Solving Time: 22 minutes, plus a few to check some parsings. About average for a blooging day, but I was slow to get started and it didn't feel easy. I'm pleased with the time, in the end. I think I like this crossword, it's got some excellent clues with very good surface readings, which I am always a sucker for. Good stuff. It is perhaps rather Anglocentric, what with the bear, the comic, the rural county and the industrial port, and none the worse for that of course.
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(--), homophones indicated in ""
ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(--), homophones indicated in ""
ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online
Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Herefordshire - present = HERE + FOR + D(aughter)'S HIRE. Not so hard (for an English ex-cricket fan), once the H appeared anyway |
| 8 | knob - central parts of weaKNess + imprOBably |
| 9 | Rupert Bear - game = RU + forward = PERT + stick = BEAR, the def. being "strip of paper;" "strip in paper" being a shade too helpful... |
| 10 | gymnasia - *(GAS + I + MANY), the second consecutive cryptic def. being "pumping stations," as in pumping iron. |
| 11 | browse - summit = BROW + points = directions = SE. |
| 13 | codswallop - fish = COD + S(mall) + paste = WALLOP... with the fish and the paste sandwiching the small, see? A very neat clue, that |
| 16 | lilt - (portuga)L in "was illuminating" = LIT |
| 17 | snog - SONG, with the O moving towards the tail. Ah, snogging, I remember it well <sighs> |
| 18 | tantamount - light brown = TAN + horse = MOUNT, containing we're obliged = thanks = TA |
| 20 | Mr Bean - British = BR rev. in MEAN. I like him about as much as Jack likes Spike Milligan.. |
| 22 | mooching - low = MOO + punch = CHIN + G(lass), the girl having left it, see.. mooching reminds me of this classic song from that wonderful film, Blues Brothers |
| 24 | coatimundi - fur = COAT + IM, + UNDI( |
| 26 | pogo - LOGO, with the L(arge) replaced by a P(arking)... pogoing being the sort of dance you do, if you are as totally untalented at dancing as I am |
| 27 | Ellesmere Port - "from Calais, she's" = ELLE'S + just = MERE + left = PORT, to make the industrial port (its highlight being the oil refinery) at the seaward end of the Manchester Ship Canal. I used to go there and watch the tankers coming up the Mersey and going into the canal. For fun. This was before computers, you understand, damn near before television in fact. I mean, it was that or Muffin the Mule.. |
Down | |
| 1 | honeymooner - polish = HONE + unknown = Y (so, not x or z) + shower = MOONER.. well, look it up <blushes> |
| 2 | robin - ROBIN( |
| 3 | for a start - chap with dreadlocks = RASTA(farian) in keep = FORT |
| 4 | Raphael - hammer = RAP + HA( |
| 5 | shrub - pipe down = SH + RUB = massage. What with the massage, the snog, the mooning, and the honeymoon, is this setter trying to tell us something? Is this a theme, or what? |
| 6 | imbroglio - *(BIG LIMO OR) - a word I know, but can't pronounce.. |
| 7 | eta - dd, Greek letter and a TLA for "estimated time |
| 12 | silent night - fast = one = I + LENT + approaching = NIGH (as in "The end is nigh.."), all in ST(reet) |
| 14 | segmental - *(M( |
| 15 | piano wire - *(OR WIPE A N I). Tricky clue.. not so hard to see its an anagram, but a bit of a leap from a baby to a baby grand, as I suppose is intended. Almost certainly not an oblique reference to garrotting, trying though babies can be at times |
| 19 | nominee - hmm, so if a miner digs, a minee must be dug? And NO MINEE can't be... you get the picture here, I hope |
| 21 | Nimes - hidden, rev., in streetwiSE MINister. A lovely town, wish I was there.. |
| 23 | hippo - with it = HIP, + (the river) PO. I thought of this straight off but didn't write it in, thinking the def. a bit weak at first. It is an @lit, ie the entire clue is the def. |
| 25 | owe - sounds like O( |