Music: Kabelvsky, The Comedians, Tjeknavorian/Armenian Phil
Time: 19 minutes.
I thought this was going to be difficult, as I only got four or five across answers on my first run-through, but the downs proved much easier, and I found a lot of gimmes. Then the across clues started to make sense, and I cleaned up fairly quickly. My solve was mostly a biff-fest, and even after finishing I found some of the parsings a bit obscure.
There should be no difficulty with vocabulary today, although I did need two tries to spell Phrygian correctly. There may be some solvers who don’t know grimalkin, but the cryptic hands it to you.
PS. I’ve added a few corrections to the parsing. This puzzle is definite proof that you don’t need to know what you’re doing to get the correct answers, at least in the easier puzzles.
| Across | |
| 1 | Brightly-coloured bird with a flower from the east (5) |
| MACAW – W A CAM backwards, i.e. the river that flows through Cambridge. | |
| 4 | Formidable family keeping a large old female cat (9) |
| GRIMALKIN – GRIM (A,L) KIN. | |
| 9 | Inclination to study Italian at first with head (9) |
| READINESS – READ + I[talian] + NESS. | |
| 10 | Asian country’s temperature, the writer hazards (5) |
| TIBET – T, I BET. | |
| 11 | Wally returning container with end broken off (6) |
| NITWIT – TIN backwards + WIT[h]. | |
| 12 | Soldiers (male) bitten by sort of bear’s tooth (8) |
| PREMOLAR – P(RE,M)OLAR. | |
| 14 | Clash involving Times grandee (12) |
| DISAGREEMENT – Anagram of TIMES GRANDEE. | |
| 17 | Speed regulator’s joint position of authority in US state (12) |
| GOVERNORSHIP – GOVERNOR’S HIP. | |
| 20 | Ancient countryman praying desperately outside hospital (8) |
| PHRYGIAN – Anagram of PRAYING around H. I was thinking that if this ended in -ian, there wouldn’t be enough vowels left, but there were. | |
| 21 | Follow-up drink for one making an impression (6) |
| CHASER – Double definition – chasing is engraving. | |
| 23 | Minor divinity reported near a pond at last (5) |
| NAIAD – Sounds like NIGH + A + [pon]D. Yes, a naiad is a water nymph, so the clue is far from misleading. | |
| 24 | Blamelessness of civil engineer visiting pub in the past (9) |
| INNOCENCE – INN O(C.E)NCE. | |
| 25 | Tipsy English chap screwed up, perhaps? (9) |
| TIGHTENED – TIGHT E NED. | |
| 26 | More recent part of school at Erith (5) |
| LATER – Hidden in [schoo]L AT ER[ith]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Serviceman digesting puff and spiced liquid (8) |
| MARINADE – MARIN(AD)E. | |
| 2 | Church painter, a nineteenth century reformer (8) |
| CHARTIST – CH ARTIST. | |
| 3 | Working in cafe, failed to remember about party and play (7,3,5) |
| WAITING FOR GODOT – WAITING + FORGO(DO)T. | |
| 4 | Eg Scottish Celt in strong wind, we hear (4) |
| GAEL – Sounds like GALE. | |
| 5 | On which to play casually, visiting home and part of hospital? (10) |
| INSTRUMENT – IN (STRUM) E.N.T, a semi-&lit. | |
| 6 | An Athenian man briefly heading state, holding republican views (15) |
| ANTIMONARCHICAL -AN + TIMON + ARCHI[e]- + CAL, |
|
| 7 | Pellets livestock ultimately pick at? Not the first (6) |
| KIBBLE – [livestoc]K + [n]IBBLE. Often used to describe dry dog food here in the US. | |
| 8 | Legal official’s polite refusal on track (6) |
| NOTARY – I think this might be N.O.T.A. = None Of The Above, + RY. Or maybe it’s NO, TA + RY. But that involves lifting and separating something that cannot really be lifted and separated, since it’s in the answer, not the wordplay. Nobody says no, ta. | |
| 13 | Group of states in defeat or in disarray (10) |
| FEDERATION – Anagram of DEFEAT OR IN. | |
| 15 | Revolutionary stunt ruined old joke (8) |
| CHESTNUT – CHE + anagram of STUNT. | |
| 16 | Impulse to place in box part of transmission (4,4) |
| SPUR GEAR – SP(URGE)AR. Never heard of it, but the cryptic hands it to you. | |
| 18 | Peg installed in standard type of harpsichord (6) |
| SPINET – S(PIN)ET, as in set book. | |
| 19 | Cower endlessly round back of bothy, showing distress (6) |
| CRYING – CR([both]Y)ING[e]. No need to know what a bothy is, although I do. | |
| 22 | Woman from north involved in Muslim festival (4) |
| ENID – E(N)ID. | |
Maureen Potter had a show at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin called GAELS of LAUGHTER. I remember being very happy as a boy when I got the joke. 16’52”. Spent too long thinking 17 ac began with CO-, because of the joint. KIBBLE had me thinking about the story line in Brighton Rock about a newspaperman who the public had to recognise in order to claim a prize. But on checking I see he was called Kolley Kibber.
We do say ‘no ta’ in the midlands!