Decent Saturday offering, no gimmes, and a steady solve with some head scratching along the way. Technically this was a DNF for me as after about 25 minutes (of which 5 were spent staring at 29A), I made the assumption that this was a word I did not know. 10 seconds later after checking rock types in Bradfords, this assumption was proved to be correct !!
| Across |
| 1 | ACCENT - A NT=new testament= book, around C(hristian) CE = church. Definition is just "mark" |
| 5 | REFORMER - FORMER = sometime, after ER= King Edward, reversed. John Wycliffe was a famous reformer, not to be confused with the TV series of the same name :) |
| 9 | MALAGASY - GAS = talk idly, inside MALAY, being the one language, predominantly used in Indonesia. Interestingly the other language is the main tongue of Madagascar, which although geographically close to Africa, shares few similarities with the mainland, and instead represents a kind of western outpost of the SE Asian islands. |
| 10 | GENDER - GEN = dope, RED = visibly embarrassed, reversed. |
| 11 | COMPLIMENT - P(u)L(p)I(t) = pulpit oddly, inside COMMENT = say |
| 13 | OATH - LOATH = reluctant, dropping L = line |
| 14 | PIKE - Swimmer, as in fish, and also the technique used in diving. |
| 15 | PALINDROME - (random pile)* - the phrase "never odd or even" is an example of a palindrome. |
| 18 | BETTER HALF - BETTER = cap, HALF = rugby player. the whole is "husband" |
| 20 | SORE - sounds like SAW = cut |
| 21 | IRAQ - I = island, then QA(TA)R = state, without soldiers, reversed. IRAQ being a republic, nearby to QATAR. |
| 23 | UP IN THE AIR - double def |
| 25 | BANANA - AN,AN,A = articles, on B(ag), for the fruit that is peeled by "unzipping". |
| 26 | LIGATURE - LIE = story, around GAT = revolver, RU=rugby union=game, reversed, for the bond. |
| 28 | THIEVERY - (hit)* , then (th)E, VERY = perfect, for the crime. |
| 29 | GNEISS - Very heavily disguised soundalike for NICE = enjoyable. Last one in as it was not a word I knew. Was aware of how the clue worked, but I have to own up to checking Bradford's for the answer. The lesson to be learned from this is to always consider silent letters when thinking about soundalikes! |
| Down |
| 2 | CHAMOMILE - (ammo)* inside CHILE = country, for the plant, which I normally spell without the H. |
| 3 | EXAMPLE - EX = husband, no longer, AMPLE = generous. The whole is "ideal" |
| 4 | TEA - TEAL = duck, with its "tail" hidden. |
| 5 | RHYME - HYM(n) = anthem with no N = name, inside R(ud)E , for the poem. |
| 6 | FIGHTING FIT - FIGHTING = resisting, FIT = attack. |
| 7 | RANCOUR - sounds like RANKER = private |
| 8 | ELECT - reversed hidden in (grea)T CELE(bration). The definition is "Return" |
| 12 | IMPORTUNATE - (utopian term)* |
| 16 | LEA - LEA(P) = spring, without P = quiet. |
| 17 | MARDI GRAS - RAM = sign, reversed, DIGS = quarters, round RA = artist, for the festival. |
| 19 | T SQUARE - T = time, SQUARE = old-fashioned. I hesitated to put this in as it left an entry ending in Q, however a brief check of the clue revealed the obvious answer! |
| 20 | SWEETIE - TIE = match, after S = second, WEE = minute (pronounced differently to the surface version) |
| 22 | REACH - (care)* then H = horse |
| 24 | ISLAY - I SAY! = boy! as in an exclamation, around L = large, for the producer of malt whisky. |
| 27 | GIG - triple definition, Perform live / boat / carriage. |