Since the ST has started publishing the setter’s name, I have, like many others I’m sure, gained a gut reaction to each name giving me an expectation of how much I’m likely to enjoy what follows. Indeed Jack made a comment to this effect a couple of weeks ago. I know I generally struggle to get on Tim Moorey’s wavelength, and his vocabulary often finds me wanting, so his name gives me cause for trepidation, while Dean Mayer’s I normally find tough but fair. But of the three setters, it is Jeff Pearce’s name that I look forward to the most. I nearly always find his offerings the most enjoyable to solve. Of course, this is a personal observation and others will doubtless disagree.
I did enjoy this one, as I expected to, despite rather a proliferation of double and cryptic definitions – six in total. These often seem the weakest of all the clue types available to the setter, but most of these ones seemed to work quite well. 11 would be one of my contenders for COD. This honour has to go to the rather neat &lit at 4d, though, narrowly beating 7 which was only slightly spoilt by the similarity of COACH to COUCH.
Keep it up, Jeff. Long may you continue.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | AMO + S – I only did one year of Latin at school before I was able to drop it in favour of something (anything) else, but I remember conjugating the verb ‘to love’ – AMO, AMAS, AMAT, etc. The Book of Amos is the oldest of the prophetic books of the Old Testament. |
| 4 | SEER + SUCKER |
| 9 | ASS + AI + L |
| 10 | UN + COUP(L)E – I’d not come across a COUPE, being a dessert similar to a sundae, as opposed to a COUPÉ, being a style of car. |
| 11 | CLOSE SHAVE – dd – I liked this one. |
| 14 | HOOK – dd – Captain Hook was Peter Pan’s enemy, and a hook shot in cricket is a stroke played behind the batsman on the leg side. |
| 15 | TELETHON – cd, i.e. a charity event shown on the (television) set. |
| 17 | AGOUTI = GOUT in (A + I) |
| 18 | STUPOR = (PROUST)* |
| 20 | LAY WASTE = LAY + W + A + (SET)* |
| 22 | FA(W)N |
| 23 | AND SO FORTH = (SORT OF HAND)* |
| 25 | CLUBBING – dd – the first of which is ‘gathering’ as in clubbing together, although I can’t recall having come across clubbing on its own in this sense. |
| 27 | LEAD + IN |
| 29 | F + RIGHTENED |
| 30 | PAGE – dd |
| Down | |
| 2 | MO + SELL + |
| 3 | SPA |
| 4 | SALTS – &lit – Salts, as in sailors, are a vital part of any ship. The wordplay is ALT (computer key) in SS. Very neat. |
| 5 | EMU |
| 6 | SECRETARY = (SECRET + RY) about A |
| 7 | COUCH POTATO = (OUT + TOP COACH)* – Separation required on ‘slob out’ |
| 8 | EELPOUT = (TOUPEE)* about |
| 12 | SLEEPING BAG – cd |
| 13 | ANNE + LID |
| 16 | HERB + A + LIST – madder being a herb. |
| 19 | TRAILER – dd |
| 21 | TAT + TIN + G |
| 24 |
|
| 26 | GIN |
| 28 | ASP – hidden in |
As for your comments about setters there’s only one that fills me with dread and in consequence I suffered again this Sunday (19th). In fact, coming on top of the Saturday puzzle (18th) I wonder why I continue to bother. I have spent 4 hours this weekend beating my brains out on puzzles I had no hope of ever solving without considerable resort to aids, and to me that’s not the point of doing them. If I wanted that, I would do Mephisto and other puzzles where one knows before one starts that the bar is going to be set extremely high.
When Titian was mixing rose madder
His model reclined on a ladder
Her position to Titian
Suggested coition
So he leapt up the ladder and ‘ad ‘er!
That’s lowered the tone of this blog but it’s a goodie.)
I didn’t see CLUBBING as a DD. I put in in from idea of gathering together to go “clubbing” on a Saturday night. I just didn’t associate “gathering” with “clubbing”. All in all, a bit of a struggle. 45 minutes.
Old English liste “border, hem, edge, strip”