Solving time: 64:01 – with 1 mistake
I found this one incredibly frustrating. I rattled through all but the last three (21, 24 & 29) in just over 20 minutes, then came to an abrupt halt. I thought about those last three for over 40 minutes, and eventually came up with something for them, without much justification. Judging by my score, I must have got two of them correct, so I’m guessing that 29a is the one I got wrong as that one really was a wild guess!
A lot went in without full understanding, mind you, but when I came to write the blog I found quite a few that I wasn’t overly happy about, or just didn’t understand.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
Across | |
---|---|
1 | SYMBOL = MY (well) in LOBS (lofts) all rev |
4 | HIGH JUMP – Not sure how this works. It might be JUMP (going) after HIGH (off), but I don’t really understand ‘going’ for JUMP if that’s the case. |
10 | OUT (unfashionable) + WITH IT (fashionable) |
11 | BESOM = MOB rev about E |
12 | G(O)O – ‘match’ for GO as in ‘that shirt and tie combination really doesn’t go’ |
13 | MISBEGOTTEN = (SOME BETTING)* |
14 | BOO |
16 | AT LARGE – dd – not convinced about ‘in general’ for AT LARGE though |
19 | OLD (getting on) + HAND (writing) |
20 | IGNITE – rev hidden |
22 | GRAND CANYON = (DO GRANNY CAN)* – A particularly obvious anagram, I thought. Gorge (5,6) would have been obvious enough, but to be given GRAN and CAN in the anagrist can’t have left many people in doubt. |
25 |
|
26 | TA-TA + R |
27 | ELABORATE = ALE rev + B + ORATE |
28 | PARADISE = PARADE about I’S – I think the ‘near the end of’ just implies that the IS is towards the end of the word. |
29 | I went for REJECT, but it was a wild guess as something returned, so it’s almost certainly my one mistake. I considered DEFECT or REPEAT as well as some other words, but I couldn’t find justification for any. I dare say someone will enlighten me. It’s BEHEST – that’s EH (what) in BEST (perfect), with the ‘or’ implying it can be found either forwards or backwards. Thanks to ulaca. |
Down | |
1 | SLOUGH = L in SOUGH |
2 | METEOROID = (DIET MORE)* about O |
3 | ODIUM = O |
5 | IN THE FAMILY WAY = FAMILY (folks) in IN THE WAY (being obstructive) |
6 | HOBGOBLIN = GO (shot) in HOBBLIN’ (walkin’ unsteadily) |
7 | UP + SET |
8 | PO(MA |
9 | CHEST OF DRAWERS = (SHREWD FORECAST)* |
15 | B(L + ADDER)ED – ‘Well away’ is the euphemistic definition |
17 | RATIONALE = (ORIENTAL)* about A |
18 | LO(N)GS + TOP |
21 | DIVERT = DIVER |
23 | A + STIR |
24 | NO ONE – I suppose this one could be wrong as I don’t really have any justification here either, but it’s hard to imagine another solution that fits in N- O-E. |
JUMP is ‘start’ at 4ac.
I enjoyed 40 minutes steady solving then got stuck on the same three as the blogger + 27ac. At an hour I resorted to aids but got no further, then noticed I had written 9dn incorrectly and was trying to start 27ac with a W resulting in WHALEBONE as the only possible fit! Having sorted that out ELABORATE went in immediately and NO ONE and DIVERT followed eventually. 29 was a desperate guess.
Edited at 2013-10-11 01:00 am (UTC)
Thanks to Dave for rumbling “match”=GO in 12ac which has been pestering me all morning.
Liked both of the football clues (11ac and 24dn).
Edited at 2013-10-11 01:22 am (UTC)
A first for me, as I got the answer to one clue by reading the clue to another. With the checkers already there at 28a, on the basis of ‘What is returned or found in perfect order?’ (29a) (NB the question mark), I confidently entered PARADISE, thinking the setter was a bit naughty to substitute ‘returned’ for ‘regained’, and mentally translating ‘found’ into ‘lost’!
Edited at 2013-10-11 07:14 am (UTC)
In 16ac I think “in general” refers to expressions such as “the public at large”.
Some genuinely good anagrams in here, I thought, MISBEGOTTEN, CHEST OF DRAWERS, METEOROID, which didn’t look much like anagrams to start with. For the counter-example, “in mess do, granny can” has anagram written all over it.
I thought BEHEST was made harder still (though it’s a fine clue) by crossing with DIVERT, one of those with 25 alternative letter endings and a synonym for “delight” that might not be everyone’s first pick.
CoD to BLADDERED – cheeky answer, tempting with checkers to start with BOA as a large snake then going nowhere, and a definition with a positively Holmesian disguise.
As nobody else appears to have mentioned it, Dave, to tidy up 4ac, I think it’s HIGH(=”going off”) joined to JUMP(=”start”), so the def. is “sports event” rather than just “event”. (Once more, I feel happy to be a Tuesday blogger, where I am rarely troubled by these Friday puzzles).
Yes, a frustrating solve grinding to a halt on the same two 28A and 29A. Eventually saw the “near the end of” device and then hit myself for not seeing EH=what. 25 minutes of which about 5 spent on the last two.
Good puzzle
Solved 10A first and then worked generally anticlockwise round the grid filling in connecting clues, which left 8D and 4A as the last two.
The clue for BEHEST was excellent and really got the grey matter working. BLADDERED was both excellent and amusing, although it is an answer I would expect to see in the Guardian rather than the Times. PARADISE was my LOI after ASTIR, and neither of them should have taken as long as they did.
Anyway, clearly I was on the wavelength for this one.
It’s been a very good week.
I hadn’t come across that meaning of BLADDERED before, so agonised for a while over it and eventually went for it because it looked a bit similar to BLOOTERED.
And I wasn’t too taken with “that may ward off infection” as a definition of POMANDER, since it must have been some time since people imagined that to be the case. Or am I missing something subtle – I note that dorsetjimbo hasn’t complained about it!
And I hadn’t realised that LONGSTOPs had gone out of fashion.
One’s best is not necessarily perfect.
George Clements
I got stumped on the same two as many others, but was pleased to get 21d.
COD to ‘chest of drawers’ for a clever anagram.