Have now solved this puzzle which I might have done before my holidays if it had been on the Times club site in time.
Solving time: say 2 hours, with Chamber used for the last half dozen or so answers.
Quite tough work from Tim Moorey, this one. Or my post-holiday rustiness is worse for barred-grid than blocked-grid puzzles.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PER,ST,RINGING – see the verb to perstringe |
| 9 | IN THE END – anag. which I made very heavy weather of |
| 11 | MONDEGREEN – cryptic def. A lovely word this. It’s a misunderstood song lyric – derived from “laid him on the green” sounding like “Lady Mondegreen”. |
| 12 | NIEF – anag. of benefits less bets. Nief = fist = duke. It’s rather ironic that there’s an anag. of fist in benefits too. |
| 17 | (hy)STERIC(al) |
| 21 | ALANGS – a, then slang with the S moved. alang = lalang = “a coarse grass from the Malay archipelago”. |
| 27 | AN MO – hidden. Chinese remedial massage – as new to me as alangs. |
| Down | |
| 1 | PI(A NO)S(h). I think this is a bit iffy myself – stride = stride piano is a playing style, not an instrument. So you can’t really equate strides with ‘pianos’ |
| 2 | ENLISTED MEN – anag. of elements in,D=Germany (IVR) |
| 3 | SHO(w),FAR(e) – it’s a ram’s used in Jewish religious ceremony (and in ancient times as a call to battle) |
| 5 | INEBRIANT – I can see some initial letters and T = end in sight. But this leaves RIAN or BRIAN unexplained. Any offers? |
| 7 | ID.,EATING – distracted for ages by a possible -ION ending. |
| 10 | BESIEGEMENT – (enemies, eg)* in external letters (“case”) of “battle fleet” |
| 15 | KERMES,(u)SE(d) – KERMES = “kermes mineral”. It’s an urban cycle race. |
| 20 | BA(BIS)T – member of an eclectic Persian sect – new to me. |
| 25 | R AND R – rand = border = march |
Probably not the clue he used for Azed competition no. 1806, as he got an HC!