Hi all. As is usual for a Trelawney puzzle, this all went very smoothly for me – not a monster at all. The blog heading refers to my two picks today, AMAZING (9a) and CHIMERA (6d). I’m also not a morning person, but much enjoyed this. Thanks Trelawney!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, I generally italicise indicators unless it seems clearer not to. Where the removed part is specified, [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. I sometimes omit link words and juxtaposition indicators if it doesn’t feel necessary to explain them. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments section.
| Across | |
| 1a | Fake stone emblem of Ireland (8) |
| SHAMROCK — SHAM (fake) STONE (rock) | |
| 5a | Mark’s brief fright (4) |
| SCAR — Without the last letter (brief) SCARe (fright) | |
| 8a | Fresh trove is plain to see (5) |
| OVERT — An anagram of (fresh) TROVE | |
| 9a | In the morning, a liveliness is remarkable (7) |
| AMAZING — AM (in the morning) + A + ZING (liveliness) | |
| 11a | Child good-natured without nanny at first (3) |
| KID — KI[n]D (good-natured) without the initial letter of (… at first) Nanny | |
| 12a | Flighty earthling covering astronomical distance (5,4) |
| LIGHT YEAR — A hidden, with fLIGHTY EARthling covering the answer | |
| 13a | Say no to rubbish (6) |
| REFUSE — Two definitions | |
| 15a | Waitress finally put down vegetable (6) |
| SQUASH — The last letter of (… finally) waitresS + QUASH (put down) | |
| 18a | Spoil mum and boy with European spread (9) |
| MARMALADE — MAR (spoil), MA (mum), LAD (boy) and E (European) | |
| 19a | Marry native of Stockholm after undressing (3) |
| WED — Having removed outer letters (… after undressing), sWEDe (native of Stockholm) | |
| 20a | Zoomed-in image of trophy outside shed (5-2) |
| CLOSE-UP — CUP (trophy) around (outside) LOSE (shed) | |
| 21a | That man will love greeting (5) |
| HELLO — HE’LL (that man will) + O (love) | |
| 22a | Man-eating giant therefore heading west (4) |
| OGRE — ERGO (therefore) reversed (heading west, in an across entry) | |
| 23a | Abandons trendy tennis stroke (4,4) |
| DROP SHOT — DROPS (abandons) + HOT (trendy) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Playing OK Norse game (7) |
| SNOOKER — An anagram of (playing) OK NORSE | |
| 2d | Change chaps featured in commercial (5) |
| AMEND — MEN (chaps) featured in AD (commercial) | |
| 3d | Take antlers off venomous creature (11) |
| RATTLESNAKE — TAKE ANTLERS anagrammed (off) | |
| 4d | Attack accusation (6) |
| CHARGE — A double definition | |
| 6d | Within loch I’m eradicating mythical monster (7) |
| CHIMERA — The answer is found within loCH I’M ERAdicating | |
| 7d | Jolly chap’s message received? (5) |
| ROGER — Two meanings, the first being the Jolly ROGER | |
| 10d | Opaque hints disturbed vintage store (7,4) |
| ANTIQUE SHOP — OPAQUE HINTS anagrammed (disturbed) | |
| 14d | Passion over fur is moving (7) |
| FERVOUR — OVER FUR is anagrammed (moving) | |
| 16d | Mostly horrible time in lair (7) |
| HIDEOUT — All but the last letter of (mostly) HIDEOUs (horrible) + T (time) | |
| 17d | Meat for each basket (6) |
| HAMPER — HAM (meat) + PER (for each) | |
| 18d | Manly raincoat with hood displayed regularly (5) |
| MACHO — MAC (raincoat) + HoOd, taking alternate letters (displayed regularly) | |
| 19d | You and I left quietly like Rob Brydon (5) |
| WELSH — WE (you and I) + L (left) + SH (quietly) | |
6:50, which is positively glacial compared to many others. But very much enjoyed; as has been said, Trelawney’s clues may not be the most difficult, but they are always among the most well crafted.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog.
07:04
A fast one but could have been better without trying both EMERALD and BLARNEY for “stone emblem of Ireland”. FOI SNOOKER, even then I thought first
of “conkers”
COD DROP SHOT
9:58 today. No real issues, but I thought of “harp” as the emblem of Ireland for a while. Happy to finish under 10 minutes. Congratulations to everyone setting a personal milestone today.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
Very enjoyable with no hold ups ( even if I failed to spot the two hidden). Thank you for a good start to the week.
7 minutes for me. LOI MARMALADE. I had biffed MISMANAGE when I saw Spoil in the clue. Took a minute to unravel that.
Enjoyed it.
Congrats to all the PB merchants today.
David
Looks like I’m the only person who posted a DNF. And that took me half an hour.
Is this website for people who are learning how to solve cryptic crosswords, or for people who show off how quickly they can solve it in? Last week I asked a question about a particular clue and one response simply stated the the ‘blogger covered it’; which really didn’t help deepen my understanding, nor my enjoyment.
It would be useful if there was a way that those who can already do cryptic crosswords and want to get recognition from their peers can post their times, and those of us who are trying to learn can discuss how an answer was derived (and not just how the clue is parsed, but the actual thought process followed, and tips/tricks that can be learnt to apply to future puzzles).
Is there another (friendly) blog for us thickos trying to learn to ask questions?
My first under 5 minute solve: 4.46. Lovely puzzle, too. Thanks Trewlawny.
I was held up by my last three (4 & 17dn and 23ac) which probably cost me a rare sub-10 finish but not for too long. I eventually finished in 12 minutes with everything parsed except LIGHT YEAR where I didn’t bother to check what I thought was an anagram.
FOI – 1ac SHAMROCK
LOI – 23ac DROP SHOT
COD – 7dn ROGER
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty