48:22
Well, this one made me feel rather stupid. The mostly easy vocabulary was sneaked past me with clever clueing, and I was left with a few answers where several required parts were out of my ken (e.g. 17dn, LOI 19dn). In the end I enjoyed the grind; had I failed or given up on one or two, I’m sure I would think differently.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Temporary stable lad unseated here (8,4) |
| STANDING ROOM – STAND IN (temporary) + GROOM (stable lad). | |
| 8 | Rugby player from Falmouth carelessly knocking out male (3-4) |
| OUT-HALF – anagram of (carelessly) FALMOUTH without the ‘m’ (male). NHO, despite being somewhat into rugby. | |
| 9 | Scope of brief article on money (7) |
| BREADTH – THe (article, but brief) on BREAD (money). | |
| 11 | Coach regularly coming from Torbay isn’t about to return (7) |
| TRAINER – regular letters from ToRbAy IsNt + RE (about) reversed. | |
| 12 | Carry cans home for preserving food (7) |
| BRINING – BRING (carry) contains (cans) IN (home). | |
| 13 | Public penury, essentially (5) |
| OVERT – central letters from (essentially) pOVERTy (penury). | |
| 14 | Flee Milan, running with loved ones (2,7) |
| EN FAMILLE -anagram of (running) FLEE MILAN. | |
| 16 | Deal for one accepted by great advocate (9) |
| SUPPORTER – PORT (Deal, for one) contained by SUPER (great). | |
| 19 | Very oddly observed, loves motorway and noise of cars (5) |
| VROOM – VeRy (odd letters from) + OO (loves) + M (motorway). | |
| 21 | Child with poor seat for As You Like It (2,5) |
| TO TASTE – TOT (child) + an anagram of (poor) SEAT. | |
| 23 | Go to bed with gigolos, initially in rotation (7) |
| TURNING – TURN IN (go to bed) + the first of Gigolos. | |
| 24 | Topless worker occasionally cuddling former partner without desire (7) |
| ASEXUAL – cASUAL (worker) minus its top, containing (cuddling) EX (former partner). | |
| 25 | Idiotic Head of Accounts is retiring before watershed? (7) |
| ASININE -first of Accounts + reversal of IS + NINE (o’clock, watershed). | |
| 26 | Lacking purpose, once missing church for example (6,6) |
| OBJECT LESSON – OBJECTLESS (lacking purpose) + ONce minus the ‘CE’ (missing church). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | In conversation claim female consumed surfeit (7) |
| SATIATE – sounds like “say she ate” (claim female consumed). | |
| 2 | Touching answer wins time (7) |
| AGAINST – A (answer) + GAINS (wins) + T (time). | |
| 3 | Stay extremely desperate and become alcoholic (9) |
| DEFERMENT – first and last of DesperatE + FERMENT (become alcoholic). | |
| 4 | VIP lifted prohibition of humming (5) |
| NABOB – B.O. BAN (prohibition of humming, i.e. smelling of body odour) all reversed (lifted). | |
| 5 | Broken humeri punctured by new metal (7) |
| RHENIUM – anagram of HUMERI containing N (new). | |
| 6 | Daring to cycle in front of bad cops (3,4) |
| OLD BILL – B-OLD (daring) with the first coming last (to cycle) + ILL (bad). | |
| 7 | Roaming US states Ohio and Georgia in part (5,7) |
| SOUTH OSSETIA – anagram of US STATES OHIO. | |
| 10 | One embracing criminal secretly (6-6) |
| HUGGER-MUGGER – HUGGER (one embracing) + MUGGER (criminal). | |
| 15 | Perhaps William Spooner’s cultivated reputation (5,4) |
| FIRST NAME – spoonerism of “nursed fame” (cultivated reputation). | |
| 17 | Basil perhaps is blind at first after choking smoke (7) |
| POTHERB – first of Blind after POTHER (choking smoke). | |
| 18 | Little-known surgeon supporting oxygen therapy (7) |
| OBSCURE – B.S. (surgeon) under O (oxygen) + CURE (therapy). | |
| 19 | Harridans with spirit ousting earlier maidens (7) |
| VIRGINS – VIRagoS (harridans, bossy women, both unknown to me), with GIN (spirit) replacing (ousting) ‘ago’ (earlier). | |
| 20 | View tear-jerker about end of Philip I (7) |
| OPINION – ONION (tear-jerker), containing the last of philiP with I (one). | |
| 22 | Acclaim some rising digital celebrities (5) |
| ECLAT – reverse hidden in digiTAL CElebrities. | |
I liked this very much, although at 39 minutes’ solving time it was easier than I would have expected. I liked the surface reading of 14ac — what’s going on in Milan? And SATIATE is superb. As for 19dn and 26ac, of course I also had ABSENT REASON for a long time, although the harridans in 19dn bothered me, since I remembered that I knew another word for them, but I couldn’t remember the word itself, and couldn’t work anything in that rang any bells. And in the clue for 26ac I kept wondering what rôle the church was to play. Then I saw “once” losing CE, leaving ABSENTREAS???, which did induce me to think again and find the right answer. Very enjoyable Friday.
Very nice puzzle – 45 minutes – got Virgins correct without fully understanding why. COD to Standing Room.
27.43 of steady if not spectacular solving. Almost derailed in the SW corner by rushing to put in elect rather than eclat. A bit sloppy but object lesson and asexual combined to make me revisit.
Thanks setter and blogger.
Learnt a few new words here ( POTHER, BRINING, S.OSSETIA) but only the latter prevented me from solving the clue. I too had ABSENT REASON ( with a shrug) , and sticking to my original VIRAGOS meant that 25a could never be solved. Apart from all that, really enjoyed this; especially the STAND-IN GROOM and, for once, the Spoonerism.
Another OBJECT LESSON in checking the parsing properly – like quite a few others, I suffered ABSENT REASON. All others correct. Thanks, setter and blogger.