24642

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: About 75 minutes, but in my defence it was very late and I was very tired. I solved probably half the clues on my first pass through, which is a lot for me, so I thought I might be in for a quick solve, and indeed three-quarters of it went in in about 20 minutes. But then I got stuck on a handful of words that I didn’t know, and I think I might have dozed off!

Several words were new to me – MARTELLO, PEKOE, PROROGUE & PARTITA. Two of these crossed in the SW corner, so that section went in last of all.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 HEIRESS = HoSt about EIRE’S
5 deliberately omitted, but this clip should help.
9 A(DM)IT – DM for Deutschmark, the German pre-Euro currency, and an ait is a small island and a crossword standard.
10 SYNAGOGUE = “AGOG” (keen) following “SIN” (wrongdoing).
11 T(END)RILl
12 YASHMAK = MA in (SHAKY)*
13 LUMBERJACK – I still don’t quite see this one. N American feller (of trees) is clearly the definition, but the rest is a little hazy to me. Jack = sailor, lumber = move clumsily, am I on the right lines? Oh yes, and here’s the obligatory clip. No, apparently I’m not. See McText’s explanation below.
15 KNIT = ThINK rev
18 O + USE
20 HYSTERICAL = (RILEY CHATS)*
23 P + A + R(TIT)A
24 DAR(cordiaL)ING
25 KING + MAKER – A reference to Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick, known as Warwick the Kingmaker for his role in the War of the Roses.
26 GOUDA = A DOG rev about U
27 ETHYL = (THE)* + Youth Leader – It took me a while to spot that radical was here being used in its chemical sense.
28 ROCK(ER)Y – An obvious reference to the legendary Rocky Marciano.
 
Down
1 HOMONYM = HOMe about MONeY – The word ‘pole’ has multiple distinct meanings, and is thus a homonym.
2 INTERNEE = IN + “TURN” + EuropE
3 wEASEL
4 SAND-YACHT = (SHY CAT)* about AND
5 DIGEST = DIG + (SET)*
6 RE(GI)MEN – male sappers are R.E. MEN
7 deliberately omitted – straightforward homophone
8 MARk + TELL + O – The TELLO ending was pretty obvious, but not knowing the word, I found the MAR tough to get.
14 JAYWALKER = JAY + (WE LARK)* – An American term for someone who crosses the street without looking.
16 MARGE + LET all rev – Put in without full understanding. It may bring word is the definition, LET = obstruction (in sports), MARGE = border (apparently)
17 PROROGUE = R for L in PROLOGUE.
19 SC(RUN + C)H
21 CLIQUEY = C + “LEAKY” – This could spark some homophone debate. I know a lot of people pronounce this as “CLICKY”
22 DISMAL = LAD rev about ISM
23 PEK(O)E – A tea from the Indian subcontinent
24 Hidden word

55 comments on “24642”

  1. I found this fairly hard, with quite a few entries for which I didn’t understand the wordplay (such as DARING being equivalent to “bottle”). Last in was the northwest corner, where MARTELLO was just a lucky guess and HOMONYM required aids. My electronic Chambers told me it was the only word with the right crossing letters, and “Pole possibly” is a bit obscure, isn’t it?

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