More enviably entertaining, inventive stuff from Mr Cryptica. There’s plenty to admire here as always, with 21A and 20D being the standouts for me.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | FLIP-FLOP – A pair of double defs |
| 6 | CALLAS – CALL,AS |
| 8 | ANTI – ANT,1 |
| 10 | GREENHOUSE – E,(HEN)* in GROUSE |
| 11 | BUTTER – B,UTTER |
| 12 | DRUBBING – D,RUBBBING |
| 13 | ARCHIMEDES SCREW – (CARESSED HIM),CREW – A very nice surface reading |
| 15 | SUTTON COLDFIELD – U in NOTTS <,COLD,FIELD |
| 19 | BROWN ALE – BROW,ELAN < |
| 20 | PLAICE – “Place” |
| 21 | OVERBURDEN – VERB in OUR,DEN – This is a fantastic clue, which took me a while to work out. ‘Something to do during our retreat’ is outstandingly neat wordplay |
| 22 | GUNK – Hidden in unfeelinG UNKind |
| 23 | SLEDGE – L in SEDGE |
| 24 | ENTIRETY – (ETERNITY)* |
| Down | |
| 2 | LANGOUR – O in LANGUR – I needed all the checking latters here, having never heard of the langur monkey |
| 3 | PAINT THE TOWN RED – Cryptic def. |
| 4 | LAGER – AGE in L,R – ‘woman’s secret’ for AGE is very clever and threw me until I had all the checking letters here |
| 5 | PLEADED – P,LEADED |
| 6 | CONCUSSED – CON,CUSSED |
| 7 | LOOK BACK IN ANGER – LOO,K,BACK,(EARNING)* – The card game definition of LOO was new to me |
| 8 | ABSENCE – ABS[-tin]ENCE |
| 14 | MINIATURE – “Minute ya” – ref. Shirley Bassey’s song Big Spender. Have to admit I’ve only just worked this out now, but it was worth the wait! |
| 16 | UNRAVEL – UN,RAVEL – ‘Barman’ as a definition for composer might be pushing it for some, but it makes for a more interesting clue |
| 17 | OVERDUE – O,VERDU[-n],E |
| 18 | LOCKNUT – LOCK,NUT |
| 20 | PINOT – P in OT..! – Fantastic clue. This device is sorely underused if you ask me, though Punk/Paul/Mudd/anonymous Times setter seems to be a fan. I presume that the ‘cryptically’ element is added in to make it a bit easier, though I’d be equally happy without it, albeit that it would make the clue harder to solve |
2D is spelt LANGUOR. I made the same mistake a Ali, which made 11A a bit tricky..
Me too. And I second Ali’s praise – I guessed MINIATURE from all the checking letters, scratched my head, then laughed out loud and started singing “Hey, Big Spender…” as the penny dropped.
Loved it too, especially Flip-flop. Simple, but brilliant. In fact it’s been a really good week in the Indy.
I agree – the Indie puzzles have been top class this week. (But, in my view, they are consistently excellent, and I always turn to them first in the day.)
An entertaining puzzle. The highlight might just be 4D – a clue to lager not involving an anag. of large, regal, or anything else.
My brain must have been on half-speed or something. I completed the puzzle apart from 11a (due to spelling 2d wrongly) but missed the subtleties of clues such as 21a, 14d and 20d. In fact my first thought for 21a was ‘overextend’ and I was trying to fit it to the wordplay.
For a variety of reasons, I was a bit late getting around to this puzzle, but would like to add my praise to that above, And it shows they don’t have to be extra-hard to be good.