25:12 minutes for this fairly standard Monday offering, with lots of cryptic definitions in the acrosses. Nice to see a Classical clue to slow down the Bletchley Parkers. More of the same, please, setter!
Please ignore my time on the Club leaderboard. It is the result of a combination of things, all triggered by falling asleep on the Cheung Chau ferry. I will add the requisite minutes to my crosswords for the rest of the week to ensure my SNITCH is restored to its proper level.
| Across | |
| 1 | Power to limit urban growth? (8) |
| CAPACITY – if you CAP A CITY, you may be said to limit urban growth | |
| 5 | Its content suffers shell damage before soldiers go in (6) |
| EGGCUP – um, yes, the first and possibly weakest of the CDs; ‘soldiers’ are thin pieces of buttered toast prepared to dip into a soft-boiled egg | |
| 9 | Way boy interrupts important series of tweets (8) |
| BIRDSONG – RD SON in BIG | |
| 10 | Flower person found in fruit tart (6) |
| HIPPIE – HIP (fruit – of e.g. a rose) PIE (tart) | |
| 12 | Some taxable income from Honolulu and Juneau in 1959, for the States (7,5) |
| CAPITAL GAINS – both Hawaii and Alaska (first) became states in 1959, and their capitals are, well, as above | |
| 15 | Part of double-edged sword could make you do this (5) |
| BLEED – a hidden all-in-one, I reckon. Bravo/a, setter! | |
| 16 | Putting in other words a little time into relaxation (9) |
| RESTATING – A T in RESTING | |
| 18 | As a rule, its leaders are unlikely to get to number ten (9) |
| OLIGARCHY – CD, based on the idea (slightly quirky) that oligarchs will number fewer than ten, with a play on words, since Number Ten Downing Street is the address in London of the house with a revolving door for would-be prime ministers of the UK | |
| 19 | Slight encouragement needed by leading character in novel (5) |
| SPURN – SPUR N[ovel] | |
| 20 | RLS and TSE, for example (3,2,7) |
| MEN OF LETTERS – CD, referencing Robert Louis Stevenson (who I quite enjoy) and Thomas Stearns Eliot (who I can’t make head or tail of) | |
| 24 | Museum showing the collected work of artist there, apart from one piece (6) |
| LOUVRE -if a painter’s collected works were represented in the language of France (where the Louvre Museum is situated) then it would be ‘l’oeuvre’ of him or her; now, take one letter (piece) away | |
| 25 | Clever clogs and article of clothing packed (8) |
| BRAINBOX – here we have BRA IN BOX; where would our setters be without the humble brassiere? | |
| 26 | Audibly react to blow, maybe, being cowardly (6) |
| YELLOW – if you were hit over the head with, say, yet another CD, you might YELL OW! | |
| 27 | For instance, an anagram that’s shrewd in the extreme (8) |
| CANNIEST – anagram* of INSTANCE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Ursa Minor appearing over a Caribbean island (4) |
| CUBA – CUB ( young bear, or an ‘ursa minor’ – geddit?) A | |
| 2 | Wine left for someone in schooner, say (4) |
| PORT – double definition | |
| 3 | Demolished canards as prognosticator, unbelievably accurate (9) |
| CASSANDRA – CANARDS AS*; Cassandra was the daughter of Priam, who was handy with a prophesy, but unfortunately for her native Troy they were invariably negative and invariably came true. Sometimes, I think my wife channels her… | |
| 4 | As something required in court state, in brief, one’s crime (6,6) |
| TENNIS RACKET – TENN (Tennessee with a 4-letter abbreviation, no less) IS (one is) RACKET (criminal money making activity – so not the kind carried out by banks, then) | |
| 6 | Cross, perhaps, about one condition of course (5) |
| GOING – I in GONG (cross, perhaps – a slang term for an award such as the Distinguished Service Cross) for condition of a racecourse; quite damp when Frankie won the Guineas on Saturday | |
| 7 | Unreliable in island about evidence of debt (10) |
| CAPRICIOUS – CAPRI (island) C (about) IOUS | |
| 8 | Publicity expert‘s gift in decline? Just the opposite (5,5) |
| PRESS AGENT – what we don’t have here in PRESENT in SAG; but we do have SAG in PRESENT | |
| 11 | Collective panic as dodgy operator enters train going north (4,8) |
| MASS HYSTERIA – AS SHYSTER in AIM reversed | |
| 13 | Unusually, opera introducing learner is well covered (10) |
| ABNORMALLY – NORMA (opera by Bellini) L (learner) in ABLY (well); NORMA often pops up in crosswords because MANON LESCAUT is difficult to get into the grid | |
| 14 | Change in menu, alas, like certain changes of time forward or back (4-6) |
| SEMI-ANNUAL – IN MENU ALAS*; also known as bi-annual | |
| 17 | Improperly notarises claim (9) |
| ASSERTION – NOTARISES* | |
| 21 | In place of advance, surrender (5) |
| FORGO – FOR (in place of) GO (advance) | |
| 22 | Producer of notes originating on back of envelope (4) |
| OBOE – initial letters | |
| 23 | Get out vote in no-win situation going the wrong way (4) |
| EXIT – X (vote) in TIE reversed; referencing one of the looniest chapters in recent British political history | |
32:00
Splodges of answers remained dotted around the grid – completed the SW first of these, followed by the SE, leaving just the NE. Once GOING went in, could see it was EGG-something-ending-in-P but couldn’t think what part of an EGG would end like this – TOP? CAP? Took a gargantuan mental effort to realise it was not a part of the egg itself but what it sits in that was required – DOH!
