14:29 here, with the south-east corner being the last section done: my last four clues were all in that corner of the grid. My average time, according to the Quick Snitch, is 14:32, and that tallies with how I feel about the puzzle: not too easy, and not too hard. As I wrote up the blog, I thought there were quite a number of anagrams (I count six), so I hope you all had your anagram hats handy.
As I often find, my LOI becomes my COD once I understand how it works. Step forward STARLESS, congratulations. I particularly liked the vaguely sinister overtones of the surface reading. (If you don’t know what LOI and COD are, may I recommend the excellent glossary?)
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 | Group of cows saving energy for bull? (8) |
| HEREFORD – HERD (group of cows) containing [saving] E for Energy and the literal word FOR.
E for energy as in E = mc2. Herefords are a breed of cattle. |
|
| 5 | Comfortable seat one’s lost in capital (4) |
| SOFA – SOF |
|
| 8 | Ears reshaped by source of light — surgical beam? (5) |
| LASER – L |
|
| 9 | Show insect on paper (7) |
| PAGEANT – PAGE ANT | |
| 11 | Shift interrupted by constant disagreement (11) |
| ALTERCATION – ALTERATION (shift) containing [interrupted by] C for constant.
c for constant as in E = mc2. |
|
| 13 | A god transfixed by university writer (6) |
| AUTHOR – A, THOR holding [transfixed by] U for university.
I think there’s just enough overlap between transfixed and holding, as in attention, for this to be fair enough. |
|
| 14 | An essential part of parasitism in the current circumstances (2,2,2) |
| AS IT IS – Hidden in [essential part of] |
|
| 17 | Gross pay one has blown in cafe (6,5) |
| GREASY SPOON – (GROSS PAY ONE)*
Do greasy spoons still exist? |
|
| 20 | Personal, cheese-coated chocolate cake (7) |
| BROWNIE – OWN (personal, as in “my own”), surrounded by BRIE [cheese coated].
I suppose you sometimes see cakes with a cream cheese frosting, but the concept of a cheese-coated cake is … unappealing to me. |
|
| 21 | Level path beyond first of pot-holes (5) |
| PLANE – LANE (path) after [beyond] the first letter of P |
|
| 22 | Still far from bumpy! (4) |
| EVEN – Double definition, the first as in “even so…” | |
| 23 | Dark ship in which evil alters (8) |
| STARLESS – SS (steamship) containing [in which] (ALTERS)*.
SS for ship is common, but I think “evil” as an anagram indicator is new to me. I didn’t have the faintest idea what was going on with this clue, which was my last one in. I got it from the crossers and the definition and then light dawned about how it worked. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | That man will torture! (4) |
| HELL – Double definition, the first missing its apostrophe. | |
| 2 | Others with skill go back to square one (7) |
| RESTART – REST (others), ART (skill).
Very neat. |
|
| 3 | Relative stoic, if runs off (5,6) |
| FIRST COUSIN – (STOIC IF RUNS)* | |
| 4 | Story about Dover, say? (6) |
| REPORT – RE (about), PORT (Dover, say). | |
| 6 | Old chap — one from SW Asian country (5) |
| OMANI – O (old), MAN (chap), I (one).
I had to take a look at a globe, but “SW Asian country” is spot on for Oman. |
|
| 7 | Treatment applied to host, as in shock (8) |
| ASTONISH – (HOST AS IN)* | |
| 10 | Insect, as customer squashed by King George (11) |
| GRASSHOPPER – AS (from the clue), SHOPPER (customer) below [squashed by] GR (King George) | |
| 12 | Material, bit angel tailored (8) |
| TANGIBLE – (BIT ANGEL)* | |
| 15 | Weight has horse in mood (7) |
| TONNAGE – NAG (horse) in TONE (mood). | |
| 16 | Rise beginning to affect Cologne? (6) |
| ASCENT – first letter of A Remember that setters are free to mislead with capitalization like this. |
|
| 18 | Some cancel operations and run away! (5) |
| ELOPE – hidden in [some] |
|
| 19 | County furniture? (4) |
| BEDS – Another double definition to finish with.
BEDS is a (fairly) standard abbreviation for Bedfordshire. But it isn’t in the first few four-letter counties that occur to me (“Kent? Avon? Down? Mayo?”) |
|
55 mins
Found this tough but enjoyable.
Once I worked out SS was the ship, alters had to be the anagram – good misdirection using evil as the indicator.
Thanks both.
Cryptic crosswords have become a hit-and-miss affair these days;clues are seemingly laid out at random,only loosely
following standard methods of solving!