Pretty easy today, especially the very straightforward double definitions. Still enjoyable, and 25ac and 17dn made me smile.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9 | CARGO SHIP | O=”nothing” in (graphics)* |
| 10 | SIMON | rev(IS) + MON[day] |
| 11 | INVALID | double def. |
| 12 | CLINTON | CLI = 151 in roman numerals + (not)* + N[ice]. Can’t help feeling there might be a clue there using CL + IN + TON… |
| 13 | TUDOR | (tour)* around D[aughter] |
| 14 | AVALANCHE | cryptic use of “snowdrop” as a def |
| 16 | RESIDENTIAL CARE | RE=”about” + (I dental caries)*, where I=”one” |
| 19 | SUBTENANT | rev(BUS) + TEN + ANT=worker |
| 21 | CANDY | C + ANDY |
| 22 | LOWBROW | LO=look + WB=Weber + ROW=fight |
| 23 | STRETCH | double def |
| 24 | LYRIC | London theatre – LYRIC[s] |
| 25 | GET BETTER | Heh. Double def I suppose, but with “Understand punter” requiring a crypticish reading of the answer. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCRIPTURES | SCRIPT + (sure)* |
| 2 | PROVIDES | double def |
| 3 | BOWLER | double def |
| 4 | SHED | SHE’D=”she would shortly” |
| 5 | SPECIALIST | SPECIAL + IST=”first” |
| 6 | ASPINALL | A + SPINAL + L[ocated] |
| 7 | EMETIC | rev(CITE ME) |
| 8 | ANON | double def |
| 14 | ANNUAL WAGE | (a new girl Una)* |
| 15 | EVERYWHERE | EVE + RY (short for railway, hence EVE is “online”) + WHERE |
| 17 | DIETRICH | DIET+RICH |
| 18 | ANNOTATE | AN + NOT + ATE |
| 20 | BEWARE | WAR inside BEE |
| 21 | CAREER | E[nergy] in CARER |
| 22 | LILY | can’t see anything very cryptic about this.. |
| 23 | SITS | anagram of “sister” minus the hesitating “er” |
Thanks for the blog, manehi. No difficulties with this one, though I don’t like the “online” trickery in 15dn, and to be pedantic the words of a song are its lyric, 24ac would be better with “.. popular songs”; but I suppose the use of “lyrics” to mean the words of a single song is so well established that objecting to it is a lost cause.
I agree that 22dn is a barely-cryptic reference to the expression “gild the lily”, though of course that is a misquotation (or contraction) of the line “to gild refinèd gold, to paint the lily” (not from the bible, as one might think, but from Shakespeare’s ‘King John’).
Thanks, manehi. I found this incredibly easy. I don’t time myself but I’m sure it was the quickest I’ve ever solved a cryptic. 25ac was my favourite and 6dn was the only one I had to scratch my head about. I thought a number of clues were pretty weak, especially 22dn and 24ac.
I did this in roughly 30 minutes, my quickest ever solve. Probably the least difficult Guardian crossword since I started doing them about 3 years ago.
So what is the fastest solving time guys? If a prize puzzle can be done in 14 minutes, was it? 5 minutes?
Having seen that Rightback did a Prize Paul in 7 minutes, then surely this was completed in negative time.
Many thanks, Manehi
This was my quickest time ever – 16 minutes – whilst I was having breakfast but this was thanks to Neilw who had posted a warning on yesterday’s blog about the misprint in 6a in the online version.
Two on the trot. Will there be a hat-trick tomorrow?
I guessed 22a LOWBROW correctly but I still don’t know why Weber = WB. Also, I’d never heard of Aspinall but that was very easy to guess.
I’m anticipating a barrage of complaints about this being too easy, so I want to get in early and say I thought it was great. Easy, yes but lots of well constructed clues and good surfaces.
Not everyone solves every day and this was a great intro to those who are exploring cryptics. Principally, it didn’t involve lots of annoying shorthands that are inpenetrable to the uninitiated.
If I may add (before the complaints about it being too easy start pouring in) that I loved this, due to it’s very accessibility. I got everything except 6dn but had never heard of Aspinall so that’s something I have learnt. And I expect I could have got it with a little Googling. I never manage to solve the whole crossword so it is very rewarding to have got so close this time.
Rufus Lite?
OK, give you all a laugh, being into railways I know of Aspinall. Having a broken back, spinal is hardly far from my thoughts. But I just couldn’t get past looking for something architectural for column. Sigh.
I only ever manage to finish Rufus and maybe the odd Brummie or Brendan. This
was certainly easier than those. I’m sure some will think it too easy, but what a
good way of encouraging new or recent arrivals to persevere.
I can’t help wonder if this is the calm before an Araucarian storm on Thursday or Friday.
Bryan
The Weber (symbol: Wb) is the SI unit of magnetic flux.
Many thanks, Peter, your explanation is much appreciated.
Completion 3 days running is a first for me. Had to ponder on 6d at the end, even with all the crossing letters. I’ve never heard of Aspinall either, despite teaching some aspects of railway engineering in the past!
Don’t fret Ray, he was probably a little before your time!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aspinall_(engineer)
Many thanks, Derek, for illuminating Aspinall who was a Lancashire lad. Me, too.
I have also spent several years in railway engineering but that track related.
I bet Marlene got sick to death of all those people making the Diet rich joke – I’m certainly finding it gets old.
On the other hand I do appreciate the odd puzzle that I can do in my lunchbreak, even without knowing Aspinall or Wb for Weber…
Good and easy (although Aspinall eluded me). Just one pedantic niggle… is Clinton an ex-president? I thought they hung on to the ‘president’ title forever.
Quickest solve ever (and not the only one by the sound of it). But nothing wrong in that; it’s nice for those of us at the back of the class to get a chance now and then.
One moan though 19A – def of SUBTENANT. A subtenant does not “pay part of lease”!
What does that even mean? You can’t “pay” a lease, you pay rent and a subtenant in any case pays the full sublease rent to a tenant who pays their full lease rent to a landlord. The sublease rent can be more, less or the same as the lease rent; it’s a separate contract which may be for all or some of the leased premises.
Has anyone mentioned that the print version has 9ac as (4,5)?
David, good spot!
Jim, they probably did it deliberately, just to prove they can make mistakes in other than the online version. Equally avoidable if a single source is input once and then re-used.
Despite several people pre-empting it, no one has complained about this being too easy. Well, I won’t buck the trend but I will say I didn’t enjoy it half as Monday’s Rufus, which was similarly untroubling but so much wittier. What an oddly easy week so far. Roll on tomorrow’s impossibly difficult Araucaria…
By “print” version, I meant online print version.
Sorry.
Though easy for me, it still took 20’+.
I can’t recall doing too many Auster’s past puzzles (perhaps three or four) and I’m pretty sure that they were harder than this.
Nonetheless, some clever clueing.
Jim, yes that’s what I figured. The online Java version was correct. It is the Java version that is usualy wrong.
I’m prepared to bet serious money that Thursday’s puzzle will be set by Orlando whose Difficulty is rated as ‘Medium’.
I regularly complete the everyman crossword and I’m attempting to make progress with the daily puzzles. With this in mind I was very pleased to solve all but 6d and the confidence gained will be very useful. I also expected plenty of negative feedback regarding the ease with which other solvers completed it, so I’m happy to note how understanding the more competant solvers have been. Cheers!