Solving time: 12 minutes. Tricky. The long answers were a long time coming and that really slowed my progress around the grid.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
Across |
|
1 | Country set — a bit tactless unfortunately (6,6) |
BALTIC STATES | |
Anagram [unfortunately] of A BIT TACTLESS | |
9 | Trouble envelops voting system for period (5) |
APRIL | |
AIL (trouble) contains [envelops] PR (voting system – Proportional Representation) | |
10 | First seaside attraction to include rock, English made, at outset (7) |
PREMIER | |
PIER (seaside attraction) contains [to include] R{ock} E{nglish} M{ade} [at outset] | |
11 | Unorthodox healer, very involved in Channel port (2,5) |
LE HAVRE | |
V (very) contained by [involved in] anagram [unorthodox] of HEALER | |
12 | Say no more — extremely elite name brings lustre! (5) |
SHEEN | |
SH (say no more!), E{lit}E [ extremely], N (name) | |
13 | Compiler coming into money: bond (6) |
CEMENT | |
ME (compiler) contained by [coming into] CENT (money) | |
14 | Day nursery somewhat mediocre, cheap (6) |
CRECHE | |
Hidden in [somewhat] {medio}CRE CHE{ap} | |
17 | Remove answer in Gaelic language (5) |
ERASE | |
A (answer) contained by [in] ERSE (Gaelic language) | |
19 | In contest surpass inaccurate people (7) |
OUTRACE | |
OUT (inaccurate), RACE (people) | |
21 | Popular policy retaining Conservative slant (7) |
INCLINE | |
IN (popular) + LINE (policy) containing [retaining] C (Conservative) | |
22 | Swimmer heading away from Beatrix? (5) |
OTTER | |
{p}OTTER (Beatrix) [heading away] | |
23 | At work rather hot tea leads to conversation? (5-2-5) |
HEART-TO-HEART | |
Anagram [at work] of RATHER HOT TEA |
Down | |
2 | A supporter overacting as Biblical character (7) |
ABRAHAM | |
A, BRA (supporter), HAM (overacting) | |
3 | Preacher on box in the Levant, not hard — member looking up is captivated! (13) |
TELEVANGELIST | |
LEG (member) reversed (looking up) + IS contained [captivated] by T{h}E LEVANT [not hard]. Hard work! Anyone remember Garner Ted Armstrong? He was on radio when I became aware of him but I understand he graduated to TV later. | |
4 | Bring up film — the girl’s a nonentity (6) |
CIPHER | |
PIC (film) reversed [bring up], HER (the girl’s] | |
5 | Travel after nice surprise includes certain valuable objects (8,5) |
TREASURE TROVE | |
TREAT (nice surprise) contains [includes] SURE (certain), then ROVE (travel) | |
6 | Note about kid’s large family? (5) |
TRIBE | |
TE (note) contains [about] RIB (kid – tease) | |
7 | Extraordinary street where there’s shooting? (7) |
STRANGE | |
ST (street), RANGE (where there’s shooting) | |
8 | Welcome cold shower (4) |
HAIL | |
Two meanings. Not welcome at all, and there have been far too many such showers here this May. | |
13 | Show great tenderness for teacher? I shall to some extent (7) |
CHERISH | |
Hidden in [to some extent] {tea}CHER I SH{all} | |
15 | Church with more suitable section of book (7) |
CHAPTER | |
CH (church), APTER (more suitable) | |
16 | Pairs originally from Bolshoi lead Roman dance (6) |
BOLERO | |
BO{lshoi} LE{ad} RO{man}[pairs originally from…] | |
18 | Fancy cereal used regularly in African city (5) |
ACCRA | |
{f}A{n}C{y} C{e}R{e}A{l} [used regularly] | |
20 | Regret about old currency unit (4) |
EURO | |
RUE (regret) reversed [about], O (old) |
Edited at 2021-05-24 12:35 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2021-05-24 06:40 am (UTC)
Thanks to Jack
Liked the challenge. Not so keen on the major purchase from Ikea which was 3d
Should have got 1a quicker
TREASURE TROVE opened up the RHS but the LHS was slower
Thanks Jackkt and Hurley
Struggled all the way round, never hitting the wavelength. I had to write down the anagrist for BALTIC STATES in the end. Biffed TELEVANGELIST. CEMENT took too long, and CIPHER was my LOI, as I wanted “ET” to be the film, and that definition was not one I was familiar with, so had to work it out from wordplay.
Thoroughly beaten by Hurley, thanks for the blog jack.
There were some very fine clues so thanks to Hurley. I’ll trog through them again now with Jackkt as my helpful guide. John M.
Edited at 2021-05-24 08:30 am (UTC)
Much trickier for me than usual, but all correct. Hindsight suggests I should have been quicker. Thank you, jackkt and Hurley.
I could not bring myself to spell Cypher without a Y; and I did consider the reversed PIC. But why shouldn’t PYC be somewhere in Chambers?
David
Couldn’t do 1ac in my head, biffed TREASURE CHEST, thought the film was ET, typed CHERSIH and so couldn’t get INCLINE … the list goes on. It’s Monday and I badly need an espresso!
