Solving time: 11:16
I didn’t find this particularly straightforward in flight, though apart from a couple of answers (I’m looking at you 12d – which gets my COD – and 17a), I’m struggling to see what caused the hold-up. My familiarity with 21a comes only from teenage visits to the local kebab house to soak up an evening’s ale intake.
But all in all, this felt like an enjoyable challenge. Let me know what you made of it….
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].
| Across | |
| 1 | OK then, start off each spring (4,4) |
| VERY WELL – Remove first letter [start off] of |
|
| 5 | Musical work featured in Octopussy (4) |
| OPUS – Hidden in [featured in] Octopussy | |
| 9 | Heads of inquiry never permitted to return useful info (5) |
| INTEL – First letters [Heads of] I{nquiry} N{ever} then LET (permitted) reversed [to return]
Short for INTELligence |
|
| 10 | Help fool coming out of trap? (7) |
| SUCCOUR – Homophone [coming out of trap?] of SUCKER (fool) | |
| 11 | The 90th Parallel North is one good place from which to start (4,8) |
| POLE POSITION – Double definition, the first of which refers to the position of the Geographic, Terrestrial or True North Pole – the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth’s axis of rotation meets its surface | |
| 13 | Barges are ultimately slow moving around middle of harbour (6) |
| ELBOWS – Last letter [ultimately] of {ar}E then anagram [moving] of SLOW around middle letter of {har}B{our}
‘Barges’ and ‘ELBOWS’ here in a verbal context. |
|
| 15 | Mean video games company rejecting outsiders (6) |
| INTEND – Only thought of the company once all checkers were in place. NINTENDO was founded in Japan as NINTENDO Koppai as far back as 1889, originally producing handmade hanafuda playing cards. |
|
| 17 | Form of sports practice compelling misplaced anger (7,5) |
| DRIVING RANGE – DRIVING (compelling) then anagram [misplaced] of ANGER | |
| 20 | Uncivilised male withdrawing south from capital (7) |
| HEATHEN – HE (male) then ATHEN |
|
| 21 | Part of pack of takeaway meatballs (5) |
| KOFTA – Hidden [Part of] in pack of takeaway
In English, kofta is a loanword borrowed from the Urdu کوفتہ or Persian کوفته kofta meaning pounded meat. Might not be familiar to those that have not partaken of much Middle-Eastern cuisine. |
|
| 22 | Bite from flipping insect! (4) |
| TANG – GNAT (insect) after reversing [flipping] | |
| 23 | Agonised about location in California (3,5) |
| SAN DIEGO – Anagram [about] of AGONISED
The eighth most populous city in the United States with more than 1.3 million residents. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Very old driving licence possibly no longer valid (4) |
| VOID – V (Very) O (old) ID (driving licence possibly) | |
| 2 | Some threadbare trousers back in fashion? (5) |
| RETRO – Hidden [Some] in threadbare trousers | |
| 3 | Confusion with rowers and boxer (12) |
| WELTERWEIGHT – WELTER (Confusion) W (with) EIGHT (rowers)
WELTER is defined by one online dictionary as a large and especially badly organised number of things. I didn’t know this before coming to write this blog. |
|
| 4 | Bible reading given by the French boy (6) |
| LESSON – LES (French plural of ‘the’) SON (boy) | |
| 6 | Short bio for item in a folder (7) |
| PROFILE – PRO (for) FILE (item in a folder)
Initially, I was slightly foxed, thinking in physical terms, “Aren’t a file and a folder more or less the same thing?” However, in the virtual world (computers, tablets, mobile ‘phones etc.), files are stored in folders (e.g. for the Windows or Android operating systems – other operating systems are available). |
|
| 7 | Band occasionally breaking into calm, romantic tune (8) |
| SERENADE – Alternate letters [occasionally] of {b}A{n}D inserted into [breaking into] SERENE (calm) | |
| 8 | Hugely exciting proceedings in a court crowded with people (6-6) |
| ACTION-PACKED – ACTION (proceedings in a court) PACKED (crowded with people) | |
| 12 | Teacher’s sexy yearbook photo? (8) |
| HEADSHOT – HEAD‘S (Teacher’s) HOT (sexy) | |
| 14 | Second-rate train travelling across one country (7) |
| BRITAIN – Anagram [travelling] of B (second-rate) TRAIN across I (one) | |
| 16 | Business schedule information penned by a district attorney (6) |
| AGENDA – GEN (information) surrounded [penned] by A DA (district attorney)
From the Latin agenda, literally “things to be done,” neuter plural of agendus, gerundive of agere “to do”. Originally used in a theological sense of “matters of practice,” (as opposed to credenda “things to be believed, matters of faith,”), the modern sense of “items of business to be done at a meeting” is attested by 1882. If a singular is required (i.e. one item of the agenda) it is now agendum, the former singular agend being obsolete. |
|
| 18 | Manager almost makes mistake (5) |
| GAFFE – GAFFE From the 1580s, GAFFER is believed to be a contraction of Godfather, a respectful term extended by the 1840s to foremen and supervisors, and by the 1970s, to managers of English soccer teams. |
|
| 19 | Something folded that always comes open at the front (4) |
| TACO – Initial letters [at the front] of That Always Comes Open | |
Finished it, but could not parse Very well or Heathen, so thank you Mike. I thought it was moderate in difficulty.
About 60 minutes.
I’m beyond help with this. HEADSHOT and HEATHEN took about 35 minutes, ample demonstration of my utter stupidity. Neither clue made any kind of sense to me, despite all the experience I have gained.
I’m sure most of you found this a walk in the park, but reading your comments would only make me feel worse, so I haven’t looked.
Spent over an hour on big crossword. I haven’t checked the blog yet, but I’m sure at least three answers are incorrect.
My computer is now going off and may stay that way for some time. I find it very unfair that I spend all this time trying to improve and having a go at the big crossword, and yet I cannot make any headway whatsoever. Other solvers are here for a few weeks and then achieve times I can only envy – why? What do I lack? Where do I go wrong?
PS Two errors on big crossword, most of which was unparsed. Nothing positive about that.
My, I was slow today! 29:56 but got there in the end out of sheer stubbornness. I felt as if I was attempting the Big Puzzle when I tumbled to ELBOWS, a very slantwise definition, and “coming out of trap” was, um, also slantwise as a homophone indicator. I still don’t get DRIVING RANGE as a form of sports practice, to me it’s a place not an activity. Loved SERENADE for the surface.
No excuse really for not seeing TACO, it seemed like forever.
Thanks to Jalna and Mike!
We were held up by HEADSHOT, DRIVING (RANGE), VERY (WELL); We also had NHO that meaning of WELTER, but as others said it had to be. SUCCOUR (as a homophone) and SAN DIEGO (from an anagram) cropped up recently in Quintagrams, which helped.
COD HEADSHOT when penny dropped.
Thanks for your good blog Mike.
01:00:27, though in my defence I’ve been solving with an electrician rewiring the kitchen around me. Enjoyed it a lot, thank you Jalna.
Thank you for the blog!