Solving time: 7:24
Heavy on the single letter removals (7?) in today’s offering from Pedro.
Not expecting too many to have heard of the word in the clue for 1d, but 15a may be familiar if you have been busy with the 152 lately.
I particularly enjoyed both my last entry, which was 11a, and the clever 19a.
Let me know how you found it…
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. The caret ^ indicates an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Avoiding work during scripture lesson — source of fun in playground? (8,4) |
| SKIPPING ROPE – SKIPPING (Avoiding), then OP (work i.e. abbreviation for opus, a musical work) inserted into R^E (scripture lesson i.e. abbreviation for Religious Education) | |
| 8 | Settle a quiet matter in debate (7) |
| APPOINT – A P (quiet i.e. abbreviation for piano, a musical instruction meaning “softly”) POINT (matter in debate)
Settle and APPOINT are synonymous in older or more formal legal or administrative language e.g. “The board settled/appointed a new treasurer to oversee the accounts.“ |
|
| 9 | French composer that is behind school test (5) |
| SATIE – I.E. (abbreviation for id est = “that is” in Latin) behind SAT (school test)
The SAT is a standardised test widely used for college admissions in the USA. Introduced in 1926, SAT originally stood for “Scholastic Aptitude Test,” but this was changed to “Scholastic Assessment Test” in 1994 to reduce the perception that the test measured innate talent, focusing instead on assessing students’ potential and reasoning skills. This is different from SATs, which stands for “Standard Assessment Tasks,” and which are still used at Key Stages 1 and 2 in English primary schools. |
|
| 10 | Assert shellfish may be found around island (5) |
| CLAIM – CLA^M (shellfish) around I (island) | |
| 11 | Dreadful refuges — time to depart (7) |
| HIDEOUS – HIDEOU Very good. This was my LOI. |
|
| 12 | Belief system those will get back to front (5) |
| ETHOS – THOSE –> ETHOS i.e. the last letter [back] E is moved to the front
From the Greek ēthos “habitual character and disposition; moral character; habit, custom; an accustomed place.” |
|
| 14 | Opening of Condé Nast article about a card game (7) |
| CANASTA – First letter [Opening] of C{ondé} then ^NAST A (article) about A
The name CANASTA (Spanish for “basket”) refers to the tray originally placed in the centre of the table for the stacks of undealt cards and discards. Condé Nast is an American company founded in 1909, when Condé Montrose Nast, a New York City-born publisher, purchased Vogue, a printed magazine launched in 1892 as a New York weekly journal of society and fashion news. |
|
| 15 | Everyone occupying tower on launch pad shows bravery (9) |
| GALLANTRY – ALL (Everyone) inserted into [occupying] G^ANTRY (tower on launch pad)
Very topical given the recent Artemis II lunar flyby mission. |
|
| 17 | Fine to abandon reasonable attitude (3) |
| AIR – |
|
| 19 | Careful unions could generate this source of power (7,6) |
| NUCLEAR FUSION – Anagram [could generate] of CAREFUL UNIONS – a very nice &lit clue
With an &lit clue, the entire clue consists of the wordplay and is designed to be read literally to give the definition. NUCLEAR FUSION is the process where two light atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing vast amounts of energy. |
|
| 21 | Politician, European, blocking live current measure (6) |
| AMPERE – MP (Politician) and E (European) inserted [blocking] into A^RE (live) | |
| 22 | Fool siting tavern in New York (5) |
| NINNY – INN (tavern) placed [siting] in N^Y (New York)
A NINNY was defined as a “simpleton, fool,” in the late 16th century, perhaps a misdivision of an innocent. There may be some influence in the word of Italian ninno “baby, child” (cognate with Spanish niño). |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | China reneges after rebuilding Baidu? (6,6) |
| SEARCH ENGINE – Anagram [after rebuilding] of CHINA RENEGES
Never heard of it (as I suspect many here will not have), but once I saw that the second word might be ENGINE, the remaining letters were easier to remould. Turns out that Baidu, Inc. holds a dominant position in China’s search engine market (via Baidu Search), so the use of ‘China’ in the clue was a nice tie-in. |
|
| 2 | Charge one male on top of fruit tree (7) |
| IMPEACH – I (one) M (male) PEACH
‘on top of’ is apposite as this is a down clue |
|
| 3 | Optical device gentleman picked up during afternoon (5) |
| PRISM – SIR (gentleman) reversed [picked up] during P^M (afternoon i.e. abbreviation for ‘post meridiem’) | |
| 4 | Nick to observe reduced Church (5) |
| NOTCH – NOT |
|
| 5 | Viceroy’s position? High office, but not leadership (9) |
| RESIDENCY – Certainly, Wikipedia doesn’t mention the word RESIDENCY in its lengthy Viceroy entry. However, as a Viceroy (from the Latin vice “in place of”, and the Old French roi “king”) reigns over a territory as a representative of the monarch, and is presumably resident there, I guess it works? Alternative explanations welcome… |
|
| 6 | Roadside establishment, sort with potential for development (6,7) |
| PETROL STATION – Anagram [for development] of SORT with POTENTIAL | |
| 7 | Japanese figure seen in montage is happy (6) |
| GEISHA – Hidden [seen in] in montaGE IS HAppy | |
| 13 | Cat seems active around one area (7) |
| SIAMESE – Anagram [active] of SEEMS gives S^MESE – insert I (one) A (area) | |
| 14 | Exclusive group’s bed on lake (7) |
| COTERIE – COT (bed) on ERIE (lake)
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake (by surface area) of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. |
|
| 16 | Behold copper metal’s initial substitute (5) |
| LOCUM – LO (Behold) CU (copper – chemical symbol) then initial letter of M{etal} | |
| 18 | River — peculiar, not at first behaving like water (5) |
| RUNNY – R (River) |
|
| 20 | Pot for tea to feel very hot with lid off (3) |
| URN – |
|
I didn’t find this too hard. The cryptics were simple, as evidence by the inclusion of the actual literal Nast in the clue for canasta – how easy is that. I didn’t know Baidu either, but once you have engine, the rest is obvious.
One of the meanings of resident, as given in Chambers, is a diplomat ranking below ambassador, who can be called a consul or viceroy. Such an office, therefore, might be called a residency. How I knew this, I cannot say – probably from reading a lot of colonial history.
Time: 7:50
14 minutes. NHO the SEARCH ENGINE but was familiar with the required meaning of RESIDENCY.