A stiff and cheeky Friday challenge from Cheeko today (who is perhaps accidentally outed as Mark Kelmanson in the messed up title, which also reveals some Spoonerisms I wouldn’t have spotted). Some great clues, including 23A, 3D, 14D and 19D, but I was somewhat off the wavelength and got stuck at the end on 10A, taking me over 9 minutes in total – 80% over target. Is it hard, or was I just being slow? I’m sure you will tell me! Thank-you Cheeko for the excellent puzzle.
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 156 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sane arbiter resolves tricky problem (5-6) |
| BRAIN-TEASER – (sane arbiter)* [resolves]. | |
| 8 | Alerts broadcast about northern available properties (7) |
| RENTALS – N (northern) in (alerts)* [broadcast]. | |
| 9 | Wide secondary thoroughfare (5) |
| BROAD – B ROAD (secondary throughfare). | |
| 10 | The Reverend’s reserved vessels, more than one circular (9) |
| FLYSHEETS – “The Reverend” here is Dr. Spooner – his SHY (reserved) FLEETS (vessels) become FLYSHEETS. This one gave me trouble as I couldn’t think of “flysheet” for a “circular”, knowing of it only as a part of a tent. Not FLYWHEELS as I had originally but, not surprisingly, couldn’t parse. | |
| 12 | Fish going under keels, essentially (3) |
| IDE – Middle letters, [essentially], of goIng unDer keEls. | |
| 13 | See result of voting back in lounge (6) |
| LOLLOP – LO !(see!) + POLL (result of voting) reversed, [back] -> LLOP. | |
| 15 | Leave behind fake centrepiece for altar (6) |
| FORGET – FORGE (fake, the verb) + middle letter, [centrepeice], of alTar. | |
| 17 | I’m surprised nothing accompanies hot duck (3) |
| OHO – O (looks like 0; nothing) + H (hot) + O (o; duck in cricket). | |
| 18 | What could make pets ultimately seem dire? (9) |
| DISTEMPER – [could make] (pets + {see}m + dire)* with “ultimately” meaning take the last letter. A nice semi-&lit. | |
| 20 | Good girl’s mirror (5) |
| GLASS – G (good) + LASS (girl). | |
| 22 | Eg polar rocks on which climbers develop (7) |
| PERGOLA – (e.g. polar)* [rocks]. | |
| 23 | Valiant Bill to intensify checks (11) |
| REDOUBTABLE – REDOUBLE (intensify) with TAB (bill) in [checks]. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Adopting new name, purchase pet (5) |
| BUNNY – BUY (purchase) including, [adopting], N (new) + N (name). | |
| 2 | Maybe spider-like broken anchor secured with help (9) |
| ARACHNOID – [broken] (anchor)* in, [secured with], AID (help). | |
| 3 | Want to bite heads off some toys, like Russian dolls? (6) |
| NESTED – NEED (want) outside, [to bite], initial letters, [heads off], Some Toys. Good grief. A rather macabre surface. | |
| 4 | English, repeatedly bowled, decline (3) |
| EBB – E (English) + B (bowled, in a cricket score card) + B (bowled) [repeatedly]. | |
| 5 | Pushing succeeded, glutton grabbing French wine (7) |
| SHOVING – S (succeeded) + HOG (glutton) outside [grabbing] VIN (French for wine). | |
| 6 | Happy occasion — landlord cuts half of rent on June 6, 1944 (3-6,3) |
| RED-LETTER DAY – LETTER (landlord) inside, [cutting], [half of] RE{nt} + D-DAY (June 6, 1944). | |
| 7 | Old guard fret about juvenile miscreant (6,6) |
| ARTFUL DODGER – (old guard fret)* [about]. | |
| 11 | Beach resident’s husband in urgent run in taxi (5,4) |
| SHORE CRAB – H (husband) in SORE (urgent, as in sorely in need of) + R (run) in CAB (taxi). | |
| 14 | I’m spotted in dance outfit after change of heart (7) |
| LEOPARD – LEOTARD (dance outfit) after changing the middle letter [after change of heart] -> LEOPARD. Along with 5D this makes a Spoonerism of Loving Shepherd. | |
| 16 | Something under fire has exploded mine (3-3) |
| ASH-PIT – (has)* [expoded] + PIT (mine). | |
| 19 | Strong acid may score this buzz (5) |
| PHONE – PH ONE (strong acid may score this). The pH scale runs from 1 (strong acid) to 14 (strong alakali) with 7 meaning neurtral. Along with 1D this makes a Spoonerism of Funny Bone. | |
| 21 | Dubois regularly raised very small amount of cash (3) |
| SOU – Alternate letters [regularly] of dUbOiS [raised] -> SOU. | |
20.35
Well over 3 x my average time.
I like tough ones but the indirect Spooner reference was too much imho. I certainly had no idea what was going on and had to biff it after deciding to ignore the cryptic.
If only I had looked at the Quitch, I might have had the patience to try harder to parse 10a, FLY?HEE?S. Sigh. 17:08 but it’s not “flywheels”. A BRAINTEASER indeed, with a long time spent over FORGET and PHONE, my COD. Off to read the blog, then back to the garden. Thanks Cheeko and John.
…and after checking the blog I feel a bit better, having never, ever, ever heard of a flysheet, I swear (haha I’m probably wrong there), whether as a circular or as part of a tent.