Times Crossword 21,522 26 Dec 2012 - remembering the Sydney Olympics

Solving Time: About 25 minutes, but the last five spent on 20dn. This is one of the four "Vintage Olympic cryptic puzzles" printed on the Crossword Club website today, and my second blog of the day. In the absence of any other volunteers Andy (Linxit) has kindly agreed to blog two of the other three and Tony Sever has even more kindly agreed to blog the stinker from 1948.

This is the most recent of the four and almost certainly the easiest, though I haven't done much more than glance at the others yet. If it were printed as a daily cryptic now, I don't think it would have caused any undue comment at all. A fine, straightforward solve with only 20dn giving me any trouble, though I don't think it's in any way an unfair clue. The set of four are each from the opening day of their respective Olympics; but I can't see anything unusual, such as a nina, in the two I have tackled so far


cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(--).

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across
1	hemlock - border = HEM + LOCK, which the ODO defines as "a short section of a canal or river with gates and sluices at each end."Hemlock is an unusually poisonous plant. Just 0.1g can be fatal
5	peckish - kiss = PECK + I + SH
9	consensus - O + NEW STYLE in CENSUS = official statistics. NS for new style is how dates given in the new Gregorian calendar were marked, as opposed to the fuddy-duddy OS Julian calendar
10	error - TERROR
11	lurid - game = RUGBY UNION rev. in LID = cover
12	insolvent - very = V in INSOLENT
14	spring-cleaning - without mistakes = CLEAN in SPRINGING. Even in 2000 "housewives" had a faintly old-fashioned feel
17	as the case may be - a dd, the second one relating to an airport luggage carousel, I think
21	headdress - man = HE + ADDRESS = skill. The latter is in ODO, though it marks it "dated." Couldn't find it in the current Chambers
23	haste - HASTE AND SUCCESSFULLY TACKLES EVEREST
24	lifer - a cd, and a clever one too, I thought
25	driftwood - *(DID FOR TWO)
26	rockery - CROCKERY, where C = circa = about
27	Hackney - a dd, Hackney being both a horse-drawn cab and a London borough, much of it transformed by the recent London Olympics
Down
1	hackle - gain access to = HACK + LE. A hackle is a cock's neck feather, worn in in a (usually military) cap as decoration. This I knew, but god knows where from
2	mantrap - a word repeated = MANTRA + P = quietly
3	overdrive - cricketing terms = OVER + DRIVE. This word appeared not so long ago, and led to an erudite discussion. Broadly an overdrive is a high gear where the objective is fuel economy, and not maximum speed. I leave the Wiki entry for those who want more.. it's quite interesting in fact
4	kissing gate - *(EG ITS ASKING). A common device in these parts, which does indeed limit access, barring not only farm animals but also anyone sufficiently obese. Which seems counterproductive, rather
5	pas - hidden
6	creel - C + R + EEL
7	Israeli - IS + RA + ELI, the latter of which seems to have been appearing regularly in crosswords pretty much since he died
8	heritage - *(EIGHT ARE). Neat clue
13	silversmith - "Treasure Island" mutineer = (Long John) SILVER + (Winston) SMITH, main character of Orwell's novel 1984
15	apathetic - A PATH + CITE rev.
16	bachelor - *(TO BE SCHOLAR)
18	traffic - *(CRAFT IF)
19	bassoon - BA'S SOON
20	heyday - a cd. One's heyday is when one is in one's prime. Took me a while to see this, the wordplay is not too helpful
22	dirge - note = G in DIRE
25	dry - DRY = hardliner as opposed, of course, to the wets. Not a familiar usage to me but it's in Chambers. And dry as in drained dry.