FOI HAIL, LOI OUTPACE, COD the topical INCLINE, time 16:01 which is probably about a million Kevins and a Terrible Day.
Many thanks Hurley and Jack.
Templar
Altogether I pulled the plug at 59mins as I could not get into the swing of it.
Thanks Hurley and Jack. Onwards and upwards.
I thought there were some dodgy clues hereabouts. Particularly the lengthy 10ac PREMIER ‘Rock English Made’! The management have given-up!
FOI 2dn ABRAHAM – not BRA again!
LOI 4dn CIPHER
COD 11ac LE HAVRE
WOD 3dn MIKE PENCE
To clue supporter = bra once is witty, unexpected and therefore fun. To do so every time rather kills the element of surprise. Could setters try something really radical (like supporter = fan perhaps, or short boast = bra) for a change?
I think it is probably a bit of an urban myth that Monday’s puzzles are easier (and Friday’s correspondingly more difficult) but this was quite a lot tougher than normal and I might suggest pushed the boundary a bit for a QC. Very interested to see Horryd finishing the 15×15 faster than this — I will now go and try it and see how I fare on the supposedly tougher one.
Many thanks to Jack for the blog, much needed today
Cedric
…Well, I’ve just looked it up on Google and it says a dated meaning is zero, so I suppose that covers it. Anyway, finally got there in 49:42 putting in OUTRACE, something I hope to be doing again soon, though I fear my running form may have suffered irredeemable lockdown decline. COD to STRANGE. Thanks Hurley and Jack.
Thanks to Jackkt for the explanations.
Brian P
FOI: 11a. LE HAVRE
LOI: 7d STRANGE
Time to Complete: DNF
Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 15
Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 23a, 7d, 8d
Clues Unanswered: 9a, 10a, 14a, 17a, 2d, 4d
Wrong Answers: 1a
Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 18/24
Aids Used: Chambers, Bradford’s
Wow, this was a tough one! On my first go round I had only 2 answers. Some of these clues just made no sense to me (before I saw the answers here, that is). DNF, despite giving it a jolly good go.
1a. BALTIC STATES – I put UNITED STATES, which did indeed fit, though it messed with my ABRAHAM for 2d. It took me some time to even get an understanding of the clue. “Country set” just made no sense to me. Now, of course I realise it was referring to a set of countries.
7d. STRANGE – First life used here, and what an idiot I felt. For some reason I was convinced that street (ST) went at the end of the clue. That was my undoing for this clue.
8d. HAIL – Of course! Second life used.
3d. TELEVANGELIST – I got this one correct. Nice clue.
It is nice to be back. Having recently retired from the NHS, I have more time for solving.
Thanks, jackkt, for the blog and thanks too to Hurley.
A major struggle all round, biffed United States though I knew it was wrong. Pulled myself together and got BALTIC eventually.
FOsI. LE HAVRE, SHEEN, OTTER, HAIL
LOsI ABRAHAM (ashamed I used CCD), APRIL.
Thanks for much needed blog, Jack.
NHO the ERSE language, seems pretty obscure. CIPHER is also a pretty tough word. I liked compiler=ME, I’ve not seen that before.
20d had the tempting “MARK” for “old currency”.
COD 22A OTTER
For some reason I thought the biblical character was Aproham and felt pleased with myself for picking out such an obscure name that I guessed was in the Old Testament. What an idiot! Then I spelt “Le Havre” wrong and thought 4dn ended in “et”.
So overall, a bit of a Monday morning shambles. Fair play to Hurley though for a testing puzzle, as none of the answers were massively obscure, but teasing them out was a completely different matter!
FOI — 8dn “Hail”
LOI — dnf
COD — 6dn “Tribe” — took me ages to even work out the parsing of this.
Thanks as usual!
Edited at 2021-05-24 01:20 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2021-05-24 11:01 am (UTC)
I particularly liked the surface of 10 ac “Premier”.
Thanks to Jack for a very clear blog and to Liz.
FOI: BALTIC STATES
LOI: APRIL
COD: ABRAHAM (although there were lots of great contenders this one made us laugh)
Thanks to Hurley and Jackkt.
FOI – 10ac PREMIER
LOI – 6dn TRIBE
COD – 7dn STRANGE
Thanks to Hurley and Jackkt
In the end, I was mighty relieved to finish, all correct, in 54 minutes.
Mrs Random also struggled today, although she did have to cope with several interruptions during her 66 minute effort. We’re both glad that this one is now behind us.
Many thanks to Hurley and jackkt.
FOI Le Havre
LOI Erase — I thought it was Cipher then discovered I’d missed one out!
COD Baltic States
Thanks Hurley and Jack
The biggie wasn’t too bad — apart from one obscurity (to me) 😊
Technical DNF for one letter, I had outpace, which would not parse, but could not see an alternative. Plenty to learn from the blog, thanks, Jack. Thanks to Hurley for the entertainment. GW.
FOI APRIL
LOI CIPHER
COD TELEVANGELIST
TIME 6:49
On edit — not quite. It took 53 seconds longer.
Edited at 2021-05-24 03:59 pm (UTC)