Solving time: 26 minutes
There was little to delay me here and the clues were mostly interesting and varied.
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 | European secretary’s first son at Westminster? (5) |
| SWISS | |
| SW1 (Westminster – postal district, London South-West 1), S{ecretary’s} [first], S (son) | |
| 4 | Distressing start to period in university environment (9) |
| UPSETTING | |
| P{eriod} [start] contained by [in] U (university) + SETTING (environment) | |
| 9 | Site Maria prepared for a herbaceous plant (9) |
| ARTEMISIA | |
| Anagram [prepared] of SITE MARIA. I didn’t know this genus which includes sagebrush and wormwood, but I knew Artemis from mythology and that helped me to place the anagrist correctly. |
|
| 10 | Language left Jones the architect gutted (5) |
| LINGO | |
| L, IN{i}GO (Jones the architect) [gutted] | |
| 11 | Key openings for items in sports programme (6) |
| EVENTS | |
| E (key), VENTS (openings) | |
| 12 | Policeman needing information runs in titled lady (8) |
| GENDARME | |
| GEN (information), then R (runs) contained by [in] DAME (titled lady) | |
| 14 | Possible battle with fussy kid over veg at duke’s grassland? (10) |
| GREENSWARD | |
| GREENS WAR (possible battle with fussy kid over veg), D (duke). I biffed this, then after the clock was stopped I spent ages trying to make sense of the wordplay until I suddenly realised how uncomplicated it is. Perhaps a bit too fanciful, but the sort of thing one might see in a tabloid newspaper headline | |
| 16 | A set of books one is opposed to? (4) |
| ANTI | |
| A, NT (set of books – New Testament), I (one) | |
| 19 | People in the Tour de France, for example (4) |
| RACE | |
| Two meanings | |
| 20 | What misogynists do, given time and promotion? (10) |
| PREFERMENT | |
| PREFER MEN (what misogynists do), T (time) | |
| 22 | Visor from east English certainly possessed first (8) |
| EYESHADE | |
| E (English) + YES (certainly) + HAD (possessed), then E (east). ‘First’ indicates the position of three elements of wordplay ahead of the third E clued by ‘east’. | |
| 23 | Footballer, perhaps, one settling outside Liverpool at last (6) |
| PLAYER | |
| PAYER (one settling – a bill) containing [outside] {Liverpoo}L [at last] | |
| 26 | Squander rupees, becoming more dejected (5) |
| BLUER | |
| BLUE (squander), R (rupees) | |
| 27 | Pernickety person choosing eggs? (9) |
| NITPICKER | |
| Cryptic – nits being eggs | |
| 28 | Coy about games played in plantation (9) |
| SHRUBBERY | |
| SHY (coy) containing [about] RUBBER (sets of games played in cards etc ) | |
| 29 | Icy cold, as eels may be, we’re told (5) |
| GELID | |
| Sounds like [we’re told] “jellied” (as eels may be). They are an East End delicacy I have never tried and have no wish to. | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Forager from South Carolina, one getting his own back (9) |
| SCAVENGER | |
| SC (South Carolina), AVENGER (one getting his own back) | |
| 2 | Man possibly digesting core of dietary fibre (5) |
| ISTLE | |
| ISLE (of Man possibly) containing [digesting] {die}T{ary} [core of…] | |
| 3 | Interval in which Jew possibly receives cricket side (8) |
| SEMITONE | |
| SEMITE (Jew possibly) contains [receives] ON (cricket side). It’s the smallest interval between notes in a standard music scale. | |
| 4 | In part Louis toured a Hebridean island or two (4) |
| UIST | |
| Hidden in [part] {lo}UIS T{oured}. There are six islands in the ‘Uist’ group but the two with Uist in their names are North Uist and South Uist. | |
| 5 | Skill in mounting shows — HMS Pinafore, for example? (10) |
| STAGECRAFT | |
| The cryptic hint refers to HMS Pinafore, the craft depicted on stage in the eponymously named comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan | |
| 6 | Uproar surrounding extremely large Spanish city (6) |
| TOLEDO | |
| TO-DO (uproar) containing [surrounding] L{arg}E [extremely] | |
| 7 | Good woman in fashionable church: a blissful state for some (9) |
| IGNORANCE | |
| G (good) + NORA (woman) contained by [in] IN (fashionable), then CE (church). A reference to the saying ‘Ignorance is bliss’. | |
| 8 | Maxim, a banker in Zurich? (5) |
| GNOME | |
| Two meanings. We don’t hear much of The Gnomes of Zurich these days but no doubt they still wield power and influence. | |
| 13 | Lively composition Dawn scored ineptly (5,5) |
| SWORD DANCE | |
| Anagram [ineptly] of DAWN SCORED | |
| 15 | Government department’s former auditor mentioned in speech (9) |
| EXCHEQUER | |
| EX (former) then CHEQUER sounds like [mentioned in speech] “checker” (auditor) | |
| 17 | Crossed Bury, needing basic food picked up (9) |
| INTERBRED | |
| INTER (bury), then BRED sounds like [picked up] “bread” [basic food] | |
| 18 | Cross-examining cook over misplaced gin (8) |
| GRILLING | |
| GRILL (cook), then anagram [misplaced] of GIN | |
| 21 | Young creature biting a woman’s innocent child (6) |
| CHERUB | |
| CUB (young creature) containing [biting] HER (a woman’s) | |
| 22 | European doctor on American board (5) |
| EMBUS | |
| E (European), MB (doctor), US (American). A question mark might have been in order here as other modes of transport are available for boarding. | |
| 24 | Bumpkin acceptable in the Old Bull at last (5) |
| YOKEL | |
| OK (acceptable) contained by [in] YE (the, old), then {bul}L [at last] | |
| 25 | Stop anarchist finally entering state (4) |
| STAY | |
| {anarchis}T [finally] contained by [entering] SAY (state) | |
16:05 but with ARTIMESIA, which I pondered over and decided that ESIA was a more likely ending for a plant. Bah humbug! Thanks Jack.
