Times 27316 – Watch this space!

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Greetings all.  In the time since writing the blog I have been informed of a few incorrect parsings that I listed in the blog, and some clues were changed in the electronic version of the puzzle. I am leaving the original clues in here and modifying things as they were changed. Amendments and additions are italicised.

I have been off at a conference for a week and have not been keeping up with the puzzles, so I have either gotten rusty very quickly, or this one is pretty difficult, and just as I hit submit with my fingers crossed, and 19:12 elapsed on the timer… I have one error, a very silly typo in 26 across.

It is also getting late here, and there are a few I’m not 100% on… so check the comments if you disagree with something you see here, I will not be able to make corrections for several hours.

Away we go…

Across
1 Finally up late, not having had a meal (2,3,2,3)
TO CAP IT ALL – this is tricky wordplay – “up” is TO CAPITAL, then LATE, mising ATE(had a meal)
6 Old politician’s wife, elevated, not right wing (4)
WHIG – W(wife) then HIGH(elevated) missing the character on the right
10 Golf courses surrounding a camp, not for men (5)
OFLAG – anagram of GOLF containing A – “not for men” in the clue indicates this is a camp for officers
11 Flaunt wealth, ultimately, as large, developing German company (9)
LUFTHANSA – anagram of FLAUNT,(wealt)H, AS, L
This clue was changed, and L(large) was removed.  The clue now reads “Flaunt wealth, ultimately, as developing German company” since the L from large was not needed in the anagram
12 Lead way, in that there’s no team that you’d not want to inspire! (6,8)
CARBON MONOXIDE – CARBON(lead in a pencil), then MODE(way) containing NO, XI(team)
14 Appeal, instant, the solver once had, but not setter! (7)
SAMOYED – SA(sex appeal), MO(instant), YE’D(the solver once had) – I think this is referring to the Ugrian people being nomadic. It has been pointed out that this is referring to a dog that is not a setter.
15 Burst with strain, making the most sound (7)
FITTEST – FIT(burst, temper), TEST(strain)
17 Search thoroughly carried out before bed (7)
RANSACK – RAN(carried out), then SACK(bed)
19 Calm, it’s said, the colour blue (3,4)
DIE DOWN – sounds like DYE(colour), DOWN(blue, sad)
20 Director I wish to adapt European novel (5,4,5)
CIDER WITH ROSIE – anagram of DIRECTOR,I,WISH then E(European)
23 Rates showing 100% increase at some point for empties (9)
EVACUATES – EVALUATES(rates) with the L(50) becoming a C(100)
24 Fencing put out around boundary (5)
KENDO –  KO(knock out) around END(boundary)
25 Urge to proceed with Bill (4)
GOAD – GO(proceed), AD(bill)
26 Sportsperson unhindered charges across river with old president (10)
FREESTYLER – FEES(charges) surrounding R(river) with the 10th US President of the USA, John TYLER

Down
1 One that’s from the left in revolution? (4)
TROT – double definition. OK – I was missing something here, the wordplay is TO, RT with RT indicating right all reversed
2 Drinks manager’s measure to prepare in container (9)
CELLARMAN – ELL(measure), ARM(prepare) inside CAN(container)
3 I go by parachute, flying in style overhead (7,7)
PAGEBOY HAIRCUT – anagram of I,GO,BY,PARACHUTE
4 Touch isolated blocks with pincers (7)
TALONED – TD(touch, touchdown) containing ALONE(isolated)
Although my parsing of the wordplay works, it was pointed out, commenters pointed out that the intention was more likely TAD(touch) containing LONE(isolated)
5 Launch of abridged autobiography by aristocrat (4-3)
LIFT-OFF – LIF(e) (autobiography) with TOFF(aristocrat)
7 British poet, one to brood over king and emperor (5)
HENRI – there’s two definitions and wordplay here – the wordplay is I(one) with HEN(brood) on top, surrounding R(king)
I had missed that RI is Rex Imperator, King and Emperor
8 Makes no sense to put in retro English memorial (10)
GRAVESTONE – RAVES(makes no sense), TO inside ENG reversed
9 Chuck something that has been bound to carpet? (5,3,4,2)
THROW THE BOOK AT – THROW(chuck), THE BOOK(something that has been bound), AT(to)
13 Eccentric gorges this enormous breakfast? (7-3)
OSTRICH-EGG – anagram of GORGES,THIS
It was pointed out that the anagram was missing the C.  The clue has been republished as
Large thing laid across cape, somehow goes right around it
The new wordplay is C(cape) inside an anagram of GOES,RIGHT
16 Recalled book on island — left tearful? (9)
EMOTIONAL –  reverse TOME(book) on IONA(island), L(left)
18 Purser maybe one on way to Jersey? (7)
KNITTER – two definitions, pursing ones lips, and making a jersey
19 Burst of French welcomes civil engineer (7)
DEHISCE – DE(“of” in French), HI’S(welcomes), CE(civil engineer)
21 What’s shot and ending in cinema? (5)
DRAMA – DRAM(shot) and the last letter in cinemA
22 Secure way of working with gold (4)
MOOR – MO(way of working), OR(gold)

