Sorry about the (hopefully) fake Daily Express headline, but it felt like that at the time. My 7:54 is languishing in 95th place on the leaderboard, 5 seconds behind Jason and about 8 seconds ahead of Verlaine (so a muted wahey!)
Judged on perceived (by me) difficulty, I reckon my online times are about 33% faster than my pen-and-paper times, and I'm not a very fast typist. I don't solve online during the week as I like to do it on paper on the train, and I hardly ever break the 10-minute barrier.
Anyway, on to the puzzle. COD to 14ac, great anagram and a surface reading which throws you off the scent.
Judged on perceived (by me) difficulty, I reckon my online times are about 33% faster than my pen-and-paper times, and I'm not a very fast typist. I don't solve online during the week as I like to do it on paper on the train, and I hardly ever break the 10-minute barrier.
Anyway, on to the puzzle. COD to 14ac, great anagram and a surface reading which throws you off the scent.
| Across | |
| 1 | Hostess returning pleasurable comments? That is good (6) |
| GEISHA - AHS (pleasurable comments) + IE (that is) + G(ood), all reversed. | |
| 5 | Excited Eddie carries Ashes vessel about (6,2) |
| TURNED ON - TED (Eddie) around URN (Ashes vessel), + ON (about). | |
| 9 | Lumber covers frame on Tower Bridge (8) |
| STRADDLE - SADDLE (lumber, as in burden with) around TR (frame on ToweR, cryptically speaking, the first and last letters). | |
| 10 | Bear / to experience sore head? (6) |
| SUFFER - double definition, the second by example, hence the ? at the end. | |
| 11 | Remove obstacle found in river (6) |
| DELETE - LET (obstacle) inside DEE (river). | |
| 12 | First-rate cut of beef features in society publication (8) |
| SMASHING - SHIN (cut of beef) inside S(ociety), MAG (publication). | |
| 14 | Best man dined out somewhere else (6-6) |
| ABSENT-MINDED - (best man dined)*. | |
| 17 | Additional racehorses in reserve? (6-6) |
| SECOND-STRING - cryptic definition. In Chambers, a second string is an alternative choice (of anything), but a string can also refer to a trainer's stable of racehorses. Neither definition requires a hyphen though. | |
| 20 | Winged beings caught by current in furious Humber (8) |
| CHERUBIM - C(aught) + I (current) inside (Humber)*. | |
| 22 | Players arrive finally at Kinross loch (6) |
| ELEVEN - (arriv)E + LEVEN (Kinross loch). Yeah well. I knew there was a loch called Leven, but I wouldn't have got it from the Kinross hint! Got it from the definition and checkers, but still my LOI. | |
| 23 | Outsiders in there stop school dance for now (3,3) |
| PRO TEM - T(her)E inside PROM (school dance). Short for pro tempore, Latin "for the time being". | |
| 25 | She flew solo to the West? Not straight (5,3) |
| ENOLA GAY - ALONE (solo) reversed ("to the West") + GAY (not straight). The name of the bomber which dropped The Bomb on Hiroshima (apparently named after the pilot's mother). Some people on the Times Forum admitted to not knowing this! Seriously??? | |
| 26 | Pleasure-seeker involves tutor in robbery (8) |
| HEDONIST - DON (tutor) inside HEIST (robbery). | |
| 27 | Rivalry in game perhaps / that may get you stitched up (6) |
| NEEDLE - double defibition. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Biblical beauty in Paris is that woman? (6) |
| ESTHER - EST (in Paris, is) + HER (that woman). There's a Book of Esther in the OT, she was a queen of Persia. | |
| 3 | Hard work to rescue party that Liberal divides (5,6) |
| SLAVE LABOUR - SAVE (rescue) + LABOUR (party), around L(iberal). | |
| 4 | Notice habit newspaper boss confronted (9) |
| ADDRESSED - AD (notice) + DRESS (habit) + ED (newspaper boss). | |
| 5 | Betrayal— that's Timon's initial motive (7) |
| TREASON - T(imon) + REASON (motive). Kind of an anti-&lit, as from what I remember of the Shakespeare play it's Timon who gets betrayed by everybody else!. | |
| 6 | Devotee overthrows an emperor (5) |
| RASTA - A TSAR (an emperor) reversed. | |
| 7 | I must expel small and mischievous child (3) |
| ELF - SELF (I) minus the S for small. It's in the dictionary, but anyone who's read or seen the film LOTR surely can't imagine an elf like that! | |
| 8 | "Heroic" lover seen beneath old tree (8) |
| OLEANDER - LEANDER (lover of Hero) after O(ld). | |
| 13 | Pineapple worker angered, or enraged, but upset! (4,7) |
| HAND GRENADE - HAND (worker) + either (angered)* or (enraged)* - take your pick! | |
| 15 | Large cat came in, swishing round leg (5,4) |
| MAINE COON - (came in)* + O (round) + ON (leg, cricket term). Another one that stumped a lot of Forum commenters. As a cat lover I was familiar with the breed, so it was a write-in for me. A friend of mine has a couple of Norwegian Forest cats which are even bigger! | |
| 16 | Restore power to soldiers before assault (8) |
| RECHARGE - RE (Royal Engineers, soldiers) + CHARGE (assault). | |
| 18 | English politician in tax storm (7) |
| TEMPEST - E(nglish) + MP (politician) inside TEST (tax). | |
| 19 | Point made by alien within Irish assembly (6) |
| DETAIL - ET (alien) inside DAIL (Irish assembly). | |
| 21 | A certain King entertains a maiden — one's an animated character (5) |
| BAMBI - BB (a certain King) around A, M(aiden) + I (one). | |
| 24 | That word contains more than one (3) |
| TWO - hidden in "that word". | |