Not too hard, with a good range of clue types. Not everyone will have heard of 13d, but the wordplay is clear enough. 5m 30s for me
| Across |
| 1 |
Two days in A&E with another one tacked on (5) |
|
ADDED – 2 x D for day inside A + E with another D at the end |
| 7 |
Strange seeing OAP spying (9) |
|
ESPIONAGE – anagram (‘strange’) of SEEING OAP |
| 9 |
Board needing a “yes” from Paris and Berlin (5) |
|
OUIJA – Yes in French and German |
| 10 |
Speaker at end of month will be a painter (9) |
|
DECORATOR – ORATOR at the end of DEC |
| 11 |
Large ducks in the ladies perhaps (3) |
|
LOO – L + O + O |
| 12 |
Completed film a step too far? (9) |
|
OVERSHOOT – OVER (completed) + FILM (shoot, verb). I chewed on this a bit thinking the answer was a verb, in which case the ‘a’ in the definition is a bit redundant, but I think it works as a noun. |
| 14 |
New chair isn’t a religious person (9) |
|
CHRISTIAN – anagram (‘new’) of CHAIR ISN’T |
| 16 |
Idiot cancelled having heart transplant (3) |
|
OAF – OFF means cancelled, change the ‘heart’ to an A |
| 18 |
Tossing and turning, unlike princess awakened by a kiss? (9) |
|
SLEEPLESS – I suppose this is a double definition of sorts |
| 20 |
Suffer tucking into certain curries? (5) |
|
INCUR – hidden word |
| 21 |
Friendship to influence half of nation (9) |
|
AFFECTION – AFFECT (influence) + [nat]ION |
| 22 |
Frosty setter I start to dislike (5) |
|
GELID – GEL is a ‘setter’, i.e. it sets. Add I + D[islike] |
| Down |
| 1 |
Unscrupulous US city travellers heading north (6) |
|
AMORAL – LA ROMA backwards |
| 2 |
Work on kitchen renovation? I’m not helping! (2-2-8) |
|
DO-IT-YOURSELF – self-explanatory |
| 3 |
Dad loses out, a complete failure (4,4) |
|
DEAD LOSS – anagram (‘out’) of DAD LOSES |
| 4 |
Geronimo, say, quickly capturing hearts (6) |
|
APACHE – APACE with H added. The practice of shouting ‘Geronimo’ when jumping from a great height originated by US army paratroopers in WW2, inspired by a 1939 film of the same name. |
| 5 |
Animal suffered, by all accounts (4) |
|
BOAR – sounds like BORE |
| 6 |
Clandestine group surrounding English king (6) |
|
SECRET – SET outside E + CR (Currently HM the K) |
| 8 |
Very large Mail cartoons reproduced (12) |
|
ASTRONOMICAL – anagram (‘reproduced’) of MAIL CARTOONS |
| 13 |
Turn informer twice in NY prison (4,4) |
|
SING SING – self explanatory provided you’ve heard of the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. |
| 14 |
Accost ’Arry, protecting fellow actor (2-4) |
|
CO-STAR – hidden word |
| 15 |
Son abandoning extremely cold region for a warmer one? (6) |
|
IBERIA – SIBERIA minus S for son |
| 17 |
Unfinished state leaving you red-faced (6) |
|
FLORID – FLORIDA without the last letter |
| 19 |
Treaty in the bag, one might say (4) |
|
PACT – sounds like PACKED |
Very late solve last night after 16-hour day. Finished with no real hold ups.
Rotten week overall in terms of performance.