Solving time: Stopped the clock just under the hour at 59:50. Three-quarters of it went in quickly and smoothly, but as is often the way with me, the last dozen or so went in painfully slowly.
I found it an enjoyable solve with some nice surfaces and a few clever constructions. 11, 19 & 24 stand out as the best in my book, with 19 being my COD for its originality.
The only clue I didn’t like was 7 because of the apparently superfluous word ‘shows’ at the end. It only seems to be there for the surface reading and plays no part in the wordplay. Indeed you have to ignore it for the wordplay to work. But then, I’m probably missing something clever.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | OFFICIAL = II (Roman couple) about C, all in OFFAL |
| 5 | P(HOE)B + E |
| 8 | AIR HOSTESS = HOST in (RAISES)*, ‘attendant up’ is the definition |
| 9 | S |
| 10 | LEWIS AND HARRIS – A + R in (IRELAND’S WISH)* |
| 11 | S |
| 13 | W + HIS + PER – The PER comes from ‘a’ as in ‘100 words a minute’ |
| 15 | SCH + MUCK |
| 18 | SOPRANO = RAN O (nought) after SO + P |
| 21 | PUBLIC SPIRITED = (CRIPPLED BUT I IS)* – I wasted a lot of time trying to get the anagram from … BUT ONE before I cottoned on |
| 22 | dd |
| 23 | FRIENDLIER = END + LIE + R after FRI |
| 24 | UNISEX = S |
| 25 | C(OTT)AGEY – Once I had the checking Y, I was convinced it was going to be SHY around something. |
| Down | |
| 1 | ORACLES = ( |
| 2 | FO(R |
| 3 | COOKS ON = Is potboiler still – Catherine Cookson is the authoress |
| 4 | rev hidden word |
| 5 | PISTACHIO = SIP rev + I in TACHO |
| 6 | OF SORTS = S |
| 7 | BLESS ME! = LESS + M in BE – Unless I’m missing something, ‘shows’ only seems to be there to make the surface read OK, and adds nothing to the cryptic at all. |
| 12 | ARC + TI |
| 14 | PL + AY + THING – Where a ‘thing’ is an obsession |
| 16 | CAPTION = CA + (PIN TO)* |
| 17 | Deliberately omitted as a baby could see this! |
| 18 | SU(PRE)MO |
| 19 | PERIDOT = PERIL with the L (50) increasing to D (500) + TO rev – A peridot is a precious stone |
| 20 | OR + DE |
How do you get AY in 14 down… is it from ‘ever’ in the clue? An abbreviations of always, or what?
Rob