8:15. A very unusual grid this week: one that I don’t remember seeing before. The long series of
unchecked lights black squares around the edges give it an odd look, and there are no short words. All the answers are 7, 8 or 15 letters long.
The puzzle itself was straightforward, I thought, but I enjoyed it as I always do Harry’s puzzles. He has a very original and quirky style that I like.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, anagram indicators are in italics.
Across |
1 |
My husband takes wrong turning from Newquay? |
|
CORNISH – COR, H containing a reversal of SIN (wrong). |
5 |
Where to take down fighter in mohawk from Bow? |
|
AIRSTRIP – a mohawk (or mohican) hairstyle consists of a single strip of hair down the middle of a shaved head. Hence in East London… |
9 |
Some diplomat in Algiers of a morning |
|
MATINAL – contained in ‘diplomat in Algiers’. |
10 |
One prompting motion reconstituting a vile tax |
|
LAXATIVE – (A VILE TAX)*. |
11 |
Working port on banks of Tarragona lake |
|
ONTARIO – ON (working), TarragonA, RIO (port). |
12 |
Writer of The Third Man might be doing it in play |
|
FIELDING – ‘third man’ is a cricketing term for a fielder in a particular position. For our overseas friends wondering exactly where, it’s behind and to the off side of the slips, approximately level with gully or point. |
13 |
Party in power that tends, mostly, to waver |
|
PAINT THE TOWN RED – (IN POWER THAT TENDs)*. |
19 |
Old earl and duke near country inn’s entrance |
|
DISRAELI – D, ISRAEL, Inn. |
20 |
Horse and dope found around old prison cell |
|
DUNGEON – DUN, GE(O)N. |
21 |
Marine with dog getting shot of British predator |
|
SEA EAGLE – SEA (marine), bEAGLE. A common visitor to crosswords, but usually under his other name, ERNE. |
22 |
Hit record a little offensive to the Hooters? |
|
NOISOME – NO 1 (hit record), SOME (a little). |
23 |
In account, trained hitmen like songs of devotion |
|
ANTHEMIC – AC containing (HITMEN)*. |
24 |
Record man originally set by US city a while ago |
|
EPHESUS – EP, HE, Set, US. |
Down |
1 |
Flower person heads to irrigate arable land |
|
CAMBODIA – CAM (flower), BOD, Irrigate, Arable. |
2 |
Turn helping to secure book collection |
|
ROTATION – R(OT)ATION. |
3 |
Groan nit needs to change, being thus? |
|
IGNORANT – (GROAN NIT)*. A bit of a weird clue: the surface doesn’t make an awful lot of sense, and there doesn’t seem to be a proper definition. Am I missing something? |
4 |
Student digs horse called Fine Going |
|
HALL OF RESIDENCE – (HORSE CALLED FINE)*. |
6 |
Broadcast about manor lacking in depth |
|
SHALLOW – S(HALL)OW. A word that has no direct equivalent in French. |
7 |
Old prince more likely to have showers than others? |
|
RAINIER – there have been a few but this is mostly likely a reference to the Prince of Monaco who married Grace Kelly. |
8 |
Book rook pinched taken into Police Department as promised |
|
PLEDGED – P(LEDGEr)D. |
13 |
School established by a governor from Italy |
|
PODESTA – POD (school), EST, A. I had heard of John PODESTA, he of the Democratic Party and the email leak, but did not know the word. |
14 |
Needing break, homeworker tours street for a bit |
|
INSTANT – IN(ST)ANT. The words ‘needing break’ are unnecessary for the wordplay here, but add to the surface reading. Edit: see comment from kapietro below: ‘needing break’ indicates that you have to separate home and worker for the wordplay to make sense.
|
15 |
Spooner’s little barrel that’s used for serving drinks |
|
TEAWARE – spoonerism of ‘wee tear’. When solving I thought the barrel was a tare here, and assumed an unknown usage, but it turns out to be something simpler. |
16 |
Men suffer pain, losing heart as Trump appears? |
|
ORANGISH – OR, ANGuISH. Fortunately not so much these days. |
17 |
Many of our menus must be updated |
|
NUMEROUS – (OUR MENUS)*. |
18 |
Sweet comment brought up over dinner for men? |
|
ETON MESS – reversal of NOTE, MESS. The ‘men’ here are soldiers. MESS can refer to the meal, the people eating the meal, or the place they are eating it! |
Edited at 2021-04-04 05:48 am (UTC)
I knew I had seen the name PODESTA fairly recently but couldn’t place it.
