I’m not sure if there’s something going on here, with LA or AL appearing in no less than nine of the answers. Or maybe I’m just imagining it. Whatever. A nice teaser from Pedro today with a good mix of easy clues but one or two tougher ones, including a couple of tasty cryptic definitions. What fun! Thanks, Pedro! How did you all find it? [Edit: I neglected to mention this was my slowest since the last QC I blogged with a personal NITCH of about 150. So, like many of our commenters here, I found it on the hard side too! It would appear that plenty of you found INSOMNIA, MARITIME, MISPRINT and LANDLORD as chewy as I did].
Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 3 | Obvious two friends will carry book, English (8) |
| PALPABLE – A straightforward one to start… Our two PALs, with B (book) in and E (english) at the end. Very touching. | |
| 7 | A top US city rejected source of wool (6) |
| ALPACA – Here we take A CAP (top) + LA (US city) and reverse to get the hairy South American altoplano dweller. One really must have an alpaca wool scarf, apparently. Not me. But then I’m not a fashionista. Which is a bit of an understatement. | |
| 8 | It prevents you going off (8) |
| INSOMNIA – It took me a while to spot this was a straight cryptic definition. In my case, it’s not insomnia, but doing this blog that’s keeping me awake. | |
| 9 | Approach to green perhaps presents openings for crucial hole in Pro-Am (4) |
| CHIP – Golf is our sport of the day. This approach shot comes from the first letters [openings] of Crucial Hole In Pro-am. A bit of a gimmee perhaps? No, I’ve only ever seen putts conceded. | |
| 10 | Male or female? Not entirely (3) |
| LAD – The female is almost a LADy. Which is both a film and a book, although one review of the latter is somewhat less than favourable! | |
| 11 | Boat’s at sea — sailor abandoning cable — something to be overcome (8) |
| OBSTACLE – (Boat’s)* [at sea] + CabLE (sailor) [abandoning]. I hope you didn’t get a mental block over this, to my mind, slightly clunky clue. | |
| 13 | Entirely unknown friend (4) |
| ALLY – ALL + Y (unknown). A nice friendly clue. | |
| 15 | Second eleven possibly without a means of support (4) |
| STEM – S + TEaM (eleven possibly) [without] a. Along with 25a and 18d this got me thinking of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. But it wasn’t that. Just the thing that keeps the flower waving. | |
| 17 | Fast speed on major road? It reveals a character flaw (8) |
| MISPRINT – Ho ho. Anyone else get stuck thinking of personailty disorders? This is MI (M1 motorway) + SPRINT (Fast speed). | |
| 19 | Naughty child caught by him, perhaps (3) |
| IMP – Did you spot him (or her) playing hide and seek in hIM, Perhaps? | |
| 22 | Legislation having financial consequences? (4) |
| BILL – Having financial consequences? Will I guess you have to pay it, or suffer the consequences. | |
| 23 | I’m engaged in Mass, a liturgy at sea (8) |
| MARITIME – This is a little tricky. You take M (Mass) + A + RITE (liturgy) and insert I’M just before the end. I was definitely at sea with this one for a while. | |
| 24 | A change involving one home for birds (6) |
| AVIARY – A + VARY (change) inserting [involving] I (one). Which reminds me… “A habit unseen and unsavoury, holds the bishop of Boston in slavery. ‘Midst hooting and howls….”. No I’d better not finish it. It’s rather rude! | |
| 25 | Unusual exam covering one alcoholic drink (8) |
| ORIGINAL – Take I GIN and drink it during a speaking exam, ORAL. And don’t forget to add the ice and lemon. Definitely unusual behaviour, I agree. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Characters offering help below mountain height (8) |
| ALPHABET – ALP (mountain) + H (height) + ABET (help). As easy as ABC. | |
| 2 | Something for floor favoured beneath vehicle (6) |
| CARPET – CAR (vehicle) with PET (favoured) [beneath]. But what does the surface mean? Intriguing! | |
| 3 | Father in agony (4) |
| PAIN – PA + IN. A bread and butter clue… without the butter, if you are french? Sorry. I couldn’t resist it. | |
| 4 | Lethargic, and not ready to go shopping? (8) |
| LISTLESS – Nice cryptic wordplay. If you haven’t made a list, you are not ready to go shopping. Well that’s certainly true for me. I even have a shopping list template which I print out and fill before going to the supermarket. (I maybe shouldn’t have admitted to that). | |
| 5 | Fleet, very angry, taking over third of area (6) |
| ARMADA – Take AREA and replace the E (third) with MAD (very angry). Or you could just have a relaxing game of bowls like Sir Walter. | |
| 6 | The French going to one river hideaway (4) |
| LAIR – LA + I + R. I think I’d be very tempted to be hibernating if I had such a hideaway. | |
| 12 | Conservative politician coming in again ruined approach to election (8) |
| CAMPAIGN – You have to follow the instructions – C (Conservative) + MP (politician) inside [coming in] (again)* [ruined]. Vote for me! | |
| 14 | Letter upset ageing King invading country (8) |
| LANDLORD – Another slightly tricky one. You take OLD going upwards [upset] + R inside [invading] LAND (country) – as in Leonard Rossiter in Rising Damp. Those were the days of proper sitcoms. | |
| 16 | Heavy industry I note during Chinese dynasty (6) |
| MINING – Another insertion clue. I + N (note) inside MING (Chinese dynasty). I dig it. | |
| 18 | Instructions to chafe with a lot of wealthy (6) |
| RUBRIC – Is it exam time in the Pedro household? RUB (chafe) + RIC{h} (a lot of wealthy). | |
| 20 | Market of reasonable quality (4) |
| FAIR – Double definition of reasonable easiness. | |
| 21 | Close the main line (4) |
| SEAL – Another simple one to finish with SEA (main) + L (line). And our ninth AL or LA. I think we should be told! | |
Like jackkt, I failed once again to reach my 10 minute target. But nil desperandum.
Eventually I got my brain onto the wavelength and finished in about 45 minutes. COD to 17a. David
Thanks for the blog
6’30”
Time prob 3 hours in total during the day, net 1 hour.
Back in London so happy christmas everyone!