On the gentler side of things today.
I was rather close to a clean sweep, in fact, getting all the acrosses on the first pass except 22ac, where I couldn’t quite see what was going on. But then ditto with the anagram at 1d, despite all the checkers. So I’ll have to content myself with a sub-5 minutes, which happens rarely enough.
Pleasant, breezy fun – many thanks to Teazel!
| Across | |
| 1 | Good luck for the elite (3,3,4) |
| ALL THE BEST – cryptic nod to the elite = the best | |
| 8 | I’m British in New York — I oppose local development (5) |
| NIMBY – I’M B(ritish) in NY. A perfect acronym, really. | |
| 9 | Not to meet for date is sort of comic (5,2) |
| STAND UP – double definition | |
| 10 | Jog memory: what you may have to do to gain admission (4,1,4) |
| RING A BELL – double definition | |
| 12 | Shoot, not initially in anger (3) |
| IRE – fIRE (shoot, not initially) | |
| 13 | Copying a metallic sound (5) |
| APING – A, PING (a, metallic sound) | |
| 15 | Obtain what’s needed, do you understand? (3,2) |
| GET IT – double definition | |
| 17 | Was leader by editor on the left? (3) |
| LED – ED(itor) on L(eft) | |
| 18 | Being very thin, decline to expose oneself in the water (6-3) |
| SKINNY-DIP – SKINNY (very thin) DIP (decline) | |
| 20 | Strange unease about very wide roads (7) |
| AVENUES – anagram (strange) about V(ery) | |
| 21 | On forehead, new colour (5) |
| BROWN – On BROW (forehead) goes N(ew) | |
| 22 | Maltreated? Difficult, and beyond being repaired (4,4,2) |
| HARD DONE BY – HARD (difficult), and an anagram (being repaired) of BEYOND | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Remarkable balloon drama: it’s exceptionally heavy to move (8,4) |
| ABNORMAL LOAD – anagram (remarkable) of BALLOON DRAMA | |
| 2 | Fruit, millions in Spanish city (5) |
| LEMON – M(illions) in LEON (Spanish city) | |
| 3 | Horse always gets fodder (3) |
| HAY – H(orse) AY (always) | |
| 4 | More crowded transport that is run (6) |
| BUSIER – BUS (transport) IE (that is) R(un) | |
| 5 | Piece of office equipment tangles up, if misused (6,3) |
| STAPLE GUN – anagram (if misused) of TANGLES UP | |
| 6 | Commercial break no longer fixed in position (6) |
| ADRIFT – AD (commercial) RIFT (break) | |
| 7 | An attractive coin makes a lot of money (1,6,5) |
| A PRETTY PENNY – A, PRETTY, PENNY (an, attractive, coin) | |
| 11 | Bitter flavouring upset Argonauts (9) |
| ANGOSTURA – anagram (upset) of ARGONAUTS | |
| 14 | Popular action, no doubt (6) |
| INDEED – IN (popular) DEED (action) | |
| 16 | Not found in poor visibility, we’re told (6) |
| MISSED – sounds like (“we’re told”) MIST (poor visibility) | |
| 19 | Flying machine managed to cross river (5) |
| DRONE – DONE (managed) to cross R(iver) | |
| 21 | Book, one written with love? (3) |
| BIO – &lit: B(ook) I (one) written with O (love). The whole clue is both wordplay, and a definition for a BIO[graphy]. Nice. | |
found this fairly easy after the last 3.
Abnormal Load Ok by me better than convoi exceptional !
why don’t I get a notification when some one replies to a comment?
CONVOI EXCEPTIONEL
I got stuck behind an ABNORMAL LOAD for a couple of minutes, which slowed me down, otherwise I could have been on for
my best time for a while. Never mind, it was 8:40 today, so I’m still quite content. Agree that it was on the gentle side of the Teazel spectrum!
I pencilled in LEAD at 1d initially which made the anagram somewhat harder 😅 Obviously 7d (A PRETTY PENNY) made me smile, if somewhat ruefully!
FOI Nimby LOI Abnormal load COD Staple gun
Thanks Teazel and Roly
Just under 15 mins today so very happy with that. LOI MISSED – needed all the checkers for some reason. Liked SKINNY DIP. No problems with ABNORMAL LOAD. On the gentler side for a Teazel. Many thanks all.
My horrible week continues.
After 12 minutes, I just had 6dn to solve, with four letters in place: AD-I-T.
Easy? A chance to record a PB?
Not a bit of it. Couldn’t get it for the life of me.
Eventually limped home deeply into the SCC feeling utterly deflated.
What an awful week I am having! Two last clue nightmares and two solves that were like wading through treacle.
Thanks for the blog and congrats to those of you who recorded good times and PBs. I was so nearly with you.
10:50
No difficulties, one of the easier ones today.