Fun puzzle, on the gentler end of things.
I crept in a few seconds under the five minute mark, which doesn’t happen too often. Some nice things mixed in with those good old favourites like ‘antipasti’ and ‘Etna’, including a bit of a chuckle on realising the ‘PM, briefly’ wasn’t deducting the last letter from a six-lettered PM.
In fact, there seem to be a mere four six-lettered prime ministers: two are fairly gettable, but come to the front of the class for a very large cupcake (sometimes just called a cake) if you manage either of the others.
Answer:
Good breezy fun – many thanks to Dangle!
| Across | |
| 7 | Tolerate rabid English hosts (5) |
| ABIDE – is “hosted” by rABID English | |
| 8 | Ghost beginning to panic Chinese male (7) |
| PHANTOM – P, HAN (Chinese), TOM (male – as in a male animal, rather than a random male name) | |
| 10 | Curse about the missing hot clothing (7) |
| SWEATER – SWEAR (curse) about TE (T |
|
| 11 | Come a cropper collecting large medieval weapon (5) |
| FLAIL – FAIL (come a cropper) collecting L(arge). News to me (mercifully) but now I know the origin of “to flail about”. A mace on a chain, basically. The flail was originally a tool for threshing corn, but vaguely serviceable as a weapon if needs must, à la pitchfork: think nunchucks, which probably also derive from it. | |
| 12 | A new suggestion to go with sparkling wine: hors d’oeuvres (9) |
| ANTIPASTI – A, N(ew), TIP (suggestion) to go with ASTI (sparkling wine) | |
| 14 | Asian city close to Tokyo (3) |
| LAO – LA (city), closing letter of tokyO | |
| 15 | Sharp intake of breath after son disappears in hole (3) |
| GAP – GASP (sharp intake of breath) loses S(on) | |
| 16 | Prises end off vending machine, perhaps (9) |
| DISPENSER – anagram (off) of PRISES END | |
| 18 | Tie up PM, briefly (5) |
| TRUSS – double definition, the second as in Liz Truss, the less said about the better. | |
| 20 | Stuffy, bald husband leaves (7) |
| AIRLESS – HAIRLESS (bald), H(usband) leaving | |
| 22 | Trio tactfully concealing 18th-century legislation (4,3) |
| RIOT ACT – concealed in tRIO TACTfully | |
| 23 | Defy British party (5) |
| BRAVE – B(ritish) RAVE (party) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Chuckling, after bloke initially suggests unlawful killing (12) |
| MANSLAUGHTER – LAUGHTER (chuckling) after MAN (bloke) and S (“initially” Suggests) | |
| 2 | Avoid team’s favourite somersaulting (8) |
| SIDESTEP – SIDE’S (team’s) PET (favourite) “somersaults” = reverses | |
| 3 | Second time in faction (4) |
| SECT – SEC(ond) T(ime) | |
| 4 | Rejects special containers for tea (6) |
| SPURNS – SP(ecial) URNS (containers for tea) | |
| 5 | Face fine for developing stimulant (8) |
| CAFFEINE – anagram (for developing) of FACE FINE | |
| 6 | Smoker in canteen upset (4) |
| ETNA – “in” cANTEen “upset” – reverse | |
| 9 | Underfed, mishandle our careers (12) |
| MALNOURISHED – anagram (careers) of MISHANDLE OUR. As in to career (or indeed flail) about. | |
| 13 | Editor stops troublesome individual with a large platform (8) |
| PEDESTAL – ED(itor) stops PEST (troublesome individual) with A L(arge) | |
| 14 | Salvages lost city (3,5) |
| LAS VEGAS – anagram (lost) of SALVAGES | |
| 17 | Inadequate theory voided following study (6) |
| SCANTY – TY (T |
|
| 19 | University fellow is a noodle (4) |
| UDON – U(niversity) DON (fellow) | |
| 21 | Polish base of shiny gemstone (4) |
| RUBY – RUB (polish) Y (“base” of shinY) | |
Pleasant zip through after a lovely walk on the South Downs to celebrate Mrs Templar’s birthday.
All done in 05:21, COD TRUSS like most others. Good fun. Many thanks Dangle and roly.
9:22 with no real problems but we were a bit slow to feel confident about LOI BRAVE, (BR)AVE not making sense. Loved TRUSS (as a crossword answer, obs). Was I the only feeling that come a cropper was a bit strong for fail? Fall seemed to be a better fit but FLAIL was obviously required. Thanks, Rolytoly and Dangle.
To me, come a cropper has always meant things go rather disastrously wrong. So, if anything, fail isn’t strong enough.
Struggled with this, resorting to blog @ 30 mins for Sweater (got the word play, just couldn’t assemble it) and that made Spurns difficult to solve. Thanks Roly and Dangle
17 minutes of angst, frustration and despair. I daresay this was a doddle for most of you, but I lack the talent to achieve a fast time. Just 77 on Snitch and I still struggled.
Got about half on 15 x 15 in over an hour. That speaks for itself.
Thanks for the blog.
18:06
Was biffing my way to a fast time only to find that the biffed CORN LAW instead of RIOT ACT, stuck a total spanner in the works and had to go back and parse everything. LOI SCANTY.