A distinctly chewy offering from Hawthorn today which I suspect will have some of our newer solvers struggling (but hopefully not complaining - the whole point is to be pushed beyond your comfort zone as that is the only way to improve your skills: end of brief homily).
No real obscurities apart from the Japanese sash at 1d, but with the rest of the wordplay and a couple of cross checkers the unknown (to me) bit of the answer could be written in with a high degree of confidence. The difficulty of the puzzle (at least to me) came with the cryptic definitions at 4a and 10a (both very good - but it took me some time to see what was going on) and the tricky / well disguised definitions at 5d and 20a.
A couple of impressive anagrams at 2d and 6d - although they were some of the easier clues I thought - but my COD goes to 4a for reasons I suspect only my shrink could explain.
Well, playmates, that's me over and out as a blogger of the QC I'm afraid. For those of you who did not look at my last Sunday Times blog, I've decided to pass on the baton due to pressure of work and generally being time poor at the moment. I was privileged to be in at the beginning of the QC and blogged QC number 3 back in March 2014. Since then I have done around 108 all up (not that I've been counting - but that's roughly what the sums suggest) so it's time to give someone else a crack.
It only remains for me to say a big thank you to all the setters and editors of the QC. It was a bold experiment when first launched (which attracted criticism from some of the more conservative quarters) but has, I believe, encouraged a new generation of solvers to get into the Times crossword scene. Some will go on to become top flight solvers of the 15x15, some will stay comfortably enjoying the QC but will venture no further, and some will say the whole thing is just too damn hard. But at least everyone will have had a crack and decided whether the investment of time and intellectual energy associated with being eventually able to solve The Times 15x15 is worth it. And that's great.
So toodle pip and thanks for the (generally) positive feedback you have provided to my efforts over the last 4 years.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(--): omitted letters indicated by {-}
No real obscurities apart from the Japanese sash at 1d, but with the rest of the wordplay and a couple of cross checkers the unknown (to me) bit of the answer could be written in with a high degree of confidence. The difficulty of the puzzle (at least to me) came with the cryptic definitions at 4a and 10a (both very good - but it took me some time to see what was going on) and the tricky / well disguised definitions at 5d and 20a.
A couple of impressive anagrams at 2d and 6d - although they were some of the easier clues I thought - but my COD goes to 4a for reasons I suspect only my shrink could explain.
Well, playmates, that's me over and out as a blogger of the QC I'm afraid. For those of you who did not look at my last Sunday Times blog, I've decided to pass on the baton due to pressure of work and generally being time poor at the moment. I was privileged to be in at the beginning of the QC and blogged QC number 3 back in March 2014. Since then I have done around 108 all up (not that I've been counting - but that's roughly what the sums suggest) so it's time to give someone else a crack.
It only remains for me to say a big thank you to all the setters and editors of the QC. It was a bold experiment when first launched (which attracted criticism from some of the more conservative quarters) but has, I believe, encouraged a new generation of solvers to get into the Times crossword scene. Some will go on to become top flight solvers of the 15x15, some will stay comfortably enjoying the QC but will venture no further, and some will say the whole thing is just too damn hard. But at least everyone will have had a crack and decided whether the investment of time and intellectual energy associated with being eventually able to solve The Times 15x15 is worth it. And that's great.
