Hmmm... well about 15 minutes into this one, I accidentally closed the window. So reloading it, and trying to remember what I had typed in the first time, I managed to get a little further. I then crawled, limped and sauntered towards the finish until I was left with just 5 across. With the timer at 42:27, I bunged my guess in to 5 across and submitted, only to find that I have one mistake.
I found this one really difficult to get into, and I'm pretty sure my error is in 5 across, but it could be somewhere else - the difference between my wavelength and the setters may not even lie in this universe.
To compound things, I probably won't be conscious much longer, so the hive mind can correct my wrongdoings shortly, but the true answers will most likely live in the comments until mid-afternoon UK time.
So like Lou Vincent on his way to the bookies, away we go...
Edit: I'm back in the land of the living. A few typos and mistooks are being edited, thanks for the "patience" of those of you in commentland
I found this one really difficult to get into, and I'm pretty sure my error is in 5 across, but it could be somewhere else - the difference between my wavelength and the setters may not even lie in this universe.
To compound things, I probably won't be conscious much longer, so the hive mind can correct my wrongdoings shortly, but the true answers will most likely live in the comments until mid-afternoon UK time.
So like Lou Vincent on his way to the bookies, away we go...
Edit: I'm back in the land of the living. A few typos and mistooks are being edited, thanks for the "patience" of those of you in commentland
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DIPS(declines),TICK(give a good mark) - what I said in the preamble doesn't apply to 1 across which was a fun clue for a standard piece of schoolboy slang in Australia in the 70s |
| 5 | MANTLE?: I had this as a double definition for a heat-resistant material and a part of a bird, but it was the one I was least sure of And in the first comment we are corrected - it's WATTLE, double definition |
| 10 | PHENOMENA: PEN, then OMEN, A(about) containing H Edit: misparsed this last night - the A is a note |
| 11 | G,LINT: LINT is a wound dressing |
| 12 | BET(chance),A |
| 13 | MILK STOUT: or MILKS TOUT |
| 15 | ASTRINGENT: A,STRING(twine) then an anagram of NET |
| 17 | STUD |
| 19 | LOOM: cryptic definition referencing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" where Bottom is a weaver |
| 20 | COME TO REST: or COMET ORES, T |
| 22 | COSTA RICA: STAR,1 in COCA(drug crop) |
| 24 | AIR,E |
| 26 | O,VERT |
| 27 | UNIT(company),TRUST(expect) |
| 28 | HUSTLE: (SLEUTH)* |
| 29 | POSEIDON: POSE(present) then DO(as, ditto) in IN |
| Down | |
| 1 | DOPE: or DO PE |
| 2 | PRETENTIOUSNESS: TENT for C in PRECIOUS, NESS Edit: I had missed the comma originally |
| 3 | THORACIC: HO in (ARCTIC)* |
| 4 | CREAM: E in CRAM |
| 6 | AU,GUST |
| 7 | THIN ON THE GROUND: THING ON THE GROUND missing G |
| 8 | ESTATE(car),DUTY(tax) |
| 9 | PARLANCE: AN in (PARCEL)* |
| 14 | TABLE(propose),CLOT(thicken),H |
| 16 | GLORIOUS: I got this from the checking letters and a definition - I think the other comes from the first day of goose-shooting being known as the glorious twelfth |
| 18 | IOLANTHE: anagram of E,LOTHIAN |
| 21 | PASTE(artificial gems),L |
| 23 | AMIGO: AGO(back in town), holding MI(another name for the musical note ME) |
| 25 | S,TUN |