Solving time : 5m40s – remarkably just about my slowest this week, though it felt like a good time for this puzzle. Again almost a pangram (just K & V missing, and they’d have been easy to get in at 23 & 24); once you see a word like FUZZBOX you know there’s been at the least an attempt by the compiler’s subconscious… Some nice clues overall and plenty to get a grip on (mainly thanks to the well-rehearsed “flower”, “church”, “lunchtime” etc). Strangely several isolated answers had to be finished off at the end, for me.
Across
5 |
TIP-OFFS, 2 defs – An unusual sport to be referenced in the Times. Chambers lists the two meanings under different headwords, making the answer excellent fodder for this clue. |
9 |
PIN NUMBER, pun – as in ‘one who numbs your pins’, ho ho. PIN NUMBER is a bugbear for many pedants who dislike the fact that the N in PIN already stands for Number. |
13 |
WAIT A BIT, 2 defs – I did not know the various plants that go under this name, but it was an extremely confident guess. |
15 |
HO + AXE + R – a reference to the ‘finder’ of Piltdown Man |
17 |
”NECKED A” – a classic Times homophone that doesn’t work for rhotic accents. |
19 |
MEDIA in CON – I was having trouble with this until I slowed down and worked out CON and the meaning of ‘cracking’. |
22 |
SOT APPEARS TOO, anag – Long anagrams give setters a chance, but this clue works really well. Excellent. |
25 |
I DEAL, pun – a very obvious treatment that has of course been used before, but I like this working of it a lot. |
26 |
PRONOUN + CE – A very neatly written clue – though I wish I could articulate why I feel “As an example, he” should only be used to define a whole answer rather than a bit of wordplay. |
28 |
PRESENT, pun – I don’t like this one: a weak pun, not using very different meanings of ‘present’ (same headword) or indeed ‘register’ |
Down
1 |
RIPE, 2 defs – the second def as in ‘risqué’. I dislike ‘though’ (or ‘but’) as a linkword |
2 |
JAB in PUNI(c) – Can ‘the wars’ define PUNIC? |
6 |
POP + SEEN SO (anag) – a very amusing phrase in its own right, well worth inclusion. |
7 |
FUZZ + BOX – I could not have said what a fuzzbox was, and would have made a poor guess. |
8 |
MATTER in SING – ‘shop’ is always likely to mean sing/grass/squeal etc, but it always surprises me – nice clue. |
12 |
N + U(niversity) in SWAPPING – another great phrase, lending itself to an insertion clue. |
21 |
EX in SPOT – last one for me today; I was toying with a TEAPOT as something hot, but should probably have been thinking about the possibility of an unusual unch. |
23 |
AT ONE, pun – an old faithful. |
24 |
LEFT, 3 defs – unusual but straightforward. |
Not being into Star Wars, I had to look up padawan. I was slightly horrified but not really surprised to discover that there are alternative Wikipedia-style universes for Star Wars and Star Trek.
Other than that, took the usual 45′ for the rest. I actually read 17A as an &lit as nectar=”necked her” — which I’m sure was a way of rationalizing it with my rhotic (thanks for the new term!) accent.
Here are the old favourites, chestnuts and obvious ones that not all of us are familiar with …
1a One relaxing, about to be given puzzle = RE POSER
10a Square, but not a round dish = PIZZA – pi(a)zza
11a So totally unsighted by a closing of eyelids? = AS BLIND AS A BAT – to bat ones eyelids = to close them albeit briefly?
27a One fired having to head for home, cosy in retreat = GUNSHOT – to h snug backwards
3d Initially, Some Quite Ugly Adolescent Boys fancied young bird = SQUAB – a young pigeon I fancy
4d Eccentric (brain)* keeps (B)ishop (I)n (C)harge of religious instruction = RABBINIC – the IC is part of the anagrist and part of the definition so a partial &lit?
5d Torrent of abuse keeps one in line = T I RADE – trade = line as in line of work
14d God holds up old flower for religious leader = A YAT O LLAH – o Tay upside down in Allah – at least it is the correct version of God. Flower can be river as in “the river flows, flows to the sea…”
16d Piano thus a piano, though flatter = SOFT SO A P – the first piano is Italian for soft and thus = so with a (p)iano as in musical notation – also soft but shortened to P. Don’t get me started on Pianissimo…
18d Shorten (line so)* variable beneath constant = C LOSE IN – a bit of an obscure literal shorten = close in?
20d Great current under pressure = INTENSE – that appears to be the only fit for the crossers but an obscure DD for me?