36 minutes. My third blog and the crossword gods are still shining their faces upon me. This was the second simple puzzle in a row (counting yesterday’s, which I did in 20 minutes), and that comes as some relief as the last relatively straightforward one was on my last blogging day (last Monday). Nothing particularly intelligent I can say about this one, except that it seemed to contain a lot of ks, which isn’t really very intelligent at all, so let’s get on to it.
Across
1 HAPLESS – HA(P)LE+SS – not me today thank goodness.
2 KINGCUP – KIN+G(CU)P – Cu is one of the select group of chemical symbols I know – learning them all from Wiki is on my to-do list, where it shall doubtless remain.
9 AIRY-FAIRY – AIR+Y+FAIR+Y – one of my favourite epithets for those who don’t share my generous pedantic streak.
10 ROTOR – ‘rotor’ backwards – one of my last in. Moving quickly on…
11 TRIAL – double definition.
12 KIDNAPPER – KI(DNA)PPER – looks so easy now.
14 omitted – it’s my choice, so there.
17 GO TO THE COUNTRY – is ‘regularly’ accurate? How long’s a piece of string? For those unfamiliar with the British idiom, this means to test public opinion by dissolving Parliament and holding a general election (ODO).
21 TAXIMETER – extratime* – I would have thought it was two words but I would have thought ‘wrong’ apparently.
23 omitted – think Gordon from Wall Street
24 ROUEN – R(O)UE+(excursio)N – the hardest part of this clue is accepting that Rouen is a port; but it has been from time immemorial apparently.
25 ESPLANADE – palneedsa*
26 PREFECT – P(REF+EC)T – in straightforward puzzles, if ‘training’ isn’t PE, then it’s PT. Ditto ‘city’, if not LA, then EC. Prefects, like ports in Rouen, have been around for a long time and are still thriving in some countries.
27 YASHMAK – YA(S+HM)AK – for some reason I wanted to put ‘cashmak’. Must come of living in Hong Kong all these years.
Down
1 HEARTY – EARTHY with H heading north. Most of us knew how this was going to work, but only a few of us will have taken as long as me to get it.
2 PARTITA – ART before IT (‘Italian paintings first’ – geddit?) in PA. My Italian friend with the diploma in piano from Trieste tells me Bach is the toughest composer and his partitas the toughest oeuvre.
3 EFFULGENT – EF(FUL(l)+GEN)T – our squirmy friend gets his time in the sun, but not for too long, I hope, otherwise he may never graduate into newthood.
4 STICK INSECT – STICK+IN+SECT . This would have been a lot harder in a Mephisto, where no enumeration is given, bringing thereby much joy to Barsetshire.
5 omitted – not as crucial as it might appear, then.
6 NORMA – manor*. I wanted this to be the (scarcely) hidden ‘Thema’ but was stymied first by the fact it sounded nothing like a girl’s name and then by the checking letters.
7 CAT’S-PAW – mmm, how many others contemplated ‘left-saw’, I wonder? Tool as in dupe.
8 omitted – scarcely cryptic.
15 DISCOGRAPHY – hardcopyisg* – another anagram and the pick thereof.
15 WINEGLASS – vessel is the definition and the rest of the clue is telling us that port is possibly held in this, if you’re a terrible cheapskate like me and serve the port in the wine glasses you’ve just rinsed out.
16 AGITPROP – A(GI)T+PROP. The ‘disheartened about’, A(bou)T, is the key here, otherwise you’ll bung in the answer like me thinking that the literal is ‘support’. Nice clue.
18 TEXTURE – TEXT+UR+(defectiv)E. EC and UR in the same puzzle took me back to the Telegraph in the 70s. Only AC was missing.
19 RECLAIM – half of LA(nd) in an anagram of ‘crime’. ‘Wave’ for an angaram indicator may ruffle some feathers as ‘wave’ typically suggests, as ODO says, movement to and fro with a swaying motion while remaining fixed to one point.
20 COPECK – CO+PECK. I would have spelt this KOPEK, but you pays your money and takes your, admittedly limited, choice, with kopeck and kopeyka also available.
