Solving time: 11:07
There is a link to the puzzle here:
When I came to write this blog I found there were few clues that I could leave out as entirely straightforward. Most have fairly chewy wordplay. On the other hand there didn’t seem to be any really difficult ones.
I have to confess to not knowing about Erastus at 1D, and so I have borrowed his picture. The wordplay looks easy enough once you see it, but it took me some time to get there, and this was the last clue I solved apart from 18D, where I was reluctant to give up TOASTER as an answer.
Across
| 1 | ESCAP(A D)E |
| 5 | G(LOB)AL |
| 10 | APPEARANCE MONEY, “looks” meaning appearance, and “ready” meaning money |
| 11 | TO CAP IT ALL, being CAPITAL in TOL(l) |
| 13 | UN(f)IT |
| 15 | SAVE + S UP – of course I was at first convinced I would have to subtract a P from a word for bar, and then that there must be a phrase DIVES UP |
| 17 | IM(PA’S)SE, IMSE being SEMI* |
| 18 | T +A R(Q)UIN – ref to the seventh king of Rome, the fifth being less superb |
| 19 | NO + N(ine) PLUS |
| 21 | AC(H)E |
| 22 | POST-MORTEM, being (ROOM TEMPTS)* |
| 25 | THROW IN THE TOWEL, being (WORTHWHILE TO + TEN)* – I had to read the surface a few times before it made sense to me |
| 28 | HEAR (= try) HEAR (= catch) |
Down
| 1 | ERAS T(wo) US |
| 3 | PLAY POS + SUM, (PLAY POS) being (SO APPLY)* – I thought “play possum” meant to feign death, but Chambers tells me it covers the feigning of “death, sleep, illness or ignorance” |
| 6 | LAMB (=”lam”) |
| 7 | BANANAS (= hand) + P(L)IT |
| 8 | LA(YET)TE – I don’t like “X worn by Y” meaning “X in Y”, as normally the wearer is inside the thing worn. Though this was discussed here a while back, and someone came up with the example of “wearing” a pacemaker. |
| 9 | S(CALL I)ON |
| 12 | C(lubs) OVERCHARGE – I am not sure if “do” means OVERCHARGE, or if this is some kind of semi &lit. It probably works either way |
| 14 | SPIN (= turn) DOCTOR (= spike) |
| 16 | P IN POINT |
| 18 | TRACT + OR |
| 20 | S(AMPLE)R |
| 23 | T.A. HOE |
| 24 | (be)TWEE(n), hidden |
| 26 | W(ife) O(n)E |
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