I went through this very quickly for 04:53 and an Excellent Day. No obscurities, I think, except maybe 14a. A very neat, well-constructed puzzle; hope you all enjoyed it too.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Fortitude in champion, British individual (8) |
| BACKBONE – BACK [champion] + B [British] + ONE [individual]. | |
| 5 | Wicked Satan abandons daughter (4) |
| EVIL – {d}EVIL [“abandons daughter” indicates remove a D]. | |
| 8 | Some sensors on a radio locating system (5) |
| SONAR – hidden. | |
| 9 | Check bloodsucker removed (4,3) |
| TICK OFF – TICK [bloodsucker], OFF [removed]. When our children were small they often picked up ticks on holiday in the Highlands; to soften the blow my wife introduced a rule that they got a sweet for every tick removed. That led to our youngest sneaking out to roll around in the heather to ensure a good tick/sweet count … The Law of Unintended Consequences in action. | |
| 11 | Factors then for cooking breakfast item (6,5) |
| FRENCH TOAST – anagram [for cooking] of “factors then”. | |
| 13 | Reportedly, seat cast away (6) |
| THROWN – aural wordplay [reportedly] of thrown/throne [seat]. | |
| 14 | Returning distance runner first to pass early test (6) |
| PRELIM – P [first to pass] and MILER [distance runner] all reversed [returning]. I have just read Melvyn Bragg’s Another World (his time at Oxford) so PRELIM for “early test”, which I think is mainly an Oxford thing, came easily. People who like to chunter about Oxbridge bias in the crosswords may now clear their throats and proceed. | |
| 17 | Virtuoso dismissed reputation (11) |
| OUTSTANDING – OUT [dismissed] + STANDING [reputation]. I hesitated over the definition for a moment but then thought “virtuoso performance/outstanding performance”. | |
| 20 | Wild region capital of Denmark passed over (7) |
| IGNORED – anagram [wild] of “region” + D [capital of Denmark]. | |
| 21 | After villa, terraced houses (5) |
| LATER – hidden [houses]. | |
| 22 | Strand of narrative? (4) |
| YARN – definition with a cryptic hint (a good yarn/good narrative). | |
| 23 | Rent lower — evidence of distress? (8) |
| TEARDROP – TEAR [rent] + DROP [lower]. My LOI. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Work of art in smithereens? (4) |
| BUST – definition with a cryptic hint. | |
| 2 | Trick with fire damaged tree (7) |
| CONIFER – CON [trick] + an anagram [damaged] of “fire”. | |
| 3 | Drink, breaking law, try a beer! (6,5) |
| BARLEY WATER – anagram [breaking] of “law try a beer”. “Mr Matthias Robinson invented Robinson’s Patent Barley and Barley Groats in 1823”, according to the BBC. Robinson’s then moved into the rather nicer-sounding lemon version in the 1930s. They did a sponsorship deal with Wimbledon from 1935 to 2022, which explains why I remembered it as being associated with tennis. | |
| 4 | See it once when camouflaged (6) |
| NOTICE – anagram [camouflaged] of “it once”. Such a neat clue, COD from me. | |
| 6 | One found in book, a musical instrument (5) |
| VIOLA – I [one] inside [found in] VOL [book] + A [a]. All the viola players I’ve ever met have told me they took it up because it was so much easier to get into an orchestra as a viola than a violin. | |
| 7 | Corrupted file, item in existence (8) |
| LIFETIME – anagram [corrupted] of “file item”. | |
| 10 | Provide food and support for little animal (11) |
| CATERPILLAR – CATER [provide food] + PILLAR [support]. | |
| 12 | Mixture of ricotta and gravy, ultimately an abomination! (8) |
| ATROCITY – anagram [mixture] of “ricotta” and Y [gravy ultimately]. Can’t see that recipe catching on. | |
| 15 | Smoker’s accessory easier to pick up (7) |
| LIGHTER – double definition. | |
| 16 | Figure with digger regularly worried (2,4) |
| ON EDGE – ONE [figure] + DGE [digger regularly]. | |
| 18 | Singer with cash for the audience (5) |
| TENOR – aural wordplay [for the audience] with “tenner” [cash]. | |
| 19 | Stay forward (4) |
| PROP – double definition, the second one being a position in rugby (league and union). | |
6:12
Biffed PRELIM, parsed post-submission. Straightforward otherwise.
I did need the parsing of prelim to see it, even though I suspected it was a likely answer. Barley water is not a thing in the US, but I had heard of it. Everything else was pretty easy.
Time : 8:56
PROP needs to be summarily deleted from the collective consciousness. It’s cost me four minutes this week alone. I should’ve had this puzzle in 3 flat but needed to spend a couple extra seconds on ON EGDE and TEARDROP and then I stared at 19D for a minute and a half before giving up and checking it.
No problems other than losing track of my time. Slight MER at PRELIM, but it’s in all the usual places with Chambers listing it as a word in its own right and ODE has it as an abbreviation dating back to the 19th century.
All quite straightforward until left with the excellent 19d PROP. Took a while on that, but that’s the nature of the beast. Good challenge from the setter.
6:32