ST 4239 (Sun 26 Aug) – Water rabies

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 3:52

Howler of the week goes to 21dn. (If in fact this is my howler then apologies in advance to setter and readers; I probably won’t be able to reply to any comments for a couple of weeks.)

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 SEDATIVE; (DEVIATES)*
5 KAISER; (A SKIER)*
9 CANNIBAL; rev. of BIN in CANAL
10 A + T + R(I)UM
12 ROT (rev. of TOR) + TEN
13 HOTELIER; (THE 1 ROLE)*
15 STEAK TARTARE; (STREAKER AT A T[est])*
18 RECEPTIONIST; (SO I INTERCEPT)* – exactly the same clue (“So I intercept? Possibly!”) appeared in #4219 in April, which is questionable from an editing perspective. I didn’t think much of it the first time round and annoyingly couldn’t remember the answer until I’d got a couple of crossing letters.
23 SHOULDER (double definition)
24 HAR[e] + ASS
26 MO + NAC (rev. of CAN) + O
27 GENITIVE (cryptic definition) – in Latin, the case of a noun indicating possession.
29 UNCLE SAM; (MAN CLUES)* – a strange clue (“How man clues America”) lacking an anagram indicator.
Down
1 SE(CUR)E
3 TR(ID)ENT
6 [c]AN’T BEAR
7 SCIMITAR; (TIM 1 SCAR)*
8 REMARKED (double definition)
9 CONTENT (double definition)
14 M(A + R)INER
16 P + RESUMED
17 SCHOONER (double definition)
19 PELICAN (cryptic definition)
20 SPANIEL; (NAPLES I)*
21 RABIES; rev. of BAR + IE? – whether ‘that’s’ (as opposed to ‘that is’) is justifiable for IE is a moot point, but ‘that’s’ for IE’S is just wrong, unless I’m missing something. ‘Hydrophobia’ is another word for rabies.
22 ESTEEM; E + rev. of MEETS
25 B(E)AN

One comment on “ST 4239 (Sun 26 Aug) – Water rabies”

  1. I thought “that’s” = “I.E’S” at 21d was OK in the context of X-word wordplay? Perhaps it is just my blissful ignorance of Latin? Despite that, I managed to biff GENITIVE at 27a just from vowel crossers ?E?I?I?E. I don’t know where I dragged that one from – and I didn’t know it was correct until I came here.

    The clue that really threw me was at 15a where STEAK TARTARE is clued as cold FISH?? I thought it was cold minced beef? There is a sketch by Mr 25d involving Steak Tartare. This is undoubtedly minced beef – served up by Roger Lloyd-Pack as the Waiter.

    Just the 2 “easies” left out of the blog:

    2d Give academic a note (6)
    DON A TE

    4d Some craVE A Lot of meat (4)
    VEAL

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