Hello everybody. It’s been a little while since I’ve had a crossword by the wiggly one to blog and I enjoyed this. My picks today are 11d and 20d. Thanks Wurm!
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 | Greek hero cool in receding waters (8) |
| ACHILLES — CHILL (cool) in reversed (receding) SEA (waters) | |
| 6a | Considerate sort (4) |
| KIND — A double definition | |
| 8a | Son breaks mirror in church recess (4) |
| APSE — S (son) goes into (breaks) APE (mirror, imitate) | |
| 9a | Lies some might gladly swallow? (4,4) |
| PORK PIES — Some might happily eat (the meaty kind of) PORK PIES | |
| 10a | Pole, old fellow, beast once (8) |
| MASTODON — MAST (pole) + O (old) + DON (fellow) | |
| 12a | Concept used in tide analysis (4) |
| IDEA — The answer is part of (used in) tIDE Analysis | |
| 13a | Nubia’s barking deity (6) |
| ANUBIS — NUBIA is anagrammed (barking) | |
| 15a | Down covers bad leg in young bird (6) |
| EAGLET — EAT (down) surrounds (covers) an anagram of (bad) LEG | |
| 17a | Bouncer perhaps for dance (4) |
| BALL — Two definitions | |
| 19a | Man’s situation is as heir ruined (5,3) |
| IRISH SEA — Man being the Isle of Man. IS AS HEIR anagrammed (ruined) | |
| 21a | One held up in bad weather? (8) |
| UMBRELLA — A cryptic definition, pretending to be a statement about being delayed by rain etc | |
| 23a | Bank charge right to be reversed (4) |
| REEF — FEE (charge) and R (right) to be reversed | |
| 24a | Burden we must carry? (4) |
| ONUS — Something which is ON US might be something we must carry | |
| 25a | Bring down when blocking edict (8) |
| DECREASE — AS (when) inside (blocking) DECREE (edict) | |
| Down | |
| 2d | First murderer grabbing fit leader (7) |
| CAPTAIN — CAIN (first murderer) taking in (grabbing) APT (fit) | |
| 3d | Still inside container terminal (5) |
| INERT — The answer is inside contaINER Terminal | |
| 4d | Cheek and mouth part (3) |
| LIP — Two definitions | |
| 5d | Tiger seen roaming Tanzanian reserve (9) |
| SERENGETI — TIGER SEEN anagrammed (roaming) | |
| 6d | Writer to sleep with Heather (7) |
| KIPLING — KIP (to sleep) with LING (heather) | |
| 7d | Earl received by lovely relative (5) |
| NIECE — E (Earl) inside (received by) NICE (lovely) | |
| 11d | Passed around yet pure (9) |
| DISTILLED — DIED (passed) around STILL (yet) | |
| 14d | Country carnivore devouring large American (7) |
| BELARUS — BEAR (carnivore) taking in (devouring) L (large) + US (American) | |
| 16d | Blind doctor sees Ely (7) |
| EYELESS — Make an anagram of (doctor) SEES ELY | |
| 18d | A row about motorway management (5) |
| ADMIN — A + DIN (row) around (about) M (motorway) | |
| 20d | Smack the Pony? (5) |
| HORSE — Two definitions. Belated edit: smack and horse are both slang term for heroin. The surface is the comedy sketch show | |
| 22d | Answer Roman Catholic in Bow (3) |
| ARC — A (answer) + RC (Roman Catholic) | |
12:13 for me, with my COD going to IRISH SEA. I submitted without ever changing HORSE from pencil to pen having never heard of the show and with my drug slang evidently not up to snuff.
Thanks to Wurm and Kitty.
9:52. I found this on the harder side – some lovely clues (Smack the pony was a highlight). great fun.
13:17, slowed down by the SW corner, with BELARUS and ONUS my last two in.
ANUBIS helped by having a family member in particle physics, who is working on a detector of the same name, that is “AN Underground Belayed In-Shaft” detector.
Thanks Kitty and Wurm
Took me an hour but I got there in the end!
I always sing ‘Anubis, the Egyptian god Anubis’ to the tune of ‘Neighbours’. Must write the rest of the lyric someday.
Thanks for the blog and the comments.
W
Anubis, the Egyptian god Anubis
If you’re careful with embalming
You’ll ensure the perfect grave
Anubis will be there for your protection
That’s why Anubis is my new fave
(I won’t give up my day job!)
I like it!
10:18 Increasingly (but not consistently!) on Wurm’s wavelength over the years. Today, the GK and vocabulary fell my way. Particularly enjoyed the cryptic stuff at 9a and 21a, which felt just the right pitch for a QC. Giving COD to 19a for hiding the proper noun at the start, which I remembered thanks to a blogger highlighting on here before. All these tips mount up: until I forget them!
We were relieved to complete this, having been stuck in SW corner at the end. Several PD moments. We especially liked MASTODON (COD), remembered from the Arthur Ransome books.