It was going to be a quick solve but then I got stuck in the SW corner with the aforementioned PODESTA as well as DISRAELI, SEA EAGLE and TEAWARE. I was looking for a more marine predator.
COD to FIELDING. I thought that was clever.
I always thought that there was an E after the G of ORANGISH, which looks as if it should indicate resemblance to an ape. Mind you, the more I think about Trump…..
FOI MATINAL
LOI CAMBODIA
COD ORANGISH
TIME 13:54
Edited at 2021-04-04 06:11 am (UTC)
Great puzzle, refreshing grid.
FOI was HALL OF RESIDENCE which gave me lots of letters.
Managed the first 14 clues in only 12 minutes but then got stuck. COD to FIELDING or PAINT THE TOWN RED.
Enjoyed this one.
David
When I started work at the Sunday Times in 2011, all our crosswords were on stock grids, in a set of 24. 8 of them had been designed by Mike Laws, using similar rules to the Times stock grids, but the other 16 included some that were not ideal, so I dropped 7 of those and added about 32 new ones, in two groups. The first group were what I counted as “normal” designs, using the same rules as the Times ones, except for allowing 13-letter answers with 6 checking letters and 15-letter ones with 7. The second group was of “extreme” or “eccentric” grids which I didn’t expect to be used as often. This grid was one of them, and is a variation on a former Times stock grid which had the same two central 15-letter answers and 8-letter answers everywhere else. I just reduced half of those to 7 letters, and happened to create a more striking image than most grids offer. There is another variation on that Times grid which no-one has tried yet, like some others in that group. Setters are also allowed to design their own grids, following the same rules.
=======================================
Addition today:
* I think you mean “sequences of black squares around the edges”. By my understanding, unches are white squares.
“Sequences of black squares around the edges” is rather a handful .. perhaps we should call them “Bunches?”
Always thought a sea eagle was an osprey, but I see now that it isn’t .. live & learn, eh?
At 14dn I think “needing break” has a job to do, indicating that “homeworker” needs to be broken into two separate words?
I got TEAWARE by assuming (wrongly) that tare means barrel. I’m baffled by “wee tear”. COD to the clever FIELDING
And yes barrel as in to ‘travel or move very fast’ (Collins).
Edited at 2021-04-04 10:31 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-04-04 10:53 am (UTC)
On the grid, although I noticed the unusual arrangement of black squares when printing the puzzle, when it came to solving this didn’t affect me at all. I tend to seek out 3 or 4 letter words if I’m stuck, but on this occasion 1ac went in straightaway and everything flowed smoothly from there. I wasn’t even aware of their absence until I read the blog.
Edited at 2021-04-04 01:53 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2021-04-04 05:35 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2021-04-04 05:51 pm (UTC)
A sentence for English students.
A little daunting at first, but ended up being quite straight forward in a single sitting after starting, like others, with MATINAL. Initially had trouble making sense of the definition of 3d, but think by putting a hypothetical comma after ‘groan’, then the ‘thus’ points to the ‘nit needs to change’ – strange one all the same.
Am used to the lift and separate type clues as 14d from the FT setters, but didn’t notice the helpful two words indicating that it was at the front of the clue. Plenty of interesting clues throughout with the FIELDING one being favourite.
Finished in the SW corner with ETON MESS (taking longer than it should), EPHESUS (dragged from the depths) and ORANGISH (with its unusual definition) the last few in.