Solving time: 21 minutes with 3 half-guesses, things I didn’t know and the wordplay was not entirely conclusive. Still, I got them all right. Elsewhere there were some very easy answers, especially towards the end of the Down clues. Not that I’m complaining. Just as QC puzzles need to be more challenging on occasions it’s only right that 15×15 puzzles should provide some entry level clues to get less-experienced solvers started and build confidence.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Set down soldiers, infantry principally, in training camp (7) |
| DEPOSIT | |
| S{oldiers} + I{nfantry} [principally] contained by [in] DEPOT (training camp). I don’t think I knew of depot as a training camp until a couple of weeks ago when I was researching ‘depot’ defined as a US railway station. | |
| 5 | Greek god’s verbal plea for support? (7) |
| BACCHUS | |
| Aural wordplay[verbal]: “back us” [plea for support] / BACCHUS . The god of wine and revelry. | |
| 9 | Is one not able to meet south-east Asian citizens? (9) |
| CANTONESE | |
| CAN’T ONE (is one not able to), SE (south-east) | |
| 10 | Appeal of Daily Mail, initially (5) |
| CHARM | |
| CHAR (daily – cleaner), M{ail} [initially] | |
| 11 | Folk traditions one stops in French department (5) |
| LOIRE | |
| I (one) contained by [stops] LORE (folk traditions) | |
| 12 | Sickeningly upset most of malt whisky (9) |
| MAWKISHLY | |
| Anagram [upset] of MAL{t} [most of…] WHISKY | |
| 14 | Supervisors inspired by alternative idea not referred to previously (14) |
| AFOREMENTIONED | |
| FOREMEN (supervisors) contained [inspired] by anagram [alternative] IDEA NOT | |
| 17 | Summing-up of surrender by army corps (14) |
| RECAPITULATION | |
| RE (army corps), CAPITULATION (surrender) | |
| 21 | Academic canny concealing report of arrest? (9) |
| SCHOLARLY | |
| SLY (canny) containing [concealing] aural wordplay [report of]: CHOLAR / “collar” (arrest) | |
| 23 | Yarn assimilated by many Londoners (5) |
| NYLON | |
| Hidden in [assimilated by] {ma}NY LON{doners} | |
| 24 | Like heavy metal? That’s mild sarcasm (5) |
| IRONY | |
| IRON-Y (like heavy metal), as per the Uxbridge English Dictionary. | |
| 25 | Female slave’s poem involving wild quails (9) |
| ODALISQUE | |
| ODE (poem) containing [involving] anagram [wild] of QUAILS. One of my 3 half-guesses, a word I never heard that doesn’t really look like it should exist but the wordplay suggested two options and I picked the right one. SOED: A female slave or concubine in an Eastern harem. | |
| 26 | Time relative backed strange patent medicine (7) |
| NOSTRUM | |
| T (time) + SON (relative) reversed [backed], then RUM (strange). A quack remedy. | |
| 27 | Young hare heading off round back of this mountain (7) |
| EVEREST | |
| {l}EVERET (young hare) [heading off] containing [round] {thi}S [back of…] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Submissive medic on French island (6) |
| DOCILE | |
| DOC (medic), ÎLE (French island) | |
| 2 | Church leader perturbed at first about petty quarrel (7) |
| PONTIFF | |
| P{erturbed} [at first], ON (about), TIFF (petty quarrel) | |
| 3 | Way a person cut a flowering plant (9) |
| STONECROP | |
| ST (way – street), ONE (a person), CROP (cut). My second half-guess. I didn’t know this plant although it has come up a couple of times previously. My doubts were over the last part of wordplay where I was considering DROP (cut) as in ignoring a previous friend or acquaintance. | |
| 4 | New term mother engendered primarily for temperature gauge (11) |
| THERMOMETER | |
| Anagram [new] of TERM MOTHER E{ngendered} [primarily]. An absolute write-in. | |
| 5 | Extra purchase, by the sound of it (3) |
| BYE | |
| Aural wordplay [by the sound of it]: “buy” (purchase) / BYE (extra – in cricket) | |
| 6 | Prickly plants originally culled before opening of play (5) |
| CACTI | |
| C{ulled} [originally], ACT I (opening of play). Another write-in. | |
| 7 | Non-believing female overcome by high temperature (7) |
| HEATHEN | |
| HEAT (high temperature), HEN (female). Yet another write-in. | |
| 8 | Day Moses exercised spitz-like dogs (8) |
| SAMOYEDS | |
| Anagram [exercised] of DAY MOSES. My final half-guess as I wasn’t sure of the word and had to cross fingers when placing the three unchecked vowels. Spitz dogs are characterized by their pointed ears, curled tails, and thick double coats. The family consists of 50-70 actual breeds including the Samoyed. |
|
| 13 | Around noon, preacher finally consumed beer and cheese (11) |
