Solving time: 24 minutes
I raced through this one, my only hold-up of significance being at 16ac.
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 | Got into bed with a criminal (8) |
| OBTAINED | |
| Anagram [criminal] of INTO BED A | |
| 6 | Reveal all after country club investigation quietly dropped (6) |
| UNROBE | |
| UN (country club – United Nations), {p}ROBE (investigation) [quietly – p in music – dropped]. I think ‘disrobe’ is more widely used. | |
| 9 | Best wedding programme? (5,2,3,3) |
| MATCH OF THE DAY | |
| A cryptic hint precedes the main definition. The title may well have been used around the world but in the UK it refers to this programme. | |
| 10 | Eastern people’s side welcoming different temperatures (6) |
| MANCHU | |
| MANU (side – Manchester United) containing [welcoming] CH (different temperatures – Cold / Hot) | |
| 11 | Mention a misapprehension that head has left (8) |
| ALLUSION | |
| A, {i}LLUSION (misapprehension) [that head has left] | |
| 13 | Teenager thrilled, I hear, by beer drinking party (10) |
| ADOLESCENT | |
| ALE (beer) containing [drinking] DO (party), then SCENT sounds like [I hear] “sent” (thrilled – slang from the jazz age) | |
| 15 | Contents of paper binder, quaintly dated? (4) |
| OLDE | |
| {f}OLDE{r} (paper binder) [contents]. ‘Quaintly dated’ as in ‘olde worlde’. | |
| 16 | In recession corporations producing coarse material (4) |
| SMUT | |
| TUMS (corporations – fat stomachs) reversed [in recession] | |
| 18 | EastEnders failing to provide any hope? (10) |
| ASPIRATION | |
| The cryptic hint refers to the assumption rife in Crosswordland and elsewhere that Cockneys don’t pronounce the sound of h at the beginning of a word. It’s certainly a handy if somewhat overworked device for setters. I found this quotation in SOED that may be of interest: M. Edgeworth: ‘Londoners are always aspirating where they should not, and never aspirating where they should’, suggesting that a Cockney may well pronounce the answer to this clue as ‘HASPIRATION’. The spelling ‘EastEnders‘ is not an error; it’s the style adopted as the title of a long-running BBC TV soap opera. | |
| 21 | After deal crime boss is exploited (6,2) |
| TRADED ON | |
| TRADE (deal), DON (crime boss). SOED: trade on – make use of for one’s own ends; profit by; take advantage of (a person’s credulity, one’s reputation, etc) | |
| 22 | Bitter substance girl preserved apparently (6) |
| TANNIN | |
| ANN (girl) inside TIN suggests (apparently) that she has been preserved | |
| 23 | Facing equivalent challenges, as punter and companion may be (2,3,4,4) |
| IN THE SAME BOAT | |
| A definition and a hint with reference to ‘punt’ as a type of boat | |
| 25 | Various people going under (6) |
| DIVERS | |
| Two meanings. I seem to remember that this first meaning of ‘divers’ appears a lot in the Bible – the traditional version anyway – and that’s probably where I learnt it. | |
| 26 | Journalist I dispatched back to cover unknown English region (8) |
| TYNESIDE | |
| ED (journalist) + I + SENT (dispatched) reversed [back] containing [to cover] Y (unknown). Land of the Geordies. | |
| Down |
|
| 2 | Crowd turning on poet in blitz (7) |
| BOMBARD | |
| MOB (crowd) reversed [turning], BARD (poet) | |
| 3 | Cartel audit going wrong, it’s said (11) |
| ARTICULATED | |
| Anagram [going wrong] of AUDIT CARTEL | |
| 4 | Indian leader employing some dour henchmen from the south (5) |
| NEHRU | |
| Hidden [some] and reversed [from the south) in {do}UR HEN{chmen} | |
| 5 | Collapse of penthouse maybe owned by banker (7) |
| DEFLATE | |
| FLAT (penthouse maybe) contained [owned] by DEE (banker – river, at least 5 of them to choose from) | |
| 6 | Poet hurls out pad (9) |
| UPHOLSTER | |
| Anagram [out] of POET HURLS | |
| 7 | Warning sign the Speaker’s studied (3) |
| RED | |
| Sounds like [the Speaker’s] “read” (studied) | |
| 8 | Young criminal describing time of his life? (7) |
| BOYHOOD | |
| BOY HOOD (young criminal) | |
| 12 | Unplanned broadcast of Peanuts soon? (11) |
| SPONTANEOUS | |
| Anagram [broadcast] of PEANUTS SOON | |
| 14 | University’s new stewards becoming sloppy (2,7) |
| ST ANDREWS | |
| Anagram [sloppy] of N (new) STEWARDS | |
| 17 | Cocktail dress inspiring painting? (7) |
| MARTINI | |
| MINI (dress) containing [inspiring] ART (painting) | |
| 19 | One fussing a lot about new necklace (7) |
| PENDANT | |
| PEDANT (one fussing a lot) containing [about] N (new – again already!) | |
| 20 | “Paw” included in dictionary — or not? (7) |
| OMITTED | |
| MITT (paw) contained by [included in] OED (dictionary – Oxford English Dictionary). The definition refers back to ‘included in’ | |
| 22 | Hook up in Asian hotel, did you say? (3,2) |
| TIE IN | |
| Sounds like [did you say] “Thai inn” (Asian hotel) | |
| 24 | Occasionally stroke a little piggy? (3) |
| TOE | |
| {s}T{r}O{k}E [occasionally]. As in the nursery rhyme. | |
6m 43s, finishing on MANCHU where I’d convinced myself I needed a C & F in there somehow.
