32:20 with help needed for my final two. (8 and 10 dn). I enjoyed this when I solved it, but having analysed it for this blog it seems a little lacklustre with nothing really outstanding. I’ll let you decide.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | STAR CH,AMBER |
| 7 | CRASH HELMET – crytic def which made me smile Cycling nutcase? |
| 13 | BRING THE HOUSE DOWN – double def. Nice, long, early, easy one which gave me a good way in |
| 14 | CELL O – more funniness – if the first compartment was Cell A, then the fifteenth must be Cell O |
| 15 | TEMPER – the clue nicely makes use of two opposing defs – to temper ones temper |
| 16 | UNCHASTE – “unchased” – anyone for chestnuts? |
| 17 | BRESCIA – (ASCRIBE)* I didn’t know it but it’s an Italian city that Ryanair flies to |
| 19 | NIGH,T CLUB |
| 21 | NOT IONA,L |
| 23 | BASH – double def |
| 25 | ALTER – “altar” |
| 27 | A,E,RATE – E being the last letter of CHAMPAGNE |
| 28 | NEVER NEVER – clever clue – taken in by Jules thrice? verNE VERNE VERne. Never Never is an area of the Australian Outback |
| 30 | DOWNSIDE – Irish County Team indeed! |
| 31 | I’M PERFECT TENSE |
| 34 | ROYAL ARTILLERY – (ALLY RARELY RIOT)* |
| 35 | JET T(IS)ON |
| 38 | QUINTUPLET – QUIP around (NUT)* + LET |
| 40 | T,ERROR |
| 41 | DEPOT – TOPED rev. Does the word TOPE ever crop up anywhere other than in crosswords? |
| 43 | ECHO – thE CHOcolate boxes – clever |
| 44 | CROSS EYE – more comedy from the setter – then dot “t”, did you say |
| 45 | SYNAGOGUE – “sin agog” |
| 48 | TOURISM – is this clue cleverer than it seems? Holiday industry, to author Leon, ultimate in thraldom. Its TO + URIS + M. Leon Uris was an American novelist and thraldom is slavery but I can’t link the two. If they aren’t linked it seem a bit of an odd choice. |
| 49 | SNAP,SHOT |
| 50 | VERBAL – LAB,REV rev |
| 53 | TUDOR – D in ROUT rev |
| 54 | THE ANSWER IS A LEMON – what you talkin’ ’bout Willis? Google has 7340 results for “the answer is a lemon” but none that I looked at told me what it means. The last jumbo I blogged had “the cats pyjamas” as an answer. Is this a conspiracy? |
| 55 | PERPETRATOR – (PROPER TREAT)* |
| 56 | NOTHINGNESS – G in NO THINNESS |
| Down | |
| 1 | SUBSTANDARD – US rev + STAND in BARD |
| 2 | A,XI,OM |
| 3 | CA(GI,E)ST |
| 4 | A SHY |
| 5 | BEHIND BARS – double def landlords should be……locked up |
| 6 | ROUGH AND TUMBLE – (HUG TROUBLED MAN)* |
| 7 | CRE(O,SO)TE |
| 8 | ADOBE – E BOD A rev. I needed help with this one. Given ?O? for man I considered DON and ROY but not BOD. An Adobe is a sun-dried brick as well as a provider of much-used software |
| 9 | HANDBRAKE – “break”. I did like parking assistant for the definition |
| 10 | ECCLES – half of ECCLESIASTES. This beat me but shouldn’t have. An eccles cake is flaky pastry filled with currents and sprinkled with sugar. |
| 11 | MALE CHAUVINIST PIG – a not very cryptic def |
| 12 | TROJAN, HORSE |
| 18 | O,LEANDER – is it generally known the the LEANDER is a rowing club? Not to me it isn’t |
| 20 | GET AWAY WITH MURDER – double def |
| 22 | ONE OFF – another double def. A leaver could be said to be “one off” |
| 24 | UNSTATED – (A STUDENT)* |
| 26 | RESOLUTE – alternate letters of REED STOP + LUTE |
| 29 | GEORGE GERSHWIN – (EGG SHOWERING)* around ER (leading lady) |
| 32 | CL(EAR)ING |
| 33 | DIVERS – another double def |
| 34 | RE,QUEST S,TOP |
| 36 | NETHERLANDS -ETHER,L,AND in NS (partners). “number” being something that numbs |
| 37 | ARISTOCRAT – (ACTOR SIR)* + TA rev |
| 39 | PERIMETER – RIME (frost) in PETER. Bank robbers call safes “Peter”. There isn’t general agreement as to why Peter=Safe but I go along with the biblical explanation where Jesus changed the name of Simon to Peter, meaning rock ie stable |
| 42 | RETAINER – double def |
| 46 | GREY,LAG |
| 47 | PIE(R)CE |
| 49 | SMELT – another double def, one slightly whimsical – shouldn’t have been eaten |
| 51 | BOMBE(r) |
| 52 | ASTI – IT’S A rev |
Nervous prostration indeed!