This was one of those puzzles, I thought, with a smattering of hard clues among mostly easy ones. I found some of the definitions a little oblique – general for strategist, for one – and am not sure exactly what is going on at 4d.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, DD = double definition, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | One musician has claimed nothing working — for another? (10) |
| BASSOONIST – BASSIST has O ON (nothing, working) inserted. | |
| 6 | Measure in square feet, one about third of yard (4) |
| ACRE – ACE (one) about R (third letter of yard). Apparently, an acre is 43,560 square feet, I find it easier to understand hectares and metres. | |
| 9 | Bird in capital city on move, heading for resort (10) |
| BUDGERIGAR – BUDGE (move) RIGA (capital of Latvia) R[esort]. I liked this one. | |
| 10 | Work of art destroyed (4) |
| BUST – DD. | |
| 12 | Till search, tigers roaming free? (4,8) |
| CASH REGISTER – (SEARCH TIGERS)*. | |
| 15 | Weapons hardly found aboard vessel (9) |
| ARTILLERY – ARTERY (vessel) with ILL (hardly) inserted. I think, like ILL thought through = hardly thought through. | |
| 17 | Colour scheme in gold introduced by Jan’s predecessor (5) |
| DECOR – DEC (before Jan[uary]), OR = gold. | |
| 18 | Iraqis, say, fixing braking system on vehicle losing its front end (5) |
| ARABS – ABS with [c]AR in front. | |
| 19 | A bomb dropped with charges (9) |
| SHEDLOADS – SHED = dropped, LOADS = charges. I was stuck for a while on this one, determined to get SHELL into it somehow when I saw S*E*L…. | |
| 20 | Axes removing articles, too sharp? (6-6) |
| CLEVER-CLEVER – take A out of CLEAVER twice. | |
| 24 | Release when healer pulled back? (4) |
| EMIT – TIME (the great healer) reversed. | |
| 25 | Open door for kisser, one glowing at being let in (10) |
| FACILITATE – FACE (kisser) with I LIT AT inserted. | |
| 26 | Some sum at Harvard? (4) |
| MATH – hidden, and what Americans call maths or mathematics. I always found this odd, as mathematics sounds plural, but it’s not. As Galileo said, “mathematics is the language with which God wrote the universe”. (Well, he said it in Italian). | |
| 27 | Greek clothes dressing Greek character, old, old actor (5,5) |
| GRETA GARBO – GR[eek], ETA (character in Greek), GARB (clothes) O[ld]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Dwarf heard bee in tree (4) |
| BABY – BAY (tree) with B inserted. | |
| 2 | Splash of drink, aerated originally? (4) |
| SODA – initial letters of Splash Of Drink Aerated. | |
| 3 | Viewing article in newspaper, girls beyond hope missing leader (5,7) |
| OPERA GLASSES – [h]OPE, RAG (newspaper), LASSES (girls). | |
| 4 | Broadcast originally called The Sound of Hackney? (5) |
| NEIGH – I’m not sure I fully understand the nuance of this one. A hackney can be a horse, as well as a carriage or the part of London, and horses neigh, but is there more to it? EDIT see below comment, it sounds like née = originally called. Thanks jackkt. | |
| 5 | Cut, with hole punctured, concerned with what may be required? (5,4) |
| SPARE TYRE – PARE (cut) inside STY (hole) and RE = concerned with. Is a sty a hole, colloquially? A smelly place? | |
| 7 | Living wonderful with an amphipod, say (10) |
| CRUSTACEAN – CRUST (a living), ACE (wonderful), AN. An amphipod is a small crustacean with no carapace, in case you wondered. | |
| 8 | Board to apply leverage to business (10) |
| ENTERPRISE – ENTER = board, go on board; PRISE = apply leverage to. | |
| 11 | Girl with tandem, in travelling, providing a trip (4-8) |
| MIND-ALTERING – (GIRL TANDEM IN)*. | |
| 13 | Dressing in bag bandaging boy, great quantity (5,5) |
| SALAD CREAM – SAC (bag) around LAD, REAM a great quantity. | |
| 14 | Stars get it wrong in general? (10) |
| STRATEGIST – (START GET IT)*. Seems an odd sort of definition, but I suppose a general can be a strategist, among other things. | |
| 16 | Furniture item, extremely sturdy in every aspect (4,5) |
| EASY CHAIR – EACH (every) AIR (aspect) with S[turd]Y inserted. | |
| 21 | Be safe initially during flight (5) |
| EXIST – S[afe] inside EXIT = flight. | |
| 22 | Sporting festival (4) |
| FAIR – DD. | |
| 23 | Captain underwater, sign surfacing? (4) |
| NEMO – OMEN reversed. | |
4d parses as NEIGH (The Sound of Hackney– horse)
supported by aural wordplay [broadcast]: “née” (originally called).
