Times Cryptic 27866

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Times Cryptic 27866

Solving time: 38 minutes with one partially wrong answer at 8dn.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Unexpected if tortuous novel (10)
FORTUITOUS : Anagram [novel] of IF TORTUOUS
6 Drink freshly made – and from bananas – containing energy (4)
MEAD : Anagram [freshly] of MADE. Also MAD (bananas) containing E (energy). Two recipes for MEAD for the price of one!
10 In the absence of authority, some seizing chief (7)
ANARCHY : ANY (some) containing [seizing] ARCH (chief)
11 Brickie’s eye needed to fill top part of course? (4,3)
CHOC ICE : {bri}C{kie} [eye] contained by [to fill] CHOICE (top). An odd clue which I may have misunderstood. I take it that ‘eye’ refers to the middle letter of ‘brickie’ in the same way as ‘the eye of a storm’ represents its central point. I think of a CHOC ICE (more usually hyphenated) as a confection like an ice-cream tub or a lollipop to be eaten e.g. in the cinema of my youth, rather than something served at the table, but I just found it in a dictionary defined as ‘a frozen dessert’ which makes it sound more like a sweet course of a meal. But then why ‘part of a course’? I get the ‘course of bricks’ reference in the surface reading, but even so…
12 Echo in written works? Check four to find it perhaps (9)
LEITMOTIV : E (echo – NATO alphabet) contained by [in] LIT (written works – literature), MOT (check – Ministry of Transport road vehicle test), IV (four). This is a recurring idea or image in a literary work, music, etc. The definition might be the first word of the clue, or the first half, or perhaps the whole thing.
13 Source of antiquated writings stocks a hoard (5)
AMASS : A{ntiquated} [source of…], then MSS (writings – manuscripts) contains [stocks] A
14 Quality one’s lacking in server (5)
WATER : WA{i}TER (server) [one’s – i – lacking]. Of the first water /  of excellent quality
15 Resident entertaining a bishop’s relation (9)
NARRATIVE : NATIVE (resident) containing [entertaining] A + RR (bishop – Right Reverend)
17 Speaker’s earnings corrupt post-holder (9)
INCUMBENT : INCUM sounds like [speaker’s] “income” (earnings), BENT (corrupt)
20 Cool Dublin politician holds record, first in Ireland (5)
TEPID : TD (Dublin politician – Teachta Dála) contains [holds] EP (record) + I{reland} [first]
21 They make it easier to see small mushrooms, turned over (5)
SPECS : S (small) + CEPS (mushrooms) reversed [turned over]
23 During trip, Rhode Island pass makes one flag (9)
TRICOLOUR : RI (Rhode Island) + COL (mountain pass) contained by [during] TOUR (trip)
25 Nice mushroom a representative has left for bun (7)
CHIGNON : CH{a mp}IGNON (Nice – French word for – mushroom) [a + representative – MP – has left]. It’s a hairstyle.
26 Lost balance from West End rent (7)
TRIPPED : {wes}T [end], RIPPED (rent – torn). There’s a lot of renting of clothes in the Bible.
27 One of many concealed in wall at home? (4)
LATH : Cryptic. In certain types of building construction laths are thin strips of wood designed to hold plaster or tiles in place. On edit: Thanks to pleasuredome8 for pointing out that the answer is also hidden [concealed] in {wal}L AT H{ome}. I had spotted this when solvng – honest!
28 Welcome the way one’s accepted by cook repeatedly (3,2,3,2)
HOW DO YOU DO : HOW (the way), then YOU (one) is contained by DO + DO (cook repeatedly – is the meat done yet?)
Down
1 Don’t pass round large flounder (5)
FLAIL : FAIL (don’t pass) containing [round] L (large). Floundering about.
2 Note boxer’s twitching, with both feet on the ground? (9)
REALISTIC : RE (note – music), ALI’S (boxer’s), TIC (twitching)
3 Hardline United Nations committee with potential (14)
UNCOMPROMISING : UN (United Nations), COM (committee), PROMISING (with potential).
4 To be audacious, Yankee invested in satellite (3,2,2)
TRY IT ON : Y (Yankee – NATO alphabet) contained by [invested in] TRITON (satellite – of Neptune)
5 Find Republican following a foreign chap (7)
UNCOVER : UN (a – foreign), COVE (chap), R (Republican)
7 Individual in area brought up Heather (5)
ERICA : I (individual) contained by [in] ACRE (area) reversed [brought up]
8 Plant exotic yew with reeds at rear of bed (5-4)
DYERS-WEED : {be}D [rear], anagram [exotic] of YEW REEDS. This was the one I got wrong, and it’s another of those infuriating anagram clues where if you don’t know the target word you just have to guess. On reflection I suppose ‘Dyer’s-weed’ is a more likely candidate than my answer ‘Drey’s-weed’ but who’s to know there wasn’t a botanist called Mr Drey, or perhaps it’s the plant of choice for squirrels when constructing their nests?
9 Governing body putting writer in a spot (5,9)
LOCAL AUTHORITY :  AUTHOR (writer) contained by [in] LOCALITY (spot)
14 Capricious wife greeting Hamilton, say, out of uniform (9)
WHIMSICAL : W (wife), HI (greeting), M{u}SICAL (Hamilton, say) [out of uniform – NATO alphabet)
16 Ad lib concert after the writer’s put out (9)
IMPROMPTU : I’M (the writer’s), PROM (concert), anagram [out] of PUT
18 Use cast during each round (3,4)
EAT INTO : TINT (cast) contained by [during] EA (each) + O (round). SOED has ‘cast’ as: a dash of some colour; a tinge, a shade. I didn’t know that. If you use some of your supplies you eat into them.
19 Warped eccentric wit’s dry (7)
TWISTED : Anagram [eccentric] of WIT’S, then TED (dry). SOED has ‘ted’ as:  spread out or strew new-mown grass, cut corn, or straw on the ground to dry.
22 Correct to ring head of Charolais bull (5)
EDICT : EDIT (correct) contains [to ring] C{harolais} [head]. As in ‘Papal Bull’. I learnt that Charolais is a breed of cattle, but one doesn’t need to know that.
24 Commercial port screens broadcast (5)
RADIO : RIO (port) contains [screens] AD (commercial)

