Solving Time: Apparently there is a tradition that we do not state times for completing qualifiers, as it might be either seen as boasting or off-putting, depending presumably on the time. (query: doesn’t that go for any crossword, not just these?). So anyway, let us just say this was not a difficult crossword. (Having said that, I can’t check that my answers are correct as I don’t have access to the paper and I’m writing this on the day it came out anyway.. so, fingers crossed)
In particular it was not a fraction so difficult as the 1961 vintage crossword that I attempted earlier today, and after which I am still very much Mr Grumpy, so watch out…
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”
ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online
Across |
|
---|---|
1 |
stablemate – B( |
6 | gulp – PLUG, rev. |
8 |
elephant – anagram of ( |
9 | granny – quarters = points of compass = NN in (Thomas) GRAY. Granny flats being what the fortunate ones may end up in, as opposed to nursing homes |
10 | mete – “meat,” a source of protein. |
11 | affiliated – a horse = “a filly” = AFFILI + a chap = A TED (note, not a hooligan this time, Jimbo!) |
12 | herculean – a woman’s = HER + *(CLUE) + AuNt |
14 | sting – dd |
17 | pshaw – scrape = PAW containing S(econd) H(usband). I struggle to remember ever having heard the word in my life. PAH, now that would be different matter.. |
19 | bluebeard – sad = BLUE + confront = BEARD. Bluebeard is a sexist French folktale |
22 | illuminant – sick deer = ILL (R)UMINANT |
23 | lima – city = LA containing I’M, the def. being “capital.” Tricky.. |
24 | breech – “breach” |
25 |
emigrate – E( |
26 | celt – Church of England, CE + LT, a lieutenant |
27 | litter-lout – a cd. I loathe them with a passion |
Down |
|
1 | steamship – small squads joint = S + TEAMS + HIP |
2 | abetter – dd, abetter and a better |
3 |
erasable – of times = ERAS, + L( |
4 | act of parliament – Irish boy = LIAM in ACT OF PARENT. |
5 |
Engels – French for “in” is EN, + set = GEL, + S( |
6 |
guarantee – U( |
7 |
lantern – six-footer = ANT in LE( |
13 | crapulent – *(PART UNCLE). What a horrid word.. it comes from from Latin crapula, ‘inebriation,’ which itself comes from the Greek: kraipalē ‘drunken headache’. Nice to know they have a long history.. |
15 | godparent – *(A DROP) in fellow = GENT |
16 | bestride – dd.. bestride & best ride |
18 | splurge – pounds = L in plant = SPURGE |
20 | agitato – hidden, and very well hidden too.. |
21 | withal – intelligence = WIT + (Prince) HAL. A nickname given to Henry V by Falstaff, according to Shakespeare |
My grandmother always said ‘Oh, pshaw!”, but she was born in 1899. So it was a living idiom only in the distant past.
My thinking on pshaw isn’t exactly that it’s a made up word – it does exist. It is that words which are replications of sounds can, and I think sometimes are, spelled many different ways, which can be unfair. This wasn’t unfair, I don’t think. The goofy spellings are more a problem with US puzzles, where the setter sometimes needs non-standard junk to complete a grid.
I can state with full confidence that I have never heard or seen the term litter-lout in my life. And with no wordplay to guide me home, it was unsolvable.
Disappointing, as I breezed through the rest of the puzzle.
“Like text of Times leader initiated in Lincoln? (8)”
You say “A text, is of course erasable”.
I do not understand this.
A text carved in stone, may, with difficulty, be erasable.
But the universe of erasable entities seems so vast (drawings, memories, people, buildings, files, etc) that so give “like text” as a definition part for ERASABLE seems unfair to me.
I could, of course, be overlooking some subtlety.
—
Clive Tooth
I think the setter is (most likely) referring specifically to a text – as in texting – on a mobile phone. In which case easily erasable/deletable. I agree the clue doesn’t specifically say so though.
Clearly the definition part, “like text,” whilst therefore accurate, could be a lot more obvious. But they are cryptic clues.. so many of the definitions are deliberately vague, obscure or unclear in some way. I didn’t see this one as unfair but others may well do so. Certainly this clue has attracted other comments above, both pro & con