Greetings all!
Well I am not in the most pristine of solving modes. I went to a friend’s going away party and then a small bender with friends and as the storms came in from the impending hurricane I realised that I needed to get home and then that it was my night to solve. So it is not a surprise that I have two silly typos and a time of 18:27.
I don’t think this is all that difficult, I just managed to make a meal of it. How did you do?
Postscript: Well one of those was not a typo – until pretty late in the day there was an incorrect answer coded in at the crossword club site with YACHTSMEN instead of YACHTSMAN. Funny, I saw it as a pink square when I submitted and then did not change it when I was writing up the blog as it was clear that YACHTSMAN was correct.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Small amount of material initially covered in course (5) |
| PATCH – first letter of Covered inside PATH(course) | |
| 4 | Knocks loose board in Norfolk town (9) |
| DISLODGES – LODGE(room and board) inside the town of DISS | |
| 9 | Millions withdrawn from Square Mile — somehow it restores the balance (9) |
| EQUALISER – remove M(millions) from SQUARE,MILE and form an anagram | |
| 10 | Flummoxed announcer’s finished in US (5) |
| THREW – sounds like THROUGH(finished) | |
| 11 | Covert adviser hopeless in emergencies (8,5) |
| EMINENCE GRISE – anagram of IN,EMERGENCIES | |
| 14 | Joggers do it right, in small measure (4) |
| TROT – R(right) inside TOT(small measure) | |
| 15 | Heterosexual couple disheartened evangelical wing of church (4,6) |
| LADY CHAPEL – the heterosexual couple are a LADY and a CHAP, then the external letters of EvanelicaL | |
| 18 | Writer following almost all the usual staff for a hike (10) |
| ALPENSTOCK – PEN(writer) after most of ALl then STOCK(the usual) | |
| 19 | In Blackpool, say, where one can walk for miles? (4) |
| PROM – PRO(for), M(miles) | |
| 21 | Instructions at race supplied by willing firm before game (5,6,2) |
| READY STEADY GO – READY(willing), STEADY(firm) and the game of GO | |
| 24 | Screw up and down (5) |
| FLUFF – double definition – to mess things up and feathers | |
| 25 | Suffering trauma? Ask for stimulating reading matter? (4,5) |
| KAMA SUTRA – anagram of TRAUMA and ASK | |
| 27 | In the past, US city retreat charged too much (9) |
| OVERLADEN – OVER(in the past), LA(US city) and DEN(retreat) | |
| 28 | Opening jump (5) |
| START – double definition | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Current show time? (7-3) |
| PRESENT-DAY – an all-in-one, since it would be PRESENT DAY if it was time to show off things | |
| 2 | Team up, selecting the odd foreign character (3) |
| TAU – alternaing letters in TeAm Up | |
| 3 | Cry from learner in difficulty close to corner (6) |
| HOLLER – L(earner) inside HOLE(difficulty) and the last letter of corneR | |
| 4 | Substance keeping dry, so it appears, inside drain (9) |
| DESICCANT – SIC(so it appears) inside DECANT(drain) | |
| 5 | Youngster ultimately despises Holy Joe (5) |
| SPRIG – last letter of despiseS, then PRIG(Holy Joe as a pious person) | |
| 6 | Public authority on the spot (8) |
| OUTRIGHT – OUT(public) and RIGHT(authority) | |
| 7 | Ridicule rising with refuse appearing outside some outdoor event (6,5) |
| GARDEN PARTY – RAG(ridicule) reversed then DENY(refuse) surrounding PART(some) | |
| 8 | Small bristle cut (4) |
| SAWN – S(small), AWN(bristle) | |
| 12 | Untimely work in popular haven, French one (11) |
| INOPPORTUNE – OP(work) in IN(popular), PORT(haven) and UNE(one, in French) | |
| 13 | Extravagant female youth worker hosting bash (10) |
| FLAMBOYANT – F(female), and BOY(youth), ANT(worker) containing LAM(bash) | |
| 16 | Sailor’s shanty came briefly unstuck (9) |
| YACHTSMAN – anagram of SHANTY and CAM(e) | |
| 17 | Topless star left the pits unrecognised (8) |
| UNLAWFUL – the star is the sUN, then L, AWFUL(the pits) | |
| 20 | Yaks, grand beasts of burden (6) |
| GASSES – G(grnd), ASSES(beasts of burden) | |
| 22 | Countryman losing fifty days is bound to work (5) |
| YOKED – YOKEL(countryman) missing L(50), then D(days) | |
| 23 | Shock treatment for a criminal? (4) |
| AFRO – anagram of FOR,A | |
| 26 | Three quarters of squad leaves (3) |
| TEA – three of the four letters in TEAm | |
Thanks, setter, for the intellectual biffing and George for explaining all.
Edited at 2021-07-08 11:51 am (UTC)
31:20
Had to choose between Sprig and Sprog and chose correctly.
However, lazily chose Alpenstick over Alpenstuck without thinking of Alpenstock.
Eminence Grise is a phrase that I knew without really knowing its meaning (until now!).
Edited at 2021-07-08 02:51 pm (UTC)
As for the YACHTSMAN / YACHTSMEN bug, I am incensed and requesting a refund immediately!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!
Quite quickly this seemed hard. I got FLUFF (liked that) and AFRO then turned to Norfolk. The town had to end in TABLE (for board).
And the anagram at 11a was of Covert Adviser meaning emergencies?
Then I arrived home. Glad I came here without wasting too much time.
David
All about “wavelength” again. This afternoon I got the wrong end of the stick for 4 ac “Dislodges” and 11 ac “Eminence Grise” in exactly the same manner as Jack and others have alluded to above. But there were other clues too where I was misled. No complaints about the cluing although I thought 15 ac “Lady Chapel” was a tad clunky.
COD 24 “fluff” where I was searching in vain for a palindrome for “screw up”.
Incidentally, nice to see that the game of football can still generate such debate. As a Scotsman I confess I will support England if Scotland are out of things, which makes me an almost honorary fan over the last 50 years. This strategy is also in the interests of marital harmony since Mrs P is an avid Liverpool supporter and indeed the reds won the First Division championship on the day we were married back in the days of Barry Davies et al. Portentous, no?
Thanks to GLH for the blog and the setter for the working over. Now for a well-earned bottle of Californian Pinot Noir.
Spooky!
Edited at 2021-07-09 02:16 am (UTC)