70 comments on “Times Cryptic 27866”

  1. Smooth solve, but slowed down considerably towards the end with CHOC ICE, LOCAL(ITY), and DYER’S-WEED.

    6-Across is a rare clue which contains more than one wordplay route to the answer. That’s a treat!

    Not a terribly hard puzzle but lots of unknowns for me: MOT, DN, etc.

    I didn’t flinch at CHOC ICE while solving but now that you point it out I’m also wondering if I missed something. DYER’S-WEED sucked — I guessed it right, but confess that I checked before submission.

    Edited at 2021-01-05 02:13 am (UTC)

  2. Something between 20 and 25 minutes. (At a little under 3′, the cursor froze so that any letter I typed just replaced the previous one in the same square. This has happened before, and hopefully in a few hours Customer Service will solve the problem.) FOI FORTUITOUS, LOI CHOC ICE, which was biffed from checkers; no idea how the clue worked. I had LEITMOTIF (ODE’s preferred spelling) at first, which of course made UNCOVER difficult. DNK the weed, but fortunately I only saw DYERS.
    1. This happened to me once upon a time with Safari on a Mac. I eventually took Vinyl’s advice to clear the cookies and I haven’t had the problem since.
      1. Thanks; that advice sounds familiar. It hasn’t worked, though: Before I cleared, the problem had changed to another one I remember, where the grid doesn’t appear at all, and the icons on the top are skewed to the right so that ‘submit’ appears below the others.
        1. I’ve had this several times on Ipad with Safari and solved it (following advice from members of this blog) by rigorous clearing of all the cookies, cache, and other stored hidden data.
          DocG
  3. I was under 20 minutes when I got to CHOC-ICE and the LOCAL part of LOCAL AUTHORITY. It took another 7 or 8 minutes to get there. I nearly went for MORAL AUTHORITY (which I was pretty sure was wrong because it is). I did wonder if “brickie” was slang for a choc-ice, perhaps in Australia.

    Edited at 2021-01-05 03:06 am (UTC)

    1. Amen! We were on the same wavelength. I considered MORAL and TOTAL and nearly gave up before pushing myself to get the right answer.
  4. Like yesterday’s, not too hard and finished in 27 minutes. The unheard of DYERS-WEED went in as the most likely possibility given the checkers in place, but I admit to first going through the same thought processes as our blogger. For CHOC ICE, I wonder if CHOICE = ‘top part’ rather than just ‘top’, as in the ‘The preferable or best part’ meaning for the noun given in Chambers.

