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 remember watching “Paradise by the dashboard light” on the old grey whistle test many years ago, and a truly stunning sight it was. Loved Meatloaf ever since ..
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
Good stuff this, better than yesterday’s. Nice to see Meatloaf!
And Riverdance caused quite a stir too, when it first appeared at Eurovision…
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.
The difficulty with PALIMPSEST is that while quite a lot of people in England know the brass-rubbing meaning, fewer know the re-used vellum etc. The clue is not entirely accurate, the writing is completely different.
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.
16.44 which is fast for me and a pleasingly high parse to biff ratio. Last three bricks in the wall were the NE trio HUMPS, AQUAMARINE and my COD PEASOUPER.
Thanks G and setter.
16:04. Really enjoyed this one, which didn’t seem all that tricky although I think I got really lucky with RIVERDANCE as ‘verdant’ was somehow the first green that popped into the old bonce.
28 minutes. I don’t know exactly what a PALIMPSEST is but I recognised the word and IMPRECATE was another one that I would not have been confident about without being given the ‘to swear’ def. I liked the misleading ‘American lounge singer’ at 10a which didn’t exactly suggest the correct answer and the ‘Show of green’ at 18a which did.
Favourites were LISP and Trevor Howard donning his hat for a ONE-NIGHT STAND.
PALIMPSEST has two usual meanings, either a piece of brass redesigned to be a different person (as in church plaques), or material that is written on that is re-used after deleting the original writing. Modern techniques can make out the original.
I’m not sure if I had the right general knowledge but I managed to finish while still unsure what IMPRECATE and PALIMPSEST meant. I’ve looked them up now. LOI was the clever RADII. Tricky in places but any puzzle that combines MEATLOAF with RIVERDANCE is worth the effort. Thank you George and setter.
Tricky or ticky?
33:36. Some slightly obscure words today which I liked. SHEWED reminded me of Jane Austen, and PALIMPSEST reminded me of a visit yonks ago to Richmond Castle where the word was carefully and helpfully explained. as a 10-year old I didn’t think it would ever be that useful but how wrong I was. I didn’t find it too hard and enjoyed the solve throughout.
14’18”, flew through this somehow. Delayed as couldn’t see the CO-OP COOP equivalence. COD to RIVERDANCE. Have remarked on PALIMPSEST above.
Thanks george and setter.
16.45
Very enjoyable, especially the accurate word numbering of MEAT LOAF (two) and RIVERDANCE (one).
No biffs, for a change.
COD CHAMP AT THE BIT
LOI LISP (tried to make it SLIP at first)