14:56. A relatively gentle one from Dean this week, but a very fine and enjoyable puzzle nonetheless.
As ever with Dean there are one or two somewhat loose things in here. For instance I struggled a bit with the definition at 5dn. But if the odd slightly loose thing is the price we have to pay for this sort of creativity then it’s one I’m happy to pay. In fact it’s not even a price: it’s just a style thing, and on the whole I very much like Dean’s style. Even if you don’t, there’s nothing in here where the answer isn’t clear from the clue, which is the important thing.
A special mention for 12dn, which one of those clues that are so perfectly formed that they give an impression of having been discovered, rather than created.
Across |
1 |
Adult in robe, a grotesque thing
|
CHIMAERA – CHIM(A)ER, A. A ‘chimer’ is ‘the upper robe worn by a bishop’. I didn’t know this, so this one went in last, with fingers crossed. |
6 |
Extravagant — or otherwise — officers |
ROCOCO – (OR)*, then two COs. |
9 |
Cast so, Iron Duke
|
ORSINO – the Duke of Something or Other in Twelfth Night. |
10 |
Like Manx cat that oddly has “unnamed” ailment |
TAILLESS – ThAt, ILLnESS. |
11 |
Plastic upon leathery moulded material
|
POLYURETHANE – (UPON LEATHERY)*. |
14 |
Cleric, scratching head before long
|
ANON – cANON. |
15 |
Revive rail company, once buried? |
BRING ROUND – BR (rail company, once), IN GROUND. |
16 |
Given tranquillity and ambience, books table here? |
RESTAURANT – REST, AURA, NT. One where the definition relies on the context of the rest of the clue to make sense of it. |
17 |
Babe to have sex with husband |
RUTH – RUT, H. Ref. Babe RUTH, the baseball player. |
18 |
High Church breaks contract for event
|
STEEPLECHASE -STEEP (high) LE(CH)ASE. I was puzzled by STEEP for ‘high’, but you just need to think of prices rather than slopes. Similarly you need to think of athletics rather than horseracing for the definition. |
21 |
Derisory quote about right of way |
PATHETIC – a reversal of CITE (quote about) to the ‘right of’ PATH (way). |
23 |
New Wave youth turned hooligan
|
VANDAL – VAN (New Wave), then a reversal of LAD. It seems a bit odd to call a movement from the 60s the VAN today, but it’s there in the name. |
24 |
Journalist run over — that’s run over |
EDITOR – reversal or R, O, TIDE. At least I assume this is how it works, but I’m struggling with ‘run’ for TIDE. |
25 |
Sort of plant pot with metal flaps |
PALMETTO – (POT METAL)*. ‘Flaps’ is the anagrind. As usual the word ‘plant’ induced feelings of panic in me. I don’t remember coming across this one but it was easy enough to deduce from PALM. |
Down |
2 |
Launch hotel with location online |
HURL – H, URL. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, but you probably knew that. |
3 |
One poem found in friend’s home
|
MAISONETTE – MA(I, SONET)TE. Edit: there should of course be two Ns in both the small house and the sonnet, my thanks to anon below. |
4 |
Last of the substandard glue
|
EPOXY – thE, POXY (substandard). This clue seemed decidedly familiar, and sure enough in January this year we had ‘finally remove poor quality adhesive’. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that two setters can independently come up with a similar idea for this word. |
5 |
Our team captain’s mixed hot water with trifle
|
A STORM IN A TEACUP – (OUR TEAM CAPTAINS)*. I struggle a bit with the definition here, because ‘hot water’ to me means genuine trouble, which a STORM IN A TEACUP isn’t. But I’m almost certainly just being excessively literal-minded. |
6 |
Correct clothing is not close to waterproof
|
RAINTIGHT – R(AINT)IGHT. Not a word I can remember coming across before. I would say ‘rainproof’. |
7 |
Pass wind when one’s left |
COL – COiL. Tee hee. |
8 |
Nibbles pieces of meat, swallowing when chopped |
CASHEW NUTS – C(AS, HEWN)UTS. |
12 |
One toast never translated? |
A VOTRE SANTE – A, (TOAST NEVER)*, &Lit. What a brilliant clue. |
13 |
Twig below some trees |
UNDERSTAND – UNDER a STAND of trees. |
15 |
Flag down first of taxis and look over it |
BLUE PETER – BLUE (down), PE(Taxis)ER. |
19 |
Salt’s thrown and left in dump
|
HOVEL – HOVE (the nautical past participle of ‘heave’), L. |
20 |
Surgeon might remove it with skill? |
WART – W, ART. Surgery strikes me as a rather excessive approach to treating warts, but I suppose it might happen. |
22 |
The meat of white turkey? No
|
HIT – wHITe. |
My time was not bad for a Dean, except for this last one. Maybe it was an easy one by his standards.
A storm in a teacup: on the practical side, is there another for (1,5,2,1,6)? The handy Chambers Phrase File, bought long ago, has nothing else.
“one” only indicating A: this is a rule in Times crosswords, but AFAIK has never applied at the Sunday Times.
For those without access to the crossword forum here’s Peter’s response from last Sunday to my comment re 12dn which seems eminently sensible to me:
“Sorry if we broke a rule I stated (and we’ll have to wait to say what rule it might have been), but the primary rule for me is to serve up a puzzle with some challenges and entertainment on the route to a solution. All the more detailed rules are a means to that end”.
Edited at 2015-11-22 06:16 pm (UTC)
I vaguely remember even the weekday Times has had “A” clued by “one” since the new editor arrived, but too hard to search for it to confirm or not. It’s quickly going to hell in a handcart, in my view (which is the only view that matters, to me): live people, Guardianesque clues, etc. etc.
Meantime: nice Anax puzzle, with a few obscurities, but gettable in 35 mins – slowish.
Rob
When anyone asks what’s the point of solving crosswords, the answer is surely “So that you can know, without actually knowing, not only that a chimer is a thing but that it is undoubtedly some manner of vestment.” What other pastime can do this?
Mastering these things takes time, so my advice is to stick at it. You’ll be amazed at the progress you can make.