Solving time 9:09
A pretty straightforward puzzle from Chifonie today – I don’t often finish non-Rufus Guardian puzzles in under 10 minutes. Still, there were some good clues and a few less familiar words in there, along with a couple of old chestnuts.
| Across | |
| 4 | APRICOT – pair* + COT |
| 12 | AVERTABLE – AVER + TABLE |
| 13 | ENCHANT – PENCHANT – P |
| 15 | NIACIN – CAIN rev + IN, also known as Vitamin B3. |
| 17 | BROOCH – BROACH with the A replaced with O |
| 19 | CARLYLE – clearly*. This is Thomas Carlyle, the Victorian essayist and historian. |
| 24 | EVENS – EVEN(t) + S. Surprised that this wasn’t linked to 2D, although the clue reads better as it is. |
| 27 | BRIDEWELL – this is in Chambers as a generic word for a jail. The original Bridewell was a palace of Henry VIII in London that later became a prison. |
| 28 | BOWSHOT – BOWS = accepts + HOT. I suppose bow is just about about OK for accept, in the sense of bowing to the inevitable for example. As far as I know though, a quarrel is just another name for a crossbow bolt, whereas bowshot only refers to how far an arrow can be shot from a bow. |
| Down | |
| 1 | TROUNCE – T(ory) + R(uns) + OUNCE |
| 3 | DESPERADO – speared* + DO |
| 4 | ACTAEON – ACT + A + EON. In Greek mythology, he was a hunter who came upon the goddess Artemis having a bath in the woods. She turned him into a stag and his own hounds ripped him to pieces, hence the definition “the hunter hunted”. |
| 6 | CELEBRITY – B inside CELERITY |
| 7 | TOTTER – double def. [ I originally had TATTER for this, which also sort of fits but not as well as TOTTER. Thanks for the correction, Superdad. ] |
| 8 | AGHAST – AG HAS T(ime) |
| 14 | CORKSCREW – “Cork’s crew”. Nice cryptic def too, “pulls out the stops”. |
| 16 | AGREEMENT – MEN inside A GREET |
| 19 | CADDIE – C(ollege) + aided* |
| 21 | BICARB – CAR in BIB. A new one for me, BIB is another name for the pout, a fish of the cod family. |
| 25 | ELEGY – E.G. (say) inside ELY (see). |
7d surely Totter, as a double definition, rather than Tatter.
You’re right Superdad, so it is! I didn’t even consider anything else, as I knew the scrap dealer definition of TATTER (although I had to hunt through several dictionaries to confirm it when writing the blog), and thought “tattery, in tatters, yes that means ruined, no problem.”
Sorry, but I think 7d is probably ‘tatter’.
Don’t see what ‘totter’ has to do with scrap dealer…
Whereas ‘tatter’ is obviously someone who deals with tat, and can also mean ‘to become ragged’ – a definition I actually found quite easily, by looking at a single dictionary entry.
P.S. Don’t believe anyone finished this in under 10 minutes!
… you mean other than the fact that a totter is a scrap dealer?
Erm…. other than that, yes…
Didn’t realise that a totter was a rag and bone man, until I looked it up just now… So, I bow down to your superior knowledge, Testy.
Still… ‘tatter’ does work, especially with the use of the question mark, I would argue…
Having said that, I’m sure you’re right…
Ah, bollocks…
Think it took about 7-8 mins to solve, then had to look up 4d for confirmation – not much of a classicist.