Solving Time: 12 minutes. So either this was easy, or doing my first regular daily blog provided an added impetus.. There was also a faint whiff of deja-vu, as absinth, onager and Aqaba have all popped up recently.
Nevertheless I liked this crossword. It seems neat, elegant, sound and it has some excellent, very smooth surface readings. My print had no clues extending onto a second line, usually a good sign. Off to bed now, I will pick up any necessary corrections in the morning..
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double defintion, rev = reversed, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | maps – SPAM rev. |
| 3 |
impresario – IMPRES( |
| 10 | crosier – C + ROSIER. I would spell it with a z in the unlikely event that I write this word, but apparently either is permissible |
| 11 | support – football say = SPORT containing UP, a crossword cliché for “at college” |
| 12 | British Columbia – = BC = Barbara Castle’s initials. No labour supporter I, but I couldn’t help admiring this redoubtable old battleaxe. They don’t make politicians like that any more |
| 13 | elated – they tell me I should leave some out so this can be one.. Ask, if need be! |
| 14 |
Wedgwood – WEDG( |
| 17 | aversion – A + REV rev. (tee hee) + NO + I’S also rev., ie A+VER+SION |
| 18 | onager – Hiddin in irON AGE Ruin. Onager is another word I meet regularly, but somehow only in crosswords |
| 21 | sparring partner – SPAR(R)ING PARTNER. Both the long acrosses went straight in, which contributed to the quick time |
| 23 | nearest – shelter = NEST containing EAR |
| 24 | reacted – hesitation = ER rev., + ACTED, what players did, and do |
| 25 | heart-throb – (BOTH RATHER)* – not hard but a neat clue. Listen for a reference to him in this fine tune |
| 26 | opus – surgical procedures = OPS containing U = university |
| Down | |
| 1 | macabre – MA(CAB)RE |
| 2 | proximate – my last one in and tricky because it combines a homophone, PROXI for “proxy,” with someone I hadn’t realised was an officer, a MATE. But Collins says “naut., any officer below the rank of master on a merchant ship” so there.. |
| 4 | marshy – MAR(SH)Y the Mary in question being Mary Queen of Scots presumably |
| 5 | restorer – army quartermaster’s place = RE STORE, + R = river. RE I assume being the Royal Engineers |
| 6 | septuagenarian – (PEANUTS)* containing GEN + ARIA. Septuagenarians are indeed pensioners, for the present anyway |
| 7 |
rhomb – R( |
| 8 | outward – OUT + WARD. Outward appearances are superficial ones. Not quite sure though how OUT = determined? Perhaps as in “She was out to get him?” Discuss.. |
| 9 | citizens arrest – A simple CD. Good luck to anyone who tries that nowadays. You would be the one in court, probably.. |
| 15 | organ stop – “possibly stomachs” = ORGANS + POT rev. Apparently a principal can be an organ stop similar to a diapason. New to me though. |
| 16 | top-notch – head = TOP + NOT CH so might be a chapel.. |
| 17 | absinth – (BATH)* containing SIN. Another discovery: you can spell it with or without the terminal E |
| 19 | reredos – RED containing ER + OS = very big. |
| 20 | Oporto – O + PORT + O, Port Elizabeth being a reference to either the town in South Africa or helpfully for our overseas friends, in NJ. |
| 22 | Aqaba – initial letters of And Quay All British Agents |
Nothing else to say, except to welcome Jerry down from the ether of the Club Monthly, a puzzle where I not only do not understand the clues, I don’t get the answers either! Your parsing of OUT is surely right.
Edited at 2012-01-11 01:36 am (UTC)
I did like the golf theme of ‘Wedgwood’.
Yes, welcome to a regular weekly slot, Jerry. I also can’t get anywhere with the monthly puzzles and after blogging those I expect you will find things relatively straightforward here most of the time.
Edited at 2012-01-11 06:16 am (UTC)
This setter must be of a certain age. Apart from the obvious hint at 6D we have Rudolph Valentino for goodness sake and Barbara Castle one of the few people who has managed to vote “for” one week and “against” the following week on union reform. She also contrived with another clown, Keith Joseph, to turn pension provision into a political football – a fate from which it has never recovered and the results of which we are still suffering
As to the puzzle – rather easy I thought and solved in 15 minutes
15 minutes today, pleasant and tidy enough. Hold-ups on BC, where my letter count didn’t make COLUMBIA fit, and CITIZEN’S ARREST, for no reason than that it was a CD, and I needed to write the crossing letters (all of them) horizontally before seeing it. Do others sometimes find that, with the really long ones, the more crossers you get the less obvious it becomes?
Decent and very even set of clues doesn’t allow for a standout CoD.
I’m not sure I’d have been able to spell the septua- word cold if pressed and the shortened versions of the drink and the geometric shape were barely familiar. The port, screen and staff were dragged up from the murky depths of somewhere.
Thanks to setter and blogger alike (Jerry not least for the Bangles link).
I thought 15dn was outstanding.
I also couldn’t put my finger on the parsing of “out” but I think you have it there, Jerry.
*a imagined mixing up of the public perception of Lenny Bruce and Rudolph Valentino
**a popular beat combo of the Britpop era, m’lud
Edited at 2012-01-11 01:25 pm (UTC)
Thank you, jerry, and welcome to the Daily Show.
Edited at 2012-01-11 07:04 pm (UTC)
I only really know of Valentino from the Bangles song.
I think my time must have been affected by the adrenalin Jimbo mentioned!
When I say that the fast brigade ought to be able to post some decent times with this one, what I mean is that someone with the right combination of youth and experience, who didn’t stick on some easy clues in the way I did (deep sigh!), could well complete it in 4 minutes or so.