This one took me 15:56, a few seconds over my average. There are a couple of clues with definite Britishisms which may cause problems for overseas solvers, but that’s fair enough – The Times is a British newspaper.
I found the acrosses harder than the downs, with only 5 falling on the first pass. Most unusually for me, my COD is an anagram: I think “in a cocktail” is an inspired anagrind, since cocktails are mixed and sometimes shaken.
I’m not fully convinced by my parsing of 11ac, looking forward to the hive mind explaining it in a more satisfying way.
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 | Sweet starter in banquet, say, with alcoholic drink (12) |
| BUTTERSCOTCH – first letter of [starter in] Banquet, UTTER (say), SCOTCH (alcoholic drink). | |
| 8 | Celebrity image (4) |
| ICON – A double definition. | |
| 9 | Church had gold castle (7) |
| CHATEAU – CH for church, then ATE (had) and AU (chemical symbol for gold). | |
| 11 | Something for dessert? Quite! (1,6) |
| A TRIFLE – I think this one is another double definition, but I’m not 100% certain. I put it in with no crossers, then removed it and only reinstated it once I had the R, F and E.
I love a good trifle, but it isn’t a common dish in the US. |
|
| 12 | Mark painful having caught cold (5) |
| SCORE – SORE (painful) with C for cold inside [having caught cold]. | |
| 14 | Very much respecting friend (6) |
| REALLY – RE (about, respecting), ALLY (friend).
We had the same definition of RE the last time I blogged, and that was also a Mara puzzle. A bit of a MER at “ally” being “friend”, since allies don’t necessarily have to be friends, and friends don’t have to be allies. |
|
| 15 | Energy absorbed by a host, a microscopic organism (6) |
| AMOEBA – E for energy inside A MOB (host) A.
The second ‘A’ is part of the word play, not part of the definition. |
|
| 18 | Wash in shower in Seville (5) |
| RINSE – Hidden [in] |
|
| 20 | Last of wires going in and the new phone unit (7) |
| HANDSET – S [last letter of |
|
| 21 | Filthy article written by relative (7) |
| UNCLEAN – AN (an article, like ‘a’ or ‘the’) next to UNCLE (relative). | |
| 23 | Complaint — wrong order for vegetarian? (4) |
| BEEF – A definition and a cryptic hint.
Beef for “complaint” sounds very Raymond Chandler-esque to me. |
|
| 24 | Sweet thing is part shandy in a cocktail (6,6) |
| DANISH PASTRY – (IS PART SHANDY)*
I don’t recall seeing “in a cocktail” used as an anagram indicator before, but I think its great. Nice one. |
|
| Down | |
| 2 | Shaky, shaky nut in race (9) |
| UNCERTAIN – (NUT IN RACE)*
As in “being on shaky ground”. |
|
| 3 | Melodious playing of lute, fun! (7) |
| TUNEFUL – (LUTE FUN)* | |
| 4 | Shoot up in salad ingredient? (6) |
| ROCKET – A double definition.
The leaf known in my grocery store as “arugula”. One to store away for the non-UK-based crowd. |
|
| 5 | Crude line drawn up on ship (5) |
| CRASS – ARC (line), reversed [drawn up] on SS (steamship, ship).
Someone mentioned a couple of days ago how ships were almost always SS in Crosswordland, and I’m happy to show an example. |
|
| 6 | Report of Asian fixture (3) |
| TIE – Sounds like [report of] ‘Thai’ (Asian).
Only now as I write this blog has the sporting meaning of “fixture” come to mind. D’oh. I had been thinking of “tie bars” and other such things. |
|
| 7 | Lords and Conservatives, for example, function under one roof? (5,5) |
| HOUSE PARTY – HOUSE (Lords), PARTY (Conservatives).
I read this as “Lords and Commons”. The answer still came to mind, although accompanied by doubts about the parsing, and then I actually read the clue properly. That often helps. |
|
| 10 | Play area of a reasonable size reduced to dust? (10) |
| FAIRGROUND – FAIR (of a reasonable size), GROUND (reduced to dust).
“How big is the garden of the house you’re buying?” “Oh, it’s a fair size.” |
|
| 13 | Turn wheel too sharply to reverse the wrong way (9) |
| OVERSTEER – (TO REVERSE)* | |
| 16 | One bishop enters without vehicle (7) |
| MINIBUS – I (one) and B (bishop, from chess notation) inside (enters) MINUS [without]. | |
| 17 | Extraordinary punch catching Ali finally — stay positive! (4,2) |
| CHIN UP – last letter [finally] of |
|
| 19 | Odds — or else? (5) |
| EVENS – A definition and a cryptic hint, or possibly two definitions.
EVENS is the name of the odds on the bet where you win exactly your stake if you win. And I think the other half of the clue is referring to numbers, where if you take away the odd ones, what is left is the evens. |
|
| 22 | Vessel in ocean actually capsized (3) |
| CAN – Hidden [in] |
|
Here I am solving in the home town of our esteemed Johninterred! Have had a drink in the smallest pub in the UK and now off out to eat shortly so a flying visit.
9:23 FOI Chateau LOI Fairground COD Bishop – it has to be after wandering the Abbey Gardens this afternoon 😊
Thanks Mara and Doofers
Here I am solving in the home town of our esteemed Mrs Random! Am having a drink in our annexe (as our living and dining rooms are both building sites at the moment) and now off to find something in our fridge to eat.
All done in a little under half an hour, I think. Various interruptions, so I can’t be sure. Very enjoyable.
Many thanks to Doofers and Mara.
Tee hee 😅
Bet the annexe looks great now – but where are the speakers going?
18 minutes. Poor. Couldn’t even get CHATEAU first time. Nowhere near good enough.
2 hours on 15 x 15. Failed by one. Why do I bother? To spend so long on this and come up just short is beyond agonising.
17 ish . Well out of the SCC, still have a 1 in front and still in the teens. Little brain cells trying their best and this was much enjoyed. BUTTERSCOTCH made us happy.
Thank you Doofenschmirtz and Mara
SCC again and floored by MINIBUS which in my solve was OMNIBUS (I see I wasn’t alone). So missed completing by an amoeba, having decided that a host plus an e was the anagram I was looking for. Daft in retrospect. But fun with the long anagrams and the butterscotch danish pastry was delicious! Thanks Mara and Doofers
08:11. Solved late in the day while enjoying a slice of chocolate cake with cream. a nice range of clue types and a good level of difficulty for me. thanks both!
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