Times Crossword Championship 2008: 2nd qualifier

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : let’s keep this one to ourselves. I found this more difficult than qualifier 1

Across
1 P(e)ACEMAKER
6 WASTE: two definitions
9 DORIS: I in Diana DORS. Is this a sign to look for dead Brit icons in the finals?
10 YARD,OF,ALE: (FOAL,READY)* – I was pleasantly surprised a few weeks ago when I took a friend to a british-style brewpub (only Real Ale I’ve had in the southeastern US) for his birthday, and when hearing it was my friend’s birthday, a half-yard glass was promptly filled
11 N,AIR,OBI: Obi is another spelling of Obeah, similar to voodoo
12 UMPTEEN: bit of construction here, MP in UT(=Utah), E(ast),E(ven),N(ebraska)
13 RUNNING, REP,AIRS
17 FLYING,SCOTSMAN: two definitions. Check out those running shorts!
21 PIGTAIL: fIdGeT in PAIL(=can).
23 REMAT(=TAMER<=),CH
25 CREDULOUS: (CLOUD,SURE)*
26 TUDOR: final letters in thaT yoU haD tO rendeR
27 DENSE: hidden in wooDEN SEmi-detached
28 SEMICOLON: a Costa Rican colon is 100 centimos
 
Down
1 PEDANTRY: ED in PANTRY, a nice mental image
2 CORGI: (b)IG,ROC<=
3 MUSSOLINI: US,SOL in MINI
4 KEYRING: RYE<= in KING
5 REROUTE: RE(=engineers) then T in ROUE(=rake)
6 (doctor)WHO,OP
7 SNARED,RUM
8 EXEUNT: EU in (NEXT)*
14 NIL,EG,RE,EN: nice little lengthy construction
15 AUTOMATIC: (CATAMOUNTAIN – ANN)*
18 G,ALLOWS
19 CHRISOM: a baptismal cloth, (CHIORS)*,M
20 SPICED: S,PD(=paid) around ICE(=dessert)
22 ACUTE: CU in ATE, the goddess of mischief
24 TIDAL: (L,ADIT)<=

4 comments on “Times Crossword Championship 2008: 2nd qualifier”

  1. Also found this a notch or two harder than Q1. I like 9A’s ‘culture’ reference after all the recent moans about obscure stuff. At 17, I wonder how many others initially tried to make ?????? CHARIOTS fit, based on the film title.

    10A: The 18″ of ale sounds a much better idea. Haven’t seen the ‘yard of ale’ ceremony for a couple of decades. (About 3 and a half pints of beer, downed in one, from a container designed so that the last pint or so arrives all at once).

    1. I did the yard of ale on my 21st birthday, only time (thus far) in my life.
    2. On 17, yes, my first thought was CHARIOTS but fortunately I already had a checking letter in place so that ruled it out.

      I forget now how long I took to solve this one but I didn’t pencil in any queries or working-out notes so I assume it must have gone pretty smoothly.

      I wish they would format these puzzles to print out on one page as the dailies do.

  2. I actually finished this one about, um, 15% faster than the first one. Still not fast enough to risk humiliation in the Cotswolds. I might come along as 7DPenguin’s pen bearer.

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