17:54. A lot of fun – including a couple of first-class long anagrams – in this week’s puzzle from Harry, which for some reason I found decidedly tricky. It all seems perfectly straightforward now but it is generally easier when you know the answers. How did you get on?
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, deletions like this, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | “Giant-killer” chants circling large pitch |
| SLINGSTONE – S(L)INGS, TONE. The giant in question being Goliath, of course. | |
| 7 | Chef half-heartedly eating up cold chicken |
| COCK – CO |
|
| 9 | Sadly, I’m no persevering late bloomer |
| EVENING PRIMROSE – (I’M NO PERSEVERING)*. Lovely anagram. | |
| 10 | Spot politician visiting Chequers, say |
| PIMPLE – PI(MP)LE. | |
| 12 | English ministry for energy on the way out? |
| EMISSION – E, MISSION. | |
| 13 | Books of plants |
| ANNUALS – DD. | |
| 15 | Catch a break in detention |
| ARREST – sounds like ‘a rest’. | |
| 17 | Pictures porcine masseuse puts up |
| CINEMA – contained in ‘porcine masseuse’. | |
| 18 | Don’t start indiscriminate blubbing |
| WEEPING – |
|
| 19 | Leader with long excuse for prorogation of Congress? |
| HEADACHE – HEAD, ACHE. Ooh err. | |
| 21 | Maroon sweet a son polished off |
| DESERT – DES |
|
| 22 | When and how to litter horses about to leave the field? |
| THROW IN THE TOWEL – (WHEN HOW TO LITTER)*. Nice anagram indicator, nice anagram! | |
| 24 | Some nasty, erupting red swelling |
| STYE – contained in ‘nasty erupting’. | |
| 25 | Helmet and arms distributed in prison |
| THE SLAMMER – (HELMET ARMS)*. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Ladies’ man, after ET’s demise, gets upset |
| LAV – reversal of VAL |
|
| 3 | Coppers chasing one-over-the-eight idiot … |
| NINEPENCE – NINE (one more than eight!), PENCE (coppers). I didn’t know this term but the wordplay was clear. | |
| 4 | … after function collared Conservative |
| SINCE – SIN(C)E. | |
| 5 | Underworld figure old pusher sorted out |
| ORPHEUS – (O PUSHER)*. In this case a visitor to the underworld rather than a resident. | |
| 6 | Expel priest that’s popular in China |
| ELIMINATE – ELI, M(IN)ATE. | |
| 7 | Energy source bachelor discovered in motors |
| CARBS – CAR(B)S. | |
| 8 | Sweetener a court arranged with grass |
| CASTOR SUGAR – (A COURT GRASS)*. This clue bamboozled me for a while because I’ve never seen CASTER SUGAR spelled like this. | |
| 11 | Fancy priests in India with lace headwear? |
| IMAGINE THAT – I(MAGI), NET, HAT. | |
| 14 | Johnny Rotten supposedly was one in charts with a hit |
| ANARCHIST – (IN CHARTS A)*. ‘Supposedly’ because in spite of singing the song John Lydon said he never was actually an ANARCHIST. In 2022 he wrote ‘anarchy is a terrible idea. Let’s get that clear. I’m not an anarchist’. | |
| 16 | Excited outburst bishop suppressed in power shower? |
| RAINSTORM – |
|
| 18 | Struggle with support if leader’s lacking |
| WRESTLE – W, |
|
| 20 | Pacifist punched by Republican gets teed off |
| DROVE – D(R)OVE. A golf reference. | |
| 21 | Live comfortably under Dad’s leadership |
| DWELL – D |
|
| 23 | Organ one heard on the radio |
| EYE – sounds like ‘I’. | |
I’d never seen CASTOR SUGAR spelled any way! (So… nothing to with beavers! Ha! Got it, this time!)
Sartre’s nickname for Beauvoir…
31:13
Like Sandy, I was unfamiliar with the sugar (ODE marks it as (Brit.) and gives ‘castor’ as a variant). DNK Johnny Rotten, though I assumed he was a colleague of Sid Vicious in that group whose name escapes me. As K says, first-class anagrams. I blush to admit I liked HEADACHE.
I found this rather easy, which is not often the case with this setter. I had the knowledge, mostly, although I’d never heard of castor sugar so just followed the cryptic. Clues like Orpheus and anarchist were just about write-ins, and throw in the towel is given away by the enumeration.
Time: 29:47