A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle from Tracy which contained a nice mix of a few "gimmes" (e.g. 12ac, 3dn) and some more tricky stuff. I particularly liked the nicely disguised hidden at 8ac, the literary postman at 7dn and the very neat 5dn.
If I have understood it correctly, 17ac might provide a parsing challenge for less experienced solvers, albeit the answer is fairly clear from definition and cross checkers - but I may have got the wrong end of the stick myself...
Anyway, I suspect this one is of slightly greater than average difficulty so it should provide a good challenge for newcomers whilst also giving old hands pause for thought in a couple of places. Thanks very much to our setter.
Unfortunately I will be on a plane for most of Wednesday so I will not be able to field comments/questions, but I'm sure the usual crew will be on hand to deal with any matters arising.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(--): omitted letters indicated by {-}
If I have understood it correctly, 17ac might provide a parsing challenge for less experienced solvers, albeit the answer is fairly clear from definition and cross checkers - but I may have got the wrong end of the stick myself...
Anyway, I suspect this one is of slightly greater than average difficulty so it should provide a good challenge for newcomers whilst also giving old hands pause for thought in a couple of places. Thanks very much to our setter.
Unfortunately I will be on a plane for most of Wednesday so I will not be able to field comments/questions, but I'm sure the usual crew will be on hand to deal with any matters arising.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(--): omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Mixed rum cup: it’s so delightful! (11) |
| SCRUMPTIOUS - *(RUM CUP ITS SO) with "mixed" signalling the anagram | |
| 8 | A further section of orchestra not here (7) |
| ANOTHER - Hidden in (section of) orchestrANOTHERe | |
| 9 | Petite, the Spanish female elected (5) |
| ELFIN - EL (the in Spanish) + F (female) + IN (elected - as in "he got in / was elected") | |
| 10 | Oscar training, sailor running (9) |
| OPERATING - O (Oscar - as per the phonetic alphabet) + PE (training) + RATING (sailor) | |
| 12 | English artist showing age (3) |
| ERA - E (English) + RA (artist) | |
| 13 | Grasshopper in place close to desert (6) |
| LOCUST - LOCUS (place) + T (close to - i.e. last letter of - deserT) | |
| 15 | Turncoat held by soldiers gets free (6) |
| GRATIS - RAT (turncoat) inside (held by) GIS (soldiers) | |
| 17 | Prominent feature from the Left? (3) |
| TOR - If its 'from the left' then it's also going to the right - hence TO R. At least, I think that's what is going on here... If I'm right then it's a more devious clue than most that we find in the QC! | |
| 18 | Began struggling in lake in US resort (4,5) |
| LONG BEACH - *(BEGAN) - with "struggling" signposting the anagram - 'in' LOCH (lake), giving us the Californian city where the old Queen Mary liner can now be found. | |
| 20 | Outdo former church leader in local (5) |
| EXCEL - EX (former) + CE (church) + L (leader in Local) | |
| 22 | Sporting cry from supporter wearing hot pants (5-2) |
| TALLY-HO - ALLY (supporter) surrounded by (wearing) *(HOT) with "pants" indicating the anagram | |
| 23 | Prodigal son writer initially disowned, before the short break (11) |
| SPENDTHRIFT - S (son) + PEN (writer) + D (initially Disowned) + TH (th{e} 'short') + RIFT (break). Quite a lot going on here... | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Resentful about conductor's original musical arrangement (5) |
| SCORE - SORE (resentful) goes round (about) C (Conductor's original - i.e. first letter) | |
| 2 | Listens during actual practice session (9) |
| REHEARSAL - HEARS (listens) inside (during) REAL (actual) | |
| 3 | Trading place, home for a bird (6) |
| MARTIN - MART (trading place) + IN (home) | |
| 4 | Almost level in cup match (3) |
| TIE - TIE{R} (almost level). Quite why matches in cup competitions (particularly the FA cup) are often referred to as "cup ties" I really don't know - they just are... | |
| 5 | Not on strike? That's unusual! (7) |
| OFFBEAT - OFF (not on) + BEAT (strike). Neat clue. | |
| 6 | As such, do only upset religious class (6,6) |
| SUNDAY SCHOOL - *(AS SUCH DO ONLY) with "upset" indicating the anagram. | |
| 7 | Scholar, male postal worker? (3,2,7) |
| MAN OF LETTERS - A male postal worker could, in a whimsical way, be described as a 'man of letters'. Rather nice, I thought. | |
| 11 | Loose blouse— Georgia with blue one (9) |
| GARIBALDI - I had not come across the garment (a red blouse loosely modelled on the shirts worn by Garibaldi's army), so I needed to rely on the wordplay for this one. Fortunately it was not too tricky: GA (abbrev. of the state of Georgia) + RIBALD (blue) + I (one). | |
| 14 | Boat made from carbon, sign of things to come (7) |
| CORACLE - C (chemical symbol for carbon) + ORACLE (sign of things to come). The sign of things to come / oracle equation threw me somewhat, as I'd always believed that an oracle was one who interpreted the sign rather than the sign itself, but apparently oracle can also mean the message delivered by the interpreter. | |
| 16 | Grabsmall part (6) |
| SNATCH - DD, with the second definition referring (amongst other things) to a "snatch" of - as in a few bars of - a song | |
| 19 | Strangely easy time, until now (2,3) |
| AS YET - *(EASY) - with "strangely" pointing to the anagram - + T (time) | |
| 21 | Boy happy heading off (3) |
| LAD - {G}LAD ('happy' minus its first letter - 'heading off') | |