My solving time was 24 minutes for all bar one clue at 9ac which I was unable to resolve after an extensive letter trawl. Eventually I gave up and revealed the answer, which turned out to be one that I had considered even before the trawl but had been unable to justify. I still can’t fully, as the tense in the definition seems wrong, but at least whilst writing the blog I managed to decipher the wordplay. My edited comment in the blog contains an update on this.
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 | Record of Spooner’s instruction to beat up chef (4-4) |
| CASH-BOOK | |
| Spooner would say: BASH (beat up), COOK (chef) | |
| 5 | Leaves without wife — time to disappear? (2,4) |
| GO WEST | |
| GOES (leaves) containing [without – outside] W (wife), T (time) | |
| 8 | A cabinet member covering up daughter’s conduct (10) |
| ADMINISTER | |
| A + MINISTER (cabinet member) containing [covering up] D (daughter) | |
| 9 | Latest article in Le Monde providing biased view (4) |
| SPUN | |
| SP (latest – Starting Price), UN (indefinite article in Le Monde). The starting price when applied to horse-racing is the final odds on a horse at the time of starting a race. As mentioned in my intro I am struggling to justify the definition and I’m also not sure whether it’s supposed to include ‘providing’, but on the whole I think it needs to because the answer ‘spun’ is a verb and ‘biased view’ is nounal. However, we also have a problem with the tense as ‘providing a biased view’ would be ‘spinning’ not ‘spun’. All would be well if the clue read: ‘Latest article in Le Monde provided biased view‘. Note on Edit: My query appears to have been answered by Kevin Gregg and others in the early comments below. | |
| 10 | Typical of a backbencher perhaps (14) |
| REPRESENTATIVE | |
| Two meanings. All MPs are representatives of their constituents but some are also ministers as in 8ac (or shadow ministers) whilst the remainder are ‘backbenchers’. | |
| 11 | Old church society in decline — the bishop’s responsibility? (7) |
| DIOCESE | |
| O (old) + CE (church) + S (society), contained by [in] DIE (decline) | |
| 13 | Current row about check making you increasingly impatient (7) |
| ITCHIER | |
| I (current) + TIER (row) containing [about] CH (check) | |
| 15 | Man and woman watching cricket here? (3,4) |
| THE OVAL | |
| THEO (man), VAL (woman). London’s other international cricketing venue. | |
| 18 | Soldiers watch over protective gear (7) |
| PARASOL | |
| PARAS (soldiers) then LO (watch) reversed [over] | |
| 21 | Doctors backing a new locum for training — and a new paramedic (14) |
| AMBULANCEWOMAN | |
| BMA (doctors – British Medical Association) reversed [backing], anagram [for training] of A NEW LOCUM, then A, N (new) | |
| 22 | Unfinished letter once appearing in The Thunderer? (4) |
| THOR | |
| THOR{n} (letter once) [unfinished]. Thor is the Norse god of thunder, also war and strength. The letter has come up quite recently in one of the weekday puzzles. | |
| 23 | Give new strength to crumbling Eire Greens (2-8) |
| RE-ENERGISE | |
| Anagram [crumbling] of EIRE GREENS | |
| 24 | Old socialist investors installing new leader (6) |
| ENGELS | |
| ‘ANGELS’ (investors usually in theatrical productions) becomes ENGELS when a new leader is installed | |
| 25 | Teachers inhaling crack, source of comfort in retirement? (8) |
| BEDSOCKS | |
| BEDS (teachers – Bachelors of Education) containing [inhaling] SOCK (crack) | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Vegetable for the Speaker overcooked? (7) |
| CHARRED | |
| Sounds like [for the Speaker] “chard” (vegetable) | |
| 2 | Signal change in atmosphere, temperature dropping (9) |
| SEMAPHORE | |
| Anagram [change} of A{t}MOSPHERE [temperature dropping] | |
| 3 | Buddhist school at foot of mountain first to extract hydrocarbon (7) |
| BENZENE | |
