Time: 19:31
Music: Ben Webster, Soulville
This puzzle was pretty easy, typical Monday fare, but there was a sting in the tail that I will deal with in due course. I was more than half done shortly after the seven-minute mark, but the last two took nearly as long.
I am not a fan of the cryptic definition, but the setter seems to like them well enough. In the regular cryptic clues, there are some minor attempts to conceal the literal, but these should not be a problem for experienced solvers. Fast times expected!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Look to comprehend what is being said? (3-4) |
| LIP-READ – A cryptic definition, and a clever one, but I believe we have seen this sort of thing before. | |
| 5 | No one story recalled great joy (7) |
| ELATION – NO I TALE backwards. If this is not a chestnut, it should be. | |
| 9 | Team with good weapons — things you can steal, perhaps? (4,7) |
| SIDE GLANCES – SIDE + G LANCES. | |
| 10 | Relative going round globe? (3) |
| ORB – BRO backwards. | |
| 11 | Medical procedure I had is inducing sleep (6) |
| OPIATE – OP I ATE, another that seems vaguely familiar. | |
| 12 | Harangue horrible family in speech (8) |
| DIATRIBE – Sounds like DIRE TRIBE – a very familiar clue. | |
| 14 | Enough messed about with re: video game company’s environmental threat (10,3) |
| GREENHOUSE GAS – Anagram of of ENOUGH + RE, followed by Sega’s. I do watch storage unit videos on YouTube. | |
| 17 | Canadian maybe runs in Nice marathon, badly (5,8) |
| NORTH AMERICAN – Anagram of NICE MARATHON with R in it. | |
| 21 | Figure of fun taken in by factual counterargument (8) |
| REBUTTAL – RE(BUTT)AL. | |
| 23 | Has eyes on leaving current, fancy accommodation (3,3) |
| DES RES – DES[i]RES. This is short for desirable residence, from UK newspaper apartment ads back when you paid by the line. This is practically guaranteed to give non-Anglophile overseas solvers trouble, and I needed it to get astern. | |
| 25 | The place you might see Aussie politicians play a role (3) |
| ACT – A.C.T., Australian Capital Territory. I did not know this, but the answer is pretty obvious. | |
| 26 | Newly-constructed steps create city view, possibly (11) |
| STREETSCAPE – Anagram of STEPS CREATE. | |
| 27 | Called for more heart in part of curling match (7) |
| ENCORED – EN(CORE)D. Yes, a curling match consists of ten ends – now you know. Encore as a verb is not a usage I care for, but it is in the dictionary. | |
| 28 | Sudden rush concerning theatre employee (7) |
| SURGEON – SURGE ON. The trick here is to see through the literal, which is a common form of deception in these puzzles. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Capital levy initially is good for Genevans (6) |
| LISBON – L[evy] + IS + BON. Geneva is in the Francophone area of Switzerland. | |
| 2 | Page summing up superfluous content in article (7) |
| PADDING – P + ADDING. | |
| 3 | Unopened load that is almost the equivalent of 1.25 per cent? (9) |
| EIGHTIETH – [w]EIGHT + I.E. + TH[e]. | |
| 4 | Costly endeavour ultimately led by US drug agency (4) |
| DEAR – D.E.A. + [endeavou]R. | |
| 5 | Where writers could be supported as cries turned to anger (10) |
| ESCRITOIRE – Anagram of CRIES + TO IRE. Since the literal is plural, it probably refers to pens, pencils, and such. | |
| 6 | A second TV is something worth having (5) |
| ASSET – A + S + SET. | |
| 7 | Attending to some pressing work? (7) |
| IRONING – A cryptic definition, not very deceptive. | |
| 8 | Entitled people certainly not happy for the most part (8) |
| NOBLESSE – NO + BLESSE[d]. | |
| 13 | Perfect study site millions joined (10) |
| UNIMPAIRED – UNI + M + PAIRED. | |
| 15 | One following US soccer frantically around start of season (9) |
| SUCCESSOR – Anagram of US SOCCER around S[eason]. | |
| 16 | Go up and wait for delivery here? (8) |
| INCREASE – IN CREASE, in the case of cricket and deliveries from the bowler. | |
| 18 | Billions invested in foundation in charge of machines (7) |
| ROBOTIC – RO(B)OT + I.C. | |
| 19 | Sped up judge’s recount (7) |
| NARRATE – RAN backwards + RATE. | |
| 20 | Flower in the middle shunted towards the back (6) |
| ASTERN – ASTER + [shu]N[ted]. | |
| 22 | Shocking thing that’s heard periodically (5) |
| TASER – T[h]A[t]’S [h]E[a]R[d]. | |
| 24 | Partly swollen, sore bit of your eye (4) |
| LENS – Hidden in [swol]LEN, S[ore]. | |
I was under 20 mins so I found this easy. My LOI was UNIMPAIRED where I had UNIM…ED but needed STREETSCAPE to see what I needed to fill in the middle. Very Mondayish.
