Solving time: 11 minutes
A fairly straightforward offering from Wurm for the most part but there were a couple of answers not within my everyday vocabulary. 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 |
|
| 3 | Drink article in French newspaper (8) |
| LEMONADE | |
| A (article) contained by [in] LE MONDE (French newspaper) | |
| 7 | Old woman harbouring a convict in resort (6) |
| MALAGA | |
| MA (old woman) containing [harbouring] A + LAG (convict) | |
| 8 | Rotter unwell with a cold in luxury motor (8) |
| CADILLAC | |
| CAD (rotter), ILL (unwell), A, C (cold) | |
| 9 | Airline left India for Indonesian island (4) |
| BALI | |
| BA (airline), L (left), I (India) | |
| 10 | King Henry beginning to open Greek letter (3) |
| RHO | |
| R (king), H (Henry), O{pen} [beginning to…] | |
| 11 | Gaol rebuilt houses barbarian in Calvary (8) |
| GOLGOTHA | |
| Anagram [rebuilt] of GAOL contains [houses] GOTH (barbarian). Calvary (from Latin) aka Golgotha (from Biblical Greek) was a site immediately outside Jerusalem’s walls where, according to the gospels, Jesus was crucified. | |
| 13 | Cooler groove (4) |
| NICK | |
| Two meanings | |
| 15 | Cross Tutankhamun bears? (4) |
| ANKH | |
| Hidden in [bears] {Tut}ANKH{amun}. A cross designed so as to have a loop instead of the top arm. I’ve met this before but didn’t know exactly what it is. | |
| 17 | Social event hosting dancing here in boozer (4,4) |
| BEER HALL | |
| BALL (social event) containing [hosting] anagram [dancing] of HERE. A term associated more with Germany than the UK, I think. |
|
| 19 | Parrot magpie ignored every so often (3) |
| APE | |
| {m}A{g}P{i}E [ignored every so often] | |
| 22 | Polish unknown stone (4) |
| RUBY | |
| RUB (polish), Y (unknown) | |
| 23 | Tendon problem in pack animal (8) |
| GANGLION | |
| GANG (pack), LION (animal). I knew the word but not its meaning. Edit: Please see comments below for medical explanations. I pasted in something from a dictionary earlier which I didn’t understand but have removed it as apparently it wasn’t relevant to the definition here. | |
| 24 | Pick clubs and hearts over diamonds (6) |
| CHOICE | |
| C (clubs – cards), H (hearts – ditto), O (over), ICE (diamonds) | |
| 25 | Man’s setting off as he chases girl (5,3) |
| IRISH SEA | |
| IRIS (girl), anagram [off] of AS HE. This is where the Isle of Man is located. |
|
| Down |
|
| 1 | Purple wrapping around biscuit (8) |
| MACAROON | |
| MAROON (purple) containing [wrapping] CA (around– circa) | |
| 2 | Onerous HMRC business (6) |
| TAXING | |
| Two meanings. His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. | |
| 3 | Learner with brilliant material (4) |
| LACE | |
| L (learner), ACE (brilliant) | |
| 4 | Sensible friend crossing Oder (8) |
| MODERATE | |
| MATE (friend) containing [crossing] ODER | |
| 5 | Victorious naval officer in hold (6) |
| NELSON | |
| Two meanings. A hold in wrestling. | |
| 6 | Squirrel nest three feet up (4) |
| DRAY | |
| YARD (three feet) reversed [up]. An alternative spelling of the more usual ‘drey’. | |
| 12 | Emperor once in Beirut is replaced (8) |
| TIBERIUS | |
| Anagram [replaced] of BEIRUT IS | |
| 14 | A bicycle crashed striving to avoid it (8) |
| CELIBACY | |
| Anagram [crashed ] of A BICYCLE. ‘It’ – nudge nudge, wink wink… | |
| 16 | Crone is eating good Scots food (6) |
| HAGGIS | |
| HAG (crone) + IS containing [eating] G (good) | |
| 18 | School curtailed difficult argument (6) |
| HARROW | |
| HAR{d} (difficult) [curtailed], ROW (argument). The ‘Dump-on-the-Lump’ as the pupils of Slough Secondary childishly refer to it. | |
| 20 | Reasonable ticket price announced (4) |
| FAIR | |
| Aural wordplay [announced]: “fare” (ticket price) | |
| 21 | People Cain battered (4) |
| INCA | |
| Anagram [battered] of CAIN | |
DNF as could not see IRISH SEA even though I had all the checkers so knew it was SEA!! Very good clue and I’m annoyed I couldn’t get it.
Learnt a couple of new words today so thank you Wurm and Jackkt for the explanations.
Couple of clues were way beyond the pay grade for a QC imo. The wordplay for Irish Sea was fairly unguessable as well as the definition being very hard to see. Ditto Golgotha, which I’ve never heard of. Ganglion also very hard to see as a double definition, celibacy is one the toughest anagrams you’ll see, again with a difficult definition, and probably the hardest was macaroon – dozens of options for biscuit, around=ca is rather tedious, and I would’ve thought of maroon as being red? Rest of the puzzle was nice and fell out with a little prodding, but even with the (unhelpful) checking letters, those ones were beyond me, and I didn’t feel as though I should’ve got them after seeing the answers.
DNF. I usually find Wurm’s offerings tricky and this was not exception.
Was OK with Golgotha and Ankh and the top half of the grid was OK.
Good to know there are schools other than Eton.
Irish Sea was lost on me. I thought random women’s names were not supposed to be used in this way, or have I missed something?
Thanks for the blog.
I found that very tough. Only managed five.
11 minutes. Failed by several on 15 x 15 and just one on Quintagram. Way out of my depth on the former!
Sneaking a quick effort in while waiting for eldest grandson to go to sleep..very hot in France.
Not on full throttle and missed some obvious pointers. Struggled with MALAGA – didn’t know MA as old, or LAG as convict.
Must brush up on Greek letters – RHO not frequent in my world. NHO DRAY as S’s nest – thought DRAY. That said, enjoyed the challenge and the flavour of the clues. Himself not much mentioned as fell asleep on the job.
Many thanks to Wurm and to Jackkt for the, as always, extremely helpful blog.