30 minutes with the last 5 spent on SPARE TYRE and SHEDLOADS – my old problem with intersecting final answers.
I usually have a blind spot over BUDGERIGAR so I was pleased to spot it early today.
NEIGH ‘originally called’=née; took me forever to see this
14.33, with a fair bit stuck on SHEDLOADS at the end. Like our blogger, I wanted SHELL to be involved. There’s something about compound words, clued as charades, with the last letter of the first word unchecked, that often holds me up. Enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks both.
BASSOONIST and BUDGERIGAR were write-ins but then I was convinced 5d had to start with ‘share’ for cut, so wasted time there. Made the same mistake with 19a thinking it had to start with ‘shell’. I don’t think I’ve come across CLEVER-CLEVER before but axes was a help. Found most of this pretty easy with the exception of a few, FACILITATE and SHEDLOADS to name two.
Thanks piquet.
Under the half hour for once but baffled by SHEDLOADS for ‘a bomb’.
Sure I have seen strategist for General (or vice versa) elsewhere recently.
I think it’s another way of saying cost a fortune/cost a bomb/cost shedloads.
I am not a classicist, but I have a faint recollection that the leader of an army in Ancient Greece was called a “strategos”.
Took 36 minutes, I too found some clues easy and some definitely at the harder end of the spectrum (eg NEIGH, both LOI and my COD).
Thanks P and setter.
Siegfried Sassoon on Generals as strategists
Good-morning, good-morning!” the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead,
And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
“He’s a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.
But he did for them both by his plan of attack.
Thanks for the reminder.
Spot on the half hour with LOI NEIGH, hoping that a Hackney was a horse. The ILL for HARDLY was a bit weak, I thought. Otherwise a steady solve. COD to CLEVER-CLEVER. An acre is a furlong by a chain, as I recall it, a racing distance by a cricket pitch length between the wickets. I can imagine that better than a hectare. Thank you Pip and setter.
I can imagine 100 metres by 100 metres more easily!
Maybe, but it’s not as memorable as a furlong by a chain. How many years has that been in my brain, waiting for the chance to use it?
I grew up with the metric system in school – not surprising as the UK’s Metrication Act was passed in the year I was born, 1961. More surprising is that we’re still walking a mile to get our pint in the local pub 64 years later. I can’t visualize an acre at all even though, in my final O level year, I was given an old maths paper in a practice exam session which required me to calculate the maximum rectangular area which could be enclosed with X yards of fencing and a straight hedge of infinite length and provide the answer in acres. My teacher, a wonderful old chap, helpfully gave me the information that ‘An acre is 4,840 square yards: it’s a cricket pitch by half a running track’ – information I have never needed since but which, thanks to brilliant teaching from Mr Lott, I shall never forget.
(Message crossed with your second one, BW: glad to know it’s not only me who retains completely useless information.)
70 x 70 yards is also a close approximation to one acre
14:03, with a long pause at the end with 4 unsolved in the NE corner. Knowing what an amphipod would have saved me a lot of time. Include me in the ‘this must start SHELL’ club.
Small point Pip but 18ac is
cAR, ABS. No insertion involved.amended thanks k
Game of two halves, this .. first half doing the whole thing bar one clue. Second half dredging up SHEDLOADS from somewhere ..
Same here!
Totally breezeblocked by SHEDLOADS, and need to get on with watching cricket. Otherwise 20′.
Nobody ever quotes an ACRE in square feet, it’s 4840 sq. yds., which I learned at primary school.
Thanks pip and setter.
19:25
Like others, CRUSTACEAN and SHEDLOADS caused the most difficulty, not helped in my case by taking a while to think of BUST. A mixed bag but enjoyable all the same.
Thanks to both.
DNF, defeated by SHEDLOADS, where I couldn’t get away from ‘Shell’. I went through many of the meanings of charges but didn’t think of loads.
– Didn’t understand how NEIGH worked, so thanks to other commenters for explaining
– Biffed SPARE TYRE
– Couldn’t think of an ill=hardly equivalence for ARTILLERY when solving, but the example in the blog makes sense
Thanks piquet and setter.