112 comments on “Times 27316 – Watch this space!”

  1. Took the best part of an hour, even had a bit of lunch in the middle to clear the addled head. Like yesterday’s only more so, there were 4 or 5 I just couldn’t parse: the 2 1s, 13dn with its incorrect anagrist (didn’t notice the extra L in Lufthansa), 26ac.
    With 13dn are there 2 defs plus wordplay, albeit missing a few ordering & inclusion instructions? Or is I emperor? Collins has (US usage) I = Imperator, (Latin) title for the Roman emperors, but none of the dictionaries have I = emperor.
    With 1dn how is TROT = REVOLUTION? Or is it IN REVOLUTION?
    I did parse a few things differently – had lone in a tad = a touch for taloned; and Samoyed as a dog that wasn’t a setter. And really liked DRAMA.

    Edited at 2019-04-04 05:39 am (UTC)

    1. That’s what I thought too! (And still do.)

      Edited at 2019-04-04 06:26 am (UTC)

  2. Tricky. And 11ac has too many Ls in the anagram

    At 7dn, HENRI, I assumed the parsing was HEN = one who broods, R = king, and I was some unfamiliar abbreviation for emperor

      1. Quite right. Rex Imperator/Regina Imperatrix was the suffix for British Monarchs from Victoria to George VI
  3. It’s all very well setting a puzzle that’s full of beastly clever clues but the effect is lost by errors such as there being no C in the grist for OSTRICH EGG (which also isn’t hyphenated, btw) and the extra L in the grist for LUFTHANSA.

    I think 7 has something wrong with it too as I can’t find any justification for HEN as ‘brood’, so I think it has to be clued by ‘one to brood’ which then raises a query on where the I comes from – and two somewhat obscure definitions one at each end? Really? (Hadn’t seen anon’s comment above when I wrote this).

    Edited at 2019-04-04 05:03 am (UTC)

    1. Is Lufthansa a “large, developing German company”? No, I think you are right.
  4. TROT is TO RT, “from left,” <—
    So this wasn’t just hard because of the often very devious wordplay, but there were a few rather inexcusable errors. My sense of satisfaction in having just finally finished is somewhat dampened by the fact that I didn’t even notice the screwed-up anagrams.

    Edited at 2019-04-04 06:21 am (UTC)

    2. I noticed neither the anagrams nor the true, devious wordplay of TROT… it didn’t feel like I was speed-solving at the time!
  5. I had two left at the end of my hour. I guessed 7d HENRI correctly, despite never having heard of the poet and not understanding the wordplay, but I couldn’t get 19d DEHISCE. I couldn’t even think of a word that fit, and it turns out that’s because I didn’t know any. Given the rest of the puzzle, it could easily have been some obscure civil engineer I needed to crowbar in—I was thinking “welcomes” was a containment indicator as I had a “d” and “e” of “de” at the beginning and the end.

    Edited at 2019-04-04 07:01 am (UTC)

  6. Well, now I know why I couldn’t find a way to parse LUFTHANSA!

    Around half an hour of bleary-eyed toil for this, though I did enjoy the challenge. Unfortunately (and not the first time I’ve messed up with dye/die) I managed to type DYE DOWN — possibly the name of a hair salon for sad people.

    COD to PAGEBOY HAIRCUT, the second tour de force anagram this week after WOODY NIGHTSHADE

    Edited at 2019-04-04 07:21 am (UTC)

  7. Hard but very enjoyable 48 minute solve. Unless someone has already said this, I’m pretty sure that Samoyed (being a breed of dog) is therefore NOT a setter, being a different breed of dog. Also I think the I in Henri is fairly standard as an abbreviation for Imperator (emperor)and nothing to do with ‘one’ in the clue. And I’m still not clear about Lufthansa. It requires ‘sa’ to equal ‘as large’. Could this be an abbreviation for ‘same as’?
    I didn’t notice the missing ‘c’ in ostrich egg though!

