Today I listed clues in solve order, but I did forget to by the end but apart from a few missed on the list, this was the order I'd solved the clues in for this week I don't know if anyone was interested but I do note that lots of solvers like to say what their first clues were and then their last as if to note the easiest for them and then the hardest.
1A - Safety garment keeps sound runner fit (6,4)
"Safety garment" is our definition and "keeps sound" = HAS/HAZ, "runner" = MAT and "fit" = SUIT for a HAZMAT SUIT.
6A - Sport central to exercise tips at Olympic event (4)
I got this with cross letters and a guess. "Olympic event" is the definition and "sport" = PE to be placed "central" to "ExercisE tips" = EE so it's E(PE)E for the fencing foil. Wouldn't the event then be Fencing? Do they name the event by the sword being used?
9A - Take down navy bunk, possibly in empty theatre (10)
"Take down" is the definition and did I struggle because that's a phrase with so many meanings. We take down artwork from the wall, a sweep of the leg in Judo. Dismantle, uproot, flatten. Which one?! Well none of those of course. Always the one you forget. I got this with cross letters and the definition; "Navy" = RAN for Royal Australian Navy, "bunk" = CRIB and an "empty TheatrE" = TE. What I am missing is one letter but our answer is TRANSCRIBE. I've not got the letter S parsed.
10A - Pointless look for vault (4)
"Vault" is our definition and "look" = SEARCH and "pointless" means remove the compass points -SE leaving us with ARCH as our answer. Think vaulted ceilings.
12A - Fitting art exhibit (12)
Double definition: INSTALLATION.
15A - French colony once returned divine present (5)
I needed cross letters and a night's sleep to get this one. Then with coffee in hand I thought about "divine present" and the scene in Finding Nemo with the crabs sitting on the sewer line proclaiming it "Manna from heaven!" I had avoided looking up lists of old French colonies, but if one happened to be "Manna once returned" = ANNAM then we'd be winning. We won!
16A - Fool said %*!!# on seeing stars (9)
This was one of my last in because I could tell there was swearing, but how did it work the clue? What we needed was to be more visual; where in our lives have we "seen stars" that look like punctuation? Cartoons! When Jerry hits Tom in the head and there are birds and swearing symbols flying around his head. That's because he's momentarily (they heal faster in celluloid) CONCUSSED. I would not have put "con" as a synonym of "fool" because I was thinking nouns and not verbs. Once I made that leap, it all clicked. (you can see in my notes at one point the letters in cross position would've allowed me to put in "canoodled" which was temporarily exciting.)
17A - Swell idea? (9)
Cryptic definition for a BRAINWAVE. I needed cross letters for this one.
18A - Blither owner?
I got this one late too not thinking there would be a Scots word tossed around. Double definition: HAVER. Haver being made popular by that Proclaimers song, meaning to babble. It's used a lot in our house as we have three resident Scots.
19A - See Ashes event ruined by English opener fleeing worldwide (3,5,4)
"Worldwide" is the definition and "see ashes event ruined" is the fodder and anagrind but it's one letter too many so "English opener, fleeing" = -E then mix the rest to get THE SEVEN SEAS.
23A - Joker one way or the other (4)
Cryptic definition for a CARD. Joker is either a playing card or "He's a funny guy, what a card!"
24A - Perhaps Raleigh took in first-rate Gilbert and Sullivan work (5,5)
I didn't get this clue in the end even though I knew what I needed to do to solve it. I know "Perhaps Raleigh" was anagrind and fodder and I know it was split around a word for "first-rate" to give me a Gilbert&Sullivan work. Searching those works did nothing, searching the songs in those works did nothing. I needed the word TOP to give me: LIGH(T OP)ERA. The style of their works, not a titled work.
26A - Refining mass, etc., getting cold? (10)
I missed this one as I thought "refining mass etc" was anagrind and partial fodder but it's not. It's the definition and part clue. "Refining" is the definition and "mass" = M, "etc" = ETAL and "getting cold?" as in catching a cold = LURGY for M(ETAL)(LURGY). Is lurgy used in Australia? I heard it lots in the UK but not much here, unless someone is a Goon Show fan.
1D - Can't stomach speed, spilling guts (4)
"Can't stomach" is our definition and "speed" = HASTE which is "spilling guts" = -S leaving HATE.
2D - Relish sleazy strip dance (4)
For a long time I thought this was "Relish" as definition and answered LAPS as in "laps up the cream" and a "lap-dance" but that wasn't working and the corner was locked out until I erased and tried again. "Relish" is the definition and "sLEAZy strip, dance" means remove the outer letters of sleazy leaving LEAZ then "dance" those letters to get ZEAL.
