23:14
I seemed to click with this one. Just as well, as blogging was more convoluted than usual. All but 4 in the south complete in about 18 minutes, then a long stare. Of course, a modern culture reference as a cryptic definition was my last to fall.
It looks like the the tides may have turned on Jeremy and me, as he now seems to be stuck with the fortnightly SNITCH-blaster, and I look forward to Friday a little differently as a result!
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Mike quits Cambridge, running home for a lark? (8) |
| BIRDCAGE – anagram of (running), CAmBRIDGE from which ‘m’ is deleted (quits). | |
| 5 | Forger’s work that is collected by king (6) |
| COPIER – OP (opus, work) and I.E. (that is) all contained (collected) by CR (Charles Rex, king). | |
| 10 | Angelic boy too much out of bed on reflection (5) |
| PUTTO – OTT (over the top, too much) and UP (out of bed), all reversed (on reflection). Not a word in my ken, but mercifully clued. Like a cupid? | |
| 11 | Roguish club made to look Victorian, perhaps opening for expats (9) |
| REPROBATE – REPRO (reproduction, made to look Victorian perhaps) BAT (club), then the first of (opening for) Expats. | |
| 12 | Max often removed hateful clothes, and there they are! (5,2,3,5) |
| SPEAK OF THE DEVIL – PEAK (max) + OFT (often), all of which SHED (removed) + EVIL (hateful) contains (clothes). | |
| 14 | Notice bad habit which professional might help you with (6) |
| ADVICE – AD (notice) + VICE (bad habit). | |
| 15 | You shouldn’t have run home after mother, little monkey (7) |
| TAMARIN – TA (you shouldn’t have), than R (run) + IN (home) after MA (mother). | |
| 18 | Surface damage on minute gold musical ornament (7) |
| MORDENT – DENT (surface damage) on M (minute) + OR (gold). One of the testers for me, as this is yet more vocabulary I am unfamiliar with. A fancy sort of grace note preceding the principal note, in case you too didn’t know. | |
| 20 | Easy catch but making it is relative (6) |
| SISTER – SitTER (easy catch) with ‘it’ replaced with IS (making ‘it into ‘is’). | |
| 22 | Bad acne blights rude tattoo’s location (9,6) |
| EDINBURGH CASTLE – anagram of (bad) ACNE BLIGHTS RUDE. The military band, not the body art. | |
| 24 | Convenient telecoms facility spread far underground, south to west (5,4) |
| SPEED DIAL – LAID DEEP (spread far underground) + S (south), all reversed (to west). | |
| 25 | As a result of this coming through kitchen ceiling (5) |
| HENCE – hidden in kitcHEN CEiling. This took me longer than it should have on account of some errant whiskers. | |
| 27 | Frustrated guy with kids stuck with that woman (6) |
| DASHED – DAD (guy with kids) containing (pierced by, stuck by) SHE (that woman). | |
| 28 | Bear allowed little running water (8) |
| BROOKLET – BROOK (put up with, bear) + LET (allowed). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Skirt father made lasts for countless parties (6) |
| BYPASS – BY PA (father-made), then the last letters of countlesS and partieS. | |
| 2 | Perish climbing rocky peak (3) |
| ROT – reversal of (climbing) TOR (rocky peak). | |
| 3 | Notice sage right at the top? (9) |
| CLOCKWISE – CLOCK (notice) + WISE (sage). The hands move towards the right at the top, if they are moving thus. | |
| 4 | Irish mistake swallows for larger African species (7) |
| GIRAFFE – IR (Irish) which GAFFE (mistake) contains (swallows). | |
| 6 | Duck pen in history (2,3) |
| OF OLD – O (zero, duck) + FOLD (pen). | |
| 7 | Thoughtless, stripping Artex inside during run-up to Christmas (11) |
| INADVERTENT – middle letters from (stripping) aRTEx, contained by (inside) IN (during) and ADVENT (run-up to Christmas). | |
| 8 | White lies disguised with grin (8) |
| RIESLING – anagram of (disguised) LIES with GRIN. | |
| 9 | Result you note after baking (6) |
| UPSHOT – U (you) + P.S. (note after) + HOT (baking). | |
| 13 | Crooked seller denies disposing of one English antiquity in person (11) |
| ELDERLINESS – anagram of (crooked) SeLLER DENIES, after removing (disposing of) one of the letters ‘e’ (English). | |
| 16 | Whiskers surely hurt except the end bits (9) |
| MUSTACHIO – MUST (surely) then ACHe (hurt) minus the last (end) + I and O (one and nought, bits). Smelling blood, I hubristically entered ‘moustache’ and moved on. | |
| 17 | Son diving in bubbled away gently underwater (8) |
| IMMERSED – ‘s’ (son) moves downwards (diving) in SIMMERED (bubbled away gently). | |
| 19 | Box that might arrive at any time? (6) |
| TARDIS – cryptic definition, referring to Doctor Who and his time travels. | |
| 20 | Learner spread chaos left and right (7) |
| SCHOLAR – anagram of (spread) CHAOS + L + R (left and right). | |
| 21 | Due extended dry patch (6) |
| DESERT – double definition. | |
| 23 | Move, say, knight up (5) |
| BUDGE – E.G. (say) and DUB (knight), all reversed (up). | |
| 26 | Score for your team immediately after kick-off (3) |
| NIL – this went straight in, but now I’m not sure I understand it! I think it’s just a cryptic definition. As in, the score is zero at kick-off. But why ‘your’? I suppose the score would be described as ‘nil-nil’ otherwise? | |
Got there in the end having various wrong versions of moustaches before I got BROoKLET. Then LOI TARDIS after rejecting turnip, torrid, and turgid. I once was hiking in Snowdonia and we came around a corner to find the blue police box…and lots of cameras, lights, and a generator.
And the next morning… in a foreign land…
this beginner (at the Big Guy) got very stubborn after a string of DNFs and finished, correctly, in 2 hours and 6 minutes. Obviously, with many breaks. The brouhaha with MOUSTACHE/MUSTACHES/MUSTACHIO was both frustrating and entertaining. I finally resorted to pen and paper while trying to fill in my last, T_R_I_, having gotten stuck on TURNIP because it sounds a little like “turn up”, arrive. I did watch the good Doctor for a little while many years ago, during the long-scarf-man times, so managed to recognize the word during my alphabet trawl of TAR_I_.
Thanks setter and William.
Really enjoyed, but not all correct or filled in. Edinburgh CASTLE was a great anagram, and I biffed SPEAK OF THE DEVIL. As BIRDCAGE fell in quickly (loved “home for a lark”), and COPIER and PUTTO (History of Art helped here) I was off and running – until I wasn’t. All my problems in the south, with NHO MORDENT, SPEED DIAL ( biffed SWEET SPOT) and BROOKLET evading me. COD TARDIS.