34:17, with much time spent on one clue in particular. I found this to be a rather gentle puzzle for a Friday, with many familiar devices. Nevertheless it was a bit sticky, and the SNITCH seems to reflect this.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rocky 6 — in a rut, Hugh Jackman? (10) |
| AUSTRALIAN – anagram of ALAS (6ac) IN A RUT | |
| 6 | Festivals starting late, unfortunately (4) |
| ALAS – {g}ALAS | |
| 10 | Biblical messenger[’s] talk that is splitting sides (7) |
| GABRIEL – GAB + IE in L R | |
| 11 | Do musical score? (7) |
| HAIRCUT – HAIR (musical) CUT (score?)
To score is to make a light incision. |
|
| 12 | Most intense part [of] impressive dish that’s unfinished (9) |
| EPICENTRE – EPIC ENTRÉ{e} | |
| 13 | Like croissants without ends, say (5) |
| UTTER – {b}UTTER{y} | |
| 14 | Open banana avoided by worker, perhaps (5) |
| PLAIN – PL{ant}AIN | |
| 15 | Confectionery with marijuana? It’s a bit of a racket (5,4) |
| SWEET SPOT – SWEETS POT | |
| 17 | Glance over young professional[’s] football skills (5-4) |
| KEEPY-UPPY – PEEK reversed + YUPPY | |
| 20 | Did row ultimately undo American revolutionary? (5) |
| OARED – {und}O + A + RED | |
| 21 | Shape [of] mug that H&M cut apart (5) |
| RHOMB – ROB (mug), interrupted by H and M | |
| 23 | Inferior work following exclusive about a French duke (9) |
| POUNDSHOP – OP after POSH (exclusive) around UN (‘a’, in French) + D | |
| 25 | Sweetheart for many encapsulates poetry? (3,4) |
| ART FORM – hidden | |
| 26 | Most tacky introduction for Iggy and Stooges briefly broadcast (7) |
| GOOIEST – anagram (broadcast) of I{ggy} STOOGES | |
| 27 | Notice essay has page replacing it (4) |
| ESPY – ESSAY with P instead of SA (it = Sex Appeal) | |
| 28 | Churchgoers welcoming corrupt female swimmer (10) |
| PARROTFISH – PARISH around ROT F | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Two lines required to capture this / fish (5) |
| ANGLE – double definition
Capture as in represent visually. |
|
| 2 | Petition to eat BLT with filling that’s extended [and] purified (9) |
| SUBLIMATE – SUE (petition) around B + LIMA + T
Radio language. |
|
| 3 | Act surprised as Obi-Wan, Rey and ultimately Luke Skywalker are cast (5,2,7) |
| RAISE AN EYEBROW – AS OBI-WAN REY + last letters of LUKE SKYWALKER ARE anagrammed | |
| 4 | They show unqualified person recently breaking records (1-6) |
| L-PLATES – LATE in LPS
Learner plates. |
|
| 5 | Two articles about permitted jumper? (7) |
| ATHLETE – A THE around LET | |
| 7 | Legitimate Literature 101 dons (5) |
| LICIT – CI (101 in Roman numerals) in LIT | |
| 8 | Dripping [is] like some fat (9) |
| SATURATED – double definition | |
| 9 | Abrupt Times editor: undo changes [in] our masthead text! (4,2,3,5) |
| DIEU ET MON DROIT – TIME{s} EDITOR UNDO
Here I confess I just cheated and looked at the front page. But this was after close to ten minutes of playing with anagram fodder. My problem was I really couldn’t see what to use, and if I’m being unkind, I’m not sure what I think about ‘abrupt’ to mean ‘remove the last letter’. (Actually I’m quite sure what I think about it.) (Chambers doesn’t agree with me.) |
|
| 14 | Useful feature for table fork, with peace shattered (5,4) |
| POKER FACE – anagram of FORK PEACE | |
| 16 | Aha! House of Commons censure over game (9) |
| PARCHEESI – I SEE + HC + RAP reversed | |
| 18 | Channel covering mixed martial arts after 12 (3-4) |
| PIP-EMMA – PIPE MMA
Radio language. |
|
| 19 | Who’s looking at this African nation, ignoring one more recently created? (7) |
| YOUNGER – YOU (who’s looking at this) N{i}GER
Easily my favorite clue of the bunch. |
|
| 22 | Someone paid by the state to stock books, available as needed (2,3) |
| ON TAP – OAP (old-age pensioner) around NT (books) | |
| 24 | Way to conceal Conservative plot (5) |
| PATCH – PATH around C | |
Fortunately, I knew Dieu et Mon Droit, and after I got a few letters I biffed it. I wasn’t so swift with raise an eyebrow, however, even if it should have been obvious. I was a little worried about poundshop – is that a thing – and couldn’t parse sublimate. I did like rhomb – that was pretty good.
Time: 52:31
I knew DIEU ET MON DROIT aussi, vaguely remembered seeing it on the Times logo. But… KEEPY-UPPY…?! (don’t adults play this game?). I also had to cheat (after an easy week! Merde !) for… ACK-EMMA? No, it’s PIP-EMMA—also “after 12”!
Enjoyable nonetheless… well, maybe a little less… 😉
POUNDSHOP: over here, we have “dollar stores.”
YOUNGER is indeed a great clue.
Considering I was never going to get either KEEPY UPPY or PIP EMMA, which appear to have slipped in from another state of consciousness alien to me, I’m proud to say I finished all the solvable clues though it took me close to an hour. I liked YOUNGER and PARROTFISH and turned up some weird options with the POKER FACE anagrist. Never heard of a POUNDSHOP and I also cheated on the Times motto. Thanks J.
