Less than an hour for this one, about 50 minutes or so. It took me a few minutes to get steam up, but then I managed to keep going steadily without any overlong pauses. An unusually low percentage of words I’d never previously heard of helped, perhaps – I count only 9 from the 30 words that were unknown to me, though several more I knew only vaguely. As usual, I can find no fault with the construction technically, in fact no fault of any kind.
This crossword is one of the highlights of the month for me. If you enjoy the thrill of the chase, and don’t much care exactly how long it may take to finish, I hope it will be for you too.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | buttercup – flatter = BUTTER UP containing cape = C |
| 6 | blurb – snivel = BLUB containing R |
| 9 | bacca – the odd letters of “branch, crab” |
| 10 | leylandii – (IE LILY)* containing AND.. but I am unsure about how gate = AND. The best I can think of is a logical gate, an and/or filter, a computer usage and thus welcome, if that is what is meant. I loathe Leylandii with a passion and if there were an extermination society, I’d join it. |
| 11 | cherchez la femme – easy for us Francophiles, as CHER = “dear,” and CHEZ LA FEMME means “at the wife’s house.” Less easy for those who don’t know any French, I suppose. The phrase was coined by Alexander Dumas and implies that every problem has a female at its root. Absolute tosh of course, or at least, more than my life is worth to suggest otherwise.. fine clue, though! |
| 13 | botryoid – BOO I’D, containing sample = TRY. Botryoid means “like a bunch of grapes” and spawns the better known word botrytis, or “noble rot” beloved of (eg) Sauternes producers |
| 14 | ataxia – the driving helpers, AA containing TAXI |
| 16 | bubkis – hmm, two passenger vehicles in consecutive clues. BUS this time, containing BK I |
| 18 | locksman – Miller’s hero in “Death of a Salesman, LOMAN, containing C + KS = Kansas |
| 21 | shoulder clapper – S + (PROCEDURAL HELP)* – a fine clue this, nice surface, fine anagram, and a beautifully descriptive phrase for a bailiff. |
| 23 | kok saghyz – ASK OK rev., + GH = “limits of growth” and YZ as two of the three common variables, X being the third |
| 25 | stilb – stone = ST + I + LB = pound. I must admit, I thought I knew pretty much every scientific unit going, but not this one, the cgs unit of intrinsic brightness, 1 candela/sq. cm |
| 26 | sprue – species = SP + RUE = herb |
| 27 | panchayat – criticise = PAN + CAT containing HAY |
| Down | |
| 1 | bobac – shilling = BOB + AC = account making a species of my favourite animal, the marmot. Strictly, should it have said “shilling’s” or “shilling” in the clue, or is “shillings” allowable deception? |
| 2 | tickettyboo – penalty notice = TICKET + TOO containing BY rev. |
| 3 | exarchy – chop = AXE rev., tracks = RY (a very common abbrev., this) containing church = CH. I have a long mental list of ecclesiastical and religious words, used solely for crosswords.. |
| 4 |
culverin – CULVER |
| 5 | psylla – colleague’s = ALLYS + P, rev. An insect, and nothing at all to do with the well-known vocalist, Psylla Black.. |
| 6 | beaufet – “excellent specimen” = BEAUT, containing Fe = iron. Most chemical symbols are considered fair game by setters, and rightly so |
| 7 |
urd – |
| 8 | baisemain – corrupt = BASE + MAIN = chief, containing I. Another French import meaning literally “kiss hand.” |
| 12 | maximaphily – Saw = MAXIM + (PLAY)* containing HI = Hawaii. US States abbreviations are also considered fair game. |
| 13 |
babushkas – BA |
| 15 |
hoactzin – HOT + ZIN |
| 17 | ill fame – (FLAIL)* + ME, one of my first in. I would probably have left this out if I were leaving some out, which I normally don’t |
| 19 | klatsch – TALK rev., + SCH = school. Another easy one, if you have heard this Americanism before. |
| 20 | rechip – playing ground = REC + HIP = in fashion, though that seems rather an oldfashioned word to use. Rechipping is what naughty people do with stolen mobile phones. So I’m told. Also fiddling with a car’s engine management system to tweak performance. |
| 22 |
rybat – |
| 24 | kir – KIR, which is a (sickly, French) drink and also half of “kirsch,” as well as a quarter of “kirschwasser,“ interchangeable words for a (sickly, German) cherry liqueur, never to be confused with the magnificent drink, a variant of schnapps, that they distil from wild cherries |
Jerry, you have a typo at 13D where 12 is repeated and 13 is missing.
At 10A I thought of an AND-gate and can’t see any other explanation. I had also never come across STILB before and agree it should be “shilling” or “shilling’s” rather than “shillings” at 1D