    Edited at 2019-04-04 08:37 am (UTC)

  8. After losing faith in the setter with OSTRICH EGG and LUFTHANSA I just looked up HENRI. Also didn’t like 9d – “Chuck something that has been bound” is “Throw the book” not “Throw the book at”. Well, it is in my book.
    1. well, I said I was bleary-eyed and that proves it. I actually wrote out the fodder for OSTRICH EGG and thought I had successfully parsed it. I also missed jackkt’s comment above before posting.
      1. Thanks. You are right. I had the definition wrongly in my head as “to carpet”.
  9. 61 minutes. I was staggered to find it was all present and correct. I wasted ages on the LUFTHANSA non-anagram. I put in OSTRICH EGG in relief and then realised I was missing a C. I assumed I was being dense about something as it was obviously right. I wouldn’t have parsed TO CAP IT ALL, one of my Dad’s favourite expressions, if I’d stared at the paper all morning. I’ve never heard of HENRI as a poet, nor was sure if the ‘I’ was an abbreviation for Emperor, which was what I assumed. DEHISCE was half-remembered and half-constructed with the HIS for ‘welcomes’ seen after the event. SAMOYED put in from the cryptic without me having the foggiest. LOI TALONED then followed. Despite being keen on most sports, I don’t watch American Football and had no idea that TD was touchdown, let alone could be abbreviated to ‘touch’. Is FREESTYLER just the swimmer, or has it other sporting connotations? I wasn’t at my best, but then neither was the setter. We all have less good days. Thank you anyway for the challenge, and to George for the explanations.
    1. You’re right, BW. Touchdown, in American football, is never abbreviated as ‘touch’. Or at least in more than 60 years of paying attention, and I have paid attention, I have never ever once heard that. (And, in US sports talk, the area over the out of bounds line is either ‘out of bounds’ or ‘foul’, never ever ‘in touch’ – there is no part of any US sports field called “touch”)
  10. I’ve a strong suspicion that in ‘taloned’, the parsing is touch = tad (as in a little bit) and isolated = lone, not ‘alone’.
    1. That sounds right to me. I certainly don’t like the other explanation.
  11. 26:09. Not to my taste at all, this one. It’s very hard but almost all of the difficulty comes from what seems like wilful obscurity. And errors, as it turns out, although I confess I didn’t notice either while solving.
    The literary clues perhaps sum it up: a poet no-one has heard of indicated by completely impenetrable wordplay, and a novel no-one has read or discussed since the last century.
    One to forget.
    1. Cider with Rosie? I’d assumed it was really quite famous. It’s in my “incoming” pile right now, and the class the year above me did it at GCSE. Then again, I’m no expert on literature…
      1. Well depending how old you are… maybe I’m exaggerating a little for effect, and I actually read it when I was a kid, but I think its moment as a canonical work has passed.

        Edited at 2019-04-04 10:16 am (UTC)

        1. For what it’s worth, I read it this century. I wasn’t particularly taken with it, though.
          1. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by the same author is a much more rewarding read in my opinion.
    2. I agree about the errors and wilful obscurity but would quarrel with your assertion that no one has heard of Adrian Henri or that Cider with Rosie is somehow obsolete. Adrian Henri was very polular in the ’70s and still features in school poetry anthologies. And Laurie Lee’s book is pretty timeless in its appeal and still taught in many schools. I had loads of problems with this puzzle but found the literary allusions comparatively simple.
      1. If CWR is still taught in schools I guess I’ll have to reluctantly allow it. I only have my own (four) kids’ education to go on there and I can honestly say that I haven’t heard it mentioned in that or any other context other than crosswords since I was a teenager.
        I’m not having Henri though, and I loved Roger McGough when I was a kid. I also loved Michael Rosen, who is still a welcome voice in Radio 4 and now helping introduce my own children to poetry. Shame about his rather nasty social media presence.
        1. I suppose all our experiences of Eng Lit are pretty subjective. I used to teach the stuff long ago so may have a bit of an advantage when it pops up in crosswordland. Btw, I didn’t know about Michael Rosen on social media. will look him up. My classes used to love him back in the day.
          1. I did a degree in it so I ought to have some sort of advantage, but my memory is so bad I don’t really. But I’m pretty sure I’ve never come across Henri.
  12. Over on the Club site, commenting on this puzzle, Alan Smith says RI in Henri is Rex Imperator, (king and emperor of India).
  13. Glad it wasn’t my turn today, had a nightmare with this, eventually all done except 19d after an hour, with many not fully understood and confused by the anagram fodder errors noted above. Inventeď a new poet HENKE for a while at 7d and didn’t think much of FREESTYLER. Liked the dog clue at 14a.
  14. 64 minutes, but can’t be too grumpy with that seeing that speedsters like Verlaine, Jason, Aphis and Keriothe all struggled.