22 MANGE – MAN[A]GE; Square brackets indicating deletion. Liked this too.
25. EFT – (Isl)E (o)F (Thane)T; a teenage newt.
I was please to find a word that applies to me in ‘discography’, not often seen outside of record-collecting sites.
My time was about 55 minutes, not very good. Considering I am reading Norman Gash’s ‘Politics in the Age of Peel’, I was disgracefully slow in getting ‘go to the country’, but my real troubles came with ‘partita’ and ‘effulgent’. I had ‘refulgent’ for quite a while, too. My last in was ‘yashmak’, which I was aware of but not certain how to spell.
I suppose I will get a hard one next week, but we are back on rotation.
Edited at 2012-09-10 02:28 am (UTC)
And there was I who thought that a gecko was a semi-translucent thing with unhealthy looking eyes that lived on resort hotel walls in said SE Asian country and environs, and never so much as made a peep.
– Vince (who forgot/lost his login credentials)
Only 3 Ks, ulaca, and a C where there more usually should have been a 4th.
If by word, then: KEY, KINGCUP, STICK INSECT, KIDNAPPER, COPECK, GECKO, YASHMAK.
Otherwise, I can see four separate Ks.
?A?E ONES OWN WAY offered a smorgasbord of answers that the setter wasn’t thinking of. Make and take perhaps the most likely alternatives, but it is the most common pair of letters.
I wonder if “regularly” in 17a has its meaning of legal obligation, which is certainly true, rather than at measured intervals, which in the UK at least, isn’t?
Side issue: how pleasant to have a Listeneresque wordsearch game going on today in “Hunt the Ks” Is there any meaning in the irregular quadrilateral created by connecting them?
And, on edit, I’ve now found this:
http://www.doctorsofusc.com/condition/document/222148
Not to mention MINKE (whale) at 22dn.
Edited at 2012-09-10 07:54 am (UTC)
No problem with a very enjoyabe 20 minute puzzle, small queries as already mentioned and praise for PARTITA
http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_2167/penfolds-grandfather-rare-tawny
Edited at 2012-09-10 07:58 am (UTC)
Do you think the Ks have anything to do with the TRIAL? No, I didn’t think so.
Particularly liked KIDNAPPER and AGITPROP.
The only thing I didn’t know in this was KINGCUP, but terms like EFT and CAT’S PAW aren’t exactly top of mind for me. That they’re in my mind at all is only thanks to these crosswords.
The only thing I didn’t understand was how “preacher’s inspiration” gives TEXT. Can someone who spends more time in the company of preachers enlighten me?
Edited at 2012-09-10 08:44 am (UTC)
So probably more a question of personal experience clouding my understanding than logico-semantics!
Edited at 2012-09-10 10:11 am (UTC)
Edited at 2012-09-10 08:42 am (UTC)
A decent effort from me based on recent, infrequent solving attempts.
At the age of 51 I find I am becoming increasingly forgetful so I’m going to try and make the time to solve the puzzle on a daily basis again and post my times here; in an attempt to hold back the waves of senility.
Didn’t get Taxi the other day so made no mistake with Taximeter this time.
The Italians greet and depart by shaking hands this also is predicted in each gucci bags business meeting.
“Cesto kazem da sam pola Srpkinja, pola Crnogorka.
All sizes, all styles.
Vous pouvez 茅galement supprimer la forte appr茅ciation du renminbi aux 脡tats-Unis dans le processus d’une pi猫ce! En outre, vous pouvez continuer 脿 induire la mer de Chine orientale entre la Chine et ses pr茅tendues n茅gociations, de continuer 脿 茅tendre leurs droits! – Le Japon ne reconna卯t pas l’existence de la mer de Chine orientale diff茅rends territoriaux le principe, toute n茅gociation sera une trahison des int茅r锚ts nationaux de la nue.
Hold this position for one to two seconds before returning to the start position..
A purple shift mini that has been hidden in my closet for a couple years came out to play.
Atlanta fashion lovers will not have to book plane tickets to grab a glimpse of the latest fashion trends and icons.
withNike Shox Agent Hommeblack stripe accent and All Star branding.
It should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Though like an person very many genuinely.
This is the second store in the UK..
La diff茅rence pouvait 锚tre consid茅rable, allant de un 脿 dix, selon Me l’avocat des requ茅rants..
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