My solving time was about an hour. This was more my sort of puzzle than yesterday’s as I got onto the setter’s wavelengh quite quickly and made good progress. The hold up at the end was in the SW corner where both 14s eluded me for ages as did the first word of 20, and 27.   Â
Across |
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1 | SLEEP OVER – PM’s = PEEL’S (rev) . |
6 | F(RAN)C – Basle, being in Switzerland, still uses the franc. |
9 | R.U.C. + KING – The Royal Ulster Constabulary became the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001 but its name lives on. Rucking is a term used in Rugby football. |
10 | ER,RAT,UM – I wondered whether “Signs of” is needed here? |
11 | TO W,IT |
12 | BAP,TIS,MAL |
14 | BE(v)Y – Last one in for me. One can have a bevy of many sorts, quails, roe-deer but especially girls for some reason. It’s a large group. A Bey was a Turkish governor. |
15 | BAN,GLADES,H,I |
19 | G(0)UT |
20 | COMMON ERA – Another term for the Christian Era which I suppose is the same as A.D. so still “our time”. In English law the Right of Common covers grazing rights amongst other things. |
22 | AN(NO)Y – Had to return to this one several times before I could explain it. It’s some = ANY around leg = ON (cricketing term, rev). |
24 | A,LUM(p),NUS – Star = SUN (rev) |
27 | TR(E)AD – Tread was not the first synonym for dance that came to mind. In fact having spotted the wordplay I had to look it up to check this meaning is in the books. |
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Down | |
1 | SP(R)AT – Another one I had to check. Spat is the spawn or larvae of shellfish, especially oysters, apparently. |
2 | E,A(r)CH WAY – A bet for a place i.e. to finish in the first three. |
4 | V,A(GABON)DAGE |
5 | RYE – Sounds like “wry”. |
6 | FARSI – Sounds like “far see”. Two in a row! |
7 | ART,EMIS(sary) – Daughter of Zeus with a sizeable portfolio of responsibilities. Shades of Wednesday’s wordplay on “art” here which I’m not sure works. I can see how “are you” becomes “art thou” but not “art” on its own. |
8 | COMPLAINT – COMPLIANT with the I moved down a step. |
13 | POLL,(1),NATION |
14 | BUS,H,CRAFT |
18 | COM(PUT)E |
19 | GONE,R(a)IL – In King Lear, Goneril’s sister, Regan, married the Duke of Cornwall. |
21 | (dr)OWNED |
23 | YUMMY – The last letter of curry replaces the first letter of tummy. |
25 | SAG(a) – A nice clue to end with as “endless tale” could define most sagas very well indeed. My COD. |
30 comments on “23981”
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Tom B.
I don’t know whether the male can include the female now as it does in the world of theatre where players are now all called actors, but I haven’t been able to find any evidence of it in the dictionaries or on mythology sites.
I’ll join in the quibbles about 7D. Artemis should surely be a goddess. Also, I agree with Jack’s parsing, so how does “you” in “Are you ambassador” fit in? However, at 10A I think somebody going “er” and “um” is showing the outward signs of inward hesitation.
I’ll nominate 11 as COD.
By the way, welcome back, Peter, something I omitted to say yesterday.
Tea tonight:
Yorkshire pudding & Yorkshire relish.
Yorkshire potatoes and Yorkshire beetroot.
Yorkshire rhubard and Yorkshire custard.
Washed down with a cup of Taylors’ finest.
The phone call was from Hong Kong so I had to concentrate really hard to understand. A bit tired now.
About 40 minutes, can’t say for sure as I forgot to stop the watch when taking a phone call.
Had ticks against 12a and 8d, think I’ll go for the former as COD.
Re art emissary, I’m pretty sure I’ve come across instances where the implied “thou” is omitted. I probably wouldn’t be able to find one mind.
You took a phone call? You have been busy today, how do you manage?
Susie
Susie
Around 1 hour
Susie
17a Create a stir, reorganising office (11)
SECRETARIAT. Anagram of CREATE A STIR.
26a Provisional, almost meriting being redone (7)
INTERIM. Anagram of MERITIN (G).
28a In anger, yell horribly most of the time (9)
GENERALLY. Anagram of ANGER YELL.
3d Worth canvassing bore, needing somewhere to eat (9)
PAIN TABLE. The opposite of “no oil painting”?
16d No heart to drive vehicle – he runs people down.
DE TRACTOR. D(riv) E & TRACTOR.