14:01. A very nice puzzle from Harry this week. I found it rather tricky while solving, but when I came to write it up I couldn’t really see why: the clues are mostly models of simplicity. This is a mark of quality.
I don’t know if the long down answers on either side of the grid are intended as a subtle comment on current events but they are rather apropos.
How did you get on?
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, deletions like this, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Drink a little king knocked over big cheeses |
| SUPREMOS – SUP, reversal of SOME, R. | |
| 5 | Old country in a continent leader has fled |
| PERSIA – PER (a), |
|
| 10 | MC Hammer or nun with acne |
| ANNOUNCER – (OR NUN ACNE)*. Nice! | |
| 11 | Foreign city perhaps right to cordon off isle |
| TURIN – TUR(I)N. | |
| 12 | A French track overgrown with grass? |
| UNCUT – UN, CUT. ‘Track’ here in the musical sense: ‘an individual piece of music on a record; track’ (Collins). | |
| 13 | Europeans travelling around San Marino |
| ROMANIANS – (SAN MARINO)*. | |
| 14 | I deliver vocals with music producer directing |
| ORGANISING – ORGAN, I SING. | |
| 17 | Reach with difficulty old chap who can’t get off Madeira? |
| WINO – WIN, O. I did wonder a little about WIN here but Collins uses these exact words for its 8th definition. | |
| 19 | Country girl shortly to win boy’s heart |
| LAOS – LA( |
|
| 20 | Rebelling about Republican cuts, I start ding-dong |
| BELL RINGER – (REBELLING)* containing R. | |
| 22 | British in numbers touring a northern city abroad |
| BANGALORE – B(A, N), GALORE. | |
| 24 | Dead fruit that’s first come across in backwoods |
| PLUMB – PLUM, B |
|
| 26 | A tyrant making a comeback one dreaded? |
| RASTA – reversal of A TSAR. | |
| 27 | One quietly infiltrating military objective |
| IMPARTIAL – I, M(P)ARTIAL. | |
| 28 | Guy making first starter from yams and chicken |
| YELLOW – FELLOW with the first letter changed to Y |
|
| 29 | They’re our guests and joke with us ultimately |
| PLUS ONES – PLUS (and), ONE (joke) |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Gift from France by tasteful tie or pants |
| STATUE OF LIBERTY – (BY TASTEFUL TIE OR)*. | |
| 2 | One stuck in rubbish opening of cat flap |
| PANIC – PAN(I), C. | |
| 3 | Old specialist having shaken blues is jubilant |
| EXULTANT – EX, |
|
| 4 | Blemish found on the bottom of old award |
| OSCAR – O, SCAR. | |
| 6 | Corroding European silver-plated container |
| EATING – E, A(TIN)G. | |
| 7 | Son studying about power dissemination |
| SPREADING – S(P), READING. | |
| 8 | Snob messing with Irish urinal has a bad time |
| ANNUS HORRIBILIS – (SNOB IRISH URINAL)*. A phrase not coined but certainly popularised by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992. | |
| 9 | Outrageous fence? |
| CRIMINAL – DD. | |
| 15 | German rings essentially sell weed |
| GROUNDSEL – G, ROUNDS, |
|
| 16 | Get cracking piston fixed around ten, not noon |
| STEP ON IT – (PISTON)* containing TE |
|
| 18 | Gas left by son in places where people get high? |
| AIRPORTS – AIR, PORT, S. Hmm, really? If you’re here you are, by definition, not high. | |
| 21 | Work in which a beat is repeated from the start |
| DA CAPO – D(A, CAP)O. | |
| 23 | Chuck out cap Catholic left for page |
| EXPEL – EXCEL with the C for Catholic replaced by P for page. | |
| 25 | Posh head ousted from vegetable association |
| UNION – U, |
|
You can say that again!
29:23
I failed to parse EXULTANT. DNK PLUS-ONES (LOI). Like Keriothe, I had a ? at AIRPORTS, which are places whence people get high.
How much higher than normal must you be to be high? When you leave the ground, you’re still at the airport, and by the time you reach the end of the runway, probably higher than in most attics.
In the context of aeroplanes ‘high’ is 40,000 feet. Even allowing for the fact that a plane that has taken off is still ‘at the airport’, for as long as it’s still within its boundary it is, by the relevant measure, very low.
Perhaps ‘go to get high’ would have avoided the MERs whilst preserving both the definition and the surface reading?
I did find this unusually easy, about 100 on SNITCH if the Sunday puzzles were rated. The cryptics were crystal-clear, and groundsel was as obscure as the answers got, so there is little possibility of error for those who manage to finish.
Time: 34:36
DA CAPO in music notation is “repeated from the start.”
You need to stipulate “from the start” only when it’s a repeat.
Ah yes, thanks. I did realise that (apart from anything else there’s no other way of accounting for the word ‘repeated’), I just put the underline in the wrong place for some reason. Now corrected.
vs DS or Dal Segno to go back to the indicated sign. Both forms often combined with “al fine” (until the marked “fine” is reached). There are other extensions which include instructions about going on to a coda section before finishing. DS an DC are commonly encountered in dance forms such as waltzes
Plus songs, “da capo aria” being a thing …
50 minutes with no queries or other notes on my printout to suggest why it took me so long.
Another pleasant break from the awfulness of Friday. Never heard of DA CAPO and agree that the WIN in WINO is a stretch.
8d is a magnificent anagram.
25D – Why does posh mean U?
It’s the Nancy Mitford U and non-U thing.
DNF. Found DA CAPO impenetrable from either direction. I rather liked AIRPORTS though.
DA CAPO was my first in, but I couldn’t parse it, so left it until all checkers were in place. My LOI was TURIN, which also took forever to parse – ‘perhaps right’ – very good. Didn’t like WINO or BELLRINGER much as clues, but I did like RASTA, ANNOUNCER. I read yams as yarns, which ultimately made no difference to the solve, but made nonsense of the surface. It’s incredible that The Times is still using this typeface for a challenge that involves being able to read words accurately.
My thanks to David McLean and keriothe.
26a POI, DNK that “dreaded” may mean wearing dreadlocks. I hoped it does and Wiktionary confirms it I see.
29a Plus ones. I thought these were something you wear! No!
2d Panic COD for the catflap.
21d Da capo NHO. I need a booklet of musical terms as they appear so often.
Two goes needed. Wasn’t sure exactly how track=cut in UNCUT, but no other issues.
Thanks keriothe and David.
FOI Statue of Liberty
LOI Supremos
COD Announcer
20.41
I like the toughies but when you get puzzles of this quality, my sympathy for the Friday naysayers does ratchet up.
Lovely crossword; lovely blog. But how much better if we had a hundred posts on this puzzle and half a dozen on one of our regular weekday beasts. If only because there’s more time to solve them at the weekend.