I found some of this quite hard and needed more than one session on it so I was not altogether displeased with my total solving time of 48 minutes. I didn’t much care for 18dn and although it raised half a smile I wouldn’t want this type of clue to become commonplace. Here’s my blog…
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Dealing with awful dread, prisoners finally render hymn maybe (10) |
| ADDRESSING – Anagram [awful] of DREAD, {prisoner}S [finally], SING (render hymn, maybe). | |
| 7 | Having little wriggle room, as they say, for a settlement (4) |
| PACT – Sounds like [as they say] “packed” (having little wriggle room) | |
| 9 | Some friend about to roll over in bunk (8) |
| CLAPTRAP – PART (some) + PAL (friend) + C (about) all reversed [roll over] | |
| 10 | An American woman far from home (6) |
| ABROAD – A (an), BROAD (American woman). I think a question mark might have been in order here. | |
| 11 | Land once having little rain, hard to penetrate (6) |
| THRACE – H (hard) in [to penetrate] TRACE (little rain). The largest part of THRACE is in present-day Bulgaria whilst the remainder is in Greece and Turkey. I vaguely knew that, and also this: In meteorology, the word “trace” is used to describe a very small amount of precipitation that results in no measurable accumulation. | |
| 13 | Very hard worker, revolutionary type, drooled (8) |
| SLAVERED – SLAVE (very hard worker), RED (revolutionary type) | |
| 14 | Nice man Peter, out to show overindulgence (12) |
| INTEMPERANCE – Anagram [out] of NICE MAN PETER. Biffers need to know their spelling here as one of the unches could be a bear-trap for the unwary. | |
| 17 | Retrograde hair dye and a funny hat — style for a famous wife (4,8) |
| ANNE HATHAWAY – HENNA (hair dye) reversed [retrograde}, A, anagram [funny] of HAT, WAY (style). Played on TV by Liza Tarbuck in the recent superb “Upstart Crow”. | |
| 20 | Raving dean’s foremost priest, one into drink (8) |
| DELIRIUM – D{ean’s} [foremost], ELI (priest), then I (one) in RUM (drink) | |
| 21 | Kills female animal — wicked act (4,2) |
| DOES IN – DOE (female animal), SIN (wicked act). Altogether now: “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…” | |
| 22 | Number one hit going around country (6) |
| NATION – NO (number) + I (one) + TAN (hit) all reversed [going around] | |
| 23 | Hint of something has Heather getting into a twist (8) |
| TANGLING – TANG (hint of something), LING (heather). Yet more LING to please Dr Thud! | |
| 25 | Light railway next to main road (4) |
| AIRY – A1 (main road), RY (railway). There are lots of A1 roads around the world but since this is the Times we’re probably meant to think of the one that goes from London to Edinburgh. | |
| 26 | Evil affair — stuff we can’t see (4,6) |
| DARK MATTER – DARK (evil), MATTER (affair – as in “that’s another matter / affair”). Science that’s beyond my ken so I took the answer on trust from wordplay. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Sea creatures disturbing gutless lad on ship (8) |
| DOLPHINS – Anagram [disturbing] of L{a}D [gutless] ON SHIP | |
| 3 | A final message is cut (3) |
| RIP – Two meanings, the first standing for Rest In Peace (final message) | |
| 4 | Observe pair immersed in that European river (5) |
| SPREE – PR (pair) contained by [immersed in] SEE (observe). The River Spree covers a lot of ground in more than one country but is perhaps best known as the one that flows through Berlin. | |
| 5 | Enforcer’s confession of exhibitionism? (7) |
| IMPOSER – A straight definition and a cryptic hint to be read as I’M POSER (confession of exhibitionism) | |
| 6 | Be opposed to having game once more on street (2,7) |
| GO AGAINST – GO (game), AGAIN (once more), ST (street). I lost time here initially thinking the first word might be “up”. | |
| 7 | Individual not getting on always munched to keep going (11) |
| PERSEVERATE – PERS{on} (individual) [not getting on], EVER (always), ATE (munched). I wanted to biff “persevere” or “perseverance” but since neither fitted I had to regroup and follow the wordplay closely to arrive at this previously unknown (or forgotten) word. | |
| 8 | Yellow bird hiding under roof of cottage (6) |
|
CRAVEN – C{ottage} [roof of…], RAVEN (bird)
As Tex Ritter sang on the soundtrack of High Noon : I do not know what fate awaits me I just noticed I have inadvertently written the name of a London football stadium in my explanation! |
|
| 12 | A talent for engaging chaps, bringing responsiveness to suggestions (11) |
| AMENABILITY – A + ABILITY (talent) containing [engaging] MEN (chaps) | |
| 15 | Writer is upset — one departs having money but no work? (9) |
| PENSIONED – PEN (writer), IS reversed [upset], ONE, D (departs). A blissful state which I enjoy after years of hard slog. | |
| 16 | King and queen may get together in this / operetta (8) |
| PATIENCE – Two definitions, the first with reference to card games of the solitaire variety. The second is a work by Gilbert and Sullivan. Possibly we can expect the “comic opera vs operetta” discussion later. | |
| 18 | Meat back in short supply — only a comedian would eat it?! (7) |
| HAMSTER – HAM (meat), STER{n} (back) [in short supply]. I foresee problems here for our overseas chums or anyone who was not around in the UK in 1986 when The Sun newspaper carried the headline “FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER” on its front page. If you feel the need to read about it you can do so here. This is effectively a reference to a living person (though his career is dead), someone who is long-forgotten or unknown to the vast majority and was of somewhat dubious talent and repute anyway. A bit uncalled for in my view. | |
| 19 | Alpine ground for one in mountainous territory (6) |
| NEPALI – Anagram [ground] of ALPINE | |
| 21 | Study this writer’s material (5) |
| DENIM – DEN (study), I’M (this writer’s) | |
| 24 | Fate of man married to backward-looking woman (3) |
| LOT – Two definitions, the second with reference to the Biblical tale of Lot’s wife who when escaping the doomed city of Sodom disobeyed the visiting angel’s instructions not to look backwards and was promptly turned into a pillar of salt. Fire and brimstone stuff! | |
No idea about the meaning for 18dn. But what else can you do with H?M?T?R.
