A tough ask from Jalna with the odd unknown definition and plenty of knotted parsing which took me 14 minutes to unravel. Enjoyed the challenge though! I suppose you’ll now let me know that you all breezed through and so put my struggles in perspective.
Definitions are underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | It’s a very odd location to store your clothes (8) |
| VESTIARY – anagram (odd) of ITS A VERY. Not the easiest of starts but at least it was an anagram. Collins has (obsolete) – a room for storing clothes or dressing in, such as a vestry. | |
| 5 | Group boycotted on the radio (4) |
| BAND – homophone (on the radio) of banned. | |
| 8 | Demanding part of process consumes energy (5) |
| STEEP – part of process (STEP) consumes energy (E). | |
| 9 | In the end, directors snub Italian females (7) |
| SIGNORE – director(S), snub (IGNORE). Italian plurals aren’t my strong point. | |
| 11 | Smooth emerald isn’t warped (11) |
| STREAMLINED – anagram (warped) of EMERALD ISNT. I wondered if the anagram indicator was ‘smooth’ and so the definition being ‘warped’ for a while. The E and D in emerald distracted me in that direction. | |
| 13 | One advising me to start to relax around noon (6) |
| MENTOR – me (ME) with to (TO) and (R)elax around noon (N). | |
| 14 | Rucksack carried by climber, generally (6) |
|
BERGEN – carried by (inside) clim(BER GEN)erally. This was one of the stikcky clues towards the end. I had an inkling it might be Bergen (must remember it from somewhere) but didn’t see the hidden for a while. A bergen is a large rucksack with a capacity of over 50 litres. |
|
| 17 | Ace air cadets, possibly circling island and body of water (8,3) |
| ADRIATIC SEA – ace (A) then an anagram (possibly) of AIR CADETS circling island (I). It took some time to separate ACE from the anagrist. | |
| 20 | Tears flowing about man and woman (7) |
| THERESA – anagram (flowing) of TEARS about man (HE). | |
| 21 | Get out of the way of a vacuum (5) |
| AVOID – a (A), vacuum (VOID). | |
| 22 | March taking place in Pride month (4) |
| DEMO – inside Pri(DE MO)nth. | |
| 23 | Happy nurse, say, almost off duty (8) |
| CAREFREE – I think this is – nurse, say – an example of a type of care (CARE), off duty (FREE) but I can’t see what ‘almost’ is adding to the party. Any Christmas illumination(s) appreciated. POI. With thanks to brnchn it’s nurse, say, almost (CARE)r. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Huge salaries ultimately swallowed up by tax (4) |
| VAST – salarie(S) swallowed uo by tax (VAT). | |
| 2 | Quashes issue from a previous relationship? (7) |
| STEPSON – quashes (STEPS ON). Clever and not obvious at first. | |
| 3 | Pose as one individual in couple (11) |
| IMPERSONATE – one (I), individual (PERSON) inside couple (MATE the verb). | |
| 4 | Extremely reclusive mammal is close again (6) |
| RESEAL – (R)eclusiv(E), mammal (SEAL). | |
| 6 | A cereal and fruit (5) |
| ACORN – a (A), cereal (CORN). A random result from a search – Botanically, most nuts are the seeds of a fruit, while true nuts — such as chestnuts, acorns, and hazelnuts — are fruits in and of themselves. Peanuts are the exception, as they’re legumes. | |
| 7 | Not looking forward to days studying (8) |
| DREADING – days (D), studying (READING). | |
| 10 | Go and settle around California (6,5) |
| GOLDEN STATE – anagram (around) of GO AND SETTLE. | |
| 12 | Current politician played a role and had influence (8) |
| IMPACTED – current (I – it’s a wiring diagram thing), politician (MP), played a role (ACTED). | |
| 15 | Attraction leads to great, long-lasting romance (7) |
| GLAMOUR – (G)reat (L)ing-lasting, romance (AMOUR). | |
| 16 | Rickety train touring a European city (6) |
| TIRANA – anagram (rickety) of TRAIN touring around a (A). Capital of Albania. LOI. | |
| 18 | Cold space, we’re told (5) |
| RHEUM – homophone of room. | |
| 19 | Papers maybe left alongside entrance to executive lounge (4) |
| IDLE – papers maybe (ID), left (L) alongside (E)xecutive. | |
Best of luck.
Sometime after the half-hour mark the LHS of the grid was filled in, but the RHS (apart from ACORN and IDLE) was still completely blank. In the end, I was extremely relieved to cross the line after 50 minutes, albeit with five question marks (due to my lack of GK and/or vocabulary). My LOI, which I biffed, was CAREFREE.
Mrs Random hadn’t heard of BERGEN, but otherwise had no real trouble. She finished in 23 minutes today.
Many thanks to Chris and Jalna (including, also, for posting a clarification to 23a).
Today’s Trelawney has given me a warmer feeling.
Hard
Quite so. Little of substance remained, certainly not recognisable in the form of a chestnut.
I think that I may have done better had I roasted them first rather than boiling them to remove the skin but it is somewhat academic as I shall buy them pre-skinned and tinned in future.
In fairness, as I then roasted the sprouts in the oven with the mangled chestnut pieces the taste was pretty much the same although not with the cosmetic appeal I intended and a considerably longer time in preparation.