3D - Vague sailor shipped off before Sat? (6-6)
"Vague" is our definition and "sailor" = AB and "shipped off" = SENT and with that and cross letters I got the answer ABSENT MINDED, I'm not sure how we get "Minded" from "before Sat?" Have I missed a step or does "off" mean I missed an anagram? Or is it not for Saturday but more like babysat or "minded the store."Yes I like that more.
4D - Support march (5)
Double definition: STRUT.
5D - Ultimately Adam stopped deplorable Cain/Abel bias (9)
"Bias" is our definition and "ultimately adaM" = M and "deplorable cain abel" is anagrind and part fodder less one letter, so add in the M then mix to get IMBALANCE.
7D - Sexually indulgent via letter (10)
I had all the cross letters and a few hours away from the puzzle to see what's going on here. "Sexually indulgent" is the definition and "via letter" = PER MISSIVE. "You are hereby ordered by royal command to be sexually available and bloody well like it, so says the King."
8D - Starfish intoxicated her - no medic?! (10)
"Starfish" is the definition and "intoxicated her no medic" is anagrind and fodder to give ECHINODERM. Yes I used an anagram solver for that, otherwise I'd never have solved that.
11D - Kinky love ballad describes president needing $1000 for Russian midgets (8,4)
I did not get this - there is so much going on I couldn't break into the clue to for a niche of solving corner. I had few cross letters to work with as well. Definition is "Russian midgets" and we start with "kinky (love = O) ballad" = O+BALLAD as partial fodder, "president" = BUSH, "$1000" = K put together like this: BA(BUSH)(K)A DOLL. Only niggle is the answer is singular while "midgets" is plural, but that sounds like sour grapes since I didn't solve the clue.
13D - Leave it with pop quartet's return, largely serene (10)
"Leave" is our definition and I putted along with this until a hint from Rupert " Definition is the first word, primarily in an academic context," and I knew right away the answer was SABBATICAL. Sometimes peeking into DAT is very cheaty-bad. We have "IT with pop quartet's return" meaning IT + ABBA reversed to ABBATI but I don't know why "largely serene" gets SCAL. Even if "largely" = L I don't know the use of "serene" S(ABBATI)CAL.
14D - Cycling arena's name?! (4,6)
I'm pretty sure this is an &lit clue. "Cycling" is a hint and an anagrind and if we mix up "arenas name" we get ANNA MEARES, an award winning cyclist. I will have to look back through puzzles because I'm certain we've seen her before
16D - Leave behind lest 2-down creates truce? (9)
"Truce" is our definition and I have gaps here. I got it from seeing "lest" could be "in case" which turns out to be not the best definition but it's the one I work under - so when folks say "lest we forget" I've always thought the meant "we have this memorial to remind us, in case we forget" then we want a synonym for ZEAL which was our "2-down" answer and with a thesaurus I put in CEASE FIRE. That's a hyphenated word in my searches and I can't parse the extra E so I know my solution isn't the right one, it's just what worked for me.
20D - It's stress free, lining kitsch waistcoat (5)
I have a soft spot for the word Kitsch and for anything kitsch because one day's fashion is tomorrow's embarrassing hula girl lamp. These things come back again. Back in Massachusetts there's even a Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) who pay homage to kitsch. That all has nothing to do with this clue! "It's stress free" is our definition and "lining" is a hidden word signpost to reveal
"kitSCH WAistcoat" and a SCHWA is an unaccented, or unstressed phonetic symbol.
21D,25A - Don't look as often in a solo class (8)
I got this in reverse, I had cross letters for the 25A. Double definition: PEERLESS. Looking less often and to have no peers in your class.
22D - Major struggle to reach slingshot on guard? (4)
"On guard" is our definition and a "Major struggle" = WAR and then I stopped. One letter away. How does "to reach slingshot" = Y? I can only think the letter Y is shaped like a slingshot. Answer is WARY.
There we are! No major themes, no super dramas. This was a good exercise. I feel I've had a winning week with these cryptics. Not a lot of clues either, only 27.
I have a day out with the ladies who love Diana Gabaldon to watch the full first season of Outlander. I made many internet friends back in the 90's with my love of the Outlander series. Although I'm one the bad fans who lost interest after book three. Once the story moved to America I wasn't as interested as when it was in Scotland. I had recently emigrated to Scotland and the books walked along a new journey with me and it seemed wrong to go back to where I'd just left.
Today is watching a 20 year old story become live on TV, eat pot luck nummies and laugh with people who are not my family and won't ask me do stuff for them. It's a Me day. Then tonight when I get back I'm getting into my short wetsuit and going swimming. I live coastal for a reason and dipping regularly is that reason. I love the ocean. I love swimming in the waves. It makes my skin feel amazing and I retain a sense memory of those waves for hours, just feeling cool phantom waves push and pull on me.
Apologies for typos and errors, I'm running late for my date and must dash!
I love Summer. I hope you have a great weekend.
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