From My Back Pages:
Ah but I was so much older then
I’m YOUNGER than that now
I did better than I had expected after a very slow start but still needed aids a couple of times to reboot my efforts. Shall I ever remember PIP-EMMA?
My best moment was working out the unlikely-looking and NHO PARCHEESI from wordplay. Until today its rare appearances here have been limited to Mephisto puzzles, which of course I never tackle.
Nearly completed in an hour, only error was ART ROOM for ART FORM.
Spent time trying to get ADUC (a French duke) in POUNDSHOP. It’s now an adjective for inferior as in the much quoted “Nigel Farage is a poundshop Enoch Powell”.
Got PARCHEESI early on (what Americans call Ludo). DIEU ET MON DROIT was tricky as I couldn’t figure any thing out. Good clue.
Needed an aid for LOI EPICENTRE, got stuck on epitome.
COD the unexpected KEEPY UPPY.
Straightforward for a Friday. Dieu et mon droit, being the motto of the royal family as well as The Times, should be a write-in for most.
I’ve heard of pachesi, but not parcheesi. And not seen poundshop used as an adjective like that. No other difficulties though .. a shame that our setter could not work MER into the clue for 3dn!
As for pip emma, a blast from the past that is. Along with ack emma, toc-H etc it comes from a signalmen’s alphabet that is more than 100 years old, a distant uncle of the NATO alphabet. It is where ack-ack (anti-aircraft) comes from. B was beer!
28:41. In a rut and, alas, confused. That’s me today!
Very challenging Friday puzzle, tending towards Mephisto-ish in parts. I happened to know the awful KEEPY-UPPY, was eventually able to construct DIEU ET MON DROIT with some confidence and took a white-knuckled stab at PIP-EMMA.
I sort-of knew PARCHEESI and POUNDSHOP but the one that gave the most grief at the end (and yes I had a little peek to confirm it) was SUBLIMATE. Just couldn’t see how IMA worked with “filling that’s extended” until the penny dropped. Clever clue.
Thanks setter and Jeremy.
GOOIEST is one of about 40 words with 4 vowels in a row, I was interested to learn
17.55
Yes, a fairly gentle Friday offering. Biffed both the long anagrams, helped in one by turning the paper over and in the other by an expression commonly used on this site; not helped by entering L PLATES in the wrong place. We’ve had Iron Maiden and Iggy and The Stooges in the past few days – HMHB next week?
LOI SUBLIMATE
COD AUSTRALIAN
Now that would left field!!
I had not heard at all of PARCHEESI but was able to construct from cryptic with some checkers. A board game mainly played in America it seems.
13:07. On the wavelength again today it seems. I was helped by having the required knowledge, which was a mix of the old (PARCHEESI, PIP EMMA) and the new (KEEPY-UPPY, POUNDSHOP).
POUNDSHOP as an adjective has become very common in recent years: it is usually used in the form ‘X is the POUNDSHOP Y’ where the meaning is that person X is an inferior version of person Y. I can’t think of any examples that wouldn’t fall foul of our rules on political neutrality!
43mins but just couldn’t work out epicentre. Annoying as I felt I’d done well until the fog descended. Particularly pleased to get parcheesi which was a NHO.
Stopped after 30′ without the NW. Had heard of the actor but couldn’t have told you his nationality. Doubt if I’d ever have got SUBLIMATE.
Off to watch election results and the Giro.
Thanks jeremy and setter.
Thanks for the parsing of SUBLIMATE 😃
63 minutes. Slow going, not helped by not being familiar with KEEPY-UPPY or POUNDSHOP and spending too long (in vain) trying to parse SUBLIMATE. PARCHEESI was the most Fridayish clue but overall this wasn’t a Friday beast and I should have been quicker.
Miserable fail. NHO SUBLIMATE, PARCHEESI, PIP-EMMA andKEEPY-UPPY (despite playing quite a lot of football when I was YOUNGER).
Grrrr.
I liked POKER FACE and SWEET SPOT (I used to play a lot of tennis too!).
Thanks pj and setter.
There’s also a sweet spot on a golf club, or so it’s rumoured…
Happy with 40′ for a Friday (albeit a fairly accessible one).
VHO PARCHEESI without knowing what it was. PIP EMMA a complete unknown but MMA and crossers made it straightforward. Stuck on AUSTRALIAN thinking VI (6) was part of some other anagram fodder. Once solved it opened the NW corner to finish.
KEEPY UPPY a write-in, I think I got to about 50 as a youngster which I thought was good until I met proper footballers.
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
22:04 – must have been on wavelength today, because 95% of this fell in 10-15 mins, and I really enjoyed it. What a great set of clues – lots of fun easy ones and some more challenging ones to merit the Friday spot. All witty and well created.
AUSTRALIAN and ALAS went straight in as a pair, without even really needing to read the clue for 6ac.
PIP-EMMA (POI) is a total NHO for me. Also NHO PARCHEESI but again managed to build it from the parts. LOI was EPICENTRE. COD to RAISE AN EYEBROW.
42 mins with the EPICENTRE of slowness in the NW where I took forever to enlist ALAS into the Aussie and only after finally spotting the very neat ANGLE. LOI SUBLIMATE unparsed.
NHO the cheesy game. COD to the actual MER.
Good fun, proper Friday stuff for me.
Thanks to pj and setter.
Plus I have reached one of my targets of a full 28 completions and <= 3 errors on the leaderboard. Happy days.