Solving time: 32 minutes
I didn’t find this hard but there were some devious definitions and naughty humour that put me in mind of a certain Sunday Times setter who used to contribute regularly to our discussions in the days when I was starting out at TfTT.
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 | Pallor of one confined by previous head (9) |
| PASTINESS | |
| I (one) contained [confined] by PAST (previous) + NESS (head) | |
| 6 | In this Siberian forest you might catch predator (5) |
| TAIGA | |
| Sounds like [you might catch] “tiger” (predator) | |
| 9 | Time to go and twist a bit? (7) |
| TWIDDLE | |
| T (time), WIDDLE (go – urinate) | |
| 10 | Decide on artist to depict vengeful daughter (7) |
| ELECTRA | |
| ELECT (decide on), RA (artist). Note that ‘on’ belongs with ‘decide’ here, so the usual rule regarding placement in an Across clue doesn’t apply. Electra conspired with her brother to kill their mother. | |
| 11 | Go on foot in a westerly direction (3) |
| YAP | |
| PAY (foot e.g. the bill) reversed [in a westerly direction]. Talk too much. | |
| 12 | Sheet anchor (11) |
| PAPERWEIGHT | |
| Cryptic with reference to sheets of paper. ‘Sheet anchor’ is actually a nautical term for a strong anchor for use in an emergency. A clever concise clue. | |
| 14 | Raise charge after a year (6) |
| PARENT | |
| PA (a year – per annum), RENT (charge) | |
| 15 | Abandoning Charlie, crowd heading in the right direction (2,6) |
| ON COURSE | |
| {c}ONCOURSE (crowd) [abandoning Charlie] | |
| 17 | I hear schedule has Frenchman making comeback (8) |
| LISTENER | |
| LIST (schedule), then RENE (Frenchman) reversed [making comeback] | |
| 19 | Gamble on soldier protecting bishop in place of execution (6) |
| GIBBET | |
| GI (soldier) + BET (gamble) containing [protecting] B (bishop). A gibbet was originally a gallows but later it came to mean an upright post with a projecting arm from which the bodies of criminals were hung after execution. | |
| 22 | Fellow constituent behind the bar (11) |
| COUNTERPART | |
| COUNTER (bar), PART (constituent) | |
| 23 | This, in Cicero’s day, a sign you’ve had too much to drink? (3) |
| HIC | |
| Two meanings. Cicero was Roman so ‘This, in Cicero’s day’ indicates the Latin word for ‘this’. Oh for the joys of learning to decline the various forms of the word, especially when chanted out loud by a class of 11 year olds – hic, haec, hoc etc. The genitive plural never failed to give rise to sniggers around the classroom: horum, harum, horum. | |
| 25 | Uneasiness of those from Penang, might one say? (7) |
| MALAISE | |
| Sounds like [might one say] “Malays” (those from Penang). I believe Americans pronounce it ‘Maylay’, as did Noël Coward when performing his song Mad Dogs and Englishmen, to scan and to get the internal rhyme:
In the PhilippinesThere are lovely screensTo protect you from the glare.In the Malay StatesThere are hats like platesWhich the Britishers won’t wear.At twelve noonThe natives swoonAnd no further work is done.But mad dogs and EnglishmenGo out in the midday sun. |
|
| 27 | Express demanding sacking of Conservative leader (7) |
| DECLARE | |
| Anagram [sacking] of C (conservative) LEADER. After finishing the puzzle I spent far too long thinking about the parsing here before realising it was an anagram. | |
| 28 | Still around to defend Republican’s effrontery? (5) |
| NERVE | |
| EVEN (still) reversed [around] containing [to defend] R (Republican) | |
| 29 | Individual’s dreadfully insolent gesture at first (9) |
| SINGLETON | |
| Anagram [dreadfully] of INSOLENT G{esture} [at first] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Shame to have husband caught short (5) |
| PITHY | |
| PITY (shame) containing [to have…caught] H (husband) | |
| 2 | One in charge of light drinker pocketing £1000 (7) |
| SKIPPER | |
