The puzzle is available here.
Hi everyone. Sorry the blog is a bit later than usual; the loss of an hour’s sleep has left me bleary of eye and grumpy of disposition.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this puzzle. Highlights are many, including the stair-avoider in 12a and the crafts at and referenced by 19d, all showing off the setter’s craft nicely. Thanks Wire!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
Across
9a Truck on edges of Canberra turned sharp (5)
ACUTE
UTE (truck) on the outer letter (edges) of CanberrA reversed (turned)
10a Take such characters here for Lent (9)
ALTERNATE
Take ALTERNATE characters in aLltErNaTe to get LENT
11a Lovely girl netting most of vessel’s carp (9)
BELLYACHE
BELLE (lovely girl) containing (netting) most of YACHt (vessel)
12a Extremely drunk drinking drink, one avoids stairs (5)
DALEK
The outer letters of (extremely) DrunK around (drinking) ALE (drink).
I like that the definition still works knowing that daleks can levitate. Contrary to popular belief, they were first seen levitating in 1988 in Remembrance of the Daleks
13a Crack within range could be chef’s warning (3,4)
POT SHOT
A chef’s warning could be that the POT’S HOT
15a Vague exercise is what one might do with fat fingers (7)
MISTYPE
MISTY (vague) + PE (exercise)
17a Butcher nearly missing back of an organ (5)
RENAL
Rearrange the letters of (butcher) NEARLy without the last letter (missing back)
18a Bow from Miss Bennet’s favourite on stripping (3)
ARC
dARCy (Miss Bennet’s favourite – from Pride and Prejudice) on removal of the outer letters (on stripping).
Click here for that scene
20a German article on the Spanish source of wood (5)
ELDER
DER (German article) on EL (the, Spanish)
22a Bean from Cairo brewed in vacated hut (7)
HARICOT
An anagram of (… brewed) CAIRO in HuT without its centre (vacated …)
25a Key stretches for young hands? (7)
OCTAVES
A cryptic definition. An octave is a bit of a stretch for smaller hands on a keyboard instrument
26a Understand regressive part of UKIP’s arguments (5)
GRASP
Hidden in reverse in (regressive part of) ukiP‘S ARGuments
27a Place hidden by grass lay empty by all accounts (9)
REPUTEDLY
PUT (place) inside (hidden by) REED (grass) + LaY empty
30a Already taken delivery of 4 (6,3)
SPOKEN FOR
SPOKEN FOR could indicate a homophone of (delivery of) four (4)
31a Small piece on British flora and fauna (5)
BIOTA
IOTA (small piece) on B (British)
Down
1d Crude painting in crate finally fished from river (4)
DAUB
The last letters of (… finally) iN and cratE are removed from (fished from) DA[n]UB[e] (river)
2d Papal Order admitted sharing Latin publication (8)
BULLETIN
BULL (papal order) and LET IN (admitted) sharing the L (Latin) in between
3d Desirable spruce hollowed with axes (4)
SEXY
SprucE without the inner letters (hollowed) + XY (axes)
4d Fresh canape stuffed with dry meat (8)
PANCETTA
An anagram of (fresh) CANAPE stuffed with TT (teetotal: dry)
5d Little runner putting papers at bottom of road (6)
STREAM
REAM following (at bottom of, in a down entry) ST (road)
6d Multicoloured tips of iron, Roman in origin (10)
IRIDESCENT
The first letters of (tips of) Iron, Roman and In + DESCENT (origin)
7d & 21. Discovered king on yard with keen prince’s bike (6,8)
HARLEY DAVIDSON
Without outer letters (discovered), cHARLEs (king) + YD (yard) + AVID (keen) + SON (prince – son of the aforementioned king)
8d Remove section from glossy UK emblem (4)
LEEK
Remove S (section) from [s]LEEK (glossy)
13d You might get this fishing rod maybe for Robin (5)
PERCH
Two definitions
14d Craft secondarily supporting the police in motion? (10)
HELICOPTER
The second letter of (… secondarily) cRaft below (supporting) an anagram of (… in motion) THE POLICE
16d Totally regret travelling north for football event (5)
EUROS
SO (totally) and RUE (regret) reversed (travelling north)
19d 7 21 and 14 caught Dennis and Edward? (8)
CHOPPERS
C (caught) + HOPPERS (Dennis and Edward?). A chopper can be a helicopter or a type of motorbike, so 7d 21d (HARLEY DAVIDSON) and 14d (HELICOPTER) are both examples
21d See 7
23d Onset of crime overlooked in grounds (6)
REASON
The first letter of (onset of) tREASON (crime) is not included (overlooked)
24d Artist up in Lovers’ Row charges (6)
TARIFF
RA (artist) reversed inside (up in) TIFF (lovers’ row)
26d Noble missing gold rush (4)
GUST
[au]GUST (noble) missing AU (gold)
28d Instrument area at base of boat (4)
TUBA
A (area) at the end of (at base of) TUB (boat)
29d Buy unusual ink regularly to make ‘China green‘ (4)
YUAN
Regular letters of (… regularly) buY unUsuAl iNk
Thanks, Wire and Kitty!
Liked ALTERNATE, OCTAVES, SPOKEN FOR, PERCH and HELICOPTER (I took this as an &lit).
Indeed it is, KVa – thanks. Underlining of HELICOPTER now fixed.
13d surely three definitions? Thanks for the blog, very helpful.
Don’t often tackle this setter’s puzzles but have to say that I quite enjoyed this one.
Best clues for me were DALEK, POT SHOT, MISTYPE & SPOKEN FOR.
Thanks to Wire and to Miss K for the beautifully illustrated review – relieved to learn that you’re another who failed to ‘spring forward’ with glee this morning – falling back in the Autumn is so much more pleasant!
Lovely stuff. Very inventive wordplay. Great fun!
Liked everything especially the short answers DAUB, LEEK, GUST, YUAN, ARC
Thanks Wire & Kitty
I also saw 13d as a triple def, Ericw @3. Unhelpfully, Chambers does define a PERCH as ‘A rod for a bird …’ but, yes, a perch is also a rod in measurement. BELLYACHE, DALEK, HARICOT, SEXY, PANCETTA, PERCH and HELICOPTER my favourites today from a nice puzzle.
Thanks Wire and Kitty
Perch is definitely a tricky on re double or triple. Loved the rest thanks wire and the kitty lady.
Nice graphics, Kitty. I had wondered about the levitation issue for 12a, but figured the old gag still works. I’d intended PERCH to be the two definitions as outlined (I’ve never tried a triple def clue before so this would be my first, fine by me!). Thanks to all for taking the time to comment.
Thanks Wire. I found this gentler than I usually find Wire/Leonidas but no less clever or enjoyable. My top picks were ELDER, SPOKEN FOR, BULLETIN, SEXY, PERCH, and YUAN. Thanks Kitty for the blog.
Thanks Wire and Kitty
Surely using levitation to ascend is still avoiding stairs (as would be taking an escalator or a lift)?
PERCH
I love these old measurements. A rod, pole or perch is five and a half yards, which seems rather arbitrary until you realise it’s a quarter of a chain (22 yards, the length of a cricket pitch) of which there are ten in a furlong (220 yards, familiar from horse racing) with 8 furlongs to a mile (1760 yards). And that an acre is equivalent to a chain times a furlong. Thing most school children once knew, and so much nicer (and easier to remember) than metres, hectares and the like.