8:21. Another straightforward puzzle from Tim Moorey, but that didn’t prevent me from making a horlicks of it with a particularly stupid mistake. Drat.
Not much else to say really so I’ll just get on with it.
| Across | |
| 1 | Old Bob in a stew first to snub areas of potential trouble |
|
HOT SPOTS – HOT(S)POT, S |
|
| 5 | Spoils son, an amusing chap |
| SWAG – S (son), WAG | |
| 8 | Zip fastener gypsy can’t do with out |
| ENERGY – contained in fastener gypsy. | |
| 9 | Toy with painting round an image within another |
| TRAIN SET – a reversal of ART, then INSET. | |
| 10 | An overlooked Scandinavian stunner? |
|
Dish – D |
|
| 11 | Unskilled player leading one section of band slows down |
| HAMSTRINGS – HAM (unskilled player), STRINGS | |
| 12 | A new game theory developed for growth in the tropics |
| MAHOGANY TREE – (A, N, GAME THEORY)*. I panicked a bit when I saw the definition but this turns out to be one of those plants that even I know. | |
| 16 | An unemotional nature is what gives a solver love! |
| HEART OF STONE – because the heart of stone is O, and 0 is love. | |
| 18 | Being contrary, here I stop declaration on handover |
| THERE YOU GO – because ‘here I stop’ is the contrary thereof. Kinda. | |
| 20 | The fat boy holding little resistance |
| LARD – LA(R)D. | |
| 21 | Ode is composed about day with IT geeks |
| ODDITIES – (ODE IS)* around D, IT. This definition feels a bit dated now that the geeks have won. | |
| 22 | Cutter in tears at a weepie’s opening |
|
RIPSAW – RIPS, A W |
|
| 23 | Excessively cute go-between? Not entirely |
| TWEE – contained in gobetween. | |
| 24 | One coming from river after when news is on |
| ATTENDEE – the news is on AT TEN, then the river is the DEE. I get my news from the Today programme on Radio 4 in the morning but EVERYHALFHOURBETWEENSIXANDNINEDEE doesn’t fit. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Hold back race |
| HANDICAP – DD. | |
| 2 | Light ultimately needed over covered entrance when power is cut? |
|
TORCH – |
|
| 3 | Doctor says no physical or mental treatment |
| PSYCHOANALYSIS – (SAYS NO PHYSICAL)*. This was my error. I started to write PHYSIOTHERAPY and then when I realised it was wrong failed to change the first H, leaving me with PHYCHOANALYSIS. I then failed to spot this on my check-through at the end. Muppet. | |
| 4 | Emblem to carry miles |
| TOTEM – TOTE, M. | |
| 5 | No good testing men in scrum for emotion |
|
SENTIMENT – (TESTIN |
|
| 6 | Raised above the ground, not at home one’s heard |
| AWEIGH – as in an anchor. Sounds like ‘away’. | |
| 7 | Routine affair that’s duller undoubtedly |
| MATTER OF COURSE – my explanation of this one would just consist of writing the answer out again! | |
| 13 | Different sort of theories about origin of wealth |
|
OTHERWISE – (THEORIES)* around W |
|
| 14 | Still used in making whiskey etc |
| YET – contained in whiskey etc. | |
| 15 | Make weak, brewed tea? Never! |
| ENERVATE – (TEA NEVER)*. I have been misunderstanding this word for years: I thought it meant ‘annoy’, which is probably a bit of subconcious Franglais. | |
| 17 | Air of gloom from broadcast about hospital publicity |
| SHADOW – S(H, AD)OW. | |
| 19 | Distress at university group |
| UPSET – UP (at university), SET. | |
| 20 | Bounded operation penetrating source of light |
| LOPED – L(OP)ED. | |
Apart from that, an enjoyable 10 minute solve. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Very enjoyable grapple: particularly liked 16a, 18a and 24a.
Thanks, as ever, to setter and our blogger.