Hi everyone. It feels like some time since we’ve seen Oink, and certainly since I’ve had the pleasure of blogging a piggy puzzle. It seemed not so easy when solving but I actually came in comfortably under my inner target time, about a minute slower than my record.
Perhaps it’s Mondayitis, but I detected a rather negative flavour to this puzzle: nothing to write home about, disapproving, a conflict in A&E … not to mention the depressed astronaut hitting the bottle … but at least the 22a Muslim sounds cheerful!
My favourite clues are 1d and 4d.
Scanning the clues for the Oink trademark, I first wondered about 10a, perhaps even a 9a 10a, but then further down found the pig in 18d. Which this puzzle was not – I very much enjoyed it. Thanks Oink!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, specified [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 | Very small duck, nothing to write home about (2-2) |
| SO-SO — SO (very) + S (small) + O (duck – no runs in cricket) | |
| 3a | Queen Victoria was said to be so disapproving (8) |
| UNAMUSED — Two indications, the first from “we are not amused,” the remark attributed to Queen Victoria (although it seems doubtful she said it) | |
| 9a | Cut up nearly all tropical fruit (7) |
| APRICOT — An anagram of (cut up) all but the last letter of (nearly all) TROPICAl | |
| 10a | Look around lake for cover (5) |
| GLAZE — GAZE (look) around L (lake) | |
| 11a | Go into hospital department? I’m not sure (5) |
| ENTER — ENT (hospital department – ear, nose and throat, the most common medical specialism in crosswordland) + ER (I’m not sure) | |
| 12a | What one might inherit from European country (6) |
| ESTATE — E (European) + STATE (country). I think this also works if you include “from” in the definition | |
| 14a | A DIY book? (13) |
| AUTOBIOGRAPHY — Cryptic definition | |
| 17a | Time to give out paper hanky (6) |
| TISSUE — T (time) + ISSUE (to give out) | |
| 19a | Conscious of conflict in A&E (5) |
| AWARE — WAR (conflict) in A&E | |
| 22a | Muslim of a cheerful disposition, some might say (5) |
| SUNNI — SUNNY (of a cheerful disposition), as some might say | |
| 23a | Press agency reduced by 50 per cent? It was a long time ago (4,3) |
| IRON AGE — IRON (press) + AGEncy without the second half (reduced by 50 per cent) | |
| 24a | Unruly kids here screamed (8) |
| SHRIEKED — An anagram of (unruly) KIDS HERE | |
| 25a | Rock band cancelling opening in current circumstances (2,2) |
| AS IS — oASIS (rock band) taking away the first letter (cancelling opening) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | One often depressed astronaut hitting the bottle here? (5-3) |
| SPACE-BAR — Two indications, the second fanciful | |
| 2d | Walk proudly in support (5) |
| STRUT — A double definition | |
| 4d | Poor to benefit more? At last! (3,6,4) |
| NOT BEFORE TIME — An anagram of (poor) TO BENEFIT MORE | |
| 5d | Power of small child proclaimed (5) |
| MIGHT — A homophone of (… proclaimed) MITE (small child) | |
| 6d | Famous actor set up new company (5-2) |
| START-UP — STAR (famous actor) + PUT (set) reversed (up, in a down entry) | |
| 7d | Profound part of nationwide epidemic (4) |
| DEEP — The answer is part of nationwiDE EPidemic | |
| 8d | Beetle son caught — one from Egypt? (6) |
| SCARAB — S (son) + C (caught) + ARAB (one from Egypt?) | |
| 13d | Prey seen all over the place in these mountains (8) |
| PYRENEES — PREY SEEN anagrammed (all over the place) | |
| 15d | Article right about pub becoming solvent (7) |
| THINNER — THE (article) and R (right) around (about) INN (pub) | |
| 16d | Cause of betrayal initially disregarded (6) |
| REASON — Without the first letter (… initially discarded), tREASON (betrayal) | |
| 18d | Town’s WI nearly smothering scoundrel (5) |
| SWINE — Town’S WI NEarly is covering (smothering) the answer | |
| 20d | Gather a large number (5) |
| AMASS — A + MASS (large number) | |
| 21d | Takes drugs, American drugs (4) |
| USES — US (American) + ES (Es, drugs) | |
7:46 here, very fast for me. Can’t choose a COD: everything was smooth and amusing.
Thanks to Oink and Kitty.
15:09 but a DNF as I rashly clicked submit before filling in the obvious GLAZE. Many distractions kept me from doing this puzzle justice. Loved SPACE-BAR. APRICOT GLAZE, yum.
Thank you Oink and Kitty.
In Norfolk for a couple of days. Did this after a lovely sunset walk on the marshes watching a barn owl, curlews and a marsh harrier. Now this – what a fun way to round of the day! I struggled a bit with SO-SO to start, and considered UNAMUSED at 3a but went to 5d before confirming my initial thoughts!
6:23 FOI Might LOI Reason COD Pyrenees
Many thanks Oink – come back soon! And many thanks to Kitty too 😊
A rather disappointing 12 mins as this was perfectly solvable in under 10 mins.
Thanks for the blog.
PS Just 17 on 15 x 15 in almost 2 hours. Dreadful performance, even by my dismal standards. Blogger said it depends on how good you are. I think I have my answer!
06:28. a much easier start to the week – thank you! inventive clues and pleased to see a reference to OASIS that wasn’t to do with surge pricing!
I’m new to this site – very helpful and entertaining, but what’s an LOI?
Hi Paul,
LOI stands for ‘Last One In’.