Time taken: 10:00 on the dot! Although there are a few Americanisms in the grid, I was not on the wavelength of my adopted country.
The early solvers have some very slick times, so maybe I struggled with this one more than some, but it seemed I had to stare hard at some wordplays before they clicked. I also couldn’t spot the anagram at 17 across first off and had to write out the letters before the penny dropped.
As Paul pointed out in the first comment, it is a pangram. I didn’t notice as I was solving.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Boastful books linked to southern racists? (6) |
| BIGOTS – BIG(boastful), OT(books) and S(southern) | |
| 4 | Bewilders secure dogs when cutting leads (8) |
| ASTOUNDS – FAST(secure) and HOUNDS(dogs) minus the first letters. This type of clue was a hallmark of Tim Moorey in Mephisto, don’t see it often in a daily. | |
| 10 | US semidetached de luxe shop animatedly welcomes you (6,5) |
| DUPLEX HOUSE – anagram of DE,LUXE,SHOP containing U(you). Like some of our early commenters, I have never seen “house” added after DUPLEX. It is in Collins, though. | |
| 11 | Gilbert holds one metal wedge (3) |
| GIB – GB(gilbert, a unit in electromagnetics) containing I(one) | |
| 12 | In favour of wrapping up address after intro is repeatedly lost in audio-recording fault (3-4) |
| PRE-ECHO – PRO(in favor of) containing SPEECH(address) minus the first two letters | |
| 14 | That which disproves half of forthcoming genuine cases (7) |
| REFUTAL – half of FUTURE(forthcoming) inside REAL(genuine) | |
| 15 | Title bestowed upon those in the same class? (7,7) |
| SUBJECT HEADING – kind of a cryptic definition here, referring to the title above a set of words in a in index or thesaurus | |
| 17 | Maybe she gave him one unneeded belt, or buckles (6,8) |
| DOUBLE ENTENDRE – anagram of UNNEEDED,BELT,OR | |
| 21 | Animal seemingly more angry having consumed drug (3,4) |
| RED DEER – REDDER(seemingly more angry) containing E(drug) | |
| 22 | Fox sighted incredible British cyclist cycling (5-2) |
| TALLY-HO – TALL(incredible) and the cyclist Chris HOY cycling | |
| 23 | And not what Captain Horatio Hornblower ultimately offers (3) |
| NOR – last letters of captaiN horatiO hornbloweR | |
| 24 | Already liable Public Relations asked after withdrawn team (11) |
| PREDISPOSED – PR(Public Relations), then POSED(asked) after SIDE(team) reversed | |
| 26 | Biden agitated by Cruz for one owing money (8) |
| INDEBTED – anagram of BIDEN then the US politician TED Cruz | |
| 27 | Fix match yet again? (6) |
| REPAIR – match yet again could be RE-PAIR | |
| Down | |
| 1 | English residence turned over in broken European capital (8) |
| BUDAPEST – E(English), and PAD(residence) reversed inside BUST(broken) | |
| 2 | Gutted guy with back in sharp excessive pain (3) |
| GYP – external letters of GuY, then the last letter of sharP | |
| 3 | Cloying sentimentality born of Electra complex (7) |
| TREACLE – anagram of ELECTRA | |
| 5 | Potter’s creation country gent left oddball relatives around middle of March (8,6) |
| SQUIRREL NUTKIN – SQUIRE(country gent), L(left), NUT(oddball) and KIN(relatives) surrounding the central letter in maRch. Referring to the Beatrix Potter character | |
| 6 | Remaining FBI agent is stuffed (7) |
| OVERFED – OVER(remaining), FED(FBI agent) | |
| 7 | Continually had dingy tan refreshed (5,3,3) |
| NIGHT AND DAY – anagram of HAD,DINGY,TAN | |
| 8 | Delicate caption omits euphemism for sex (6) |
| SUBTLE – SUBTITLE(caption) minus IT(euphemism for sex) | |
| 9 | Chat project on article — an easy task (5,3,6) |
| SHOOT THE BREEZE – SHOOT(project), THE(article) and BREEZE(an easy task) | |
| 13 | Almost entangle Republican in exploit augmented with false detail (11) |
| EMBROIDERED – EMBROIL(entangle) minus the last letter, then R(Republican) inside DEED(exploit). Think embroidering an argumen | |
| 16 | Official instrument (8) |
| RECORDER – double definition | |
| 18 | Hostelry plan 50 per cent accessible to all (7) |
| BREWPUB – BREW(plan) then half of PUBLIC(accessible to all) | |
| 19 | Cover-up that briefly leaves huge numbers in the dark (7) |
| ECLIPSE – cryptic definition | |
| 20 | Country course that is set up under British (6) |
| BRUNEI – RUN(course) and IE(that is) reversed under B(British) | |
| 25 | Jackass periodically brought up Jamaican music (3) |
| SKA – alternating letters in jAcKaSs reversed | |
11:29. A bit of an odd feel to this one as others have noted. No problem with the Americanisms, except 10ac where I have only heard ‘duplex’ in the context of a two-floored apartment.
