Solving time: 9 minutes
There were one or two little oddities along the way here, but I found this mostly straightforward.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Sailor and editor tucked up for sleep? (4) |
| ABED | |
| AB (sailor), ED (editor) | |
| 4 | Result of gunfire or hectic manoeuvres (8) |
| RICOCHET | |
| Anagram [manoeuvres] of OR HECTIC | |
| 8 | Eastern relation on the move (8) |
| ORIENTAL | |
| Anagram [on the move] of RELATION | |
| 9 | Behold a female making bread (4) |
| LOAF | |
| LO (behold), A, F (female) | |
| 10 | Purse discovered, nothing missing (4) |
| FUND | |
| F{o}UND (discovered) [nothing missing] | |
| 11 | Grandee condemned English rebel (8) |
| RENEGADE | |
| Anagram [condemned] of GRANDEE, then E (English) | |
| 12 | So doctor’s probed parts of hands (6) |
| THUMBS | |
| THUS (so) contains [is probed by] MB (doctor) | |
| 14 | In the morning priest meets a female (6) |
| AMELIA | |
| AM (in the morning), ELI (priest), A | |
| 16 | Gibe borne by French father with European ancestry (8) |
| PEDIGREE | |
| DIG (gibe) contained [borne] by PÈRE (French father), then E (European) | |
| 18 | Mail four letters from impostor (4) |
| POST | |
| Hidden in [four letters from] {im}POST{or} | |
| 19 | Barrier wife set against everyone (4) |
| WALL | |
| W (wife), ALL (everyone) | |
| 20 | At home, arranged travel for short break? (8) |
| INTERVAL | |
| IN (at home), anagram [arranged] of TRAVEL | |
| 22 | Resident of humble home in bed time after time, right? (8) |
| COTTAGER | |
| COT (bed), T (time), AGE (time), R (right) | |
| 23 | Cockney warms up food (4) |
| EATS | |
| {h}EATS (warms up) [Cockney] | |
| Down |
|
| 2 | Bishop beginning to oversee violent part of London? (7) |
| BOROUGH | |
| B (bishop), O{versee} [beginning to…], ROUGH (violent). This is an area within the London Borough of Southwark. It has come up here before but perhaps not in a QC. I think it’s where The George is, the pub where our setters and solvers meet for drinks. | |
| 3 | Daughter studied in fear (5) |
| DREAD | |
| D (daughter), READ (studied) | |
| 4 | Rodent’s speed lacking in energy (3) |
| RAT | |
| RAT{e} (speed), [lacking in energy] | |
| 5 | Mark short notice conveyed by northeastern architectural feature (9) |
| COLONNADE | |
| COLON (punctuation mark), then AD (short notice) contained [conveyed] by NE (northeastern) | |
| 6 | City once destroyed holds record (7) |
| COLOGNE | |
| Anagram [destroyed] of ONCE contains [holds] LOG (record) | |
| 7 | Animal in far part of the territory (5) |
| ELAND | |
| {th}E [far part of…], LAND (territory) | |
| 11 | Setting aside soldiers on active duty (9) |
| RESERVING | |
| RE (soldiers), SERVING (on active duty) | |
| 13 | Swimming costume and armour: items for sale at auction (7) |
| MAILLOT | |
| MAIL (armour), LOT (items for sale at auction].This may be better known as a jersey or tights worn for ballet and gymnastics, but it can also be a woman’s swimsuit. | |
| 15 | Excerpt from bulletin’s tantalising moment (7) |
| INSTANT | |
| Hidden in [excerpt from] {bullet}IN’S TANT{alising} | |
| 17 | Muse’s hesitant expression at start of ordeal (5) |
| ERATO | |
| ER (hesitant expression), AT, O{rdeal} [start of…] | |
| 18 | Uncontaminated drug in slurpy form for swallowing (5) |
| PUREE | |
| PURE (uncontaminated) E (drug). A very curious definition! Where on earth did that come from? | |
| 21 | High point in the direction of Romania’s capital (3) |
| TOR | |
| TO (in the direction of}, R{omania’s} [capital] | |
17ish mins. Wish I timed it more accurately, as if faster, might be a PB. Solved most clues the first time of asking. Only having to revisit Borough, Reserving & Pedigree. Great puzzle thanks Jack and Izetti
Fairly zoomed along (for me) until I hit LOI MAILLOT. Luckily know maillot de bain otherwise I may have come unstuck. Didn’t know it was in English usage though. Liked PUREE. Many thanks Jack and Izetti.
TfTT Admin: Comment moved to 15×15 discussion as posted here in error.
DNF with 4 clues I couldn’t figure out, all in the NE corner, 5D, 6D, 7D and 11A. For 6D had record and thought it must be LP, as had the letter L from Loaf. Did make me laugh though with 12a, spent ages saying parts if my hand, but never thought of THUMBS! Enjoyable puzzle, thank you for explaining the clues 😊
10.30, with the puzzle on my iPad repeatedly jumping to the adjoining page.
I was 7:40 with LOI ELAND, couldn’t parse it. Still, to be fair, not sure about “far part of…” meaning the last letter of. Far from where? I haven’t seen this meaning “last letter of…” before, but I know others are much better than I am at citing previous usage, so I’ll happily stand corrected if it has appeared before. Still don’t think I like it though!
06:57. As Jack says, pretty straightforward. some interesting vocab, but well signposted. thank you both!
13 mins.
Thought I’d done well until I came here and saw it was apparently easy. So I didn’t really achieve anything of note.
Just over half on 15 x 15 in 1.5 hours. Lousy.
Very straightforward for an Izetti – maybe too much so.
The word play wasn’t very contrived – so even I managed to spot them all – if I didn’t know the word (eg Erato)
Thanks Jack and Izetti
“RE” for soldiers is new to me! Can anyone fill me in on the context here? It’s tough to google. (Acronym? Slang?)
Royal Engineers. Also often clued as Sappers in the past, but not so much these days. There’s a page about them on Wiki.