I always find Flamande's puzzles entertaining, even if they are rarely at the difficult end of the spectrum, and this was no exception, with an enjoyable set of surfaces and little to quibble with in either parsings or definitions. COD to 14A for making me require three stabs before finally hitting on the correct way to interpret the wordplay.
The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: https://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20170327/22941/
Definitions are underlined, {} = omission
The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: https://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20170327/22941/
Definitions are underlined, {} = omission
| Across | |
| 1 | Used component for wristwatch (6-4) |
| SECOND-HAND - a SECONDHAND might be a component for a wristwatch, though there are plenty of wristwatches (and not just digital ones) that don't have one | |
| 8 | Sailors with cute, short hairdo (4,3) |
| CREW CUT - CREW (Sailors) + CUT{e} (cute, short, i.e. the word "cute" without its last letter) | |
| 9 | Amount of milk stored by shop in Tamworth (5) |
| PINTA - hidden in (stored by) shoP IN TAmworth. Not an SI unit, but an informal usage that ODO cites as British. A contraction of "pint of". | |
| 10 | Managing Director has recruited top class female (4) |
| MAID - MD (Managing Director) around (has recruited) AI (top class) | |
| 11 | Carry out investigation about vital organ in school (8) |
| RESEARCH - RE (about), + EAR (vital organ) in SCH (school). Is an ear a vital organ? See Vincent van Gogh, Reservoir Dogs, Chopper, etc for the argument against. Having said that, Chambers has a variety of meanings for vital ranging from "Extremely important" to "Essential", with the ear perhaps tending more towards the former. | |
| 13 | Grab someone's pet and go off quietly (6) |
| DOGNAP - anagram of (off) AND GO, + P (quietly). Though dognap is in Collins and ODO (though not Chambers), the only meaning of catnap they contain is with reference to a short sleep. I surmise that this is because the thought of a cat being stolen is so objectionable to right-thinking people that there has been a collective decision by the English-speaking world to not create a separate word for such, in the hope that the lack of a word will somehow ensure the lack of the crime. | |
| 14 | Wild beast seen round small British city (6) |
| LISBON - LION (Wild beast), around S (small) + B (British). I suspect I won't be the only solver who initially assumes that the answer is going to be either a city formed from an anagram of BEAST around B, or a British city formed from an anagram of BEAST around S. | |
| 17 | I never must follow English designer (8) |
| ENGINEER - I + NEER (never, e.g. the ne'er in ne'er-do-well), after (must follow) ENG (English) | |
| 19 | Give out American magazine in revolution (4) |
| EMIT - reversal (in revolution) of TIME (American magazine). Magazines in Crosswordland are generally Time, Life, Elle, or Punch. | |
| 21 | Family member that is entering new church (5) |
| NIECE - IE (that is), in (entering) N (new) + CE (church) | |
| 22 | Public school pupil recalled mark given to Scottish lad (7) |
| ETONIAN - reversal of (recalled) NOTE (mark), + IAN (Scottish lad) | |
| 23 | Wrong to do the twist after country dance (6,4) |
| TURKEY TROT - reversal (to do the twist) of TORT (wrong, in a legal sense), after TURKEY (country). Chambers: "A kind of ragtime dance", whose execution Wikipedia describes as follows: "The basic step consisted of four hopping steps sideways with the feet well apart, first on one leg, then the other with a characteristic rise on the ball of the foot, followed by a drop upon the heel. The dance was embellished with scissor-like flicks of the feet and fast trotting actions with abrupt stops." It was apparently denounced by the Vatican for being too suggestive. The most common meaning of turkey trot these days though, at least on the evidence of Google Images, is a run taking place around Thanksgiving. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Ironing, perhaps, some time after dark? (7) |
| EVENING - double definition, the first referring to the process of making something even | |
| 3 | Other ranks caught a killer whale (4) |
| ORCA - OR (Other ranks) + C (caught) + A. Rather generous of Flamande to give us "Other ranks" explicitly rather than something a bit more general such as "Soldiers", say. | |
| 4 | Dorothy and Edward covered in spots? (6) |
| DOTTED - DOT (Dorothy) + TED (Edward) | |
| 5 | Ideal kind of order for dessert (5,3) |
| APPLE PIE - a reference to APPLE-PIE order being (Chambers): "Perfect order" | |
| 6 | One gives Spanish gentleman gold (5) |
| DONOR - DON (Spanish gentleman) + OR (gold) | |
| 7 | US president saw nothing out of place (10) |
| WASHINGTON - anagram of (out of place) SAW NOTHING. Nice anagram and surface, though the solution perhaps jumps out quite readily because the anagram is really an anagram of SAW then an anagram of NOTHING. How about hating snow? Or wins a thong? | |
| 8 | She's funny, giving invitation to eat about middle of Lent (10) |
| COMEDIENNE - COME DINE (invitation to eat) about {L}EN{t} (middle of Lent, i.e. the middle letters of the word "Lent") | |
| 12 | Maybe galoshes and mac in war are recycled (8) |
| RAINWEAR - anagram of (recycled) IN WAR ARE | |
| 15 | Animated deer turned on Italian child (7) |
| BAMBINO - BAMBI (Animated deer) + reversal of (turned) ON. Assuming you don't read "Animated" as an anagram indicator, then you are unlikely to be spoiled for choice in your mental search for an "Animated deer". | |
| 16 | Verse in translation, initially extremely hard (6) |
| SEVERE - anagram of (in translation) VERSE, + E{xtremely} (initially extremely, i.e. the first letter of the word "extremely") | |
| 18 | Visitor introduced by colleague, strangely (5) |
| GUEST - hidden in (introduced by) colleaGUE STrangely | |
| 20 | Fool oddly late joining party (4) |
| DOLT - L{a}T{e} (oddly late, i.e. the odd letters of the word "late"), next to (joining) DO (party) | |