I found it very hard to work up any momentum on this and having struggled to get started I battled through most of it at snail pace with only occasional bursts of energy to restore my flagging spirits. In the end I completed it in 58 minutes. There’s nothing at all obscure here other than an unknown alternative spelling, so my problems must be down to mental powers failing towards the end of a long day.
* = anagram
Across |
|
---|---|
1 | ACCOST – COS (function) inside ACT (law) |
5 | AS THOUGH – TOUGH* inside ASH (volcanic output). Definition: Like |
9 | BUTTERMERE – BUT (save), TERM (time), ERE (before). One of many lakes in Cumbria. |
10 |
TWIG – |
11 | DECEASED – CASE* inside DEED (action) |
12 | SUNSET – SUN (newspaper), SET (group). I lost time here with the thought that the newspaper group might be NI, and even possibly in decline. |
13 |
ACRE – C (constant) inside ARE |
15 | FORSAKEN – OR (men), S (sons) inside FAKE (false), N (name) |
18 |
MAGDALEN – DALE (valley) inside MAGN |
19 |
SMEW – M |
21 |
TEMPER – TEMP |
23 | SEAFARER – AFAR (at a distance) inside SEER (oracle) |
25 |
JOIN – JO |
26 | CHICKEN OUT – CHIC (stylish), KEN (man), OUT (unfashionable) |
27 |
DE GAULLE – AGED (reversed), |
28 |
TURTLE – TUR |
Down |
|
2 | CHUTE – I think ‘fall slower’ is being used as a nounal phrase but I stand to be corrected by the grammar experts. The second part of the clue amused me because ‘para’ doesn’t need to be dropped for it still to be a ‘fall slower’. |
3 |
ON THE MEND – O, |
4 |
THRASH – TH |
5 | AHEAD OF ONES TIME |
6 | TREASURY – (A RUSE)* inside TRY (bid) |
7 | ORTON – Hidden. Joe (actually John) the playwright (1933-1967). I wonder if ‘Ortonesque’ has ever appeared in the grid. |
8 |
GUINEVERE – GUI |
14 |
CHAPERONE – H (hard), APE (beast) all inside CRONE (old woman). |
16 | ABSTAINER – (TEA IN BARS)* |
17 | CLERICAL – C (Conservative), L (left), ERICA (heath), L (Liberal). I thought old Ted was having yet another outing so I was pleased when I found I was mistaken. |
20 | GASKET – ASK (petition) inside GET (capture) |
22 | PANDA – PAN (criticise), AD (commercial, reversed). Easiest of the day, I think. |
24 |
EQUAL – E (English), QUAL |
I never heard of ‘Buttermere’, but the wordplay is quite clear.
In 14, ‘woman’ is not necessary to make up the definition, so needn’t do double duty.
Edited at 2013-04-19 02:34 am (UTC)
Full marks to this one for sending me in all sorts of wrong directions.
Edited at 2013-04-19 07:25 am (UTC)
Thanks, Jack, for working it all out.
Always think it’s funny how we find different ones tricky: TWIG was my first (and only entry) for quite a while…
Some quite witty & concise clues.
The other hold-up, since I did this on paper, was recovering from hilarity at today’s announcement of the TNCC cock-up: honestly, you couldn’t make it up. And only days after that sophisticated (and now prescient) April gag.
Liked the &lit at 16 and “simulated shock” at 10.
Much to our regret, we discovered after publication that the first qualifying puzzle for this year’s Times Crossword Championship (Wednesday, April 17) was virtually identical to a puzzle published last year. Since some solvers may have recognised the puzzle, and in any case the solution has been available online, we have no alternative but to cancel this as a qualifying puzzle, with our apologies, and to ask competitors to re-apply by solving one of the further qualifying puzzles. These are scheduled for Wednesdays May 15 and June 12 and there will now be an additional qualifying puzzle on Wednesday July 10.
Those who have already entered and sent cheques need not send money again for their next entry.
The relevant puzzle was 25,205
Weirdly, only one clue/answer (7ac) appears to be different from last time (3 Jul 2012).