    Sorry if someone has said this – I don’t have time to read the comments – but YE is plural, forsooth. Very pleased with myself for biffing 1a just from L[ate]. If I could replicate that kind of near-genius thinking across 30 clues every day, I reckon I would be in that exalted company I mentioned earlier….

  15. Stopped after 40′, having read the comments glad I did.

    Tomorrow is another day…

  16. Gee Willikers George, I’m glad this wasn’t my turn. I stared for ages at 1ac with no understanding (didn’t get the “up”, thought capitulate might be involved, um, dur) and struggled with most of the rest of clues to 30 minutes. TORT (I agree, it’s TO R(igh)T backwards, rather a good &lit) was my last mostly because I was hooked on GULAG for 9ac, golf supplying me only with the G and no idea for the rest.
    OSTRICH EGG is a hell of a breakfast: I certainly couldn’t manage a whole one, plus it takes ages to boil. And you need a saw to take the top off. And (as has been noted) you need a C in the anagram.
    Ulaca’s right about YE’D in the (yes, dog, clue). Chambers confirms it’s plural (loads of hymns also so testify). Chambers grudgingly allows “sometimes singular” though you get the impression it’s only thus with people who should know better.
    So tough, sometimes brilliant cluing, but with uncharacteristic errors (for the Times, that is). So fair and foul a day I have not seen.

    Edited at 2019-04-04 10:07 am (UTC)

  17. Apart from the errors with the anagrams, Cider with Rosie isn’t a novel, is it? An autobiography, I think.
        1. You’re right that it’s an autobiograpy. The setter could have just called it a “book”.
  18. I spotted the incorrect anagram fodder for 13d, but missed that for 11a, my only excuse being laziness and relief that I could just bung an answer in from the def. No hope in parsing 1a or 1d, and many others took a bit of working out, so I needed about an hour and a half in a few goes before finishing.

    I thought there were lots of good clues including DRAMA, SAMOYED (the canine variety for me) and DEHISCE – as applied to a surgical wound, once seen, never forgotten. Best for me, even if it’s not a novel as others have pointed out, was CIDER WITH ROSIE. Charming book set in a charming part of the world.

    Thanks to setter and blogger

  19. A frustrating mix of very clever and overly-obscure or just plain unsound clues.
  20. To me, the definition here is samoyed (dog) = but not setter
    I would agree with the rest of the parsing.
  21. 74 mins of painful grind to get through this. I, like others here, found the puzzle lacking in wit or deft touch — rather one felt the setter was straining every sinew (beyond breaking point in the muffed anagrams) to be obscure and tortuous. I biffed pretty much every clue, with increasing speed as more checkers became available — not a great way to solve a crossword. DEHISCE (my LOI) was a prime example: it had to be, once D_H_S_E was in place, but once solved recognising HIS=’welcomes’ simply irritated me.
    Well done, George, for blogging this b*st*rd.
  22. If there had been an editor there would not have been a crossword. Novel was the anagrind for Cider with Rosie which has been pointed out is not a novel, and there was the missing C for ostrich and the extra L for Lufthansa ….
    1. ‘Novel’ is not the anagrind – it’s ‘to adapt’. ‘Novel’ is the definition which I think is fair enough as the book was written as an autobiographical novel.

      Edited at 2019-04-04 09:48 am (UTC)

