41:26, though I had to look up to confirm my final answer. Tomorrow is the last exam of my PhD program, so I feel grateful that this puzzle wasn’t too hard. My sense while solving was that some of the definitions were a bit loose or vague, but perhaps I simply didn’t appreciate the subtlety while solving.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Occupied housing fine is steep (6) |
| INFUSE – F in IN USE | |
| 4 | Car trailer perhaps thrown into roll (8) |
| ROADSTER – AD in ROSTER | |
| 10 | Morning person sorted library edition digests (5,4) |
| EARLY BIRD – anagram of LIBRARY ED
Feels like we have double duty with ‘sorted’ and ‘digests’. |
|
| 11 | Flower in bog picked up with stick (5) |
| LUPIN – homophone of LOO (bog) + PIN
How annoying. I nearly biffed LUPIN from the start, but couldn’t work it out, as I didn’t know ‘bog’ as slang for LOO. I thought the answer was LIPPY for ‘with stick’ but I couldn’t make that work either. |
|
| 12 | Prominent speech in support of London Transport (11) |
| PROTUBERANT – PRO TUBE RANT
I’ve seen this one before. |
|
| 14 | Past article retracted embarrassing blunder (3) |
| AGO – A + reversal of O.G. (‘own goal’) | |
| 15 | Pages on American bank sites internally still hold good (7) |
| REAPPLY – RELY around (sites internall) PP on A
I’m probably just missing it but this definition doesn’t make sense to me. |
|
| 17 | Call the shots I’d returned on court (6) |
| DIRECT – reversal of I’D + RE + CT | |
| 19 | Over in parking spot with cast after theatre’s out (4-2) |
| POST-OP – O in P + anagram (with cast?) of SPOT
Do I have this right? |
|
| 21 | Short play performed in front of Highlanders (7) |
| SPORRAN – SPOR{t} + RAN
I had to look up to confirm. But does ‘front of Highlanders’ mean something worn in the front by Highlanders? |
|
| 23 | Time police radar traps (3) |
| ERA – hidden | |
| 24 | Set ankle in it to begin with moves? (2-4,5) |
| IN-LINE SKATE – SET ANKLE IN I{t} anagrammed
Pretty good! |
|
| 26 | Right turn goes around bypass (5) |
| SKIRT – SKIT (turn) around R (right)
Again, do I have this right? A ‘turn’ can be a theatrical performance, so, yes, I think so. |
|
| 27 | Hand over new charger, maybe binning last display model (9) |
| MANNEQUIN – MAN (hand) N (new) EQUIN{e} (charger, maybe)
What is ‘over’ doing here? |
|
| 29 | Clip and groom one dog that’s in shock (8) |
| MANICURE – I CUR in MANE | |
| 30 | Duke breaking head off “For Sale” sign? (6) |
| ADVERT – D in (breaking) AVERT (head off) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Touch of indigestion right after eating a ham (8) |
| INEXPERT – I (touch of indigestion) NEXT (right after) around A
I didn’t quite know this meaning of HAM. |
|
| 2 | 50 per cent growth of stocks boosted yield (5) |
| FORGO – OF around (stocks) GRO{wth} reversed | |
| 3 | Check written without a pen (3) |
| STY – ST{a}Y | |
| 5 | One’s experienced what affectionate couples may do when naked (3,4) |
| OLD HAND – {h}OLD HAND{s}
I love this clue. |
|
| 6 | Causing hurt, cut cross off unopened grave (11) |
| DELETERIOUS – DELET{e} (cut) {S}ERIOUS (unopened)
Really nice. |
|
| 7 | Person hammering floor and fitting in worsted carpet (3-6) |
| TAP-DANCER – AND anagrammed (fitting) in CARPET anagrammed (worsted)
I think I have this right. ‘Fitting’ like ‘having a fit’. Otherwise the scrambled AND is unaccounted for. |
|
| 8 | Did scamper exhaust male stray? (6) |
| RANDOM – RAN (did scamper) DO (exhaust) M
In the end this is very clean but I had a hard time thinking past TOM being part of the answer! |
|
| 9 | Sardonic hosts in European chateau? (6) |
| WINERY – WRY around IN E | |
| 13 | Trained in Riot Act, up against state (11) |
| UNPATRIOTIC – anagram of IN RIOT ACT UP | |
| 16 | Loving bustle I found in shop (9) |
| ADORATION – ADO + I in RAT ON (shop) | |
| 18 | Communications system runs on board in principle (8) |
| INTERNET – R in (on bound) IN TENET | |
| 20 | My old album covers all propped up on old Queen vinyl? (7) |
| POLYMER – MY + O in LP (old album covers) reversed + ER | |
| 21 | Child worker could be given voice (6) |
| SONANT – SON ANT | |
| 22 | Raven’s morning rummage on the beach (6) |
| JETSAM – JET’S A.M. | |
| 25 | Blue film topped half hour charges (5) |
| AZURE – {ho}UR in (charges) {h}AZE (topped) | |
| 28 | Goal from corner after striking edge of ball (3) |
| END – {b}END | |
15.16 Tough one to blog Jeremy but I thought this was an excellent puzzle. And probably a PB for me in terms of multiples of Verlaine’s time (less than 1.2*V). The great man must have paused to accept a delivery, make a cuppa and write a novella before submitting.
FWIW, I don’t think there’s any double duty at 10ac. ED “digests” the “sorted” LIBRARY.
In 27 across, the “over” works if you take MANN to be N inside of MAN. Slightly unnecessary for the wordplay but it helps the surface make sense.
Agree with you re the apparently loose definitions for REAPPLY and SPORRAN (still a good clue though).
Thank you and thanks setter.
I agree with Jeremy about the looseness of this puzzle. Reapply, sporran, and tap dancer and just a little off in precision, compared to the very best puzzles. However, polymer, deleterious, and in-line skate were very good indeed.
Time: 60:08.