?
Talking of HAM – 18dn HAMSTER was a write-in, however I was unable to parse it fully. Freddie Starr (Fowell), ex lead singer of The Midniters, is no longer des rigeurs. He once inspected the goal posts at a Wembley Cup Final, dressed as Adolph Hitler in full uniform with short pants and wellies; it was hysterical! His impression of Elvis was pure comic opera! The hamster did for him!
31 minutes – so 4 over for the week.
FOI 1ac ADDRESSING the anagram indicator ‘awful’ made this so easy.
LOI AMENANILITY only ‘cos I had spelt DELIRIUM incorrectly.
COD 2dn DOLPHINS WOD DARK MATTER
Enjoyable puzzle.
horryd Shanghai
I also had ‘Seine’ for a long time as the river, although it is hard to see in what sense ‘in’ is a pair.
But all solved, and I do appreciate Ulaca stepping in to blog last night when I was at my niece’s birthday party. When I solved that puzzle the morning after, I didn’t find it particularly easy and made one silly error that I would have caught while writing up the blog.
When we had them, my party trick was to put (dwarf) hamsters in my mouth. My record was around five, as I recall.
Got HAMSTER with a shrug, and now that it’s been explained it still looks like a pretty poor clue to me.
But the big problem was PATIENCE. Missed the cards reference completely, and wasn’t able to bring to mind the G&S production. Opted for a highly doubtful MARIANNE in the end.
So that’s 12 over today, 7 over for the week. Thanks setter and Jack.
That’s MARI (ancient seat of kings on the Euphrates) + ANNE (famously dead queen).
Thanks Google!
I’m fine with the HAMSTER clue but also fine with the criticism of it. How’s that for fence sitting?
Edited at 2016-09-13 12:45 pm (UTC)
Wondered what the “that” in 4d was for? Couldn’t think of a river with “das” in it and “oder” means “or”.
I liked the addition of (dwarf) in Ulaca’s post as if this helps to answer the question on everyone’s lips.
Ulaca
It’s some consolation that having been tempted by MARIANNE I did manage to resist this and get PATIENCE. THRACE and SPREE also held me up considerably.
Not sure what that does to my score.
I didn’t know the river. It feels like the sort of thing one really ought to know, so I’m glad to have learned it.
I’m very firmly with Jack on the HAMSTER controversy, but I wouldn’t mind it at all on a Sunday. I try to avoid sitting on the fence, but I’m not averse to moving it. This allows me to moan about obscurities in these puzzles and solve Mephistos without experiencing cognitive dissonance.
Edited at 2016-09-13 08:14 am (UTC)
Ulaca
Edited at 2016-09-13 02:24 pm (UTC)
At the next annual meeting, the envelope from Deloitte is opened and the winner announced, the winning setter getting an all-expenses paid trip to watch a Freddie Starr impersonator at the Winter Gardens and a year’s supply of vanilla ice-cream.
Almost right: it’s actually the first item, or will be next year.
Suitable suggestions for how to name the trophy, please 🙂
RR
Alan
The Freddie Starr headline is about as famous as newspaper headlines get but I can see why it might be a bridge too far in some quarters.
With regard to the harumphing from some quarters, surely something as famous as Mr Starr’s hamsterburger is a fairer clue than an obscure (and mis-described) G&S piece?
The sad thing is that I know that – shows how much I was struggling today.
But I had no 16dn at all with 16dn and its very vague definition. MARIANNE is not such an unknown operetta after all, kevingregg, since so many of us have seen it (of course starring the famous singer Mari King, unfortunately now deceased, or was it the Nubian monarch Mar the First?).
Edited at 2016-09-13 06:27 pm (UTC)
Surprisingly there’s not much comment about it on the Times forum.
I’ve absolutely no objection to a reference to the latter appearing in a Times crossword. I suppose this is just an example of my love of the frivolous, the sort of thing that makes life just that little bit more livable.
Freddie never actually ate the Hamster – h
But hear-hear on Freddie who never actually ate the Hamster – he most certainly was a comedian. I’d rather have him around than that obscure songster Lord Amiens(AYLI)who everyone drooled over recently.
horryd Shanghai