No setter’s name as yet (0300 UK) but whoever they are they produced a good, chunky puzzle. Thanks to jackkt who maybe has a paper version – name now updated. This took me 31 minutes of concentrated effort but to be fair, I really am not used to being up this early.
With about 24 hours notice I’m grasping an opportunity to visit family and friends in USA. 11ac therefore rang a lot of bells – at 0300 I look pretty bad already and am only just on my way to LHR.
I may therefore not be able to reply to comments or correct typos but will hopefully find a wifi somewhere.
First blog – which would have been exciting enough without the trip – and many thanks to linxit who has organised us all so well.
With about 24 hours notice I’m grasping an opportunity to visit family and friends in USA. 11ac therefore rang a lot of bells – at 0300 I look pretty bad already and am only just on my way to LHR.
I may therefore not be able to reply to comments or correct typos but will hopefully find a wifi somewhere.
First blog – which would have been exciting enough without the trip – and many thanks to linxit who has organised us all so well.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*
Across | |
1 | Step – Favourites=pets rev (on edit as I had this the wrong way round – thanks jackkt). |
4 | Drawback – Ward is backwards. Not sure of the clue type but it’s a neat one. |
8 | Retrench – RE – Royal Engineers and the trench they make. |
9 | Zone – Z is the unknown and one is the individual. |
10 | Wary – Conflict=war with Y for years afterwards. Technically years would be yy or ys but I suppose it makes the surface better. |
11 | Globally – Lo=look, bally=awful with the final letter of flying in front. Somewhat archaic/Wodehouse-esque Bally which I rather liked. |
12 | Always – every route sounds like all ways. |
14 | Indigo – India without the a and go is the game. |
16 | Fishcake – (I ask chef)* up t’North we have proper fish cakes which are a slice of potato each side of some real fish all done in batter. Rather tastier than the mashed up potato offering elsewhere IMHO. |
18 | Farm – F=fine, arm=branch. |
19 | Tier – ‘One that secures’ is something that ties so is a tier. |
20 | Informal – Advise=inform, Al=little boy. |
22 | Cheyenne – On edit – it sounds like ‘shy’ for nervous and ‘Anne’ would be the girl. |
23 | To-do – to=to, make=do |
Down | |
2 | Toenail – Neat cd of the little piggy which went to market. |
3 | Party – Politicians are organised into parties – but thereafter they seem anything but. |
4 | Don – Finished=done – not quite takes off the ‘e’. |
5 | Aphrodite – (pit? Oh dear!)* A fine figure of a woman born from a rather unfortunate deletion from Uranus, which, when thrown into the sea, caused foam (aphros) from which she appeared. Those Greeks sure knew how to have a good time. |
6 | Buzzard – Excited feeling=buzz supported by A way=rd for road. |
7 |
Canal – |
11 | Gestation – Good=G, European=E, position=station (as in life). |
13 | Ashtray – Wrong=astray around husband=h – it’s quite hard to remember now how suffocating it used to be going into a smoke filled pub – for readers outside UK, smoking was banned in pubs here a few years back. |
15 | Garland – dd – A 5dn of her day. |
17 | Irish – flag=Iris (it also means another Greek Goddess, this time of the rainbow) plus H – this time from hospital rather than husband. |
18 | First – Strike=fist capturing R from rook (in chess). |
21 | Foe – COD – cd – whoever would NOT say Friend when challenged ‘Friend or foe?’ by a sentry? |
The setter today is Teazel.
At 1ac you switched your answer and explanation. Easily done as I know to my cost. It should be STEP = pets reversed. And 5dn doesn’t mention that it’s an anagram of ‘pit, Oh dear’.
20 minutes for me (all parsed). APHRODITE and RETRENCH held me up.
Bon voyage!
Edited at 2014-03-18 07:35 am (UTC)
Here’s the address if it helps:
http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140318/107/
Enjoyable puzzle I thought. About 45 mins for me.
Iris=flag?
Edited at 2014-03-18 08:02 am (UTC)
Apologies, I should have mentioned the excellent blog, thanks chrisw91.
Edited at 2014-03-18 09:09 am (UTC)
DRAWBACK was a pretty clue, and I liked FOE. ASHTRAY held me up longest, as I couldn’t fit in A PROPER PINT.
9½ minutes. Quite tricky, some of this.
I liked 21dn, my last in. It reminded me of the “line on the left, one cross each” scene in Life of Brian.
Around the half hour. Had to check Iris / Flag before fully understanding that one. Botany is blind spot for me.
Finally got the “bally” after recalling time spent with my Great Uncle Roy, an archetypal Wodehousian chap who had (as far as I could ascertain as a young fellow) never read The Master – his stock line to me was “get your head out of that bally book and come and play cricket”. A good egg.