COD Shedloads
On hols in Malaysia at the moment so sporadic commenting I’m afraid. Its not always easy to get my paper copy made and I hate doing it on-line.
35 mins so not too testing. L2I ACRE & ENTERPRISE;
I liked CRUSTACEAN & GRETA GARBO;
Tanks pip and setter.
Slight nosebleed when I saw my leaderboard position of 20th, just behind keriothe and Amoeba, who are normally at least 10 mins ahead of me, if not more.
Most of this went in very quickly, even MIND TRIANGLE, which was equally swiftly removed when crossers made it impossible. Held up slightly by EMIT, NEIGH and my LOI FACILITATION (all those vowel checkers compounded by slightly tortuous wordplay).
14:53
A most enjoyable 41 mins. I disagree with “mostly easy”, I found it hard to get started needing the 4 letter shorts to get a foothold.
Worth persevering though, lots of wit and a laugh out loud at SHEDLOADS which I use regularly so that went in quickly.
Biggest struggle in the NW culminating in LOI the unparsed NEIGH guessed from the horsey context.
Thanks both
14:47
LOI SHEDLOADS (I’m another in the SHELL club) and I figured “with hole punctured” in 5d was going to be EYED (like lace holes in a shoe) and wasted time trying to justify SNAKE EYED.
27.08, clearly slowing on my way to my dotage. But I hold on to the hope that the NE corner was about as tough a section as can be allowed in a daily Times.
I was going the wrong way, from general to particular, for CRUSTACEAN, and living/CRUST was a stretch. Bomb to SHEDLOADS was also a considerable leap: works when you know it, but getting there was a struggle. I suppose ENTERPRISE should have fallen quicker, but board to ENTER seemed a long jump too. Does anyone know how many square feet there are in an acre? Google does: it’s apparently 42,560, but for relevance it might just as well be square inches (6,272,640) or centimetres (40,468,564 and spare change). Again, it requires a leap, probably because our setter wanted to get that “third of a yard” in.
So fair enough, I was properly bamboozled, but will have to work hard to generate warm feelings towards today’s setter.
Interesting, the cultural differences. In the non-metric States, people mostly think of acres in terms of leafy suburban house lot sizes, where a large and enviable one is a quarter acre.
Those who remember their grade school think of 640 to a square mile, and know that following the American Civil War emanicpated slaves were promised 40 acres and a mule – 40 acres being a bit more than subsistance farming. The promise was not well kept.
My FOI was CASH REGISTER. Unusually, I found the 4 letter answers elusive and only got MATH and NEMO at first go. The others didn’t materialise until much later. The NE took longest to solve with ACRE finally opening up ENTERPRISE, CRUSTACEAN and BUST. LOI, SHEDLOADS took ages. I finally discarded SHELL and got there. 29:32. Thanks setter and Pip.
Maybe 40′ with interruptions. Same difficulties as others with quite a few stretches I think. My LOI was FACILITATE, not because it was the most difficult clue in the end, just all the vowels and no consonants put me off!
Thanks Piquet and setter
13:14
A steady run through this middle of the road puzzle with no parsing issues.
As Piquet says, lots of easy answers and a few tricky ones. Held up eventually by SHEDLOADS, as many others seem to have been, and FACILITATE, where ‘Open door’ as a definition didn’t help much. Also of course NEIGH, where ‘Broadcast’ seemed a bit odd. I wondered if the setter meant ‘a hack-neigh’, but probably not since ‘Broadcast’ would be in the wrong place. 55 minutes.
Neigh as in homophone of nee, of women birth surname where they adopt their husband’s on marrying.
Coming here late after a long dinner and remembering a good puzzle which – doh! – I DNF because I was beaten by EMIT. SHEDLOADS was one of many curly ones, along with CRUSTACEAN and ENTERPRISE. Thank you pk.
From You’re Goin’ Nowhere:
Oo-ee, ride me high
Tomorrow’s the day my bride’s gonna come
Oh-wo, are we gonna fly
Down in the EASY CHAIR
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, I think
Oops. It was obviously a longer dinner than I thought…thank you v
General moan: 6a Acre, why is it an area in square feet? I know it as 4840 sq yards, and my nine times table doesn’t go up that high. It can be 22*220 yards as mentioned above, that is an eighth of a mile by an eightieth, or 1/640 sq miles, approximately 40% of a hectare. But NO-ONE knows the sq ft off the top of the head.
17a Décor, held up for a while by picking a random girl, Ivy, starting with letter before J for Jan and creating the Ivory colour scheme. Oh dear.