| SIPPER (light drinker) containing [pocketing] K (£1000). Another that presented parsing problems as I was considering ‘one in charge of light’ as the definition and wondering if ‘light’ might be a type of boat like a ‘lighter’. | |
| 3 | Doing one’s own thing daily (11) |
| INDEPENDENT | |
| Two meanings – the second being The Independent on-line newspaper. | |
| 4 | Release old film about backbencher? (6) |
| EXEMPT | |
| EX (old), then ET (film) containing [about] MP (backbencher?) | |
| 5 | Wife engaging in extreme bad language (8) |
| SWEARING | |
| W (wife) contained by [engaging in] SEARING (extreme – intense) | |
| 6 | Place for drivers there from time to time (3) |
| TEE | |
| T{h}E{r}E [from time to time]. Our golfing clue of the day. | |
| 7 | A number having wage cut by half in Bury (7) |
| INTEGER | |
| {wa}GE [cut by half] contained by [in] INTER (bury) | |
| 8 | A natter with MP about accommodation (9) |
| APARTMENT | |
| Anagram [about] of A NATTER MP | |
| 13 | Conceited cities gloat appallingly (11) |
| EGOTISTICAL | |
| Anagram [appallingly] of CITIES GLOAT | |
| 14 | Complain anew about English PC (9) |
| POLICEMAN | |
| Anagram [anew] of COMPLAIN containing [about] E (English). Police Constable. | |
| 16 | Perfect advice for a peeping Tom? (8) |
| PEERLESS | |
| PEER LESS (advice for a peeping Tom?) | |
| 18 | One having a row in unfinished part of kitchen (7) |
| SCULLER | |
| SCULLER{y} (part of kitchen) [unfinished] | |
| 20 | How one can learn Times has courage (2,5) |
| BY HEART | |
| BY (times), HEART (courage) | |
| 21 | Pass Chinese academic (4,2) |
| HAND ON | |
| HAN DON (Chinese academic) | |
| 24 | Uncle Andrew keeping off the drugs (5) |
| CLEAN | |
| Hidden in [keeping] {un}CLE AN{drew} | |
| 26 | Leader of Republic deposed, creating anger (3) |
| IRE | |
| {e}IRE (republic) [leader…deposed] | |
26:35
Like many others, missed the parsing of DECLARE and fortunately didn’t think of any alternative. Pretty fast on the RHS, but LHS revealed its secrets more slowly. Enjoyed the L3I, TWIDDLE, PITHY and YAP.
Held up by the same last pair as Johninterred. A very enjoyable puzzle – TWIDDLE and YAP (eventually) made me chuckle.
FOI TAIGA
LOI SKIPPER
COD PAPERWEIGHT*
TIME 9:57
* This could very easily be taken for a Dean Mayer clue, and the concise surfaces throughout would possibly support that view
Why did so many people (me included) have trouble with the parsing of DECLARE? I suppose because the anagram is beautifully concealed and the probable ‘de’ at the start of the word suggests a sacking or removal of some sort. I made heavy weather of this and couldn’t get SKIPPER because I was stupidly thinking that £1000 was a grand or g. So Y_ _ was a problem and I was slow to see that meaning of foot. Time was ticking on and eventually I used aids for the two in the top L and entered DECLARE with a shrug. 49 minutes.
I think both of those points, plus the unusual (but perfectly fair) indicator ‘sacking of FODDER’. Had it been ‘replacement of’ I suspect I’d have cottoned on.
18.31 It took a while to view YAP from the right direction, and to opt for DECLARE rather than DICTATE, having missed the anagram.
1a PASTINESS took ages for the penny to drop. Grrr!
Doh! Declare is (C+LEADER*). Double grrr.
My fastest for many a year in 12 min. and supposed it would be park-walk-worthy to all. Didn’t go back to parse ‘on course’ and ‘ire’. But while it’s nice to get a fast time it all seemed, well, a bit of a paper-weight.
18:30 – similarly mystified by the what-else-could-it-be DECLARE, but only really slowed by unaccountably failing to notice ON COURSE, my LOI, was clued as two words.
Not sure why, but NW quadrant delayed me, with 1ac LOI. I knew it was -INESS, but couldn’t see the front bit. A steady solve, with a bit of application needed to get home. COD was the Chinese academic.
