Solving time : 23:05 on the club timer, but that was going back and forth between the crossword and the opening day of the Ashes (go Australia!). A few obscurities here, so I suspect general knowledge is going to be the difference between the lightning quickies and those facing a tougher time than usual.
Yesterday the application to be Times Crossword Editor was posted online – I saw an option to apply via LinkedIn – I wonder if applying that way would mean that I get even more LinkedIn invite emails – I look forward to those all the time.
Sarcasm off, away we go….
Across | |
---|---|
1 | GARCON: GO,N around ARC |
5 | BROWNING: or BR OWNING – reference Brownian motion, which I suspect most of us know thanks to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” kevingregg in comments points out the intention was the poet Robert Browning, but I like to think it is referring to Brownian motion, so I’ll keep this here |
9 | PANORAMA: AN,O,RAM in PA |
10 | ALISON: A1, SO, N(knight in chess) with L(large) inside |
11 | IMITATED: I(current) then Jacques TATI reversed in MED |
12 | COMMIT: M,M(two males),1 in COT |
13 | ALIEN, AT, |
15 | STUN: T in SUN |
17 | D,ACE |
19 | AGNUS DEI: GNU in (IDEAS)* |
20 | ORACLE: CORACLE minus the C |
21 | GELATINE: LATIN(tongue) in GHEE missing the H |
22 | ASKING: or AS KING |
23 | AT A PINCH: or A TAP IN, CH |
24 | ESTRANGE: take the B out of BEST RANGE |
25 | EL,EVEN |
Down | |
2 | A,L,ARM,IS, |
3 | CROATIAN: (AIR,TO)* in CAN |
4 | NEAR THING: or N EARTHING |
5 | BRANDENBURG GATE: BAND(group) and (GRUNGE BEAT)* with an R inserted |
6 | WALPOLE: PO in WALL, E |
7 | INSOMNIA: (MINOAN,IS)* |
8 | GENITIVE: GEN, I’VE around IT |
14 | TIDAL WAVE: double def |
15 | SABOTAGE: AB in SOT then AGE(degenerate) |
16 | UPMARKET: U then MARK(stamp) in PET(paddy) |
17 | DIATRIBE: AID(help) reversed then TRIBE |
18 | CORNICHE: ROC reversed then H in NICE |
19 | ATLANTA: ANT in ATLA |
Note to bigtone53: the dyslexic translation of 19ac is ANGUS OF DOG.
A TA (gimme) PINCH (as in pinch yourself to check), which I was not at all happy with.
Alternative offering for 24a
EST(her) “book top” + RANGE
or, to my thinking, “book” is superfluous.
Perfectly happy to be told I’m wrong (again).
regards, Keef
smacked wrist willingly accepted, another helping hand from you on my learning curve (vertical precipice)
I can see now that my parsing would make the “won’t need” superfluous – but hopefully it shows I’m listening and learning.
thanks again for your kind patience, Keef
I once again vie for the wooden spoon awarded to the slowest solver with an all-correct paper.
Didn’t bother to parse BRANDENBURG GATE, didn’t manage to parse ESTRANGE or AT A PINCH (not familiar with a ‘tap-in’), and didn’t stop to wonder which BROWNING it was, so thanks for those. Also didn’t consider ‘degenerate’ as a verb, so that took a little while. Otherwise all quite straightforward.
Yep, I’d go with her… my OH read her best-loved poem at our wedding many moons ago…
25 was LOI – I did wonder whether there was a Cardinal Exeter in a Bunuel film, but that seemed too unlikely.
SW corner held me up the longest until Sabotage popped into my head from S????A?? then once I was happy that was correct Estrange and Oracle.
George – thanks for explaining Eleven and Croatian. I must remember to think of anagrams when I see ‘supply’ in a clue!
Corniche brought to mind happy days in Nice and Monte Carlo.
Browning must be referring to the poet chap, because Brownian motion was so named after Mr Brown not Mr Browning.
(On (re-)edit) Oh, got it.
Edited at 2013-11-21 04:53 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2013-11-21 06:59 pm (UTC)
At least 13ac was there to make sure we knew 24ac was some synonym of “separate”.
In my distant past, my first pastorate had as one of its most formidable members a one-time (and one-eyed) Headmistress called Agnes Daly. I should have got 19ac much quicker than I did.
Thank blogger, setter too.
Chris (logged out at someone else’s keyboard).