I managed to romp through the first three quarters or so of this puzzle without too many alarums and excursions, but was then left with a handful of clues that put up stout resistance and took an age to unravel.
In particular the SW corner (except for 21ac) was particularly hard going (although with the benefit of hindsight I can't understand why it took me so long to spot the cartoon cat), and 7dn stumped me altogether (an unknown word and the key components of the wordplay were also unknown to me). But, all good clean fun and some fine clues with the ingenious lettuce stunt at 22ac getting my COD nomination, closely followed by 8dn (great surface) and the cunningly constructed 18ac.
Thanks as ever to Jeff for a very enjoyable challenge.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(--): omitted letters indicated by {-}.
In particular the SW corner (except for 21ac) was particularly hard going (although with the benefit of hindsight I can't understand why it took me so long to spot the cartoon cat), and 7dn stumped me altogether (an unknown word and the key components of the wordplay were also unknown to me). But, all good clean fun and some fine clues with the ingenious lettuce stunt at 22ac getting my COD nomination, closely followed by 8dn (great surface) and the cunningly constructed 18ac.
Thanks as ever to Jeff for a very enjoyable challenge.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(--): omitted letters indicated by {-}.
| Across | |
| 1 | Added gold bar roughly (4,2,4) |
| MORE OR LESS - MORE (added) + OR (gold) + LESS (bar - as in 'all bar one') | |
| 6 | After a month, returned and got a hole in one (4) |
| ACED - DEC reversed (month returned) comes 'after A' giving the golfing jargon | |
| 9 | Loud senator going around with tin (10) |
| STENTORIAN - *(SENATOR + TIN) with "going around" indicating the anagram | |
| 10 | Circus performer is to escape during broadcast (4) |
| FLEA - sounds like FLEE ('to escape' when 'broadcast'). Must admit whilst I've heard the term "flea circus" many times, I'd never actually thought about what might be involved or how it might work. Anyone with too much time on their hands and who shares my fascination with the more eccentric fringes of human endeavour might find this brief article interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea_circus | |
| 12 | Reptile disfiguring canal’s central parts (6) |
| IGUANA - Neat wordplay where the answer is constructed from the "central parts" of disfIGUring and cANAl | |
| 13 | Fuss by pub about the French sweet (8) |
| ADORABLE - ADO (fuss) + BAR reversed (pub about) + LE (the French) | |
| 15 | A lot of water replacing cider, as it’s being consumed by non-drinkers (8,3) |
| ADRIATIC SEA - *(CIDER AS IT) - with "replacing" pointing to the anagram - inside (consumed by) AA (alcoholics anonymous - non-drinkers) | |
| 18 | School head comes round with toiletry (7,4) |
| SHAVING FOAM - S (abbrev. school) + FOAM (head - as in the froth on top of a beer) go 'round' HAVING (with). I always particularly admire the artistry of clues where seemingly innocuous conjunctions such as 'with' turn out to be key components of the wordplay. Very nice. | |
| 21 | American female — elegant and wealthy (8) |
| AFFLUENT - A (American) F (female) + FLUENT (elegant) | |
| 22 | Stop pretence about a possible alternative to sweetheart (6) |
| ACCOST - ACT (pretence) goes around (about) COS (possible alternative to Sweetheart since both are varieties of lettuce). Very droll - in fact a Little Gem of a clue, one might say. | |
| 24 | A place to hide port (4) |
| ADEN - A + DEN (A place to hide) | |
| 25 | Master chess player is heard to be big-headed beaky type (10) |
| KINGFISHER - FISHER sounds like (heard to be) Bobby Fischer (master chess player) with KING (big) in front (headed). The cryptic definition is a refreshing change from 'flyer' or 'singer'. | |
| 26 | Twist and slip when taking top off (4) |
| EDDY - This one went in on a wing and a prayer, as my research over the years into the mysteries of female under garments had failed to include learning that a {T}EDDY is a type of slip. | |
| 27 | Slow month on railroad, with terminally tiresome speed (10) |
| DECELERATE - DEC (month) + EL (abbrev. of the Canadian Erie Lackawanna 'railroad', apparently) + E (last letter - 'terminally') of tiresomE + RATE (speed). I thought the railroad reference was very obscure, although the remainder of the wordplay and cross checkers meant the answer could not really be anything else. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Endless row after problem about fabric (6) |
| MUSLIN - LIN{E} (endless row) 'after' SUM reversed (problem about) | |
| 2 | Bitter herb dock packed makes you apologetic (6) |
| RUEFUL - RUE (bitter herb) + FUL{L} (packed after being 'docked') | |
| 3 | Vulgar promises to pay after a lot of port gets on shabby clothes (12) |
| OSTENTATIOUS - IOUS (promises to pay) comes 'after' OSTEN{D} (a lot of port) + TAT (shabby clothes) | |
| 4 | Fat boy cramming in last of burger (4) |
| LARD - LAD (boy) with R (last of burgeR) 'crammed in' | |
| 5 | One in bed is game to continue for a while! (10) |
| SNAPDRAGON - The occupant of the flower bed is derived from SNAP (game) + DRAG ON (continue for a while) | |
| 7 | Carriage circles a bay tree (8) |
| CALABASH - CALASH (carriage - a type of horse drawn buggy) goes around (circles) A B (a bay). Did not know the tree, or the carriage, or indeed that B is a recognised abbreviation of Bay. Other than that... | |
| 8 | Doctor amazed with pi and another possible number (8) |
| DIAZEPAM - *(AMAZED + PI) with "doctor" pointing to the anagram, giving the drug that was first marketed as Valium. "Number" as something that makes one numb is an old chestnut, but I invariably fail to spot it for a long while whenever it crops up. I thought this was a cleverly constructed clue and a pleasing surface - very neat all round. | |
| 11 | Does it provide a better way to play "Oranges and Lemons"? (5,7) |
| FRUIT MACHINE - Neat cryptic definition requiring us to see "better" as 'one who bets' | |
| 14 | Be training around a ship (10) |
| BRIGANTINE - *(BE TRAINING) with "around" indicating the anagram | |
| 16 | Key on a dead mushroom (8) |
| ESCALATE - ESC (key - on your keyboard) + A LATE (a dead) | |
| 17 | Paper reviewed green comic strip (8) |
| GARFIELD - RAG reversed (paper reviewed) + FIELD (green) | |
| 19 | Susan regularly found behind joke book (6) |
| JOSHUA - UA (sUsAn regularly) 'behind' JOSH (joke) giving us the sixth book of the Bible, which is one I seem to dimly recall contained much smiting. | |
| 20 | Something rude to do is eating very fast (6) |
| STARVE - It's rude to STARE, which in this case also contains (is eating) V (very) | |
| 23 | Fit date seen outside Uni (4) |
| AGUE - AGE (date) wraps around (seen outside) U (Uni) | |