Time taken: 8:29.
Happy New Year! The last time New Year’s Day fell on a Thursday I completely messed up the crossword, so relieved to find this one came back all green. I’m hesitant to declare Tricky Thursday just yet, but I think there’s some unusual terms that could hold a few of you back. Excellent wordplay throughout!
I do have the advantage of starting this at 7pm on New Year’s Eve, so haven’t started the celebrations yet. A cocktail is in my sights as soon as I finish writing this up, so let us begin!
| Across | |
| 1 | Smith possibly loads millions into vessel (9) |
| CRAFTSMAN – RAFTS (loads) and M (millions) inside CAN (vessel) | |
| 6 | Came across books about family emblem? (5) |
| TOTEM – MET (came across) and OT (books) all reversed | |
| 9 | Temporary work secured by youngster (3-2) |
| POP UP – OP (work) inside PUP (youngster) | |
| 10 | Tree-hugging Russian leader, dear me! (9) |
| GORBLIMEY – LIME (tree) inside the bear-hugging arms of dear old GORBY (Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union) | |
| 11 | Where one might feed an adolescent on chocolate primarily (7) |
| CANTEEN – AN and TEEN (adolescent) next to the first letter of Chocolate | |
| 12 | Bit of a strain on old English chair (7) |
| OVERSEE – VERSE (bit of a strain of music) after O (on), then E (English) | |
| 13 | They say I’m quiet six days of the week, however … sweet! (3-5,6) |
| ICE CREAM SUNDAE – sounds like I SCREAM SUNDAY | |
| 17 | Hairpieces got coloured brown in the end — this colour would have been worse (9,5) |
| PISTACHIO GREEN – anagram of HAIRPIECES, GOT then the last letter of browN | |
| 21 | Chosen artist, one of seven sisters (7) |
| ELECTRA – ELECT (chosen), RA (artist) | |
| 23 | Recollection of something essential, like one of your five a day? (7) |
| SATSUMA – A MUST (something essential) and AS (like) all reversed. Referring to a dictum of eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day | |
| 25 | Awkward situation with verbal agreement — stuffed! (3-6) |
| JAM PACKED – JAM (awkward situation) and a homophone of PACT (verbal agreement) | |
| 26 | Outstanding fellow in green trousers (5) |
| OWING – hidden inside fellOW IN Green | |
| 27 | Boat ending in Germany with crew from there? (5) |
| YACHT – the last letter in germanY, then ACHT (German for eight, crew) | |
| 28 | On-screen cast interrupted by a sympathetic character (9) |
| RESONANCE – anagram of ON-SCREEN containing A | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Better feature after you texted brother (8) |
| CAPUCHIN – CAP (better), then CHIN (feature) after U (you in textyspeak) | |
| 2 | A stump up when root cut in tree (5) |
| ASPEN – A, then SPEND (stump up) minus the last letter | |
| 3 | Underground fluid protects masking tape, ultimately (3-6) |
| TOP SECRET – anagram of PROTECTS containing the last letter of tapE | |
| 4 | 007 perhaps sat upon by his boss a shade (7) |
| MAGENTA – AGENT (007 is a secret one) under M (the boss of James Bond in the Ian Fleming novels and movies), then A | |
| 5 | Antsy energy provider upset, switched over fuels (7) |
| NERVOUS – SUN (energy provider) reversed containing an anagram of OVER | |
| 6 | Hat-wearing duke is feature of Don Quixote? (5) |
| TILDE – TILE (hat) containing D (duke) | |
| 7 | Cactus inhabiting moor for the duration (9) |
| TIMESCALE – MESCAL (cactus) inside TIE (moor). Mescal is seen a more funky alternative to tequila over here. I can’t really tell the difference, maybe I need more mescal? | |
| 8 | PM on top of border chaos (6) |
| MAYHEM – MAY (former Prime Minister) over HEM (border). | |
| 14 | Skin blister’s back in plague (9) |
| EPIDERMIC – the last letter of blisteR inside EPIDEMIC (plague) | |
| 15 | Something retired people put on finally opening in nearby city (9) |
| NIGHTGOWN – the last letter of openinG inside NIGH (nearby), TOWN (city) | |
| 16 | Loosen tight nut on corner (8) |
| UNTANGLE – anagram of NUT on ANGLE (corner) | |
| 18 | Good joke — bad joke in it? (7) |
| CRACKER – double definition, the second referring to the Christmas tradition. I used to regale my family by pulling the cracker, looking at the paper and reeling off the filthiest joke I could think of. Maybe regale is the wrong term. | |
| 19 | Popular dishes that accompany offal? (7) |
| INSIDES – IN (popular), and SIDES (dishes that accompany). This is a beautifully slick clue! | |
| 20 | Formal wear picked up for club entertainer (6) |
| DEEJAY – homophone of DJ (dinner jacket, formal wear) | |
| 22 | No more food for breakfast (5) |
| TOAST – double definition | |
| 24 | Wedding something painful, bachelor a no-show? (5) |
| UNION – BUNION (something painful) minus B (bachelor) | |
A fun solve, though a DNF, that got me travelling down an interesting rabbit hole. Apparently tequila is just a particular type of mescal made from a certain genus of agave plant and only certain mescals made from other genera in certain Mexican states contain a ‘worm’ (which is actually the caterpillar of one of two species of moth or a specific weevil larva). Agave isn’t technically a cactus with mescal not being made from its namesake, another name for the peyote cactus which contains mescaline.