Lured into a false sense of security by Mara today. The NW corner went in smoothly and then I had to pick them off all over the place. Good fun though.
Definitions underlined.
Across | |
1 | Magnificent month (6) |
AUGUST – double definition. | |
4 | Too old, flier belonging to old man? (4,2) |
PAST IT – PA’S (belongong to old man) TIT (flier). | |
8 | Ring infiltrated by agent finally, a bit of a bloomer (5) |
PETAL – PEAL (ring, of bells) containing (infiltrated by) the last letter of (finally) agenT. | |
9 | Writer handled piece of advice (4,3) |
FELT TIP – FELT (handled) and TIP (piece of advice). | |
10 | Drink surely is potable, first of all (3) |
SIP – first letter from (first of all) Surely Is Potable. | |
11 | Spare toothless whatsit! (9) |
THINGUMMY – THIN (spare) and GUMMY (toothless). | |
12 | Slightly more willingly (6) |
RATHER – double definition. | |
13 | Old country in Abyssinia is reportedly making a comeback (6) |
PERSIA – hidden in (in) a reversal of (making a comeback) abyssiniA IS REPortedly. | |
16 | Controlling woman curtailed legal process in demonstration (9) |
MATRIARCH – all-but-the-last letter of (curtailed) TRIA{L} (legal process), contained by (in) MARCH (demonstration). | |
18 | Observe yours truly in audition? (3) |
EYE – sounds like (in audition) “I” (yours truly). | |
19 | First knots aligned (7) |
LEADING – anagram of (knots) ALIGNED. | |
20 | Letter a problem, the first to be dropped (5) |
AITCH – A and hITCH (problem) after deleting the last letter (the first to be dropped). | |
22 | Element concealed by faithful friend, devoted (6) |
DOTING – TIN (element) contained by (concealed by) DOG (faithful friend). | |
23 | Approval when shipped (6) |
ASSENT – AS (when) and SENT (shipped). |
Down | |
1 | A politician’s electronic device (3) |
AMP – A and MP (politician). | |
2 | Deteriorate — as would casserole ingredients? (2,2,3) |
GO TO POT – definition and cryptic hint. | |
3 | Close result, Croatian vote? (5,8) |
SPLIT DECISION – definition and cryptic hint, Split being a city of Croatia. | |
5 | Aggravated, hate large dogs fighting (2,11) |
AT LOGGERHEADS – anagram of (aggrevated) HATE LARGE DOGS. | |
6 | Carry mark: sign on pole? (5) |
TOTEM – TOTE (carry) and M (mark). | |
7 | Extract covering spicy nuts in baked alcoholic confection (5,4) |
TIPSY CAKE – TAKE (extract) containing (covering) an anagram of (nuts) SPICY. | |
9 | Festival nothing special (4) |
FAIR – double definition. | |
10 | Ordered to take off description of eggs? (9) |
SCRAMBLED – double definition. | |
14 | Symbolic object gathered respect (7) |
SCEPTRE – anagram of (gathered) RESPECT. | |
15 | Head on damp cloth for pain in the neck (4) |
DRAG – first letter (head) of Damp, then RAG (cloth). | |
17 | Possible breakfast tribute (5) |
TOAST – double definition. | |
21 | Part coolish, otherwise boiling (3) |
HOT – hidden in (part) coolisH OTherwise. |
Other clues not too hard but good fun.
Thingummy has many variants, but the cryptic should tell you which one is wanted here.
FOI: AUGUST then set off on a brisk pace thinking I was on for a fast time. Putting in TIPSY CAKE from wordplay as my LOI for 13 minutes then realised I hadn’t finished. After another 3 minutes decided to call it a day for my first DNF for a long time. I had for some reason ended 19ac with a C or in haste a bad G so 15dn looked like _R_C. By the time I had spotted my error, I had given up.
AITCH in w/o thinking of anything else and SCEPTRE was my LOI
Clever anagram for AT LOGGERHEADS
Thanks Mara and William
Great anagram for LOGGERHEADS, enjoyed AITCH and SCRAMBLED and learned the existence of such a thing as a TIPSY CAKE.
Thanks Mara and William
7:14
COD GO TO POT, among many good ones today.
FOI — 1dn “Amp”
LOI — 9dn “Fair”
COD — 11ac “Thingummy” — I guessed it was this, but just couldn’t get the spelling right at first.
Thanks as usual!
Biffed persia
Edited at 2022-04-20 05:41 pm (UTC)
COD scrambled.
Could today be the day? No
Only HOT dropped in over the next 20+ mins so I took a break.
Returned, stared for another 5+ mins before realising I’d miscounted the letters for the anagrist of AT-LOGGERHEADS and that got me moving again.
All in all, a bunch I couldn’t parse.
TIPSY-CAKE reinforcing my least-favoured trivia area of food&drink.
Ended up DNFING because thought PERSIA was a homophone with “reportedly”; didn’t realise “in AUDITION” is a homophone for EYE and didn’t realise “Gathering” was anagrind for respect/SCEPTRE rather than put an R into a synonym for object.
FOI AUGUST
COD MATRIARCH
Beginning to lose the will on these. Just too challenging for a bear of little brain like myself.