21:43. Not a fast time, but no problems here, and I never felt concerned that I wouldn’t finish. Many elements here I didn’t quite understand or recognize, and a fair amount of biffing.
| Across | |
| 1 | Reject ready to join first-rate team (3,5) |
| SET ASIDE – SET (ready) + A SIDE (first-rate team) | |
| 5 | Light reversed in fleeting image (6) |
| IGNITE – hidden reversed in FLEETING IMAGE | |
| 10 | Warmer in home — timers are reset (9,6) |
| IMMERSION HEATER – anagram of IN HOME TIMERS ARE | |
| 11 | Animal caught in field eaten by kitty (7) |
| POLECAT – C (caught) in LEA (field) in POT (kitty) | |
| 12 | Fat friend, briefly ill, after doctor (4,3) |
| PALM OIL – PAL (friend) + IL{l} after M.O. (doctor) | |
| 13 | Sacrifice for me has to involve million dead (8) |
| IMMOLATE – IMO (for me = ‘in my opinion’, online) around M (million) + LATE (dead)
Biffed this one!! |
|
| 15 | Tend to course around Seine’s banks (5) |
| NURSE – RUN (course) reversed + S{ein}E | |
| 18 | Stop sheep chasing the Alsatian? (3,2) |
| LET UP – TUP (sheep) after LE (the, in French) | |
| 20 | Get on strike with upright character — rich sort? (3,2,3) |
| HIT IT OFF – HIT (strike) + I (upright character) + TOFF (rich sort?) | |
| 23 | After time Austen novel brings complaint (7) |
| TETANUS – T (time) + anagram of AUSTEN | |
| 25 | Shroud one round Conservative lying in state (7) |
| CONCEAL – ONE around C (Conservative) in CAL (state, California) | |
| 26 | It was good to settle for a midday meal (8,7) |
| LUNCHEON VOUCHER – cryptic definition
I think, anyway. ‘Good’ as in, “this voucher is good for one free lunch”? |
|
| 27 | Gold used by artist inspiring Golden Dawn (6) |
| AURORA – AU (gold) + RA (artist) around OR (golden) | |
| 28 | Form calculus takes where triangle replotted? (8) |
| INTEGRAL – anagram of TRIANGLE
The other form being differential. Of course there is such a thing as a ‘differential form’, which confuses the matter. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Revealing book from Kipling — notice covers (6) |
| SKIMPY – KIM (book from Kipling) in SPY (notice) | |
| 2 | Spell-check? (4,5) |
| TIME LIMIT – cryptic definition
A check (LIMIT) on one’s spell (TIME) would be a TIME-LIMIT. |
|
| 3 | Wind like this carrying enormous bird round (7) |
| SIROCCO – SIC (like this) around ROC (enormous bird) + O (round) | |
| 4 | Daughter on break finds meaning (5) |
| DRIFT – D (daughter) + RIFT (break) | |
| 6 | Girl out with men shows mischievous spirit (7) |
| GREMLIN – anagram of GIRL MEN | |
| 7 | Opener enthusiastic about collecting runs (5) |
| INTRO – INTO (enthusiastic about) around R (runs) | |
| 8 | Recorded fragment about endless wave (8) |
| ENROLLED – END (fragment) around ROLLE{r} (wave) | |
| 9 | A scruff grabbing a good person’s foot (8) |
| ANAPAEST – A + NAPE (scruff) around A + ST (good person) | |
| 14 | Had unusually sound tips for purchase (8) |
| ADHESION – anagram of HAD + reversal of NOISE (sound)
I knew the intended meaning of ‘purchase’ (“Edwina’s insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase.”), but not of ADHESION, which I’d always assumed had something to do with a substance like tape or glue. |
|
| 16 | Overtime pay for a barman, potentially? (9) |
| REFRESHER – double definition
Chambers informs me that a REFRESHER is a fee paid to counsel, especially when a case is adjourned, hence ‘overtime pay’, and a barman at times refreshes drinks, hence a REFRESHER. Still feels like my parsing works, though others point out it might just be a cryptic definition. |
|
| 17 | Putting in fortune, load a fleet (8) |
| FLOTILLA – FILL (load) with LOT (fortune) inside + A | |
| 19 | Cat woman’s under pressure to detain soldier (7) |
| PANTHER – HER (woman’s) under P (pressure) around ANT (soldier) | |
| 21 | Brother’s style indeed shown after Mass (7) |
| TONSURE – SURE (indeed) after TON (mass) | |
| 22 | See ark’s middle in river decorated with flowers (6) |
| FLORAL – LO (see) + {a}R{k} in the river FAL | |
| 24 | Round[,] figure with right clothing is content (5) |
| TENOR – TEN (figure) + R (right) around O (round)
The wordplay for this clue took me an inordinate amount of time to unravel! Fortunately I understood enough of the ingredients during my solve to find the answer quickly. |
|
| 25 | Fellow needing name for charming group (5) |
| COVEN – COVE (fellow) + N (name) | |
26:04. Several unparsed or only partially at the end, including the clever ADHESION. Chewed on TENOR and its multiple pile-up clue until the penny half dropped for the simpler, non-ronet, parsing. Pleased to see it was correct.
As many have said already, not hard, though I worked through it at a leisurely pace, taking 34 minutes.
Like Will Ransome above, IGNITE was my last entry
I liked the deceptive use of ‘kitty’ in the clue to POLECAT, and the deception in the clue to TETANUS. I felt sure the answer ended in -EMMA.
I’m always pleased to compete a Friday crossword. Found this easier than yesterday’s offering. The only unknown was the foot, which was laboriously constructed and my last one in.
A fairly speedy solve for me at 32.40, but with an error, carelessly putting in SORROCO at 3dn. So once again back to my old habit of getting one letter wrong – nothing more frustrating!
Everything else went in fully parsed apart from the IMO part of IMMOLATE where the use of texting shorthand never occurred to me. My LOI was the unheard of ANAPAEST but it was at least gettable from the clueing.
Straightforward stuff mostly and, as has been mentioned, much more so than yesterday’s offering. About 40’ in two sittings with the NHO abut generously clued ANAPAEST my LOI. I liked TIME LIMIT and LUNCHEON VOUCHER which, I assume, no longer exists, various Chancellors of the Exchequer having declined for years to allow more than 15p per voucher to be treated as tax-free. (When originally introduced, employers could provide one voucher per day to employees. The face value was 3 shillings, which bought a good two course lunch and was tax free. By the time I last heard of them, which I guess was in the late 80s, 15p probably got you a cup or two of Nescafé or similarly foul instant imitation of coffee – and in those days it really was foul – but one voucher certainly didn’t get lunch and the tax relief, worth about 5p per day, was not worth the trouble for pretty well any employee or employer.)
Thanks Jeremy. No fusses. My weekend started 20 minutes early as a consequence.
No problems here except for ANAPAEST which I did not know at all and the required sense for REFRESHER which I guessed correctly. Thanks for the blog!
Once again just under an hour, taking ages to work out ANAPAEST. But that was the only unknown today and this puzzle was much better than yesterday’s slog. I also took a long time to see the hidden IGNITE. Otherwise, not much to say.
DNF I had never heard of ANAPAEST, and I couldn’t think of a synonym for NAPE. All other clues correct and parsed. I liked the LUNCHEON VOUCHER clue.
First time to complete the Friday biggie so well chuffed. No idea about the time-who cares. Finished sometime on Saturday afternoon-with the odd break