I started in with 16A and hopped around a lot, enjoying, as the regular reader of this blog will know I do, the little bits of cultural knowledge required to make this a satisfying solve: a couple of classical references, some Shakespeare (I must admit As You Like It is a bit of a blind spot for me, but the passage in question is famous), some Tudor court gossip for the Wolf Hall crowd, and a nod to Lewis Carroll to top it all off. Of course what you gain on the roundabouts your lose on the swings, and 10A was my LOI, me not being quite so hot on the sciences as I am on the arts!
Aesthetics-wise, some of the cluing felt a little terse and perfunctory, though I had just come back home from a free local showing of the incredible movie Sunset Boulevard, so perhaps only something equally Gothic and theatrical would have fully satisfied me. I did like the not one but two clues with alternative routes to a solution (6D and 11A) and I’ve always got time for a WALRUS MOUSTACHE, as you can probably tell from my choice of LiveJournal avatar.
Many thanks to the setter and all others who tirelessly labour to provide our daily dosage of bafflement and joy. See you next week!
| Across | |
| 1 | ASCERTAIN – confirm: A S [“leaders of” A{ssembly} S{ecurely}] + CERTAIN [bound] |
| 6 | TO WIT – i.e.: TWIT [Charlie] “has bound” O [over] |
| 9 | SHRINKING VIOLET – person not likely to stand out: SHRINKING VIOLET = “one part of the spectrum being diminished” |
| 10 | PHENOL – antiseptic: “rejected” LONE HP [sole | method of buying] |
| 11 | ATTITUDE – perspective: T [sort of square] in A{l}TITUDE or {l}ATITUDE [height or width, “but not length”, i.e. minus L in either case] |
| 13 | LETTERHEAD – printed notepaper: LETTER [landlord] + HEAD [brains] |
| 14 | AMMO – rounds: MO [doctor] seen after AM [morning] |
| 16 | FOCI – targets: “a few in” {publ}IC OF{fice} “put back” |
| 17 | DISCLOSURE – leak: D.I.s [CID staff possibly] + CLOSURE [seal] |
| 19 | CLOTHIER – trader: C [clubs] + LOTHER [less willing] “to admit” I [single] |
| 20 | THETIS – Achilles’ carrier (i.e. his mum): THEIST [believer] with the IS “dropping back” |
| 23 | CENTRAL AMERICAN – from the Isthmus: (MARIANNE CARL ETC*) [“moving”] |
| 24 | ESSEX – Queen (Elizabeth)’s favourite: homophone of S X [couple of characters “granted audience”] |
| 25 | DO-GOODERS – well-meaning types: GO [leave] after DO [event] + O{r)DERS [commissions “having run out”, i.e. minus R] |
| Down | |
| 1 | AESOP – author: “written up” SEA [main] + OP [work] |
| 2 | CURRENT ACCOUNTS – tales in circulation, i.e. accounts that are current; and bank accounts “that often attract little interest” |
| 3 | RUNS OVER – rehearses: “when the score’s complete” in cricket is when the runs are over |
| 4 | AXIS – alliance: {t}AXIS [vehicles, “first to leave”] |
| 5 | NIGHT WATCH – late worker: TWA [two from Edinburgh] “buried in” NIGHT CH [dark | church] |
| 6 | TRIVIA – “matters (that are) very little”: IV or VI [four or six] in TRIA{l} [contest “failing to finish”] |
| 7 | WALRUS MOUSTACHE – hair: WALRUS M OUST ACHE [Carpenter’s mate | male | to get rid of | long] |
| 8 | TITLE ROLE – Lear amongst others: TITLE [right] + homophone of ROLL [turn, “say”] |
| 12 | SHRIVELLED – appearing badly dehydrated: (SHE’LL DRIVE*) [“erratically”] |
| 13 | LIFE CYCLE – “Jaques’ speech (on the Seven Ages of Man, in As You Like It) describes this”: LIFE [activity] on CYCLE [ride] |
| 15 | LOTHARIO – Casanova: (HAIR TOO L{ong} [“originally”]*) [“flowing”] |
| 18 | THORAX – middle section: THOR [The Thunderer] getting AX [chop in US] |
| 21 | SINUS – passage: SUN IS [daily paper | is] “lifted” |
| 22 | SMUG – superior: GUMS [stiffens] “up” |
Edited at 2015-02-27 08:20 am (UTC)
Would hyphenated ‘5-4’ enumeration have helped me at 8d? Probably about as much as making AB De Villiers play with a baseball bat would have given the West Indies…
I realised at once that 13d referred to the Seven Ages of Man, but did that help me? Not a bit – until I’d got almost all the checkers! Like 8d above, it’s pretty d*mn*d obvious once you get it.
A wry smile for the clue and a certain smugness for knowing THETIS, though at first I was thinking about the tendon instead of the Greek hero.
My wife is a school teacher and the clue for ESSEX put me in mind of 4 siblings at a school at which she used to teach. One of them was actually christened SX (pronounced Essex). Another was KC and I don’t remember the other two though they were similarly named. Poor kids!
First all correct in a long while, but did take me over an hour… And I needed to leave it and come back before I saw DISCLOSURE (LOI).
The classical refs passed me by: THETIS and LIFE CYCLE, as did the historical one: ESSEX (all from w/p). Was lucky it was relatively straightforward in this one.
Edited at 2015-02-27 11:47 am (UTC)
Perhaps this is the sort of training regime I should take up in early October.
A combination of the aforementioned dodgy homophone and a lack of knowledge when it comes to early Kings and Queens originally led me to Elsie (LC) the Queen’s favourite corgi, lady-in-waiting or Coronation Street character. It was only when I started looking at the right end of the Thunderer clue for the definition that I thought of ax for chop and everything finally fell into place. In my printout version the ellipsis for this clue is a dot short.
Other than the Shakespeare clue only do-gooders was unparsed while solving and I had to rely on WP for Achilles’ old dear. As the week goes on I’m revealing myself to be less and less erudite. Kevin will be so disappointed.
COD to the walrus moustache, which at first glance doesn’t appear to offer a setter a lot to work with.
Enjoyable puzzle and blog.
Edited at 2015-02-27 04:42 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2015-02-27 08:03 pm (UTC)
Missed the roll homophone altogether – as ever, kicking myself now it’s pointed out.
WALRUS MOUSTACHE was worth the admission price on its own!
A shade over an hour, I’m afraid, with DISCLOSURE my LOI. WALRUS MOUSTACHE, TITLE ROLE and LIFE CYCLE also slowed me down. I have to admit that the only Lear that sprung to mind was Edward (not helpful), and I’d never heard of the Jaques of 13d. THETIS was unknown, but tentatively put in from the checkers.
Still, an enjoyable puzzle which, if I hadn’t stolen someone else’s Times, would have been well worth the money.
Started this on the Friday and took until today to finish in about 2hrs. Walrus and Life Cycle went in only partially parsed, so thanks to the blog for elucidating.
Essex was again only partially parsed. I may be a bit green here but Essex (though it couldn’t be much else) seems to me unfair if it is clued along the lines ‘sounds like two random letters spoken together’. Am I missing something here or is this a legitimate crossword device?
Quite quick, 18:39 without holdups. Jaques (& As You Like It) and THETIS unknown, all the rest parsed as solved.
Rob