    We don’t often see double wordplay so MEAD was my highlight, the more so as it is an ‘Echo in written works’ at St. Elsewhere’s today.

  5. Chamber’s preferred spelling is LEITMOTIV – Late 19th century from German ‘Leitmotiv’, leit- ‘leading’ (from leiten ‘to lead’) + Motiv ‘motive’

    ODE – preferred spelling is apparently LEXICO

    My time 33 minutes

    FOI 1dn FLAIL

    LOI 18dn EAT INTO yuk! Also 11ac CHOC ICE yuk!

    COD 25ac CHIGNON ‘bunny rabbit’

    WOD 12ac LEITMOTIV

    Interesting day in the Land of Brother Jonathan – where old Pence is being devalued. Let’s hope Customer Service in Atlanta sorts things out tomorrow.

    Edited at 2021-01-05 03:15 am (UTC)

  6. My experience today echoes those who have posted before me. I would usually spell LEITMOTIV with an F at the end. I was quite unsure that CHOC ICE constituted “part of course” though I did often have one after dinner as a child so I guess that qualifies it in my case. And I finished with LOCAL AUTHORITY taking some time to get the first word. Thankfully the one place I didn’t have the same experience as some others was that I came up with DYER’S WEED for the anagram without having considered DREYS WEED. On another day that could easily have gone the other way.
  7. 21 minutes with LOI a hesitant CHOC ICE after I’d plumped for DYERS WEED over DREY’S version. I had no strong theory where the C inserted in CHOICE came from, but I was more concerned with the thought of a CHOC ICE as a course. Baked Alaska yes. Peach Melba yes, Apple Pie and ice cream yes please , but a choc ice has only ever been a treat or snack in my life. HOW DO YOU DO was abbreviated to Howdo in the county of my birth, usually without the H. I biffed WATER too, without thinking of the expression. Otherwise, an easyish puzzle with a tricky NE. I like it. Thank you Jack and setter.
  8. Not my fault that someone gave the plant the wrong name!

    Edited at 2021-01-05 11:37 am (UTC)

  9. 14:40 A bit trickier than yesterday’s. I failed to understand CHOC ICE and NHO DYERS WEED, my LOI. I liked WHIMSICAL best.
  10. …Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

    After 25 mins pre-brekker (which will be a Fat Rascal, hoorah) I was left with Choc Ice and the weed (or possibly reed). I guessed them both correctly, but these are terrible clues. Pity, because mostly I liked it.
    Thanks setter and J.

    PS I’ve just remembered Abraham Lincoln’s famous last words. “If they don’t have any tubs, I’ll have a choc ice.”

    Edited at 2021-01-05 09:38 am (UTC)

  11. To the setter, “Well HOW DO YOU DO?
    And also A MASSive thank you”
    Twas a very fine test
    And 4 Down was the best
    A treat for a space-nut – woo-hoo!
  12. Jack, 27a is a hidden (walL AT Home) as well as a cryptic.

    A very fast one for me with multiple biffs including the luckily correctly guessed weed, the CHOC ICE (who has ever eaten one of those as part of a meal?) and WHIMSICAL, as I have NHO the musical. Thanks for revealing the machinery as always Jack.

    I am with the esteemed breakfaster Myrtilus: a good puzzle marred by those two poor clues in the NE.

    1. Thanks for pointing that out. An unfortunate case of not feeling the need to consult the annotations on my print-out when I came to write the blog. I had it clearly marked as hidden.

      Edited at 2021-01-05 09:46 am (UTC)

  13. Nearly dived under 10 again today, but the last two (I wonder if you can guess which?) pushed me to 12.33.
    Apparently the weed produces a bright yellow dye, which when mixed with woad gives you Lincoln green.

    Perhaps the community would have preferred a “terrible Scandinavian” homophone clue to reduce doubt.

    I confess to not completely parsing either LEITMOTIV or CHIGNON, the latter I should have done as in our house Queen’s “We Are the Champions” is often rendered as “we are the mushrooms”. It’s a laugh a minute round here.

    I (just) managed to revise LOTS to LATH at 27, reading only the word many in my first skim of the clue.

