Solving time: 9 minutes.
A nice puzzle from Trelawney. As I blogged there seemed to be a lot of anagrams but there are only six, it’s just that two were in consecutive Across clues and three were in consecutive Down clues. How did you get on?
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 juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Small fairy that is producing number one photo? (6) |
| SELFIE | |
| S ( small), ELF (fairy), IE (that is). Number one / oneself. | |
| 4 | Seafood and beef mentioned in conversation (6) |
| MUSSEL | |
| Sounds like [mentioned in conversation] “muscle” (beef) | |
| 8 | Stinginess that makes party arty? (5-8) |
| PENNY-PINCHING | |
| ‘Party’ becomes ‘arty’ when ‘p’ (penny) is pinched | |
| 10 | Citrus fruit returned without a message (5) |
| LIME (citrus fruit) reversed [returned] containing [without] A | |
| 11 | Get some rest, being terribly idle now (3,4) |
| LIE DOWN | |
| Anagram [terribly] of IDLE NOW | |
| 13 | Tune Laura played in the nude (2,7) |
| AU NATUREL | |
| Anagram [played] of TUNE LAURA | |
| 17 | Choice beginning to rattle a small country? (7) |
| ANDORRA | |
| AND / OR (choice), R{attle} [beginning], A | |
| 18 | Style of primarily feeble hideaway (5) |
| FLAIR | |
| F{eeble} [primarily], LAIR (hideaway) | |
| 19 | Biscuit you’ll get a lot out of? (7,6) |
| FORTUNE COOKIE | |
| Cryptic, ‘lot’ being another word for ‘fortune’. | |
| 21 | Football team with which the Spanish tied (6) |
| ELEVEN | |
| EL (the in Spanish), EVEN (tied) | |
| 22 | Give no food to celebrity vet, mostly (6) |
| STARVE | |
| STAR (celebrity), VE{t} [mostly] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Starter of pork to feature in excellent meal (6) |
| SUPPER | |
| P{ork} [starter] contained by [to feature in] SUPER (excellent) | |
| 2 | Help Dan handle rocks (4,1,4) |
| LEND A HAND | |
| Anagram [rocks] of DAN HANDLE | |
| 3 | Picturesque scene with some untidy llamas (5) |
| IDYLL | |
| Hidden in [some} {unt}IDY LL{amas} | |
| 5 | Relative on a road, initially, that’s foggy (7) |
| UNCLEAR | |
| UNCLE (relative), A, R{oad} [initially] | |
| 6 | Hit the slopes and almost lose control (3) |
| SKI | |
| SKI{d} (lose control) [almost] | |
| 7 | Male gender, partially a myth? (6) |
| LEGEND | |
| Hidden in [partially] {ma}LE GEND{er} | |
| 9 | Uncomfortable allies ate messily (3,2,4) |
| ILL AT EASE | |
| Anagram [messily] of ALLIES ATE | |
| 12 | Ship‘s latrine OK after turbulence (3,6) |
| OIL TANKER | |
| Anagram [after turbulence] of LATRINE OK | |
| 14 | Take care of uniform return somehow (7) |
| NURTURE | |
| Anagram [somehow] of U (uniform) RETURN | |
| 15 | Breakfast item that’s a load of rubbish? (6) |
| WAFFLE | |
| Two meanings | |
| 16 | Piece of cake and cheeses for the audience (6) |
| BREEZE | |
| Sounds like [for the audience] “Bries” (cheeses] | |
| 18 | Disregard loud yobbo (5) |
| FLOUT | |
| F (loud), LOUT (yobbo) | |
| 20 | Regret route regularly (3) |
| RUE | |
| R{o}U{t}E [regularly] | |
5.50, liked penny pinching!
10:33 – significantly quicker than usual so clearly a puzzle that played to all my strengths.
Suspect normal service will be resumed the rest of the week!