17:35, quite a tough one today from Wurm I feel. One very novel construction (11d) and one that I really struggled to parse (19d)
Across
| 1 | Mahler playing for Manhattan community (6) |
| HARLEM – (MAHLER)*
The settlement was originally named Nieuw Haarlem after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. When the English took over Manhattan we changed the name to its current spelling, “Harlem,” as the AA “looked foreign” |
|
| 5 | Preserve wood business graduate cuts (6) |
| EMBALM – E^LM (wood) contains MBA (graduate) | |
| 8 | Paper hat on court jesters (8) |
| FOOLSCAP – Double definition. A court jester wears a “fool’s cap”
The name FOOLSACP comes from the traditional watermark of a jester’s cap and bells that was used on this paper by European papermakers as early as the 15th century. It is longer and slightly narrower than the common A4 (8.3 x 11.7 in) or US Letter (8.5 x 11 in) formats. |
|
| 9 | Stolen goods: ring put in bundle (4) |
| LOOT – O (ring) contained in L^OT (bundle) | |
| 10 | Cheese knife Tamsin holds (4) |
| FETA – hidden in knife Tamsin | |
| 11 | Renovated line and tram station (8) |
| TERMINAL – (LINE TRAM)*
I think TERMINUS is the more common term for an end of the line station, I know the Americans say Bus TERMINAL, but we brits say Bus Station. |
|
| 12 | Soft bed for sporty sort (6) |
| PLAYER – P (soft) + LAYER (bed)
I think the best example of bed=layer is in Geology. “A thin bed/layer of limestone” |
|
| 14 | Attempt to cover butt and hip (6) |
| TRENDY – TR^Y (attempt) contains END (butt)
A Cigarette Butt is an example of butt=end. |
|
| 16 | American in resort tailored garment (8) |
| TROUSERS – US (American) contained in (RESORT)* | |
| 18 | Dreary Celtic poet returned (4) |
| DRAB – BARD (Celtic poet) reversed | |
| 20 | US state I see and I love (4) |
| OHIO– OH! (I see) + I + O (love) | |
| 21 | Baker ate crackers in rest period (3,5) |
| TEA BREAK – (BAKER ATE)* [“crackers” as anagram indicator] | |
| 23 | Romeo stops to provide food bowl (6) |
| CRATER – R{omeo} contained in C^ATER (to provide food) | |
| 24 | Old copper kitchen utensil (6) |
| PEELER – Old slang for a policeman, from Sir Robert Peel who first conceived of a public Police Force. |
Down
| 2 | Make amends by 60 minutes after midnight? (5) |
| ATONE – AT ONE (o’clock) | |
| 3 | A noted soporific? (7) |
| LULLABY – Cryptic definition, “noted” as in made with musical notes | |
| 4 | Old woman cold in raincoat (3) |
| MAC – MA (old woman) + C{old} | |
| 5 | Superheat liquid in Asian river (9) |
| EUPHRATES – (SUPERHEAT)* [with “liquid” as the anagram indicator]
Great anagram, though probably not original. I was thrown by “Asian”, forgetting that the Middle East is of course nearly all in Asia. |
|
| 6 | Endless sea food served in dish (5) |
| BALTI – BALTI{c} (sea)
The definition of “dish” works in both ways, as a Balti is both a curry and the metal dish it is served in: Urdu for “bucket”. Like chicken tikka marsala, it is a uniquely British-Indian creation that originated in Birmingham in the late 1970s. In my younger days, we used to drive all the way up to Sparkbrook to get one. |
|
| 7 | Edgar Allan kept up by fat cat? (7) |
| LEOPARD – POE (Edgar Allan) reversed (UP) contained in L^ARD (fat) | |
| 11 | One persecuting people in high places? (9) |
| TORMENTOR – TOR (high place) + MEN (people) + TOR (high place). So the people are in (contained in) the high places. Clever construction. | |
| 13 | Dog that finds walking awkward? (7) |
| LURCHER – Cryptic Definition
Not a formal pedigree breed but a crossbreed (often a whippet/Greyhound with a terrier/collie) valued for its unique combination of speed and intelligence. |
|
| 15 | Doreen’s bad back (7) |
| ENDORSE – (DOREENS)* | |
| 17 | German sub moving about (1-4) |
| U-BOAT – (ABOUT)*
U-Boat is an anglicised version of the German word U-Boot, which is an abbreviation of Unterseeboot. Literally translated, it means “undersea boat”. |
|
| 19 | Bodies in ground beneath a stone (5) |
| AGATE -A + GATE (Number of bodies in a sporting ground)
This was tough to parse, but referring to a “gate of 20,000” is how sports reporters would refer to the number of people attending a match. I think its probably quite dated now. |
|
| 22 | Peak of Aerosmith’s debut album? (3) |
| ALP – A{erosmith} + LP (album)
Fitting clue since the Winter Olympics are on. Although pretty rare in the singular, its not clear what one Alp is. We don’t say one Cairngorm or one Himalayum. |
6.36. Gentle.
Agate and tormentor were very tough. Guessed foolscap without having heard of it. Enjoyable.
Tricky, but we enjoyed the lurcher clue,, ours is asleep in the hall after the walk.
This seemed easy except where it wasn’t. Under 10 minutes needing three. FOOLSCAP, ATONE and AGATE (couldn’t parse whilst solving) all held me up. 17 minutes in the end.
As some have noted, this was a great example of the setter’s art. COD to LURCHER, ticks for OHIO and several others.
A pleasure to solve.
David
What is the snitch please? For the benefit of new bugs, like us. Please can you explain LOI COD and other abbreviations? Thank you.
Somewhere on the blog page (depends on your device and so forth) there is a heading, “Useful links”, and beneath that a link to a glossary and to the SNITCH, which is a rating of crossword difficulty.
LOI = last one in
COD = clue of the day
All is in the glossary, which is fun to read. Welcome!
Welcome: keep the questions coming, and don’t feel shy about asking. We all had to learn the bizarre crossword conventions at some point !
21 minute DNF.
8 minutes for all but 19dn. Thought of AGATE but wasn’t sure of its meaning, so put AMAZE.
Another poor performance.
Several short on 15 x 15. Woeful!
I’ll be giving up soon if this continues. It’s no fun constantly failing at this when others seem to find it straightforward. Just makes me feel inferior.