I'm not sure if our esteemed Thursday blogger is around to cover the puzzle today. He may be delayed at a hospital appointment. If nothing has appeared by 1:30 I shall put up an emergency blog. In the meantime I have disabled comments on this thread so as not to confuse the issue.
Okay, it's now 1:40 so here goes. Comments now enabled. This one took me 9 minutes.
{deletions} [indicators]
Okay, it's now 1:40 so here goes. Comments now enabled. This one took me 9 minutes.
{deletions} [indicators]
Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | WELSHMAN - Anagram [distributed] of WHEN ALMS. Def: Briton |
| 5 | AREA - Hidden in {pol}AR EA{rth}. Def: region |
| 9 | SKINT - KIN (family) inside ST (street). Def: desperate for money |
| 10 | PRINTER - R (right) inside PINTER (playwright - Harold of gthat school). Def: computer accessory |
| 11 | HIGHLIGHTING - HIGH (school), LIGHTING (landing). Def: drawing attention to |
| 13 | ALCOCK - A, L (large), COCK (bird). Def: one famously flying the Atlantic - with Brown |
| 15 | SPRAIN - RA (artist) in SPIN (whirl). Def: injury |
| 17 | SINGLE-MINDED - Two definitions, one straight then continuing into cryptic one. Having one aim / but not marriage evidently |
| 20 | THISTLE - THIS (not that), T{all}, L{acking}, E{minence [initially]. Def: national emblem - of Scotland |
| 21 | RIGHT - Sounds [enunciated] like "rite" (procedure in church). Def: proper |
| 22 | OHMS - O (old), HMS (naval ship). Def: resistance units |
| 23 | HELSINKI - Anagram [contrivance] of SHIN-LIKE. Def: capital - of Finland |
Down | |
| 1 | WISH - W (woman), I (one), SH (quiet). Def: aspiration |
| 2 | LUIGI - {a}L{l}U{r}I{n}G {a}I{r} [oddly missing]. Def: Italian |
| 3 | HOT CHOCOLATE - Anagram [unfortunately] of THE CHA TO COOL Def: also this - with reference back to 'cha', another hot drink |
| 4 | AU PAIR - AU (gold), PAIR (couple). Def: help from abroad) |
| 6 | RETSINA - Anagram [drunk] of NASTIER. Def: wine. "Wine nastier when drunk" is a brilliant surface reading that perfectly sums up this disgusting drink. |
| 7 | ARROGANT - OG (own goal) inside ARRANT (downright). Def: supercilious |
| 8 | WITH OPEN ARMS - WITH (using), OPEN (free), ARMS (weaponry. Def: welcomingly |
| 12 | FALSETTO - FALSE (mock), OTT (over-the-top) reversed [rising]. Def: high-pitched voice |
| 14 | CONFIRM - CON (against), FIRM (company). Def: demonstrate |
| 16 | IMPEDE - Hidden in {l}IMPED E{rractically}. Def: hamper |
| 18 | EGG ON - A straight definition: encourage, and a cryptic one |
| 19 | ETUI - Anagram [bends] of TIE U. Def: case for sewer - as in a person who sews. This is one of those words I know only from years of solving. |