No time today, as I accidentally left the clock running with one clue to solve; I had 3/4 done in about 20 minutes and thought I was on for a time I’d be pleased with, but then spent another 20 minutes grinding out all but my LOI (4dn).
Another excellent Friday offering with plenty of starters, several to chew on, a few bits to learn/dredge up from the recesses, and no real duds.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Almost overlook model given wrong part (7) |
| MISCAST – not all of (almost) MISs (overlook) + CAST (model). This led me down the garden path at first, thinking it would be sit+(part)*. | |
| 5 | Fruit now delivered (7) |
| CURRANT – sounds like (delivered) “current” (now). | |
| 9 | Chap with knowledge of the Borders (3) |
| KEN – cryptic hint, with knowledge = ken (chiefly Scottish). | |
| 10 | Time to bow out gracefully? (7,4) |
| CURTAIN CALL – cryptic definition. | |
| 11 | Writer’s novel reaching all-time low in retrospect (8) |
| SHERIDAN – SHE (novel), then NADIR (all time low) reversed (in retrospect). It took me an embarrassing amount of time to think of this name, even after understanding how the clue might work. I see he is buried in Poets’ Corner, so now I feel like more of a philistine for not having read him. | |
| 12 | Curse put on British land (6) |
| BLIGHT – B (British) + LIGHT (to land, as if from sea). | |
| 15 | Dismissive remark about instigator of Tory strategy (4) |
| PATH – PAH (dismissive remark) containing (about) the first letter (instigator) of Tory. | |
| 16 | One finding winter quarters abhorrent, I suspect (10) |
| HIBERNATOR – anagram of (suspect) ABHORRENT I. Such a great clue; probably my COD, but we’ll see how the rest of the blog goes. | |
| 18 | A drink for that damned woman? (6,4) |
| BLOODY MARY – cryptic hint. | |
| 19 | Broadcaster’s black Hummer heading west (4) |
| BEEB – B (black), then BEE (hummer) reversed (heading west). | |
| 22 | Chapter leaving bishop’s staff more optimistic (6) |
| ROSIER – cROSIER (bishop’s staff) minus its ‘c’ (chapter leaving) | |
| 23 | Fool twice by means of offer? (8) |
| ASSASSIN – ASS (fool) x2, plus IN (by means of). One who kills (offs). | |
| 25 | Time a careerist wasted in support team (11) |
| SECRETARIAT – anagram of (wasted) T (time) + A + CAREERIST. | |
| 27 | Landless state creating resentment (3) |
| IRE – IREland (state) without its ‘land’. | |
| 28 | Name of someone famous? (7) |
| ALISTER – A-LISTER (someone famous). Even after thinking of this solution I was still looking for a word meaning ‘name’ and not a proper one. I suspect ‘Alastair’/’Alistair’ is more common around here. | |
| 29 | Irreverent icon having change of heart (7) |
| GODLESS – GODdESS (icon) swapping its central ‘d’ for an L. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Devises constitution involving society (5,2) |
| MAKES UP – MAKE-UP (constitution) containing (involving) S (society). | |
| 2 | Moralising nun sees to it unhappily (11) |
| SENTENTIOUS – anagram of (unhappily) NUN SEES TO IT. | |
| 3 | Bitter about being thrown into truck (6) |
| ARCTIC – C (circa, about) contained by (being thrown into) ARTIC (articulated lorry, truck). | |
| 4 | The solid foundations of Cicero’s speech? (5,5) |
| TERRA FIRMA – cryptic definition; solid foundations in Latin (Cicero’s speech). I had a complete blind spot for this. | |
| 5 | Press refuse to turn up (4) |
| CRAM – MARC (refuse) reversed. I knew this wine-making term, but still doubted that a setter would define it simply as refuse. Quite clever, I think. | |
| 6 | Hierarchy protecting Liberal, getting one’s back up (8) |
| RANKLING -RANKING (hierarchy) containing (protecting) L (liberal). | |
| 7 | Henry enthralled by Carmen, I see (3) |
| AHA – H (Henry) contained (enthralled) by AA (Automobile Association, car-men). Devilish bordering on Graunadian. | |
| 8 | Satellite phone? Terrific (7) |
| TELSTAR – TEL (phone) + STAR (terrific). | |
| 13 | Street kid gets one punter riled (11) |
| GUTTERSNIPE – anagram of (riled) GETS + I (one) + PUNTER. | |
| 14 | Keeping back crowd around English journalists (10) |
