Solving time: 25mins
I found this relatively straightforward with only two guesses required. Held up in the NE and SW for longer than was necessary, but otherwise steady progress. Some clues (e.g. 4, 20 and 27) were on the weak side, I thought, but there was enough difficulty and enjoyment elsewhere to atone for this.
Across |
1 |
(INDIAN THUS)* for HINDUSTANI |
6 |
O(u)NCE. Ounce is my conditioned response to “cat”, but I rejected it at first, thinking the whole meant cat. I must learn to have more faith in my gut. |
8 |
MACARONI, double def. Dandy as in Yankee Doodle. |
9 |
COP + TIC(k) for COPTIC, a language of the Copts. I spent too long rejecting “limited credit” = “cr”. |
10 |
LEE(d)S for residue or deposit. One for our Yorkshire readers. |
11 |
LIE + U + TENANT for LIEUTENANT or officer. “Invention” for “lie” is a welcome change. The apostrophe is possessive on the surface and a contraction in the cryptic. |
12 |
BAR[B]ITONE for a sedative. |
14 |
(Invernes)S TO IC(eland) for STOIC or phlegmatic; not given to displays of emotion. |
17 |
EP[O]CH or a very long time. |
19 |
UKRAINIAN being one associated with UK rain, presumably. The “fellow”, which belongs to the wordplay, is Ian. Thanks to Paulmcl for pointing out the deficiency in my explanation.
|
22 |
BAT inside (BASILICA – I)* for SABBATICAL, a form of leave academics used to get to keep themselves sane. Now you can only get it if a psychiatrist deems you already insane. Is that Catch-22? |
23 |
G[O.B.]I for the GOBI desert. O.B. for Old Boy or former pupil. |
24 |
PORT + I(t) A(lone) for PORTIA, heroine of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. |
25 |
I’M PO[LIT(erature)]E for IMPOLITE. Edgar Allan Poe, whose visage should be familiar to regular visitors to this site, makes yet another appearance. |
26 |
(trac)K + N.U.R. for KNUR or knot in wood. I vacillated between the National Union of Railwaymen and National Association of Railwaywomen for some time before plumping for the former real collective. Either would have fitted the definition. |
Down |
1 |
H[‘UMBLE] + BEE for a hard “g” stingy type. Heep is the ever so ‘umble Uriah of Dickens’ David Copperfield. Humble bees are synonymous with bumblebees, it seems, although somebody is sure to correct me on this. There are probably many species of both, some of which don’t actually sting. Bumblebees, like Chopper Read, don’t have ears, so I can say what I like about them (unlike Chopper Read). |
3 |
(TELLS TOM)* for SMOLLETT, Tobias George, creator of Roderick Random. |
4 |
ALIVE AND KICKING. Strikers in the football sense. |
5 |
“In sight” for INCITE. |
6 |
OR[PING]TON for a breed of chook. List makers take note. Joe Orton and not G.I. Joe. |
7 |
CH(urch) + I(nstitute) + ANTI for CHIANTI, a red wine in a basket. |
13 |
BACK[BIT]ER a slanderer in this instance and not a contortionist. |
15 |
CONT[IN]ENT or exercising restraint. Is the crossing with stoic establishing a theme? |
16 |
G[A + (PILL)<]OT for a GALLIPOT, an earthenware container once used to carry pharmaceutical goods in galleys. A guess on my part. |
18 |
PLATO + ON for PLATOON, a lieutenant’s responsibility. |
21 |
STRAIN, double def., an effort and the act of producing liquid for cooking purposes. The connection to cooking, however appealing, is a furphy. Reliable consensus attests that the second meaning is stock as in family line. The crossing with Portia was another nice touch, the quality of mercy being what it isn’t. |
There were some rather simple cryptic definitions in ‘macaroni’ and ‘night light’ that made easy to get started. I had ‘orpington’ at the back of my mind for the whole time, but could not bring it to the front until I had all the checking letters and saw how the cryptic worked. ‘Coptic’ and ‘once’ were also tough to get but obvious once seen.
I’m sure we’ll hear more complaints that Smollett is too obscure – the only cure for that is to take the 18th century novel course and read his entire work in one semester, along with Richardson and Fielding.
I did plump for ‘knar’ and not ‘knur’ – I think you will find that ‘knar’ is the more common word.
I’ll spare you the story about “The Koala-tea of Mercy” except to say that it’s not strained and is routinely served with little hard bits of paw and leathery nose.
Under 10 mins for this one with PLATOON/KNUR being the last in and spoiling a PB. 18 just had to have LT in it — but it didn’t.
Ukranian is surely not just one associated with UK rain but IAN is the fellow: UK RAIN IAN
Post-solve checks for GALLIPOT, KNUR and O(U)NCE for big cat. Also to see if SMOLLETT wrote something called Random.
Was the easiness of this I wonder by way of the editor’s apology for this weekend’s Jumbo which had a composer so obscure even his own mother would have been surprised to find him making his way into a Times crossword (fame at last). Mephisto (3rd finish from 6 attempts) took half the time of the Jumbo, but this might just be because Mr Moorey compiled it while contentedly sipping a glass of chianti, holidaying in an historic Italian port.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2k4B2VsIGU
No exciting clues but some bits of wordplay may be challenging for newer solvers – for its clever insertion indicator I’d offer COD to 6D ORPINGTON.
Q-0 E-6 D-6 COD 6D ORPINGTON
In 21dn, “to produce stock” as a definition of the culinary verb STRAIN would be rather like “to make cake” as a definition of ICE. I think “to produce” is just a link phrase, the second definition being “stock” as in breed, variety or STRAIN.
Minor criticisms: in 22ac (SABBATICAL) “perhaps” is an unusually weak anagram indicator for the Times; and in 1dn (HUMBLE-BEE) it’s a shame that BEE is used the same way in both definition and wordplay.
Clues of the Day: 19ac (UKRAINIAN), 24ac (PORTIA), 26ac (KNUR), 5dn (INCITE).
I was just about to say I don’t think that Strain here has anything to do with producing liquid for cooking purposes but Mark beat me to it.
On re-read I’m with Mark. But I see “produce” as part of the second def. That is “produce” (meaning something produced and intended for sale rather than the vb. to make) and thus “produce stock” =
a group of plants distinguished from other plants of the variety to which it belongs by some intrinsic quality, such as a tendency to yield heavily;
or,
an artificial variety of a species of domestic animal or cultivated plant.
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