That gave CAPRICIOUS and then another minute or so to turn the fruit tart on its head and come up with HIPPIE. So, slowish but then it is a bonus public holiday today.
A strange puzzle to solve. I found only 26ac on my first reading through the across clues, but the down clues all seemed a lot easier. Had done all bar one in 30 minutes but was held up by 27ac, failing to realise it was a double bluff and actually was an anagram. Agree with others’ reservations about OLIGARCHY. The 30 tyrants imposed on Athens by Sparta at the end of the Peloponnesian War certainly numbered more than ten. But still an enjoyable crossword with lots of clever clues.
FOI – YELLOW
LOI – CANNIEST
COD – CANNIEST, but also liked EGGCUP and MASS HYSTERIA.
Thanks to ulaca and other contributors.
Put me down as another MAN OF LETTERS. 6m 46s with that error.
Just to show it takes all sorts, I really don’t enjoy clues like the EGGCUP one. On the other hand, I thought CAPITAL GAINS was wonderful, as was BLEED.
FWIW
Having just looked it up… ‘man of letters’ is in the dictionaries, men of letters is green paint.
But surely if man of letters is in the dictionary, then men of .. is just the standard plural, not green paint at all
Of course it is. Excuse me, I don’t know what I was thinking.
I worked this late last night after karaoke, so it couldn’t have been too hard!
The easy HIPPIE was my LOI, ironically enough (having sometimes been called such myself). But “flower person” didn’t seem right as a definition. The phrase back in the day was “flower child.” Yet I see that Collins has an entry for “flower people,” defined as “flower children.” I reckon “flower person” is just as OK as pluralizing “men of letters.”
I wasn’t sure about how the clue for OLIGARCH worked, and didn’t look up the etymology.
29.15 with LOI canniest which when I finally worked it out was my COD. Spurn took a while to sink in as did abnormally but got there in the end.
Thx setter and blogger.
24:55 and very happy with that, having drawn a blank at the first pass throught the across clues.
I lked this a lot. A nice range of clues from the silly EGGCUP to the erudite CASSANDRA.
COD CANNIEST.
Thanks to Ulaca and the setter
Completely forgot to look at the blog on completion, as I got sidetracked into booking a holiday in September! Well, we puzzled over OLIGARCHY for a bit, but then came up with the idea that oligarchs are not ‘elected’, they are people of power and influence, no? So to get in to number 10 (Downing St) you would have to be elected by the people rather than rule through other means. We liked this quite a bit – it wasn’t exactly easy, but was quirky and, more to the point, when you got an answer, you knew it was right because it jolly-well parsed. I liked BRA IN BOX and CASSANDRA,’unbelievably’ accurate – as David Exham has said, always accurate, but fated never to be believed. I, too, wanted WARD for 23D until I thought of TIE, which made sense of the definition. COD YELL OW!
Truss and Sunak weren’t elected by the people, and neither was Johnson in his first stint.
We were always taught in history class that in the British parliamentary system the Prime Minister isn’t elected as such by the people but rather merely elected as an MP and it’s his party that makes him Prime Minister. This of course is in direct contrast to the American public directly voting for a President.
Much of this seemed clever to me or certainly cleverer THAN me. Saw everything in the end but good job I had nowhere to be this wet bank holiday other than in front of the fire chewing my pencil. Needed aids to remember CAPRI having been through the Highlands and Islands unsuccessfully. I was another MAN of letters. Damn.
FOI PORT
LOI GOING
On holiday for two weeks with no crosswords, so was happy to come in at 21’05”. Harder than the average Monday, I’d have said. Particularly liked the clues for OLIGARCHY and CAPITAL GAINS. New word learned while on holiday: OCHLOCRACY = mob rule. Quite apt, here in France. Hope to see it appearing in a crossword soon.
Having dipped soldiers in eggs for over 70 years, I have to admit that I couldn’t see the answer to 5 across and therefore got stuck in NE corner. Can I excuse myself by suggesting that egg cup should be (3,3) and not (6) ?
Just in time to say WHAT A GREAT PUZZLE! Very happy to come in at 23 minutes. LOI HIPPIE. COD CASSANDRA, Im always sad when I get such a clever clue fast, because I feel the cleverness was a bit wasted. Really enjoyed that from start to finish. Many thanks to the setter. Thanks to blogger too 🙂 cheers Steve
Struggled with hippie, capricious and oligarchy. I visited HK often for work trips – usually of a week. If possible I’d try to escape to Cheung Chow for a walk/meal. My favourite ‘off HK’ island.
Smart choice. We’ve had a holiday place there for a few years now.
Made more friends in 6 months there than in 35 years on the mainland.
Really enjoyed this diverse and amusing puzzle. Biffed a few : HIPPIE,OLIGARCHY and ABNORMALLY, then reverse-engineered. Very much like BIRDSONG my FOI, BRAINBOX and TENNIS RACKET once I realised where the definition lay. Took me a while to recognise the initials of our MEN OF LETTERS, but I got there eventually. Overall would have taken about 5o minutes.
Good start to a cold, grey winter’s day here in Oz.
Sunny in Sydney. HIPPIE my FOI, strange to see some many better solvers getting it last.