Time: 42:22
Some tricky bits, especially difficult-to-ascertain definitions, but all in all a fair Friday fight. I was slow to get going but certainly sped up as I got more checkers. Just not on this setter’s wavelength, I think.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Stingy individual used to be first to pay (4) |
| WASP – WAS (used to be) + first letter of Pay. | |
| 3 | Cook frequently repelled by religious leader’s salad? (6,4) |
| RABBIT FOOD – DO (cook) + OFT (frequently) all reversed (repelled) after RABBI (religious leader). | |
| 9 | Who doesn’t appreciate attempt to avoid usual price? (7) |
| INGRATE – ‘go’ (attempt) removed from (to avoid) goING RATE (usual price). | |
| 11 | Actor in theatre to increase performing (7) |
| SURGEON – SURGE (to increase) + ON (performing). | |
| 12 | Spooner’s excellent dance routine in pool (4,5) |
| BACK CRAWL – Spoonerism of “crack ball” (excellent dance). | |
| 13 | Saw commercial agency losing half its members (5) |
| ADAGE – AD (commercial) + AGEncy minus the second half of its letters. | |
| 14 | Prerequisite for training when making a comeback? (6,6) |
| RETURN TICKET – cryptic definition. | |
| 18 | Give up television for emergent source of entertainment? (4-2-3-3) |
| JACK-IN-THE-BOX – JACK IN (give up) + THE BOX (television). | |
| 21 | American firm runs new plant to begin with (5) |
| ACORN – A (American) + CO (company, firm) + R (runs) + N (new). | |
| 22 | Issue demanding answer for leader’s wealth (9) |
| AFFLUENCE – eFFLUENCE (issue) replacing (demanding?) A (answer) for the first letter (leader). | |
| 24 | Vulnerable individual recruited for experiment (7) |
| SUBJECT – double definition. | |
| 25 | Cadet is shaped and moulded (3-4) |
| DIE-CAST – anagram of (shaped) CADET IS. | |
| 26 | One with no chance of success is sweet? (10) |
| NONSTARTER – the opposite of a starter (non-starter?) in a restaurant could be a sweet/dessert. | |
| 27 | Acknowledgements of liabilities ignored by painstaking boss (4) |
| STUD – ‘IOUs’ (acknowledgements of liabilities) removed from (ignored by) STUDious (painstaking). | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Beat offer to host Queen singer with cracking voice? (8) |
| WHIPBIRD – WHIP (beat) + BID (offer) containing (to host) R (regina, queen). NHO this Australian bird. | |
| 2 | Judgement’s epic settlement of considerable significance (8) |
| SAGACITY – SAGA (epic) + CITY (settlement of considerable significance). | |
| 4 | Time rejected article about conflict zone (5) |
| ARENA – ERA (time) reversed (rejected) + AN (article) reversed (about). | |
| 5 | Doctor in cabal is connected to church (9) |
| BASILICAN – anagram of (doctor) IN CABAL IS. | |
| 6 | Did career supply other use cases for property? (8,5) |
| TERRACED HOUSE – RACED (did career) which an anagram of (supply) OTHER USE contains (cases). | |
| 7 | Unrequited love always behind novel (3-3) |
| ONE-WAY – O (love), then AY (always) after (behind) NEW (novel). | |
| 8 | Hopeless player joining band on keyboards (6) |
| DONKEY – hidden in (joining) banD ON KEYboard. | |
| 10 | Like particular books encapsulating author’s determination (13) |
| ASCERTAINMENT – AS (like) + CERTAIN (particular) + NT (New Testament, books), containing (encapsulating) ME (author). | |
| 15 | Look like opinion having less sense lacks depth (4,5) |
| TAKE AFTER – TAKE (opinion) + dAFTER (having less sense) minus (lacks) ‘d’ (depth). | |
| 16 | Sailor and German soldier showing up everywhere (8) |
| ABUNDANT – AB (sailor) + UND (and, German) + ANT (soldier). | |
| 17 | Better training drills ruled out (8) |
| EXCEPTED – PT (training) contained by (drills) EXCEED (better). | |
| 19 | Two members of family tree (6) |
| DAMSON – DAM and SON (two members of family). | |
| 20 | Sweet note well conveyed by blessing (6) |
| BONBON – NB (note well) contained (conveyed) by BOON (blessing). | |
| 23 | Unsatisfactory compromise that’s annoying! (5) |
| FUDGE – double definition. | |
Lots to enjoy here but I became stuck eventually and dispirited because a couple of answers went in on the biff and I was unable to see the wordplay – INGRATE was one and AFFLUENCE was another. To finish off the grid I needed aids for SUBJECT and my LOI was ASCERTAINMENT arrived at via wordplay. I don’t even recognise the word but it appeared here in a QC in 2018 and a Championship. puzzle in 2015, on both occasions without comment from me.
