Solving time: 1:10:27 – although I’m pretty sure I fell asleep in the middle somewhere, but I’m not sure how long for!
A tricky puzzle that I probably would have enjoyed more had I not been so tired. Lots of good wordplay.
It’s hard to pick a COD as there are several contenders, but I think I’ll go for 4d for it’s ‘chat about old times’ construction.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
Across | |
---|---|
1 | BOAT RACE = BRACE about OAT |
5 | S + CATTY – A queen being a female cat |
9 | OVER (on) + LOOK (air) |
10 | REV + IE + |
12 | DISAPPOINTING = (AIDING TOPSPIN)* |
15 | R + OUSE |
16 | ARHYTHMIC = (CHARITY + H |
17 | SORTILEGE = LEG (member) in SORTIE (charge) – not a word I knew, and it took me a while to come up with it from the wordplay. |
19 | DUBAI = (I + BUD) rev about A |
20 | ASK FOR TROUBLE – dd |
22 | PICNIC = “PICK” (cream) + “NICK” (the jug, i.e. prison) – ‘Money for jam’ is an expression similar to ‘money for old rope’, and a picnic is something easy, more commonly used in the negative, as in ‘that was no picnic’. |
23 | PENLIGHT = |
25 | VOYAGE = O in V |
26 | PERSONAL = PEAL (ringing) about |
Down | |
1 | B |
2 |
|
3 | RELAPSE = PALER rev + S/E (bridge opponents) |
4 | CHOCOLATE-BOX = (BE COOL + CHAT)* + O + X (times) |
6 | CHEMIST = C (key) + MIST (film) about HE (explosive) |
7 | THINGAMABOB = (HATING A BOMB)* – I was glad this was an anagram as I wouldn’t have spelt it ike this otherwise! |
8 | YAWL = LAY (song) about W (women) – A sailing boat |
11 | IN THE EXTREME = IN (popular) + TEXT (words) about HE (the man) + REME (part of army – Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) |
13 | SQUIREARCHY = SEARCH + Y about QUIR |
14 | OCCIDENTAL = (IDOL + ACCENT)* |
18 | INKLING = LINKING with the L moved down three places |
19 | DOODLES = DO (gathering, party) + SELDO |
21 | SPIV = VIPS rev |
24 | GIN = GI (man fighting) + N (knight) – ‘a short’ is the definition |
My time was atrocious, but I did make reasonable progress until the very end.
I did try various permutations around ‘LEG’, and I’m sure I considered SORTILEGE at one point but firmly rejected it as absolutely, definitely not a word. So eventually I turned to the aids and found it absolutely, definitely is a word…. ‘been that sort of a day. I’m going to bed.
Edited at 2013-12-06 03:32 am (UTC)
What I did think, re the cat, is that I do the puzzle for the real enjoyment of working clues out, to learn proper English (and improper colloquialisms – money for jam today), and perhaps like mctext and z8b8, for the pleasure of being reminded of good but less used words (yawl). I wouldn’t ever want to find that the solving had become a simple translation exercise (queen > cat or er, left > on or port, painter > ra, done). With only minor prejudice, that would be as boring as memorising all the 3 letter scrabble words. Or of working the US puzzles, where knowing a group of arcane three and four letter words and abbreviations (Eno, PDT, Ara, WBA, TOR, ELO, REO) is often the key to a fast solve. Less fun, that.
In other words, the vagaries of the human memory do their best to make sure nothing ever becomes too familiar and automatic…
And thanks for not embarrassing me by noticing that bacKatcha is meant to have a K not a C.
Like others, I’d heard of 17a, but had no idea what it meant – still one lives and learns.
Oh, for some nice easy ones next week!
Lots of good deception around – On air to give over and look was beastly – and time lost wondering, for example, whether SKITTY was a word that might mean absent-minded. Even the 3-letter GIN took some head scratching with both crossers in place. Ah, yes, short’s the definition.
Definitely needed help from the wordplay with the spelling of Whatsisface and ARHYTHMIC.
It’s been a tricky week – credit to setters and bloggers alike.
Didn’t connect SORTILEGE with “seeing what’s on the cards”. Derived it from wordplay and checkers (my LOI) but vaguely thought it had something to do with witch doctors and bones and I was taking “cards” literally and thinking of say Tarot. Took ages for the penny to drop.
Great blog Dave
http://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/773742.html
Edited at 2013-12-06 12:47 pm (UTC)
Roll on next week.
Nice end to the week.
Thanks
Chris G.
About 45min with 24 LOI, which I eventually had to be GUN – gu(y)+n ‘man fighting’ being definition – and two other errors from a typo, as forgot to check.
My time would have been quicker had I seen the anagrammatical elements in the clues for OCCIDENTAL, ARYTHMIC and CHOCOLATE BOX. My brain was so fried that at one point I was considering “Gen” for 24dn as “a short man fighting”, i.e. short for General, but thankfully I decided that there isn’t a “Sir Gen” in a book that I haven’t read, and I finally parsed it correctly. Like quite a few of you SORTILEGE was my LOI.
A DNF, as I had to resort to aids for SORTILEGE, still in the realms of the magical, but not in Ravel’s sense. Now mentally filed under divination, cartomancy.
Edited at 2013-12-06 11:30 pm (UTC)