17.44
Not much to add
I rather liked the GREENSWARD clue. Not sure I’ve come across ISTLE and BLUE in the sense before but the w/p was gentle.
Thanks all
Clearly not on the wavelength, as I’ve finished harder ones than this. The STAGECRAFT clue eluded me, as did GELID. I had EMBUS though. 2023 not starting well, but didn’t sleep well last night.
On a positive note, the dishwasher has been repaired, after being out of action over Christmas.
23 minutes for this, without breaking sweat. Where I come from, ‘gelid’ and ‘jellied’ are indistinguishable, phoneme-wise. ARTEMISIA, EMBUS, and BLUER were new to me but not hard to find from the clues. I am with those who feel the clue for GREENSWARD is a little awkward.
FOI – LINGO
LOI – SEMITONE
COD – SEMITONE, and also liked SHRUBBERY.
24:45. I’m pleased with that after spending 18 minutes on the QC. I tossed a mental coin successfully for ARTEMISIA; without the anagrist I’d have spelled it artemesia
DNF Beaten by a few including PREFERMENT which to my mind is clued misleadingly (and so perhaps inappropriately too) with ‘what misogynists do’ giving ‘prefermen’. To my mind the word has such a very specific meaning of active hatred that it cannot and should not be diluted to such blandness.
Others that I missed but am kicking myself for include STAGECRAFT, SWISS and SEMITONE.
As said above, this Tuesday was like a Monday job. 19 minutes with a bacon sandwich for lunch. Like the word EMBUS; does it mean to EMBARK is to get on to Noah’s boat?
My eldest granddaughter Imogen has ARTEMISIA for a middle name, thanks to her father; understandably, she tries to keep it a secret.
18:08
Finally back on track again having completed the last three 15x15s this morning. Can at last get on with those New Year resolutions…
Only ARTEMISIA was new to me, though with four checkers in plus the remaining letters, it was guessable.
Sure I’ve seen EMBUS and BLUE (for squander) here before so wasn’t fazed.
29:33. I got nowhere initially in the NW corner, but switched to the SE and made steady progress from there. I’d never come across GNOME meaning MAXIM before. What’s the difference in meaning between the two? I liked GREENS WAR as a phrase, but agree the clue surface was awkward. Thanks b & s.
29’ plus change, with a good five minutes trying to work the recalcitrant child into GREENSWARD, where surely he or she was not at all necessary to the clue. Like others, a MER at GELID, which eels might perhaps be homophonically in some parts of the north but are definitely not in their east London homeland. And which, frankly, is where this Hampshire lad is content for them to remain.
Put STATECRAFT for my LOI but also made a mistake with the E and I in ARTEMISIA like some other contributors.
COD PREFERMENT
A bit sluggish, given the SNITCH, but I often am on the 15×15 – I just get a bit stuck.
21:14
I’m in shock. A straight top to bottom solve and a personal best. I’ve actually done both the QC and the 15×15 in a combined time of 6:19 ! The year can only go downhill from here….
FOI SWISS
LOI STAY
COD PREFERMENT
TIME 3:27
Brilliant times, well done!
Congratulations! Fantastic time! My time was fairly quick for me, but nothing like yours, and in any case, I spelt ARTEMISIA wrong, for which there is no excuse at all.
After congratulating Busman, my own time looks suddenly very pedestrian! Nevertheless, I am pleased to finish in 26.35 which is pretty nippy for me.
Not really held up by anything apart from initially putting in ROASTING instead of GRILLING. As a result my LOI was PREFERMENT as I had forgotten to return to 18dn, and thus had an O where the middle R should have been in 20ac. Got there in the end though!
I just couldn’t see GNOME so did not finish. GELID, ISTLE (IXTLE) and EMBUS were guesses from the wordplay. EMBUS and ENTRAIN seem to be very ugly and unnecessary words. Do you debus, disbus or disembus? Or disemomnibus perhaps? Thanks for the blog.
At grammar school, the CO of the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) was a very clipped ex-military type. When we were transported to Ashdown Forest to take part in exercises he would command us all to EMBUS or DEBUS as appropriate.
DEBUS it is then! The Oxford dicitionary defines them as “military” so that fits. Thanks.
21 minutes, with lots of write-ins. NHO of ARTEMISIA but I presumed it was named after the goddess, which gave the correct spelling.
‘Gelid eels’ sounds like how a posh person would pronounce it.
13.17. A nice puzzle to breeze through. Tarried a moment to work out what to do with the fussy kid before cottoning on to greensward. I’m sure there will be a clip somewhere from The Fast Show of Paul Whitehouse and Arabella Weir as the posh cockneys pronouncing jellied eels as the more clipped (in some accents) gelid eels.
As befits the low Snitch, a fairly gentle puzzle at least up until the last pair – Stagecraft (where I dabbled too long with statecraft) and Preferment. The parsing of Greensward was beyond me, but now seems obvious – sprouts cooked al dente, then roughly diced with lashings of black pepper really are quite good 😋. Also, I’m sure I would normally have written blew, but 26ac clearly required blue, so that went in with a shrug. Invariant
DNF. Everything except 1dn finished in 27min, but NHO ISTLE. I should have got it from the wordplay, but had forgotten that man cab mean the isle, and was running through lists of mens names.
Happy to get most of this done before my day started, but failed on GNOME (had forgotten this meaning of maxim), and not working hard enough on GENDARME, which should have been a write-in. Mis-step to start off, with SCION carelessly entered.
Will do better.