Time taken: 34:33. One of my slowest solves ever, and only part of it is because I was watching a friend play the new Zelda game. This puzzle had me scratching my head and even though I had a complete grid, I am still at a loss as to why.
There are several faster times than me in so far, which means maybe the general knowledge is just way way out of my ken.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Further busy folk including James, for one (7) |
| BESIDES – BEES(busy folk) containing SID James, comic actor of the 60s and 70s | |
| 5 | That’s disgusting about getting fingerprints on jimjams (7) |
| HABDABS – BAH(that’s disgusting) reversed, then DABS(fingerprints). I kept trying to work pyjamas into this clue, but jimjams can also mean heebie-geebies | |
| 9 | County town likens Lenin to rock (11) |
| ENNISKILLEN – anagram of LIKENS,LENIN | |
| 10 | Couple wanting anything from Yorkshire in retirement (3) |
| TWO – OWT(anything, from Yorkshire) reversed | |
| 11 | Boy with odd bits of ideas where girls may go (6) |
| LADIES – LAD(boy) and alternating letters in IdEaS | |
| 12 | Valve casing in Triumph dry in part (8) |
| THROTTLE – external letters in TriumpH, then TT(dry) inside ROLE(part) | |
| 14 | Job done en bloc by us and our shift (4,4,5) |
| BOBS YOUR UNCLE – anagram of EN,BLOC,BY,US and OUR | |
| 17 | Spread nap out in hide streaked with grey (6-3-4) |
| PEPPER-AND-SALT – anagram of SPREAD,NAP inside PELT(hide) | |
| 21 | Slow Conservative hotline maybe deleting its first answer (8) |
| DILATORY – the Conservative hotline would be DIAL-A-TORY, remove the first A(answer) | |
| 23 | Satellite towns regularly visited east of Gong River (6) |
| OBERON – alternating letters in tOwNs after OBE(gong), R(river). OBERON is a moon of Uranus | |
| 25 | Thick part of disc (3) |
| FAT – this was my last in, and it looks like a double definition… could it be referring to an old computer term that FAT is a type of filesystem on a disc? | |
| 26 | Experts using second-rate checks tied up when caught? (6,5) |
| BRAINS TRUST – B(second-rate) then sounds like REINS(checks) and TRUSSED(tied up) | |
| 27 | Tedious stretch before Fourth of July (7) |
| LENGTHY – LENGTH(stretch) and the fourth letter in julY | |
| 28 | One pressing to stop extremely smarmy MP’s consultation (7) |
| SURGERY -URGER(one pressing) inside the external letters of SmarmY. MP can mean Medical Provider in the USA, but I don’t see it as an abbreviation for such in Collins. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Insect, note, crossing line in pursuit of another (6) |
| BEETLE -TE(musical note) surrounding L(line) after BEE(another insect) | |
| 2 | Polish expert finds fish (4,3) |
| SAND DAB – SAND(polish), DAB(expert) | |
| 3 | Pretend I’m blessed in action (9) |
| DISSEMBLE – anagram of I’M BLESSED | |
| 4 | Dispatch poverty? Not difficult (4) |
| SHIP – HARDHIP(poverty) minus HARD(difficult) | |
| 5 | Case, not the first to pursue small fiends (10) |
| HELLHOUNDS – SHELL(case) minus the first letter, then HOUND(pursue), S(small) | |
| 6 | British language not appearing initially in House (5) |
| BINGO – B(British), then LINGO(language) minus the first letter | |
| 7 | When French director once, caught changing (7) |
| ASTATIC – AS(when), then the director Jaques TATI, C(caught) | |
| 8 | Arguably, one proving journalist is clean? (8) |
| SHOWERED – SHOWER(arguably, one proving), ED(journalist) | |
| 13 | Crikey: large commercial interrupting fine, heavenly musical (2,4,4) |
| MY FAIR LADY – MY(crikey), then L(large), AD(commercial) inside F(fine) and AIRY(heavenly) | |
| 15 | Istanbul releasing first unusual list around capital (4,5) |
| ULAN BATOR – anagram of ISTANBUL minus IST(first), then ROTA(list) reversed. Capital of Mongolia | |
| 16 | Gym shoes picked up European variant of flu — you’d get this from spitting (8) |
| SPADEFUL – DAPS(sym shoes) reversed, then E(European) and an anagram of FLU. Spitting can refer to digging | |
| 18 | Basque sport curtailed in contact with pack from another (7) |
| PELOTON – PELOTA(Basque sport) minus the last letter, then ON(in contact with) | |
| 19 | University, primarily for effect, pursuing biting hypocrite (7) |
| TARTUFE – U(university) and the first letters in For Effect, after TART(biting). I have only seen this with a double F, but Collins has both versions | |
| 20 | Rowan eg may be so difficult (6) |
| KNOTTY – double definition | |
| 22 | New Year abroad, touring centre of prohibited region (5) |
| TIBET – TET(Vietnamese lunar New Year), surrounding the middle letters of prohIBited | |
| 24 | Burden at the expense of The Times? (4) |
| ONUS – ON(at the expense of), US(the Times). | |
Misspelled ‘peloton’. Shrugs shoulders. ‘Fat’ – meh.
I had “dabs” and “heebie-jeebies” but couldn’t sort out the unknown Habadabs from that even with the crossers, so I fell one short and several others not fully parsed due to lack of GK.
Not for me!!
Several obscurities guessed correctly, but I erred in thinking PELETON/PELETA, so the OWL club for me.
Thanks for explaining all to an Australian who gets the paper version a month later and found this beyond me with too many unknowns (at least for me).
If for posterity these are archived can I respectfully suggest for accuracy the definition of 18 down is pack from another, not just another?
Thanks again.