DNF, my first in many moons. I have no idea if this puzzle was easier or more difficult, because I had to solve it one clue at a time, then close the window and tend to my children who were running around the apartment as if they were chickens with their heads cut off. (My five-year-old is reading this as I type it and indignantly disagrees with my characterization.) In any case, this puzzle was full of lovely beard-scratching clues, but 9a undid me.
| Across | |
| 1 | Call again, ringing yours truly, offering treatment (8) |
| REMEDIAL – REDIAL (call again) around (ringing) ME (yours truly) | |
| 5 | Copper lining for one doctor[’s] piece of kitchenware (6) |
| EGGCUP – CU (copper) in (lining) EG (for one) GP (doctor) | |
| 9 | Weight lifter to take girl’s breath away (8) |
| WINDLASS – WIND LASS (to take girl’s breath away)
The best kind of misleading wordplay is often the most straightforward. The problem here was that I had no idea of what the definition meant. |
|
| 10 | What’s after May first and second in Cuban capital city (6) |
| JUNEAU – JUNE (what’s after May) A (first) + (and) second letter of (in) CUBAN
The capital city of Alaska. |
|
| 12 | Still having work briefly, English leftie[‘s] unlikely to lose it (4-8) |
| EVEN-TEMPERED – EVEN (still) + (having) TEMP (work briefly) E (English) RED (leftie) | |
| 15 | Ancient tribe back home to the east of rocks (5) |
| ICENI – reversal of (back) IN (home) after (to the east of) ICE (rocks)
A chestnut tribe around these parts. |
|
| 16 | Person offering drive [in] car accepting current tax (9) |
| MOTIVATOR – MOTOR (car) around (accepting) I (current) VAT (tax)
Didn’t know ‘motor’ as a noun meaning CAR, but this was easy enough. |
|
| 18 | Irish fare well finally after firm shot (9) |
| COLCANNON – last letter of (finally) WELL after CO (firm) + CANNON (shot) | |
| 19 | Said why Heather’s clothing [is] not straight (5) |
| LYING – LING (heather) around (‘s clothing) homophone of (said) WHY | |
| 20 | Getting better drinks, Charlie enters sister’s home (12) |
| CONVALESCENT – ALES (drinks) C (Charlie) in (enters) CONVENT (sister’s home)
I was looking for PRIORY to make an appearance here. |
|
| 24 | Group of drivers checking vehicle[‘s] lack of coordination (6) |
| ATAXIA – AA (group of drivers) around (checking) TAXI (vehicle) | |
| 25 | Note slipped inside gift [for] master (8) |
| DOMINATE – MI (note) in (slipped inside) DONATE
‘Slipped’ was terribly misleading here. |
|
| 26 | What Senor and Senora should have listed differently (6) |
| TILDES – anagram of (differently) LISTED | |
| 27 | Leading American male’s going to cycle from Germany (8) |
| USHERING – US (American) HE (male) + (‘s going to) RING (cycle from Germany)
Das Ring des Nibelungen. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Gold turned up by characters regularly in Swiss banks (4) |
| ROWS – OR (gold) reversed (turned up) + (by) every other letter (characters regularly) in SWISS | |
| 2 | Queen, say, getting kiss from Douglas? (4) |
| MANX – MAN (queen, say [in chess [ironically]]) + (getting) X (kiss)
Douglas is the capital of the Isle of Man. (I’m sure you all know this!) |
|
| 3 | Fruit coated in flipping dry, old batter (9) |
| D’OLIVEIRA – OLIVE (fruit) in (coated in) reversal of (flipping) ARID (dry)
One must remember that the Times puzzle does not clue apostrophes in answers. |
|
| 4 | Put in post before protest, a teacher goes round lost in thought (6-6) |
| ABSENT-MINDED – A B.ED. (teacher) around (goes round) SENT (put in post) before MIND (protest)
MIND = ‘protest’ feels a bit weak to me, but “I wouldn’t mind/protest if you [etc]” seems okay. |
|
| 6 | Good cut of meat [is] beef (5) |
| GRUMP – G (good) RUMP (cut of meat)
Didn’t know GRUMP as a verb. I wanted the answer to be GRIPE. |
|
| 7 | Voter wanting reform in China, possibly a little ruminant (10) |
| CHEVROTAIN – VOTER anagrammed (wanting reform) in CHINA possibly (anagrammed)
Never heard of him. A tropical, forest-dwelling deer. Once I had all the checking letters, there was only one arrangement of the remaining letters in the anagrist that made any sense. |
|
| 8 | Case of professional too young [for] sacking (10) |
| PLUNDERAGE – first and last letters (case) of PROFESSIONAL + UNDERAGE (too young) | |
| 11 | Unlikely to give up precautions, I suspect (12) |
| PERTINACIOUS – PRECAUTIONS I anagrammed (suspect) | |
| 13 | What involves spells [in] tungsten-tipped long vessel (10) |
| WITCHCRAFT – ITCH (long) CRAFT (vessel) with W (tungsten) on top (-tipped) | |
| 14 | Philosopher with rule about large historical division (6,4) |
| BERLIN WALL – BERLIN (philosopher [Isaiah, not Irving]) + (with) LAW (rule) reversed (about) + L (large) | |
| 17 | Climber securing a fast time [is] the object of admiration (9) |
| VALENTINE – VINE (climber) around (securing) A + LENT (fast time)
How timely. |
|
| 21 | I mean to travel around diversion in the east (5) |
| ANIME – I MEAN anagrammed (to travel around)
Diversion *from* the east, it should say. |
|
| 22 | Christmas visitors, perhaps 13 but not 100? (4) |
| MAGI – MAGIC (perhaps 13 [WITCHCRAFT]) – (but not) C (100) | |
| 23 | Titanic problem [for] composer (4) |
| BERG – double definition
Alban Berg and Ice T. Berg |
|
Der Ring des Nibelungen surely.
Very late entry
All but a couple in less than 20 but breezeblocked by the ruminant and the capital. If I had twigged June rather than M Im pretty sure I would have fallen for the JUNECU trap
Lots to like but the a in JUNEAU was jarring
Like Vaccarex,I must have remembered WINDLASS from Canal-boating as a lass (great fun!) as it went straight in. And working in paper helped me with my first in REMEDIAL, as I followed the cryptic to the letter. Thought I was going well until hit with D’OLIVEIRA, which only became drug up from my memory when reading the blog ( I was still looking for an exotic fruit). Several other NHOs made this too hard for the likes of me CHEVROTAIN, really??, PERTINACIOUS. Though I knew ATAXIA, I didn’t get it; and I didn’t see DOMINATE for master. Good solid Friday fare ( not COLCANNON, thank God) which I mostly enjoyed, especially JUNEAU and MANX (but for the cat!)