Solving time: 8:21
I’m not sure if I was just a bit slow with this one – I didn’t find it too tricky whilst in flight, but time seems to have passed quickly (maybe the hallmark of an entertaining puzzle).
I bunged in COUCH initially at 1a which slowed things fractionally until the anagrams at 2d and 3d confirmed I was barking up the wrong tree; and it took three checkers to see 15a. Must say, I did like the ‘brief illness’ at 8d and the ‘very much al dente’ at 1d.
Let me know how you got on.
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. The tilde ~ indicates an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hide origin of chronic pain (5) |
| CACHE – First letter [origin] of C{hronic} then ACHE (pain) | |
| 7 | Fruit, a number outside crate, damaged (9) |
| NECTARINE – N~INE (a number) outside an anagram [damaged] of CRATE | |
| 9 | Take on work in audit regularly (5) |
| ADOPT – Insert OP (work) into AD~T – alternate letters [regularly] of A{u}D{i}T | |
| 10 | Flavoured wine turned out nastier (7) |
| RETSINA – Anagram [turned out] of NASTIER
RETSINA (Greek: ρετσίνα) is a Greek white (or rosé or very rarely red) resinated wine, which has been made for at least 2,000 years. Its unique flavor is said to have originated from the practice of sealing wine vessels with Aleppo pine resin in ancient times. |
|
| 11 | Partially see mantid (or mantis) resting (7) |
| DORMANT – Hidden [Partially see] mantid (or mantis)
Ignore the punctuation |
|
| 12 | KLM maybe fine with hours lost (7) |
| AIRLINE – KLM is an abbreviation of Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (literally ‘Royal Aviation Company’) and is the flag carrier of the Netherlands. |
|
| 15 | Clear glass of claret’s drunk (last of day for English) (7) |
| CRYSTAL – Anagram [drunk] of CLAR |
|
| 18 | Minutes finishing off repair (7) |
| MENDING – M (Minutes) ENDING (finishing off)
As in “I left my down-at-heel shoes at the cobblers for repair/mending“ |
|
| 20 | Soundly fix roofing slab touching (7) |
| TACTILE – Homophone [Soundly] of TACK (fix) then TILE (roofing slab)
TACTILE comes directly from Latin tactilis “tangible, that may be touched,” from tactus, past participle of tangere “to touch”. The Proto-Indo-European root tag- “to touch, handle” is related. |
|
| 22 | Get rid of king with moderate protection (5) |
| ERASE – R (king i.e. abbreviation of Rex) contained [with… protection] by E~ASE (moderate) | |
| 23 | Book short month with European renter mostly (9) |
| NOVELETTE – NOV (short month) E (European) then all but the last character [mostly] of LETTE{r} (renter)
How long is a NOVELETTE? A work of fiction of between 7500-19000 words is generally considered a NOVELETTE. It’s longer than a short story (1000-7500 words), and flash fiction (<1000 words). Novellas are generally longer and have their own distinguishing features. Examples of NOVELETTEs: |
|
| 24 | Fear of departed around end of October? (5) |
| DREAD – D~EAD (departed) around last letter [end] of {Octobe}R | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Vegetable initially cooked very much al dente (5) |
| CHARD – First letter [initially] of C{ooked} HARD (very much al dente)
Did you know? Chard is one of the most common ingredients of Croatian cuisine, being known as the “queen of the Dalmatian garden“ |
|
| 2 | I cry “booh” to upset singer (8) |
| CHOIRBOY – Anagram [upset] of I CRY “BOOH“ | |
| 3 | Catch parent running (6) |
| ENTRAP – Anagram [running] of PARENT | |
| 4 | Mother’s holding spades — ace? (6) |
| MASTER – MA~TER (Mother) containing [holding] S (spades)
Think the question mark is just for surface. |
|
| 5 | Flag up digital assistant (4) |
| SIRI – IRIS (flag) reversed [up]
‘Up’ is apposite as this is a down clue. SIRI is a digital assistant purchased, developed and popularised by Apple Inc. |
|
| 6 | Visibly embarrassed about former family (7) |
| RELATED – RE~D (Visibly embarrassed) containing [about] LATE (former) | |
| 8 | Shortening of brief illness (11) |
| CURTAILMENT – CURT (brief) AILMENT (illness) | |
| 13 | Water equipment limited by one speed (8) |
| IRRIGATE – RIG (equipment) contained [limited] by I (one) R~ATE (speed)
Water is a verb here |
|
| 14 | Superb quality solvent (7) |
| ACETONE – ACE (Superb) TONE (quality) | |
| 16 | Small amount of pudding (6) |
| TRIFLE – Double definition | |
| 17 | Truly popular act (6) |
| INDEED – IN (popular) DEED (act) | |
| 19 | Good grass is a sin (5) |
| GREED – G (Good) REED (grass)
One of the seven deadlies… |
|
| 21 | Aromatic spice but left out bay (4) |
| COVE – C |
|
Felt pretty hard to me at 35:52, but perhaps just a rough morning for my brain. NHO ‘flag’ meaning IRIS, and I see it is apparently a completely distinct etymology, so I’ve learned something.
I may have heard of RETSINA, but I try to suppress most sweetened wine products, and it didn’t seem particularly more familiar than other assortments of those letters.
Really enjoyed COD CURTAILMENT.
Terrific write-up, thanks!
Found this a mixed bag. Some quick write-ins and some taking time. Failed on the easy, with hindsight and blog, Related. Thanks Mike and Joker
9.34. No problems, but a bit slow on the touchpad today.
14:03 today and it would have been a little quicker had I not waited a while after I had finished to see if anything better than ERASE came to mind, which I couldn’t parse. I continued trying to parse after I did stop my watch and did eventually realise what was going on. Great puzzle as usual from Joker and thanks Mike for the blog.
Tried 15 x 15. Got 10 in well over an hour. I am truly useless. If that’s the best I can manage after 5 years, I should give up!