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]. | |
was anyone else tempted by “see here ” for one across?Until, that is the early down clues were not forthcoming .
Another finish – what joy ! Somehow this never felt intimidating right from the start, and though it took me a while, it was steadily pleasing throughout . Nice to have decodes that take some working out, without being so ludicrously convoluted that even the explanation has to be read several times. No obscurities, and no GK needed (I actually knew ACT, but had to lookup what the C stood for, but the answer was obvious from the literal clue anyway). Enjoyed SIDE GLANCES – had me on the wrong track for an age.
Many thanks to setter and blogger. No doubt the week will get more difficult from here, but I shall bask in my completion, and not give a jot if it’s the only one this week.
It was easy, mostly, but my lack of knowledge pushed me to 40 minutes. The curling, Sega, DES RES (I have seen this once before in Crosswordland, but needed ASTERN to get it), and A.C.T. all held me up. All parsed otherwise, except that I couldn’t understand “in the middle shunted”; maybe I was just tired from staring at _E_ R_S. Liked SIDE GLANCES and ESCRITOIRE. Thanks setter and vinyl.