| BEN (mountain), ZEN (Buddhist school), E{xtract) [first] | |
| 4 | Unintroduced lout on Panorama? That’s disgusting! (7) |
| OBSCENE | |
| {y}OB (lout) [unintroduced], SCENE (Panorama) | |
| 5 | Giant gun at Agra destroyed (9) |
| GARGANTUA | |
| Anagram [destroyed] of GUN AT AGRA | |
| 6 | Irascible, like privileged American? (7) |
| WASPISH | |
| A straight definition plus a hint relating to the acronym WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) used to refer to Americans descended from early northern European settlers. | |
| 7 | A tight fit for one’s inamorata (7) |
| SQUEEZE | |
| Two meanings, the second being slang originating in the USA. | |
| 12 | Weapons that a toddler has? (5,4) |
| SMALL ARMS | |
| Another straight definition and a hint | |
| 14 | A poor kipper (9) |
| INSOMNIAC | |
| Cryptic. ”Kip’ being slang for ‘sleep’. | |
| 16 | Barbaric with fervour coming down on Scottish woman (7) |
| HEATHEN | |
| HEAT (fervour), HEN (Scottish woman) | |
| 17 | Playwright’s an Australian native, by the sound of it (7) |
| OSBORNE | |
| Sounds like [by the sound of it] “Oz born” (Australian native). John Osborne, one of the Angry Young Men. | |
| 18 | Spicy offering of Mississippi canteen (7) |
| PICANTE | |
| Hidden in [offering of] {Mississip}PI CANTE{een}. ‘Offering’ could be part of the definition as ‘picante’ can a spicy sauce. | |
| 19 | Hesitation about The Guardian’s benefits (7) |
| REWARDS | |
| ER (hesitation) reversed [about], WARD’S (The Guardian’s) | |
| 20 | Stays on boat to welcome grand head of state (7) |
| LINGERS | |
| LINER (boat) contains [to welcome] G (grand) , then S{tate} [head of …] | |
16:56
Nothing to add. COD: The Oval.
SPUN was my last one in. Once I’d got S.UN, it kind of made sense that it had to be SP, starting price, and then I didn’t dwell on the niceties of the clue’s wording and parts of speech. SQUEEZE was my penultimate one in. Saw HETH earlier on, but resisted the temptation. Quickly realised that Thunderer implied Thor (who invented Thursdays). Happy with 25 mins overall.
GO WEST young man !
Thanks for the young, but I went west long ago.
On the -ing debate and SPUN:
What are you ****ing doing in my bed ? (intensifying adverb)
What are you doing ****ing in my bed ? (gerund)
These are taken from a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, grammar by Michael Swan, which I would highly recommend.
“When -ing forms are used as verbs, adjectives or adverbs, they are often called ‘present participles’. (This is not a very suitable name, because these forms can refer to the past, present or future.)…….” – Practical English Usage, by Michael Swan, 2nd Edition (OUP, 1995) pp 277-287
Slowly away, never nearer:
25′ 37”
45 minutes, the last ten or so spent wondering if there was an alternative to SPUN and finally deciding that SP was probably some Latin abbreviation I didn’t know. I liked OSBORNE and CHARRED (and not much else).
Surprised that there have been so many comments about SPUN. As soon as I thought of it I was certain it was correct, but in an ignorant sort of way some would say.
Undone by my LOI which should have been ENGELS but wasn’t.
No, sir you were entirely correct; albeit the clue would have been better with an indefinite article.
30 min for all but SPUN which I spent a further 20 mins on leaving plausible possibles SOUR, SPUN, SAUL and SEUL. 22ac had THET as unfinished THETA which is also nested in THE Times but OSBORNE sorted it out
Found this reasonably easy except spun which I got – and Engels which I didn’t. Thanks.
I think I’m beginning to catch up with you guys! (Famous last words…). Started off really well with my very first working of a Spoonerism successfully, then just kept going. Only hold-ups were SPUN of course, and ENGELS (who I’d forgotten) but otherwise all present and correct in under the half-hour. 😑