7:08. Glad that the downbeat introduction to this puzzle didn’t continue on to the rest of the clues. Lots of merriment – drinking, raving and playing around in boats – to be had here. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Thanks to Breadman
Definitions underlined in bold
| Across | |
| 1 | Card game depressing seaman (9) |
| BLACKJACK – BLACK (‘depressing’) JACK (‘seaman’) | |
| 6 | Pinch small quantity of spirits (3) |
| NIP – Double definition | |
| 8 | Some pundit told the same thing (5) |
| DITTO – Hidden (‘Some’) in ‘punDIT TOld’ | |
| 9 | Let down in dodgy deal (7) |
| ALLOWED – LOW (‘down’) contained in (‘in’) anagram (‘dodgy’) of DEAL | |
| 10 | Helmsman’s counterfeit coins: wax (8) |
| COXSWAIN – Anagram (‘counterfeit’) of COINS WAX | |
| 11 | Drag Harry around university (4) |
| HAUL –HAL (abbreviation of ‘Harry’) containing (‘around’) U (‘university’) | |
| 13 | Eco-friendly judge, we hear, finding variety of plum (9) |
| GREENGAGE – GREEN (‘Eco-friendly’) GAGE=homophone (‘we hear’) of GAUGE (‘judge’)
The same answer was seen elsewhere very recently. Gives an excuse to recommend “The Greengage Summer” by Rumer Godden. Idyllic and innocent but with a touch of the sinister. |
|
| 16 | Measure of land sacred at the centre (4) |
| ACRE – Middle letters (‘at the centre’) of sACREd | |
| 17 | Fungi she cultivated, demonstrating Chinese philosophy (4,4) |
| FENG SHUI – Anagram of (‘cultivated’) FUNGI SHE | |
| 20 | Parisian in America entering the rave (7) |
| ENTHUSE – EN (‘Parisian in’ = ‘in’ in French) US (‘America’) contained in (‘entering’) THE (‘the’) | |
| 21 | Archdeacon meets gangster open to corruption (5) |
| VENAL – VEN (‘Archdeacon’) AL (‘gangster’=Al Capone)
VEN is an abbreviation for “The Venerable”, a title for an ‘Archdeacon’ in the Anglican church. I can never tell my venals from my venials. Maybe remembering this clue might help. |
|
| 22 | Eccentric goaded regularly (3) |
| ODD – Every second letter (‘regularly’) of gOaDeD | |
| 23 | Hinder male cleaner (9) |
| DETERGENT – A charade of DETER (‘Hinder’) and GENT (‘male’)
A bit of a chestnut, but still held me up for a while |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Person with cool, close-fitting attire (6) |
| BODICE – BOD (‘Person’ colloquially) ICE (‘cool’) | |
| 2 | Spread extra plaster (5) |
| ARTEX – Anagram (‘Spread’) of EXTRA
Never heard of this. According to Wikipedia: “…a surface coating used for interior decorating, most often found on ceilings, which allows the decorator to add a texture to it”. Those of you with DIY expertise will probably know all about it, especially if you have to remove it as Artex made before the mid-1980’s contained asbestos. |
|
| 3 | Tie small daughter, a hazard in the garden (8) |
| KNOTWEED – KNOT (‘Tie’) WEE (‘small’) D (‘daughter’) | |
| 4 | A couple of Scotsmen leave Middle Eastern expanse (7,6) |
| ARABIAN DESERT – A (‘A’) RAB + IAN (‘couple of Scotsmen’) DESERT (‘leave’) | |
| 5 | Large oven left among relatives (4) |
| KILN – L (‘left’) contained in (‘among’) KIN (‘relatives’) | |
| 6 | Former prison‘s innovative entrance (7) |
| NEWGATE – NEW (‘innovative’) GATE (‘entrance’) | |
| 7 | Training youth upset old boat (6) |
| PEDALO – PE (‘Training’=abbreviation for Physical Education) DAL reversal (‘upset’) of LAD (‘youth’) O (‘old’) | |
| 12 | An effect of drinking gallons in German city (8) |
| HANGOVER – G (‘gallons’) contained in (‘in’) HANOVER (‘German city’)
No, not Munich, which was the first ‘German city’ to come to mind when I saw ‘drinking gallons’. My COD |
|
| 13 | Did a spin, with Tragedy playing (7) |
| GYRATED – Anagram (‘playing’) of TRAGEDY | |
| 14 | Stare initially behind and round summerhouse? (6) |
| GAZEBO – GAZE (‘Stare’) B (‘initially behind’=first letter of ‘behind’) O (’round’)
A GAZEBO is an example of, or can be used as, a ‘summerhouse’. |
|
| 15 | Hand tool Mike found in sleeveless jacket (6) |
| GIMLET – M (‘Mike’ in NATO alphabet) contained in (‘found in’) GILET (‘sleeveless jacket’)