BREWPUBS were a big thing for a while – who remembers the Fxxxx and Firkin chain? – but they all went bust or were bought up by the big chains so the word has rather passed out of use.
I had no idea about 11ac, and only put GIB because I had an old relative of that name and I think it was short for Gilbert. It might actually have been Gabriel but in any case it got me to the answer via the wrong route. The correct route is a bit of a double obscurity.
Merlin got to the old gag before me.
25 mins with not much to dwell over other than the fact that I had Dennis rather than Beatrix in mind (Potter-wise) for quite a while, which held me back. I’ve also learned what a Gilbert is. So that’s nice.
Thanks glh and setter.
BIGOTS went in first without much trouble and most of the top half, with a few notable exceptions, followed. The hold ups were GIB (didn’t know the unit), SUBTLE (got there eventually), PRE ECHO and SUBJECT HEADING. Down below the hold ups were POI, BREWPUB and LOI, DOUBLE ENTENDRE (excellent!). SQUIRREL NUTKIN didn’t cause much delay, knew Chris Hoy, although I did’t need him to solve the clue, and had heard of Ted Cruz. Assumed DUPLEX HOUSE from the anagrist. 30:23. Thanks setter and George.
30ish minutes. Knew DUPLEX and biffed the HOUSE though condo did come to mind. Wondered about the parsing of GIB, and should have remembered GILBERT from my engineering studies. Never heard of the audio problem and I have to thank my grandkids Peter Rabbit tv streams for the squirrel, having never read Potter.
Looked for a long time at the DOUBLE ENTENDRE and BREWPUB nexus before the penny dropped on the former. Faintly heard of the latter, possibly here…?
Thanks George and setter.
First time I’ve finished a Thursday for a good few weeks, although it did take me a couple of hours, either side of morning meetings at work and talking to my builders.
Oddly, I had heard of Ted Cruz, maybe he was involved somehow in the presidential primaries? Outside of those in high office (and recently those bizarrely appointed to high office), the primaries tend to be the only exposure we get in the UK to US politicians.
I managed to parse every clue except SUBJECT HEADING, but it turned out I’d misparsed (NHO) PRE ECHO. Overall, I enjoyed the workout and it helped me to keep the noise of the builders out of my immediate consciousness. Thanks for the blog, glh.
25:59
I didn’t find this too bad, quite enjoyed it on the whole, and wasn’t particularly disturbed by the Americanisms, though I did, of course, miss some stuff. Comments as follows:
BIGOTS – BIG = boastful – not sure of this, though the answer was clear enough
ASTOUNDS – missed what was missing from AST to make ‘secure’
DUPLEX HOUSE – heard of the first word, but not in tandem with the second word
GIB – for some reason, I have heard of the metal wedge, but no idea about GB = gilbert
PRE-ECHO – vaguely aware of from the distant past
SUBJECT HEADING – didn’t entirely understand whether the answer was correct, but glad to write in HEADING before thinking of READING
BREWPUB – not that familiar with the term but seemed more likely than BEERPUB
SQUIRREL NUTKIN – Hit on the idea that it was probably one of Beatrix’s characters, but I can’t say I am overly familiar with them. Thankfully, the answer was one that I had heard of
DOUBLE ENTENDRE was my favourite answer.
