Solving time: 5:19
Hopefully, you didn’t find this puzzle too troubling – to me, it appeared to be of the ‘fairly gentle’ variety. My only issues were the spelling of 20a (DAEMONIC, DEMONAIC or DEMONIAC – luckily, the crossing words were all very helpful in confirming the correct configuration of letters), and some uncertainty over the existence of 1d – I had not heard this term before, but again, checking letters guided me to the right answer.
What did you make of it?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. I have also adopted jackkt’s use of the tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
| 1 | Choose the French preserves to have with meals (7) |
| PICKLES – PICK (Choose) LES (‘the’ in French i.e. plural definite article) | |
| 5 | Fellow in short section of book (4) |
| CHAP – CHAP{ter} (section of book) curtailed [short] | |
| 7 | Bedlam when odd characters get lost in wood (3) |
| ELM – Remove odd characters from |
|
| 8 | A squire frenziedly crossing river hunted animals (8) |
| QUARRIES – Anagram [frenziedly] of A SQUIRE containing [crossing] R (river) | |
| 10 | Jolly good supporter, very old (5) |
| BRAVO – BRA (supporter) V (very) O (old) | |
| 11 | Crucial point editor put about alcoholic drink (7) |
| DECIDER – ED (editor) reversed [put about], then CIDER (alcoholic drink)
I had sport in mind when thinking about ‘Crucial point’ e.g. in a tennis tie-breaker, or a soccer penalty shoot-out. |
|
| 13 | Understand fool (4,2) |
| TAKE IN – Double definition | |
| 15 | Sign he’s not found in Roget’s reference book? (6) |
| TAURUS – T{hes}AURUS (Roget’s reference book) without HE’S | |
| 17 | Illegal players? They know the ropes (7) |
| RINGERS – The second part of the clue alludes to bell RINGERS who will be familiar with bell ropes.
As for ‘Illegal players?’, in 16th century criminal slang, the practice of substituting items of wildly differing values was known as ringing the changes (a phrase derived from campanology) and those who practised this con were known as RINGERS. The term ringer also turned up in 19th century horseracing where, as well as referencing the conman fraudulently substituting a slow horse with a faster horse, the term also came to mean the substitute horse itself. The term dead ringer (with dead meaning ‘exact’), when the two horses looked identical, may also come from this source. Fast forward to the present day, where a ringer means a secret professional, or someone posing as an underdog but who actually dominates. I used to come across the occasional ringer in my cricketing days when a friendly fixture might become distinctly unfriendly if a ‘cousin’ of a member of the opposing team, making up the numbers, went in as a tailender and knocked off a quick half-century… |
|
| 18 | Sarah’s leading a dance (5) |
| SALSA – SAL‘S (diminutive of Sarah’s) ahead of [leading] A | |
| 20 | Dreadful comedian is possessed by the devil? (8) |
| DEMONIAC – Anagram [Dreadful] of COMEDIAN | |
| 22 | Some strange episode? Gosh! (3) |
| GEE – Hidden [Some] in strange episode | |
| 23 | Try turning creatures of the night back (4) |
| STAB – BATS (creatures of the night) reversed [turning….. or back]
Not sure why there are two reversal indicators here other than for surface reading |
|
| 24 | Setter atingle with excitement (7) |
| GELATIN – Anagram [with excitement] of ATINGLE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Elders of church arranging best prayers — ace output! (10) |
| PRESBYTERS – Anagram [arranging] of BEST PR |
|
| 2 | Mark and maiden in state of unconsciousness (5) |
| COMMA – M (maiden – the abbreviation comes from the world of cricket) inserted into CO~MA (state of unconsciousness)
The tilde ~ suggests where to insert the M, but could also be inserted at COM~A |
|
| 3 | Something alcoholic, something very cold and sweet (9) |
| LIQUORICE – LIQUOR (Something alcoholic) ICE (something very cold) | |
| 4 | Tolerates provision for spectators at matches (6) |
| STANDS – Double definition
As for the second definition, they are still called STANDS, even though fans have been sitting down for years. The term STAND in this sense, originated in the 15th century, when elaborate structures were built for spectators at tournaments and jousts. These STANDS were usually made of wood and could accommodate a large number of people. Over time, the term came to be used for similar structures at other events, such as races, sports matches, and theatrical performances. |
|
| 5 | Vehicle is endless worry (3) |
| CAR – CAR{e} (worry) without its final letter [endless] | |
| 6 | Word of prayer associated with the German reformer? (7) |
| AMENDER – AMEN (Word of prayer) DER (“the” in German – masculine singular definite article) | |
| 9 | Maybe crab and tuna, scarce at sea (10) |
| CRUSTACEAN – Anagram [at sea] of TUNA SCARCE | |
| 12 | Conservative girl I term “mostly traditional”? (9) |
| CLASSICAL – C (Conservative) LASS (girl) I CAL{l} (term) with the final letter removed [mostly]
Today’s IKEA clue, where the quotation marks should not prevent you seeing the need to lift and separate… |
|
| 14 | Most compassionate type, English saint (7) |
| KINDEST – KIND (type) E (English) ST (saint) | |
| 16 | Making request in the role of monarch (6) |
| ASKING – AS KING (in the role of monarch) | |
| 19 | Torch, say, not hard to carry (5) |
| LIGHT – Double definition | |
| 21 | Part of regalia held by senior bishop (3) |
| ORB – Hidden [held by] in senior bishop | |
My first thought for DEMONIAC was DAEMONIC but fortunately ORB settled that. Not so RINGERS where I’d made a mess by biffing RULING at 16d, despite it having no connection to making a request! With the checkers I only knew RONDEAU that would fit 17a which made even less sense. Much headscratching before seeing the very familiar RINGERS, leading to a doh! moment for LOI ASKING. Still faster than average at 11:06 but I’d made unnecessarily hard work of it which took the edge off the enjoyment today. COD GELATIN. Thanks, Mike and Izetti.
Yes, a gentle puzzle, but a work of art in the smoothness of the clues. A pleasure to solve and to enjoy the construction of the clues. Thanks Izetti
Yes, a gentle puzzle, but a work of art in the smoothness of the clues. A pleasure to solve and to enjoy the construction of them. Thanks Izetti
25 mins…
Probably me, but I found this on the harder side. Far too much time spent on trying to work out 1dn “Presbyters” and 20ac “Demoniac” – the latter mainly because my “O” in “Orb” looked more like a “D” (the one disadvantage of using a pen/paper is occasionally not being able to read your own handwriting).
FOI – 5ac “Chap”
LOI – 20ac “Demoniac”
COD – 2dn “Comma”
Thanks as usual!
10 mins.
Spent well over an hour on 15 x 15.
Thanks for the blog.
I really enjoyed this gentler Izetti and completed it fairly quickly, for me. I, then, saw the setter’s name on this blog, went back to see how long I’d taken and it was 15 min 10 sec.
Content with that.
Rather late, I know. “Ringing” or “car ringing” is a term used in the UK to describe a type of vehicle fraud where a stolen car’s identity is altered to match that of a legitimate, usually written-off, vehicle”