I was clealry not on Chalmie’s wavelength this morning as it took me an age to solve and I struggled to explain many of my answers. Did anyone else find this a particularly opaque puzzle or am I just having an off day?
| Across | ||
| 1 | YOUTH CLUBS | Second person with barrels full of powerful acid for teen hangouts (5,5) |
| YOU (second person) with TUBS (barrels) full of HCL (HCl, hydrochloric acid) | ||
| 6 | GASP | In addition, silver reflects breath (4) |
| PS (in addition) with AG (silver) returned (reflects) | ||
| 9 | MODERATION | Restraint hurts inmate 10 (10) |
| anagram (hurts) of INMATE and DOOR (ten across) | ||
| 10 | DOOR | Learned man carrying ducks is Jim Morrison? (4) |
| DR (learned man) contains OO (ducks, two zero scores in cricket) – cryptic definition, one of the members of the rock band The Doors | ||
| 12 | SECOND TO NONE | Back heavyweight against a nonpareil (6,2,4) |
| SECOND (back) TON (heavy weight) with ONE (a) | ||
| 15 | SANITARIA | Be relaxed about article on extensive site being announced for care facilities (9) |
| SIT (be relaxed) containing (about) AN (indefinite article) on ARIA sounds like (announced) area (extensive site) | ||
| 17 | GREED | German stag’s returning appetite (5) |
| G (German and DEER (stag) reversed (returning) | ||
| 18 | AMINO | Asia Minor’s acid (5) |
| found inside (‘s, belonging to) asiA MINOr | ||
| 19 | DIETICIAN | Food expert, occasional follower of 10, notes spies coming in (9) |
| DIE (occasional follower of 10, in the phrase do or die) then TI and N (two notes) containing (with…coming in) CIA (spies) | ||
| 20 | PLEASURE TRIP | Puerile prats ruin day out (8,4) |
| anagram (ruin) of PUERILE PRATS | ||
| 24 | EXIT | Film about 11:10? (4) |
| ET (film) contains (about) XI (11) – a door can be an exit | ||
| 25 | IRRATIONAL | To leave traitor confused entails regularly following 10 nuts (10) |
| anagram (confused) of TRAItoR missing (leave) TO then eNtAiLs following IO (looks like 10) | ||
| 26 | TOYS | Plays closed Yankee Stadium’s opening (4) |
| TO (closed, like a door) with Y (yankee) and Stadium (opening letter of) | ||
| 27 | OPENING BID | Such as 1D and 10 perhaps born unconscious (7,3) |
| OPENING (door perhaps) B (born) and ID (unconscious) – one diamond, a bid in contract bridge. I wasted a lot of time thinking this was OPENING OUT (like a door). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | YAMS | Turn over small can of vegetables (4) |
| reversal (turnover) of S (small) MAY (can) | ||
| 2 | URDU | Language needed to tour Dusseldorf (4) |
| found inside (needed for…) toUR DUsseldorf | ||
| 3 | HARVEST MOUSE | Underwear worn incorrectly in home of rural resident (7,5) |
| I think this is a VEST in ARM (underwear worn incorrectly) all inside (in) HOUSE (home). If I have this right then I think this clue is pushing the boundaries a little, straying into “clever for the sake of it” territory. I am not saying that that the device is a bad idea in itself but it goes beyond what can be solved naturally. It is a an insiders clue; it relies on the solvers being at a level where cryptic feels normal and then the setter can make makes it cryptic some more. One for the advanced cryptics at the weekend? Perhaps I have got this completely wrong. | ||
| 4 | LOTTO | Drunk misses Bournemouth’s first game (5) |
| bLOTTO (drunk) missing Bournemouth (first letter of) | ||
| 5 | BROOD MARE | Stuff 10 up, punching live horse (5,4) |
| RAM (stuff) with DOOR (10 across) all reversed (up) inside (punching) BE (live) | ||
| 7 | APOLOGETIC | Sorry Australian sensitive about record (10) |
| A (Australian) and POETIC (sensetive) contain (about) LOG (record) | ||
| 8 | PORTENDING | Showing signs of drink running out (10) |
| PORT (drink) ENDING (running out) | ||
| 11 | LONG DIVISION | Arithmetic I do in solving puzzle (4,8) |
| anagram (puzzle) of I DO IN SOLVING | ||
| 13 | ESCARPMENT | Ten campers go over cliff (10) |
| anagram (go over) of TEN CAMPERS | ||
| 14 | INFIDELITY | Italy get appalling tiny field playing away (10) |
| I (Italy) with anagram (appalling) of TINY FIELD | ||
| 16 | RADAR TRAP | BBC possibly lose 10 pictures and blame enforcement mechanism (5,4) |
| RADio (BBC possibly) missing IO (10) then ART and RAP (blame) | ||
| 21 | TWAIN | A writer or two (5) |
| double definition | ||
| 22 | SNUB | Cut singular raised hairstyle (4) |
| S (singular) and BUN (Hairstyle) raised (reversed) | ||
| 23 | BLED | Drained out, though it doesn’t hurt any more (4) |
*anagram
definitions are underlined
Sorry. it wasn’t up your street, PD.
23D is out = BOWLED – OW (it doesn’t hurt any more).
Took me a while, but I think I’ve worked out 23d – the definition is just “Drained”, and BOWLED = out, less OW (“it hurts”).
Apart from that, I didn’t find this too hard, though I agree that 3d is excessively convoluted.
snap!
I did find this semi-hard.
Most of the solutions went in smoothly, but.
I didn’t see why BLED was BLED (I do see now) – guessed it.
Also couldn’t fully explain 3d, so thanks for that.
Didn’t see the DIE-part of 19ac either.
That clue took me too long anyway because initially I entered ‘apologised’ at 7d – so sorry!
[which also ruined 17ac]
And then there was 15ac (SANITARIA) where I kept focusing on ‘sanatoria’.
Thanks Chalmie & PeeDee.
I thought this was very good – I liked the varied use of “10” – with plenty of misdirection. Some of the wordplay was tough and, to my mind, 3dn was only parseable when you had already guessed the answer.
Thanks to Chalmie and PD
Chalmie – thanks for dropping in and explaining 23dn. I’m sure the puzzle was fine, I was just having a slow start this morning. I guess if it were not my turn to blog I would have just left it and come back later when I was feeling at bit more on the ball.
Thanks Chalmie and PeeDee
A complex but very enjoyable puzzle by a setter who I’m starting to look forward to seeing on the banner. I was beaten by the parsing on the DIE part of DIETICIAN (that is devious) and although I had determined the device that he was using with BOWLED, I just couldn’t find the ‘hurt’ word to insert and didn’t twig to the cricket sense of ‘out’. Was able to parse the HARVEST MOUSE without 100% understanding why VEST in ARM was ‘underwear worn incorrectly’.
Didn’t do myself any favours early on by writing in POETS (POE and T.S. (Eliot)) at 21d.
Liked the different ways that he made use of the 10 and such an interesting variety of clue devices and definitions used throughout – my pick of the bunch would be OPENING BID with an interesting definition by example, a definition by example using DOOR and a well disguised word play to determine BID.
It did take more elapsed time than usual for this setter but it was worth the effort !