    Thanks to Jack for persistence in solving everything and sympathy for inventing the other weed.

  14. There was an advert on TV once which featured a hapless father looking after his children, who had choc ice and chips as a meal.

    < 16′, slowed down by inserting leitmotif and misspelling IMPROMPTU. The CHOC ICE took quite a while too.

    Thanks jack and setter.

    1. It occurs to me now that possibly in Scotland they deep-fry them along with Mars bars!
  15. 8:09, but with two errors. I blame the setter for the first, although to be honest I didn’t consider DYERS (DREYS just seemed the obvious order for those letters in those gaps), and would probably have picked it if I had. I can only blame myself for the second though: I somehow typed FRAIL, and once again this is one of those typos that constitutes another actual word so you don’t spot the error when you check your answers. These are the worst typos.
    I agree with others that the CHOC ICE definition is strange. When has one of these ever been ‘part of’ a dessert?
    Five days into 2021 and I have yet to solve a daily puzzle correctly. Perhaps tomorrow will be my day.
    1. I had one of those typos yesterday Keriothe when I put Aztec where ARTIC should have been and completely failed to spot it.
  16. Seems that there was plenty I didn’t quite ‘get’.

    CHOC ICE – same thoughts as others, not sure how that it meant to be constructed, but guessable with checkers.

    TEPID – didn’t know the Dublin politician TD

    CHIGNON – saw the bun without thinking of the French for mushroom

    WHIMSICAL – NHO Hamilton the musical

    ERICA – didn’t twig how that was constructed

    DYERS-WEED – hit and hope

    IMPROMPTU – saw the prom, didn’t bother parsing the rest

    Fortunately, LOCAL AUTHORITY was the second authority I thought of, after Port Of London Authority!

  18. Frustrating to end my pink free run so far this year with Dreys Reed. Otherwise 17:43.
  19. I seem to have been fortunate in that my first thought on writing out the anagrist for the plant, was DYERS WEED, after which I thought no further, assuming correctly that is was named because it yielded a dye. I saw how CHOC ICE worked, but had the same doubts as others about it being a course. Chocolate ice cream may be part of a dessert along with strawberry and neapolitan, but a choc ice is a specific confection. MER! If I hadn’t already had UNCOVER, I would’ve spelled 12a LEITMOTIF. I recalled the Nice mushroom fairly quickly and remembered the bun too. All in all, another romp, with FOI, TRY IT ON and LOI, CHOC ICE. 15:45. Thanks setter and Jack.
  20. Some help from Georgette Heyer and Shakespeare today. Heyer uses the term “diamond of the first WATER” to describe someone very good-looking and WS has that business about the native hue of resolution being made sickly-looking by the pale cast of thought. I agree with those who think of a CHOC ICE as something you got at the flicks. 14.21

    Edited at 2021-01-05 11:38 am (UTC)

  21. I opted for LEITMOTI*F* at first (bien sûr) and took a while to see CHOC ICE, then entered only after some hesitation (it must be “choice part”) as my LOI. Took TD on fairh for TEPID… which this puzzle wasn’t.

    Edited at 2021-01-05 02:50 pm (UTC)

  22. Put me down as another DREYS-WEED. Plants are horrific enough to find in the crossword in the normal run of things, but where you have to guess the anagram… grrr.

    I’m confident I’ve never eaten a CHOC ICE as part of a course… and I also biffed LEITMOTIF at first.

    6m 41s with the error.

  23. FoI: 1A

    Failed to solve: 11A and first part of 9D

    I’ll be interested to read comments re 11A. I suppose I could have guessed the first part of 9D with some further thought, and that then might have led me to guess 11A (I could only come up with ICE for the second word).

    Thanks to jacket and the setter.

    1. It might be helpful if you would add the actual word to the the number of the clue, otherwise we all have to scroll back to jacktt to find out that which you are referencing.
      If we all did that, this would simply be a scroll-fest!

      And who is jacket!?

    2. word_psmith, please ignore the comments of the contributor who replied to you. I read your contribution with interest and you are welcome to reference clues and answers in any way you see fit. Also I have no problem with being addressed as ‘jacket’ either; my username is clearly made up and I have no great personal attachment to it.
      1. Jacket is just what autocorrect does.
        I must say I don’t usually scroll back up to see what people are talking about when they reference clue numbers like this but this can easily be mentioned as a helpful tip (making it more likely that what you write will be understood) rather than a criticism!

