Like the subject of the song by The Who?, I’m a substitute here for another guy! Today, I am standing in for Chrisw91, who I think is back from his break in a fortnight. I don’t have a time for this puzzle from Wurm, but I suspect that I was within target at a tad under 15 minutes. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
Across
8 Barrel in bar area shows domed structure (7)
ROTUNDA – TUN (barrel) inside ROD (bar) and A{rea}.
9 Love to be Popeye’s girl (5)
OLIVE – O (love or zero) and LIVE (to be), referring to Olive Oyl, Popeye’s girlfriend in the eponymous cartoon.
10 Relative close to bridge in French city (5)
NIECE – NICE (French city) containing {bridg}E (close to…).
11 Not entirely frightful time in retreat (7)
HIDEOUT – HIDEOU{s} (not entirely frightful) and T{ime}.
12 End sadly involved swallowing one’s pride? (6,3)
DEADLY SIN – Anagram (involved) of [END SADLY] and I (one).
14 Good thing that comes to those who wait? (3)
TIP – Cryptic clue – a bonus or good thing for a waiter.
16 Understand an archaeological project? (3)
DIG – Double definition.
18 Changeable type in unusually clean home (9)
CHAMELEON – Anagram (unusually) of [CLEAN HOME]
21 Vessel shooting across the waves? (7)
GUNBOAT – Cryptic definition.
22 100 at church finding hidden problem (5)
CATCH – C (100 in Roman numerals) AT (at) and CH{urch}.
23 The Fleet Street crowd? (5)
PRESS – Cryptic clue or double definition, referring to the former home of the newspaper industry (Fleet Street), and PRESS = crowd.
24 Port should cover very dry dish (7)
RISOTTO – RIO (port) containing SO (very) and TT (teetotal, dry).
Down
1 School did art in Caribbean island (8)
TRINIDAD – Anagram (school, as in train) of [DID ART IN].
2 Goddess by that time in sober company? (6)
ATHENA – THEN (by that time) inside AA (Alcoholics Anonymous – sober company).
3 Previously held in detention centre (4)
ONCE – Hidden inside [detenti}ON CE{entre}.
4 Hit hard – huge letdown (6)
BATHOS – BAT (hit) and H{ard} followed by OS (outsize – huge). My Chambers describes BATHOS as “a ludicrous descent from the elevated to the ordinary in writing or speech”.
5 Tory, thick, to become thicker (8)
CONDENSE – CON{servative} (tory) and DENSE (thick).
6 Animal escaped in gorge (3,3)
PIG OUT – An animal escaped might be a PIG OUT of its pen.
7 Best British tea brewed (4)
BEAT – B{ritish) and an anagram (brewed) of [TEA].
13 The French receiving a pass in game (8)
LACROSSE – LE (the in French) containing (receiving) A CROSS (a pass, as in pass the ball / cross the ball).
15 Situated in Japan, the Onsenji temple (8)
PANTHEON – Hidden inside {ja}PAN, THE ON{senji}.
17 Male goose in butcher’s (6)
GANDER – Double definition, the second a piece of CRS (cockney rhyming slang) as in butcher’s hook = look = GANDER.
19 Sailor’s behind a small bird (6)
ASTERN – A S{mall} and TERN (bird).
20 Land in European country (6)
ESTATE – E{uropean} and STATE (country).
21 Good copy – stare in wonder (4)
GAPE – G{ood} and APE (copy).
22 Amusing person for instance (4)
CASE – Double definition.
A DNF. I was defeated by HIDEOUT and BATHOS, and was unable to parse the latter without the help of the blog. Thank you Rotter.
Another tricky one today. Like others I have NHO CASE, but it sounded reasonable, and also like others I ended up with 4d and 11a to go. That was after about 20 minutes and I thought I might be in for a really long haul ending in a DNF, but after about five minutes I considered BAT + H + OS which I didn’t know meant letdown, but knew it had something to do with depth. When it allowed me to get HIDEOUT, I figured it was probably correct. Ended up with 26:26, so not too bad for me. Thought I’d found my COD when I figured out the parsing of DEADLY SIN, but then I got the equally good TIP so I’m now torn. Thanks Rotter and Wurm.
dnf by 6
onwards tomorrow
Like others a DNF because of the NE corner, nho BATHOS and didn’t get HIDEOUS (rather cunning clue for a QC). Liked quite a few of the other clues (e.g. 8a, 14a, 24a).
DNF
The NE was too much with BATHOS, HIDEOUT, PIG OUT and TIP all unsolved.
No enjoyment to be had today.
Perhaps I was just off it, but wouldn’t have got bathos in a month of Sundays.
Had either bashes or lashes for this.
Put in case for 22dn but never heard it this as a term for an amusing person.
Struggled for over an hour to a thoroughly miserable DNF. Wurm is just too hard for me.
Thanks for the blog Rotter.
Thank you so much to The Rotter – as ever a really illuminating blog, which helps this learner immeasurably.