DNF, because sometimes you’re an American.
(I would have finished in a shade under 5 minutes, but I couldn’t feel certain about 20 Across.)
My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in italics. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.
| Across | |
| 1 | Does it give dairy farmer easy profits? (4,3) |
| CASH COW – cryptic definition
Although scarcely cryptic since I assume the etymology had to do with dairy farming. |
|
| 7 | Always / set out [for] peak (7) |
| EVEREST – EVER + anagram of SET | |
| 9 | One big book on record [as] a typical example (7) |
| EPITOME – I + TOME on EP | |
| 10 | Offensive to keep relative in view (7) |
| VISIBLE – VILE around SIB | |
| 11 | Jog along: / revolutionary? (4) |
| TROT – double definition, one by example (TROT = Trotskyite)
This one help me up as I assumed we were trying to reverse a word meaning ‘along’ to yield one meaning ‘jog’. |
|
| 12 | Partner [shows] fever after cello playing (9) |
| COLLEAGUE – AGUE after anagram of CELLO | |
| 14 | Anticipate everyone being behind wooded area (9) |
| FORESTALL – ALL after FOREST | |
| 16 | Plain wicked, swallowing litres (4) |
| BALD – BAD around L | |
| 17 | I clean myself, do you hear? Nonsense! (7) |
| EYEWASH – homophone of I WASH | |
| 20 | [As] an insignificant person, hard [to become] PM (7) |
| ASQUITH – A SQUIT + H
This one got me. Without knowing the gentleman in question, I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be AS + … + H or AN + … + H or A + … + H, and besides, I have never heard of SQUIT. Once I had the answer I assumed the parsing was AS QUIT + H and that QUIT was a word meaning ‘insignificant person’. (Chambers set me straight.) |
|
| 21 | Do our family [make] cloth? (7) |
| DOESKIN – DOES KIN? | |
| 22 | Upsetting Dan and Mary Carter (7) |
| DRAYMAN – anagram of DAN + MARY | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Town decrees filth must be recycled (12) |
| CHESTERFIELD – anagram of DECREES FILTH | |
| 2 | One fielding / six balls, [in] this sweater? (8) |
| SLIPOVER – SLIP + OVER
I assume this is the right parsing. I think I deserve a half-round of applause for getting this one as an American. |
|
| 3 | Start to cut / piece of wood, that’s around a foot? (4) |
| CLOG – first letter of CUT + LOG | |
| 4 | Little, almost vile, destructive beetle (6) |
| WEEVIL – WEE + VILE without the last letter | |
| 5 | Shortly notice / a piece of ammunition that is found on the beach (8) |
| SEASHELL – SEE without last letter + A SHELL | |
| 6 | After shortening, deliver best part of speech (4) |
| VERB – hidden in DELIVER BEST | |
| 8 | [Giving] place and time / immediately (5,3,4) |
| THERE AND THEN – a word-by-word charades! | |
| 12 | To keep small, / company dismisses Ukrainians, perhaps (8) |
| COSSACKS – CO + SACKS around S | |
| 13 | I urge man to cultivate a pelargonium (8) |
| GERANIUM – anagram of I URGE MAN | |
| 15 | After a time, crewman [is] conveniently close (2,4) |
| AT HAND – A + T + HAND | |
| 18 | Calm / time of day (4) |
| EVEN – double definition
For me, EVEN on its own is a rather poetic form of EVENING, though I know it from EVENSONG, EVENTIDE, etc. Chambers lists this meaning as (obsolete, poetic or dialect). |
|
| 19 | Half a constellation [appears] pale blue (4) |
| AQUA – half of AQUARIUS | |
10 minutes, which is quite good for me v Teazel! Same process as other posters – I hastily reviewed Milk cow when I went straight on to 1d (my usual practice is to solve in quadrants or at least try to.) DOESKIN and EVEN took a couple of minutes, and ASQUITH wasn’t properly parsed. Cripes, I haven’t heard anyone described as a squit in yonks!
I thought this was good fun with a few chewy clues. I didn’t remember SLIPOVER but must have heard it before – like Janet, I associated it with a tank top (but perhaps less garish!).
FOI Chesterfield LOI Even (I just didn’t believe it was that simple) COD Drayman – the surface made me smile, and I was reminded of the days when we lived in Battersea and used to see the Young’s dray doing its rounds (and that was in the early 90s)
Thanks Teazel and Jeremy
22 mins…
Not bad considering there were quite a few unknowns and obscure answers that I wasn’t that familiar with. 2dn “Slipover” – I have literally never heard of – Pullover, yes – but slipover?
Similarly, 17ac “Eyewash” (I would say “Hogwash”) and 22ac “Drayman”. Thankfully, 13dn “Geranium” was an anagram, otherwise I may have stumbled on that as well.
