Finished in a pretty average time for me, only held up by 1ac at the beginning and 20ac at the end. While all of the wordplay was fairly clear, quite a few of these definitions were not the first or second to come to mind, so I think we might get a split in times between Biffers and Bumblers (or Rushers and Relishers).
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Compulsive complaining about party’s leader (8) |
| GRIPPING – GRIPING (complaining) containing (about) Party’s first letter (leader). | |
| 5 | Live next to a field (4) |
| AREA – ARE (live) and A. | |
| 8 | Mexican snack requires some spinach, occasionally (5) |
| NACHO – hidden in (some) spiNACH Occasionally. | |
| 9 | One million quid put under lock and key (7) |
| IMPOUND – I (one), M (million), and POUND (quid). | |
| 11 | Bit of sunshine right before a day’s end (3) |
| RAY – R (right), then A, then daY’s last letter (end). | |
| 12 | The piano I ordered from somewhere in Africa (9) |
| ETHIOPIAN – anagram of (ordered) THE PIANO I. | |
| 13 | Police officer expressly aiming to avoid responsibility (3,3) |
| COP OUT – COP (police officer) and OUT (expressly aiming). I was a bit confused at first about where (if anywhere) ‘aiming’ belongs; think “I’m out to win”. | |
| 15 | Get very angry and have computers, etc taken away? (4,2) |
| LOSE IT – definition and cryptic hint, to lose one’s Information Technology. | |
| 18 | One with a nest egg — or pennies, possibly (9) |
| PENSIONER – anagram of (possibly) OR PENNIES. Apparently, a pension is something that used to be available to people once they retired. | |
| 19 | Problem causes you harm, always at the end (3) |
| SUM – last letters from (always at the end) causeS yoU harM. | |
| 20 | Plate set out with no meal (7) |
| POLENTA – anagram of (set out) PLATE with NO. | |
| 21 | Segment on the radio, still (5) |
| PEACE – sounds like (on the radio) “piece” (segment). | |
| 22 | Type of diet you abandoned early, repeatedly! (2-2) |
| YO-YO – all-but-the-last letter of (abandoned early) YOu, twice (repeatedly). A yo-yo diet is one in which the dieter loses weight unsustainably, and quickly puts it on again. Not an &lit, just a very apposite surface. | |
| 23 | Likelihood of school brochure not featuring us (8) |
| PROSPECT – PROSPECTus (school brochure) minus (not featuring) ‘us’. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Comprehensive information on Morecambe, perhaps (7) |
| GENERIC – GEN (information) and ERIC (Morecambe, perhaps). Spent too long trying to work ‘bay’ into the answer. ‘Applicable to any of a set or class’ = ‘comprehensive’? In my lexicon, at least, this requires a 3-point turn through ‘general’ (cue dissent/enlightenment). | |
| 2 | Irritating and spiteful, but not at first (5) |
| ITCHY – bITCHY (spiteful) without its first letter (not at first). | |
| 3 | Not precious about bringing charges (11) |
| PROSECUTION – anagram of (about) NOT PRECIOUS. 20ac was my LOI in part because I first entered ‘prosecuting’ here. | |
| 4 | Dissenting voters reportedly making beastly noises (6) |
| NEIGHS – sounds like (reportedly) “nays” (dissenting voters). | |
| 6 | Comedian’s act is run-of-the-mill (7) |
| ROUTINE – double definition. | |
| 7 | A study occupied by posh poet (5) |
| AUDEN – A and DEN (study) containing (occupied by) U (upper-class, posh) | |
| 10 | Prints made by Hogarth pop out crisply in the middle (11) |
| PHOTOGRAPHS – anagram of (out) HOGARTH POP, then the central letter from (in the middle) criSply. | |
| 14 | Fine plan yet to be arranged (7) |
| PENALTY – anagram of (to be arranged) PLAN YET. | |
| 16 | English politician gatecrashes trial, creating a commotion (7) |
| TEMPEST – E (English) and MP (politician), all contained by (gatecrashes) TEST (trial). | |
| 17 | A French broadcast covering football, primarily, not cricket! (6) |
| UNFAIR – UN (a, in French) and AIR (broadcast), containing (covering) the first letter of (primarily) Football. | |
| 18 | Old man presented with extremely pretty flower (5) |
| POPPY – POP (old man) plus the outermost letters from (extremely) PrettY. | |
| 19 | Cooked steak and fish (5) |
| SKATE – anagram of (cooked) STEAK. | |
I did very well here until the last clue (19d). I just could not answer it. So I came here and checked my answers and was dismayed to see I had 21a incorrect. I put PIECE rather than PEACE. I read “segment” as being the definition, rather than “still”. This, of course, was why I could not answer 19d.
Lose It? I lost it. Took me into the club.
Thanks Jalna and William
Shame I did this so much later than usual as I seem to have done well, coming in all green in under 10. Ten on the first pass of acrosses which is a lot of me and that helped mightily with the downs. Enjoyed ‘are’ for ‘live’ – not what I expected – and GRIPPING was pleasing to solve. Share L-Plates ETHIOPIAN eyebrows, but that’s all we shared today. A long time since I did 1200m reps. 10×400 in a minute with a minute’s recovery – that’s a proper session!
My PB for 400m is 59.5 – at age 15, on a lumpy-bumpy grass track. So, your “proper session” definitely sounds like a proper session.
Fantastic time. My longterm aim is to get sub-60 – we will see!
That is a session indeed.
I believe I might have been capable of that in my twenties when I played all sorts of sports and had a 30-inch vertical jump. Certainly I would have loved grinding myself into the track attempting it!
Currently rebuilding the speed my legs have lost over the years but as I also want to do occasional distance events, I have to work on the aerobic side a lot too (hence 1200s and the like).
Late to this. LOI was PEACE only because it was the last one I looked at. That might have been a help.
09:45 on the clock and no big hold-ups.
My favourite was POLENTA.
David
Not fully on the wavelength but finished with phase not peace
Better than my usual performance with Jalna. A thoroughly enjoyable QC.
I studied Auden for A level. Couldn’t get on with him. Give me Philip Larkin any day!