At this time, I'm stumped by first half of 15D and 17A. What I think is in 15D, makes 17A look weird. There is a theme to this puzzle and I don't know if 17A fits the theme. (it didn't)
The theme kicks off with 20D: Sportsman to whip up beer every second (6) and "to whip" = FLOG, the word "up" means to reverse that to GOLF for a down clue, then "bEeR every second" means to take every second, or other letter, in "beer" to get ER. Put together for GOLFER. Yes, just on the tail of PGA Championships, there's a golf puzzle. Of course, I lived in Scotland for many years - the home of Golf and not far from St. Andrews. So of course, I know absolutely nothing about golf. 15 years there, never played golf once.
8A - Ring mum at home back in US city (5)
First clue in the grid and "US city" is what we need to find. "Ring" = O, "mum" = MA, and "at home back" wants us to take the first letters of "At Home" and reverse them to get OMAHA. (How did I know to just take those first letters? I guess this puzzle stuff is getting easier as I'd just assumed?)
9A - Crusader to stir China in wars (9)
This took me ages! So frustrating. I knew there was an anagram here but I couldn't find it. The word "stir" was an obvious anagrind - Well didn't I fall for that trick. We want a word for "Crusader" and I got this with cross letters and noticing "China" was split near the beginning and the end then I realised it was CHRISTIAN. "Stir" was part of the fodder, not the anagrind. I guess "in wars" is the anagrind.
11A - Most urgent, outspoken journalist (7)
Again I got this late and what a lovely clue. "Outspoken" is a homophone signpost. We want a word that works for both "most urgent" and "journalist" and we get DIARIST/direst.
12A - Poison rump sent back in top café (7)
"Poison" is our definition. "Rump" = ARSE, "sent back in" = NI to reverse the word "in" and "top Café" wants us to take the C to make ARSENIC. It's always fun when we can swear in puzzles. I must try the Private Eye ones one day.
13A - Lunchtimes, maybe, bother son on diet (9)
"Lunchtimes" is our definition and "bother" stuck out as an anagrind. I am lazy and often use an anagram solve tool because it takes me long enough to solve puzzles without spending tons of time breaking down anagrams - but I am getting better. This one stumped the algorithm. I had to solve the old fashioned way to get NOONTIDES, an anagram of "son on diet"
15A - Reject state year number (3,2)
"Reject" is our definition (a lot at the beginning I'm seeing) and "state" = SA (South Australia), "year" = Y and "number" = NO for SAY NO.
16A - Snakes ruin a sand pit - get daughter out! (7)
This one made me laugh, I like when the surface of a clue is fully readable. "Snakes" is our definition and "ruin" stands out as a possible anagrind, but the following words "a sand pit" have too many letters until we see "get Daughter out!" we remove the D and "a san pit" becomes TAIPANS. (I didn't cheat with that one, honest!)
17A - Donates time extracting blood type for this!? (3,4)
With my terrible error in 15D, I couldn't get the first word to look right. I put in, as a joke, DUI TEST, and I wasn't too far off the real answer. I am not sure how the clueing of "donates time" leads to the answer: DNA. "Donates -OTES leaves DNA, but OTES as "time"? Is it "time" gives for the N and "extracting blood type" = A?
Answer provided by: John Carney @johncarneyau
17A is D[o]NA TES T[ime] (“blood type” = “O”)
It's so sweet, I wish I'd gotten that. Thanks John!
19A - Result of a nice long drive, perhaps? (5)
This is a theme clue - once you know that the answer is more visible: EAGLE.
21A - First casualty in queue for mouthwash ... (9)
This is the first time I've seen ellipse clues have an actual connection. We want a "mouthwash" and "first" = IST (1st), "casualty" = ER (emergency room) and "queue" = LINE so "first casualty" is to go "in" "queue" like this: L(IST)(ER)INE for LISTERINE.
22A - ...line goes out into streets for recruits (7)
"Recruits" is our definition and "line goes out" is fodder+anagrind then "streets" = STS to give ENLI+STS. Here the connection is the word "LIST" used in both clues. There could even be more meaning there, but I was happy to note the same word used.
24A - Initially bored to death, I leave regional city (7)
"Regional city" is our definition. "initially Bored" = B "death" = END and "I leave" = I GO for the city of BENDIGO.
