37:29. I was concerned about solving a Friday puzzle after an early morning and long day of plane travel, but I’m quite pleased with this time for what seems to be a difficult puzzle.
(If I had to put my finger on it, the difficulty seems to come from uncommon vocabulary more than anything else.)
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Following delay of months, slander hospital department’s union (9) |
| ALIGNMENT – MALIGN (slander) with M (months) moved to the end + ENT (hospital department) | |
| 6 | Public school lodge reported (5) |
| STOWE – homophone of STOW (lodge)
My last in, and a frightening clue for an American! I don’t know of STOWE, and S _ O _ E doesn’t exactly narrow things down, especially when there are multiple meanings of ‘lodge’. Fortunately, a straightforward synonym presented itself after a few minutes of thought. |
|
| 9 | Depraved scene from “love party” embodied by aggressive-submissive proclivity (5) |
| SODOM – O (love) DO (party) in SM (aggressive-submissive proclivity [S & M = sadism and masochism]) | |
| 10 | Second-rate artiste carrying more weight on thigh (9) |
| HAMFATTER – FATTER (carrying more weight) next to HAM (thigh)
I parsed this one as HAM (second-rate artiste) + FATTER (carrying more weight), not knowing what the word meant. |
|
| 11 | Monarchies asserting vetoes abroad (9,6) |
| SOVEREIGN STATES – anagram of ASSERTING VETOES | |
| 13 | Took away cover from discharge pipe examined at both ends (8) |
| DEDUCTED – first and last (cover) from DISCHARGE + DUCT (pipe) + first and last of EXAMINED | |
| 14 | Stick notice in The Times? (6) |
| ADHERE – AD (notice) HERE (in The Times?) | |
| 16 | Catch securing edges of door-plate in tank (6) |
| HEADER – HEAR (catch) around first and last of DOOR-PLATE
Chambers informs me that a ‘header tank’ is a thing. |
|
| 18 | Good buzz surrounding Polish play in Rugby (4,4) |
| GRUB KICK – G (good) KICK (buzz) around RUB (polish)
GRUB KICK is in Chambers but it appears to be ‘grubber kick’ nearly anywhere else. |
|
| 21 | Regrettably, couple that initiates divorce furtive about settling (15) |
| DISAPPOINTINGLY – first two letters of DIVORCE + SLY (furtive) around APPOINTING (settling) | |
| 23 | Bizarre dream, not the first that involves intro to Finnegans Wake (9) |
| AFTERMATH – anagram of {d}REAM THAT around first letter of FINNEGANS | |
| 25 | London authority protects river for locals (5) |
| DONAU – hidden in LONDON AUTHORITY
What we call ‘Danube’, German locals would call DONAU. |
|
| 26 | Horse bet, essentially £1 (5) |
| EQUID – middle letter of (essentially) BET + QUID (£1) | |
| 27 | Soldiers charging Roman Catholic gathering ultimately feeling sorrow (9) |
| LAMENTING – MEN in (charging) LATIN (Roman Catholic) + last letter of GATHERING | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fools judge? Not quite (5) |
| ASSES – ASSES{s} | |
| 2 | People from Indiana share twin sons (11) |
| INDIVIDUALS – IN (Indiana) DIVI (share) DUAL (twin) S (sons)
Didn’t know this spelling of ‘divvy’. |
|
| 3 | Head of state no longer in charge following union of cardinals (7) |
| NUMERIC – ER (head of state no longer) IC (in charge) after NUM (union)
Mineworkers, this time. |
|
| 4 | Defective electronic chip’s core codes formed imitative words (8) |
| ECHOISED – anagram of E (electronic) + middle letters of CHIP + CODES | |
| 5 | Breaking in, tense street urchin lowering head (6) |
| TAMING – T (tense) + GAMIN (street urchin) with G moved down
When I remembered T = ‘tense’ and GAMIN for street urchin, I knew I was going to fare decently on this puzzle. |
|
| 6 | Hurt forces brought up case for three days (7) |
| SMARTED – RAMS (forces) reversed + first and last (case) of THREE + D (days)
Thought the ‘forces’ would be some combination of RA, RE, etc. Also, this setter sure uses this ‘first and last’ technique a lot, don’t they? |
|
| 7 | Old newspaper much of the time in verse? (3) |
| OFT – O (old) FT (newspaper)
I had a much harder time with this one than I should have! |
|
| 8 | Continental jargon primarily used in sensitive, regressive summit (9) |
| EUROSPEAK – first letter of USED in reversal (regressive) of SORE (sensitive) + PEAK (summit) | |
| 12 | Film of Charles upset Diana briefly (3,4,3,1) |
| THE KING AND I – THE KING (Charles) + anagram (upset) of DIAN{a} | |
| 13 | Dry ditty regularly confused with 14 (9) |
| DEHYDRATE – anagram of D{i}T{t}Y and ADHERE (14 across) | |
| 15 | Scold Henry in school, location of Maggie’s education (8) |
| GRANTHAM – RANT (scold) H (Henry) in GAM (school)
Of whales. Was glad to remember this one, too. No idea about the definition. |
|
| 17 | Met maker of saw that’s turned up in River Dee (7) |
| EXPIRED – RIP (saw) reversed in EXE (river) D (dee)
Great definition. |
|
| 19 | Incorporate legal draft delivered prior to crash (5,2) |
| BUILD IN – homophone of BILL (legal draft) + DIN (crash) | |
| 20 | Fat cat completely extra (2-4) |
| NO-BALL – NOB (fat cat) ALL (completely)
I’m sure a cricket reference? |
|
| 22 | Second person finally seen collecting litter? (5) |
| YOUNG – YOU (second person) + last letters of SEEN COLLECTING | |
| 24 | Leading trio to sign letter overseas (3) |
| TAU – first three letters of TAURUS (sign) | |
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