| WENSLEYDALE | |
| WESLEY (preacher – John Wesley) containing [around] N (noon), then {consume}D [finally], ALE (beer) | |
| 15 | Thoroughgoing quartet entering in future, perhaps (9) |
| INTENSIVE | |
| IV (quartet) contained by [entering] IN + TENSE (future, perhaps) | |
| 16 | Old German’s afterthought about game Welsh girl (8) |
| PRUSSIAN | |
| PS (afterthought – postscript) containing RU (game – Rugby Union), then SIAN (Welsh girl) | |
| 18 | US partnership in Civil Service, a cause of much amusement (7) |
| CAHOOTS | |
| A + HOOT (cause of much amusement) contained by [in] CS (Civil Service). US slang for being in collusion with. | |
| 19 | Indirect learning ability encountered in old varsity sportsperson (7) |
| OBLIQUE | |
| IQ (learning ability) contained by [encountered in] O (old) + BLUE (varsity sportsperson) | |
| 20 | Fashionable group taking in start of county cricket, say? (6) |
| INSECT | |
| IN (fashionable), then SET (group) containing [taking[ C{ounty} [start of…] | |
| 22 | Counsel possibly ignoring wife’s thickness (5) |
| LAYER | |
| LA{w}YER (counsel possibly) [ignoring wife] | |
| 25 | Physicist’s residence in Bow, do we hear? (3) |
| OHM | |
| Aural wordplay [do we hear?]: “{h}ome” (residence) [in Bow – cockney-speak] / OHM | |
Indeed this was very easy (I took 25 minutes), with STONECROP the only answer I wasn’t entirely sure of when I entered it. But it did seem to fit better than STONEDROP. The clue I liked best was RECAPITULATION (since one never thinks of it that way).
I would like to add some comments about the dogs. In Russian “самоед” would actually mean “self-going” (or automobile?), but they are actually named after the nomadic peoples who keep them and who have this name because they are self-sufficient. There was a wonderful story in the Russian article I read saying that the dogs might have been used as sled dogs and because they were white against the snow, they were invisible and it looked as if the sleds were moving by themselves. However, the article added, experts consider this explanation unlikely.
Then there is ODALISQUE, which in Turkish would be “odalık”, with “oda” meaning a room and “lık” turning that into an adjective. So it means a chambermaid, but originally one who served the wives and concubines in the harem, not the sultan himself, and she was usually a slave.
Straightforward – was going to say no unknowns, but actually the flower was unknown, though really not confounding with the crossers. ODALISQUE I knew that I knew, but waited for 19d to confirm my memory wasn’t at fault before entering. For once, I found the long clues easy and helpful. Kind of the setter and editor to keep it short and sweet in the busy days before Christmas – I don’t have the time for much head-scratching this week.
Same experience as our blogger- fingers definitely crossed for the vowels in the dog!
Very pleasant and always nice to complete correctly.
Thanks to the blogger and setter.
Was hoping for an under-10 but slowed down at the very end. SAMOYEDS we have had before. I wouldn’t have known the word otherwise. Reminds me of the Psammead in Five Children and It. From my days as a student of Turkish, I recall that ODALISQUE comes from the word ODA for room. The suffix -LIK means belonging to. Some bits of that were very easy indeed. Thank you all.
Encouraged by the very low SNITCH number, I biffed my way to a PB of 23:10. Kind of a giant QC today so I won’t expect to have such an easy time again for a long while.
Thanks setter and jackkt!
Based on the other comments I should have been a lot quicker but I was held up in the SW corner with SCHOLARLY and CAHOOTS particularly. Still, it’s always nice to finish.
37:35
Slow for me – I found this a real struggle, particularly the SW corner. Astonished to find everyone else reporting this as a stroll!
Everything seemed to be going so well with my new method of attacking the crossword that for a time, until I noticed, I was thinking that it led to an improvement. But then I realised that I’d have been 26 minutes at worst whatever method I’d been using, so this wasn’t really a test.
Much more Monday-ish than yesterday’s! 17 minutes. Knew the dogs because someone I knew ages ago had a couple of them. Odalisques are cited briefly by Jeeves in correcting Bertie who vaguely recalls that it was aunts who used to be thrown in the Bosphorus – can’t remember which book it was in though!
36:27. v enjoyable puzzle. NHO STONECROP. thank you both