34:31. I can’t quite tell the difficulty level here because I began this puzzle while waking up from a nap. Everything seemed a bit blurry at the beginning, but most of it was clear by the end.
| Across | |
| 1 | One venomous corner not half welcomed by the Kop (8) |
| SCORPION – COR{ner} in SPION (the Kop)
This is a reference to Spion Kop, a football stand in Liverpool, as far as I can tell. (Which is in itself a reference a hill in South Africa, on which was fought a battle in the Second Boer War.) In any case, the answer was clear. |
|
| 5 | Legendary footballers having brief time with our team (6) |
| FAMOUS – FA (footballers) + MO (brief time) + US (our team) | |
| 10 | Stress of old pants etc being a bit short (9) |
| UNDERLINE – UNDERLINE{n} (old pants etc)
Here ‘old’ refers to the fact that this term is archaic. |
|
| 11 | Articles about poet initially bewildered (2,3) |
| AT SEA – A A (articles) around T.S.E. (T.S. Eliot, initially) | |
| 12 | Follow story as told (4) |
| TAIL – homophone of TALE (story) | |
| 13 | Showing amazing foresight, a present not to be criticised (4,5) |
| GIFT HORSE – anagram of FORESIGHT
What an amazingly fooling clue. I’m embarrassed to have been held up by it for so long. Is it a chestnut? (No pun intended.) |
|
| 15 | Where it is polite to cough, if late (10) |
| BEHINDHAND – BEHIND HAND (where it is polite to cough) | |
| 17 | A little animal in the country (4) |
| MALI – hidden (a little) in ANIMAL IN | |
| 19 | Seizure regularly downed a biblical figure (4) |
| EZRA – {s}E{i}Z{u}R{e} + A | |
| 20 | Expression of surprise about colleague Leon maybe being clumsy (10) |
| AMATEURISH – AH (expression of surprise) around MATE (colleague) + URIS (Leon maybe) | |
| 22 | Superior forehand smashes outrageous (7-2) |
| UNHEARD-OF – U (superior) + anagram of FOREHAND | |
| 24 | Spy, English — or Flemish? (4) |
| BOND, James Bond
A reference to the fact that Bond is English, but that he is a creation of Ian Fleming, hence “Flemish?”. |
|
| 26 | Universal at first to suffer loss of smell (5) |
| OSMIC – COSMIC (universal) with first letter removed (at first to suffer loss)
Did not know this word. |
|
| 27 | Land in built-up area — it hurt duke to divide that (5,4) |
| TOUCH DOWN – TOWN (built-up area) around OUCH (it hurt) + D (duke)
This fooled me for a long time because I thought ‘it hurt’ = OW. |
|
| 28 | Not popular, one demanding hospital post (6) |
| SISTER – INSISTER (one demanding) without IN (popular) | |
| 29 | Character transported returning from game involving good group of women (8) |
| MAGWITCH – MATCH (game) around G (good) + W.I. (group of women)
I have read Great Expectations and quite liked it, but I’m not sure what the reference is here. I know Magwitch was a criminal who escaped, so perhaps the ‘transported’ is a reference to the imprisonment and ‘returning’ is a a reference to the escaping. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Market is very British (4) |
| SOUK – SO (very) + UK (British)
A market in Muslim countries. |
|
| 2 | Most half-hearted moving around, but he keeps rolling (3,6,6) |
| OLD FATHER THAMES – anagram of MOST HALF-HEARTED | |
| 3 | Herb’s wallet nearly getting dropped on road (8) |
| PURSLANE – PURS{e} (wallet) + LANE (road) | |
| 4 | Down; unable to fly with this? (5) |
| OWING – you can’t fly with O (zero) WING | |
| 6 | Zero interest each year closing course (6) |
| APATHY – A (each) + Y (year) around PATH (course)
I really thought this was going to be a dessert! |
|
| 7 | Comment on letters for military checkpoint (11,4) |
| OBSERVATION POST – OBSERVATION (comment) + POST (letters)
Took me forever to figure out OBSERVATION, sadly. Wanted RESERVATION for awhile, which made no sense. |
|
| 8 | Great changes in view left to those eg in the circle (5,5) |
| STAGE RIGHT – anagram of GREAT in SIGHT (view) | |
| 9 | Hitch as part of sail lands on shorebird (4,4) |
| REEF KNOT – REEF (part of sail) + KNOT (shorebird) | |
| 14 | Ingratiating European put out by old uniform in funeral ceremony (10) |
| OBSEQUIOUS – E (European) replaced by O (old) + U (uniform) in OBSEQUIES (funeral ceremony) | |
| 16 | Indicate tune of one song half-heartedly — it is rather wet (8) |
| HUMIDITY – HUM (indicate tune of) I (one) DIT{t}Y (song) | |
| 18 | Elephant keeps quiet, with a series of gestures (8) |
| DUMBSHOW – DUMBO (elephant) around SH (quiet) + W (with) | |
| 21 | Clumsy cowboy endlessly on tablet (6) |
| GAUCHE – GAUCH{o} (cowboy) + E (tablet)
This is a chestnut (no pun intended), but I forgot about it until I’d gotten it. |
|
| 23 | A young deer we hear leading all the animals around (5) |
| FAUNA – A, with homophone of FAWN (young dear) coming first | |
| 25 | In crush, losing top part of foot (4) |
| INCH – {p}INCH (crush)
I think I have this right? |
|
41.48
Very late entry so I can scrawl away without any danger of anyone reading.
Started last night and just got stuck after half an hour as the difficulty needed something other than a v tired brain. Now on holiday in Uppsala with the cathedral out of our window and time to finish off yesterday’s effort. As usual quite a few flew in on the restart so I’ll take the above time
Also totally flummoxed by GIFT HORSE to the extent of actually being quite cross about the obscurity – only to find out it was an anagram. Setter 1/0 Dvynys
Not a massive fan of Dickens. Bleak House one of the few I’ve read and it needed three goes to get past page 83. But to be fair it was worth the effort and I rate it v highly
As for the Kop only in these pages could there seem to be more familiarity with obscure brickwork than one of the most famous stadiums in the world. Long may it continue!
Thanks Jeremy and Setter
47 mins. A usual plod on a Friday but no complaints. Lots of well constructed clues requiring quite an effort for me. Really enjoyed the challenge. Many examples but my COD was gift horse.
Hopefully, I will catch up on further puzzles by Monday.