After Monday’s stroll with the SNITCH at only 70, and yesterday’s at 71, you’d think I’d be in for a brain buster. But no, I had all but two of these clues sorted in 14 minutes, and 16a and 22d in another 5 or so. A bit of a skin complaint themed day, with 4d, 6d, and 13a enough to make us 10a.
Not much else to say, I liked 11a best for its ‘not that sort of bookmaker’ definition.
Anagrams are light on the ground again, only two and a half.
EDIT: 09:16 CET Apparently it’s not still Monday, but not yet Friday; the SNITCH is hovering at just above 100.
Not much else to say, I liked 11a best for its ‘not that sort of bookmaker’ definition.
Anagrams are light on the ground again, only two and a half.
EDIT: 09:16 CET Apparently it’s not still Monday, but not yet Friday; the SNITCH is hovering at just above 100.
| Across | |
| 1 | Sacred building, outstanding (8) |
| HALLOWED – HALL = building, OWED = outstanding, unpaid. | |
| 6 | Leave cancelled in the wake of report (3,3) |
| POP OFF – OFF = cancelled, in wake of POP = report. | |
| 9 | London traders collectively endure visitors on railway (6,7) |
| LIVERY COMPANY – LIVE = endure, RY = railway, COMPANY = visitors. | |
| 10 | Sullen guy keeping queen and politician apart (6) |
| GRUMPY – GUY has R (queen) and MP inserted separately. | |
| 11 | Deal rigged in game for bookmaker’s enrichment? (4,4) |
| GOLD LEAF – GOLF = game, insert (DEAL)*. | |
| 13 | Case of pure Tamiflu primarily imported to quell epidemic (10) |
| PESTILENCE – SILENCE = quell, insert T (Tamiflu primarily) into that, then insert all into P E being the ‘case’ of PURE. | |
| 15 | Academy that houses folklore (4) |
| MYTH – Hidden word in ACADE(MY TH)AT. | |
| 16 | Feeble bridge pair blocked by opponent leading hearts (4) |
| NESH – N and S being partners at bridge, have E (one of two opponents) inserted, then H for Hearts. My LOI as a word I’d never heard and had to trust to the wordplay, which is definitive (the only other options being e.g. WSEH or WNEH which are even less like real words). | |
| 18 | Cash in Brussels, for instance, is principally Euros (10) |
| CAPITALISE – Brussels is a CAPITAL, then IS E. Once you see the definition, it’s simple enough. | |
| 21 | To break with boyfriend ultimately is what you’re aiming to do (8) |
| DISSOLVE – D (end of boyfriend) IS to SOLVE the puzzle. | |
| 22 | Proceed east of coastal city to find calm water (6) |
| LAGOON – L os A ngeles, GO ON. A chestnut, in this or similar forms. | |
| 23 | Some output from sewer on street, a cause of irritation? (7,6) |
| RUNNING STITCH – RUNNING = on, ST, ITCH a cause of irritation. Sewer being someone who sews stitches, not the drain. | |
| 25 | He keeps books in cloak (6) |
| MANTLE – MALE keeps NT = books. | |
| 26 | Natural sugar almost redundant in potion (8) |
| DEXTROSE – EXTR(A) = almost redundant, inside DOSE = potion. D-glucose, also known as dextrose, as opposed to its isomer L-glucose, which doesn’t occur in nature. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Free comprehensive initially raised cheers (2,5) |
| AT LARGE – TA = cheers, reversed = AT, LARGE = comprehensive (I suppose). | |
| 3 | Romantic combinations of complex vocal themes? (4,7) |
| LOVE MATCHES – (VOCAL THEMES)* | |
| 4 | Like toad, cautious crossing bottom of culvert (5) |
| WARTY – WARY = cautious, around T bottom of culvert. We have a family of friendly toads living just by our front door, they don’t seem to have warts. Smooth toads? | |
| 5 | Angular figure ruined second half of clog dance (7) |
| DECAGON – (OG DANCE)*, OG being the second half of clog. | |
| 6 | Most spotted hints provided during training (9) |
| PIMPLIEST – IMPLIES = hints, inside P T for training. | |
| 7 | 75% of maximum pulse (3) |
| PEA – three-quarters of PEAK. | |
| 8 | Background support for cunning aerial display (3-4) |
| FLY-PAST – FLY = cunning, PAST = background, as in ‘he told me about his background / past’. | |
| 12 | Old street worker moving less well, masking hardship (11) |
| LAMPLIGHTER – LAMER = moving less well, outside PLIGHT = hardship. | |
| 14 | Something unwillingly served by pub, that jetsetters must adjust to? (5,4) |
| LOCAL TIME – TIME in jail would be unwillingly served, LOCAL = pub. | |
| 17 | Nation’s technology about to feature in Time (7) |
| ERITREA – ERA = time, insert IT and RE = about. | |
| 19 | First couple of players played streaky shots and swore (7) |
| PLEDGED – PL = first 2 of players, EDGED as in cricket. | |
| 20 | Width lacking in dimwitted woman’s belts (7) |
| SLOSHES – SLOW = dimwitted, remove the W(idth), SHE’S = woman’s. Took me a while to see the connection; I think if you slosh whisky into a glass, you’d be having a good belt of it? Or is there another way this is a synonym? Ah yes, as pointed out below by jackkt, you can slosh / belt / punch someone. | |
| 22 | Careless carrying tea, spilling a milky fluid (5) |
| LATEX – LAX = careless, insert TE(A). | |
| 24 | Anything other than weight rising (3) |
| NOT – TON reversed. | |
Great blog, thanks.