Hello everybody. I’ve had a long and tiring weekend so haven’t expanded much below, but as ever if you have any questions please ask.
I liked 10a, and thought 19a a particularly deft example of its clue type. Surfaces don’t get much more natural than that. Actually, there are lots of lovely smooth surfaces here. All much appreciated – thanks Trelawney!
Timing-wise, I was 55s faster than my 2022 median but over 30s slower than average for this setter. My LOI was 7d, which accounted for a good few of those seconds.
How did you find it?
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 | Illegal scheme that’s used in court (6) |
| RACKET — We start with a double definition | |
| 4a | Preserve business qualification in tree (6) |
| EMBALM — MBA (business qualification) in ELM (tree) | |
| 8a | In a good position, somewhat, after police operation captures computers (7,6) |
| SITTING PRETTY — PRETTY (somewhat) after STING (police operation) goes around (captures) IT (computers) | |
| 10a | Ceiling is on fire, I’m stuck inside (5) |
| LIMIT — LIT (on fire) with I’M inserted (stuck inside) | |
| 11a | Imitate large bird after midnight, say (7) |
| EMULATE — EMU (large bird) + LATE (after midnight, say). I wondered what an emu sounds like so had to find out: they are quite emusing |
|
| 13a | Great storyteller to run race unsteadily (9) |
| RACONTEUR — An anagram of (… unsteadily) TO RUN RACE | |
| 17a | Queue a long time for family tree info? (7) |
| LINEAGE — LINE (queue) + AGE (a long time) | |
| 18a | Inclination to catch some fish? (5) |
| ANGLE — A second double definition | |
| 19a | New theme song for a fantasy TV series (4,2,7) |
| GAME OF THRONES — An anagram of (new) THEME SONG FOR A | |
| 21a | A tune playing about king’s personality (6) |
| NATURE — A TUNE anagrammed (playing) around (about) R (Rex, king) | |
| 22a | Begrudge being dispatched again (6) |
| RESENT — Two definitions; to dispatch again = to RESEND | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Steal cattle, perhaps, with terrible result (6) |
| RUSTLE — An anagram of (terrible) RESULT | |
| 2d | Pet dashed around a mother’s boat (9) |
| CATAMARAN — CAT (pet) and RAN (dashed) around A and MA (mother) | |
| 3d | Decree found in Japanese dictionary (5) |
| EDICT — The answer is found in JapanesE DICTionary | |
| 5d | Spoil most of sovereign’s tent (7) |
| MARQUEE — MAR (spoil) + all but the last letter of (most of) QUEEn (sovereign) | |
| 6d | Fitting carpets on a regular basis (3) |
| APT — Regular letters from (… on a regular basis) cArPeTs | |
| 7d | Could he initially monitor disorder? (6) |
| MAYHEM — MAY (could) + HE + the first letter of (initially) Monitor | |
| 9d | You can’t build upon this karate qualification! (5,4) |
| GREEN BELT — Another double definition | |
| 12d | Orange car represented self-importance (9) |
| ARROGANCE — ORANGE CAR anagrammed (represented – re-presented) | |
| 14d | Extremely controversial affair producing uproar (7) |
| CLAMOUR — Outer letters of (extremely) ControversiaL + AMOUR (affair) | |
| 15d | Work hard over an advertising catchphrase (6) |
| SLOGAN — SLOG (work hard) above (over) AN | |
| 16d | Musical gang and alien people flying for pleasure (3,3) |
| JET SET — JETS (musical gang – from West Side Story) + ET (alien) | |
| 18d | Concur with a European, mostly (5) |
| AGREE — A + GREEk (European) without the last letter (mostly) | |
| 20d | Yoga accessory essential for amateur (3) |
| MAT — It’s inside (essential for) aMATeur | |
Just getting back into Cryptic Xwords. First one I’ve completed in years! Must have been easy lol.
I don’t keep count but probably a PB for me today at 10:18. FOI RACKET, LOI CLAMOUR. I agree about some smooth surfaces. Enjoyable QC and blog. Thanks Trelawney and kitty