I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. Scorpion is one of the harder Indy setters and clues with great rigour, it was very enjoyable teasing it all out. Solving time, 43 mins. Great surface readings as well all through.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 L (I M (heading for more) A B salt = sailor) EAN
5 WELDED My final entry w for f i in fielded
9 RINGLETS n (latest in fashion) in (girl set)* ‘Once’ indicating it was a fashion in the past, rather than now, I guess. Incredibly well-crafted clue.
10 MOUS S E (Sumo)* and final letters
12 TIE U(P IN K)NOTS (Eton suit)*
15 LOE SS outside letters after alternate letters
16 MA (CE DO) NIA
18 TAR PAUL 1 N (art)* Verified after that Paul 1 was an eighth-century Pope
19 SPEKE (keeps)* Liverpool’s Speke Airport became John Lennon Airport
20 PRO FIT EROL ES (lore)< and outside letters of ‘excess’
24 I C (E) AGE Surface suggesting Micheal Parkinson parky = chilly
25 SAPPH(I)RE i in (perhaps)* I think what’s meant here is the i is the eye (central part) of ‘patient’. Quick look in dicts, it’s in Chambers, tho not in Collins, or COED, I think.
26 G ELAT I (I tale g)<
27 DECRE(e) PIT
DOWN
1 LARK Double definition with seamless split at about/early. This was my favourite clue
2 MINT Double definition pot = mint (lots of money)
3 BALTI C S EA vacating = outer letters ea = each
4 AR (THUR) M ILLER American playwright, who wrote ‘The Crucible’ and much else. Once married to Marilyn Monroe
6 E-BOOK Easy from the enumeration. The part of the clue in italics is the full title of the book e = ecstasy
7 DISCO UNTER (under in German) This was very good suggesting lots of possibilities – only got it near the end.
8 DE (EP-S EAT) ED
11 DISCONSOLATE (Old canoeists)*
13 FL (Y-T) IPPING t = town given in COED (as Town in e.g. football teams)
14 NEE R-DO-W (EL) L idLE< in (world)*
17 DISTE (MP) ER commoner = MP (from House of Commons) in (dieters)*
21 INGOT Hidden with a very good misleading definition in the surface context
21 WI MP West Indies = Caribbean and first letters
23 MEET “Meat” – homophone indicated by ‘delivered’
24 across, although witty, got a big question mark from me against it on technical grounds. “Pen” = CAGE is fine, but where is the container indicator for the E. (Sorry, I haven’t got the clue to hand).
I’ll admit this was one I paused quite a bit with in relation to fully understanding but think it is OK – I think ‘required’ is the containment indicator, if somewhat unusual. Or maybe it’s just saying an extra e is needed. Clue is “No 1 of interviewers to pen required tome, finally – The Parky Years” Surface referring to the recent book.
15a Does “constantly” indicate alternate letters?
There seemed like lots of bits and pieces of words used here: last letters of words, first letters of words, middle bits, halves, outsides, alternate letters. I know these are common devices but they seemed to be used to excess here.
Testy
See comments #6 & 7 in yesterday’s FT blog:
http://fifteensquared.net/2008/12/10/financial-times-12947-by-aardvark/
Re: constantly, I actually agree with you, which is why I changed it to ‘regularly’ in the newspaper version, but I seem to have failed to make the same change in the online version.
And I believe it is the same culprit in both cases!
I think that was probably the point Geoff was making. The ‘Setters’ section of this site shows they are one and the same.
I’d agree there was high usage of ‘bits and pieces’, but did not see it as a problem or a weakness. Setters will have different styles.
Re.2:
I find it difficult to conceive of “required” as a container indicator.
If it just means that another E is needed, this doesn’t seem to me sufficient- it doesn’t say where the E goes…
“The Parky Years” Parky meaning cold and years refers to (period)age hence Ice Age.