A surfeit of BODICE(s) today. I thought neither the ‘Hand tool’ nor the ‘sleeveless jacket’ were obvious but maybe that’s just my lack of handyman skills and ignorance of fashion-related matters coming to the fore. |
|
| 18 | Hotel barrier not opening from this time onwards (5) |
| HENCE – H (‘Hotel’ in NATO alphabet) ENCE (‘barrier not opening’) = first letter deleted from FENCE | |
| 19 | Pool entertaining duke (4) |
| FUND – FUN (‘entertaining’) D (‘duke’) | |
8:05. Lots of to-the-point cluing today with some lovely surfaces, and yes, it would seem Breadman was in party mode! I liked VENAL, but I did wonder how many gangsters are NOT open to corruption? I wonder why it didn’t read ‘Open to corruption, archdeacon meets gangster’. It would have been even more amusing. I also liked HAUL, GYRATED and ARTEX, but there was only one candidate for COD!
Well, I don’t actually like Artex – it’s fine until something goes wrong, but then… oh dear. The ceilings in our house are Artex, but just a subtle stipple – no migraine inducing swirls! Unfortunately BR’s comments are particularly relevant to us at the moment, as we’re having to deal with a late relative’s early 80’s house where the ceiling has just fallen down following a burst pipe 😱😱 Asbestos checks, water removal, dehumidifying, builders, decorators – the list goes on. And – of course – not forgetting insurance companies. Triple aargh!
FOI Nip LOI Hence COD Hangover
Thanks Breadman for the fun, and BR, for the entertaining and informative blog
Recently someone said that Breadman was one of the “easier” setters, so I was delighted to start, but soon crashed! Only six correct today, and two misspellings, so should have been eight correct.
I think that was me(?), although I did say he had become harder of late. Keep going Ian. I think this was one of those QCs that, as has been noted above, was or the marmite variety.
14.03 Hanover is the only place I’ve been to in Germany so I really shouldn’t have struggled with HANGOVER and then I spent too long at the end trying to shoehorn bedeck into 1d, but it all worked out.
It’s rare that I really ‘get on top’ of a QC and don’t have at least one long frustrating wait for inspiration. Thankfully, today was one of those days. I managed a rare escape from the SCC and enjoyed this offering from Breadman.
FOI – NIP
LOI – FUND
PDM – ENTHUSE
COD – ARABIAN DESERT
Great blog as always BR, many thanks
Poor effort from me, with two errors. I slapped in BEDECK for 1d (BODICE), on the basis that it was “attire” and “nothing else can fit those checkers, surely”. I never see bod=person.
And I also had DETERRENT, which is a hindrance not a hinder, again, “what else could possibly fit there”.
I find my balance of biff vs parse to be a little off the mark. Maybe more use of the Pencil so I can go back to the dubious ones before pressing submit.
Also have to confess to looking up the highly plausible TEDACO as a boat, with “training youth” as “cadet”. Sounded just like a Middle Eastern craft, like the Felucca or dhow.
COD ALLOWED with the very clever elision of “let” and “down”.
Thanks Merlin. I’ve added a new word to my dictionary ‘elision’.
I just managed target in 8:53 with LOI ENTHUSE. COD for me is GYRATED because I love the imagery of Steps performing a Bee Gees song (possibly one for the younger generation of solvers. I’m not sure where that puts me since I also know what ARTEX is).
A good start to the week for me, staying out of the SCC (and no pinks) yesterday(17:38) and today (18:35). Was a bit slow on some that should have been straightforward but an enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Breadman and BR.
Pleased to finish in a reasonable time for us, loi 23d detergent. No real holdups. Thanks, Breadman.
18:11
Done on the iPhone so always a bit slower. Took a while to see ENTHUSE and LOI PEDALO but nothing too bad.
I was so sure it was going to be a pangram so when I was left with ?U?? for 19d and only the Q missing from the pangram I popped in QUAD sure it must be right even though I couldn’t parse it. Grr!
undone by pedalo
really not sure they deserve being called boats