16 minutes. I’m not on best solving form at the moment and this one gave me some trouble not helped that it took me so long to solve 1ac where I was convinced the answer was going to end with -LESS. I don’t think there’s any difficult vocabulary today although a couple of things necessary for the full understanding of 3dn and 5dn may be a bit obscure. Possibly the Renaissance scholar too and two plurals ending -I where the singular -US is more generally known.
In case of access problems, here’s the link to the puzzle: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20150713/7787/
Definitions {deletions} [indicators]
|
Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | A snowman can be so hateful? (10) |
| ABOMINABLE – Two definitions, one cryptic, one straight | |
| 8 | Chests, and people with a cold in them, say? (7) |
| COFFERS – Sounds like “coughers” | |
| 9 | Run in sort of black and pink (5) |
| CORAL – R (run) inside COAL (sort of black) | |
| 10 | One athirst, somewhat, without water (4) |
| NEAT – Hidden [somewhat] inside {o}NE AT{hirst} As one might drink whisky or vodka, for example. | |
| 11 | Impetus in a short time followed by hesitation (8) |
| MOMENTUM – MOMENT (short time), UM (hesitation) | |
| 13 | Rob him criminally for diamonds {6) |
| RHOMBI – Anagram [criminally] of ROB HIM. I took ages to think of this but eventually dragged up a distant memory of the diamond-shaped rhombus last encountered at school. | |
| 14 | Care about church ground (6) |
| MINCED – MIND (care) about CE (church) | |
| 17 | Mammal groomed fur a bit with front of tongue (8) |
| FRUITBAT – Anagram [groomed] of FUR A BIT T{ongue} | |
| 19 | So monster returns (4) |
| ERGO – OGRE (monster) reversed | |
| 21 | Work period for Falstaff, for example (5) |
| OPERA – OP (work – opus), ERA (period). Verdi wrote the most famous opera of this name. | |
| 22 | Problems are over for Renaissance scholar (7) |
| ERASMUS – SUMS (problems) + ARE all reversed | |
| 23 | Where your eyes are aggressive (2,4,4) |
| IN YOUR FACE – Two definitions, one cryptic, one straight. It’s very rare in crossword answers to have “your” in an expression where “one’s” is an alternative, but that’s what’s needed here. It’s a shame that “your” also appears in the clue. | |
|
Down |
|
| 2 | Cattle expert takes a look (7) |
| BUFFALO – BUFF (expert), A, LO (look) | |
| 3 | Appropriate to get together (4) |
| MEET – Double definition. The first may be unfamiliar to some but I learnt it in church-going days long ago from a line that appeared in one of the standard services in the Book of Common Prayer “It is meet and right so to do”. | |
| 4 | Failure to appear in numbers; in what way? (2,4) |
| NO SHOW – NOS (numbers), HOW (in what way?) | |
| 5 | Soviet police chief introduces law that could lay people low (8) |
| BACTERIA – BERIA (Soviet police chief) encloses [introduces] ACT (law) | |
| 6 | Wading bird‘s sorrow when first river vanishes (5) |
| EGRET – {r}EGRET (sorrow). “First river” indicates the R to be removed. | |
| 7 | Small condo organised with these desirable features? (3,3,4) |
| ALL MOD CONS – Anagram of SMALL CONDO. An expression invented for use in small ads. | |
| 8 | Traffic management system continued with flyers close to ground {10) |
| CONTRAFLOW – CONT (continued), RAF (flyers), LOW (close to ground) | |
| 12 | Passing mention (8) |
| OBITUARY – A rather good cryptic definition | |
| 15 | Saucer: am I china? Partly made of clay {7) |
| CERAMIC – Hidden [partly] inside {sau}CER AM I C{hina} | |
| 16 | Good university includes an afternoon meal, serving this? (6) |
| GATEAU – G (good), A TEA (an afternoon meal), U (university) | |
| 18 | Starts to undertake the experiment, replacing internal organs (5) |
| UTERI – First letters [starts] of U{ndertake} T{he} E{xperiment} R{eplacing} I{nternal} | |
| 20 | Child abandoned with frequency around main road (4) |
| WAIF – W (with), A1 (main road), F (following) | |
Favourite COFFERS which took longer to see than it should.
COD must be the brilliantly economical “Passing mention”
Philip
Particularly enjoyed 5d and 22a
After the first sitting I had the bottom half; after the second sitting I had all but 5d and like others took a while to get 1a for example.
I finally guessed that 5d had to be Bacteria and I am now going to look up the unknown Beria.How many Soviet police chiefs are we supposed to know?
David
Other excellent clues were the hidden (where I as looking for the definition to be ‘one athirst’) and ABOMINABLE. Last in CONTRAFLOW, where I suppose the relative paucity of the things in Hong Kong had softened me up! 14 mins.
Edited at 2015-07-14 09:14 am (UTC)