Hello everybody. I think it’s safe to say this is a puzzle for those who appreciate one particular clue type …
I won’t complain: variety is good, but these natural clusters are all part of this diversity as far as I’m concerned. After the fourth double definition I definitely wasn’t expecting a fifth! Besides, today’s weren’t your run-of-the-mill two-worders.
The anagrams in this puzzle were very smoothly done, I thought, and I nearly nominated 21a as my favourite for its ultra-plausible surface. Instead, I will go for the smashing (non-anagram) 3d. Thanks Mara!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Feature of poker: not bent (8) |
| STRAIGHT — Two definitions, the first being a poker hand of five sequential cards | |
| 5a | Lid securing head of raw fish (4) |
| CARP — CAP (lid) around (securing) the first letter (head) of Raw | |
| 8a | Presumably easy, raid becoming complicated (1,4,3) |
| I DARE SAY — EASY, RAID anagrammed (becoming complicated) | |
| 9a | Youth entertained in private engagement (4) |
| TEEN — The answer is inside (entertained in) privaTE ENgagement | |
| 11a | Measurer for vehicle (10) |
| PROTRACTOR — PRO (for) + TRACTOR (vehicle) | |
| 14a | Right behind tablet, a column (6) |
| PILLAR — R (right) is after (behind) PILL (tablet) and A | |
| 15a | Fair, when daughter punches devious noble (6) |
| BLONDE — D (daughter) goes into (punches) an anagram of (devious) NOBLE | |
| 17a | Snake, police chief? (10) |
| COPPERHEAD — COPPER (police) + HEAD (chief). While I think it’s really there for the surface, the question mark invites the solver to interpret the wordplay part of the clue as a whole: a COPPER HEAD could perhaps be a whimsical term for a police chief | |
| 20a | Bring up back (4) |
| REAR — A double definition | |
| 21a | Open lane used freely (8) |
| UNSEALED — LANE USED anagrammed (freely) | |
| 22a | Boy, pop singer needs one! (4) |
| MIKE — Two meanings. I’d normally spell the shortened from of microphone mic, but this way is fine too | |
| 23a | Sequence of words for length of time (8) |
| SENTENCE — Another double definition, bringing to mind the old one about marriage … | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Miss something full of rubbish? (4) |
| SKIP — Can you guess the clue type? The two definitions are as underlined. I think the question mark is there because a skip isn’t always filled with rubbish. In my opinion, it improves the surface reading of the clue too: why would someone miss something that was full of rubbish? | |
| 2d | Course travelled, by the sound of it? (4) |
| ROAD — RODE (travelled), homophone (by the sound of it) | |
| 3d | Ship rocks on wave (10) |
| ICEBREAKER — ICE (rocks) preceding (on, in a down entry) BREAKER (wave) | |
| 4d | That man, creative, friendly and warm (6) |
| HEARTY — HE (that man) + ARTY (creative) | |
| 6d | Warning triangle represented (8) |
| ALERTING — TRIANGLE anagrammed (represented – re-presented) | |
| 7d | Small rooms where pot goes! (8) |
| PANTRIES — PAN (pot) + TRIES (goes) |
|
| 10d | A man let rip about law-making authority (10) |
| PARLIAMENT — A MAN LET RIP anagrammed (about) | |
| 12d | Purest limits of music playing in band (8) |
| SPECTRUM — An anagram of (… playing) PUREST and the outer letters (limits) of MusiC | |
| 13d | Sweet thing in fluster over boy (8) |
| FLAPJACK — FLAP (fluster) before (over, in a down entry) JACK (boy) | |
| 16d | Coins to drop in church (6) |
| CHANGE — HANG (to drop) in CE (church) | |
| 18d | Side of meat cut for baked dish (4) |
| FLAN — FLANk (side of meat) without the last letter (cut) | |
| 19d | Fringe partly trimmed, gently (4) |
| EDGE — It’s hidden in (partly) trimmED, GEntly | |
7 down bit confusing as Chambers fit the clue. Small rooms. Chamber pots!
Like others, I didn’t find this particularly easy. I was held up at the end buy my LOI ICEBREAKER, but the PDM came eventually. I didn’t much care for the clue for MIKE, but otherwise all good. COD to PANTRIES. Almost 1 minute over target at 6:24. Thank-you Mara and Kitty.
Like others, I got bogged down in the SW.I thought there was some similarity in cue type – which helped me out – viz 7d pan-tries/11apro-tractor/17a copper-head (which was a NHO so sneaked a check before proceeding) etc.
FOI 1a Straight
LOI 20a Rear having struggled with 13d Flapjack
COD 3d Ice-Breaker
Might have a peek at the 15×15 this evening but rare to get very far!
Quite hard for me, though I am on hols, so maybe a little more relaxed.
Somewhere around 10 mins. I was only 3 mins or so slower on the main puzzle. I did this earlier on a different device, not sure of actual time.
Found this tough, especially SW corner like several others. Had to resort to help to finish as NHO COPPERHEAD. Guessed PANTRIES: don’t consider POTS and PANS as the same thing.
Thought I was going to struggle after a slowish start but managed a steady solve in around 30 mins.
I did know the snake (not sure how).
Should have spotted 20ac much sooner as it’s a chestnut.
LOI – 12dn. Didn’t see the word play at all.
A decent start to the week.
Thanks for the blog Kitty.
18:23
Fairly straightforward but held up in NE corner, especially by PANTRIES.