Solving time 21:46
Are Saturday’s puzzles getting harder or am I getting worse? I haven’t gone under 20 minutes for weeks, whereas my weekday averages are around 13 mins, with the occasional sub-10 minute time.
Across
1 | DIP,LO(DO)CUS – one of the best-known dinosaurs and one of the largest. |
10 | (p)O(W)LISH – strange word this. According to Chambers, apart from solemn, it can also mean either wise or stupid. |
13 | RECOVERY – got this from the definition, but haven’t a clue about the wordplay. [Explained in comments as (b)RECO(n),VERY – very annoying as I used to live there!] |
14 | CRY,ST(ALCLE=a cell*)AR |
17 | T(HICK’S KIN)NED (dent rev) |
20 | MA(EST)O,SO – I’d never seen or heard of EST (Erhard Seminars Training) before, but since last Saturday it’s already appeared in another crossword somewhere. |
21 | LIE,BIG – Justus von Liebig, inventor of the Oxo cube. |
23 | AN,TI(MO)NY – “comprehended” as an insertion indicator? Chambers gives one meaning as “to comprise or include”, so it’s okay. Never seen it before though. |
Down
2 | (p)ILL(US)ORY – pretty difficult wordplay, I only got this with all checking letters and worked back. |
3 | LOT – who was Abraham’s nephew in the Bible. |
4 | DR,ONE – so that’s why Wodehouse called Bertie Wooster’s club the Drones’ Club…I got into reading Wodehouse last year after doing the Listener puzzle whose theme was the different grades of hangover listed in The Mating Game (The Consequence of Being Mortal by Phi). |
5 | CAMBRI(dge),C |
6 | SP,OTC,HECK – SP=starting price, OTC=over the counter. Only just worked out the wordplay. |
15 | A(N)IM,O,S(I)TY – complicated wordplay that hangs together well in the surface reading. |
16 | BEG,INNER – Fresher as in first-year at university. |
inside part of Welsh town = B(RECO)N
unusually = VERY
rally = RECOVERY
Harry Shipley
I would agree the puzzles are getting harder on Saturdays. I found 23533 even worse than this one!
9A – L inside (PART OF)* + M – “ground” being the anagram indicator.
24D – MA(r)C – Marc is the residue left after grapes have been pressed.
I see 9A clearly now, but would never have worked out the reason for 24D. So “refuse” is cluing a specific waste-product of wine making, “marc”. How many people would spot that without already having the M and C in place, I wonder.
And yes, Ilanc, I lived on the West Coast in the 70s too, encountered EST-types, and still didn’t get the reference! (I think I’d mercifully repressed the whole idea.) And how does “so” get tacked onto “maestoso”?
Valentine
Some “easies” are discussed in the comments above but here they are in full:
7a Absolutely essential to incluDE ADress (4)
DEAD. In my circle of friends it is the lass from Newcastle who uses this most often for “very”.
11a Guess when birds should return (6)
AS SUME. Just AS you think it is safe to go outside the EMUS come back.
22a Sign from one following object of admiration home (6)
GEM IN I
25a Reminder for daughter (4)
PRO D
26a (Old lawyer)* in action containing constant caution (6,4)
YELLOW CARD. The constant is c as in e=mc2.
8d Grip muscles round body (6)
ABS ORB. Abs as in 6-pack, orb as in round body. Grip = Absorb as in hold one’s attention.
12d New (issue daft in)* content? Not at all (11)
UNSATISFIED
18d Wise guy having little prominence outside Washington (4,3)
KNO WA LL
19d Monarch with mind on making progress (6)
CARE ER
21d Illuminated word used to get attention in print (5)
LIT HO. Ho there – are you paying attention?
24d Refuse to go without right coat (3)
MA (R) C. Refuse as the lees of grape pressing = MARC was beyond me as je n’ai pas connu le mot. Je do now. (I used to love Miles Kingston’s Franglais).