201202 2012 Championship Grand Final – Puzzle 2

After making such heavy weather of puzzle 1, I was hoping that puzzle 2 would provide some relief and it didn’t disappoint.  The two long down clues both yielded quickly, providing a good foothold on the rest of the puzzle.  About 10 minutes in total for this one, maybe slightly more.

The grid is a pangram, which is always an impressive feat for the setter but can also be a boon for the solver, particularly when some of the rarer letters appear as checkers (e.g. Q and Z in this case).  Due to trying to make up time on the day, I put in a number of answers from the definition and checkers alone, but writing this blog has given me a second chance to fully appreciate the construction of the clues.

Across
1 LE MOT JUSTE – LEMOn (A lot of fruit) + JUS (juice) in TT (dry, i.e. teetotal) + E (House, finally).  Nice misdirection here that had me convinced the third word must be ORDER.  However once I’d solved 1D it started to have a suspiciously French look to it, then the definition hit me.
6 ADIT – Continuing the French theme from 1A, we have A DIT, the 3rd person singular perfect tense of dire (to say, announce).  The definition is “Opening” (usually of a mine).
10 BEZIQUE – BEE (competition for people vying – the commonest example I can think of is a spelling bee) around (QUIZ)*.  I’d always thought that this usage of BEE was American but apparently not, according to Chambers (2002).  I’m not entirely clear whether the definition (cards) is referring to the game itself, or the holding of the Jack of Diamonds and the Queen of Spades that is one of the scoring combinations in the game – I’m leaning towards the latter.
11 ORBITAL – OR (Gold) + BIT (coin) + AL (left at the side of a)
12 LEAFINESS – FINE (penalty) in (SALES)* where “gross” is the anagrind
13 TROOP – OR (soldiers, i.e. other ranks) reversed in TOP (crack, i.e. expert)
14 CHINA – CH (Check) + IN + A where CHINA is Cockney rhyming slang (China plate) for mate (i.e. pal).  Cheapside is the area of London containing St Mary-le-Bow Church – being born within earshot of its bells qualifies one as a Cockney.
15 EYES FRONT – (FORTY SEvEN)* with “five short” indicating the removal of the V (i.e. 5 in Roman numerals) and “turning” as the anagrind.  A clever clue, the cleverness of which passed me by at the time due to blithely guessing the answer from the definition and checkers.
17 EXECUTIVE – EX (former) + CUT It (not quite to meet requirements) inside EVE (First Lady)
20 LOFTY – (TO FLY)*
21 MOPER – MO (Instant) + REP (agent) reversed
23 PAPERBACK – If you wanted a re-mark, you’d have to send your PAPER BACK.
25 EURASIA – IS A RUE (shrub) all reversed + A
26 EL GRECO – REC (i.e. recreation ground, or playground) inside OGLE (what lecher will do) reversed
27 STYX – STaY (remain without a) + X (marker for burial place).  The dead moved across the river Styx to the underworld, in Greek mythology.
28 GHOST TRAIN – (STRAIGHT ON)*, where fair is used in the sense of funfair.

Down
1 LIBEL – First letters of I bowled expertly inside L (line) and L (length).  My reaction to “at start of spell” meaning “take the initial letters of each word” is that it’s a bit of a liberty, but perhaps I’m missing something here.
2 MEZZANINE – ME (writer of clues, i.e. the setter) + ZZ (shuteye, i.e. sleep) + A + NINE(Muses all told, i.e. number of Muses)
3 TEQUILA SUNRISE – (LIQUEURS IN A SET)*
4 UKELELE – LEU (Romanian’s ready, with ready meaning money) around (to bank) LEK (Albanian currency), all reversed, + E (European).  The definition (“issuer of notes”) completes a nicely misleading clue, albeit with a slightly unwieldy surface.  The parsing went completely over my head at the time, as I was able to guess the answer from the checkers and the definition – frankly, this was a good thing, as I couldn’t have named the Romanian or Albanian currencies anyway.
5 TOOTSIE – hidden reversal in treE IS TOO Tall.  The well-hidden definition is “the end of baby”, i.e. a childish/jocular word for a toe.
7 DITTO – OTT (Outrageous, i.e. over the top) + ID (Passport, i.e. identification) all reversed
8 TELEPATHY – EP (recording) surrounded by LATH (a little wood), all surrounded by YET (still) reversed.  The definition is “minds meeting”.
9 A BIT OF ALL RIGHT – I + FALL (decline) inside TOR (Dartmoor landmark – a rocky outcrop), all surrounded by A BIGHT (a bay).  The definition is “lovely” as a noun, i.e. an attractive person.
14 CREAM TEAS – DREAM TEAM (side that’s perfect) with the leftmost and rightmost letters (wingers) changed.  Another answer that I guessed from the definition and checkers – it took me several minutes while writing the blog to see how to parse it.
16 OFF CAMERA – OFF CAME RA (artist exited), where RA stands for Royal Academy, the usual crosswordese for artist.
18 IMPEACH – I (current) + PE (gym, i.e. physical education) surrounded by MAtCH (disheartened rival)
19 EXPRESS – If one had retired from the fourth estate, then one would be ex-press.
22 PARKY – sPARKY (Hatless electrician).  I’ve never come across “sparky” to mean an electrician except in crosswords … until the day after the final, when an architect friend used it in passing.
24 KNOWN – K (king) + N (name) + OWN (to have)