Nice puzzle this morning from Pedro, which I just managed to complete before Surbiton, so about 13 minutes for me, or middling average. I don’t think this will cause too many problems for solvers, although there are a couple of unusual devices, and some of the parsing might be in retrospect rather than being coincident with the solve.
You now have two weeks of Roly you lucky people.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated by [square brackets] and deletions with {curly ones}
Across
1 It goes off when it’s on if one’s in when you’re out (7,5)
BURGLAR ALARM – funny cryptic &lit, where the whole clue acts as the definition, referring to the alarm, the burglar and oneself in turn
9 Piano involved in old time music theatre (5)
OPERA – P for P{iano} in O (old) ERA (time)
10 Nut circling lake with one waterfowl (7)
PELICAN – PECAN (the nut in question) surrounds (circles) L{ake} and I (one). Technically, the PECAN is not a nut, but a drupe, or a fruit with a single stone or pit, surrounded by a husk. Hands up who knew that.
11 Bullfighter wild about cheers provided by men (7)
MATADOR – MAD (wild) about TA (cheers) and followed by (provided by) OR (short for Other Ranks, or men in military speak), to give the guy that actually kills the bull, rather than tortures it, in bullfights
12 Note a story left incomplete, regarding a birth (5)
NATAL – N{ote} followed by A (a) TAL{e} (story left incomplete, i.e. dropping the last letter)
13 Crazy fellows chatter endlessly (6)
MENTAL – MEN (fellows) followed by TAL{k} (chatter endlessly, i.e. dropping the last letter). The same device clueing two identical endings in consecutive clues, but with a slight twist for variety
14 Clear sign of leg injury I had (6)
LIMPID – a LIMP is a sign of a leg injury and I’D is short for I had, just drop the apostrophe
17 Oriental food keeps us hiccupping to some extent (5)
SUSHI – my spell checker won’t let me spell ‘hiccupping’ with a single ‘p’, and I was always taught to spell it hiccoughing in any case, but neither makes any difference to the parsing. The answer is hidden in {keep}S US HI{ccupping or ccuping or coughing} as we prefer.
19 Conservative doing badly and finishing (7)
CLOSING – C{onservative} and LOSING (doing badly), unlike the American versions of Conservatives in the last 48 hours!
21 A volume in Charleston, say, generates payment for author (7)
ADVANCE – A (a) followed by V{olume} in DANCE (Charleston, say)
22 Precise description of repealed legislation (5)
EXACT – repealed legislation would be an EX ACT
23 Intent on not marrying (6,6)
SINGLE MINDED – a kind of double definition &lit type of cryptic clue. I’m personally in two minds about this one. Perhaps one of our more experienced bloggers can define the clue type more precisely.
Down
2 Still at the crease, not getting bowled, not taken in (7)
UNEATEN – If one is ‘still at the crease’ in cricket, one is UNBEATEN. Not getting bowled indicates to take out the B{owled} to leave the answer. These crosswords must be really difficult for those whose national sporting experience excludes cricket. Incidentally, good trivia question, there are ten ways of being beaten (getting out) in cricket. What are they?
3 £1000 people put on a new driver in big race (5,8)
GRAND NATIONAL – £1000 is a GRAND commonly, followed by (put on) NATION (people) and A (a) L{earner} new driver
4 Without limits, impeded current measure (6)
AMPERE – impeded in this case is HAMPERED, with the first and last letters removed (without limits) to give the SI unit of electric current named after the French mathematician and physicist
5 New notice at canal indicating expanse of water (8,5)
ATLANTIC OCEAN – Straightforward anagram (indicated by ‘new’) of [NOTICE AT CANAL]
6 A person from Musselburgh racecourse (5)
ASCOT – a person from Musselburgh would be A SCOT, Musselburgh being in Scotland
7 Messed-up fellow guided to follow leader of group (7)
MANGLED – Fellow is MAN, LED is guided, with G{roup} (leader of) inserted
8 Athlete’s fitness, perhaps, for mile (7)
FORM – FOR (for) with M{ile}. The ‘perhaps’ I think because FORM could also be a horse’s fitness, or something else entirely
13 Girl stifling expression of annoyance over accidents (7)
MISHAPS – the expression of annoyance here is PAH, reversed (over) and inside (stifled by MISS
15 Junior soldier to talk boastfully, having captured four (7)
PRIVATE – IV is roman numeral for four, captured by PRATE (talk boastfully)
16 Son has the best yell (6)
SCREAM – S for S{on} followed by CREAM (the best)
18 Number of sins still to be overcome by Saint (5)
SEVEN – there are SEVEN sins (at least deadly ones apparently, although I think I possess more!), given by EVEN (still) underneath (or overcome by) S{aint}. We usually see saint abbreviated to St. but the S also works, at least as far as my Chambers is concerned
20 Crowd runs from site of fire (4)
GATE – as in the size of the crowd at a football match. G{r}ATE is the site of a fire, with R{uns} removed
I’m a bit wary about defining clues such as 22ac, but if I’d been blogging I think I’d have settled for &lit.
Edited at 2016-11-10 10:57 am (UTC)
I walked round a lake full of waterfowl with the dog this morning. There were no pelicans and that clue held me up for a bit. Favourite 3d. David
Took a little longer to parse: 11a matador, 4d ampere, 15d as prate was new to me, and 18d seven.
Couldn’t parse: 2d uneaten and 20d gate. So thanks.
My hand is down! I DNK that pecan was a drupe and not a nut but neither did the setter.
COD 10ac PELICAN WOD DRUPE
Fine but tardy blog! Its nearly tomorrow here in Shangers.
14 minutes for me today, so I found it twice as easy as yesterday’s offering. A straightforward solve in a few simple passes ending on SEVEN and GATE.
I think you meant stumped rather than stimped. See below for comment on retired.
PlayupPompey
PlayupPompey
Edited at 2016-11-10 01:54 pm (UTC)
Horryd, I couldn’t understand your comment below, or its relevance to Adrian’s post. Can you elucidate?
Bowled
Caught
Stumped
LBW
Run out
Obstruction
handled the ball
Hit wkt
timed out
Hit twice
retired without consent