Morning, all. I solved this when I got in late last night, but felt too tired to stay up and blog it. That means I can now see how my overnight time compared to others as an indicator of relative difficulty; and the scores on the doors suggest I was on the right wavelength, still on the first page and comfortably inside my arbitrary daily target of 2 Magoos.
The bottom row of the grid suggests a message to someone who’s celebrating today, perhaps aimed at the person named at 1ac; surely not also a 5ac? I suspect that will remain the setter’s secret. Anyway, this was a decent and occasionally testing puzzle, completed in just over 15 minutes.
Edit: it seems that the message was a 5ac after all, though the setter was only acting as a proxy. Full story here.
Across | |
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1 | DELYTH – hidden in wiDELY THought. And straight away we get the clue which seemed to give most trouble, based on comments on the Times site; the wordplay is pretty clear, and I was helped by knowing the name existed (there is a BBC sports reporter called Delyth Lloyd, who I hear regularly on 5 Live, so I appear to have had an advantage over at least some solvers); however, I didn’t understand the “pretty” and had to look it up to discover that is simply what the name means, so it’s the Welsh equivalent of being called, say, Belle. |
5 | PROPOSAL – PROP (the rugby forward), (ALSO)*. |
9 | STILLEST – STILL(=however) + (SET)*. |
10 | TOLEDO – L.E.D.(=red light) inside TOO(=as well). I wasn’t sure why “red” particularly, other than for the suggestive surface, of course; I guess we have to read it as a light that can be red…but may be other colours, so it’s a bit loose linguistically and scientifically. |
11 | ANNO DOMINI – AN NOD(=agreement), O{ld} MINI. “What gradually gets you over the hill” is a pleasingly oblique way of clueing definition #2 of ANNO DOMINI as given in ODO, that is “advancing age”. |
13 | RIND – RID(=clear) around {transmissio}N; the sort of crackling one finds on a joint of pork. Some people go mad for it, but I find a little goes a long way. See also: pork scratchings. |
14 | CITY – C{old) + fIlThY. Sounds rather unpleasant on the surface, as opposed to the City of Bath, which is very elegant. |
15 | BUTTERMILK – BUT(=all the same), TERM(=name), ILK(=variety). |
18 | INFLATABLE – IN(=wearing) FLAT(=uniform) ABLE(=fit). |
20 | FLAX =”FLAK’S”. |
21 | WHIM – W{ife} + HIM. |
23 | LE MOT JUSTE – [M.O.T.(the annual test of one’s car’s roadworthiness), JUST(=only)] inside LEE(=shelter). |
25 | FIGARO – FOR(=because)A GIFT(=a present); reversed i.e. “returned” gives TFIGAROF; “unwrapped” to make FIGARO, hero of plays by Beaumarchais, but probably best known for the Rossini and Mozart operas based on them. |
26 | LET IT RIP – LET(=hindrance), 1 TRIP(=false step). |
28 | BIRTHDAY – BAY(=opening) contains (THIRD)*. |
29 | WISHES – W.I. is the Women’s Institute, + SHE’S. |
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Down | |
2 | EXTENSION – an EXTENSION on your house would need planning permission; and playfully, if one was relaxed, one’s tension would be an EX-TENSION, it would have ceased to be. |
3 | YELLOWY – LOW(=rather unhappy) in {aviar}Y, ELY(episcopal see which leaps to mind in Crosswordland whenever the word “see” appears). |
4 | HUE – HUGE minus G{ood}. |
5 | PUTTI – “little boys not dressed” i.e. the naked cherubs beloved of Renaissance painters; PUTT=”green strike” in the golfing world +1. |
6 | OUTSIDE LEFT – OUTSIDE(=slim, as in “an outside chance”) LEFT(=”was willing” i.e. handed over as an inheritance). |
7 | OIL DRUM – (LOUDIMR{ight})*; another playful definition in “contents could be crude”. |
8 | ADD-ON – AD(=promotion) DON(=academic). |
12 | ORBITAL ROAD – (ORATORADLIB)*; another word for a ring-road. |
16 | TUB – TUB{e} or TUB{a), as one can blow into either equally easily. |
17 | LEASTWISE – L{iberal) on top of EAST(whence the Magi came) and WISE(which is what they were). This all sounds a bit Blackadder: three things ye must know about the Wise Men… |
19 | LAMBAST – LAMB(=meat) AS(=resembling) T{ripe}. The two meanings of “pan” used to good effect. |
20 | FAUSTUS – FA(=note), [T{rained} in U.S., U.S.]. |
22 | HAITI – H{aving} A{n} I{nteresting} T{ime} I{n}. |
24 | MALAY – M.A. LAY(i.e. “wouldn’t stand”). |
27 | TOW – O.T.(Old Testament) reversed, {Matthe}W. |
At the end of my commute I was still missing DELYTH, PUTTI, EXTENSION and YELLOWY. DELYTH came to me as I got off the train then EXTENSION and YELLOWY went in once I’d arrived at work and typed in DELYTH. I then dithered over PUTTI for some while, only half knowing the word and not making the “little boys not dressed” connection. I thought I might be looking for some shortened boys’ names – PAT and SI maybe? Eventually I submitted my LOI on a wing and prayer and as with yesterday it proved to be correct. The crossword gods are with me this week!
Well, I did get there eventually!
Like Tim, I wondered if our setter was offering birthday wishes or proposing to Delyth (honeymoon in Toledo; or Haiti). I suspect a setter of Times crosswords would be too wise to risk a public proposal — hardly a month goes by that we don’t see another one of those end in tears.
I liked the thematic combination of 9a and 13a, which conjured an image of an SOE agent (codename BUTTERMILK) struggling with a uncooperative radio set in an attic room far away.
Tip o’ the hat to the setter (and Dyleth, or whoever)
Edited at 2015-06-16 10:24 am (UTC)
Being of no artistic bent whatsoever, only know putto/putti from crosswords.
Stillest held me up for way too long, in some kind of misguided determination that “still” = “lest”. Yes I know now.
Similarly “oil firm” at 7d was an early write in, except that made a mess of 13a so had to go in the end.
Nice to see “mini” and “MOT” in the same grid – I’ve just taken one for the other.
All in all a “must do better” I think.
I’ve never met a DELYTH I didn’t like (or one I liked) but it’s hard to complain about a hidden.
All up, another excellent challenge. Thanks setter and thanks Tim, especially for parsing LEFT.
I remember that initially the only LEDs commercially available were red, but shorter wavelengths have been sold for many years now.
A good puzzle but some days it’s just not going to flow.
I know a DELYTH but thought 1A would cause difficulty and don’t like the clue, “pretty” being 100% padding – remove the word and the clue works just as well. Also “red” in TOLEDO.
Enjoyed PUTTI and “was willing” for LEFT
To reiterate – I thought this was the toughest for some time and I do not like 25A at all. My brain hurts getting around the obscurantist clue – awful in my opinion.
Like others I’d never heard of DELYTH. And I wasn’t too keen on the “red” in 10ac (TOLEDO): surely it would have been possible to make it clear that this was only an example without destroying the surface reading.
An interesting and enjoyable puzzle, though. And if the setter really is proposing to the pretty Delyth on her birthday, then I hope she accepts and they have a long and happy marriage.
All in all, chewy.