Time taken: 8:47. I may have been on the setter’s wavelength because my time seems a little faster than the average of the early solvers. I really enjoyed this one, there’s three unusual pieces of wordplay and I like it when these little-used devices come into play.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Foil employer who erects barriers? (6) |
| FENCER – double definition, for the combat sport and home handyperson | |
| 5 | Ill after start of fast? Get medicine here (8) |
| PHARMACY – HARM(ill) inserted after the first letter of PACY(fast). First piece of unusual wordplay – we don’t see this sort of containment indicator often | |
| 9 | Star actor I recast as Dracula, say (10) |
| ARISTOCRAT – anagram of STAR,ACTOR,I – Dracula was a count | |
| 10 | Kind of weight that a horse finally brought down (4) |
| TROY – double definition for the system of weights, and the city with the gift horse | |
| 11 | Split personality, for example, in tattered raincoat (8) |
| CROATIAN – anagram of RAINCOAT. The last daily puzzle I blogged used “Split personality” as a definition for DALMATIAN so I was right on to this | |
| 12 | Love one part of school that’s stupid (6) |
| OAFISH – O(love), then one part of school is A FISH. I originally had one=A, but as pointed out in the comments, that convention isn’t used in the Times. I was in Mephistoland a few days early. | |
| 13 | Surrounded by maidens, surrounded by helping hands (4) |
| AMID – M(maiden overs) inside AID(helping hands) | |
| 15 | The main challenges for sopranos, as you can hear (4,4) |
| HIGH SEAS – sounds like HIGH C’S (challenges for sopranos) | |
| 18 | Old soldier turning in torn decoration (8) |
| ORNAMENT – O(old), then MAN(soldier) reversed inside RENT(torn) | |
| 19 | Being behind, with others going back (4) |
| LATE – ET AL(with others) reversed | |
| 21 | Spirits raised after swallowing a litre (6) |
| MORALE – MORE(raised) containing A,L(litre) | |
| 23 | Dawn to stand up and boast (8) |
| COCKCROW – COCK(stand up) and CROW(boast) | |
| 25 | Grave situation from doctor’s perspective (4) |
| TOMB – the situation from a doctor’s perspective could be TO MB | |
| 26 | One group in difficulty that’s always ready to ignite (5,5) |
| PILOT LIGHT – I(one), LOT(group) inside PLIGHT(difficulty) | |
| 27 | Overeat a lot around a time for celebration (8) |
| HOGMANAY – HOG(overeat), MANY(a lot) surrounding A. Anyone else think of Terry Pratchett here? | |
| 28 | Like unsatisfied consumer taking article from European country (6) |
| HUNGRY – remove A(article) from HUNGARY(European country) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | English educational foundation embraces old fallacy (5) |
| ERROR – E(English) and RRR(the three R’s, educational foundation) surrounding O(old) | |
| 3 | Like novelist, runs into accountant who was unbelievably accurate? (9) |
| CASSANDRA – AS(like) the novelist George SAND, and R(runs) inside CA(Chartered Accountant) | |
| 4 | One of four men initially on board that is neophyte (6) |
| ROOKIE – ROOK(one of four on a chess board), IE(that is) | |
| 5 | How numbers of letters appear here to bring up one demand they oddly put about (15) |
| PARENTHETICALLY – PARENT(bring up), then I(one), CALL(demand) inside an anagram of THEY. Definition referring to the enumeration after clues. | |
| 6 | Even if a learner pondered, not reaching conclusion (8) |
| ALTHOUGH – A, L(learner), THOUGHT(pondered) minus the last letter | |
| 7 | After short time, like fiddle that’s taken up theme (5) |
| MOTIF – MO(short time) then FIT as a fiddle reversed | |
| 8 | Eccentric co-stars in part of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (9) |
| CROISSANT – anagram of CO-STARS,IN | |
| 14 | Visitor to China has nothing to pack up before game (5,4) |
| MARCO POLO – O(nothing) and CRAM(pack) reversed before POLO(game) | |
| 16 | In part, take French or Spanish translation for the anthology (9) |
| SELECTION – fun wordplay part 2: LE or EL(“the” in French or Spanish) inside SECTION(part) | |
| 17 | Saint subject to criticism? That’s child’s play (5,3) |
| PETER PAN – Saint PETER, then PAN(subject to criticism) | |
| 20 | Put the lid on strong drink (6) |
| SCOTCH – double definition | |
| 22 | Former American student briefly holding British record (5) |
| ALBUM – ALUM(former American student briefly) containing B(British) | |
| 24 | Further letters after one or two from female or male relative (5) |
| OTHER – quirky wordplay #3 – remove one letter from MOTHER or two from BROTHER | |
26.10 With a typo in PARENTHETICALLY. As always, I was pleased to finish a 15×15 even with a typo and this was very quick for me. CASSANDRA and OTHER were never parsed. I did like SELECTION. Thanks glh.
Which is heavier? A ton of gold or a ton of feathers? No they are not the same, because one is measured in Troy weight and the other in Avoirdupois. (Can’t remember which is which) . I owe that to a pre-war weekend book for boys that belonged to my dad. Knew it would come in handy one day. Another task was to punctuate the following: “Smith where Jones had had had had had had had had had had had the examiner’s approval.” 17’11”.
I really enjoyed that and amazingly finished it in 20:25. Off to buy a lottery ticket now.
As others, fully enjoyed, with a pacy start – thanks to the “get medicine here” (which could only have one answer really!). Then 1a , and surprisingly for me, the 5d trick immediately spotted – which helped a lot. Slow to get ORNAMENT and MORALE (not equating more with raised), but the rest understood and liked – particularly ERROR and of course CROATIAN, but all clues varied and clearly parsable (if that’s a word)! More from this setter please.