Hello from London, where I am taking refuge with Mr Kitty for a break before the seasonal madness begins. This is my last blog before all that, so I will take the opportunity to wish all of you the kind of time you would like.
An enjoyable Monday offering from Oink, I thought, with the usual piggy appearance early on and a visit from one or two of his farmyard friends too. 1d and 9d are my pick of the clues today, from a strong field. Thanks Oink!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, 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 | Comparatively charming character hoping to find water? (7) |
| DIVINER — DIVINER as in more divine (comparatively charming), or a water DIVINER | |
| 5a | Forest dweller, dull chap by all accounts (4) |
| BOAR — BORE (dull chap), homophone (by all accounts). Oink’s signature porcine clue | |
| 7a | Top policeman having change of heart (3) |
| CAP — COP (policeman) with a different middle letter (having change of heart), in this case A | |
| 8a | Old romance set somewhere in Africa (8) |
| CAMEROON — O (old) and ROMANCE anagrammed (set) | |
| 10a | Country home getting financial assistance in recession (5) |
| INDIA — IN (home) + AID (financial assistance) reversed (in recession) | |
| 11a | Raise a glass to Queen Elizabeth’s kitchen assistant (7) |
| TOASTER — TOAST (Raise a glass to) + ER (Queen Elizabeth) | |
| 13a | Name one idiot or another (6) |
| NITWIT — N (name) + I (one) + TWIT (idiot). Definition: another [idiot] | |
| 15a | A garment to take to the cleaners? (6) |
| FLEECE — Two definitions, the second slang | |
| 17a | Suffer again without European help (7) |
| RELIEVE — RELIVE (suffer again) outside (without, opposite of within) E (European) | |
| 18a | Bill loves forbidden subject (5) |
| TABOO — TAB (bill) + O O (loves, each love being 0, a love score in tennis) | |
| 20a | Stupidly I bait red in bitter attack (8) |
| DIATRIBE — An anagram of (stupidly) I BAIT RED | |
| 22a | Australian runner getting married in Brussels (3) |
| EMU — M (married) in EU (Brussels, metonym) | |
| 23a | Horrible-looking fruit, I hear (4) |
| UGLY — This sounds like (… I hear) UGLI (fruit) | |
| 24a | Authorise payment: it legally binds (7) |
| ENTITLE — PaymENT: IT LEgally holds (binds) the answer | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Book revealing the meaning of life? (10) |
| DICTIONARY — Cryptic definition: the meaning of the word life. Chambers has 31 definitions of life as a noun, of which number 25, “Eternal happiness” caused a MER. As in “this is the life” I suppose. Turning instead to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Marvin’s take is: “Life. Loathe it or endure it, you can’t like it.” | |
| 2d | Victor paid off, being feeble (5) |
| VAPID — V (victor, NATO alphabet codeword) + an anagram of (… off) PAID | |
| 3d | Fruit — dish out entire can? (9) |
| NECTARINE — Make an anagram of (dish out) ENTIRE CAN | |
| 4d | TV controller accommodated in Derbyshire motel (6) |
| REMOTE — The answer is accommodated in DerbyshiRE MOTEl | |
| 5d | Poet scratching his bottom in pub (3) |
| BAR — BARd (poet) with his last letter removed (scratching his bottom) | |
| 6d | One of 12 given a job by the French (7) |
| APOSTLE — A + POST (job) + LE (the, French) | |
| 9d | Indecisive Tories rule shambolically (10) |
| IRRESOLUTE — TORIES RULE anagrammed (shambolically) | |
| 12d | Plot to develop rocket, for example (9) |
| ALLOTMENT — A cryptic definition, rocket being the leafy kind | |
| 14d | Impressive counting of the votes (7) |
| TELLING — A double definition. Telling with its meaning of counting is one to remember as it is used from time to time | |
| 16d | Want to chuck teacher in river? (6) |
| DESIRE — Here we need to insert (chuck) SIR (teacher) in DEE (river) | |
| 19d | Complain, as sheep might do (5) |
| BLEAT — Two definitions. Bah! Or Baa! | |
| 21d | Right-winger losing nothing in tax (3) |
| TRY — T[o]RY (right-winger) losing O (nothing) | |
slowish with some biffing involved
slight mer about cop / cap
Some taxing moments but got there in the end. I always give an inward shudder when the answer is an African State – the names I learned at school have changed such a lot and I’ve not kept up! But I did manage Cameroon today, so that was a confidence booster. Missed the hidden 24a Entitle but it seemed the only fit I could find and then looked plausible.
FOI 5a Boar
LOI 17a Relieve – not all memories are bad!
CODs – have to be 1d Dictionary and 12d Allotment.
Happy Christmas to Kitty! and thanks to Oink for today.
Relieve – not all memories are bad!
Weirdly, suffering (experiencing) does not have to involve suffering (pain). For “suffer” Collins has “2. (transitive) to undergo or experience (anything)”
So “suffer again” from the clue can just mean experience again =
re-live. Oink is off the hook, but I do think he was pushing it
A slow solve, with some clues needing the crossers before falling, eg 12d allotment.
No danger of me making it out of the SCC today. A taxing puzzle for a Monday. Having spent 8 hours assessing potential solicitors on their interviewing skills, my brain was rather addled by the time I got round to this.
A host of fine but difficult clues. The laurels go to 12dn, although 24ac came close. Like others, took a while to get going and then struggled with the same clues as the rest of you.
Thanks for the blog Kitty.
I was sort of on the right lines- tried to fit lettuce into 12D and disciple in 6D- I suppose it’s progress of some sort! Enjoyed nitwit but feel we’ve had it recently which made it more accessible for me. Thanks Oink for great puzzle and Kitty for illuminating blog.