Found this trickier than yesterday. Finished under the hour but needed blog both to understand PAPERWEIGHT and to parse DECLARE. Only vaguely heard of TAIGA and now know the correct pronunciation. Many answers were biffed then parsed (LISTENER, PARENT, APARTMENT, NERVE, YAP). Favourite clue was LOI TWIDDLE (doesn’t take much to make me smile). Many thanks Jack.
4m 32s, didn’t manage to parse DECLARE.
The times posted so far suggest this was a lot easier than I made it, eventually crossing the line in 49.43. I’m glad I didn’t think of DICTATE for 27ac, which enabled me to persevere with the parsing of DECLARE. Eventually I saw the light, or to be specific the anagram, and was able to admire a fine example of the setter’s art.
22:28. This all went in very nicely except for my last two: like others, I struggled with DECLARE but I was saved by seeing the anagram; and then 11ac with a fruitless alphabet trawl for Y-something-P before I isolated the definition and it fell into place.
I liked LISTENER and HAND ON
20:46
Good fun. I liked PAPERWEIGHT. DECLARE and YAP and I hadn’t realised that CONCOURSE could mean crowd.
Thanks to Jack and the setter.
23 mins. I also bunged in DECLARE unparsed. I think it was the word ‘demanding’ that confused me.
COD YAP and TWIDDLE. Obviously very unAmerican.
23’40”
Good early pace, checked slightly two furlong pole, ran on well….
…..but I have to admit to biffing declare; only saw the anagrind in hindsight.
This was a very elegant, clever and enjoyable puzzle; many thanks to the setter and Jack.
Great puzzle, took a bit longer as eyes suffering after playing golf in a cold gale. 29 minutes LOI DECLARE. TWIDDLE and PAPERWEIGHT were best.
12.09
Loved YAP and PAPERWEIGHT. Excellent puzzle as others have said. Re-reading The Glass Palace so MALAISE a write in which helped – that was a nice clue too
As a proud member of the SCC it was an enjoyable solve, 23a was new to me so I learned something new.
Stay safe and travel
My clock says 39 minutes. It was quite an enjoyable puzzle with many well-disguised clues. DECLARE is utterly superb — an anagram that almost no one saw (I didn’t either, of course).
Nor did I. Bunged in DICTATE and ruined a speedy time.
Thanks Jack and devious setter.
Honestly, I don’t like the clue for DECLARE, unless “demands” and “of” can be really deemed parts of the anagrind. Otherwise, what’s it doing there? (I’m being a hardcore Ximenean here.)
In its defence… “demanding” is just a linkword – crosswords demand patience, Def demands WP. And “of” is part of the anagrind, as “sacking” is a noun, like “destruction of”. So each word is doing something.
All else being equal I would prefer a clue without a linkword, but it’s not superfluous and works so well in the surface.
It works so well, that hardly anyone got how the wordplay worked, even if they picked the right word!
At least it’s not in between the anagrind and the anagrist, as I’ve seen that recently too. (Actually, I marked that other, little word as part of the anagrind—giving the setter and editor the benefit of the doubt.)
I said I was presenting a purist position on this.
Is SEARING the same as EXTREME? Seems a bit loose to me. Good fun, and I came in on 17’54” – though once again the SNITCH seems very low. I didn’t think it was that easy. Many thanks.
A DNF after 37 minutes, needing a word search aid to get LOI PARENT, even with all the checkers in place. Had no idea what was going on without the blog. That’s about par for us on the 15 x 15. Aiming for about half the snitch but occasionally needing some help with the last one or two. Pleased to get TWIDDLE rather quickly. Also needed the blog to understand the parsing of DECLARE but we’re making progress. Thanks Jackkt and setter!
Failed on both QC and 15×15. At least with DICTATE I am in good company.
27 minutes, but I hadn’t heard of the Siberian Forest and put TUIGA, for reasons I can’t even begin to understand.
I too alternated between DECLARE and DICTATE, but the former seemed a better synonym for ‘express’.
As a keen student of Asterix in my youth (and more recently) I should not have taken so long to get HIC.
35 mins and a frustrating DNF. Undone by yap where I managed to choose the wrong vowel and declare which I decided was not as attractive as dictate. Mind you that was a lot better than my first thought of Lactate.
Only pleasing aspect was getting Hhand on which was my COD.