DNF. Looked up a few. Enjoyed JACK-IN-THE-BOX
32:18
Slow going, slower at the end, with POI ASCERTAINMENT & LOI WHIPBIRD taking bags of time. DNK WHIPBIRD, JACK IN. Biffed STUD, BONBON, parsed post-submission. I don’t much like ‘do’=cook; ‘do’ is a light verb that can mean just about anything: the burglar/painter did the bedroom, Max did the dishes, the sous-chef did the dishes, …
51:59. A bit of a tussle with some of the same words as others here. LOI the NHO WHIPBIRD. Not happy with ASCERTAINMENT, from wordplay, until I suddenly saw the required meaning of “determination” in the clue. A bit uncertain about the south-west corner, mainly because I couldn’t parse BONBON. Thank you, William, for BOON – a neat little word, rarely encountered. I still think the puzzle looks a lot more straightforward looking back at it than it did at the time. Clever Setter. Lots to like including RABBIT FOOD, SAGACITY and FUDGE
34:34 and felt I was making heavy weather of a nice, straightforward puzzle. A week in reverse after struggling with a quantifiably easy Monday.
I like to think that science and wildlife are among my strongest GK topics but the NHO WHIPBIRD following yesterdays astronomer say otherwise.
Particularly enjoyed BONBON, DONKEY and COD RETURN TICKET. Thanks William and setter.
I echo sawbills comment. Plus I’ve come back from Paris with a horrible chesty cold. Bah!
About 25 minutes. Relied on the wordplay for the unknown WHIPBIRD, but no other major issues.
Thanks William and setter.
FOI Wasp
LOI Damson
COD Jack-in-the-box
Surprised to be all correct, with LOI WHIPBIRD just bunged in to make the grid look tidy. Mind you, I must have been well more than the hour on it, not that I’m counting. COD to RETURN TICKET. Thank you William and setter.
18:24 (although with one genuine typo). I must be on wavelength as this was my quickest of the week. Only the NHO WHIPBIRD gave me any worries.
I did wonder if ‘demanding answer for leader’ was a homophone indicator so thanks for the better explanation for AFFLUENCE.
Liked the cryptic definitions and spoonerisms which is very rare for me.
COD RETURN TICKET
Quite liked this one even if did feel a bit out of kilter with the Times style.
Thanks blogger and setter.
Hmm, got there, but I can’t remember the last time so many went in on a wing and a prayer, not properly parsed.
Liked the stingy thing; not so keen on the nonstarter, what happened to the main course?! It’s called that for a reason. And havered a while over EXCEPTED vs EXPECTED, both of which fir and contain training ..
28.25
Excellent Friday fodder, only a couple biffed. It took me far too long to get the two family members for my LOI DAMSON.
I may have mentioned before that I’m not keen on Spoonerisms, but
COD BACK CRAWL was a cracker.
Yes indeed. I didn’t think initially of ‘ball’ and was trying vainly of course to work with ‘reel’.
Quite a witty clue for ‘nonstarter’ I thought. I was held up by it even with all the checkers, I think because I’d have expected a hyphen. Apparently normally hyphenated in British English but not in US according to online sources.
Did 80% but major fail in SW corner.
Liked JACK IN THE BOX