9:34. The usual very high quality fare From Robert this week. I don’t have much more to say about it: there’s not much you can say about the elegant simplicity of clues like 6ac or 23dn but they’re none the less enjoyable for that. I liked DOUBLE-CROSSES too.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | A few alerts about tiny crustaceans |
| WATER FLEAS – (A FEW ALERTS)*. | |
| 6 | Animal run over |
| WOLF – reversal of FLOW. | |
| 9 | Part of a hip Paris destination |
| ILIUM – a bone in the hip and the Latin name for Troy. Paris was the son of Priam, king thereof. | |
| 10 | Very high voice holding one girl back |
| ALTISSIMO – ALTO containing I then a reversal of MISS. | |
| 12 | Kind of advance notice about painting |
| TENDER-HEARTED – TENDER (advance), HE(ART)ED | |
| 14 | Adds water to so called cover charges |
| HYDRATES – homophone (so-called) of ‘hide’, RATES. | |
| 15 | At Le Mans I finally look into its sporty vehicle |
| JET SKI – JE (I in French, i.e. at Le Mans), (ITS)* containing |
|
| 17 | Ancient city pub’s entered for award |
| TROPHY – TRO(PH)Y. A second appearance for Ilium. | |
| 19 | Restless, always cutting school |
| FEVERISH – F(EVER)ISH. | |
| 21 | Latin scores were made up by these cheats |
| DOUBLE-CROSSES – because a score (20) in Roman numerals is XX. | |
| 24 | Battle spirit adopted by a tribunal |
| AGINCOURT – A(GIN), COURT. | |
| 25 | Clear time to sunbathe on vacation |
| ERASE – ERA, S |
|
| 26 | Newspaper article covering English cheese |
| FETA – F(E)T, A. | |
| 27 | Commie mostly held in regard, looking back |
| RETROSPECT – RE(TRO |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Winery’s first fruit crop |
| WHIP – W |
|
| 2 | Danced like a pervert |
| TWISTED – DD. | |
| 3 | Church member a monarchic lot abused |
| ROMAN CATHOLIC – (A MONARCHIC LOT)*. | |
| 4 | Desert boy raised to make bread |
| LEAVENED – LEAVE, NED. | |
| 5 | Paul’s second long letter |
| AITCH – |
|
| 7 | Old rover’s bar runs drugs |
| OPIATES – O, PI |
|
| 8 | Fine day enveloping ladies with soft illumination |
| FLOODLIGHT – F(LOO), D, LIGHT (soft). | |
| 11 | Pal senses she’s suffering lack of form |
| SHAPELESSNESS – (PAL SENSES SHE’S)*. | |
| 13 | Star chess player, one of seven |
| WHITE DWARF – WHITE (chess player), DWARF (Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, or Sneezy). | |
| 16 | Swimmer from Bow’s more attractive after drink |
| SEA OTTER – ‘OTTER (more attractive to a Cockney) after SEA (drink). | |
| 18 | Doctor filling in locum roster |
| OCULIST – |
|
| 20 | Establish how VIPs when late sometimes lie |
| INSTATE – because dead (late) VIPs lie in state. | |
| 22 | What sailors did sounded vulgar |
| CRUDE – sounds like ‘crewed’. | |
| 23 | Let rip! |
| RENT – DD. Neat. | |
20:49
Terrific puzzle, as always. The clues are as economical as Dean’s, averaging under 6 words a clue. And the surfaces are wonderfully smooth, hiding the need to separate: a hip Paris destination, danced like a pervert, second long letter, filling in locum roster, … Loved it.
Yes, indeed. Excellent—and not a word wasted. I’ll follow suit.
Make that three. A hat-trick for the setter.
18:51
Not only was it good, it was highly solve-able, at least by me. Double crosses was the only one where I didn’t get the wordplay, but in most cases it was cryptic first, literal second, although a little classical knowledge was helpful. Surprisingly, the chestnut wolf was my LOI.
Time: 40 minutes
Yes. Nicely doable. 35 minutes. I liked INSTATE and DOUBLE CROSSES
A satisfying fill. Would have completed in my usual hour but the top third took some extra thinking for unfamiliar words in WATERFLEAS, ILIUM and ALTISSIMO, though the clueing made perfect sense. Enjoyed this one. Thanks to all.
I’m not bothering to look to see if it was claimed as such, but in relation to a significant chunk of English and later British history, 3D could be seen as an all-in-one/&lit.
You might call it a Semi-&Lit, as the whole thing serves as a definition, but the wordplay is just ‘a monarchic lot abused’, i.e. not the whole clue, so it’s not a full &Lit.
Fair point – I was clearly more interested in what I’d spotted than terminological precision …
Aha! Nice.
I’m not sure the plangent historical echo registered at all when the clue was solved…
I thought so, too. Tongue in cheek, of course.
Not one of his most difficult but still some challenges. I’d never heard of WATER FLEAS but assumed they must be the crustaceans.
Took ages to get POI RETROSPECT. LOI CRUDE -always seem to struggle on these clues.
COD to WOLF.
David
Had to use the spare neuron to get through this one. Lots of PDMs. Finished up in the NW with ILEUM finally giving way to ILIUM and allowing TWISTED to finish off the job. Liked LEAVENED, ALTISSIMO and DOUBLE CROSSES. 32:27. Nice one! Thanks Bob and K.
I did like this a lot. cod to WOLF
I trust Robert but looked up water flea afterwards. They are crustaceans indeed, more than 1,000 species of them, read the wiki article, if your stomach is up for it…
38 minutes. Had “HARE” pencilled in initially for 6ac, which I accept would have been a very poor clue! Agree with others that this was an excellent crossword.
Ditto, the comments above. Thx keriothe.
For the record a beauty worthy of an hour.
FOI 3dn ROMAN ‘CANDLESTICK’ as per my old man.
LOI 20dn INSTATE
COD 6ac WOLF
WOD 24ac AGINCOURT – once made one proud to be British, however……..
24ac DOUBLE CROSS – the running of double agents by Masterton & Co., (The Twenty Committee) throughout WWII. Well-known agents such as ‘Tricycle’ (Popov), ‘Biscuit’, ‘ Snow’ etc.
As others have said: a beautifully crafted and do-able puzzle, with many PDMs . Got stuck on not recognising the definition in 12a, not seeing the lovely WOLF, and getting held up on 27a. But enjoyed every minute of my 40-some!
Thanks Robert and keriothe
A very enjoyable crossword that I was able to complete in a single 33 minute sitting, which is quite quick for me. Started off with TWISTED and finished in the NE with TENDER-HEARTED (took a while to see the connection between tender and advance for some reason), LEAVENED (excellent and well-camouflaged definition) and ALTISSIMO the last one in.
DOUBLE CROSSES was the clear clue of the day, but there were many others that provided concise and unambiguous word play and an occasional wry grin when one clicked on to his logic.
As a relative newby, I’d appreciate a lexicon of short forms, e.g. &lit. I think I get COD (Clue Of Day), WOD (Word Of Day), and LOI/FOI (Last/First One In), so maybe I’m catching on… Of course, as a colonial, many of the Briticisms (Bow Bells) are lost on me. Thanks and Merry Christmas. (We get the puzzles about two months late…)
Hi Jim. Under ‘useful links’ at the top (or, on iPhone, bottom) of the page you will see a glossary that explains this and other arcane terms used by us terrible crossword geeks.
Happy Christmas!
And there they are! Thank you. Not sure why our Christmasses are “Merry” and yours are “Happy”, but the sense is the same. Cheers, Jim