This is Joker's fourth QC offering, with his/her previous three falling slightly towards the harder end of the spectrum, based on the blog comments. I would guess that people will see this one as of average difficulty, as there are no obscure words or complicated constructions.
Definitions are underlined.
Across | |
| 1 | Support was hard for current reversal (8) |
| BACKWASH - BACK (Support) + WAS + H (hard, as seen on pencils). Please refer to Wikipedia if you would like to calculate the surf similarity parameter for a beach near you | |
| 5 | A repeated noise from screech-owl (4) |
| ECHO - hidden in screECH-Owl | |
| 8 | Cry quietly in a public place (5) |
| SHOUT - SH (quietly - they are equivalent when considered as orders) + OUT (in a public place - though residents of Crosswordland are more frequently to be found in, i.e. at home). This is a good example of why the surface of a clue should be ignored for solving purposes, as in this case it misleadingly suggests the weeping meaning of cry rather then the yelling one. | |
| 9 | Again cover inner surfaces around cold lounge (7) |
| RECLINE - RELINE (Again cover inner surfaces) around C (cold, as seen on (some) taps), with lounge being used in the verbal sense. Almost any verb can be given the prefix re to indicate that it is being done again, but RELINE is sufficiently important to merit its own entry in Chambers | |
| 11 | Trap teen nun that's gone wild, showing no remorse (11) |
| UNREPENTANT - anagram (that's gone wild) of TRAP TEEN NUN. Though I do like a good surface reading, I don't think it's possible for nuns (at least in the Catholic Church) to be teenagers. | |
| 13 | Stupidly grin at sailor (6) |
| RATING - anagram (Stupidly) of GRIN AT | |
| 14 | Character left better after the bishop's gone (6) |
| LETTER - L (left) + | |
| 17 | Acquire direct current warmer as a protection against the climate (11) |
| WINDCHEATER - WIN (Acquire) + DC (direct current, as in the kind of electricity produced by, say, a battery) + HEATER (warmer). As I think I've mentioned before, for some reason I get a thrill from words that can be broken down into a sum of other words, like here. | |
| 20 | Rather slow article by Italian poet (7) |
| ANDANTE - AN (article - specifically, the indefinite article) + DANTE (Italian poet, best known for the Divine Comedy). Andante is usually described as walking pace though Chambers has it as "moderately slow". Other tempos/tempi commonly found in Crosswordland are (in order of increasing speed) lento, largo, adagio, allegro, and presto, with andante fitting between adagio and allegro. Note that ABBA's "Andante Andante" was performed closer to adagio than andante - I suppose the lyrics just scanned better. | |
| 21 | Pursue legal action around hospital (5) |
| CHASE - CASE (legal action) around H (hospital) | |
| 22 | Was acquainted with contemporary sounds here (4) |
| KNEW - homophone (sounds here) of new (contemporary) | |
| 23 | Avoid eating fare such as hamburgers, etc (4,4) |
| FAST FOOD - FAST (Avoid eating, especially for religious reasons) + FOOD (fare) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Wager about second finest achievement (4) |
| BEST - BET (Wager) about S (second), with BEST being used in the nounal sense | |
| 2 | Cross with quest, losing every second game (7) |
| CROQUET - CRO | |
| 3 | With which to revive plants wanting care badly? (8,3) |
| WATERING CAN - anagram (badly) of WANTING CARE. I suppose the question mark is to indicate that there will be some plants that will need more than a mere watering to return to health. A nice surface. | |
| 4 | Band is small and rubbish (6) |
| STRIPE - S (small) + TRIPE (rubbish) | |
| 6 | Feature on a country (5) |
| CHINA - CHIN (Feature) + A | |
| 7 | Upset open vessel filled with tea? (8) |
| OVERTURN - OVERT (open) + URN (vessel filled with tea?) The question mark tells us that some, but not all, urns contain tea | |
| 10 | Link I severed with American state (11) |
| CONNECTICUT - CONNECT (Link, as a verb) + I + CUT (severed) The middle C is silent. Though this is another clue like that for WINDCHEATER, it doesn't give me the same buzz because when I look at the word CONNECTICUT my brain already breaks it down to CONNECT I CUT, so seeing it clued that way isn't a novelty. | |
| 12 | A problem what to do if model's facing the other way? (8) |
| DRAWBACK - though an artist would normally draw a model from the front, if the model was facing away from the artist then the artist would have to "draw back" | |
| 15 | Rent difficulty creating a storm (7) |
| TORNADO - TORN (Rent, as in the past participle of rend) + ADO (difficulty) | |
| 16 | Information on age for distinct groups of animals (6) |
| GENERA - GEN (Information) + ERA (age), with "on" being a valid connector because it's a down clue. Genera is the plural of genus, the biological classification between species and family | |
| 18 | Germany's leader entering naked jog (5) |
| NUDGE - G (Germany's leader, i.e. the first letter of Germany) inside (entering) NUDE (naked). A surface that conjures up a mental image I'm unlikely to ever have again | |
| 19 | Flex with black finish (4) |
| BEND - B (black, as seen on pencils) + END (finish) | |