After a year and a half of this blogging malarkey, I ‘ve concluded that for me there are three sorts of Times crossword. There are those like Monday’s or yesterday’s, where you pick it up, see some answers and write in steadily until you’ve finished, maybe with one or two malingering answers to slow down the ending. There are those like the Club Monthly, and occasionally a daily, where I peck around finding the odd answer but never really get to grips; often the answers are unknown words, which makes solving harder of course.
Then there’s the majority, like today’s. At first sight, a sinking feeling; ‘is this the day I’m going to wave the white flag and call on Jimbo et. al to bail me out?’. Then something clicks, it unravels like a TK-Max jumper, and all is well, you get that feeling of smug satisfaction when you’ve taken on the setter’s challenge and won.
This one unravelled for me from the bottom upwards, in about 40 minutes, but in retrospect there’s nothing difficult about any of it, and it was fun.
Then there’s the majority, like today’s. At first sight, a sinking feeling; ‘is this the day I’m going to wave the white flag and call on Jimbo et. al to bail me out?’. Then something clicks, it unravels like a TK-Max jumper, and all is well, you get that feeling of smug satisfaction when you’ve taken on the setter’s challenge and won.
This one unravelled for me from the bottom upwards, in about 40 minutes, but in retrospect there’s nothing difficult about any of it, and it was fun.
As usual, D = definition, DD = double D, ()* = anagram.
| Across | |
| 1 | HECATE – Hidden word in T(HE CAT E)VENTUALLY; D witch. The Greek goddess of witchcraft and magic. |
| 4 | SCIMITAR – (ARMISTIC)*; D weapon. |
| 10 | MOMENTARY – OMEN (portent); TRY (go) about A: M at the front (mile in the lead); D brief. |
| 11 | NOISE – NOSE (bouquet) around I; D rumour. My LOI, because of the rather loose definition it needed checkers. |
| 12 | WINDCHEATER – (WRETCHED IN A)*; D garment. I knew it was an anagram but it took longer than it should have done to unravel. |
| 14 | ARM – A RM (Royal Marine); D equip, or arguably &lit. |
| 15 | REFINES – The Spanish girl with a whistle is REF(EREE) INES; D improves a bit. |
| 17 | LAAGER – LAGER (beer) around A; D camp, originally a South African word, also used in WWII for a defensive ring of tanks and such. |
| 19 | MIRROR – Joan MIRÓ (a surrealist,for some of his career) has R and R added; D paper. Not Dali, for once. |
| 21 | TWITTER – T(ime), WITTER (go on at length); D not here, or &lit? I am not a twit, or tweeter, but I believe Tweets are limited to less than 140 characters. |
| 23 | AVA – AV (Authorised Version), A; D woman. |
| 24 | CUTTING EDGE – CUTTING (hurtful), EDGE (advantage); D very modern. |
| 26 | PESTO – PRESTO (quickly) loses R; D sauce. |
| 27 | LIVERPOOL – LIVE (as it happens), R, POOL (leisure facility); D club, as in Liverpool FC one assumes. |
| 29 | SEE STARS – Actresses without clothes initially = ATRESSES; Anagram indicated by ‘dancing’; D be dazed. |
| 30 | TWELVE – WEL(L) = not entirely properly, inside TV; E (finally beforE); D midnight. |
| Down | |
| 1 | HOMEWARD – MEW (cry from cat) inside HOARD (treasure); D returning here, maybe. |
| 2 | CUMIN – CUM (with) IN (essence of mINt); D culinary flavouring. Or flavoring, for Kevin, Olivia et. al. |
| 3 | TIN – TIN(Y); D container. |
| 5 | CRYSTAL – DD; an old radio set, and glassware. |
| 6 | MIND READING – MIND (dislike), READING (books); D gaining knowledge intuitively. |
| 7 | TRIVALENT – RIVAL (competitor) confined inside TENT (under canvas); D with several (well, three) bonds, potentially. Elements like boron and aluminium are trivalent. Today’s chemistry clue for me and Jimbo to relish. |
| 8 | RHEIMS – RIMS (boundaries) around HE (man); D city, on the A4 east of Paris, with a lovely cathedral. |
| 9 | CARESS – CARES (is concerned for), S; D stroke. |
| 13 | CONTRACT OUT – (COCONUT TART)*; D get someone else to. The anagram fodder looked unlikely, but it’s tasty. |
| 16 | FRICASSEE – Insert ASS (animal) into (FIERCE)*; D stew. If I may elaborate, as I’m into cooking: Mastering the Art of French Cooking describes it as “halfway between a sauté and a stew” in that a sauté has no liquid added, while a stew includes liquid from the beginning. In a fricassée, cut-up meat is first sautéed (but not browned), then liquid is added and it is simmered to finish cooking. |
| 18 | TRUE BLUE – T (certain, at heart), RUE (regret), BLUE (waste as in spend rashly); D party faithful. Not Mr Corbyn’s party, that’s for sure. |
| 20 | RATTLER – My terrier likes to try to catch rats; insert L; D clapped-out vehicle. |
| 21 | THIEVE – Insert I.E. (that is) V(ery) into THE (article); D take. |
| 22 | PAMPAS – PAM (girl) PA’S (daddy’s); D plain, as in Argentina. |
| 25 | DROLL – L LORD = Liberal peer; reverse it; D amusing. |
| 28 | RAW – WAR reversed; D bleeding. |
Having said that, I still had a couple of idiocies: imagining that there were fewer than 11 letters in “wretched in a” and so missing the anagram first time through; and taking the “essence of mint” to be M and so failing to bung in CUMIN first time through despite thinking of it. I’m going to put these down to continuing tiredness.