After the puzzle from 1963 which appeared while TCC Qualifier No. 1 was published, I wasn't too dismayed to see this one dated 1970 rather than some impenetrable pre-war offering. It's a bit of a TLS crossover. However, all was not straightforward. I have the solution, which took me 22 minutes to complete. Providing you with logical, cast-iron explanations of why several answers are what they are (apart from the numerous anagrams) and how the word play (if any) leads you there, is another day's work. I'll do my best, and others can elaborate in due course.
Then I'll make another coffee and see how long the Q2 (26415) takes me; I'll blog that for posting once it's allowed (Thursday 26 May).
| Across |
| 1 | RISORGIMENTO - (ROME RISING TO)*, Italian name for the 19c movement which united Italy. |
| 8 | TIMOTHY - I'm not Biblically well informed, but I think this is something to do with Timothy who was allowed to 'put his wife away' because they didn't get along. A useful precedent, some might say. |
| 9 | FELLAHS - Egyptian subsistence farmers are called FELLAHS, which sounds rather like fellows, hence chaps. Is peasant now a non PC description? |
| 11 | ALL HAIL - Cryptic double def, one a greeting, one using another meaning of hail. |
| 12 | RIVIERA - (I ARRIVE)*; D &lit. They had chestnuts in 1970. |
| 13 | HERDS - HER + D'S = coppers; when pennies were still denarii. D droves. |
| 14 | IMMUNISED - Witty-ish cryptic definition. |
| 16 | NEWSAGENT - Cryptic definition. |
| 19 | SWOON - A pun on 'passing out' I suppose, you're not allowed to faint when you're on parade, passing out from Sandhurst. |
| 21 | EAST END - (A DEN SET)*, D part of London. |
| 23 | BLOTTER - Cryptic def. |
| 24 | SUICIDE - I'd heard of the Suicide Club as a Japanese film and as a book, but then found both dated from later than 1970; also the movement in San Francisco only began in 1977, so this must be referring to the three novel series by Stevenson? |
| 25 | LORENZO - I presume this refers to the magnificent Basilica di San Lorenzo which is the big church in Florence? And / or Lorenzo de Medici? |
| 26 | THREE-MASTERS - Double definition; three-masters were ships, and a fortiori would imply one priority only. |
| Down |
| 1 | RAMBLER - Double definition. |
| 2 | SATRAPS - (SPARTA'S)*; D governors. |
| 3 | ROYAL LINE - A sort of &lit., with word play on two meanings of 'line' and 'ruler'. |
| 4 | INFER - INFERNO = hell, remove NO, D conclude. |
| 5 | ENLIVEN - (LINE)*, then VEN for archdeacon; D make quick. |
| 6 | TRACERS - Well I suppose if you trace something with tracing paper you go over existing lines; I had several options for T-A-E-S and this seemed best, but I think it's a bit pathetic. Perhaps I've missed something? |
| 7 | STRAP-HANGERS - D commuters. Hardly cryptic. Perhaps this was a new phrase in 1970? |
| 10 | STANDING ROOM - Same remarks as 8 above. |
| 15 | MOTH-BALLS - A better clue! MOTHS fly by night, BALLS are dances, and moths evade moth-balls, if you're lucky. |
| 17 | WASPISH - WAS, PISH; D spiteful. PISH-TUSH is one of the high-up characters in the Mikado, which takes place in Titipu, so half of him is PISH. Personally I think G & S is to be avoided and the Mikado possibly the daftest of the lot, so out of ignorance of the details I had to check out who Pish-someone was, but the clue is easily biffable. |
| 18 | ALE-WIFE - Double definition; a lady who runs a bar, and a North Atlantic herring species. |
| 19 | SCOURGE - (CURES GO)*, D cause of widespread affliction. |
| 20 | OUTINGS - Cricket clues were obligatory in 1970, it seems. If you were fielding, you'd want to get people OUT, calling that an OUTING; D excursions. |
| 22 | DREAM - As in Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, so 'noted', much better than G & S. |