| 1 |
God and goddess embracing love, insatiable (8) |
|
RAVENOUS – RA O in VENUS |
| 6 |
Have no problem with account involving recording (6) |
|
ACCEPT – EP (Extended Play, in case anyone under 60 is tuning in) in ACCT; as a kid in the 60s, we had a number of EPs – one was by the novelty act, The Barron Kinghts. Brings tears to my eyes… |
| 9 |
Probably the most expensive target for climbers? (3-2-3-5) |
|
TOP-OF-THE-RANGE – extended definition – the second being whimsical |
| 10 |
Nurse, perhaps, with additional energy in vocation (6) |
|
CAREER – E in CARER |
| 11 |
Flooring brand to cover middle of hole? I’m not sure (8) |
|
LINOLEUM – pretty much a write-in for those who were at it in the 60s: hOLe in LINE (brand) UM. You might biff it from ‘flooring brand’ – which it was originally, but no longer is. Like ‘hoover’, I guess. |
| 13 |
Minor goddess following head of pantheon into danger (10) |
|
PERIPHERAL – P HERA in PERIL |
| 15 |
Reckon to lose first associate (4) |
|
ALLY – tALLY |
| 16 |
Speculation behind American support (4) |
|
ABET – A BET |
| 18 |
Novel supporting retreating, retaining restraint (5,1,4) |
|
ROMAN A CLEF – MANACLE (restraint) in reversal of FOR (‘supporting retreating’); refers to a novel about thinly-disguised real-life people. I’m currently reading one of the better known of the genre, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. |
| 21 |
Editorial intervention dismissing Democrat response (8) |
|
REACTION – REdACTION |
| 22 |
Part of security system — crucial option for accommodation? (6) |
|
KEYPAD – KEY PAD (option for accommodation – ‘my pad or yours?’) |
| 23 |
Success behind entertaining form of music reached worst level (3,4,6) |
|
HIT ROCK BOTTOM – ROCK (form of music) in (entertained by) HIT (success) BOTTOM (behind). Yo! |
| 25 |
Singer to show fear, losing heart (6) |
|
TREBLE – TREmBLE |
| 26 |
Supporter of monarchy in solitary, getting punished (8) |
|
ROYALIST – anagram* of SOLITARY |
35 minutes including 9 spent on my last two in, ACCEPT and CAN, the latter of which I felt was a bit dodgy but I couldn’t think of anything better.
The Barron Knights are still around minus the deceased Duke D’Mond. They were founded in 1959 in Leighton Buzzard, where I live, and have always retained their local connections. I think on a previous outing it was established that EPs are still issued but in what format I don’t know exactly.
My kids still copy the line they learned from me: “I don’t want to go to work, on me bike in the rain.”
Lots of folk musicians issue EPs with 4 or 5 tracks in CD form to sell at their gigs. I have one by an excellent duo, Our Atlantic Roots (Laura and Mac), who live in Cornwall. She comes from Darlington and he comes from Virginia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5zNWF7gSNg
A rather sluggish 26:44 which on reflection is very disappointing. Looking back this seems usual Monday fare so would be expecting 10 minutes less than that. Wasted a lot of time correcting unforced errors.
COD EUPHAMISTIC
Thanks blogger and setter.
8.20
Nice gentle start to the week.
My partner’s started doing the times2 (non-cryptic) crossword, so I’m getting used to looking for Ninas; we have TOP OF THE RANGE and HIT ROCK BOTTOM in appropriate positions today.
LOI TUB
COD RAVENOUS
A very rare sub 15 minute solve for me, exact time unavailable as my laptop froze and had to be restarted. Really liked this one, especially PERIPHERAL and HERBIVORE. Many thanks Ulaca and setter.
48 mins with some pretty tricky wp, I thought. None the worse for that though. A number unparsed too, so ta to our blogger for the explanations. Like jack, CAN went in with a bit of a shrug.
I liked HIT ROCK BOTTOM & KOOKY best.
Thanks U and setter.
Pleasant start to the week.
“Hit rock bottom” reminds me of the song by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. Nice song – it came second in the Eurovision, but would probably have won if any other country had entered it.
DNF at 44 mins which is disappointing for a Monday.
I did think of BLETHER, but didn’t know it was Scottish, and wasn’t sure of the “holyrood” device, and didn’t really know BLEAR either.