Didn’t remember “bait” as TEMPER so checked it looking it up in Chambers.
Well done Jack and thank you setter
Re: administrative cock-ups, I have just received e-mail from my solving buddy; having recorded a pretty good time for the first qualifier, he was feeling quite bullish about his entry, but is now somewhat disgruntled.
P.S. On checking, I now find I blogged the rogue puzzle first time around. I certainly sensed an echo from the past when I started by putting SECOND PLACE instead of SILVER MEDAL for 1 across, but no more than an echo. Of course, anyone who does all the daily puzzles, and two a day at weekends, will already have solved at least 200 others in between, so I hope that doesn’t mean I’m losing my grip…
I did it in 8 minutes so I quite fancied my chances. Hey ho.
Just as yesterday I learnt a new variety of apple (Jonathan), today I learnt a new author (Orton).
No bells rang on Wednesday when I solved the qualifier and I’m wondering if I ever did solve it first time round.
I didn’t know “bait” as an alternative to “bate”, but as I didn’t know “bate” I wasn’t really likely to.
SMEW is one of those unfair double-obscurity clues. I was lucky, remembering both from previous encounters in Crosswordland. Similar story with 17dn, where I saw “Heath” and thought “ling? No. Erica? Bingo!”. Words I’ve never come across in the real world.
It’s interesting to see the differing reactions to this puzzle and yesterday’s (which I enjoyed far more). Chacun à son goût.
Re. the Championship qualifier, what a hoot! (though not, I imagine, for the poor Ed.) Thank you, z8b, for the link to Mark One. I find I’m more than 2 minutes slower this time around, but that’s Tony Sever’s fault – his blasted Neutrino-free leader board is turning me into a … a … careful solver.
Sigh.
I agree that the wig was very smart and I failed to spot the hidden.
Andy B.
Syntactically, one can substitute ‘as though’ for ‘like’ in the first example. I think what is at issue here is the acceptability of the construction. Some people cavil at the use of like as a conjunction in expressions such as ‘I felt like I needed a break’, but its use, though informal, is attested in the dictionary.
Edited at 2013-04-20 08:13 am (UTC)
Anyway, it’s Friday, I can feel less guilty about going out on the lash, and thanks to blogger and setter alike. Have a lovely week-end, all.
Chris.
From SOED: bate noun. slang. Also bait. M19. Esp. among children: a rage, a temper.
I was held up at the end by CHUTE, which I’d bunged in first time through (with all the checked letters in place), but then got cold feet over, being worried that I was missing something more convoluted in “(when para drops)”.
in the Czech Republic be long-lasting risen instantly overnight [url=http://watch.ifdef.jp][b]gucci 時計[/b][/url]
after the authorities were adjusted to unprotected disparate dams in the south of the country.In the first-class Prague, metal spate barriers [url=http://oakleysunglass.jounin.jp][b]オークリー メガネ[/b][/url]
are being raised to against with [url=http://oakleysunglass.jounin.jp][b]オークリー 激安[/b][/url]
the extra dishwater on the River Vltava.Severe floods caused close to days of [url=http://oakleyjpsale.aikotoba.jp][b]oakley メガネ[/b][/url]
severe [url=http://gaga.ashigaru.jp][b]ガガミラノ 腕時計[/b][/url]
deluge oblige mooring side at least [url=http://oakleysunglass.jounin.jp][b]メガネ -0.75[/b][/url]
seven people dead in [url=http://oakleyjpsale.aikotoba.jp][b]oakley サングラス[/b][/url]
the Czech http://gaga.ashigaru.jp Republic, and two others in neighbourhood Austria.Germany has [url=http://oakleyjpsale.aikotoba.jp][b]メガネ -0.75[/b][/url]
drafted in the army to succourhttp://gucci.gejigeji.jp augment surge defences in the south.In the Bavarian borough of Passau, floodwaters have things being what they are reached a stratum not seen since the 16th Century, making much of the hamlet inaccessible.