A lovely puzzle to round off the week. I thought it was going to be very quick, as most of the top half went in without a hitch, but I slowed down considerably in the SE corner. In total, about 25 minutes. I can’t choose between 9ac and 13ac for my clue of the day – the former is a clever one, but the anagram in the latter was an interesting revalation to me.
I’ve been in a mad rush this morning, so apologies for the brief explanations and any mistakes! Definitions are underlined.
Across |
1 |
BRASS OFF – trumpeters, etc. are the BRASS section + OFF (backstage) for exasperate. |
5 |
LOFT – LO (see) + FT (feet) gives space under roof. I feel like we’ve seen “lo” quite regularly in the quickies. |
8 |
SHILLING – pound = L, so double pound = LL, replacing the centre of SHImmerING gives us the old coin. |
9 |
KILT – KIT (gear) is seen around L (loch), and literally gear seen around loch. |
11 |
FLOUT – blatenty disregard is FootbalL (outside letters (wingers) of football) + OUT (not at home). |
12 |
EROSION – Initially thought of “eroding” but couldn’t get the wordplay to work. On second thoughts it is NO (number) + I (one) + SORE (source of pain), all reversed, for the noun form of wearing away. |
13 |
LISTEN – anagram of SILENT (indicated by strangely) gives try to detect noise. |
15 |
TERROR – fear is the definition, from ERROR (mistake) after T (first of trouble). |
18 |
SIAMESE – I (one) surrounded by (adopted by) SAME (identical) + SE for Asian cat. |
19 |
SEGUE – anagram of some of the letters from GUEssES (indicated by revise and partly) for this transition. All’s fair when asked to ignore a particular letter or letters, but I’m not a fan of “just take your pick of 5 from these 7”. On edit: the transition is partly (hidden in) reviSE GUEsses. Thanks rubeculaw, sorry setter!. |
21 |
TALC – a very soft substance is C (chapter) after TALe (short story). |
22 |
ADHERENT – anagram of HEAD (indicated by off) + RENT (hire) for supporter. |
23 |
PERM – for each = PER, male = M to make a hairstyle. |
24 |
ENTREATY – Nebraska State is abbreviated to NE (not NA, as I had assumed), which needs to be reversed + TREATY (pact) for an earnest request. |
Down |
1 |
BASHFUL – retiring is BASH (party) + FULl (having no space left, nearly). |
2 |
AMIGO – AM I? (is the person speaking) + GO (to leave) for chum. |
3 |
SPLIT-LEVEL – anagram of TELL ELVIS (indicated by on the move), with P (piano, quiet in musical terminology) gives us something on various planes. |
4 |
FUNNEL – new is often abbreviated to N, and so is name. NN in FUEL (oil, say) is to pour through a narrow opening. |
6 |
OLIVIER – the serious actor is I (one) in OLIVER (Dickensian musical). |
7 |
TITAN – giant = TIT (songbird) + ANd (along with, missing its last letter). |
10 |
WOMENSWEAR – W (with) + OMEN (prophetic sign) + SWEAR (curse) = female habits, or clothes. |
14 |
STAPLER – not so modern is STALER in this case, surrounding (securing) P (page), which gives office equipment. |
16 |
RE-ENTRY – ignore the first letter (leader) of gREEN (environmentalist) + TRY (to attempt) for getting in again. |
17 |
TENDON – TEND (nurse) + ON (in operation) for the sinew. |
18 |
SET-UP – this organised arrangement would be made into a word for unhappy if the parts were switched (i.e. upset). I like this sort of clue, once it eventually clicks.
|
20 |
GRETA – ETA (Greek character) after GR (Greek, apparently) gives the woman who wanted privacy, Greta Garbo. |
This took me 40 minutes with over 10 on my last 2, 22a and 10d. When I finally got 22a it seemed so obvious.
Had a chuckle as I put in 9a which should have helped me with 10. I have seen the anagram at 13a before.
I agree 11 is brilliant and I’m sorry to say I had thought a rude word was involved in the wordplay at 8ac before realising that would never happen in the Times. Too long spent on PE puzzles in the past perhaps!
.
Edited at 2014-05-09 07:35 am (UTC)
Edited at 2014-05-09 12:48 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2014-05-09 12:44 pm (UTC)
I began this all by myself and only asked Z8 a couple of questions near the end.
We were both bemused by 10 dn the LOI by about 3 mins.
My COD & FOI was 1 ac. A really lovely crossword – thanks Rongo!
Re. style of blog, no need for apologies for me William. I prefer the briefer style and your explanations were very clear and to the point.
Nigel from Surrey
I found the right-hand corner (SE?) hardest and although I got all the answers, there were more than a handful where I couldn’t properly decode the clue so I’ve still much to learn and could never have got this far without the blog.
10dn was my LOI (last one in!) and had me mulling over it for some time while I watched the cricket. My COD (Clue of the day!) was 18dn.