Solving time : 17 minutes, so no major hold-ups in another moderate Tuesday puzzle. Very even and perfectly pleasant solve for me, with some nicely disguised definitions. One archaic word, acknowledged as such in the clue, and a couple of references which might trouble the non-British among us (edit: or see revised 14 across for an explanation as to why not!) Q0-E5-D5.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | HACK – double definition. |
3 | INIQUITOUS – 1 + NI + QUITO + US = “base”. |
9 | RETYPED – enti(RETYPED)igree. |
11 | ASTOUND – A(rm) + wicke(T) inside SOUND = “bowl over”. |
12 | BUCCANEER – U + C + CAN inside BEER |
13 | REAVE – centr(E) inside RAVE = an old word meaning “to rob”; putting Rob at the start so it was capitalised meant that I was certain this had nothing to do with Rob Roy, but couldn’t get him out of my head. As it happens, Scotland actually had some famous Reivers, though the spelling diverged. |
14 | COME A CROPPER – the necessary knowledge here is that a “busy” is Liverpool slang for a policeman, which may not be widely known outside the UK. (Wouldn’t you know it? I didn’t look at a puzzle or the internet while I was on holiday last week, so imagine my surprise when I do a catch-up after writing this, only to find that this reference was blogged by PB as long ago as, er, last Wednesday) |
18 | ROUGH DIAMOND – ROUGH sounds like “ruff”; the definition is somewhat contrived to fit the surface, but as always the proof of the clue is in the solving, and it was clear enough what it was getting at. Filmgoers of a certain age may also be put in mind of Sid James’ finest role. |
21 | OUNCE – very nice, not Australian, but the cat which shares a name with the abbreviated imperial measure. |
22 | LASSITUDE – (USEDALIST)* |
24 | ADAMANT – A DAM + ANT. |
25 | GENUINE – (INGENUE)* |
26 | SOLIDARITY – (I’DSOLITARY)*; if I’m being picky, it’s not ideal to have three anagrams in the space of four clues, is it? |
27 | KNOT – double def, a knot is a sort of wading bird. |
Down | |
1 | HARDBACK – cryptic def. |
2 | CATACOMB – CATA(ract) + COMB |
4 | NUDGE – = E.G. DUN: not a full-blown quibble, but it seems to me this would work as well, if not better, with an extra word, viz “A gentle reminder (def), such as debt-collector turns up”. Or am I missing something? |
5 | QUADRUPED – DRUPE inside QUAD. |
6 | INTERRELATION – (INTOLERANTIRE)*. |
7 | OCULAR – Last puzzle I blogged, I had to add a J to OCULAR to get to comic, now I have the reverse! (Incidentally, did I miss a development while I was on holiday last week, or is this the first time the web version has managed to put a number in the clue? Well done, anyway). |
8 | SODDEN – SOD = grass, DEN = earth, as in a fox’s lair.. |
10 | PLAY A LONE HAND – (HEADPOLLYANANA)*. |
15 | REGULATOR – ROTA + LUGER upside down. |
16 | SOLUTION – SO + I in LUTON. Apparently it calls itself “London Luton” now, which is something of a triumph of marketing over geography. Meanwhile, UK solvers of my age or above may very well be unable to think of Luton Airport without thinking of this advert… |
17 | ADHERENT – HER in a DENT. |
19 | MORASS – O(ther) R(anks) inside MASS. |
20 | ENTAIL – first letters of Everyone Needs To Attend It’s Life: well-disguised, this, I was thinking it would have to end -ALL, which held me up for a while. |
23 | SIGHT – a place that looks a sight, and sounds like site. |
Q-0, E-5, D-5
Not used to seeing CATACOMB as a singular
DRUPE was also a new one on me, although the answer was obvious.
Not sure about KNOT = tether. Perhaps in the figurative sense of the marriage knot? (although per Basil Fawlty that’s more like manacles than a mere tether).
Otherwise a fairly straightforward race through, like everyone else never having heard of REAVE but what else could it be?
11A feels very forced, Tim’s right to point out the glut of anagrams towards the end of the Acrosses, not least because they seem pretty weak anagrams as well, 1D doesn’t seem right (a tortoise is hard-backed, or has a hard back – “description of tortoise” doesn’t seem to be grammatically correct), and the use of “all” at 8D is unnecessary padding.
Yesterday’s easy crossword I thought was an excellent puzzle for encouraging new solving lifeblood into cryptics. This one, I’m afraid, didn’t leave me feeling enthused.
Q-3 E-4 D-6
But, apart from the aqueduct, sanitation, roads…
Having arrived at work I found I had no access to the network so I stared at 20/21 for about 10 minutes and drew a complete blank. Needless to say when I cracked them using a solver I was appalled that I missed seeing these.
OCULAR and REAVE last to go in – I’d seen reave before but had forgotten it.
I didn’t really have any quibbles with this – and didn’t find it any more or less enjoyable than yesterday’s. I can rarely predict when others will like or dislike a puzzle. I will work on this aspect!
OUNCE was my favourite.
I visit this site almost daily (this is my first post though) and not only has it been invaluable in understanding the cryptic crossword, it’s also very entertaining. Keep up the great work.
PS. Tim – I love your formatting!
Enjoyable and very solvable despite the few slight weaknesses already mentioned by others, and a few of my own small quibbles: There’s an unnecessary “has” in 1ac which I found very slightly misleading. Pity that 11 needs “over arm” instead of the standard “overarm” in order to work. I’m sure the setter could have found a way of making “Oz” the first word of 21; and the unnecessary “assigns” in 24 misled me for a few seconds. Mere fluffy cirrus clouds in a blue sky.
Last answers in: 7 and 8. COD: 2 (catacomb)
Dafydd.
Had an unfair advantage with reave, as the Elliots along with the Armstrongs and other unsavory kinfolk were the notorious Border Reivers of the Middle Marches. Inventive though. We came up with a most effective system whereby we would sell stolen cattle back to the original owner, and for an additional consideration would guarantee not to lift them again. This little insurance package we termed blackmail.
Q-1 (just general quibbleness all over, including the “all” in 8 despite Sotira’s gallant defence) E-6, D-7, COD ounce.