Sorry for the lack of a placeholder earlier. Third weekend in a row of working, and today I was running late. Great puzzle though, one of the best this year I thought. I’ll do it justice on the train on the way home and post it when I get home.
Actually, I’ve sort of changed my mind about this one now I’ve looked at it again. Last Saturday when I solved it I was blown away by its brilliance, but today doing the blog I just thought it had a few really good clues, most of the rest about average, and a couple of fillers. No comments yet because of the lateness of the placeholder no doubt, so unfortunately I have no idea yet of how others found it. Apologies to the setter for making his day then snatching it away again!
| Across | |
| 1 | SAFE SEAT – cryptic definition, and a good one too. |
| 6 |
PRESTO – (finge)R inside PESTO. No reason why the “tip” of a word shouldn’t be the last letter, although 99% of the time it indicates the first letter. |
| 9 | MISHAP – hidden in “bleMISH: A Pimple”. |
| 10 | ENSHRINE – SH + R inside E(dwardian) NINE (a square). |
| 11 | FERN – N(ew) + REF (whistle-blower), all reversed. |
| 12 | ABOVE-NAMED – A.B. + OVEN + A(re) + MED. |
| 14 | WIRELESS – WILES (devices) + S(ucceeded), around RE (note). |
| 16 | POSH – (hops)* |
| 18 | JOKE – JOE around K(ing). |
| 19 | FOLLOWER – O(ld) + L(iberal) inside FLOWER. |
| 21 | MONTSERRAT – T(emperature) + ARREST (run in) + N(ew) + O.M. (Order), all reversed. |
| 22 | ROLE – R(io) + OLé. Good example of a “lift and separate”. |
| 24 | DIATRIBE – TRIBE after DIA(l). |
| 26 | PEANUT – P(ast)E + TUNA rev. |
| 27 | DENGUE – DUE around ENG. |
| 28 | ROSIE LEE – (See Loire)* |
| Down | |
| 2 | ALIVE – V inside A LIE. |
| 3 | ENHANCEMENT – (henna)* + CEMENT |
| 4 | EMPHASES – EM (length of dash) + PHASES. |
| 5 | THE WORSE FOR WEAR – (He forswore water)*. Great anagram. |
| 6 | PASTEL – S(ari) inside PATEL. |
| 7 | EAR – alternate letters of Le Havre. |
| 8 |
TENNESSEE – TEN-NESS (decimal state, <groan>) + E(astern) + E(uropean). |
| 13 | APPROPRIATE – A + PP (very soft) + (painkille)R + [R(esistance) inside OPIATE]. Definition is “take”. |
| 15 | IRON OXIDE – IRE around [O(ld) + DIXON reversed]. Dixon of Dock Green was a police series which ran from the 50s to the 70s. Younger and overseas solvers might have struggled with that one. |
| 17 | PLATYPUS – (supply at)* |
| 20 | CERISE – RISE underneath C.E. |
| 23 | LOUSE – U (posh) inside LOSE. |
| 25 | TUG – GUT (instinctive) reversed. |
This overseas solver has learned to take such things on faith, for better or worse. “Hm. Old TV bobby. There must’ve been a show with a policeman named Dixon. Moving on.”
As might have been expected I didn’t have any problems thinking of George Dixon (Evenin’ all) but I cannot believe that I failed to spot WIRELESS.
It was ‘safe seat’ that got me. I never even considered ‘stand’ in the sense of ‘stand for Parliament’, which sounds like a lot less work than running for Congress.
The clue for Montserrat was most brilliant, a real masterpiece. It would have been a lot easier to solve if I had heard of Montserrat, but eventually I got there.
‘Rosie Lee’ is CRS you don’t often see, beginners beware.
And–I know I’m going to be embarrassed by the answer, but– could someone explain nine=square?
The square of 3?
Mind how you go.