So toodle pip and thanks for the (generally) positive feedback you have provided to my efforts over the last 4 years.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(--): omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Put back part of wall on Kentish hill (5) |
| KNOLL - Reverse hidden (put back part of) waLLONKentish hill | |
| 4 | Result of getting teeth stuck into Hawthorn, perhaps (7) |
| SAWDUST - Cryptic definition revolving around the teeth of a saw - and the strangely pleasing notion of sinking our teeth into a setter from time to time | |
| 8 | Playing lute etc in Cos? (7) |
| LETTUCE - *(LUTE ETC) with "playing" signalling the anagram | |
| 9 | Affectedly sing end of witty poem by Pound (5) |
| YODEL - Y (end of wittY) + ODE (poem) + L (abbrev. for pound sterling). Was it only me that found this a slightly odd definition? | |
| 10 | A sound defence aiding nightwatchman? (7,5) |
| BURGLAR ALARM - Cryptic definition steering us down a cricketing line of thinking - straight bat and all that - when in fact the key is in the noisy kind of "sound" and the nightwatchman is of the traditional variety rather than the tail end batsman promoted to take the last few overs to save a leading batsman from exposure at the end of the day's play. | |
| 12 | To step backwards in part of shoe (6) |
| TOECAP - TO + reversal of PACE (step backwards) | |
| 13 | A naturalist primarily twitches for larks (6) |
| ANTICS - A N (A Naturalist primarily) + TICS (twitches) | |
| 16 | The very best peach biscuit (5,7) |
| CREAM CRACKER - CREAM (the very best) + CRACKER (peach - terminology employed by one's grandfather with regard to a particularly attractive gal) | |
| 18 | Cautious statement fellow had withdrawn for example (5) |
| HEDGE - HE'D (fellow had) + EG reversed (withdrawn for example) | |
| 20 | Engineer ran good railroad (7) |
| DRAGOON - *(RAN GOOD) with "engineer" signposting the anagram | |
| 21 | There’s tons in cigars that’s bad for the stomach (7) |
| GASTRIC - T (tons) 'in' *(CIGARS) with "that's bad" indicating the anagram | |
| 22 | Avoid old magistrate after pocketing diamonds (5) |
| DODGE - D (abbrev. diamonds in Bridge notation) 'pocketed' by DOGE (old magistrate) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Some memory of Scottish garment bearing Japanese sash (7) |
| KILOBIT - KILT (Scottish garment) is 'bearing' (i.e. carrying inside) OBI (Japanese sash). Did not know the OBI, but once the K hove into view the garment had to be a kilt, which (with the definition) inevitably meant that OBI must be some kind of Japanese sash - which apparently it is. And that, I might say for the benefit of new solvers, is a good example of having to make educated guesses sometimes as words which are completely unknown to you will inevitably crop up from time to time. | |
| 2 | Craft sure to be hired for remote islands (5,8) |
| OUTER HEBRIDES - *(SURE TO BE HIRED) with "craft" signalling the anagram | |
| 3 | Liberal judge restyled Banjul a capital (9) |
| LJUBLJANA - L J (liberal judge) + *(BANJUL) - with "restyled" signposting the anagram - + A giving us the capital of Slovenia. I visited it some years ago, and I couldn't spell it correctly then, either... thank goodness the cross checkers didn't leave much room for getting it wrong! | |
| 4 | Son tries gardening tool (6) |
| SHEARS - S (son) + HEARS (tries - as in a judge trying / hearing a case) | |
| 5 | Biting cereal noisily (3) |
| WRY - Sounds like RYE (cereal noisily). The wry / bitter equation surprised me somewhat, as I'd always associated it with sardonic humour rather than real bitterness. But the dictionaries (of course) support the setter... | |
| 6 | Loud workmen I’d recast in radio play (5,4,4) |
| UNDER MILK WOOD - *(LOUD WORKMEN I'D) with "recast" pointing to the anagram. How many other radio plays does anyone know? | |
| 7 | Conversation arising in Greek/Latin (4) |
| TALK - Reverse hidden (arising in) greeKLATin | |
| 11 | Help close a hotel in the country (4,1,4) |
| LEND A HAND - END (close) + A + H (hotel - as in the phonetic alphabet) 'in' LAND (the country) | |
| 14 | Crazed singer swallowing unknown medical item (7) |
| SYRINGE - *(SINGER) - with "crazed" indicating the anagram - and Y also in the mix (swallowing unknown) | |
| 15 | Sharp American spies returned to protect detectives (6) |
| ACIDIC - CIA reversed (American spies returned) wrap around (to protect) CID (detectives) | |
| 17 | Time to embrace ruffian (4) |
| THUG - T (time) + HUG (to embrace) | |
| 19 | Blunder as US hospital department shortened radius (3) |
| ERR - ER (US hospital department ) + R (shortened R{adius} | |