Chesterfield I always know because of its crooked spire and whilst 4dn “Weevil” was the obvious answer, I couldn’t get those police station posters from the 1970’s/1980’s out of my head that warned of the destructive “Colorado” beetle.
FOI – 5dn “Seashell”
LOI – 22ac “Drayman”
COD – 12dn “Cossacks”
Thanks as usual!
FOI –
Slipover was known to me and the online Oxford Dictionary says it’s an alternative to pullover – also known to me as was even for evening. Perhaps this knowledge betrays my age!1
On 21 across, doeskin is not a cloth!
ODE, sv ‘doeskin’: ‘a fine satin-weave woollen cloth resembling doeskin’
To Jeremy and other Americans. Quite uk centric today as also Chesterfield and drayman. I wouldn’t have gotten 🙄 the US equivalents. But it is the London Times I guess. Scraped home in target 25. J.
Held up in a major way by the 21ac/12dn crossing, so much so that in the end I used an aid to crack 21dn. This was despite the fact that I had worked out exactly what was required from the wordplay, but “sacks” for “dismisses” just wouldn’t come for some reason. Eventually finished (or technically DNF) in 19 mins with everything parsed.
FOI – 1ac CASH COW
LOI – 12dn COSSACKS
COD – 8dn THERE AND THEN
Thanks to Teazel and Jeremy
We also had milk cow and Macclesfield which caused all sort of problems with the nw corner. Otherwise the rest went in fairly easily.
4:58 this afternoon, after a guided tour in the morning sunshine along the Union Canal to the centre of Edinburgh, a part of my home city Mrs P and I had never been to in over 47 years. You live and learn – fascinating!
Just got inside my QC target, for what was a typically enjoyable and witty Teazel offering.
FOI 7 ac “everest” but then held up by an over-hasty entry of “yardman” instead
of “drayman” for 22 ac, until 15 d “at hand” showed me the error of my ways.
Liked 1 d “Chesterfield” and 2 d “slipover” particularly.
Thanks (and sympathies) to Jeremy and to Teazel.
CHESTERFIELD was my FOI (the twisted spire is certainly a sight to see), but could get none of its dependants until much later. I had NHO SLIPOVER or DOESKIN (my LOI), and both COSSACKS and EVEN took a very long time to crack. Also, I was not helped by writing the solution to 22a (DRAYMAN) into the available space for 21a, which was D_____N at the time.
However, all of the aformentioned frustrations were overcome and I crossed the line in 38 minutes (quite good for me, given the setter). My pleasant feeling of relief mixed with satisfaction at having solved a properly challenging puzzle were swiftly knocked out of me when I came here and saw that my EPIsOdE should have been EPITOME. I have DNF’d before for precisely the same error.
Many thanks to Teazel and Jeremy.
45 mins. Struggled with DOESKIN, VISIBLE, both of which which seemed obvious once I had them and my LOI VERB which had to wait until I had the B from ‘visible’. Those three took about a third of my time.
All seemed fair to me and fully parsed so an enjoyable puzzle. All made better as Mrs Prof is driving on the way to Somerset giving me the time to complete it.
Thanks Jeremy and Teazel.
Prof
I’m a bit of a gardener so GERANIUM was no problem for me. Struggled with VISIBLE until I realised I was reading the clue the wrong way round, ditto with COSSACKS. Nevertheless this was a fairly quick solve for me at 13.28. Very happy with that.
After a write in yesterday a seriously bad dnf
Going reasonably well until held up by 21ac and 12dn. Well into SCC club today and feeling rather thick, but at least I got there. NHO eyewash. In Yorkshire, we say hogwash!
Thanks for the blog. How you (almost) did this in 5 mins is incredible.
21:23
Some tricky ones here, especially DRAYMAN and LOI EPITOME. Just over my 20 minute target.
I’m glad my wife was here to help! To me, a SLIPOVER is a shoe and I have never heard it as an upper garment. Messed up FORESTALL as foresight. Although I got COSSACKS I still don’t understand the parsing. ASQUITH floored me as names are so rare in cryptics. Finally had EPITOME as episode! Best surface to the delicious CLOG. Thanks!
Somewhat of a struggle today, made me feel like a bit of a squit… had to look up pelargonium and was convinced it was an eyebath, what nonsense ! No issues with Slipover, cricket must be the most referenced sport in the Times… telling indeed.
As expected, reversion to the mean after yesterday’s flyer. 17:32, and used Bradford’s to give me DOESKIN, which I had NHO and didn’t get from the parsing, even though it looks simple in retrospect. I’ll join the ranks of non-gardeners who have never seen the word “pelargonium”, and I entirely missed the hidden word for VERB.
FOI EVEREST
LOI EVEN (not a fan)
COD COLLEAGUE