Time: 23:01
I did not find this as easy as a typical Monday. I did start quickly, but I was left at the end with a series of interconnected missing answers across the middle of my printout. I figured that if I could solve one, they would all rapidly fall, but the problem was solving one. I had biffed trophy case without really thinking too much, but that was erased pretty quickly
Upon going back to parse some of the clues, I had a MER or two at some of the liberties the setter took. Having recently been involved in our anniversary puzzle, I would definitely have sent some of them back for cleanup. Of course, John and I spent nearly 40 hours between us editing those clues, which is not possible if you have 10 puzzles a week to deal with.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | More than one flower is found among rocky cairns (8) |
| NARCISSI – Anagram of CAIRNS around IS. | |
| 5 | Surprise journey at an end (4,2) |
| TRIP UP – TRIP + UP, in entirely different senses | |
| 10 | Politician excited by trite manifestos (8,2,5) |
| MINISTER OF STATE – Anagram of TRITE MANIFESTOS. Well, the current Prime Minister…. | |
| 11 | Marine movement bound to change when ebbing (6,4) |
| SPRING TIDE – SPRING + EDIT backwards. | |
| 13 | Hide offended feeling, welcoming learner (4) |
| PELT – PE(L)T. | |
| 15 | Kept calm on bench, perhaps, following duke’s interruption (7) |
| SEDATED – SE(D)ATED. | |
| 17 | Reveal love captured by song writer (3,4) |
| LAY OPEN – LAY (O) PEN. | |
| 18 | Notes enthusiastic comment when tucking into wines (7) |
| RECORDS – RE(COR)DS. Is cor enthusiastic? Discuss. | |
| 19 | Cat in bag: hard to tolerate (7) |
| STOMACH – S(TOM)AC + H. | |
| 21 | Poll closing early, restricting Liberal in potential measure (4) |
| VOLT – VO(L)T[e]. | |
| 22 | Left back hardly gutted to secure rotating space for awards (6,4) |
| TROPHY ROOM – PORT backwards + H[ardl]Y + MOOR backwards. | |
| 25 | Harry Potter and the Banshee? It’s basically wrong (9,6) |
| SCHOOLBOY HOWLER – SCHOOLBOY + HOWLER, a pair of DBE, thus the question mark. | |
| 27 | American city cheers The Big Sleep? (6) |
| TACOMA – TA + COMA. | |
| 28 | Whingers upset American composer (8) |
| GERSHWIN – Anagram of WHINGERS. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Note European confusion about one source of retribution from Greece (7) |
| NEMESIS – N + E + MES(I)S. | |
| 2 | I will avoid disaster in series of performances (3) |
| RUN – RU[i]N. | |
| 3 | Irrational behaviour keeping a river polluted? (10) |
| INSANITARY – INSANIT(A,R)Y. | |
| 4 | Newspaper arranged to entertain ambassador (5) |
| SHEET – S(H.E.)ET. | |
| 6 | Water damage — care to drop initial temperature? (4) |
| RUST – [t]RUST. Is care the same thing as trust? | |
| 7 | I only appear to move, though I may be given a roll (6,5) |
| PLAYER PIANO – Anagram of I ONLY APPEAR. | |
| 8 | Quietly stay asleep, say, in northern city (7) |
| PRESTON – P + REST ON. | |
| 9 | Leave daughter in reception, up where air passengers sit? (8) |
| GONDOLAS – GO + SALON upside-down containing D. | |
| 12 | A cut in childcare disturbed those leading Irish children’s movement in the 1970s (7,4) |
| RADICAL CHIC – Anagram of A + CHILDCAR[e] + I[rish] C[hildren]. I would say the cryptic is excessively busy for a daily puzzle. | |
| 14 | Limits to steady movement of sun and moon around year amounting to the same thing? (10) |
| SYNONYMOUS – S[tead]Y + anagram of SUN and MOON around Y. | |
| 16 | Detail of the French copy superior to English (8) |
| DESCRIBE – DES + CRIB + E. Detail as a verb, superior as a placement indicator. Copy and crib as verbs. | |
| 18 | Volume is evident in rising row? Consider again (7) |
| REVISIT – V + IS in TIER upside-down. | |
| 20 | Complete circuit in operation (4,3) |
| HOME RUN – HOME + RUN. Operation for run seems a bit strange. | |
| 23 | Receiver always under pressure before end of game (5) |
| PAYEE – P + AYE + [gam]E. | |
| 24 | Source of mildew following in place of mould (4) |
| FORM – FOR + M[ildew]. | |
| 26 | Down, barely moving, with second kept away (3) |
| LOW – [s]LOW, a Quickie clue. | |
Fared better today than usually, with only one ‘look up’: RADICAL CHIC, where I found the long clue too daunting to tackle. The rest went in surprisingly swiftly (for me), from FOI RUST – though I did have a MER at care=trust, to SCHOOLBOY HOWLER , which brought back memories of he spotty kid Alfred E Neuman, and the plump kid Bunter. (Have not read Harry Potter, at least not past the first two pages!). Happy to be in good company for once ( not completely outclassed), and enjoyed the challenge.