Time taken: 10:54. I was held up thinking that this might be a pangram and was hunting for a Q in the last few answers, but it was not to be.
I got off to a pretty quick start, but my last few in were definitely alphabet trawls, ending with the plant at 2 down, which I expect will draw a little consternation from the crowd. Thinking pangram did help me get 18 across after pulling what little remains of my hair thinking of Scots terms.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Shift to the left endorses first requirement of policy expert (9) |
| BACKSPACE – BACKS(endorses), then the first letter of Policy, ACE(expert) | |
| 6 | Outstanding run eclipsed in sport (5) |
| OWING – remove R(run) from ROWING(sport) | |
| 9 | Raffles, say, nearly all food sent back, right? (7) |
| BURGLAR – reversal of ALl minus the last letter and GRUB(food), then R(right). Reference to A. J. Raffles, the Gentleman Thief | |
| 10 | Abnormal dry heat is cause to take in more water (7) |
| HYDRATE – anagram of DRY,HEAT | |
| 11 | Advance column capturing island (5) |
| POSIT – POST(column) containing I(island) | |
| 12 | Terribly long title removed without asking (3-6) |
| ILL-GOTTEN – anagram of LONG,TITLE | |
| 13 | Promising person penning regular pieces for Proms? (8) |
| COMPOSER – COMER(promising person), containing alternating letters in PrOmS | |
| 14 | Note followed by second note (4) |
| MEMO – ME(musical note) then MO(second) | |
| 17 | Dismiss author killing two leading characters (4) |
| OUST – the author Marcel PROUST minus the first two letters | |
| 18 | Fabric to cover a horse from the time of Macbeth (8) |
| JACOBEAN – JEAN(fabric) containing A, COB(horse) – referring to Shakespeare being active in the Jacobean Era | |
| 21 | Dazed by drugs, leaving gaps between words? (6,3) |
| SPACED OUT – double definition | |
| 22 | Champion died for king (5) |
| HEROD – HERO(champion), D(died) | |
| 24 | Car meeting reported tailback could be prompter (7) |
| AUTOCUE – AUTO(car) then an homophone of QUEUE(tailback) | |
| 25 | Cold roll for pudding (7) |
| CRUMBLE – C(cold), RUMBLE(roll) | |
| 26 | Appetising and pleasantly warm, nothing less (5) |
| TASTY – TOASTY(pleasantly warm) minus O(nothing) | |
| 27 | Veronica’s competently following career (9) |
| SPEEDWELL – WELL(competently) after SPEED(career) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | British poet backed including British jazz (5) |
| BEBOP – B(british), then POE(poet) reversed containing B(British) | |
| 2 | What’s out at the present time? (9,6) |
| CHRISTMAS CACTUS – cryptic definition for the winter floral. I had the CHRISTMAS part long before CACTUS | |
| 3 | What one seeks — forgiveness — a bishop withheld (8) |
| SOLUTION – ABSOLUTION(forgiveness) minus A,B(bishop) | |
| 4 | Broadcast cover of record that should take off (8) |
| AIRLINER – AIR(broadcase), LINER(cover of record) | |
| 5 | Surround prince dropping in to opera company (6) |
| ENHALO – HAL(prince) inside ENO(English National Opera) | |
| 6 | Better than even extra offspring (4-2) |
| ODDS-ON – ODD(extra), SON(offspring) | |
| 7 | Cruel ruler Ethelbert VII ran amok (4,3,8) |
| IVAN THE TERRIBLE – anagram of ETHELBERT,VII,RAN | |
| 8 | Like old copper perhaps warning raw recruit (9) |
| GREENHORN – old copper might be GREEN(think the Statue of Liberty), then HORN(warning on a car) | |
| 13 | Cooked corn, as it’s something for breakfast (9) |
| CROISSANT – anagram of CORN,AS,IT’S | |
| 15 | Song has the ability to amuse — not a Mozartian number (8) |
| CANTICLE – CAN(has the ability to), TICKLE(amuse) minus K – the system of naming Mozart pieces. | |
| 16 | Dog turned up guarding unknown house (8) |
| FOXHOUND – FOUND(turned up) surrounding X(unknown), HO(house) | |
| 19 | Ratty and the rest in Toad Hall, yes initially (6) |
| TETCHY – ETC(and the rest) inside the first letters of Toad Hall Yes | |
| 20 | A lot of animal homes around Australia (6) |
| DOZENS – DENS(animal homes) surrounding OZ(Australia) | |
| 23 | Live close to good source of water (5) |
| DWELL – last letter in gooD, WELL(source of water) | |
Oh Darling, you haven’t heard of a thing called a Christmas Cactus, have you?
