Times 23644 – A little light LEGWORK

Author   growfPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 20’

Just a couple of visits to Google today – 17D (PELISSE) and part of the construction of 18D (IRMA La Douce) – other than that everything fell nicely, finishing up in the SW corner.

Across

1 BIRDCAGE WALK – (leg i backward)* – ‘short of time’ indicates losing the unwanted ‘t’ in the anagrind
9 AM(AL)GAM – magma (rev)
12 LEG,HORN – leg side and on side are synonymous in cricket
13 TAMIL – Lima,T (rev) – a capital T is a clever, terse construction
16 APP(RAI’S)AL – Raï is a type of Algerian folk music
21 P(OL)ARIS – lo (rev)
24 DES,PAIR – another gloriously terse clue, not a single word wasted
25 TRI,REME – “try”,”ream” – I always forget that hear can imply to hear in court, ream in this instance is to widen a gun barrel
26 BELLIGERENCE – bell,(in Greece)* – bell is an uncommon synonym for bay usually applied to the sound of hounds at hunt

Down

2 REMOVAL – a vomer (rev), l – a vomer is a bone in the nose
3 CANDLEMAS – (slam-dance)* – I thought the joining word by was unnecessary for the surface and in the way of the construction
4 GNARL – start letters of “get nervous…”, not terribly sure about the surface’s reading
5 [fello]W,R ANGLE – I hadn’t expected to see the right in right angle abbreviated but I’m told it’s quite common
7 BOOBY TRAPPED – boob, party(rev), dep(rev) – party as a synonym for person wouldn’t have occurred to me
10 MONEY’S,PINNER – More London geography (and I have no excuse, I live here)
15 SALT,WA[s]TER
17 P,EL(IS)SE – simple enough construction but I had to ask Google to find out it was a 19th Century light overcoat
18 A(IRMA)IL – again, solved it first, then had to go looking for a musical Irma (Irma La Douce)
20 A CHI(E)VE – I was briefly thrown off by expecting drug to be clueing the H from 23A
22 SHRUG – double definition although not a piece of clothing that came quickly to mind

5 comments on “Times 23644 – A little light LEGWORK”

  1. I had no problems solving it but was unfamiliar with several words/meanings of words so had to look them up later:

    12A Leghorn meaning a hat
    16A Rai
    26A Bell meaning bay
    2D Vomer
    17A Pelisse

    In 10D I wrote in MONEY straight away and then started thinking about places near Harrow. I’m ashamed I needed the P from TRAMP before I thought of PINNER, especially as I lived in Harrow for 27 years and in Pinner itself for the last 4 of them!

  2. growf says that he thought “by” unnecessary for the surface and in the way of the construction. I think it’s there so that the surface makes a bit more sense, but it’s inexcusable in my opinion. How can “disrupted by slamdance” possibly mean “slamdance disrupted”?

    Or perhaps, as is quite likely, I’m missing something.

  3. (Working through old puzzles so response a bit delayed)

    I was quite happy with 3D, reading it as “A festival (which is) anagrammed by SLAM-DANCE”. I thought this a very enjoyable puzzle, and wasn’t too disappointed with my 10:29.

  5. My time was well within 10x PBs so I was happy with that. I did the top half quite quickly but the lower part – particularly SW – took a lot longer. No surprises then that none of the 8 “easies” lie in the SW:

    8a Crew (rams one)* at sea (7)
    OARSMAN. Presumably either Bow or Stroke as he is the first of eight – don’t know which way the numbering goes?

    11a Bug in sleeping place – very unpleasant (7)
    BED EVIL

    14a Locker school teacher’s given to principal (6,3)
    MASTER KEY

    19a Take a walk, parking transport first (5)
    TRAM P

    23a Briefly assessing importance of preparation for fight (5-2)
    WEIGH IN (g)

    1d Pole drinking burdundy, perhaps, giving rise to tedium (7)
    BO RED OM. Boom as in spar at the base of the mainsail in a Bermuda Rig.

    6d Cyclist is propelled by this slog (7)
    LEGWORK

    19d Lessons given (to Inuit)* needing translation (7)
    TUITION

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