25A - The day Wellington lost 100 southern homes (9)
"Homes" is the definition and "the Day" = D, "Wellington lost 100" = WELLING -TON (a ton being 100 cubic ft. capacity) "southern" = S to give DWELLINGS.
26A - Edit notes about blokes (5)
"Edit" is our definition and I'm not completely sure I have this right. I got this with cross letters. "Blokes" = MEN but I'm not sure how "notes about" = ED, and the ED goes "about" the MEN. I know ED as an abbreviation for editor, edition or editorial, so it's not too much a stretch to think it could be linked to notes.
1D - Winning dog-walking? (7,3,4)
I struggled with this, having the last two words guessed with cross letters until I googled this with "golf" attached and there the answer appeared: HOLDING THE LEAD.
2D - Mum takes vehicle on second mission for pasta (8)
"Pasta" is our definition and "Mum" = MA, "vehicle" = CAR, "ON second mIssion" means to take the IN and the second letter from from "mission" to give MACARONI.
3D - Judge punishes mega-artist (10)
"Judge" is our definition and "punishes mega-artist" is anagrind+fodder to give MAGISTRATE.
4D - Glaswegian 20-down Adam loses tee (4)
"Glaswegian" is our definition and "Golfer Adam loses tee" is to be worked so when I googled "golfer adam"it got me Adam Scott. Lose a "tee" = -T from his surname to get SCOT.
5D - Sledges fat teams (10)
This word "Sledges" gets used a lot in Australia. It means to harass in sporting to provoke a violent response or to intimidate. So does this mean harassment or sledding or slurring words while drunk and trying to say "ledges"? "Fat" = BROAD and "teams" = SIDES so I guess that means Sledges = BROADSIDES. To me, to broadside someone is to tackle them, so does sledge also mean to tackle?
6D - Cockney echoes his god (4)
We're looking for a "god" here and "Cockney echoes his" means we want a word with an H that's to be dropped, but we don't need to look far as there's one here in the clue: "his." Drop the H to get IS, then this is to be "echoed" to make ISIS.
7D - Organ makes terrible din inside locker (6)
We're looking for an "organ" as in an internal body part (One day there will be harmonica as an answer) and luckily there aren't that many organs with six letters. "Terrible din" is anagrind+fodder put inside a three letter word for "locker" = KEY to give us KIDNEY.
10D - Kiss from 20-down Tiger in neighbourhood (4,2,3,5)
It was this clue that got me the answer for 20-down. I'd lightly pencilled "Peck on the cheek" but that soon became obviously wrong. "Kiss" = NECK "Tiger" = WOODS put them into a phrase for "neighbourhood" to get NECK OF THE WOODS.
14D - Exposing record getting beaten (10)
I had most of the cross letters and guess an answer then worked backwards: Record" = DISC, "getting beaten" = LOSING to get a word for "exposing" is DISCLOSING.
15D - Cut finger on finance page feature (5,5)
I feel dumb I didn't get this. I stumbled on the word "cut" focussing on injury and thought SLICE but really I needed to think slice of the pie. It's so obvious now: SHARE INDEX. I even had the "index" part! I used to work for a bank. The shame...
18D - Without effects, Felix referenced Drew (8)
I liked this clue, I got that lightbulb moment here (where was that lightbulb for 15D?) Our definition is "Drew" and "Without effects, Felix..." where "effects" is often shortened to FX (Oh I want to see that movie now!) and "Felix" has those letters. We remove -FX leaving ELI, then "referenced" = CITED to give ELICITED.
20D - (solved at the top)
23D - Love being under the sun, alone (4)
"Alone" is our definition and "Love" = O and "sun" = SOL, put the love under the sun to get SOLO.
24D - Took a Greyhound, say, broke (4)
Homophone clue where "took a Greyhound" = BUSSED and "broke" = BUST and we want the four letter version.
Good fun, right? This is what these puzzles are supposed to be like. Not painful, but a bit of cheeky fun, a bit of a laugh. It's a great way to kick off the week solving a puzzle, even when we miss glaringly obvious answers.
I'll have a look at yesterday's Rufus - fast becoming a dear favourite, then we have a fresh Puck to play with as well.
I have finally managed to finish a couple of blankets for my friend's pending baby boy due to join us all this week. I'll snap a few pics and share because this is supposed to be a blog of my two favourite hobbies, but one seems to dominate the other.
Hope your Tuesday is kind to you.
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