Today sees the apparently now-regular appearance of Quixote on the last Wednesday of the month. As always, an enjoyable solve with no particular problems, although I didn’t find this so easy as I do the usual Wednesday setter. The obligatory (?) couple of unusual words are here, although they are clued, as indeed should be the case in these circumstances, simply.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SONAR |
Crime seen cycling round — system for detection (5)
arson with the first two letters moved to the end — I don’t see the significance of ‘seen’: hardly an indication that two letters, not the usual (?) one, are to be moved |
| 4 | LITTLE MO |
Tennis player gets championship, one departing in big car (6,2)
t{i}tle in limo — Maureen Connolly |
| 8 | ACCOMPLISHABLE |
That can be done when shambolic place is reorganised (14)
(shambolic place)* |
| 9 | DISPLAY |
Girl turned out for show (7)
Di splay — splay as an adjective |
| 10 | RAILING |
Queen unwell and complaining (7)
R ailing |
| 12 | DESMAN |
Some French fellow, a little beast (6)
des [= ‘some’ in French] man — this being, of which I’d never heard |
| 13 | EGBERT |
Old king and elder maybe back to protect our country (6)
(tree)rev. round GB |
| 16 | LOSING |
See Carol trailing in game (6)
lo sing |
| 17 | TAURUS |
Stars of game hugged by Greek characters (6)
tau(RU)s — the constellation |
| 19 | EPIGRAM |
Saw magpie flying across river (7)
(magpie)* round r |
| 21 | DRIFTER |
Wanderer is less wet having got paper for absorption (7)
dri(FT)er — if you’re less wet you’re drier |
| 23 | BUSMANS HOLIDAY |
No real rest for one never lacking drive? (7,7)
CD |
| 24 | TENSED UP |
Nervous Irish politicians at present? (6,2)
tense DUP — the present tense is an example of a tense, hence the question mark |
| 25 | STYLE |
See about following saint’s distinctive manner (5) st (Ely)rev. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHANDY |
Tristram‘s drink (6)
2 defs. one of them referring to Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne |
| 2 | NICKS |
Steals from cop, the ultimate in foolishness (5)
nick [= cop (slang: to catch)] {foolishnes}s |
| 3 | ROMULUS AND REMUS |
Time running out, murderous man afflicted with lust founders (7,3,5)
(murderous man lust – t)* — the founders of Rome |
| 4 | LALLYGAG |
Left with associate, joke and loiter aimlessly (8)
l ally gag — another word that I had to look up to confirm |
| 5 | TASER |
False arrest with copper finally getting out weapon (5)
(arrest – r)*, the r coming from {coppe}r |
| 6 | LEADING ARTICLES |
The prime elements of all these annoying newspaper items (7,8)
all, these and annoying all begin with articles |
| 7 | MILLINERS |
Underground folk protecting bad fashion-designers? (9)
m(ill)iners |
| 11 | GATE |
Building a terminal? This will be part of it (4)
Hidden in buildinG A TErminal |
| 12 | DESTITUTE |
Ultimately that suet diet is seen to be very poor (9) ({tha}t suet diet)*. the anagram indicated by ‘is seen to be’, which seems a bit lacking to me |
| 14 | CLUE |
One sort of hint or another that’s left hidden (4) c(l)ue |
| 15 | WARDSHIP |
Condition of youngster being looked after, daughter at sea in battle? (8)
war(d)ship — if d is in warship then d is possibly at sea in battle |
| 18 | GROYNE |
Bodily region said to be a barrier (6)
“groin” |
| 20 | MONAD |
Simple life form frantic to keep functioning (5)
m(on)ad |
| 22 | TODAY |
One of our cheaper competitors of yesteryear or now? (5)
Today was a (cheaper than the Independent) newspaper that ran from 1986 to 1995 |
I found this quite a bit harder than the usual Wednesday puzzle. I’d never heard of 4d or 12a – what an interesting looking creature. ‘Seen’ in 1a confused me as well, and I had SENSE as the answer until I finally twigged to the harder than average anagram at 3. I liked 4a, not the first tennis player who comes to mind these days.
Thanks to Quixote and John.
Trickier than some Quixote puzzles. Three unusual words for me; DESMAN, LALLYGAG and MONAD had me wondering about a nina or theme except that the Don doesn’t usually do them. I too thought ‘seen’ was a bit vague in both 1ac and 12dn. And I needed the blog to explain some of the clues.
GATE was my Cod – so concise and a bit &lit-ish.
Thanks, Quixote and John
My comments similar to bloggers but I enjoyed the rest. Thanks to both and nice to ‘see’ Quixote again.
12 is an example of a clue it’s difficult to be confident of without checking the dictionary – it could equally well have been descat. I think this has been a fairly tough week so far and I can’t say I’ve found any of the puzzles easy. I have to admit that I did somewhat sabotage this one by carelessly writing accomplishment for 8 across. It was only when it became obvious that 7 down had to be milliner that I realized my mistake. I’m not really convinced about 23 either – why would a busman never be lacking drive? I found that one a bit too Rufus-like, although I did get it quite quickly.