My solving time was 11 minutes and so my run of missed QC targets continues although today I was only 1 minute over the line. I thought I was heading for success but DIVER in PEARL DIVER delayed me and I had to revisit the clue several times before finally solving it as my last one in. How did you all do?
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Guard-dog’s warning about everyone beginning to picket sports ground (4,4) |
| BALL PARK | |
| BARK (guard-dog’s warning) containing [about] ALL (everyone) + P{icket} [beginning]. An American term that seems to be predominantly associated with baseball. I only came to know it when people in business started talking about ‘ballpark figures’ presumably hoping that it sounded more trendy than ‘estimates’. | |
| 5 | Unhappy member of university team (4) |
| BLUE | |
| Two meanings. Students who play sport representing Oxford or Cambridge are called ‘blues’. | |
| 8 | Support for bridge is in the morning — it’s an old thing (8) |
| ARCHAISM | |
| ARCH (support for bridge) then IS contained by [in] AM (the morning) | |
| 9 | Long sentence in biography (4) |
| LIFE | |
| Two meanings | |
| 11 | Child given a large sum (5) |
| TOTAL | |
| TOT (child), A, L (large) | |
| 12 | Tire — part of a Buick? (7) |
| EXHAUST | |
| Two meanings. Buick has been chosen as an American brand of car to match the US spelling ‘tire’ rather than ‘tyre’ in the surface reading. | |
| 13 | Salesman with attitude has to get better (6) |
| REPAIR | |
| REP (salesman), AIR (attitude). MER at the definition, but I suppose if you repair something you get it better. Still seems odd though. | |
| 15 | A religious group retaining initially positive view (6) |
| ASPECT | |
| A, SECT (religious group) containing [retaining] P{ositive} [initially] | |
| 18 | Penalty for attack around end of game (7) |
| FORFEIT | |
| FOR, FIT (attack) containing [around] {gam}E [end of…] | |
| 19 | Material didn’t stand out (5) |
| SATIN | |
| A straight definition and a cryptic hint. If you didn’t stand out you may have SAT IN. | |
| 21 | Doctor working to reveal buttocks (4) |
| MOON | |
| MO (doctor), ON (working). Moving swiftly on… | |
| 22 | American dye business in mid-West state (8) |
| COLORADO | |
| COLOR (American spelling of dye), ADO (business) | |
| 23 | Genuine nobleman putting King first (4) |
| REAL | |
| Earl (nobleman) becomes REAL when the R (king) is put first | |
| 24 | Limits on value recently provided by source of oil? That’s acceptable (4,4) |
| VERY WELL | |
| V{alu}E + R{ecentl}Y [limits on…], WELL (source of oil) | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Book subsequently incorporating southern explosives expert (7) |
| BLASTER | |
| B (book), LATER (subsequently) containing [incorporating] S (southern). I can’t find any support for this specific definition, the nearest being ‘a person or thing who blasts’ which is in both SOED and Chambers, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable if taken as a DBE although it might have been indicated as such. | |
| 2 | Allowed chapter one to appear in literature (5) |
| LICIT | |
| C (chapter) + I (one) contained by [to appear in] LIT (literature) | |
| 3 | One down to get a bit of jewellery? (5,5) |
| PEARL DIVER | |
| This was the one that took me over my target solving time. I saw PEARL (jewellery) early on, but DIVER (one going down) delayed me. | |
| 4 | List chicken that’s lost one egg? (6) |
| ROSTER | |
| RO{o}STER (chicken) [lost one egg] | |
| 6 | The French island certainly supplies relaxation (7) |
| LEISURE | |
| LE (the in French), I (island), SURE (certainly) | |
| 7 | Put out about boarding European aircraft (5) |
| EJECT | |
| C (about) contained by [boarding] E (European) + JET (aircraft) | |
| 10 | Politician supporting unnamed writers in spooky tale (5,5) |
| GHOST STORY | |
| GHOSTS (unnamed writers), TORY (politician) | |
| 14 | Pole and rag worked to form garden feature (7) |
| PERGOLA | |
| Anagram [worked] of POLE RAG | |
| 16 | Money gets sword in silvery metal material (7) |
| TINFOIL | |
| TIN (money), FOIL (sword) | |
| 17 | Comedian’s associate got so upset before end of joke (6) |
| STOOGE | |
| Anagram upset] of GOT SO, then {jok}E [end of…] | |
| 18 | Father holding large bird’s leg bone (5) |
| FEMUR | |
| FR (father) containing [holding] EMU (large bird) | |
| 20 | Make fun of Middlesbrough’s river, we hear (5) |
| TEASE | |
| Sounds like [we hear] “Tees” (Middlesbrough’s river) | |
Done in two passes, probably 20 mins total. COLORADO LOI, agree that the Midwest thing threw me. Tried to get IOWA in there.
Money=tin?
COD ROSTER
all complete.
did like satin
I’m afraid I really disliked this crossword. I usually enjoy the QC and usually say so when I do, so perhaps I might be excused a grumble when I really don’t. Blaster – poor clue, odd word. Repair – does not mean get better, intransitive, but make (something) better, transitive. Colorado – poor geography. Blue – not a member of a University team but specifically someone who plays in the Oxford-Cambridge match in certain sports (not all by any means). Pearl diver – poor surface and random second word. Exhaust – don’t American cars have mufflers? In general, too many Americanisms. And so on.
OK I know, none of these on their own are hanging offences. But the whole puzzle left me very dissatisfied and frustrated.
Since this is TftT, 15 minutes to finish for the record, of which 3 on LOI Pearl Diver. And grumble over, I shall now move on. Tomorrow is another day….
Cedric
Frustration does not come close to describing my feelings today. I was well on course to break 20 mins, which, judging by some of the comments above, would be a real success. All done bar 3dn. 35 minutes later, I wrote in the answer for this clue for a solve that took me close to an hour.
Most unhappy ☹️
Tough one for me, taking 34:30. Nothing much more to say except I’d never heard of a PERGOLA, so it was slightly annoying to have it clued with an anagram. Thanks anyway Pedro and Jack.
Cedric, I agree with you about BLASTER. COLORADO and BLUE too, not that I noticed when solving. PEARL DIVER is a perfectly valid lexical term and the clue was fine (imo) as a cryptic – it gave me problems but there was a satisfying ‘penny-drop’ moment when I realised what was going on. The UK equivalent of a muffler is a silencer – part of the exhaust system but not the whole thing.
Forgot to thank you for the blog, which I needed to parse a couple.
Really enjoyed this puzzle. About 40 mins. Not anagram heavy. Lovely wordplay.
Tire/ exhaust was very clever, as was Colorado
Got Pearl Diver but spent ages trying to link it to 1D. Now know the convention.
Thanks all
Struggled with the DIVER bit like many others. Didn’t have enough GK to question COLORADO, as I had all the crossers and could see how it parsed. Thanks for explaining Buick.