Missed 1a when I kept trying to make ZEALOUS work with Zeus. Went through short gods and goddesses and came up with Pan, Io but forgot about Ra.
Couldn’t get ACTUATE either, always miss the many meanings of ATE, a common set of letters.
COD HERBIVORE
A solid 29:40 for me. Enjoyable puzzle overall, I’d never heard of ROMAN A CLEF so I was pleased to get it from the wordplay alone. I wasn’t aware that blare could be a word on its own but I figured it made sense that it existed given “bleary-eyed”. Thanks setter and Ulaca.
I agree with our blogger’s enthusiasm this morning. A lovely start to the week. Really smooth surfaces and beautifully succinct throughout. RAVENOUS, PERIPHERAL, EUPHEMISTIC, SCHOLAR, LEAD CRYSTAL my faves today. 11 minutes.
Thanks to setter and blogger
CANT in 7d is more likely thieves’ cant or travellers’ cant. For Scottish travellers it was a mixture of Scots, Roma, Gaelic and a few other bits and pieces from across the globe.
That was how I read it.
14:21
More Mondays should be like this. Biffed ROMAN, never bothered to parse it. i couldn’t figure out what to do with ‘option’; crucial/KEY, accommodation/PAD, option/?
About 15 minutes.
– Relied on the wordplay for the unknown ROMAN A CLEF
– Thought 6d was going to be a+irelands* until I thought of ADRENALIN and saw how it worked
– Didn’t know BLETHER is Scottish
– Hesitated over MONIKER as I initially thought Mike was giving M, so I couldn’t account for the ‘ike’
Thanks ulaca and setter.
FOI Career
LOI Moniker
COD Erasmus
12:56. I had somehow mistyped it TOf OF THE RANGE – so I’m left with no snitch prizes for one of my best ever times. But that’s a genuine typo so, personally, it counts!
Thoroughly enjoyed this. NHO BLETHER, my LOI, but couldn’t think of anything except BLEAR for OBSCURE, so it had to be. I think I have heard of ROMAN A CLEF before, so I managed to get that as my POI.
Nearly hit my target to get QC plus Real Deal in less than 15 mins today. The milestone must fall soon.
12.30, the only real hold-up being 1ac, with a vast pantheon to choose from, and “insatiable” being one of those words where you know what it means but have a hard time putting a synonym to it.
I had M AS KING until it couldn’t be, with a slight mer at Michael rather than Mike for M. Seemed to fit both definition and wordplay, and might do another time.
HERBIVORE and EUPHEMISTIC got big ticks from me.
18:14. Mondayish but non-trivial and good fun.
NHO the novel and didn’t fully parse rock bottom. LOI LEAD CRYSTAL, COD PERIPHERAL.
Not sure what “it” people were at in the 60’s, on the Lino. Maybe I’m seeing more euphemisms than are there.
Thanks ulaca and setter.
8:55. Neat puzzle. LOI REACTION. Thanks Ulaca and setter.
18:29. Very enjoyable, all the more so as several of the clues such as BLETHER and ROMAN A CLEF were barely known and needed some thought to parse properly. I liked the ‘God and goddess embracing love’ with such gusto in 1a.
8:09. I thought for a while this was going to be a tricky one, as relatively few answers went in on my first pass through the acrosses. But the downs proved easier and then it all fell into place. Nice puzzle.
My thanks to ulaca and setter.
I was unable to parse a few especially in the SE. 18a Roman a clef, missed the manacle. 14d Lead Crystal, total biff. 19d Moniker also biffed.
Steady solve to finish with the NHO KOOKY from wordplay and K*O*Y. 20 minutes. I liked the NINA of
TOP.. and .. BOTTOM if it was intended as one.
I had heard of ROMAN A CLEF, and I biffed it accordingly to finish off a very rapid solve – in fact my 4th best ever according to SNITCH.
LINOLEUM is a type of flooring, but not necessarily a brand.
FOI TOP-OF-THE-RANGE
LOI ROMAN A CLEF
COD KEYPAD
TIME 4:21
An enjoyable start to the week/month indeed! From OFFER to ACCEPT and CAN in 14:46. Liked HIT ROCK BOTTOM and BLETHER. Thanks setter and U.