50 minutes. Not sure what delayed me although I don’ t particularly know SIDE GLANCES as an expression as Collins does and ENCORED meaning to ‘called for more’ is an abomination that I have not come across before; meaning to perform an encore would seem more logical to me. NHO NOBLESSE. DES RES was my LOI.
Not as in noblesse oblige?
Yes, I know that expression but I’ve never met NOBLESSE on its own before.
I’ve never heard of Sega and have no idea for that matter what a storage unit video might be, but that didn’t impede me too much. DES RES has a fine ring about it. One day, I might live in one.
More familiar with SIDELONG GLANCES.
12:52
Monday fare and very enjoyable too. I am a fan of the cryptic definition so LIP-READ was fun for me. NHO DES RES. I agree, ENCORED doesn’t quite sound right. Liked the clue for NOBLESSE with the deception of thinking the clue read ‘certainly’ and ‘not happy’ before lifting and separating. ESCRITOIRE needed all the checkers but it rang a distant bell. IRONING and SURGEON both chestnuts. COD to INCREASE for the almost obligatory cricket clue.
Thanks V and setter.
Never heard of DES RES, LOI, had to check it.
If the crowd called for an encore…
Or “encore”d…
The performer might’ve ENCORED.
Took ACT on faith.
An escritoire is a posh desk.
25:57, all green.
Never heard NOBLESSE without its OBLIGE. And had to guess ESCRITOIRE, which I had only vaguely heard of.
Thanks for the help with the parsing of GREENHOUSE GAS, did not expect to see Sega in there.
COD ACT
9.14 – I don’t record my times but this feels close to a PB so mild whoop?
I got COD SIDE GLANCES quickly which helped I think. Also old enough and Anglo enough to remember DES RES. Thanks blogger and setter.
Spent at least 3′ on DES RES / ASTERN LOsI. Otherwise 12’34” with a typo.
ESCRITOIRE reminded me of Lewis Carroll. Why is a raven like a writing-desk?
Thanks vinyl and setter.
Never came to any real obstacle on this one, and my momentum took me across the line in 23m. SEGA well-known to me without the aid of storage unit videos and I’ve always wanted an ESCRITOIRE. Come to think of it I wouldn’t mind a DES RES to keep it in, either.
All been said already, above. Des Res may well have originated in Estate Agent small ads but it stands as a phrase on its own, nowadays. I found the last couple, that and astern, took time to do but no problems otherwise.
Nho ACT but it didn’t matter. Also bifd the greenhouse gas – I had heard of Sega, but didn’t notice it while solving!
35 mins with the last few spent on DIATRIBE for some odd reason. I agree with our blogger re the cryptic definitions, a few too many today IMHO. DNK i knew Sega but GAS was obvious once one had the G. ENCORED seemed wrong too but it had to be. I did know ACT.
I enjoyed the anagrams and INCREASE.
Thanks v and setter.
LOI DES RES. The curling was compulsive viewing when the Winter Olympics were on. They have ends in bowls too. When did nobility forget to oblige? COD to DIATRIBE. A gentle start to the week. Thank you V and setter.
30 minutes with ASTERN then DES RES taking five minutes or so as my last two in. Apart from those two not difficult though I skipped the parsing of GREENHOUSE GAS and was uncertain about NOBLESSE by itself.
I think I took a bit longer on the quickie today. This was pretty much a write-in.
I got totally stuck on DES RES and ASTERN, got ASTERN after about 10 minutes, should have been quicker I admit, and that gave me DES RES (an expression I haven’t heard for decades) but had to come here to see it was DES(I)RES. Thanks blogger!
18:42. Held up by the same DES RES/ASTERN combi as others. Also needed the crossers to sort out the 6 letters of STREET once SCAPE was obvious. Not at my sharpest today.
Unlike our blogger I do like a CD and these like most of this puzzle were trivial. Happy Mondays. Thanks to Vinyl and setter.
No problems here except I could only guess at ACT. A tidy puzzle but the OED reports 0.06 occrrences per million words in modern English for SIDE GLANCE. Thanks for the blogg!
Monday fare, 14 minutes, ending with ASTERN then DES RES which was a familiar term.
11.51, slowing just a little towards the end because I was in Monday mode and threw in BED SIT without bothering to parse, and then got fooled for the (?) eightieth time by theatre worker. Though it’s been done before, DIRE TRIBE also eluded me for a while because I was looking for a verb rather than a noun. Maybe you can “ENCORE!” but you definitely can’t DIATRIBE.