Hello everybody. I expect many happy campers today. My Clue of the Day was the failing undergrad at 18a. Thanks Pipsqueak!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most 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 | Remain silent, as dads traditionally did? (4,3) |
| KEEP MUM — Traditionally the dad in a household would support or “KEEP” MUM financially while she did all the domestic work | |
| 5a | Heartless boss — someone like Gordon Ramsay? (4) |
| CHEF — Missing its middle letter (heartless) CHiEF (boss) | |
| 7a | Not doing too well, crying in wife’s absence (6) |
| AILING — [w]AILING (crying) without W (in wife’s absence) | |
| 8a | Rough programme announced (6) |
| COARSE — COURSE (programme), soundalike (announced) | |
| 9a | We sanction a corrupt scientist (5,6) |
| ISAAC NEWTON — WE SANCTION A anagrammed (corrupt) | |
| 10a | Dormant snake taking shelter (6) |
| ASLEEP — ASP (snake) holding (taking) LEE (shelter) | |
| 12a | Sweet thing vacated exotic hideaway (6) |
| ECLAIR — With inner letters removed (vacated) ExotiC + LAIR (hideaway) | |
| 14a | Outstanding Texan police misrepresented (11) |
| EXCEPTIONAL — TEXAN POLICE anagrammed (misrepresented) | |
| 17a | Where you might find shoemaker in the end (2,4) |
| AT LAST — You might find a shoemaker AT a shoemaker’s LAST | |
| 18a | Undergraduate ultimately failing to pass (6) |
| ELAPSE — The last letter of (… ultimately) undergraduatE + LAPSE (failing) | |
| 20a | Woman who’s a bit of a looker (4) |
| IRIS — Two definitions | |
| 21a | Royal Engineers deal with withdrawal of troops (7) |
| RETREAT — RE (Royal Engineers) + TREAT (deal with) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Japanese swimmer, shy in conversation (3) |
| KOI — It sounds like (… in conversation) COY (shy) | |
| 2d | Yours truly upset and angry in Dubai? (7) |
| EMIRATE — ME (yours truly) reversed (upset) + IRATE (angry) | |
| 3d | Trickery of American soldier wearing raincoat (5) |
| MAGIC — GI (American soldier) in (wearing) MAC (raincoat) | |
| 4d | Friend acquiring revolutionary weapon (7) |
| MACHETE — MATE (friend) acquiring CHE (revolutionary) | |
| 5d | Plan church paintings (5) |
| CHART — CH. (church) + ART (paintings) | |
| 6d | Vital lease isn’t altered (9) |
| ESSENTIAL — LEASE ISN’T anagrammed (altered) | |
| 9d | Police officer crept in so awkwardly (9) |
| INSPECTOR — An anagram of (… awkwardly) CREPT IN SO | |
| 11d | Some alcopops targeting famous singer (3,4) |
| POP STAR — Some alcoPOPS TARgeting | |
| 13d | Family falsehood about new era (7) |
| LINEAGE — LIE (falsehood) around (about) N (new) + AGE (era) | |
| 15d | Stupid to put His Majesty on donkey (5) |
| CRASS — CR (His Majesty) on ASS (donkey) | |
| 16d | Incompetent writer held up in centre of city (5) |
| INEPT — PEN (writer) reversed inside (held up in) the centre of cITy | |
| 19d | Glass of whisky maybe leaving husband drunk (3) |
| SOT — S[h]OT (glass of whisky maybe) omitting (leaving) H (husband) | |
A few clues held us up, particularly 18a elapse, pleasant solve to start the week.
DNF
Done in 16 but spelt KOI with a Y at the end.
started at 1a with kept mum. only realised when 2d was difficult to solve
Like most went very well for me, but … while I am having my [generous] ‘tot’ of whisky, as usual, how can I imagine my answer ought to be a SOT! Didn’t help with ELAPSE of course. The QC gods were looking kindly on us today I think. By the way I’ve just looked up the goddess IRIS and in 1960’s patois she’s quite a looker, it never crossed my mind of any other meaning!
13:47 here. I confidently biffed TOT for “glass of whisky”, which made ELAPSE impossible for ages. You can also add me to the list of people who had to do an alphabet trawl to find IRIS. But a fine puzzle overall, much enjoyed.
On the flip side, my first guess was correct on the Wordle today. 😀
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Analogue timing of sub 10 mins so a PB. Solved so many at first pass that the checkers unravelled the longer anagrams and tricker solves such as Eclair and Elapse. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty
On for a PB with 3:43 on the clock but just couldn’t see ELAPSE despite realising how the clue worked. Spent longer on that than the rest of the puzzle for a 8:48 after an alphabet trawl. Bit disappointed.
Liked KEEP MUM
Thanks blogger and setter
10 mins, so nothing particularly special given the Snitch. Should have been quicker as I made 2 silly mistakes that held me up.
Solved 15 x 15, but much slower than the other QCers, so limited satisfaction there. I dare not post on the 15 x 15 blog!
Thanks for the blog.
PS 2 hours on Sunday Times cryptic yesterday. Got about half. The penny just isn’t dropping with these puzzles.
Approximately 6.03.
We were on for a PB by some way until breeze-blocked by 18A ELAPSED; after a further 50% of our time, we threw in the towel. The rest of the QC was great and very enjoyable so thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.