Solving time: 21:32
After a week of temperatures close to or above 40˚C, it’s finally cooled off for blog day. Just as well, for ’tis hard to think while melting. Not a really difficult puzzle; a few chewy bits balanced by some obvious answers and the rest about average difficulty.
After a week of temperatures close to or above 40˚C, it’s finally cooled off for blog day. Just as well, for ’tis hard to think while melting. Not a really difficult puzzle; a few chewy bits balanced by some obvious answers and the rest about average difficulty.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Omitted; a veritable saw. |
| 3 | SUPER-DUPER. Two defs: ‘wicked’ (excellent, wonderful); one who might, in a jocular sense, dupe a Super{intendant}. Also the name of a highly-recommended bit of back-up software. |
| 9 | GRAMPUS. Gus (the theatre cat) from TSE’s Practical Cats and a related musical, inc. RAMP (racket in the sense of a swindle). The grampus is both heavy and a breather. Still, a fairly obscure def.; as is that for the other animal crossing it. On edit: as Jackkt points out, Chambers has “someone who puffs and blows” (archaic).Still pretty 11ac but! |
| 11 | OBSCURE. O (old), BS (surgical qualification), CURE. |
| 12 | CHOP AND CHANGE. Two defs; again, one slightly jocular. |
| 14 | ASSAM. AS (when); {Uncle} SAM. |
| 15 | LIBRETTOS. BR (British Rail[ways]) in an anagram of TS Eliot. (No ‘toilets’ or ‘litotes’?) Do musicals have libretti or only books? |
| 17 | REG,IC,IDAL. Sounds like ‘idle’ (vain). |
| 19 | RO(ME)O. A dead giveaway. If you haven’t eaten roo, it’s worth a try. Great taste, very lean, low cholesterol. And we have far too many of them. So eat up! |
| 21 | ROUND THE TWIST. ROUND (canon in the musical sense); The Twist (a primitive contortion of limbs sometimes called a dance). |
| 24 | HEAVIER. HEAR (try, legal), inc VIE (to compete). |
| 25 | VERBOSE. Reverse REV (vicar) and SOB (weep); E. |
| 26 | CHEESECAKE. Strictly a cryptic def (cheesecake = soft porn or the gals therein); but there’s also a literal in here: tart. Conclusion: it’s a punny cd. |
| 27 | BENT. Two defs. |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | HIGH CHAIRS. Def: ‘some get fed up in these’ with the emphasis on the ‘up’. HIGH (senior); CHAIRS (academic posts). |
| 2 | CHAMOIS. CO (company) inc HAM (amateur), IS. The def is presumably a reference to the sure-footedness of this mountain-dwelling creature. |
| 4 | UNSADDLED. U{nelected}; {o}N{e}S; ADDLED (went off). |
| 5 | EPOCH. The Bob is HOPE, reversed; insert C{hurch}. |
| 6 | DISINTEGRATOR. Anagram: Eton diarist; inc GR (Greek). |
| 7 | P,RUDE,NT. |
| 8 | REEF. E{uros} inside REF. I’m assuming the euros are the currency as opposed to the common wallaroo (Macropus robustus). But one never knows with judges. |
| 10 | PHARMACEUTICS. Sounds like ‘farm’ (till), a ‘suit’ (case); then {d}I{s}C{u}S{s}. |
| 13 | ASSORTMENT. An anagram; nicely disguised as ‘may degrade’ is also 10 letters. |
| 16 | BOLSHEVIK. BOL{d} (Duke leaves brave); SHEIK (Arab chief) inc V (for verse). |
| 18 | GAR,BAG,E. The GAR being a favourite crossword fish along with the LING and a few others that are unlikely to turn up in your local chippy. |
| 20 | MOIDORE. Today’s vocab challenge. MOIRE (silk; moiré = ‘given a watered appearance’; containing DO (carry out). 27 bobsworth of Portugese gold. And where Bronx Hobbits conclude their quest. |
| 22 | Omitted. (Pole back in charge of architectural order) |
| 23 | CHIC. C{aesar}, HIC (Latin for ‘here’). |