I last blogged a QC by Wurm in October, and it generated lots of interesting discussion. I really enjoyed this one too. Like last time, I found it a little wiggly in places, but with some neat and entertaining clueing. A couple of clues, I thought, would not be out of place in the 15×15, so I think those who were looking for an easier one today may be disappointed. Bits I liked, in particular, were the gangster at 1A, the sneaky definition at 20A, the misleading bar paraphernalia at 2D and the filthy book collection at 12D. At just under 6 minutes I was over my average time and it was my slowest of the week, so I, at least, found it a bit trickier than usual. No real hold-ups for me but those slithery wiggles mite cast some muddy hillocks on your path and cause your solving to slow to a crawl and dragon a bit. [That’s enough – Ed]. Thank-you Wurm. Top hole! [I said that’s enough – Ed]. How did you all get on?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | One Mr Bad also awaiting trial (2,6) |
| ON REMAND – (One Mr)* [bad] AND (also). Lovely one to start – nice surface and neat wordplay. | |
| 6 | Youngster brought to a Caribbean island (4) |
| CUBA – CUB (youngster) then [brought to] A. A bit of a ‘chestnut’ (a term to add to the Glossary, perhaps?). This has appeared at least 5 times before in a QC, most recently in this Izetti puzzle in September last year. | |
| 8 | Go away for trial (3,3) |
| TRY OUT – TRY (go) OUT (away). A fine lesson in the technique of “lift and separate“, where you need to split the “go” and “away”. And we get to practice that some more a couple of times later. | |
| 9 | Grand pubs prepared to welcome monarch (6) |
| SUPERB – (pubs)* [prepared] outside [to welcome] ER (Her Majesty; monarch). | |
| 10 | House Chinese military guards (4) |
| SEMI – Hidden in ChineSE MIlitary [guards]. Do important people in China live in semi-detached houses? | |
| 11 | Party favourite in power (8) |
| DOMINION – DO (party) MINION (favourite). My LOI. I hadn’t seen that definition for “minion” before, but I see from checking the dictionary I’m just ignorant. Not for the first time, I may add! | |
| 12 | Son in tree produces sacred poem (5) |
| PSALM – S (son) [in] PALM (tree). | |
| 13 | Divine messenger in a new set (5) |
| ANGEL – A N (new) GEL (set). One of those sneaky setter’s tricks is to use a noun in the clue that you have to treat as a verb in the wordplay. In action here for ‘set’. | |
| 15 | Generous support for footballer (4,4) |
| FULL BACK – FULL (generous) BACK (support). Full as in a generous helping/full helping. | |
| 17 | Arrest the devil (4) |
| NICK – Double definition. A missed opportunity for a triple definition, perhaps? “Arrest and jail the devil”? I’ll get my coat. | |
| 19 | Oracle’s place, quiet in Asian metropolis (6) |
| DELPHI – P (piano; quitet) [in] DELHI (Asian metropolis). The Oracle aka Pythia. | |
| 20 | Owner of bark in films sails out east (6) |
LASSIE – Ha ha. Great disguised definition – which has nothing to do with saling vessels. (sails)* [out] E (east). The famous canine star. Image in Public Domain. |
|
| 21 | Surprise as lunatics returning (4) |
| STUN – NUTS (lunatics) reversed [returning] -> STUN. | |
| 22 | Ask again for change in Japanese city (8) |
| NAGASAKI – (Ask again)* [for change]. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Bottle perhaps attached to optic? (5) |
| NERVE – This is another sneaky one. Ignore the fine surface reading, where an optic is “a device fastened to the neck of an inverted bottle for measuring out spirits“. This is a double definition with “optic” in the second meaning, the eye, to which the “optic nerve” is attached, the perhaps indicating a definition by example. Or have I over-complicated that? | |
| 3 | Blue material ripped up at ICA (7) |
| EROTICA – TORE (ripped) reversed [up, in a down clue] -> EROT. Add ICA to get what used to be on the top shelf. | |
| 4 | Six-footer among banyan trees (3) |
| ANT – Hidden [among] banyAN Trees. In case you haven’t seen it before, “six-footer” refers to an animal with 6 feet – i.e. an insect. | |
| 5 | Bird makes moves to leave boat (9) |
| DISEMBARK – (Bird makes)* [moves]. You could easily be misled (as I was briefly) to think the definition here was “Bird”. But it isn’t. Another bit of slitheriness from our Wurm – you need to separate “Makes moves”. | |
| 6 | Chicken in vessel crossing river (5) |
| CAPON – CAN (vessel) outside [crossing] PO (river in Italy). Another bird as the answer. | |
| 7 | Bird in pub now large (4,3) |
| BARN OWL – This time “Bird” is the definition. BAR (pub) NOW L (large). As with 1A this is another example of a setter’s trick. When the answer is in multiple parts, e.g. (4,3) as here, the wordplay doesn’t have to follow that enumeration – here the parts of the charade are (3,3,1). | |
| 11 | Eternal punishment in Mother land? (9) |
| DAMNATION – DAM (Mother) NATION (land). | |
| 12 | Discreet page fronts filthy book collection (7) |
| PRUDENT – P (page) [fronts] i.e. is before RUDE (filthy) NT (New Testament; book collection). | |
| 14 | Start rock band (7) |
| GENESIS – Double definition. Rock is not my cup of tea. But, distractedly diving down a wurmhole, I was amazed to find there is a fictional Genesis Worm. I don’t remember that episode. Do you? | |
| 16 | Learner at university in bloomer (5) |
LUPIN – L (learner) UP (at university) IN. Here are some blooming…
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| 18 | Conservative connection in prison (5) |
| CLINK – C (Conservative) LINK (connection). I wonder if our setter was tempted to cross-reference 17A? But no. This isn’t the Guardian crossword. | |
| 20 | On length for example (3) |
| LEG – L (length) EG (for example). Our cricketing clue of the day. Another sneaky trick – another “lift and separate”. You need to separate the phrase “On length” into its constituent parts. | |
Cod prudent.