        Edited at 2021-01-05 06:30 pm (UTC)

  24. Lots of things to trip over. Only knew the F version of LEITMOTIV, didn’t know DYER’S WEED, got CHOC ICE purely from the checkers and didn’t know the bun from my elbow. In good company, it seems. All done in 32mins.
  25. 20 minutes. Same experiences as others above, MER choc ice, guessed the weed, had leitmotif until UNCOVER was uncovered. Liked the French mushroom bun.
  26. Finished in 36 minutes, but I considered DREYS as well. CHOC ICE is the worst clue I’ve ever seen, one, it’s not part of a meal, two, if it were then it would be a course, not part of one, and three, the use of “eye” to denote the middle letter is not something I’ve ever encountered before.
    1. I agree with your points 1 & 2 (well obviously, as you were agreeing with the comments in my blog) but I think the ‘brickie’s eye’ thing is okay. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it before either, but it would be rather dull solving if there were no new tricks around. Given the ‘eye of the storm’ analogy already mentioned, I think it’s legitimate.
      1. Yes, that’s a fair comment, it’s one to keep in mind for the future. My apologies for not making it clear that I was referencing your sentiments from the blog.
  27. FOI was 5d “Uncover” which left me with a 9-letter word ending in “v” which certainly made me double-take for a little while.
    Agree with everything that’s been said about Choc Ice (neither a course nor part of a course).
    I didn’t know “Ted” = “dry” but will try to remember it henceforward.
    Also spent a while trying to justify “Improvise” before I spotted “Impromptu”.
    Overall, nice puzzle, 11a notwithstanding.
    Thanks for the blog.
  28. 32m here with the same problem clues as already discussed by earlier posters. CHOC ICE seems oddly opaque given the clarity of the rest of the clues. Thank you, Jack and setter.
  29. Very much an anti-clockwise solve, with a brisk start, slowish middle and then far too much time spent staring at 9 down (my LOI) with all checkers in place until the penny finally dropped. Re the plant, DYER seemed to me much more likely than “drey” so no problem there.
  30. Forced online by lack of vouchers for the paper. Delay being blamed on two bank holidays and Royal Mail. Completely unpredictable.
    Anyway once I got going this was not too hard. Started with SPECS and EDICT. LOI was CHIGNON, a word I vaguely remembered. I had a leitmotif, until a change was forced and I too wondered about CHOC ICE. NHO of DYERS WEED but that seemed the best option; and I spotted the hidden LATH without knowing its meaning.
    31:48 on the clock. I’m very pleased with that.
    David
  31. Wondered if a brickie’s eye might be UK slang for his labourer/assistant. Then COOL ICE could work, as COOLIE could fix the top letter of the word ‘course’. But this would also require a Cool Ice to be some never heard of part of an English dessert, for an over-engineered all-in-one.
    Alternatively, a brickie’s eye might be his best, or CHOICE brick, also fixing the first letter of ‘course’ giving a marginally better CHOC ICE. Plumped for the latter. Right for the wrong reason! Thanks for the correct parsing Jackkt.
    18’54” to keep the 2021 green streak going.
    1. The brickie thing seems to be new territory for all of us, so I can’t be sure that mine is the correct reading; it’s only my best guess at it. Your suggestion that ‘brickie’s eye’ might have a slang meaning sent me scurrying to Chamber’s Slang Dictionary to check, but all I found there was ‘brickie’s bum’, and the thought of that decided me to delay my lunch for a while yet!
  32. Pretty easy. Now I fancy a choc-ice, one of the ones with nutty, crunchy bits embedded in the chocolate revestment.

    Thanks jack.

