Solving time 12:26 for a fairly straightforward Saturday puzzle. Mark Goodliffe certainly found it so, clocking 4:57 on the Club timer, although he still only managed 36th place behind the neutrinos (club messageboard slang for cheats who solve it on paper then type in the answers). Two physicists in the grid – must be close to a record!
| Across |
| 1 |
DIATRIBE – sounds like “dire” (dreadful-sounding) + TRIBE (people). |
| 5 |
PROPER – (zi)P + ROPER (fastener). |
| 9 |
NIELS BOHR – (His Nobel)* + R (rex = king). Danish physicist who was one of the founders of quantum mechanics. |
| 11 |
GEESE – E. G. (say) around SEE (notice), all reversed. |
| 12 |
AND SO ON – DSO (Distinguished Service Order = decoration) inside ANON (prolific author). Pretty loose definition, but I think it works ok. |
| 13 |
GUMBOOT – GUMBO (spicy American dish) + TO reversed. |
| 14 |
CHAMELEON-LIKE – LIKE (enjoy), next to (clean home)*. |
| 16 |
APRIL FOOLS DAY – cryptic definition. |
| 20 |
DROPS IN – “DROP SIN”. |
| 21 |
POPCORN – POP (music) + CORN (sentimental stuff). |
| 23 |
OWING – O.G. (own goal = awful error on pitch) around WIN (they get three points for a win in football). |
| 24 |
SLAVERING – SAVE (keep) + RING (jewellery), around L (pounds). |
| 25 |
MAYHEM – MAY (Spring) + HEM (border). |
| 26 |
STREAMER – double definition. The second one’s what I’ve had for the last fortnight! |
| Down |
| 1 |
DENTAL – DEAL (bargain) around NT (New Testament = books). |
| 2 |
AHEAD – A HEAD (a short distance, especially in horseracing). |
| 3 |
ROSEOLA – (aerosol)*. A skin rash in infants. |
| 4 |
BROWNIE POINTS – BROWNIE (helpful creature) + POINTS (shows the way). |
| 6 |
REGIMEN – G.I. (soldier) + MEN (more soldiers), underneath R.E. (Royal Engineers = corps). |
| 7 |
PRECOCITY – P.R. (Public Relations = publicity) + ECO (green), CITY (conurbation). |
| 8 |
ROENTGEN – (not green)*. Roentgen radiation is a.k.a. X-rays. |
| 10 |
ROGUE ELEPHANT – (Huge antelope R)*, R for runs. |
| 14 |
CURIOSITY – from the saying “Curiosity killed the cat”. |
| 15 |
WARDROOM – WAR (fight), + R(esistance) inside DOOM (fate). |
| 17 |
LASAGNE – SAG (sink) inside LANE (corridor). |
| 18 |
DEPLETE – P(ressure) inside DELETE (scrub). |
| 19 |
ONAGER – hidden in “Iron Age reappears”. |
| 22 |
ODIUM – O(ld) + MUD (slander) reversed around I (one). |
Edited at 2013-03-02 01:37 pm (UTC)