Well well, Orpheus got the better of me this week. It was Rongo last time round, where I gave up at the 15 minute mark after a blank stare at two unyielding clues. This time it was 20 minutes and three blanks. At this rate you can expect to see my next attempt at a blog sometime after galspray's on the Friday...
Ok, so having looked them up I see two of my guesses were actually correct: I'd written 4d and 11d off to the side with question marks, sufficiently unparsed to be denied (or granted?) entry. Both were rather good clues. My third non-entry was 6d, which wasn't as good, if that doesn't strike too much of sour grapes. Anyway, if my time's anything to go by I'd say this was relatively tricky today. Very good fun, despite the non-finish, with my clear favourite of a good number of lovely clues going to the excellent 2d (when it clicked). Many thanks to Orpheus!
Ok, so having looked them up I see two of my guesses were actually correct: I'd written 4d and 11d off to the side with question marks, sufficiently unparsed to be denied (or granted?) entry. Both were rather good clues. My third non-entry was 6d, which wasn't as good, if that doesn't strike too much of sour grapes. Anyway, if my time's anything to go by I'd say this was relatively tricky today. Very good fun, despite the non-finish, with my clear favourite of a good number of lovely clues going to the excellent 2d (when it clicked). Many thanks to Orpheus!
| Across | |
| 1 | Drive initially identifying my favourite American? (7) IMPETUS: I, M (initially Identifying My) PET (favourite) US (American). |
| 5 | County briefly giving name to male rabbits, perhaps? (5) BUCKS: double definition: short for Buckinghamshire; a term for male rabbits, among other animals. |
| 8 | Standard disagreement where securities are traded (5,8) STOCK EXCHANGE:STOCK (standard) EXCHANGE (disagreement). |
| 9 | Beat counter madly (7) TROUNCE: anagram (madly) of COUNTER. |
| 10 | Get on unusually nicely at first in test (5) MOUNT: U, N (Unusually Nicely at first) in M.O.T. (test) |
| 11 | Fruit originally bought by a granny (6) BANANA: B (originally Bought) by A NANA (a granny) |
| 13 | Books carried by fellow in sleeveless cloak (6) MANTLE: NT (books - New Test.) carried/held by MALE (fellow). Really like the misdirection here: no, "carape" is not an obscure collective noun for carried books. |
| 15 | Occurrence archdeacon observed in sci-fi film (5) EVENT: Ven. (Venerable = archdeacon) seen in ET (stock sci-fi film) |
| 16 | Part of Nabucco Verdi definitely exaggerated (7) OVERDID: "part" of the letters of NabuccO VERDI Definitely. |
| 19 | Test son composed about Essex town: an aid to progress (8-5) STEPPING-STONE: Anagram (composed) of TEST SON going about EPPING (Essex town) |
| 20 | Was senile chap after party? (5) DOTED: TED (chap) after DO (party) |
| 21 | Worker interrupting start of this odd outburst (7) TANTRUM: ANT (worker) interrupting T RUM (start of This ; odd) |
| Down | |
| 1 | Small picture of bee, say, about to be cut out (5) INSET: INSECT (bee, say), with C (c = circa = about) cut out. Another nice one. |
| 2 | Possibly he gets stick for this declaration? (13) PRONOUNCEMENT: PRONOUN ("he", for example) gets CEMENT (stick). |
| 3 | Symbol given to three-quarters of county (5) TOKEN: TO (to) KEN = 3/4 of Kent. |
| 4 | Composition? Former partner let it stand outside (6) SEXTET: EX (former partner) with STET (let it stand) going outside. Completely new to me, and improbable-looking for someone without Latin: a term in printing meaning that a correction or alteration on a MS, etc. should be ignored. What it lacks in everyday usefulness, it... well, makes up a little bit in interest. |
| 5 | Bishop with a home I rebuilt in old country (7) BOHEMIA: B(ishop) with anagram (rebuilt) or A HOME I. |
| 6 | Eg the LSO’s sightseeing trip? (9,4) CONDUCTED TOUR = sightseeing trip, with a cryptic hint that this would be especially applicable to the LSO, what with their general state of being conducted. I think that's it, unless I'm missing something more subtle. |
| 7 | Pony or sheepdog a woman’ll mostly draw (7) SHELTIE: SHE'LL (a woman will), mostly means drop the last letter; TIE (draw) |
| 11 | Tucked up in bed, not so favoured (7) BLESSED: LESS (not so) tucked up in/nestled inside BED. A lovely clue, and a great bit of misdirection, showing how an extra word or two can throw you right off the scent. Me anyway. |
| 12 | Small computer college set up above bedsit? (7) NOTEPAD: ETON (college) set up = reversed, above PAD (bedsit) |
| 14 | Poem produced by boy on web (6) SONNET: SON (boy) NET (web). |
| 17 | English nurse once touring south German city (5) ESSEN: E(nglish) SEN (State Enrolled Nurse) touring S. |
| 18 | Vision of engineers penetrating barrier (5) DREAM: RE (engineers) penetrating DAM (barrier). |