Time taken: 10:24
I rather enjoyed this puzzle, a very good one for fans of tricky wordplay, and some crafty definitions. At the time of writing up, with the puzzle having been out about three hours, I am fifth in the leaderboard, so it seems some of the earlier solvers breezed through a little more quickly than I did, though I am about a minute below what the snitch says is my average.
It has been a while since we have seen the device in 15 across in a Times puzzle.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Component of arm certain to be rejected after stink (7) |
| HUMERUS – SURE(certain) reversed after HUM(stink) | |
| 5 | Cross cat’s sound recalled sound of bird (7) |
| CHIRRUP – the capital Greek letter CHI looks like an X, hence a cross, then PURR(cat’s sound) reversed | |
| 9 | Oppressed by false story about new mark (9) |
| UNDERLINE – UNDER(oppressed by) then LIE(false story) surrounding N(new) | |
| 10 | Right time to don hat? (5) |
| TITLE – T(time) wearing TILE(hat). Legal right. | |
| 11 | Finger given by this less restrained element? (7,6) |
| LUNATIC FRINGE – if you make an anagram of FRINGE you can get FINGER | |
| 13 | Faithfulness — a leading feature of crucial church role (8) |
| ACCURACY – A, then the first letter of Crucual, then CURACY(church role) | |
| 15 | French port regrettably claiming half of Channel Islands? (6) |
| CALAIS – ALAS(regrettably) with one half of CI(Channel Islands) inside, and one half outside. Unusual wordplay. | |
| 17 | Daughter is coming in nearly frozen — having tried this? (6) |
| NUDISM – D(daughter), IS inside NUMB(frozen) missing the last letter. Fun clue! | |
| 19 | Dismiss dance as a transient flashy thing (8) |
| FIREBALL – FIRE(dismiss), BALL(dance) | |
| 22 | Run The Times with an odd approach to attracting readers (5,8) |
| HUMAN INTEREST – rather well-spotted anagram of RUN,THE,TIMES,AN | |
| 25 | Desert allotment with no source of irrigation (3,2) |
| RAT ON – RATION(allotment) missing the first letter of Irrigation | |
| 26 | Aquatic bird, one occupying familiar position of dam (9) |
| MATERNITY – TERN(aquatic bird), I(one) inside MATY(familiar) | |
| 27 | Bizarre reduction in area around Woking — completely reduced (7) |
|
SURREAL – SURREY(area around Woking) missing the last letter, than AL |
|
| 28 | Confuse US crook facing law in Rome (7) |
| PERPLEX – PERP(criminal in the USA), LEX(law in Latin) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Activity linked to drawing room, we hear (4) |
| HAUL – drawing or dragging – sounds like HALL(room) | |
| 2 | Purcell’s particular note? (6,1) |
| MIDDLE C – the MIDDLE letter of PurCell is C | |
| 3 | Another chance to see sport through curtailed opening (5) |
| RERUN – RU(sport) inside RENT(opening) shortened | |
| 4 | Lower back pain? Spies a nervous response in it (8) |
| SCIATICA – CIA(spies) and TIC(a nervours response) in SA(it) | |
| 5 | Force Frenchmen out of business (6) |
| COERCE – remove MM(frenchmen) from COMMERCE(business) | |
| 6 | I note rising worry over one contact (9) |
| INTERFACE – I, N(note) then a reversal of FRET(worry) then ACE(one) | |
| 7 | Runs to the front of old plain dome (7) |
| ROTUNDA – move the R(runs) from O(old), TUNDRA(plain) to the top | |
| 8 | Power line here’s flapping, ready for grasping (10) |
| PREHENSILE -P(power) then an anagram of LINE,HERE’S | |
| 12 | Morning burden? Support embracing wife in evening, mostly (4,6) |
|
DAWN CHORUS – ANCHOR(support) containing W(wife) all inside DUS |
|
| 14 | Research formerly capturing an echo effect (9) |
| RESONANCE – RES(research) ONCE(formerly) containing AN | |
| 16 | Evasive action that is needed in a month (8) |
| SIDESTEP – ID EST(that is) inside SEP(a month) | |
| 18 | Goddess satisfied to block Diana’s target? (7) |
| DEMETER – MET(satisfied) inside DEER(the target of the huntress Diana) | |
| 20 | An unfortunate situation besets most of the colony (3,4) |
|
ANT HILL – AN, ILL(unfortunate situaton) surrounding TH |
|
| 21 | Mother in love, in pursuit of a sensual man (6) |
| ANIMAL – MA(mother) inside NIL(love) after A | |
| 23 | Slip perry and port out of their containers? (5) |
| ERROR – the interior letters of pERRy and pORt | |
| 24 | Cat where birdies are to be had, we hear (4) |
| LYNX – sounds like the golf LINKS where better golfers than I can score birdies. | |
I first looked at this puzzle on Sunday – on a long train journey. I read sequentially through all the clues but was unable to solve any. Until I reached the very last down clue, which I could solve. This made me chuckle and drew the couple at the table into the solving process…
French port regrettably claiming half of Channel Islands? (6)
French port = definition for CALAIS
regrettably = ALAS
claiming = including
half of Channel Islands? = half of CI = I
So, we might arrive at ALAIS. What we should do with the other half of the Channel Islands (the C) is unspecified. So the clue just does not work.
If a clue indicates that we are to use the middle letter of QUONDAM in some way, we do not usually worry about to do with the other letters of QUONDAM.
However, consider the following clue for ARREST:
Stop most unusual remainder claiming half of Royal Artillery (6)
Stop = definition for ARREST
most unusual = RAREST
remainder = REST
claiming = including
half of Royal Artillery = half of RA = R
So, we split RAREST into RA+REST and the REST then claims half of the RA, giving A+R(R)EST. Such a clue would, in my opinion, work properly.