I got off to a flyer with 1ac going straight in, and more than half the acrosses followed on my first pass. But then the wheels came off a bit, and I ended up taking 16:03, a bit over my average time.
The ones that ate up my time were REAPPOINT, EVERY INCH and INVENT. Each of these uses non-obvious synonyms and meanings, but there’s nothing unfair here from Jalna.
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 | Places where people call xenophobes out (5,5) |
| PHONE BOXES – (XENOPHOBES)*
One of my favourite anagrams, right up there with T.S. Eliot being an anagram of toilets. |
|
| 8 | Supporter of the arts? (5) |
| EASEL – Cryptic definition.
I think the question mark is there because not all types of art can be supported by an easel. Statues and murals spring to mind. |
|
| 9 | Eliminate small feeling of uncertainty, by the sounds of it (4,3) |
| WEED OUT – Sounds like [by the sounds of it] “wee doubt” (small feeling of uncertainty). | |
| 10 | Really recover following diet (9) |
| LITERALLY – RALLY (recover) follows LITE (diet, as in tonic).
Minor shudder at ‘LITE’. |
|
| 12 | Eggs, mostly egg-shaped! (3) |
| OVA – OVA |
|
| 13 | Extreme component of long-haul travel (5) |
| ULTRA – hidden in [component of] long-haUL TRAvel.
An appropriate clue for me as I’m just back from New Zealand, definitely a long-haul trip. |
|
| 15 | Nearly time for hours of darkness (5) |
| NIGHT – NIGH (nearly), T for time. | |
| 17 | Closely examine part of potato (3) |
| EYE – A double definition. | |
| 18 | Writer heading for town to take in luxury flat (9) |
| PENTHOUSE – PEN (writer), first letter of [heading for] T |
|
| 20 | Touching performance in hat, once (7) |
| TACTILE – ACT (performance) in TILE (hat, once).
I think reading the Flashman books is where I encountered “tile” meaning “hat”. It’s dated usage now, but fairly indicated by “once” in the clue. |
|
| 21 | Pinkish, black and very green? (5) |
| BLUSH – B for black, LUSH (very green, like a lawn).
I had this one backwards for a while, thought I was looking for something along the lines of ROSEB. Ho hum. |
|
| 22 | Volunteers express disappointment in Wales about legislation (7,3) |
| STATUTE LAW – TA (Territorial Army, volunteers) and TUT (express disappointment) inside WALES reversed [about].
“Volunteers” in the clue often leads to “TA” in the answer. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Honoured bard out late, cavorting with a peer (4,8) |
| POET LAUREATE – (OUT LATE A PEER)*. | |
| 2 | Start working as a film director, perhaps (5) |
| ONSET – A film director works on a set. | |
| 3 | Devious type ultimately made everyone distrustful (3) |
| EEL – last letters [ultimately] of I suspect that the phrase “slippery as an eel” is more often used to describe character rather than actual slipperiness so I’m comfortable with “devious type” as the definition here. |
|
| 4 | Periodically dour, thoroughly dystopian author (6) |
| ORWELL – Every other letter [periodically] of |
|
| 5 | All at the finish are incredibly on edge (5,4) |
| EVERY INCH – Last letter [at the finish] of That’s “inch” as in “Zaphod inched his way up the corridor as if he’d rather be yarding his way down it”, for today’s gratuitous Douglas Adams quote. I didn’t parse this while solving, I was stuck on the “rim” meaning of “edge”. |
|
| 6 | Farewell single, no good (2,4) |
| SO LONG – SOLO (single), NG (no good).
I don’t think I’ve seen the abbreviation NG in the wild, but apparently it is used in the film industry to mark a shot or take that is unusable. |
|
| 7 | New athletes turn up and have surprising success (5,3,4) |
| STEAL THE SHOW – (ATHLETES)* + SHOW (turn up).
SHOW without UP for “turn up” caused a MER here, but then I thought of the phrase “no-show” which means “didn’t turn up”. Close enough for me, anyway. |
|
| 11 | Assign position again to gather what is relevant (9) |
| REAPPOINT – REAP (to gather), POINT (what is relevant). | |
| 14 | Swimmers crowding river channel (6) |
| TRENCH – TENCH (a type of fish, swimmers) including R for river.
I’m struggling to see how ‘crowding’ means ‘including’. Anyone? |
|
| 16 | Coin in small opening (6) |
| INVENT – IN (from the clue), VENT (small opening). As in “to coin a phrase”.
Nothing to do with money, then. Ah well. And “small” didn’t give “S”. Doubly tricksy. |
|
| 19 | Typical America university starts to accept loans (5) |
| USUAL – US (America) + U for university + first letters of [starts to] A |
|
| 21 | Bill raised for sporting equipment (3) |
| BAT – TAB (bill), reversed [raised]. | |
Began very well but, as ever with this setter, I slowed up. Eventually finished in a disappointing 18 mins.
Took forever on 15 x 15 and still short by 6 or so. A massive struggle and not much enjoyment.
Once again, way too many difficult clues for a QC – will the editor/ setters ever take note ? My guess is that all or most of the positive comments come from experienced very good solvers.
One clue solved after 15 mins! Gave up.The problem is in breaking the habit of trying to make sense of the clue as a whole!