves and suchlike in the UK. Not that you really need to know that to solve the clue. |
|
| 5 | Pool where idol swims (4) |
| LIDO – (idol)*
Two anagrams in a row to start. |
|
| 7 | Section of Wood’s diary? (3) |
| LOG – double definition.
Ignore the capital W: it’s just there to deceive you. |
|
| 8 | Northern area set to change Lebanon’s region (4,4) |
| NEAR EAST – (n area set)* | |
| 10 | Short piece from scriptwriter selected (5) |
| TERSE – hidden in [piece from] scriptwriTER SElected. | |
| 11 | Sign is poor after treatment, having caught cold (7) |
| SCORPIO – (is poor)* including C for cold.
Oh, that sort of sign. And yet another anagram: at this point, of six clues I’d looked at, four had been anagrams. |
|
| 13 | Motive with respect to a family member (6) |
| REASON – RE (with respect to), A, SON (family member). | |
| 15 | Aircraft windows letting in minimum of light (6) |
| PLANES – PANES (windows) including [letting in] the first letter [minimum] of L |
|
| 17 | Letter tiles arranged by each person, initially (7) |
| EPISTLE – First letters of E |
|
| 18 | Tea brought by idiot in the morning (5) |
| ASSAM – ASS (idiot), AM (in the morning). | |
| 20 | Trefoil leaf in paste? (8) |
| SHAMROCK – double definition, the second a nice bit of whimsy: a paste diamond could indeed be a “sham rock”. | |
| 22 | Main character on the radio (3) |
| SEA – sounds like [on the radio] ‘C’, a character.
I don’t think there’s anything more to this one. Fortunately C is early in the alphabet… |
|
| 23 | A little engraving on gold medal (4) |
| GONG – Hidden in [a little] engravinG ON Gold. | |
| 24 | Sleeping accommodation rocks for rodents (7) |
| DORMICE – DORM (sleeping accommodation), ICE (rocks, diamonds). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Discuss meat, but don’t mince words (4,6) |
| TALK TURKEY – TALK (discuss), TURKEY (meat) | |
| 2 | Found in brasserie, a German very hungry (5) |
| EAGER -Hidden [found] in brasseriE A GERman. | |
| 3 | Staff produce vegetable (9) |
| MANGETOUT – MAN (staff, a verb), GET OUT (produce, like an edition of a newspaper). | |
| 4 | Extra bags seem, originally, meagre (6) |
| SPARSE – SPARE (extra) includes [bags, a verb] S Brilliant misdirection on “extra bags”, where I thought of the ever-increasing pile of shopping bags in the back of my car. |
|
| 5 | Story line’s not new (3) |
| LIE – LI |
|
| 6 | When messy, stand up for cleaning receptacle (7) |
| DUSTPAN – (stand up)* | |
| 9 | Perfect floor covering in use (10) |
| CONSUMMATE – MAT (floor covering) in CONSUME (use).
This was my LOI. |
|
| 12 | Large ship, poor relation boarded by king (3,6) |
| OIL TANKER – K for King in (relation)* | |
| 14 | Sound of patient with cold: what might wipe nose, did you say? (7) |
| ATISHOO – Another homophone clue, sounds like [did you say?] “a tissue”. | |
| 16 | Not the first moment in time! (6) |
| SECOND – Double definition. How have I not seen this before? | |
| 19 | South American greeting Japanese dish (5) |
| SUSHI – S (South), US (American), HI (greeting).
Lift and separate “South American”. |
|
| 21 | Face coffee container? (3) |
| MUG – Another double definition. | |
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