Time taken: 10:37.
I thought I was on for a very quick time here – by 5 minutes I was down to three answers: 14 across, 5 down, and 4 across. The three of them took as long as the rest of the crossword as I was drawing a mental blank and scribbling letter combinations on my note paper to try to get some inspiration.
Judging by the early times in, I was the only one having that problem! So maybe today is your day to well and truly beat my time! How did you do?
| Across | |
| 1 | Rascal with voice damage (6) |
| IMPAIR – IMP(rascal) and AIR(voice) | |
| 4 | Sanction capital city, ignoring Fifth Amendment (8) |
| ACCREDIT – ACCRA(capital of Ghana) minus the fifth letter, then EDIT(amendment) | |
| 9 | Serious doctor with a reduced staff (7) |
| DRASTIC – DR(doctor), A, and STICK(staff) minus the last letter | |
| 11 | Massage feathers with difficulty at first (3,4) |
| RUB DOWN – DOWN(feathers) after RUB(difficulty) | |
| 12 | Not a single person has 12 euros to start with (2,3) |
| NO ONE – NOON(12 o’clock) and the first letter of Euros | |
| 13 | Flying reptiles getting cold drink (6,3) |
| TRIPLE SEC – anagram of REPTILES, then C(cold). Not sure if anyone drinks this by itself, I’ve had it in kamikazes and margaritas | |
| 14 | Transport for Ollie’s fish food (10) |
| SKATEBOARD – SKATE(fish), BOARD(food). Ollie here refers to a move you do on a skateboard. Took me forever to see this. | |
| 16 | Drop broadcast for match (4) |
| SYNC – homophone of SINK(drop) | |
| 19 | Remove lead from dangerous light (4) |
| AIRY – remove the first letter from HAIRY(dangerous) | |
| 20 | Psychiatrist to finish shooting film? (6-4) |
| SHRINK-WRAP – SHRINK(psychiatrist), WRAP(finish shooting) | |
| 22 | Requirement to carry over long pencil, say (9) |
| MOUSTACHE – MUST(requirement) containing O(over), then ACHE(long) | |
| 23 | Low point when free article is sent back (5) |
| NADIR – RID(free) and AN(article) all reversed | |
| 25 | Maniac reversing into bar — a domed building (7) |
| ROTUNDA – NUT(maniac) reversed inside ROD(bar) and A | |
| 26 | Crying out for engine that runs without fluid, ultimately (7) |
| NEEDING – anagram of ENGINE containing the last letter in fluiD | |
| 27 | Fan of podcast in French hosted by scientist (8) |
| LISTENER – EN(“in” in French) inside Joseph LISTER, surgeon/scientist | |
| 28 | Optimistic to boost copper circuit? (6) |
| UPBEAT – if you boost the copper’s circuit you UP BEAT | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Unnamed person’s infiltrating Asian country and another (9) |
| INDONESIA – ONE’S(unnamed person’s) inside INDIA | |
| 2 | Scotsman entering river for a grand, perhaps (5) |
| PIANO – IAN(Scotsman) inside the river PO | |
| 3 | Owing rent, hide in a different state (2,3,3) |
| IN THE RED – anagram of RENT and HIDE | |
| 5 | Messenger from warship with one note penned by servant (7,6) |
| CARRIER PIGEON – CARRIER(warship, think aircraft carrier) then I(one), G(musical note) inside PEON(servant). My last in. | |
| 6 | Russian capital conceals last of bomb debris (6) |
| RUBBLE – RUBLE(Russian money, capital) containing the last letter of bomB | |
| 7 | Pessimist succeeded in lifting mind-set on New Year (9) |
| DOOMSAYER – S(succeeded) underneath MOOD(mind-set) reversed, then an anagram of YEAR | |
| 8 | Mixer’s temperature — chilled, mostly (5) |
| TONIC – T(temperature) then ON ICE(chilled) minus the last letter | |
| 10 | Ignore superfluous details and show a quiz programme instead? (3,2,3,5) |
| CUT TO THE CHASE – glad the enumeration left no other possibility. I had no idea there was a quiz show called THE CHASE. If you show it instead, then you CUT TO THE CHASE | |
| 15 | Indicator of sarcasm is terrible to a squire (3,6) |
| AIR QUOTES – anagram of TO,A,SQUIRE | |
| 17 | Arrest Yankee with correct kind of protection (9) |
| COPYRIGHT – COP(arrest), Y(Yankee), RIGHT(correct) | |
| 18 | Superficial sort covered in ooze (4-4) |
| SKIN-DEEP – KIND(sort) inside SEEP(ooze) | |
| 21 | This second chapter goes into redress (2,4) |
| AT ONCE – C(chapter) inside ATONE(redress) | |
| 22 | Drink tipped on a large artwork (5) |
| MURAL – RUM(drink) reversed, A, L(large) | |
| 24 | Force king into shoddy establishment (5) |
| DRIVE – R(king) inside DIVE(shoddy establishment) | |
8.25. Probably should have been faster but didn’t seem to be on the wavelength.
Guys this is my first complete solve of the cryptic with no help! It took me an embarrassingly long time to finish but hopefully I can get faster. I would like to thank my mom and the boys Mark and Simon over at the Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel for introducing me to Cryptics. I fell in love with them ever since I watched a random Friday masterclass video oh so long ago now.