Distractions, interruptions and messing up a spelling made this seem tricky but I’m not convinced. Overall time was about 13 minutes though, so I hope you all get on better.
The SW was my problem area and the spelling mess-up was for 23 ac.
Definitions are underlined in bold italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Dish? Here’s dish with pep, possibly (9,3) |
| SHEPHERDS PIE – anagram (possibly) of HERES DISH PEP. | |
| 9 | Unusually large vehicle getting award (5) |
| OSCAR – unusually large (OS – outsized), vehicle (CAR). | |
| 10 | Getting involved, with no time for water sport (7) |
| ANGLING – getting involved t(ANGLING) with no time (T). Not the first water sport which sprang to mind. | |
| 11 | Trembling aspens holding unknown mental connection (7) |
| SYNAPSE – anagram (trembling) of ASPENS holding unknown (Y). | |
| 12 | Recalled difficulty about the old person in market (5) |
| BUYER – recalled difficulty (RUB backwards) about the old (YE). | |
| 13 | Water-heater supplied by bloke’s sound? (6) |
| GEYSER – homophone of GEEZER. | |
| 14 | Welsh or Scottish river to carry on intensely (6) |
| DEEPLY – Welsh or Scottish river (DEE), carry on (PLY e.g. one’s trade). | |
| 17 | Technical talk initially dismissed inert gas (5) |
| ARGON – technical talk j(ARGON) first letter dismissed. | |
| 19 | Circle, then clumsily retake, a symbol of England? (3,4) |
| OAK TREE – aha! So not a red rose then! Circle (O) then anagram (clumsily) of RETAKE. | |
| 21 | Doctor left it after working under night-time conditions? (7) |
| MOONLIT – doctor (MO) with left (L) and it (IT) after working (ON). | |
| 22 | Noon, as it were? Correct (5) |
| AMEND – noon, as it were (AM END). | |
| 23 | Bistro owner upset a TU treasurer (12) |
| RESTAURATEUR – anagram (upset) of A TU TREASURER. An ‘N’ crept into my answer and caused a hold up with the crossers. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Journalist longing to upend part of London (7) |
| HACKNEY – journalist (HACK), longing (YEN upended). | |
| 3 | Aha! Repair plan potentially implies lots of equipment (13) |
| PARAPHERNALIA – anagram (potentially) of AHA REPAIR PLAN. | |
| 4 | Reputation retained by the Spanish decorative coating (6) |
| ENAMEL – reputation (NAME) kept by the in Spanish (EL). | |
| 5 | Meal for boxer? Not something that’s well done (4,9) |
| DOGS BREAKFAST – a boxer dog’s early morning snack. | |
| 6 | Expensive press release initially lacking warmth (5) |
| PRICY – (P)ress (R)elease, lacking warmth (ICY). | |
| 7 | Keenly, say, about to come in before due time (7) |
| EAGERLY – say (EG – backwards/about) inside before due time (EARLY). | |
| 8 | Manager starts to back off somewhat sharpish (4) |
| BOSS – (B)ack (O)ff (S)omewhat (S)harpish. | |
| 13 | Endpoint of failing memory: to damage language structure (7) |
| GRAMMAR – failin(G), memory (RAM – the IT sort), to damage (MAR). | |
| 15 | Standard symbol of love mostly for upstart (7) |
| PARVENU – standard (PAR), symbol of love mostly (VENU)s. | |
| 16 | Publicity material after the passing of the Queen? (6) |
| POSTER – after the passing of (POST – as in pandemic), the Queen (ER). | |
| 18 | Defeat after first of games? Here’s an explanation (5) |
| GLOSS – defeat (LOSS) after (G)ames. Gloss as in put a gloss/spin on. | |
| 20 | Headless toy that spins (4) |
| EDDY – headless toy t(EDDY) – what a sad clue to end on! | |
I had a very, very slow start and then suddenly it was pretty easy. I loved SYNAPSE, and POSTER gave me an “awwwww” moment. Experience is definitely making a huge difference: I saw the headless toy and thought, surely I’ve seen exactly this clue before, haven’t I? Then Ms Memory yielded up the answer shortly after I had moved on.
Thanks for the blog (never would have figured out where OS came from in OSCAR) and puzzle!
9 minutes for this most enjoyable puzzle, of which fully a third on my L2I, the Amend/Eddy cross in the SE corner. I’m not sure why they took so long and I may even have seen both before, but sometimes it goes like that.
Many thanks Chris for the blog, a sterling effort on the new Saturday puzzles.
Cedric
A reasonably straightforward 12:23 today. Slowest in the NE corner where I had most difficulty in working out EAGERLY but my SYNAPSE(s) were also a little slow for 11a. And even though I do know that there is no N in restaurateur I still had to back up a little today when I realised that I was starting to run out of space.
Thx Harmonic.
I do remember your comments on this in the past.
Is this the same reason for passager/ passenger? Or is that something else?
15m today which is tres bien pour moi. J
14:42, thoroughly enjoyed this one. I think Pedro reads this blog: we’ve had discussions about the spelling of RESTAURATEUR and PARAPHERNALIA here, as well as a discussion of the multiple rivers called Dee.
Joint COD to the two long anagrams above, due to the feeling of slightly stunned smugness when I remembered how both are spelled.
Thanks to Chris and Pedro.
15.49 Quite sluggish but enjoyable today. MOONLIT and POSTER were last two in. Thanks Chris and Pedro.
Can I just add a word of encouragement to new solvers too. I’ve been attempting the Quickie since it started, a really welcome addition as I never got very far with the 15×15! I probably finish 3 or 4 each week but on days when I get really stuck I come here to see why. Sometimes it’s me being stupid like missing the hidden ‘incur’ on Tuesday! I always solve on paper and don’t worry about how long it takes me but just enjoy the solving. It’s worth trying the concise daily as it helps with GK and sometimes the same word will crop up in both.
Don’t give up on bad days, look forward to the next it might be a doddle!
This sheep, though wooly-headed, sounds very wise!
😂