i App Cryptic Crossword S0125 by Hypnos
April 28, 2024
Difficulty rating (out of five) ⏳⏳⏳
Now, I found this to be a little chewier than yesterday’s offering by Maize. Does this mean that I award this puzzle six egg-timers, conclude that I was on better form yesterday, or more likely that Hypnos is one of those setters I’ve always struggled to get along with. The latter, I suspect, combined with things like an entertainment venue that was new to me, and a forgotten spelling at 13ac. Back in the day this was judged to be a little chewier than the usual Monday fare, this being what it was, which is probably a sounder judgement.
CoD? I’ll go with 1ac – “Complaint from empty fellow, as it were (4)”.
All the answers and parsing of the clues can be found in Fifteensquared’s blog from June 2020:
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/06/08/independent-10500-hypnos/
Borodin
batarde
Saboteur
Denzo
flashling
jonofwales
Cornick
sprouthater
uiytjhgmj
willow1235
idothei 
I was surprised at your comment yesterday, Jon, and think you must have either been right on Maize’s wavelength or bang on form. I found today’s top half almost a write-in, but the bottom took it up to two timers but no more. I don’t know how CARYATID came to mind, but had to look up its meaning. Knew of ANAHEIM but not that Disney was there. PDMs were AFTER HOURS and remembering that PEOPLE could be a verb. Nice Puzzle.
Forgot to ask – Using ECRU as word search on 225 suggests it’s come up quite a lot, but I’ve NHO it. Is it one of those words used only by crossword setters or ha anyone come across it elsewhere?
I think I’ve only ever seen it in puzzles, it being a useful word for setters.
Mrs G, a quilter, assures me that ECRU is used to describe a shade of fabric. Enjoyed the puzzle. 7d my favourite.
When I mused out loud about the word ECRU, I was told that I had a sweater in that colour. That was sufficient for me crossword-wise. Still not sure which sweater, exactly…
My hardest two today were MALTREAT and ANAHEIM, so perhaps that made the top half a bit harder than the bottom. ECRU I did know – there seem to be countless words of the taupe/ buff/ beige variety that one meets either in haberdasheries or paint shops, depending on proclivities.
Liked AS A RULE and INHABIT best. Failed to parse CELERIAC,
So much easier than yesterday’s! Just the ⏳⏳ here, although I failed to parse SHORT CUT and CELERIAC. INHABIT was my favourite.
A few tricky ones (Anaheim defeated me). Lots to like (inhabit my favourite) but drum up seems a dubious definition & northern rugby is League – Union my Jim Royle!
Aren’t Sale a Union team?
Sale Sharks are definitely a Union team. 😊
About average for a Sunday, I thought, ⏳⏳ or so. No problems, other than I had to Google ANAHEIM (which I got from word-play and crossing letters, and which I had heard of) to see how it fitted the definition.
Otherwise all good, and enjoyable.