Thanks G and setter
GIB I’d never heard of for the two reasons described above, but an obvious enough guess. Less than happy with big = boastful at 1ac, also the two CDs at 15ac and 19dn, which always leave me wondering if I’ve missed something. NHO PRE-ECHO, but have heard it and it was surely right. DUPLEX yes but not the house? BREWPUB vaguely remembered. 46 minutes after fiddling around a bit and meaning to ask here about things that were perfectly clear in the blog.
31:03 – hardest for a while, with just a few too many obscurities in both the cluing and the answers for me. Didn’t know my LOI GIB nor the Gb bit of the cryptic but once I saw SUBTLE, it couldn’t have been anything else. I have also never heard of a DUPLEX HOUSE, much less defined as a semi. I see it can also be a two storey house divided vertically into two flats but then it becomes rather hard to see what practical utility the word could have.
An odd puzzle, mixing Ted Cruz and TALLY HO, TREACLE and DUPLEX HOUSE . Lots of US-related material, as is becomong increasingly common. NHO DUPLEX HOUSE, PRE-ECHO or REFUTAL though all were fairly easily gettable. . I liked DOUBLE ENTENDRE and SQUIRREL NUTKIN.
Thanks to George and the setter
…and what exactly is a brewpub and when has this word ever been used?
30 mins with no referral to helpers at all. The NHO’s were very helpfully clued
32.36 WOE
Another BEERPUB. Didn’t like it but when the B appeared from double entendre, in it stayed.
Agree with the main thrust of the comments. Some excellent clues; but maybe the odd obscurity too far.
Thanks Setter/George
I was flying along with over half completed fairly rapidly, but gradually slowed to finish in 37.35, a good three minutes of which were spent trying to solve my final two clues. At last I solved the excellent DOUBLE ENTENDRE and BREWPUB polished it off, once I had dismissed BEER as a possibility.
32:23
I tried STUDENT as the first word in 15a, which delayed getting EMBROIDERED.
Despite a career in physics, I have never come across the Gilbert. On looking it up, it appears to be the cgs equivalent of the Ampere-turn, which I have never had occasion to use either. Maybe one for the electrical engineers studying motors.
I liked SQUIRREL NUTKIN and DOUBLE ENTENDRE.
Thanks glh and setter
After getting one wrong 3 days in a row it was a relief to get over the line today.
When Penelope wouldn’t fit I immediately thought of TED without knowing why. He has obviously popped up in the British press often enough.
I would have thought 17A funnier had it not been for the fact that I recalled there was a bit in The Times recently about a woman going into a bar and asking for a double entendre so the bartender gave her one. It had won some joke award I think.
At the present rate of increase all clues will be US linked by the fall.
Very surprised to finish this as I found it hard going at first but greatly helped along by SHOOT THE BREEZE and DOUBLE ENTENDRE falling into place. Took ages to see 5d as I was only thinking of Harry and spent a lot of time trying to guess a metal wedge including “WS” for Gilbert 🙂
Nice puzzle.
“I hate double entendres. If I see one in a script I whip it out immediately”
Kenneth Williams.
I obviously found it harder than most taking 32:29
LOI SUBJECT HEADING which was a bit of a punt, though I felt fairly sure, but also NHO BREWPUB I thought BREW= plan but that was also a bit in hope.
Also NHO the duplex thing but there the anagram made it sure
Thanks setter and blogger
Need to add Gilbert= GB to my crossword aide spreadsheet – for when it next appears 50 years from now.
45 minutes overall.
COD to Astounds.