This was the first of the TCC semi-final puzzles, so 52 of you have already attempted it and I believe 40 got it all correct, as well as the other two puzzles. I didn’t find it that easy. I found I had finished the lower half of the grid before any answers emerged for the top part, eventually arriving at completion with some raised eyebrows and a few “I suppose that works”. I wasn’t in great form, true, after a prolonged Golf Club dinner last night, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as usual. Well done to those who romped through it in less than the 20 minute target.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | Company flying flag initially ran off at sea (7) |
| BAFFLED -BA (British Airways), F[lag], FLED (ran off). | |
| 5 | Dog collars cruciverbalists put back are delightful (7) |
| BEWITCH – dog = BITCH, insert WE the solvers. | |
| 9 | Fashion trend with gel covering one with curls (9) |
| RINGLETED – (TREND GEL I)*. | |
| 10 | Half-heartedly chattered about strip of clothing (5) |
| DEBAG – I think this must be GABBED = chattered, reversed with a central B removed. I suppose having your trousers removed or pulled down does constitute partially stripping of clothing, but I thought it was rather loose. | |
| 11 | Stick clutched by extremely cheeky tots in riding gear (7,6) |
| CYCLING SHORTS – C[heek]Y, SHORTS being measures of spirits or tots, insert CLING = stick. | |
| 13 | Ruffian around a creek rolling over in lounger (8) |
| LAYABOUT – ruffian = LOUT, insert A, BAY (creek?) reversed. How is a bay a creek? Another stretch. | |
| 15 | Threaten to go out first from Gatwick Express (6) |
| GUTTER – G[atwick], UTTER = express. No quibbles with this one, but it took me ages to move on from the definition idea of (just) threaten. | |
| 17 | Make good business, plugging pure rubbish (6) |
| RECOUP – CO (business), insider (PURE)*. | |
| 19 | Perhaps someone shooting a bit of magic in EastEnders (8) |
| CINEASTE -hidden word. | |
| 22 | Person holding cup? I bet that gets smashed — it’s what impatient waiters do (5,2,3,3) |
| CHAMP AT THE BIT – CHAMP[ion], (I BET THAT)*. | |
| 25 | Creature that flies round lake in rainy weather (5) |
| OWLET – O (round) then L[ake] inside WET weather. I’m the owl man, I think when an owlet can fly, it has become an owl. | |
| 26 | Doctor to unwind, absorbing hospital casebook? (9) |
| WHODUNNIT – H inside (TO UNWIND)*. | |
| 27 | Mellow wine, like certain spirits (7) |
| KINDRED – KIND = mellow, RED = wine, reference to the common phrase ‘kindred spirits’. | |
| 28 | Activity handymen do, maintaining cunning system with two rulers (7) |
| DIARCHY – handymen do DIY, insert ARCH for cunning. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Perhaps Holly’s outside watering hole, close to drunk (4) |
| BARK – BAR, [drun]K. | |
| 2 | Particular, distasteful part of fish to start with (7) |
| FINICKY – FIN (part of fish), ICKY means distasteful, it’s in the dictionary. | |
| 3 | Phone cases character used on Apple products overturned, making bloomer (5) |
| LILAC – phone = CALL, reverse it and insert I as in iPhone, iPad etc. | |
| 4 | Tons invested in stock, flipping American junk (8) |
| DETRITUS – I’m not clear about this one. US at the end, so we have TIRED reversed with T for tons inserted. How does tired mean stock? As in “a stock phrase” being used often so tired? | |
| 5 | Two pieces of personal info brought up in wine store (6) |
| BODEGA – the two pieces (reversed) are AGE and D.O.B., date of birth. | |
| 6 | Funny writer with family penning poem (9) |
| WODEHOUSE – W[ith], HOUSE (family, as in historical dynasty?), insert ODE = poem. | |
| 7 | Tasteless stuff edging plain upholstery fabric (7) |
| TABARET – TAT (tastless stuff), with BARE for plain inside. I’d never heard of it, nor had Mrs piquet, but got it from wordplay; it is in Collins, dating from 1855. | |
| 8 | Cryptic indication of setter’s part of town (4,6) |
| HIGH STREET – (SETTER)*. I’m not keen on ‘high’ as an anagram indicator, I thought this was a weak clue. | |
| 12 | Recalling marines on strike, one could sound the reveille (5,5) |
| ALARM CLOCK – “A LA” = French à la, recalling, in the manner of; RM the Royal Marines, CLOCK = strike, hit, wallop. | |
| 14 | Naughty dog, say, turned on kids’ programme (4,5) |
| BLUE PETER – BLUE = naughty, PET = dog, say; RE (on) reversed. Apparently it’s the longest running children’s programme in the world, since 1958, although have I managed to avoid it for all 66 years. | |
| 16 | Affluent banks in Madrid bagging working capital (8) |
| RICHMOND – RICH for affluent, M[adri]D has ON = working inserted (bagged). Richmond is a town in Yorkshire, and Richmond-on-Thames is a London borough. There are also some Richmonds in USA, one of which is the capital city of the state of Virginia, so it is a capital of sorts. I’d have thought ‘capital’ usually refers to a nation capital but that’s not so here. | |
| 18 | Comic actor’s crack — brief piece of dialogue (7) |
| CHAPLIN – CHAP (sore, cracked bit of skin), LIN[e]. | |
| 20 | Thus accepting an outcome of sunbathing is very bad (7) |
| SATANIC – SIC (Latin for ‘so’), insert A TAN an outcome of sunbathing. | |
| 21 | Loaded son with possible reason for going to church (6) |
| STOWED – S[on], TO WED a reason for going to church. I liked this one. | |
| 23 | Barbarian aboard boat, regularly getting fare from Asia (5) |
| BHUNA – B[o]A[t] with HUN the Barbarian inserted. | |
| 24 | Wander off, ditching right guy (4) |
| STAY – STRAY loses R. Stay as in a guy rope. | |
I thought this was an excellent puzzle. I struggled at first, with only WHODUNNIT and DIARCHY on my first pass. Nearly gave up but then got a toehold and quickly finished the bottom half. Had to go to bed then but picked it up again this morning and finished it in around an hour or so (over two sittings). The reason why I thought it was excellent is that I was totally baffled by many of the clues (including 1ac) at first, in many cases thought there were too many words in the clue to make it work, but when I worked them out I was able to parse each one and smile at it.
Solved on paper, took some time but all happily completed. Came here to check TIRED which now seems fine. I did think that WE in 5ac referred to both setter and solvers – credit where due and inclusive.