This lookoed like it would take a little “time” at first, but actually it wasn’t that hard once I got into it.
Some of the parding was complicated, but this was a very enjoyable solve.
Thanks, Wanderer.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SAMOSA | Pastry from Greek island area (6) |
| SAMOS + A. Samos being an island in the Aegean. | ||
| 4 | WISTERIA | Women’s groups note song about climber (8) |
| WIs (“women’s groups) + TE (“note”) + <=AIR | ||
| 9 | ON TIME | Prompt outburst of emotion, not love (2,4) |
| *(emotin)
Personally, I would take “without love” to mean that no Os at all, but I can see what the setter was trying to do. |
||
| 10 | SPAMMING | Make notes about girl, first of many sending junk mail (8) |
| SING about PAM + M(any) | ||
| 12, 13, 14 | GOOD QUEEN BESS | Former monarch, half German? (4,5,4) |
| Half of “German” is “G ER” so GOOD and QUEEN ELIZABETH (aka “QUEEN BESS”) | ||
| 17 | PALETTE KNIFE | Somehow paint ankle and feet without using an artist’s spatula (7,5) |
| *(pit ankle feet) (“paint ankle feet” without “an”) | ||
| 20 | BELOW THE BELT | He let wobble go wobbly ahead of time? That’s not fair! (5,3,4) |
| *(he let wobble) + T | ||
| 23, 24, 25 | FIVE POUND NOTE | Evelyn regularly has enough for ten LPs (4,5,4) |
| (e)V(e)L(y)N = 5, POUND and NOTES and ten LPs (or 50ps) is £5 | ||
| 28 | VIRGINIA | Girl in a state (in Havana) (8) |
| Double definition and Va. (the abbreviation for Virginia) is in haVAna.
Originally, I was going to call foul on this as I thought that Wanderer wanted to use Havana (the cigar) as a synonym for Virginia (the tobacco). |
||
| 29 | LIB DEM | Missing male member of French man, originally a politician (3,3) |
| LI(m)B + DE M(an) | ||
| 30 | ROOMETTE | Romeo going off with Juliet at last, having discontented time in cramped accommodation? (8) |
| *(romeo) + (Julie)T + T(im)E | ||
| 31 | TENNER | Cheesemaker’s backing? It’s worth two 23 24 25s (6) |
| <=RENNET | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | STOPGAPS | Temporary measures to prevent cavities (8) |
| “to prevent gaps” would be to “stop gaps” | ||
| 2 | MATRONLY | Month in which model gets just a bit staid and plumpish (8) |
| T in Mar. (short for March) + ONLY | ||
| 3, 15, 26 | SOME OTHER TIME | Silly moo x 3? Not right now (4,5,4) |
| *(moo times three) | ||
| 5 | IMPREGNATING | Putting a bun in the oven, mischief-maker and sailor eat last of the egg and bacon (12) |
| IMP + ((eg)G + (baco)N in RATING) | ||
| 6, 16, 27 | TIME AFTER TIME | Setter uses this repeatedly (4,5,4) |
| My original thinking was that “setter” has TT in it, therefore “time after time”, nut it is also true that “time” is the theme of the puzzle, with seasons, months and time featuring prominently. | ||
| 7 | RUINED | Bust bouncing about in red underwear, initially (6) |
| *(in red u) where “u” is the first letter of “underwear” | ||
| 8 | AUGUST | Theatre cat in season? Only half a month (6) |
| GUS (from “Cats”, the musical) in AUT(umn) | ||
| 11 | NUMEROLOGIST | Occult practitioner molesting our doctors (12) |
| *(molesting our) | ||
| 15 | See 3 | |
| 16 | See 6 | |
| 18 | BEHOLDEN | Bound to live with Amanda? (8) |
| BE + (Amanda) HOLDEN | ||
| 19 | STREAMER | Ship carrying right flag – a narrow one (8) |
| R in STEAMER | ||
| 21 | Q FEVER | After queueing first starts, there’s always a serious complaint (1,5) |
| Q(ueuing) F(irst) + EVER | ||
| 22 | OVERDO | Cook too much food, revoltingly somewhat on the turn (6) |
| Hidden backwards in “foOD REVOltingly” | ||
| 26 | See 3 | |
| 27 | See 6 | |
*anagram
Thanks, loonapick, for a great blog of a very clever and witty puzzle, which I felt very chuffed to have solved and then fully parsed – particularly pleased with myself for working out ‘half German’, ‘Evelyn’ and ‘ten LP’s’.
I had the same first thoughts about the tt in setter.
I’ve commented before on how impressed I am that Wanderer always [I think] makes his [?] multi-word answers run on in the grid.
Many thanks to Wanderer for a very entertaining and enjoyable workout.
Thanks Loonapick. I enjoyed this quite a bit .. as I have come to expect of having a go at Wanderer’s grids. Thanks to Wanderer too!
I grinned when I saw 11ac seeming to get a somewhat darker-than-normal coloring with the cluing.
Cheers
TL
Thanks very much, loonapick — unlike @1 Eileen I couldn’t parse them at all. And thanks to Wanderer for another great puzzle — I loved the cheekiness of 5dn
Another excellent inventive puzzle from Wanderer! Very enjoyable.
Thanks to loonapick also – 6dn was the only one I didn’t properly parse and still unsure about it.
Thanks both.
After I commented yesterday about the unsatisfactory nature of the grid which is effectively 4 quadrants with only one way into each sector, I suppose, by Sod’s Law, that today’s grid would follow the same pattern.
Thanks Wanderer and loonapick
Did this one yesterday and found it a really entertaining solve … but by jeebies, he gave me a towelling in the parsing department !!! Forgot to go back to 20a, but doubt whether I would have twigged to the VA in Havana equating to Virginia, was flummoxed by persisting with MAY instead of MAR at 2d, didn’t catch on to the ‘discontented time’ at 30a and missed the reverse hidden at 22d (just getting it by the surface). It is a wonder that there were no actual mistakes in the solutions !!
Conversely, was pleased to see the goings on with VLN and the 10 LPs at 23a, the clever IMPREGNATING (although it was a gimme from the definition) and the very tricky ‘half German’ to generate GOOD QUEEN BESS.
Hadn’t come across Q FEVER previously – looks an ugly bug to catch and didn’t know Amanda HOLDEN. I did remember GUS from Cats though !!
In retrospect, it was pretty tough !!
Thanks loonapick and Wanderer.
What an absolute gem. I failed on the parsing of GOOD QUEEN BESS (brilliant) and TIME AFTER TIME (on reflection I think that the tt in Setter is it!)
But Feel really smug to have spotted the VLN and LPs.
The surface for LIB DEM raised a titter.
Q FEVER was new to me too.
I suspect that Ananda Holden will be trying to all non-UK solvers – frankly I find her trying myself.
Thoroughly enjoyable.