A fairly difficult puzzle that pushed me comfortably over my target time. I couldn’t see the setter’s name when I solved it (on my phone), and wouldn’t have guessed – it seemed to lack his usual sparkle. Perhaps I’m just grumpy at being beaten…
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Most desperate little daughter, one needing repose (6) |
| DIREST – D (abbreviation for (little) daughter), I (one), and REST (repose). | |
| 4 | Jumped up seconds before accident (6) |
| SPRANG – S (seconds) before PRANG (accident). | |
| 8 | One fighting hard, someone at crease collecting half-century (7) |
| BATTLER – BATTER (someone at crease) containing (collecting) L (fifty, half-century). | |
| 10 | Short extract from writer’s exposition (5) |
| TERSE – hidden in (extract from) wriTER’S Exposition. | |
| 11 | As famous mother-in-law, I grumble the wrong way (5) |
| NAOMI – I MOAN (I grumble) reversed (the wrong way). I didn’t know this biblical reference, so waited until I had all the checkers before putting in the obvious (from wordplay) answer. Book of Ruth. | |
| 12 | Clutched dog’s tail, having got irritated (7) |
| GRASPED – last letter of (..’s tail) doG, with (having got) RASPED (irritated). Not the first synonym to come to mind, so this one held me up too. | |
| 13 | Unwelcome guests maybe when gate-crashing different parties (9) |
| PARASITES – AS (when) contained by (gatecrashing) an anagram of (different) PARTIES. Pick of the bunch, for me – COD. | |
| 17 | Financial protector of home having less doubt (7) |
| INSURER – IN (home) and SURER (having less doubt). | |
| 19 | Help a troubled character abroad (5) |
| ALEPH – anagram of (troubled) HELP A. I actually put ‘alpha’ in first, because I can’t (be bothered to) read sometimes. First letter of the Phonoecian alphabet, amongst others. | |
| 20 | Support trendy person with mental ability (5) |
| BRAIN – BRA (support) and IN (trendy). | |
| 21 | Rake gathering money in practice (7) |
| ROUTINE – ROUÉ (rake)containing (gathering) TIN (money). | |
| 22 | News cut by half editor repeatedly called for (6) |
| NEEDED – first half of (cut by half) NEws, then ED (editor) and ED again (repeatedly). | |
| 23 | Controlled what monarch did, reportedly (6) |
| REINED – sounds like (reportedly) “reigned” (what monarch did). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Expose girl coming out to meet headless macho man (6) |
| DEBUNK – DEB (debutante, girl coming out) and all-but-the-first letter from (headless) hUNK (macho man). | |
| 2 | Greasiest fop about to hold a significant birthday ceremony? (4,2,7) |
| RITE OF PASSAGE – anagram of (about) GREASIEST FOP, containing (to hold) A. Great anagram, great srface, nice clue. | |
| 3 | Tommy betrayed? That is right (7) |
| SOLDIER – SOLD (betrayed), IE (that is), and R (right). As in sold out? | |
| 5 | Favourite artist in historic city (5) |
| PETRA – PET (favourite) and RA (Royal Academician, artist). | |
| 6 | Relaxing OAP is ponderer thinking of nothing in particular (1,6,2,4) |
| À PROPOS DE RIEN – anagram of (relaxing) OAP IS PONDERER. I did not know this French phrase, but luckily had heard the recurring Stewart Lee / Richard Herring exclamation, “apropos of nothing”. I had thought it came from Latin. Still don’t really get the joke… | |
| 7 | Wanting to eat grass? Empty Guernsey would eat it (6) |
| GREEDY – REED (grass) contained by the first and last letters of (empty) GuernseY. | |
| 9 | Official getting entire gist: rarely only partially (9) |
| REGISTRAR – hidden in (only partially) entiRE GIST RARely. | |
| 14 | Speak unfavourably about traffic outside fronts of university colleges (7) |
| TRADUCE – TRADE (traffic) containing (outside) first letters (fronts) from University and Colleges. | |
| 15 | Ape a famous historian (6) |
| GIBBON – double definition. Another I didn’t know. Edward, 18th century MP and historian. | |
| 16 | Train of thought in the advertisement ensnaring customer finally (6) |
| THREAD – THE and AD (advertisement) containing (ensnaring) the last letter of (finally) customeR. | |
| 18 | Compass for the mountains? (5) |
| RANGE – double definition. Yet another I had to guess at, or more accurately, just use one of the definitions. ‘Compass’ is the range of pitch achievable by an instrument. | |
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