9:51. This was a steady solve, largely uneventful but 1ac certainly raised a smile. Yes, I said smile. I don’t remember coming across the term DAYSTAR before, and I’m not sure I knew of the city, but both were clear from wordplay. How did you get on?
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, deletions like this, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Tablet providing IT support? |
| VIAGRA – CD. IT here being in the nudge-wink sense. | |
| 4 | A turn in Cream or Foreigner |
| AMERICAN – A, (IN CREAM)*. | |
| 10 | Fish experts holding key for cases |
| CARAPACES – CAR(A)P, ACES. | |
| 11 | Some in catalepsy nodding in assembly |
| SYNOD – contained in ‘catalepsy nodding’. | |
| 12 | Flood in Split on other side of hill |
| TORRENT – TOR (hill), RENT. | |
| 14 | I fleece and jerk around one stupid |
| IDIOTIC – I, D(I)O, TIC. | |
| 15 | Lean hero in debt sadly thus? |
| ON THE BREADLINE – (LEAN HERO IN DEBT)*. Semi-&Lit. | |
| 18 | Protected structure in Pisan tower? |
| LISTED BUILDING – a definition and a cryptic hint. This concept has appeared before. ‘City with famous listed building’ giving PISA in puzzle 28764, ‘maybe the tower of Pisa’s special property’ in ST 4956, and more. | |
| 22 | Noble’s extremely ropey in a state |
| COUNTRY – COUNT, R |
|
| 24 | Piece of shrapnel off thunderous weapon |
| TRIDENT – remove S |
|
| 25 | Does one survive, having turned tail? |
| EXITS – EXIST, with the ‘tail’ (last two letters) reversed. ‘Do one’ is a slang expression meaning to run away, often as an instruction (equivalent to ‘get lost’). A shortening of ‘do a runner’ or ‘do a bunk’ originating in Liverpool and Lancashire. | |
| 26 | Channel broadcasting telethons |
| THE SOLENT – (TELETHONS)*. | |
| 28 | Government department tax on small motors |
| MINISTRY – MINIS, TRY. | |
| 29 | A conservative in post gets rise |
| ASCEND – A, S(C)END. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Holiday trade making second arrival at front |
| VACATION – VOCATION with the second (letter) changed to A |
|
| 2 | Gas main centrally located by river |
| AIR – |
|
| 3 | Show on NOW |
| REPRESENT – RE, PRESENT. NOW is in capitals because that’s how the TV channel is written. | |
| 5 | Jesus mostly drinks no port |
| MESSINA – MESSI(N)A |
|
| 6 | Dish cook left by a slice of iceberg |
| ROSTI – RO |
|
| 7 | Net contains supply for North African city |
| CONSTANTINE – (NET CONTAINS)*. | |
| 8 | Fat chance of fellow being stuck up on rocks |
| NO DICE – reversal of DON, ICE. | |
| 9 | A sweet given to diner ultimately is sharper |
| ACUTER – A, CUTE, |
|
| 13 | Brit involved with routine punishment |
| RETRIBUTION – (BRIT ROUTINE)*. | |
| 16 | Sweets in lounge I put by old man |
| LOLLIPOPS – LOLL, I, POPS. | |
| 17 | In a tizzy, I get data mixed up |
| AGITATED – (I GET DATA)*. You can swap definition and anagram indicator here! | |
| 19 | Sailor overlooked by Times or Sun |
| DAYSTAR – DAYS, TAR. | |
| 20 | One sending one down free of restraints? |
| UNTIED – UNITED with the I (one) moved down one place. | |
| 21 | The King in bed is right laugh |
| SCREAM – S(CR)EAM. | |
| 23 | Demonstrations abandoned by expert pilots? |
| TESTS – |
|
| 27 | Lamp this writer picked up |
| EYE – sounds like ‘I’. ‘Lamps’ for eyes is archaic/literary or slang. Somewhat to my surprise it doesn’t feature in Collins or ODE but Chambers and the full-fat OED have it. | |
22:32
Uneventful, as K says; probably my best time for one of Harry’s puzzles. I didn’t understand ‘does one’ in 25ac, though, and didn’t know why NOW was capitalized, not that it mattered. In 5d, ‘no’=N? I liked VIAGRA, of course, and THE SOLENT.
I suspected Viagra at once, but decided not to write it into the grid until I had at least one crossing letter. That was from vacation, another obvious one, and we have seen strident/trident before. I solved in a slow and leisurely manner, which I reserve for weekend puzzles.
Time: 37:16
I, too, had never heard of DAYSTAR or CONSTANTINE, but the wordplay was generous. Held up at the end for a moment with EXITS since it wasn’t immediately obvious to me how the clue worked. Otherwise, a week later, I don’t remember anything remarkable.
Nothing to add really other than forgetting to submit the solution.
I didn’t find this easy and must have spent an hour on it, although I don’t have an actual time recorded.
VACATION from ‘holiday’ seemed obvious once I had the V-checker but I took forever to spot the wordplay. EYE for ‘lamp’ would never have occurred to me although now it has been pointed out I may have met it before. Had no idea about the definition at 25ac.
I liked this one very much- perfect fare for a Sunday.
Is ‘n’ for ‘no’ (5d) now common practice, as this one held me up for quite a while?
It did me, too, but Y and N are frequently used in forms to indicate yes and no, and once I’d thought of that, it seemed fine.
Along with Y for yes, it’s permitted in Sunday Times crosswords, though not yet recorded in dictionaries, on the basis that you can see it rather more often than some of the abbreviations that are – as one example, CE rather than “C of E” for “Church of England” is not routine in my personal experience.
I was quite untroubled by this puzzle, not usually the case with D McLean. No unknowns, only DAYSTAR being fairly unfamiliar except in poetry, though the same applied to ‘lamp’ for eye. No notes, and clearly failed to submit, but one of the LOsI was MINISTRY, which was hardly difficult, but I was panicking as usual at the words ‘Government department tax’.
25a Exits. I went to Uni in Liverpool and never noticed that “does one” means exits, so I was a bit uncertain here.
NHO 7d Constantine, but gettable.
19d Daystar. Not sure I know this word, nor am I sure whether it is Venus or the sun. Wiktionary suggests only = Morning Star, which is Venus but only for half of the time you can see it, as at other times it is Evening Star.
Thanks keriothe and David McLean.
No major issues with this one.
– Couldn’t have told you which country CONSTANTINE is in
– Didn’t know lamp as a term for EYE and assumed there was a kind of lamp called an eye lamp
– Had to smirk once I worked out VIAGRA
Thanks keriothe and David.
FOI Agitated
LOI Exits
COD Viagra
Liked VIAGRA and LISTED BUILDING.