100 minutes for this very hard puzzle! Sunburnt and tired from a day at the beach (it was Independence Day here in the US), I pushed myself to finish this puzzle far beyond what seemed reasonable.
Though I do like a good challenge, I am sad to say I didn’t really enjoy this puzzle. For most clues, I followed the wordplay indications dutifully, got an answer that I’d never heard of before, confirmed in Chambers that this combination of letters was an actual word, then repeated the process. Not quite sure how to articulate it, but there’s a very different feeling when you work through the wordplay and you just know the answer has to be right. I never quite got that feeling from this puzzle, but that’s just me on this day. Hope you enjoyed it!
| Across | |
| 1 | A great deal of rubbish in skip (4) |
| TRIP – TRIP{e} | |
| 3 | Definitively voluble performers perhaps run separate schedules out of line (3,7) |
| RAP ARTISTS – R + APART + {l}ISTS
Not sure how we get ‘definitively’ and ‘perhaps’ in the same definition, but there you have it. |
|
| 9 | Played harmonica without working tongue (7) |
| AMHARIC – anagram of HARMONICA – ON (working) | |
| 11 | Tough stuff that may indicate a problem for setter? (4,3) |
| HARD PAD – HARD (tough) PAD (stuff, as in a bra)
Chambers has, Once considered to be a neurotropic virus disease of dogs, now recognized as a symptom of distemper, causing hardness of the pads of the feet. Did not know it. |
|
| 12 | Very tired, pleasure-seeking soon enough (3,2,4,4) |
| ALL IN GOOD TIME – ALL IN (very tired) GOODTIME (pleasure-seeking) | |
| 14 | Recruit selection from US Pro Golf (5) |
| SPROG – hidden in US PRO GOLF | |
| 15 | Before taking vitamin, endlessly gnaws into part of joint (9) |
| ANKLEBONE – before B-ONE (vitamin B1), {r}ANKLE{s} (endlessly gnaws into)
My last in, and I couldn’t parse it for the life of me until writing the blog. |
|
| 17 | Division of land troops occupying everything — too much (9) |
| ALLOTMENT – MEN in ALL + OTT (too much, over the top) | |
| 19 | Screen pulled back is hiding loo, for the most part (5) |
| SHOJI – IS reversed around JOH{n} | |
| 21 | Means to regain past job? Cut down unction about head of Personnel (13) |
| REAPPOINTMENT – REAP (cut down) OINTMENT (unction) around P{ersonnel} | |
| 24 | Government security agency almost charges Treasury scientist (7) |
| CHEMIST – MI{5} (government security agency almost) in (charges) CHEST (treasury) | |
| 25 | Hear a rule detected by auditors (7) |
| ARRAIGN – homophone of A REIGN | |
| 26 | President that is backing both sides in election held by group of incompetents (10) |
| EISENHOWER – I.E. reversed + E{lectio}N in SHOWER (group of incompetents)
Definitely did not know SHOWER = “a disparaging term applied to any particular group of people one disapproves of”. |
|
| 27 | Party from England touring Europe’s leaders (4) |
| FETE – first letters of FROM ENGLAND TOURING EUROPE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Crazed assailant punched by hard marine (10) |
| THALASSIAN – anagram of ASSAILANT around H | |
| 2 | An inspirational helper? (7) |
| INHALER – cryptic definition | |
| 4 | Maybe naval duty stirred up carnage around House (9) |
| ANCHORAGE – anagram of CARNAGE around HO
‘Duty’ as in ‘tax’. |
|
| 5 | Bill throttles the most acidic little pest (5) |
| APHID – AD around PH 1 (the most acidic) | |
| 6 | Traitor gave terrorist bombs (13) |
| TERGIVERSATOR – anagram of GAVE TERRORIST
I probably could have shaved 40 minutes off my time if I could have gotten this anagram sooner. |
|
| 7 | Chief form of wrestling before crowds (7) |
| SUPREMO – SUMO with PRE (before) inside
“X, Y crowds” for “Y in X” is not something that makes a lot of sense to me. This one held me up. |
|
| 8 | Possibly left / Man Utd? (4) |
| SIDE – double definition by example | |
| 10 | Fresh discussion on denial surrounding old note (13) |
| RENEGOTIATION – RE (on) NEGATION around O (old) TI (note) | |
| 13 | Opposition point of view supports rent rise (10) |
| RESISTANCE – STANCE (point of view) under anagram of (rent) RISE
This took me far longer than it should have. |
|
| 16 | Vigil after cat caught bird (9) |
| KITTIWAKE – WAKE (vigil) after homophone (caught) of KITTY
I should have biffed this bird, if I could have remembered it. |
|
| 18 | Favours central character in pan-Slav broadcast? (7) |
| LARGESS – homophone (broadcast) LARGE ‘S’ (central character in pan-Slav) | |
| 20 | Townie struggles over English socialist disciple (7) |
| OWENITE – anagram of TOWNIE + E (English)
A follower, I take it, of either Robert or David Owen. |
|
| 22 | Write up part of Bible first for primate (5) |
| POTTO – reversal of OT (part of Bible) TOP (first)
This took me far, far too long. I just never suspected POTTO was a word. |
|
| 23 | Summit meeting’s principle bores expert (4) |
| ACME – first letter of MEETING in ACE (expert)
I would have said ‘principal’ but apparently ‘principle’ can also mean “source, root, origin”. |
|
I thought the crossword was meant to give a pleasurable and therapeutic experience. What was the setter playing at by imposing this diabolical thing on us?
All said above: even started this one with a “look-up” which resulted in a shrug of disapproval and disappointment, as it indicated that the remaining clues were going to be, generally, out of my reach – and for the most part, they were. Not a fan of this ‘show-off’ intellectualism, as this supposed to be fun.