Time taken: 10:58. That’s a little outside my average, but looking at the other early times, I feel confident in declaring Tricky Thursday is here to stay.
The long answers in this grid take some piecing together, and none of them are obvious words from the definition (at least to me), which adds to the complexity. There is excellent wordplay throughout, so some perseverance with the wordplay elements and I think everyone should get there in the end.
Hat tip to BletchleyReject for pointing out there is even a Nina in the grid. That’s an extremely rare occurrence for a Thursday puzzle, I wasn’t even looking for it!
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Page taking another right turn around vault (8) |
| LEAPFROG – LEAF (page) containing P (another page), then R (right) and GO (turn) reversed | |
| 6 | Engage contractors with globe (6) |
| ABSORB – ABS (muscular contractors that I do not have) with ORB (globe) | |
| 9 | Cut in drab uniform fixed after two drinks (13) |
| CHATEAUBRIAND – anagram of IN, DRAB, U (uniform) after CHA and TEA (two drinks). This is a fantastic clue! | |
| 10 | Just about record somersaulting in public (6) |
| OPENLY – ONLY (just) surrounding EP (record) reversed | |
| 11 | Celebrity recalled some philosopher at sage meeting (8) |
| MEGASTAR – hidden reversed in philosopheR AT SAGE Meeting | |
| 13 | Port resident docked close to ace pilot flying north (10) |
| NEAPOLITAN – NEAR (close to) minus the last letter, then an anagram of A (ace), PILOT, then N (north) | |
| 15 | Government department introducing current PM (4) |
| MODI – MOD (Ministry of Defence), then I (current) for the current PM of India | |
| 16 | A lot of muck on left side of Kelvin’s Highland sticker (4) |
| DIRK – remove the last letter from DIRT (muck) then the letter on the left side of Kelvin | |
| 18 | Male band saving time with Bill’s great deal (6-4) |
| BUCKET LOAD – BUCK (male) then ELO (Electric Light Orchestra, 70’s-80’s new wave band) containing T (time), finally AD (bill) | |
| 21 | Eggs on hosts smashing new dishes (8) |
| OVENWARE – OVA (eggs) and RE (on) containing an anagram of NEW | |
| 22 | Affectionate daughter books popular centre for vigil (6) |
| DOTING – D (daughter), OT (books), IN (popular) and the middle letter of viGil | |
| 23 | Part of terrorist organisation isn’t backing Mike in play Operation (13) |
| TONSILLECTOMY – CELL (part of terrorist organisation), IS NOT (isn’t) all reversed, then M (Mike, phonetic alphabet) inside TOY (play). Another stunning clue for a long word! | |
| 25 | Bean drink paired with game (6) |
| NOGGIN – NOG (drink) and GIN (card game) | |
| 26 | Reserve awkwardly eats second fish (3,5) |
| SET ASIDE – anagram of EATS, then S (second), IDE (fish) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Runaway inmate stops here at last to cover head (7) |
| ESCAPEE – final letters of inmatE stopS herE containing CAPE (head) | |
| 3 | Blunt scheme collecting one small parking fine inside of Kent (5-6) |
| PLAIN SPOKEN – PLAN (scheme) containing I (one), then S (small), P (parking), OK (fine) and the internal letters of kENt | |
| 4 | What flows up through hollow rusty piping (5) |
| REEDY – DEE (the river that flows) reversed inside the external letters of RustY | |
| 5 | Cook’s high-quality cheese with 40 per cent off king paid for (7) |
| GOURMET – GOUda cheese missing 40 per cent of the letters, then R (king), MET (paid for) | |
| 6 | Disdain old guy’s first shown in island church (9) |
| ARROGANCE – O (old) and the first letter of Guy inside ARRAN (island), CE (church) | |
| 7 | Type of music request when cycling (3) |
| SKA – ASK (request) cycled | |
| 8 | Whistler may display this in town close to Sunderland (3,4) |
| RED CARD – REDCAR (town in Yorkshire) then the last letter of sunderlanD | |
| 12 | Means of driving forward, except for earlier Tesla models (11) |
| SIMULATIONS – STIMULATIONS (means of driving forward) minus the first T (tesla) | |
| 14 | One working for lender in Iran worked with Blair (9) |
| LIBRARIAN – anagram of IRAN and BLAIR | |
| 17 | Six blocking opening that’s artificially produced (2,5) |
| IN VITRO – VI (six) inside INTRO (opening) | |
| 19 | Natives of foreign ancestry broadcast scoreline having lost at home (7) |
| CREOLES – anagram of SCORELINE minus IN (at home) | |
| 20 | Did Harry duck Yankee visiting old queen and duke? (7) |
| ANNOYED – O (duck in cricket), and Y (Yankee) inside ANNE (old queen) and D (duke) | |
| 22 | Old bit of school out of bounds (5) |
| DUCAT – EDUCATE (school) with the external letters removed | |
| 24 | Granny periodically reared Jade (3) |
| NAG – alternating letters in GrAnNy reversed for a worn-out horse | |
39 minutes. Great stuff. Loved working out the wordplay for many of the clues including LEAPFROG, CHATEAUBRIAND, NEAPOLITAN and TONSILLECTOMY. Plenty to choose from for my favourite, but I’ll go for RED CARD.
Most enjoyable one this year, with a little something extra in the grid as icing on the cake and earworm combined.
Thanks to George and setter
Oh good catch – I did not even see that!
Really enjoyed this. Took me an hour and was left with REEDY and DIRK and gave up, but how I missed the latter is beyond me. Some lovely misdirections as pointed out by BR and I’ll also go for RED CARD as COD with CHATEAUBRIAND a close second.
Thanks George and setter.
26:45. Really had to eke out every last answer here, but was glad I stayed to do so. Some really clever stuff and some fiendish cluing. Ducats were the ‘points’ awarded for achievement at Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School, Barnet, where I had the misfortune to go for a few years.
Thank you setter and George!
52 minutes. Not a fast solve for me but very enjoyable.