    1. What a great word ‘revestment’! Can’t wait to see ‘revested’ as a containment indicator!
    2. When I go to the freezer for a salted caramel Magnum I shall hold you totally responsible !
  33. Late and frustrated. Had a large part done in 30 mins then struggled with all the aforementioned dodgy clues. Couldn’t see CHOC-ICE for love nor money, guessed DYERS WEED, had IMPROVISE for far too long and spent ages trying to make a word out of wit’s dry, although I know all about “tedding” machines. Oh well. Thanks Jack as ever.
  34. 12:31 for me – was going quite well until the CHOC ICE, LOCAL AUTHORITY, DYER’S WEED section of the grid which flummoxed me for a while. Seems most found it easier than I did.
  35. We’re getting there. Failed to solve about 6 clues but pleased to have worked out the rest of them. Slow and steady….
    1. Re-your avatar: why is Steed holding his ‘fizz’ in his left hand when he (Patrick MacNee) was naturally right-handed?
      1. Because he’s just used his right hand to pour the Champagne and he’s still holding the bottle!
  36. ….but there’s a lot of ink on my paper. I wrote out the anagrist for NHO DYER’S WEED, but could easily have fallen into the “dreysweed” trap. Didn’t know “cast = tint”, or that “com” was an acceptable abbreviation for committee. I didn’t understand the “brickie”s eye” at all, and a CHOC ICE is something I’ve never considered as a meal item. I parsed HOW DO YOU DO afterwards.

    FOI FORTUITOUS
    LOI MEAD (excellent clue !)
    COD WHIMSICAL (by a whisker)
    TIME 7:51

  37. Smashed through about two-thirds of this in about 4 minutes then got held up on the right-hand side. As with others, I chose well with DYERS WEED (having toyed with DREYS) and raised a mild eyebrow at CHOC ICE (although it was my LOI and I didn’t think too hard about it).

    Good stuff.

  38. Somewhat surprised to find my punt of DYERS WEED turned out to be right. CHOC ICE took a while to come, and I didn’t parse EAT INTO or the first part of LEITMOTIV (for which the V in UNCOVER was very helpful), so thanks to the blogger for the explanations. WATER = quality is new to me too, but the wordplay was clear. Hadn’t the foggiest what a CHIGNON is, and NHO of “ted” = dry, both of which I will probably forget.

    FOI Erica
    LOI Dyers weed
    COD Incumbent

    1. they (the farm hands) use to ted the grass in the back field with pitch forks; we referred to it as ‘tedding hay’ back in the day!
  39. Admit I had to look up CHIGNON as I had no idea what it was. Luckily DREYS WEED never occurred to me. Thanks for the explanation, I had no idea about WATER
  40. 13.18. Thought I was on to a sub ten but my hopes were dashed with a couple of stoppages.

    NHO dyers weed but was a 50/50 guess which worked out. Same with choc ice. Didn’t get the formula but nicely explained by the blogger. I agree that choc ice would be a strange selection for a course, espeif you want to keep your friends.

    Ted was a new one on me. Presumably in a stately home you edward your grass?

  41. Come on people. If you copy and paste the above and google it, preferably with a side helping of Masterchef, you’ll get loads of hits. Those aspiring Heston Blumenthals come up with all sorts of puddings. Just because you all eschew fine/experimental dining doesn’t mean the thing doesn’t exist.
    Of course, I still think the “part” belongs to “choice” rather than “dessert”, but the setter’s not even technically wrong. In some circles.
  42. Could Brickie’s eye = see = C somehow? Not sure if that is any better than being at the centre of Brickie. Both a bit strange to me.
  43. 52 minutes, but it would have been Jack’s time but for the CHOC ICE. So I spent 15 minutes staring at that and thinking of things like COOL ICE or CROC I?E until very very slowly the penny dropped. On the whole, a rather strange puzzle with WATER for “quality” and other obscurities. No problem with the brickie’s eye, though (but I am still wondering about the brickie’s bum, after Jack’s comment). And DYER’S WEED was also the only anagram that came to mind.
  45. Got there in the end, more or less under my own steam, though I did check that Dyers Weed existed. Less success with some of the parsings: Mss for manuscript, Ted for dry, and I can’t remember ever coming across 1st Water as a synonym for quality. Hard work, but still enjoyable. Invariant
  46. 15.36. An inability to justify moral authority finally led to my LOI local authority. Choc ice was strange. Never did fully parse eat into. Felt slightly off in places during the solve. Not sure if that was me or the puzzle.
  47. Thanks for the blog. I printed this last week and just got round to completing it. I managed to get dyers-weed and such things as Ted=dry and cast=tint but was very unsure – so it’s with some exasperation that I find everything was correct in the end except I opted for moral (not local) authority. Seemed to fit the clue as well as all the others which I was a little unsure of. Enjoyed the puzzle though.

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