  23. Would somebody please agree/disagree with my earlier comment on ‘taloned’? Here’s hoping!
    2. Absolutely confirmed Tringmardo! Although Isla and Guy got there first towards the top of the comments column which may be why you weren’t getting more of a response.
    4. I seconded your proposal, but attached it to the wrong entry. (Mildly) sorry!
  24. Yikes. It was only when I was proofing that I noticed the scrambled EGG and the addled airline, and even then I didn’t quite trust my own eyes but I was already at 34 minutes so decided oh never mind. I even spent time trying to squeeze some form of “gesellschaft” into 11a. CIDER WITH ROSIE was a big hit in the early 60s. I gave it to my mother for her birthday one of those years and she gave me a funny look and asked if I’d read it (I hadn’t and in fact never did).
  25. Had never heard of dehisce, and was never gonna get it, despite having all the checkers. So DNF 🙁
  27. I spotted the errors in lufthansa and ostrich egg as I was solving and spent far too long trying to find out where I’d gone wrong. This is sloppy by setter and editor(s).
    42 minutes. DNK I for emperor (though now understand it’s RI). LOI trot. COD the haircut.
    At least we had no bad homonyms today.
    I’m really only buying The Times for the crossword and su-doku nowadays, since I’m forced to buy the damned Irish version which is a true bastard in all senses of the word. If I wanted a paper with Irish content I’d buy the Irish Times. I tried the online subscription, but don’t really get the idea of an online resource that’s half a day out of date.
    Rant over.
  28. Have the clues been corrected? Now no problem with 11a, which reads “Flaunt wealth, ultimately, as developing German company,” and 13d, which reads “Large thing laid across cape, somehow goes right around it.”
    2. Yes, I noticed the change, and whereas the amendment at 11ac is welcome as it was perhaps simply a typo somewhere along the line, I think the replacement of the clue to OSTRICH EGG with something totally different from the original is really a bit much. Extraordinary goings-on!
  29. 15m 20s. It’s very rare to find any clear errors in the Times crossword, so to find two…!! Not that I found both: LUFTHANSA went in without qualm. For 13d, though, I rejected the possibility of an anagram when my second checking letter was a C, and then just biffed it as one of the last ones in.

    Did anyone NOT biff 1a??

  30. I was fortunate that, as a late riser, I tackled this beast after the errors had been corrected. I still battled to make any progress once I’d picked off a few of the less devious clues, but eventually I prised a couple of chinks in the setter’s armour and THROW THE BOOK AT and PAGEBOY HAIRCUT gave me some crumbs to work with. I was aware of I being an abbreviation of the Latin for Emperor from Ind Imp being impressed on some old coins, if my memory serves me correctly, but waited until CARBON MONOXIDE surfaced before entering it as I is an unusual ending for a British name. I originally had COWSLIP at 18d, but RANSACK put me right there. A bit of a slog. 75:35. Thanks George.
  31. Yikes. I didn’t spot the errors in the anagrams. What I did do, was create a new meaning for trop. Port (left) in revolution. I was thinling of de trop in French. And then I put the L instead of the C in 23 across. Good clue, mind, that one. Cider With Rosie came after As I walked out one Midsummer Morning, which we read at school in the 70s. Never read CWR, but always imagined Rosie as a rumble-in-the-haystack kind of gal. Good to see Tyler getting a mention.
  32. IND IMP was on all our coins meaning India (not sure of Latin word for India) Imperator. No Henrys were Rex and Ind Imps. But the clue still works (if weak) with I for Emperor. I cannot find a poet called Henri, maybe I need better books as wikipedia doesn’t list any poets under Henri.
    When I read Cider with Rosie I thought that it was at the very least exaggerated, so I won’t fight “novel”.
    andyf
  33. 20 minutes of my life that I won’t get back. Does nobody check these puzzles properly before they’re printed ? As a paper solver, I got the unadulterated faulty version. This COULD have been a really good puzzle – but it wasn’t.

    Thanks to George for parsing the four I lost patience with that were actually correctly shown (TO CAP IT ALL, CARBON MONOXIDE, EVACUATES, and TROT).

    I rated a puzzle 3 out of 10 earlier this week, this was a 2. Pity – it could have been a 9 with more care taken.

    FOI CARBON MONOXIDE – a biff start is not good !
    LOI EVACUATES
    COD DRAMA
    TIME 19:45

    1. I think the deal in life is that you never get any of the time you spend on anything back.

      Why do you bother doing crosswords, I ask myself, if they make you so miserable

  34. I found this tough but ultimately satisfying, once I’d finally realised I did know the poet after all; I imagine my overall mood might have been quite different if I’d tackled the version with the impossible anagrams, of course. I struggled mightily with HANOI? HINDI? etc. before remembering The Mersey Sound – I think it’s undeniable that while Roger McGough is still a well-known voice, Henri and Patten are rather less so. Got there in the end, as is my habit.

    If you’re playing along with Pointless on the TV, Tyler is always a good call as an obscure President, though Martin van Buren is my normal go-to guy. See also Chester Arthur and Rutherford Hayes.

