I did this while watching Australia pummel India in the World Twenty20, so it was obviously a good time. Started in the bottom right and worked my way up and across from there – interesting grid this one, with no very long answers (there’s nothing over 10 letters) it kind of resolves into two half-grids separated by 5 down and 16 down.
As I start to write up the blog, I still don’t get the wordplay for 14 across, which I found in Chambers from the definition, and for 20 across (also gotten from definition). Hopefully something will come soon.
I have edited a few sloppy mistakes from my initial posting that were mentioned in comments.
Away we go…
Across | |
---|---|
1 | DOO |
6 | SATNAV: SAT(placed) then VAN reversed |
12 | SAGE,GROUSE |
13 | ACNE: N(start of nostril) in ACE |
14 | CRATHUR: Aaah, got it it’s CHURL without the L around RAT(shop as in betray) |
15 | WHAISLE: IS in WHALE(one eating well) |
18 | AT BAT: Joe DiMaggio was a baseball player – so it’s TBA(to be announced) after A, then T(time) |
20 | ELUDE: hey, two for two – looked up GOAL in Bradfords and there’s DULE – so it’s DULE reversed(preposterous) next to E |
22 | FRAILTEE: (RELIEF,AT)* |
24 | DARRAINE: RAIN in DARE |
25 | TIG(twitch),ON: cross between tiger and lion, not to be confused with a LIGER. Now I wonder what would happen if a liger mated with a tigon? |
27 | ADAGE: E(eccentricity) on A DAG – I’ve been called a DAG many many times in Australia in the 70s |
30 | GIN TRAP: TR(Turkey – IVR code) with IN before it, inside GAP |
32 | AILMENT: move the I in ALIMENT(nourishment) |
33 | WI-FI: Take the endings off WIT(reason) and FIT(supply) |
34 | S,EVENS(quits),AGES: The SEVEN SAGES were the topic of a Listener crossword earlier this year |
35 | TRENDY: END in TRY(judge) |
36 | L,ASHES |
Down | |
2 | OUCHT: CH in OUT(on loan) |
3 | OSNABURGS: (BONUS,RAGS)* |
4 | A,GAS: AGA for an iron stove is a staple of barred-grid crosswords |
5 | DECLARING: E(established),C(church),L(line) in DARING |
7 | A,RAME |
8 | TOT,ALL,ED |
9 | AS(so far),UNDER |
10 | VERB: BREVE revsered without the E on the end – when I printed this there was a typo with the first letter of “speech” missing – it was fixed later on |
11 | V,A,WARD: old word for forefront – appears to have been spoken by Falstaff who was Duke of York or something like that (must brush up on my Shakespeare) |
16 | ELAN VITAL: EL(Spanish “the”), (VALIANT)* |
17 | OUTPARISH: OU(South African man) then R in (PATH,IS)* – used to seeing this term here for the suburbs of cities in Louisiana |
19 | APRONMEN: wordplay is A,PRO,N,MEN – and I get the mason definition, but I don’t quite see the Coriolanus reference – there is a speech about “the mechanics of Rome”… I’m feeling Shakespeare-deficient in a big way with this crossword |
21 | H,AIR, |
23 | E,YEP,IT |
26 | NO END: (DONNE)* |
28 | GAFFE: take the end off of GAFFER tape |
29 | FAST: three definitions |
31 | NAGA: hidden reversed in extravAGANt |
Re your intro George, the little jobs are “letters,” words are the bigger jobs.
Re 11dn: “You that are old consider not the capacities of us that are young; you do measure the heat of our livers with the bitterness of your galls: and we that are in the vaward of our youth, I must confess, are wags too.” Falstaff, Henry IV part II, as per the Shakespeare website Peter mentioned.
Welcome back Jerry
I have a degree in English Literature and have studied both the relevant plays, but was mystified by the Shakespeare references. Mind you that was a while ago and I have a terrible memory.