Solving time: 26 minutes. Another fairly easy one on my watch. Several Across clues had something of a literary feel to them but this didn’t continue throughout.
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 | A rally regularly held in old Asian city for capital street trader (6,4) |
| PEARLY KING | |
| A + R{a}L{l}Y [regularly] contained by [held in] PEKING (old Asian city). Pearly kings and queens are traditional London costermongers whose ceremonial clothes are lavishly decorated with pearl buttons. | |
| 7 | This onion on reflection could make you cry (4) |
| BULB | |
| BLUB (cry) reversed [on reflection] | |
| 9 | Writer constrained by constant urge? Never! (8) |
| TURGENEV | |
| Hidden in [constrained by] {constan}T URGE NEV{er}. Fathers and Sons and A Month in the Country are two of his best known works. | |
| 10 | Having one’s head above water, beginning to accumulate cash in hand (6) |
| AFLOAT | |
| A{ccumulate} [beginning], FLOAT (cash in hand). I’m indebted to Mike Harper for this, posted in his blog on 7th February when FLOAT appeared in a QC: Back in the olden days when folk still used cash, at the beginning of each working period, a cash till would be given a ‘FLOAT’ i.e. enough change to cope with the first several transactions where the customer typically slaps down a tenner for a packet of mints. | |
| 11 | Little green men fib during answer (6) |
| ALIENS | |
| LIE (fib) contained by [during] ANS (answer) | |
| 13 | Measure of energy ultimately powering steamer at sea (3,5) |
| GAS METER | |
| {powerin}G [ultimately], anagram [at sea] of STEAMER | |
| 14 | Maybe 20 spoilers? A tad naughty! (8,4) |
| PARADISE LOST | |
| Anagram [naughty] of SPOILERS A TAD. The definition refers to the answer at 20ac: EPIC POEM. This one is by John Milton. | |
| 17 | An important character in the school play (3,9) |
| THE CARETAKER | |
| A double definition of sorts. The play is by Harold Pinter. | |
| 20 | Kept nice spot semi uncovered always for magnum opus (4,4) |
| EPIC POEM | |
| {k}EP{t} + {n}IC{e} + {s}PO{t} + {s}EM{i} [uncovered always] | |
| 21 | Sweet wine container always crossing river (6) |
| CANARY | |
| CAN (container), AY (always) containing [crossing] R (river). I didn’t know this answer, but it had to be, and I have since learned that it’s a sweet wine from the Canary Islands | |
| 22 | Enquire after cross spun fabric (6) |
| DAMASK | |
| MAD (cross) reversed [spun], ASK (enquire) | |
| 23 | A sheepish character papa, in his dotage, ran amok (8) |
| RAMPAGED | |
| RAM (sheepish character), P (papa – NATO alphabet), AGED (in his dotage) | |
| 25 | Country hotel acquired by bad lot (4) |
| CHAD | |
| H (hotel – NATO alphabet) contained [acquired] by CAD (bad lot) | |
| 26 | Caution driver initially in pursuit of New York taxi? (6,4) |
| YELLOW CARD | |
| YELLOW CAR (New York taxi), D{river} [initially] | |
| Down |
|
| 2 | Eastern wharf maintaining a record for fairness in employment (5,3) |
| EQUAL PAY | |
| E (eastern), QUAY (wharf) containing [maintaining] A + LP (record) | |
| 3 | King put on upper-class, grand wig (3) |
| RUG | |
| R (king), U (upper-class), G (grand). ‘Rug’ is slang for a wig, as is ‘syrup’. | |
| 4 | Years working the borders of Kansas. Years and years (5) |
| YONKS | |
| Y (years), ON (working), K{ansa}S [the borders of…]. This dates from the 1960s but there’s no definitive explanation of how it came into being. The most popular suggestion seems to be that it’s in some way derived from ‘donkey’s years’, an expression that also means ‘a long time’. | |
| 5 | Popular elected government briefly upset with EU (2,5) |
| IN VOGUE | |
| IN (elected), EU + GOV (government, briefly) reversed [upset] | |
| 6 | Former PM succeeded, with happy attitude all round (9) |
| GLADSTONE | |
| GLAD (happy) + TONE (attitude) containing [all round] S (succeeded) | |
| 7 | Express tribunal unfortunately admitting obstruction (6,5) |
| BULLET TRAIN | |
| Anagram [unfortunately] of TRIBUNAL containing [admitting] LET (obstruction) | |
| 8 | Filthy rich boy entertaining old English duke (6) |
| LOADED | |
| LAD (boy) containing [entertaining] O (old), then E (English), D (duke) | |
| 12 | Flexible group of musicians that might make a bundle (7,4) |
| ELASTIC BAND | |
| ELASTIC (flexible), BAND (group of musicians) | |
| 15 | Play in which Puck comes to a sticky end? (3,6) |
| ICE HOCKEY | |
| Cryptic with reference to hockey sticks and ‘puck’ as the flat rubber disc used as a ball in the game | |
| 16 | Listen to intro from Hammond organ? Absolutely! (4,4) |
| HEAR HEAR | |
| HEAR (listen to), H{ammond} [intro], EAR (organ) | |
| 18 | Commander barking mad, terrible liar (7) |
| ADMIRAL | |
| Anagram [barking] of MAD, anagram [terrible] of LIAR | |
| 19 | Front page headline about power cut (6) |
| SPLASH | |
| SLASH (cut) containing [about] P (power) | |
| 21 | Small part arrived, leading to Oscar (5) |
| CAMEO | |
| CAME (arrived), O (Oscar – NATO alphabet, yet again) | |
| 24 | Maurice occasionally knocked out a French classic (3) |
| ARC | |
| {m}A{u}R{i}C{e} [occasionally knocked out]. This is a reference to the classic annual horse race, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. | |
Well well, 17:31 even for this QCer (including 5 mins wrinkling out CARETAKER) which surely confirms the nursery slope status. I thoroughly enjoyed that, thank you unknown but merciful setter. Thanks Jack too.
Templar
28:33, a very easy puzzle but still enjoyable. No hold-ups at all except for BLUB, which I had to correct quite at the end. That is why LOADED is my LOI. Not much else to say about it.
I know it’s late in the day, but I just destroyed my PB, and stopped the clock at 20:13 with no aids.
19.30 with a few troublesome clues which shouldn’t have been. Didn’t see the hidden Turgenev till after I guessed the answer and had blub for a bit too long. Liked the literary feel to today’s offering .
Thx setter and blogger.
I’m constantly surprised at how many of our erudite solvers don’t know plays like THE CARETAKER ( loved the televised play when it first came out), or general knowledge like PEARLY KING ( surely even a rudimentary knowledge of cockerny life would include them?). However, my knowledge of these did not help my solving ability! Still had to look up a few to get a foothold, but enjoyed it when I did. FOI BULB, LOI GLADSTONE, COD TURGENEV.