Yep, me too!
Enjoyed this, which I managed to complete in about
30 minutes without any silly errors, for a change. LOI Olde – it took me a while to see what the setter was getting at. Also lingered over Manchu. COD Ann in tin. Excellent. Thanks setter and Jackkt.
I’m getting better at spotting my own mistakes. ASPIRATING was corrected then LOI OMITTED was easy enough. And TIE UP was a poor initial guess.
This did not take too long after lunch.
COD to OLDE.
David
23 mins. Struggled with some obvious ones, like MANU which I didn’t get at all and ALLUSION, my LOI for no apparent reason other than being dim.
17 minutes with a last minute fluster over tannin which was resolved by omitted. Like at least one other, didn’t quite get the derivation of tannin but decided Ann was sufficient cause to take a punt. Glad to have avoided taking said punt down an unpleasant creek.
Hadn’t heard traded on too often but had to be.
Nice puzzle thanks setter and blogger.
27:52, first completion since last Thursday. Lots to like in this one: OBTAINED, MARTINI, SMUT, OLDE to name a few. LOI MANCHU once I’d stopped thinking about Fahrenheit or Kelvin. Thanks b & s.
19:13
Nicely-paced grid which gave up its secrets in a satisfyingly smooth style. Wasn’t sure of MANCHU as an Eastern People though have heard of Fu Manchu, but the parsing worked so in it went.
Having missed “Maxi” yesterday, I’m glad I spotted “Mini” today.
10:46 late this afternoon. A very nicely pitched puzzle in terms of difficulty with several marvellous clues, with COD 1 ac “obtained”
I realise I haven’t contributed anything for ages, mainly because for various reasons I’m having to attempt the puzzles much later in the day and by the time I’ve read through the blog and your comprehensive comments I feel there’s nothing much for me to add!
However today 14 d aroused me, seeing my old University making an appearance. “St Andrews” may have appeared in a golfing context before but the academic reference is the first I’ve come across in a Times 15 x 15. Perhaps Jack or another of you archivists can enlighten me?
I wonder how many St A alumni and alumnae are in our group, sheltering like me behind our pseudonyms. I graduated in 1971 in Statistics by the way!
A s-l-o-w start!
FOI TOE
LOI MANCHU
COD UNROBE or SMUT
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Started this late in the day and thought I might struggle but all good.
FOI SMUT
LOI TANNIN
COD OBTAINED (cleverly disguised anagram)
Perhaps 25a should have been clued as “Various French people going under” to avoid any issue
All correct, but put in ASPIRATION without understanding- thank you for the explanation.
I liked the OMITTED and BOYHOOD clues.
This one seemed tougher than yesterday for some reason. Maybe more whimsical definitions.
Didn’t get around to this until after supper, but a pleasingly smooth fill-in, starting with 1A and not really getting held up until the last few – OLDE, MANCHU and bizarrely, BOYHOOD, which should have gone straight in, but flummoxed me. (Flummox – there’s a nice word for Crosslandia…)
32 minutes, but still a DNF because of a silly mistake: while thinking about 18ac, I did get the EastEnders reference and parsed the clue correctly, but somehow I talked myself into thinking the clue had something to do with EXASPERATION, so that’s how I spelled what I put into the grid (well, without the EX, of course). If I hadn’t been in a hurry to finish before the start of the news on TV I might have caught the mistake, or then again, I might not. I liked UN as a country club and of course ANN preserved in a TIN. But I also had the impression that there were somewhat too many anagrams. Here in Germany, the link to Jeopardy is blocked — does it really work in the UK? (I’ve just searched Youtube, and today’s show is on and was watchable, and Verlaine won again!)
The link no longer works, but it did at the time of posting as others used it and commented here. The message doesn’t say it’s blocked but that it has been removed by the uploader. Perhaps the person only leaves an episode up until the next one becomes available.
That seems to be the case, since I was able to watch the current episode.
Really enjoyed this crossword, probably because I felt it so much easier than recent offerings! Most went in smoothly and unhesitatingly enough, apart from OBTAINED – which is a brilliant surface reading – and MANCHU, of which I was not at all sure was a real easterner. Otherwise a 25 min solve, which is very good for me!
Thanks s and b.