Music: Mozart, Symphony#40, Fricsay/VPO.
Time: 22 minutes
I was treating this as a typical Monday puzzle, biffing my way through the grid. But at the end, I came to the NW corner, and really had to think hard, using knowledge I didn’t know I had. Can anyone name the twenty tributaries of the Trent? Thought so! But fortunately, other knowledge came to my aid, and I was able to put in the obvious answer. On the other hand, I did know the far from internationally famous Scottish town.
As a challenge to our UK solvers, I invite you to name the 169 different municipalities in Connecticut, and all the tributaries that feed into the Housatonic River.
| Across | |
| 1 | Day round northern town (6) |
| THURSO – THURS + O. | |
| 4 | Set off brilliant attempt to sell (5,3) |
| START OUT – STAR + TOUT, my FOI. | |
| 10 | One enters to take the place of petitioner (9) |
| SUPPLIANT – SUPPL(I)ANT. | |
| 11 | Prince keeping superb racing horse (5) |
| PACER – P(ACE)R. | |
| 12 | Row all but head of Trent tributary (3) |
| OAR – [s]OAR, of course. Wise solvers will biff and move on. | |
| 13 | European men confused with ringtone (11) |
| MONTENEGRIN – Anagram of MEN + RINGTONE. Getting either end will get you the rest. | |
| 14 | Curve on road needs key traffic light (6) |
| CAMBER – C + AMBER, another easy one. | |
| 16 | Reactionary — that is husband interrupting attorney, by the way (3-4) |
| DIE-HARD – D(I.E., H)A + RD. Most solvers will biff. | |
| 19 | Get ready to make cuts around theatre (7) |
| PREPARE – P(REP)ARE. | |
| 20 | Proposal that uses titanium in satellite (6) |
| MOTION – MO(TI)ON. | |
| 22 | Ed lunched with us, getting sozzled — not planned (11) |
| UNSCHEDULED – Anagram of ED LUNCHED + US. Amusing surface. | |
| 25 | Each article two pounds? (3) |
| ALL – A + L + L, another starter clue. | |
| 26 | Figurative expression is right in excellent English (5) |
| TROPE – T(R)OP E. A word often found in 18th century poetry. | |
| 27 | Old question over India in country of the Six Nations? (9) |
| IROQUOIAN – IR(O,QU,O,I)AN, one I biffed, and erased because I couldn’t parse it, and then got. | |
| 28 | Note put in to request supply of another instrument (8) |
| RECORDER – RE(C)-ORDER. | |
| 29 | Drifting sand blocks Greek port (6) |
| GDANSK – G(anagram of SAND)K. I believe we have seen this one before. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | It is very good time to be an artist (6) |
| TISSOT – TIS + SO + T. I had to wrack my brain to remember this character, as the SO part was not obvious from the cryptic. | |
| 2 | Like CID drug incident under investigation (5-4) |
| UPPER-CASE – UPPER, i.e amphetamine + CASE. | |
| 3 | Where some were tried earlier, Hindu festivals set up (5) |
| SALEM – MELAS upside-down. | |
| 5 | Transforming into maltreated ragamuffin (14) |
| TATTERDEMALION – Anagram of INTO MALTREATED, an easy one for me. | |
| 6 | Substitute for engineers dispatched earlier? (9) |
| REPRESENT – R.E. + PRE-SENT. | |
| 7 | Very big vehicle shows character papa is after (5) |
| OSCAR – O/S CAR, where Oscar and papa are in the NATO alphabet. | |
| 8 | Lament mistreatment of thorny devil, not six left (8) |
| THRENODY – Anagram of THORNY DE[vi l]. Another easy one for over-educated solvers. | |
| 9 | Moon of Saturn in forbidden path making top news item (6,8) |
| BANNER HEADLINE – BANNE(RHEA)D LINE, another biff here. | |
| 15 | Work as cleaner round West End, initially outfit on the Strand (9) |
| BEACHWEAR – BE A CH(W.E.)AR – don’t mind the capitalization. | |
| 17 | Praise a Democrat speech (9) |
| ADORATION – A D ORATION, another beginner clue. | |
| 18 | Throw out fifty getting into small club (8) |
| SPLUTTER – S P(L)UTTER. | |
| 21 | Physicist’s scheme united Celsius and Kelvin (6) |
| PLANCK – PLAN + C + K. | |
| 23 | Philosopher — one in short supply (5) |
| STOIC – STO(I)C[k]. | |
| 24 | Priest swindled outside game (5) |
| DRUID – D(RU)ID. | |
DNF. Gave up after 45m, having failed to get DRUID or IROQUOIAN. The former was because I had forgotten that rugby is a game not a sport in crosswordland, whilst the latter was a NHO.
Thanks vinyl and setter
15.50 with NW corner producing a roadblock. Fortunately, Salem gave me a start and Tissot cracked it. Think I saw a programme a while ago featuring a lovely painting by Tissot of a regatta. Was a bit wortied about oar but turns out I didn’t need to be.
My first ever complete solve having dabbled unsuccessfully over the years. It took me a trifling day and a half. I realise I am opening myself to ridicule but I don’t care and am inordinately pleased with myself!
Well, fortunately you commented so late no one will see it!
Seriously, if you continue to tackle the puzzles, and read the blog every day, you should be able to improve.
True, the benefits of being slow.
Thank you, I will persevere.
Same problems as many others, especially TISSOT ( despite doing the history of art at Uni), OAR (NHO), IROQUOIAN (despite having all the checkers and realising the definition), and TROPE (never remembered, despite also doing honours English at Uni!). So, another “under-educated” solver here – ot maybe my brain is slowing down considerably…
Liked PLANCK and UPPER CASE.
DNF despite resorting to an aid which does not include Tissot in the list of artists.
Thanks to blogger for explication, and to setter for amusing clues, especially “work as cleaner”.
If I had read yesterday’s blog before starting this grid, Thurso would have come to mind much sooner, having been coincidentally mentioned in the comments.