| REPRESSING – RING (crowd), containing (around) E (English) and PRESS (journalists). | |
| 17 | Supporter, strangely heartened, dropping an E (8) |
| ADHERENT – anagram of (strangely) HEARTeNED missing your choice of ‘e’. | |
| 18 | Worker in grounds is finally sent to stop horse rearing (7) |
| BARISTA – IS + the last letter of senT, contained by (to stop) ARAB (horse) reversed (rearing). Coffee grounds, of course. | |
| 20 | Crazy swinger’s game beginning anew (7) |
| BONKERS – cONKERS (swinger’s game) with a different first letter (beginning anew). | |
| 21 | Left old rocker not feeling great, apparently (6) |
| PARTED – PAR (average, expected) TED (old rocker), therefore not feeling great. | |
| 24 | Outspoken old man in Paris is to marry (4) |
| PAIR – sounds like (outspoken) “Père” (old man (father) in French). | |
| 26 | Life force embodied by Achilles? (3) |
| CHI – hidden (embodied) in aCHIlles. | |
31.25
Didnt think of WASTED but paused before going with PARTED as my LOI
Otherwise missed the easy ARCTIC as I was thinking of something relating to the taste of bitter as in ACIDIC which annoyingly fitted even though it was obviously not right. Also missed CURRANT as “delivered” as a homophone indicator was forgotten. They delayed CURTAIN CALL but once that came I was able to piece together the rest of the NE.
Thought BARISTA was excellent; CARMEN not so but won’t forget it again
I also went with Wasted so fell at the last fence for the second time in a week. Didn’t spot the special offer in Assassin.
Nice puzzle, my error notwithstanding.
Thanks for the blog.
Another wasted, but I agree that PARTED is rather good.
44.50 with errors. I didn’t know MARC, ended up going with COAX weirdly. also a typo in FIRMA didn’t help! my vote for the COD goes to AHA which I had to come to the blog to parse… thanks both!
WASTED
As was 39’ of my life.
Defeated by CRAM. Loved PARTED but CARMEN is unforgivable. Perhaps worker in grounds merits a question mark but I like it. Thanks for the blog.
Agree that 5 dn was a very annoying clue (VAC), but we shouldn’t be too hard on the compiler as he clearly got himself well mixed up over clues 5dn and 21dn. You see, the answer to 21dn is wasted, which you get if you have an excessive quantity of marc, which is a component of the answer to 5 dn. Also ‘waste’ is a sort of synonym for
‘refuse’ as per the 5 dn clue. Hope this has not confused you!
Thought I’d never get anywhere with this but finally gave up without solving 20d BONKERS or 21d PARTED so not so bad after all. Liked BARISTA and SHERIDAN.
Thanks for explaining AHA!
My father was an ALISTER so I was pleased when the penny dropped there. (His parents thought it was best to spell it as it sounded but he then spent all his life explaining that it wasn’t spelt ALASTAIR or ALISTAIR or ALASDAIR and generally went by his middle name!)
Many thanks again to setter and blogger and all who contribute here.
I liked the grounds worker; wrinkled my brow at bonkers (please) (really please); went through every 1950-2000 rock and roller I could think of (and I can think of a lot) before Parted failed to occur to me; and was bemused that we are chuffed when we spot, and then ignore, ignoreable punctuation, but are displeased with the setter when he or she decides that a space (as in car[ ]men) qualifies as a good opportunity to test us on the topic.
thx, wm. nice blog, as always
TELSTAR very nice 😃
Slightly curate’s eggy, but good fun and as always a relief to finish the Friday puzzle except for PARTED where the clever wordplay was WASTED on me.
Another WASTED here, and couldn’t get the SHERIDAN and TERRA FIRMA clues.
Loved BARISTA
A tough work out
I put wasted instead of PARTED too. Loved the rest of the puzzle.
Along the same lines as fabian above : had to reveal a few to keep steaming away, (the obvious, but not to me CURRANT – I’m always looking for fresh fruit; PARTED, BONKERS even! and BLOODY MARY) but happy to get those I did, and especially liked (AHA, TELSTAR, KEN, ASSASSIN!) to name a few. Not a wasted time for me!
I had WANTED (a pale old rocker), but this was a desperate stab. I still don’t understand how left = parted.