    1. This was covered in the very first comment above (posted at 04:29am) and has been discussed and referred to throughout the day already. Do try to keep up!

      Edited at 2019-04-04 01:36 pm (UTC)

  36. Has anyone noticed…

    Love? good man, lots of money, English, extremely
    good-looking, makes large breakfasts?!

    2. Can you give us another clue? Which author might you be talking about?

      Ulaca

  38. Hi George! I hope I speak for all the crew when I suggest you don’t worry with revision: the (once) incorrect clues have been enthusiastically discussed, and your original parsings enlightened (especially in the case of 1ac) and entertained. Most of us think you deserve a medal.
  39. Hmm, bit of a dog’s breakfast all round, today, least said, soonest mended ..
    I met Adrian Henri a couple of times. That we weren’t close is proven by the fact that I had to check to make sure he was dead ..
    1. I saw him when he had a band in the seventies – he had a joke about calling his band ‘Malcolm Macdonald and the Easybeats’ – this is a football reference.

      I really like that PMP book, can still recite some of some of the poems.

  40. To capital means up?

    I thought capital was a noun. Capitalize or capitalise is a verb.

    If someone could point me at a reference work that explains this I would be grateful. Otherwise I think 1 across is a dreadful clue.

    1. I think it’s usually found in old railway jargon – the up train being the train to London.

      Chambers, under UP, gives as its fourth meaning: “towards a centre (such as a capital, great town or university)”.

      I didn’t like it either, but it is more-or-less legitimate.

      3. That’s right. And the reverse, as in a train from London to Oxford, would be a “down train”. On the other hand, for those who worry about these things and since Dr. Spooner often appears in crosswordland, this usage doesn’t quite work in the supposed Spoonerism – Sir, you have tasted two worms and are to leave Oxford by the town drain. For the record, I failed to parse this clue at all at the time. Thanks George.
        1. When I was at Oxford, I seem to remember that it was never clear if London was up or down, as both places claimed the privilege of being the centre of the universe.. They were both wrong of course: it was some 200 miles ‘up’ north.
      4. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.” – Lewis Caroll
  41. Fought my way through the incorrect anagrams, thinking it awfully strange to have 2 rather obvious errors in a puzzle, but I had no idea about ‘up’ in one across, and would never come close to ‘capital’ from it, so I thought it was TO TOP IT ALL. That rendered 2D ungettable, and I also failed at TROT. Didn’t see it. Very out of the ordinary puzzle day, I’d say.
  42. Recognise your right to an opinion, just to say that the damned Irish version is the only newspaper I buy and having spent 26 years in GB but now being Irish based, it provides me with the best of both worlds. Now if you were to speak of the Irish editions of the Daily Mail, Sun, Star, then i would agree as damned versions of already bastard newspapers!
  44. By the time I finished this I was so fed up that I threw in some obviously wrong answers. TOGA, GULAG and DOOR turning out to be the errors. I did enjoy several clues, and all but the unknown author were knowns, so real reason for despair. Relieved that Snitch agreed with me that this was a stinker
  45. Eventually finished this all correct but it took the best part of two hours (even solving this evening when the errors in the clues had been resolved) and I cannot honestly say that it was very satisfying. Too many unknowns or impenetrable word play meant that I was frequently throwing in answers from checkers and a vague sense of what the Def must be. No idea how 1ac worked, nho Samoyed, no idea how 23ac worked, didn’t see how 1dn worked, nho the poet at 7dn, nor did I recognise the RI abbreviation, like my solve, I could go on…
  46. I’m crying “foul” on this one, at least on a technicality. I considered OSTRICH EGG for 13d, but was working from the corrected (online) clue. If I’d been reading the original (C-less) clue, I think I would have got it despite the error; the revised clue isn’t really up to much. On the other hand, I also failed on EVACUATES and RANSACK (though I might have done better with the checkers from 13d).

    Kerfuffle aside, I found this one trickier than average. Utterly failed to parse any part of 1ac.

  47. Another paper bought for a flight, failed to finish. Not heard of OFLAG and DEHISCE before, didn’t get SAMOYED although it rings a bell so suspect it’s come up before.
    Glad to read the comments and see it’s not just me!
  48. So theres two anagrams wrong and anther clue where “up” means “to capital?” What!
    Not inspiring confidence its easy to put this down and walk off.
    Setter can do better
  49. Getting to this one late… would someone kindly explain UP = “to capital”? (I got the clue from the definition, naturally.)

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