Yes of course, my mother kept one in the porch. Why, haven’t you?
Um, Ah, yes of course.
I put it in.
We have a late May Bank holiday cactus (in flower at the moment- probably because I watered it).
I failed on JACOBEAN, as I was trawling for an obscure fabric like Gaberdine.
This puzzle had a loose ‘difficult Monday’ feel about it, but enjoyable nevertheless.
Thanks George and Setter
DNF but it usually is. Oddly, 2d was my first one in, being familiar with the plant. As this was the clue that seems to have given people the most trouble it just proves that we all have differing bits of knowledge when tackling crosswords. For example, I was unaware that K was used for Mozart tunes. Congrats to those who have more skill that I do at these things.
I got CHRISTMAS CACTUS early on, but only by luck: the clue seems inadequate. But I’ve never heard of JEAN other than in pairs of ubiquitous and invariably unattractive trousers, so a DNF for me. Time unknown: lots of interruptions today.
One of those slow but steady puzzles that all came out in the end. CHRISTMAS went in straight away, and I moved on with the rest to get some crossers. Several PDMs along the way, with BACKSPACE, OWING, JACOBEAN etc. The one I couldn’t parse was COMPOSER (comer, really?!) and NHO ENHALO, but it went in as instructed.. I realised with another look at 2d that I needed a plant, so then CACTUS was fairly obvious, as I have several and they do indeed flower at the end of the year. I did wonder whether the perennially plant-hating fraternity here might grouse a bit, but thought it was too common not to know of. At least SPEEDWELL didn’t upset anyone. FOI BEBOP, LOI GREENHORN. Much enjoyed.
Let’s face it , 2 down is just a very poor clue..
That seems to be the consensus, yes.
Anything you liked about the puzzle?
Defeated after an hour by CHRISTMAS CACTUS. Annoyingly I have heard of it as I’ve heard my green fingered wife refer to it, but unfortunately it didn’t come to mind. Another CHRISTMAS SANTAS here.
Found this easier than yesterday’s, but still took me nearly an hour! No problem with cactus as I realised it had to be a singular noun. ENHALO was a new one on me! Liked IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
Glad I didn’t think of PANTOS. So I eventually got CACTUS right. I think it’s a fair clue. The misguidance is the OUT. Once you see that OUT can refer to a plant, then the penny drops. Not that I’d heard of a CHRISTMAS CACTUS. 19’11” all up.
LOI was CHRISTMAS CACTUS but, for no other reason than it fit with the available letters I put PASTICHE instead of CANTICLE. I know that’s stupid but I’ll settle for one wrong answer after a couple of disastrous crossword days when I really thought I was losing it. Liked DWELL.
I too have a Christmas cactus that has flowered every year at Christmas for many years – extraordinary really and sometimes it flowers a second time at Easter.
Did not think this was too difficult for a Thursday
LOI Backspace – I got a mental block on this one
No problem with the CACTUS, nho ENHALO but clearly clued; needed aid for JACOBEAN though. Couldn’t parse COMPOSER. COD: MEMO.
37:50, with JACOBEAN, CACTUS and AIRLINER my last three in.
Thanks glh and setter
8:09 Weird comments today, I assume from folk not based in the UK, where Christmas Cactuses are most definitely a common thing, and I thought the “out” in the clue was a pretty standard clue that we were looking for a plant. Also Santas and pantos are never “out”, or singular for that matter. Hey ho. Good crossword anyway. COD to CANTICLE, which raised a smile.
I thought it was CHRISTMAS LIGHTS which I thought was a clever double definition – ie. out right now today in May (the present time) and out at night when Santa delivers ( present time in sense of gifts).
I was sad it was CHRISTMAS CACTUS. Not as good!
Just about everyone fell at the CHRISTMAS CACTUS hurdle, as did I: there was no observable clue to the second half of the answer. I shall be Googling the wretched plant as soon as I finish writing this – I refuse to be bamboozled by it a second time! Made good progress through the rest of the grid, as the words just leapt into my brain, except when they didn’t ( couldn’t see the second part of AIRLI?E ? for ever, and I always forget JEAN for material). But an enjoyable experience throughout – what I needed to start off my 81st birthday.