16:06 on the Club timer, so by that measure this wasn’t the hardest puzzle of recent times; but in amongst some entry-level clues were a number of very clever ones, so it wasn’t the easiest either. I imagine how much people like or dislike this one might well depend on how long those particular pennies take to drop.
Across |
1 |
FLAWLESS – Following, LAW(system of rules), LESS(not so). |
9 |
UNFASTEN – one which took while to unpack, it’s a lift and separate to get the definition “open”, then take New Female (Jane) AUSTEN and move the University to the front. |
10 |
CATS – (ACTS)*. First of those entry-level clues I was talking about. |
11 |
TWELFTH NIGHT – the next one after eleven is the TWELFTH, then NIGH(“near”) + piTch. |
13 |
HELIUM – a lovely bit of misdirection, the simple “He” at the start is the definition, and the wordplay is I and “U” in the HELM. |
14 |
CONSPIRE – C (the constant, as seen in the equation E=MC2), found ON a SPIRE, as crosses often are. |
15 |
TRAGEDY – AGED in TRY, to give the work of Sophocles. |
16 |
OLIVIER – Lord Sir Larry, made by inserting 1 into OLIVER, who famously demanded more in Lionel Bart’s version. |
20 |
SPANKING – SPAN(“bridge”), KING(“high card”). |
22 |
WAR CRY – CRedit in WARY. |
23 |
COWARDLINESS – LINES, which actors have to learn, inside (Noel) COWARD’S. |
25 |
HACK – double def. |
26 |
STRANGLE – Learner in STRANGE. |
27 |
DREADING – Daughter, READING(“recital”). |
|
Down |
2 |
LEAP YEAR – E(today’s random musical note) in (APLAYER)*; nice surface, though it turns out to be 1984 in a purely calendar sense. |
3 |
WEST VIRGINIA – (ISVIEWINGART)*. |
4 |
ESTEEMED – European, [wesT in SEEMED]. |
5 |
SUFFICE – C.E. attached to SUFFIx, leaving “do” as about the shortest definition you can have. |
6 |
AFGHAN – FGH(the three letters immediately before “I”) inside A, AN. |
7 |
STAG – “sooner or later” because it’s hidden twice, in proteST AGainst and againST A Greedy. A “stag” in this sense is a speculator who buys new shares which are undervalued and sells immediately at a profit; anyone old enough to remember the raft of Thatcherite privatisations will be familiar with the concept. See also: the Post Office. I wonder if today’s setter is trying to make a point? |
8 |
KNITWEAR – (INK,WATER)*. |
12 |
IMPOVERISHED – IMP, OVER, I SHED. |
15 |
TEST CASE – TEST(international, as in the sporting occasion), CASE(“traveller’s requirement”). A test case affects future actions in the legal sense. |
17 |
LAWRENCE – (Sir Christopher) WREN in LACE. |
18 |
ETRUSCAN – (TRUE)*, SCAN(“view”). The Etruscans were Romans before the Romans were Romans. |
19 |
IGNITED – (EDITING)*. |
21 |
INDIGO – IN(“batting”), oxforD, I GO. |
24 |
WERE – double def. HM the Queen uses the “royal we”, of course, so her I’M is a WE’RE. |
It doesn’t make much difference but 8dn is technically (INK)* (WATER)* which makes the anagram really easy.
Took a long time to get TESTCASE. Trying to justify TODO LIST as something that affects future actions, or perhaps are the future actions.
The quickie link worked today but I note that if the “backdoor” is required now the formula for calculating the last part of the url has changed to ‘100 + puzzle number +5’ instead of +1. All is not well however as the print buttons for the main cryptic accessed via the Club have stopped working. I had to print via the newspaper where I note the Print in Grey button has no effect on the amount of ink used.
I don’t like 24D WERE and a STAG isn’t necessarily greedy – they’re just part of the system.
I’ve sent you a message via Facebook
I eventually finished in about 45 minutes, which supports my contention that very often it’s just a matter of self-confidence.
Otherwise a relatively gentle solve (once I got going) but with entertaining clues, as noted variously above. SUFFICE, I think, for my CoD, “do” having so many variant possibilities even once you’d spotted it was the definition.
Edited at 2014-04-22 08:24 am (UTC)
Edited at 2014-04-22 08:45 am (UTC)
Edited at 2014-04-22 10:13 am (UTC)
Edited at 2014-04-22 10:55 am (UTC)
We had ‘he’ for helium before, I think in puzzle I blogged.
Edited at 2014-04-22 12:21 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2014-04-22 12:10 pm (UTC)
I particularly liked Oliver as the ‘more demanding musical role’. I hadn’t parsed UNFASTEN or WERE so thanks to Tim for these.
FOI Ignited.
Regards to all,
Nairobi Wallah
Had put in UNBUTTON for UNFASTEN (Lana Button is a new female author…..) but thankfully AFGHAN provided the checkers to correct me.
Thanks for this blog – it has really helped me get started.
FOI CATS, LOI the deceptively clever HELIUM. Even the straightforward IMPOVERISHED had me chasing non-existent anagrams. Nominating a COD today would be invidious. Congratulations to the setter.
FOI CATS, LOI the clever HELIUM. The straightforward IMPOVERISHED had me chasing non-existent anagrams before the penny dropped.
There was also some good stuff that was new to me though. I didn’t spot the definition in 7dn (STAG) until after I’d finished, and I particularly liked 24dn (WERE).
All in all a most enjoyable puzzle.
Edited at 2014-04-23 12:22 pm (UTC)