9 minutes for this very enjoyable offering from Hurley. How did you do?
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 | Like this clue, a burden? (6) |
| ACROSS | |
| A, CROSS (burden). A cross to bear. | |
| 4 | Internet image, satnav, a target partly (6) |
| AVATAR | |
| Hidden in [partly] {satn}AV A TAR{get} partly | |
| 8 | One providing food in new career (enthralling time) (7) |
| CATERER | |
| Anagram [new] of CAREER containing [enthralling] T (time) | |
| 10 | Wrong about sappers captivating woman (5) |
| SIREN | |
| SIN (wrong) containing [about] RE (sappers – Royal Engineers) | |
| 11 | Frighten spy (5) |
| SPOOK | |
| Two meanings | |
| 12 | Modest accommodation with somewhere to sleep at start of tourist period (7) |
| COTTAGE | |
| COT (somewhere to sleep), T{ourist} [at start], AGE (period) | |
| 13 | Endless school lesson, private, recalled by a learner (9) |
| PERENNIAL | |
| PE (school lesson), then INNER (private) reversed [recalled], A, L (learner) | |
| 17 | Pacify beast, initially unkindly caged, shunning outsiders (7) |
| ASSUAGE | |
| ASS (beast), U{nkindly} [intially], {c}AGE{d} [shunning outsiders] | |
| 19 | Photographed at first with a large animal (5) |
| PANDA | |
| P{hotographed} [at first], AND (with), A | |
| 20 | Business I omitted from rant (5) |
| TRADE | |
| T{i}RADE (rant) [I omitted] | |
| 21 | Note delightful surprise — go back (7) |
| RETREAT | |
| RE (note), TREAT (delightful surprise) | |
| 22 | Roughly hustle investigator (6) |
| SLEUTH | |
| Anagram [roughly] of HUSTLE | |
| 23 | Out, like Prime Minister once after retiring (6) |
| ASLEEP | |
| AS (like) then PEEL (Prime Minister once) reversed [after retiring]. Sir Robert Peel was PM 1834-1835 and 1841-1846. | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Right to enter a Cricket Club eagerly seeking success primarily (6) |
| ACCESS | |
| A, CC (Cricket Club), E{agerly} + S{eeking} + S{uccess} [primarily]. You can parse CC under ‘primarily’ if you prefer, but it’s an abbreviation in its own right. | |
| 2 | Strangely goes ape — a first significant life event (4,2,7) |
| RITE OF PASSAGE | |
| Anagram [strangely] of GOES APE A FIRST | |
| 3 | Footballer, one refusing to work (7) |
| STRIKER | |
| Two meanings | |
| 5 | Six take examination — look in (5) |
| VISIT | |
| VI (six), SIT (take examination) | |
| 6 | Pretend not to notice extremely untidy dinner table, sadly (4,1,5,3) |
| TURN A BLIND EYE | |
| Anagram [sadly] of U{ntid}Y [extremely] DINNER TABLE | |
| 7 | Forest worker’s team from Glasgow cutting back (6) |
| RANGER | |
| RANGER{s} (team from Glasgow) [cutting back] | |
| 9 | One telling tales near court is out of order (9) |
| RACONTEUR | |
| Anagram [out of order] of NEAR COURT | |
| 14 | The setter’s favourite American drive? (7) |
| IMPETUS | |
| I’M (the setter’s), PET (favourite), US (American) | |
| 15 | Part of exotic act using New World plant (6) |
| CACTUS | |
| Hidden in [part of] {exoti}C ACT US{ing} | |
| 16 | Friend coming up to power computer (6) |
| LAPTOP | |
| PAL (friend) reversed [coming up], TO, P (power) | |
| 18 | Following drink, right lively? (5) |
| ALERT | |
| ALE (drink), RT (right) | |
I had a lot of fun with this. A mental block while trying to unravel RACONTEUR cost me a couple of minutes at the end (yes, fixated on “recounter” despite seeing that it was impossible), taking my total time to 12:36. Liked TURN A BLIND EYE for the surface. Giving that dinner party soon, gasp.
Thanks to Hurley and jackkt.
An ok performance on QC and 15 x 15 today. Both are good for newer solvers. Tougher tests must lie ahead this week.
Completed in around 30 mins, which feels slow, and nothing seemed to hold me up. A rare finish of the biggie took not much longer.
COD across or sleuth
thanks all
A bit below my average for the first time in a while, at 12:02. Would have been faster if I hadn’t been stumped by CACTUS because I forgot, yet again, to check for hiddens.
Thank you for the blog!
First time commenter, first time solving under 30:00 – finished in 25:01. Thanks to this blog for helping me to understand tricky clues post solve!
Very well done Alex 😊