24a Emit. I thought that time was the enemy….
4d Neigh, parsed as homophone nee at the time, but by the time I got here it had gone again. Another oh dear.
The fact that it is 43 560 sq ft is helped by the 3,4,5,6 almost progression. Now you know the trick to a US fourth grade general knowledge quiz.
Brill!
21.05 DNF
I spent a lot less time than I should have done in failing to get SHEDLOADS but not sure another 10 minutes would have helped!
No complaints – good puzzle.
Thanks Pip/setter
16:02, delay almost all in that cheeky NW corner, and had to come here to find out why NEIGH was right, and then slap my forehead. Local news often refers to delays on the A34 because of a shedload, but they never say what it’s a shedload of.
Shedloads of people here apparently failing at the last fence, as I sadly did. Always frustrating when one last clue lets you down, but I’m not sure I would ever have made the leap from’bomb’ to the correct answer even given another 15 minutes.
26’30” with NEIGH bunged in unparsed. Thanks for the explanation here.
To help visualise it I always think an acre is very (very) roughly half of a football pitch. A hectare is a bit more than a football pitch
LOI NEIGH put in with a shrug but now think it’s a rather good clue. A steady solve but enjoyable.
FOI DECOR
COD EMIT (simple but effective)
A lengthy 47 mins. Everything parsed as I went along, except SPARE TYRE which took me a while to work out after I’d written it in. I think STRATEGIST is OK because of the question mark after ‘general’. (Time is the great healer as well as the enemy!)
DNF but fairly quick (18 mins sans SHEDLOAD, also thought of shell-). CASH REGISTER was FOI as I thought of the correct meaning of ‘till’ straight away (though I wasn’t operating one today on my day off). Have no problem with ill=hardly (ill-considered, ill-disciplined …)
DNF, beaten at the last by SHEDLOADS. No problem with 4d, however, but in general it was a hard slog from beginning to end. I think I got 3 on the first pass, which wasn’t encouraging and the bottom half was mostly completed before any of the top. I’m blaming a terrible night, so hoping tomorrow will be a better showing.
pleased to see that bust, like fair, is DD.
Had most of this done in an hour or so, but had to come back to it just before lunch. Couldn’t see how ENTERPRISE and SHEDLOADS worked until after we’d returned from Burford Garden Company visit. Forgot it was half term!
Nice puzzle.
Thank you Pip and Setter
Total disaster today. A finish but had to come back to it. Was flying through it but was blind to BUDGERIGAR and just couldn’t get SHEDLOAD-which I think was tricky. Even had B_D_ERIGAR in there at one point as I cycled through capitals. I blame half-term brain.
I liked the 4 letter clues in this, ACRE being my favourite (if probably a bit naughty)
50 minutes when Shedloads finally clicked.
Some odd definitions in this puzzle – I thought Kisser was mouth, rather than face; Loads for charges; Acre measured in square feet; Sty for hole – and I wonder if Baby is supposed to sound like Bay Bee, rather than B sounding like Bee in Bay?
Whenever I see axes, I’ve learnt to think X,Y – only this time it wasn’t!
There is no relationship between ‘Ill’ and ‘hardly’. ‘Ill’ in your context means exactly what it says on the tin ie ‘badly’. ‘Ill-advised’, ‘ill-behaved’, ‘ill-thought through’, ‘ill-considered’. All mean ‘badly’ or any other adverb denoting poor quality. ‘Hardly’ is an adverb denoting quantity not quality, and in any case, you would probably use ‘barely’ in these phrases.
Collins has, for “ill” as an adverb:
13. with difficulty; hardly he can ill afford the money
According to Chambers, ‘hardly’ can mean ‘severely’ or ‘harshly’, which would work as a synonym for ‘ill’, as in ‘ill-treated’.
Well, I’m glad so many of you found “a lot of easy clues”…. 😖.
Slogged my way to 43′ (and usually under 30′). Not on setter’s wavelength.
Depends partly on one’s age, I guess (what are these new-fangled hectare things?). BTW “strategos” is (Ancient) Greek for “general”.
29 mins. Struggled with artillery which I wasn’t totally convinced was a great clue but allowed me to finally get spare tyre which was fiendishly difficult for me as was shedloads- which would be my COD. Fair bit harder than two previous puzzles.
On the acre comments: yes, a chain by a furlong, but the furlong is a furrow length. I believe an acre was reckoned to be the amount of land a man could plough in a day. Think strip farming.