Solving time 16:15, so about average difficulty for a Saturday. No GK required really and no difficult vocab either. One clue I’m not sure I’ve parsed correctly (22d) and one with the becoming-too-frequent leftover editorial mark-up (21d). Is it me or do those slip-ups always appear in one of the last few down clues?
As always, clues can be viewed by hovering the mouse over the clue number. I was surprised last week when someone else used my template and it was thought of as an innovation, as I’ve been including the clues like this for the last two years at least. It pays to advertise I suppose!
Across |
1 |
SOCKS – SMOCKS (dresses or blouses), without the M. Def. clothing items. |
4 |
BACKBITER – BACK (second) + BITTER (beer) minus half the middle letters. Def. sniper (the sort without bullets). |
9 |
GRENADIAN – (in a garden)*. Def. West Indian. |
10 |
OWN UP – GOWN (academic garb) without the G for good, + UP (at university). Def. admit. |
11 |
POLISH – double definition. |
12 |
CINEASTE – IN (burning) inside C(annes) + EASTE(r) (festival shortly). def. the whole clue. |
14 |
SECOND-RATE – SEC (dry wine) + ONE around DRAT (sugar!). Def. cheap. |
16 |
LINO – hidden inside “usual in old”. Def. floor covering. |
19 |
SERF – FRESH (reinvigorated) reversed, without the H for hospital. Def. worker bound. |
20 |
DEMOLISHED – DELI (small shop, i.e. short for delicatessen) around MO (second) + SHED (outbuilding). Def. knocked down. |
22 |
THESPIAN – HE’S (chap’s) + PI (really good), inside TAN (hit repeatedly). Def. actor. |
23 |
GAMBIA – A1 (top) + B(ritish) + MAG (publication), all reversed. Smallest country in Africa, a strip of land either side of the Gambia River. |
26 |
PLIER – LIE (position) inside PR (public relations). Def. worker. |
27 |
KNOW-IT-ALL – (won’t kill a)*. Def. cocky American (in England he’d just be a know-all). |
28 |
PAGEANTRY – GER(man) around ANT (worker), all inside PAY. Def. display. |
29 |
TOKAY – (gourme)T + OKAY (fine). Def. wine. |
Down |
1 |
SIGNPOSTS – SIGN (write name) + S(mall) behind POST (letters). Def. guides, by the way. |
2 |
CREEL – C(aught) + REEL (angling tackle). Def. container for fish. |
3 |
SWANSONG – N(ew) + SON (kid) inside SWAG (Loot). Def. final appearance. Loot was a 1965 play by Joe Orton, if you’re wondering. |
4 |
BAIT – first letters of boils? Aargh, it’s the. Def. plague. |
5 |
CONVICTION – double definition (CPS is the Crown Prosecution Service). |
6 |
BROKEN – KEN (knowledge) next to BRO (sibling). Def. faulty. |
7 |
TUNESMITH – (he mustn’t)* around I(sland). Def. airman? |
8 |
RUPEE – sounds like “rue p” (regret + little English cash). Def. foreign money. |
13 |
FREE MARKET – FRET (worry) around [E(ast) + MARK (German currency once) + E (last letter of decline)]. Def. post-Communist economy (in East Germany, at least). |
15 |
CAREERING – CAR (vehicle) + E.G. (say), around ERIN (Ireland). Def. speeding. |
17 |
OLD BAILEY – (bold)* + AIL (worry) + last letters of (th)E (jur)Y. Def. here? Not sure I like “crooks” as an anagrind – a bit forced to help with the surface reading. |
18 |
FINALIST – A LIST (failure to stand upright) after FIN(o) (endless sherry). Def. No more rounds for me! |
21 |
SPARTA – T.A. (Territorial Army, reservists) next to SPAR (fight). Def. old city. I wonder what the original (3-3) was that got changed? Very strange enumeration (6! (3-3) that appears to be more left-over editorial mark-up. |
22 |
TIP-UP – not sure about this one. TIP (indication) + UP (space near stage?). Def. like some seats. Maybe someone can think of a better explanation? [Edit: paul_in_london got there first – it’s a cryptic “indication of space near stage” to give PIT (i.e. orchestra pit).]
|
24 |
BLACK – B(illions) + LACK (deprivation). Def. desperate. |
25 |
DORY – R(egularl)Y next to DO (cook). Def. fish. |
Regarding tip up, I decided that it was a failed &lit, with pit = area near orchestra taken backwards/upwards – but that didn’t give any clear wordplay for the up part because the pit bit is already up.
CINEASTE is one of those standards I routinely forget. I think it was my last in, and not for the first time.
COD .. BACKBITER, for leading me up the garden path a good while.
Didn’t mean to steal your thunder re the hovering functionality! I think regular visitors to this blog are so used to NOT having access to the clues in each post that repeated mentioning of it will be needed to increase awareness. It probably also doesn’t help that the Saturday posts only get a fraction of the readers that the weekday ones get.
It’s only since the Quickie started that I realised how many people solve on-line and it would make sense for blogs to include the clues in some form if possible. I am planning to do this myself starting from Monday’s Quickie* and depending on how that goes and the extra time involved I may try to extend it to the main cryptic. Of course any decisions on the matter should be down to individual bloggers.
*subject to availability of the puzzle on-line – if the recent shambles continues and I am unable to access it until the morning I shall blog the bare minimum.
Edited at 2014-04-05 12:49 pm (UTC)
A positive in the deshamblesing (a word?) of the Quickie is that next week’s puzzles look as though they have the setter’s pseudonym included in the online version. But don’t get too excited – Monday’s says “The Times Quick Cryptic (Number 21) by by Tracy” (sic) …
Edited at 2014-04-05 02:32 pm (UTC)
Andy I had absolutely no idea that you were including the clues like this, so yes it pays to advertise!
12 across: burning = in; and
4 down: bait = plague
Thank you
a person who is baited is being plagued
.. just not-so-common meanings really