Solving Time: 37:47
I had this blog all written and ready to go several days ago and then completely forgot to post is yesterday, so apologies for that. I need a chance to get back in the swing of it, I suppose. Anyway, I'm back, having fully recovered from my stroke. Thankfully, it was a mild one, and I've been left with no residual weakness. Many thanks to all those who left messages of support at the time.
Anyway, enough about me. I found this a little unsatisfactory overall. There were certainly some good clues - 9a, 6d, and 20d was particularly devious, but there were others that I didn't like at all - 12a, 18a, 23d and 26a was just unfair!
I liked the wordplay in both 9a and 8d, but I felt the surface let them down, so I'll give my COD to 20d, although I didn't understand it until post-solve!
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (--)*, and removalslike this
I had this blog all written and ready to go several days ago and then completely forgot to post is yesterday, so apologies for that. I need a chance to get back in the swing of it, I suppose. Anyway, I'm back, having fully recovered from my stroke. Thankfully, it was a mild one, and I've been left with no residual weakness. Many thanks to all those who left messages of support at the time.
Anyway, enough about me. I found this a little unsatisfactory overall. There were certainly some good clues - 9a, 6d, and 20d was particularly devious, but there were others that I didn't like at all - 12a, 18a, 23d and 26a was just unfair!
I liked the wordplay in both 9a and 8d, but I felt the surface let them down, so I'll give my COD to 20d, although I didn't understand it until post-solve!
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (--)*, and removals
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CRE(CH)E |
| 5 | MUS(CA)T |
| 9 | CAIRNGORM = CAR + M about (RINGO)* - 'Rolling' is the anagrind, 'Stone' the definition. Nice deception, not sure about the surface though. |
| 10 | AVER |
| 11 | ATLAS + T (a symbol for troy, as in weight) |
| 12 | SENTENCE - I think this is just a dd, i.e. a grammatical sentence about a custodial sentence. It seems a bit weak though. |
| 14 | DEMOLISH = (MOLE)* in DISH |
| 16 | YARD = DRAY rev |
| 18 | SO(A)P - I'm not sure about SOP for fool. SAP, yes, but SOP? A sop is a weak or spineless person, but not really a fool. |
| 19 | LANCE + LOT |
| 21 | ATHENIAN = (A + IAN) about THEN |
| 22 | WA |
| 24 | PASS - dd |
| 26 | CAMARILLA = MARI in CALL + A - I'm always highly dubious about this use of unusual foreign names. It smacks of desperation on the part of the setter. Aren't there enough common English christian names without allowing ones like this. I've never met or even heard of anyone called Mari. It's particularly harsh when cluing such an obscure word. |
| 27 | DIADEM = DI + (MADE)* |
| 28 | POTTER - triple def - Waste time / wizard (Harry, of course) / snooker player |
| Down | |
| 2 | ROCK THE BOAT - dd |
| 3 | CHIN + A |
| 4 | EIN STEIN - A beer glass in German - a reference to 7d: ALE |
| 5 | MOMENT - dd - that's import as in importance |
| 6 | SPARE TYRE - dd - and quite a good one, I thought |
| 7 | |
| 8 | HOUSEHOLD NAME = HO (Home Office, Govt dept) + USE (to employ) + H (Henry, SI unit of inductance) + OLD (aged) + MAN rev (chap to raise) + E (earl) - I put it in from the checkers and the definition, and only deciphered it later. |
| 13 | CAR-BOOT SALE - cd |
| 15 | OPPRESSED = PRESS ED after OP |
| 17 | SNOW (Jon, anchor for C4 News) + DROP |
| 20 | SITCOM - A bit devious, this one, it's CT in MOIS all rev. Mars is an example of a French month (March), and mois is French for 'month' - the ? indicates the dbe. |
| 23 | PILOT - I think this is just I (international) in PLOT - but the wordplay doesn't seem to quite work for me. There seem to be superfluous words. |
| 25 | ALI - rev hidden |