I started this one at breakneck pace: the first four went in at first glance and I thought I might be on for a very fast time. Then things slowed down to a more normal pace, and I finished in 11:11 which I’m happy with both as a time and aesthetically. This is below my average time.
As I wrote the explanations, I became conscious that there were no extraneous words in any of the clues. Not one. Well played Hurley, that can’t have been easy.
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 | Argument against transit changing is limiting factor (10) |
| CONSTRAINT – CON (argument against), plus (TRANSIT)*. | |
| 8 | UK phase revamped in major change (5-2) |
| SHAKE UP – (UK PHASE)* | |
| 9 | Extremely clear fool is grossly insensitive (5) |
| CRASS – First and last letters of C |
|
| 10 | Place to hide, leafier, regularly visited (4) |
| LAIR – every other letter [regularly visited] of L |
|
| 11 | Trust nice earl abroad (8) |
| RELIANCE – (NICE EARL)* | |
| 13 | Is able to broadcast in French film festival resort (6) |
| CANNES – Sounds like [broadcast] “can” (is able to).
“French film festival resort” only brought one thing to mind for me, and it was the right answer. |
|
| 14 | Again peruse repeated Religious Education promotion (6) |
| REREAD – RE (Religious Education) twice [repeated], then AD (promotion). | |
| 17 | Duck nurses English child not drinking? (8) |
| TEETOTAL – TEAL (duck) contains [nurses] E for English and TOT (child). | |
| 19 | Young deer to show slavish devotion (4) |
| FAWN – A double definition. | |
| 21 | With tips on decor, copy curtain (5) |
| DRAPE – Outer letters [tips] of D |
|
| 22 | Three attempt to embrace home computing (7) |
| TRINITY – TRY (attempt) containing [to embrace] IN (home) and IT (information technology: computing). | |
| 23 | Decisive play at Wimbledon? Secure Cup? About right (3-7) |
| TIE BREAKER – TIE (secure), plus BEAKER (cup) containing [about] R (right). | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Acclaim some innovations (7) |
| OVATION – hidden in [some] |
|
| 3 | Appear to notice Mike (4) |
| SEEM – SEE (to notice), M (Mike, in the NATO phonetic alphabet). | |
| 4 | Sword originally received as present is excellently rated (6) |
| RAPIER – first letters [originally] of all the words after “originally” in the clue. | |
| 5 | Willing daughter supporting popular Conservative policy (8) |
| INCLINED – D for daughter below [supporting] IN (popular), C for Conservative and LINE (policy). | |
| 6 | Prepare series (5) |
| TRAIN – Another double definition, the second as in a “train of events”. | |
| 7 | Dominance can end, say campaigners at first, animatedly (10) |
| ASCENDANCY – (CAN END SAY C I didn’t parse this one while doing the puzzle: just worked it out now as I’m writing the blog. |
|
| 8 | Worry, being alone, sick at heart to be put inside (10) |
| SOLICITUDE – SOLITUDE (being alone), with the middle two letters [at heart] of I had to do some research to convince myself that “solicitude” can work as a synonym for “worry”. The first online definition is “care or concern for someone or something”, and it isn’t that big of a step from “care or concern” to “worry”. But my first reaction was “hold on, can that be right?” |
|
| 12 | Fuel reek, one’s frantic (8) |
| KEROSENE – (REEK ONES)* | |
| 15 | Not straightforward, bringing up the visa vexatiously to some extent (7) |
| EVASIVE – Hidden [to some extent] backwards [bringing up, as this is a down clue] in |
|
| 16 | Preview kitchen item, missing nothing (6) |
| TASTER – T With _A_T_R as the crossers, I needed an alphabet trawl for this. Fortunately, when I got to C the word “coaster” came to mind, and from there I was able to jump over D-S and get to “toaster”. |
|
| 18 | Praise former partner, a little tentatively initially (5) |
| EXALT – EX (former partner), then the first letters [initially] of A L |
|
| 20 | Support first-class Verdi opera (4) |
| AIDA – AID (support), A (first-class). | |
This was probably my first time completing a QC:
a) while correctly parsing every one of the clues
b) while knowing all the words (Britishisms often kill me) and
c) without ever having to check my puzzle for correctness before finishing
Took somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes, which is around my PB. Excellent puzzle.
Congratulations!
10:28 here. Would have been faster but we delayed putting in RAPIER because we couldn’t see the parsing. Thanks for the explanation, Doofers, one of those when, once pointed out, you wonder how you missed it. Otherwise a QC well suited to our level. Thank you, Hurley.
I thought this was very gentle from Hurley. A pretty fast solve by my standards but much delayed by using 7d AscendencE until I figured out the last letter should have been Y. That then made me struggle with 22a Trinity.
FOI 8a Shake-up
LOI 22a Trinity
COD 17a Teetotal