Time taken: 11:36
I’m going to declare this one Tricky Thursday even though there are few completions at the time of writing. There’s some unusual phrases, not a lot of obvious definitions and only one or two places I saw that things could be biffed.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Manifest impatience that I bet wrongly on winner (5,2,3,3) |
| CHAMP AT THE BIT – anagram of THAT,I,BET after CHAMP (winner) | |
| 8 | Extensive note put in record (4) |
| LONG – N (note) inside LOG (record) | |
| 9 | A member of corps on dock finally dropped in the shade (10) |
| AQUAMARINE – A then MARINE (member of corps) after QUAY (dock) minus the last letter | |
| 10 | Came across entertaining American lounge singer (4,4) |
| MEAT LOAF – MET (came across), containing A (American), then LOAF (lounge). Clever surface. | |
| 11 | That woman, married, proved old-fashioned (6) |
| SHEWED – SHE (that woman), WED (married) | |
| 13 | Rewritten document is about politician with feeblest case (10) |
| PALIMPSEST – double container! IS surrounding MP (politician) all inside PALEST (feeblest) | |
| 16 | Leave to be sick, but not very (4) |
| OMIT – VOMIT (be sick) minus V (very). There were two vomits walking down the street. One started crying. The other asked if he was OK, and the first said “Sorry, I get emotional, I was brought up here”. | |
| 17 | This blocks sibilant in front of mouth? (4) |
| LISP – S (sibilant) inside LIP (front of mouth) | |
| 18 | Show of green largely amid crop (10) |
| RIVERDANCE – VERDANT (green) minus the last letter inside RICE (crop) | |
| 20 | Allot gold “star” (6) |
| METEOR – METE (allot), OR (gold). Did myself no favours by entering CAST,OR here originally | |
| 22 | Not so good to contribute to a little light teasing (8) |
| RAILLERY – ILLER (not so good) inside RAY (a little light) | |
| 24 | Return of service plus extra run covering great area (3,3,4) |
| FAR AND WIDE – RAF (service) reversed, then AND (plus), WIDE (extra run in cricket) | |
| 26 | Stick by hot tub (4) |
| BATH – BAT (stick) then H (hot) | |
| 27 | Donning hat, set out for Brief Encounter (3-5,5) |
| ONE NIGHT STAND – anagram of DONNING,HAT,SET | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Helpful craftsman, local, scratching head (11) |
| COOPERATIVE – COOPER (craftsman) then NATIVE (local) minus the first letter | |
| 2 | Dread carnage, on and off street (5) |
| ANGST – alternating letters in cArNaGe, then ST (street) | |
| 3 | Look with difficulty round a small publisher, in this? (9) |
| PEASOUPER – PEER (look with difficulty) surrounding A, S (small), OUP (Oxford University Press, publisher) | |
| 4 | More than one fine lady at first clothed in real delicacy (7) |
| TRUFFLE – two F’s (fine), and the first letter of Lady inside TRUE (real) | |
| 5 | Carries items on back of camel (5) |
| HUMPS – the only double definition in this crossword! | |
| 6 | City pub Charlie alone wrecked (9) |
| BARCELONA – BAR (pub), C (Charlie), and an anagram of ALONE | |
| 7 | One full of alcohol perhaps is expelled from Arab city (3) |
| TUN – remove IS from TUNIS (Arab city) | |
| 12 | Saver confused with deceit is gutted (11) |
| EVISCERATED – anagram of SAVER and DECEIT | |
| 14 | Naughty lad on cocaine initially had to swear (9) |
| IMPRECATE – IMP (naughty lad), RE (on), the first letter of Cocaine and ATE (had) | |
| 15 | Being late, celebrity cycling round has something to eat (9) |
| TARDINESS – STAR (celebrity) cycling surrounding DINES (has something to eat) | |
| 19 | Disappear, having run in for coat (7) |
| VARNISH – VANISH (disappear) containing R (run) | |
| 21 | Minute hands, in relation to face? (5) |
| RADII – cryptic definition, based on the minute hand of a clock being the radius of the face | |
| 23 | Scales not fully calibrated (5) |
| LIBRA – hidden inside caLIBRAted | |
| 25 | Answer the same as before? Bother! (3) |
| ADO – A (answer), DO (ditto, the same as before) | |
I found this straightforward, it went quite fast but I was also making soup so I don’t have a time. I was amused to see MEAT LOAF turning up in The Times. I derived IMPRECATE from wordplay. I knew the word but not really what it meant. It took me some time to see how RAILLERY, my LOI, worked. I assumed ILL was “not so good” which left the confusing RAERY to account for. Eventually the penny dropped and I realized it was ILLER and everything fell into place. 36 mins including making the soup, probably 20-25 mins of actual solving.
I did find this tricky at first, but towards the end I sped up considerably. I never parsed Riverdance, so thanks for that. My chief problem was taking so long to see the should-have-been-obvious champ at the bit. Once I had that, Barcelona and humps were obvious, and I eventually got cooperative as well. Radii was my LOI, a mysterious clue that suddenly became clear.
Time: 48:11
32:59
I spent far too much time following wrong hunches: that ‘front of mouth’ was M, that ‘deceit is gutted=DT, that ‘rewritten document’=(document)*. I also biffed BADINAGE at 22ac and CHAFE AT THE BIT, wasting more time before correcting them.
I hit a wall about half way through and should have put the puzzle aside for completion later, however I soldiered on and eventually completed all but one word. The missing answer was PALIMPSEST which I vaguely remember coming up before but I would never have constructed it from the wordplay on offer despite getting as far as ?A?IMPSEST.
I enjoyed the solve when I wasn’t completely stuck and took some satisfaction from the tricky clues I did manage to unravel.
If this doesn’t have a SNITCH over 100, I’m quitting forever.
Super puzzle. I was fortunate to have the required GK, which helped with the last two, PALIMPSEST and PEASOUPER.
20:59
Has anyone else had troubles with A2z word finder recently
I occasionally use it as an aid if really stuck
Now the crossword click through takes one to a site that doesn’t work
Are there any other suggestions?
A nice 34m, following whatever felt like the easiest path, which led me from FOI 1a down the right-hand-side then back across to finish with IMPRECATE and LISP.
Not bad after wrenching myself out of bed for a washing machine repair appointment that came with a window of 6:30-8:30. I guess Hoover think their customers are all up with the dawn chorus…
Shot through most of this in 25 mins having quickly seen the two long answers, but ground to halt with PALIMPSEST, RIVERDANCE & IMPRECATE. Eventually worked them out for 31 mins.
I liked FAR AND WIDE.
Thanks G and setter.