14:55. As the SNITCH would have it, we’ve had milder Fridays lately, compared to the last several months. I’ve gotten used to a struggle, but I don’t mind feeling like a champion every now and again!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Skirt with narrow opening ignored by a model (9) |
| MINIATURE – MINI (skirt) + (with) APERTURE (narrow opening) – (ignored by) PER (a) | |
| 6 | Christian celebration rejected by American state (5) |
| ASSAM – MASS (Christian celebration) reversed (rejected) next to (by) A (American) | |
| 9 | Devil retreats with feeling of disgust in possession (7) |
| DICKENS – DENS (retreats) around (with … in possession) ICK (feeling of disgust) | |
| 10 | Soup lid covering nothing — you might snap at this! (5,2) |
| PHOTO OP – PHỞ (soup) TOP (lid) around (covering) O (nothing) | |
| 11 | Take action against publication erasing lives (3) |
| SUE – ISSUE (publication) – (erasing) IS (lives) | |
| 12 | Peel off tape to cook sweet treat (6-5) |
| TOFFEE-APPLE – PEEL OFF TAPE anagrammed (to cook) | |
| 14 | Fish tongue ultimately lacking strong ingredient (6) |
| GARLIC – GAR (fish) LICK (tongue) minus last letter (ultimately lacking) | |
| 15 | Unopened finest china keeping current value (8) |
| ESTIMATE – BEST (finest) minus first letter (unopened) + MATE (china) around (keeping) I (current) | |
| 17 | Perhaps Sun King regularly stripped hearts bare (8) |
| STARKERS – STAR (perhaps sun) K (king) + every other letter in (regularly stripped) HEARTS | |
| 19 | Fail to justify force[’s] conviction (6) |
| BELIEF – BELIE (fail to justify) F (force) | |
| 22 | Editor taking back tasteless, ignorant curse (3,3,5) |
| EFF AND BLIND – ED (editor) around reversal of (taking back) NAFF (tasteless) + BLIND (ignorant)
I knew NAFF but hadn’t quite heard of this expression, though it sure sounded like something naughty. |
|
| 23 | Cover for priest arrested by Special Branch (3) |
| ALB – hidden in (arrested by) SPECIAL BRANCH | |
| 25 | Free time visiting Wild Bill (7) |
| LIBERAL – ERA (time) in (visiting) anagram of (wild) BILL | |
| 27 | Eye copies of Zulu retaining a stylish energy (7) |
| PIZZAZZ – P.I. (eye) ZZZZ (copies of Zulu) around (retaining) A | |
| 28 | Thin and weak, like Oliver at the cinema? (5) |
| REEDY – REED-Y
A reference to Oliver Reed, whom I did not know, but whose existence I could surmise. |
|
| 29 | Female inside criminal court [is] clean (9) |
| DISINFECT – F (female) INSIDE anagrammed (criminal) + CT (court) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Leader with magic touch, misunderstood at first, is winning promotion after promotion (5) |
| MIDAS – M{isunderstood} (at first) + IS around (winning) AD (promotion) reversed (after promotion) | |
| 2 | Like weapons of mass destruction: in doubt once UN turns up (7) |
| NUCLEAR – UNCLEAR (in doubt) with UN reversed (once … turns up) | |
| 3 | Fearful article covering strain between west and east (3-8) |
| AWE-STRICKEN – AN (article) around RICK (strain) in (between) WEST and E (east) | |
| 4 | Dangerous [and] nefarious leaving Rio in chaos (6) |
| UNSAFE – NEFARIOUS – (leaving) RIO anagrammed (in chaos) | |
| 5 | Unnatural ability originally rattled providers of Fuel drink (8) |
| ESPRESSO – ESP (unnatural ability) + first letter of (originally) RATTLED + ESSO (providers of fuel) | |
| 6 | Previously advanced onto Monopoly square (3) |
| AGO – A (advanced) + (onto) GO (Monopoly square) | |
| 7 | Australian mangetout of the moment quietly added into main (4,3) |
| SNOW PEA – NOW (of the moment) P (quietly) in (added into) SEA (main) | |
| 8 | Drake maybe covering page upon page [in] Canadian flag (5,4) |
| MAPLE LEAF – MALE (drake maybe) around (covering) P (page) + (upon) LEAF (page) | |
| 13 | Everyday media, unusually, bother enlightening school? (1,4,1,5) |
| A DIME A DOZEN – MEDIA anagrammed (unusually) + ADO (bother) ZEN (enlightening school?)
Funny. |
|
| 14 | Bible reader[’s] acceptable idea about exorcism? (9) |
| GOSPELLER – GOER (acceptable idea) around SPELL (exorcism?)
A little loose, here, I feel, but Chambers defines ‘exorcism’ as a formula for exorcising, and a formula certainly sounds like a spell. |
|
| 16 | Inverted winger ran [and] took the ball forward? (8) |
| DRIBBLED – reversal of (inverted) BIRD + BLED (ran) | |
| 18 | A very loud Mediterranean island turned warm (7) |
| AFFABLE – A FF (very loud) + ELBA (Mediterranean island) reversed (turned) | |
| 20 | How friend may introduce herself [in] Islamic territory (7) |
| IMAMATE – “I’M A MATE” (how friend may introduce herself) | |
| 21 | Big beasts in position (6) |
| HIPPOS – HIP (in) POS (position) | |
| 24 | Business class initially ejected French composer (5) |
| BIZET – BIZ (business) + SET (class) minus first letter (initially ejected) | |
| 26 | Charles who performed [in] Shaft (3) |
| RAY – double definition | |
Yes, somebody must have mixed up the Thursday and Friday puzzles – yesterday was definitely a Friday! When I started to solve, I was braced for a toughie, and took a while to loosen up and solve naturally. I started by putting in Midas, unsafe, and nuclear, and thought the next answer must be miniature, but I didn’t put it in. Part of the puzzle were surprisingly biffable – Maple leaf, a dime a dozen, dribbled, Bizet. I did get stuck a bit at the end in SW, but getting eff and blind from the cryptic helped me break it down.
Time: 25:03
57 minutes, nearly twice my target time, but I found this a very enjoyable solve unlike so many recently – especially some of the Thursday and Friday offerings. There were a few gimmes but plenty of more complex clues to exercise the brains. No answers unknown to me (a rarity these days) and the only unknown (or I now suspect forgotten) piece of GK was the Vietnamese soup in the wordplay at 10ac. One of my earliest successes today was PIZZAZZ, which was a real boost to the confidence.
Started with MIDAS and NUCLEAR, ended with DRIBBLED, and forgot to fully parse a few, almost like a speed solver!