I had one of those frustrating solves – not often a fault of the setter – where you rattle through most of it before getting stuck on the last one or two clues: here I had all but 8ac and 10ac polished off by the 6 minute mark, and then spent half the time again staring at two very gettable clues. Oh yes, and then came the Unlucky! sign thanks to a mis-biffed 11d. Let’s hope for a happier new year, and many thanks to Orpheus!
| Across | |
| 1 | Parrot originally making a sound like a crow (5) |
| MACAW – M (“originally” Making), A, CAW (sound like a crow) | |
| 4 | Reportedly how one may ill-treat a dog? (7) |
| WHIPPET – sounds the same (reportedly) as WHIP IT. | |
| 8 | Heavenly body in need of a man-made hormone (7) |
|
STEROID – |
|
| 9 | Journalist given position in the French city (5) |
| LEEDS – ED (journalist) given position in LES (the, French) | |
| 10 | Incident Elgar associated with pomp? (12) |
| CIRCUMSTANCE – as in Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches. Sometimes helps just to read the words for what they are! | |
| 12 | Originally living under tree, like a wolf (6) |
| LUPINE – L U (“Originally” Living Under) PINE (tree) | |
| 13 | Pulverised earth (6) |
| GROUND – double definition | |
| 16 | Ditzy type can test briar, surprisingly (12) |
| SCATTERBRAIN – anagram (surprisingly) of CAN TEST BRIAR. A briar can be either a prickly wild rose or a pipe made from its root, but the surface is mysterious as to which. | |
| 18 | Artist is easy at first to uplift (5) |
| RAISE – RA (artist) IS E (Easy “at first”) | |
| 20 | Guards losing head finding gates, perhaps (7) |
|
ENTRIES – |
|
| 21 | Plant listening device in pub, catching English bête noire (7) |
| BUGBEAR – BUG (plant listening device in) BAR(pub), catching E(nglish). Originally an evil spirit/creature said to eat naughty children. | |
| 22 | Astute woman in outskirts of Coventry (5) |
| CANNY – ANN (woman) in CY (“outskirts” of CoventrY) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Extraordinary claims surrounding university entertainment (7) |
| MUSICAL – anagram (extraordinary) of CLAIMS surrounding U(niversity) | |
| 2 | Choosing the best job on the fruit farm? (6-7) |
| CHERRY-PICKING – double-ish definition | |
| 3 | Thriller turned out down in hut (9) |
| WHODUNNIT – anagram (turned out) of DOWN IN HUT | |
| 4 | Fairly broad bowl used by women’s organisation (6) |
| WIDISH – DISH (bowl) used by WI (women’s organisation) | |
| 5 | Unhealthy part of rail link (3) |
| ILL – “part of” raIL Link | |
| 6 | What we may have on our mind before work? (13) |
| PREOCCUPATION – PRE (before) OCCUPATION (work) | |
| 7 | Throw drunkard over top of seawall (4) |
| TOSS – SOT (drunkard) over = reversed, S (“top” of Seawall) | |
| 11 | Boat race oddly grips one — like spectacular flying! (9) |
| AEROBATIC – anagram (oddly) of BOAT RACE grips I (one). Fits the definition slightly better than ACROBATIC. | |
| 14 | Extremely dodgy, unpleasant line of hereditary rulers (7) |
| DYNASTY – DY (“extremely” DodgY) NASTY (unpleasant) | |
| 15 | Archdeacon always displaying specious refinement (6) |
| VENEER – VEN[erable] (Archdeacon) E’ER (always) | |
| 17 | Caterpillar food? (4) |
| GRUB – double definition | |
| 19 | Farm animal the present solver talked of (3) |
| EWE – talked of = sounds like YOU (the present solver) | |
Thanks to Orpheus for an enjoyable end-year QC and to rolytoly for a fine blog. Happy new year to us all. kap
Being a volunteer at the Elgar Birthplace museum, I had no trouble with 10a. I was also tempted by ‘acrobatic’ but studied the anagrist carefully and the penny dropped.
Last ones in were, as with others, veneer and preoccupation. The first because I couldn’t remember the honorific for Archdeacon. I often find I have to write out the checkers for down clues as I can’t see the answer when they’re vertical.
Here’s to a better year than the last one….
Edited at 2020-12-31 04:21 pm (UTC)
I “saw” Acrobatic for 11D but checked it carefully, which saved that one, and originally entered Macau for 1A before that made 3D Whodunnit impossible and forced a rethink. But it was 6D Preoccupation that took me the most time to see, even with all the checkers, and was my LOI.
Many thanks to Roly for the blog, and a Happy New Year to all.
Cedric