A relatively easy puzzle with two irritations.
After the obscure sportsmen of a couple of weeks ago we now have a schoolboyish contraction of the name of a further obscure sportsman. Quite why our setters believe that we share their obsession with ball games I can’t imagine.
And speaking of ball games we have yet another reference to the clownish politician Ed Balls. The first time was mildly amusing but his repeated appearance is causing me to yawn.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | BRIGHT,SPARK – B(RIGHTS-PAR)K; book=BK; |
11 | DEDAL – DE(D)AL; date=D; |
12 | HERD – HE(a)RD; |
13 | EPITHEM – E-PIT-HEM; set on=PIT (against); |
14 | NUGAE – (harangued – hard)*; about=anagrind; |
16 | ABIGAIL – sounds like “a big ale”; |
17 | INTERDASH – (tarnished)*; |
18 | LAIRDS – LA-IR-DS; document signed=DS; |
20 | STATIN – STATI(o)N; |
22 | DONSIE – D-ON-SI(t)E; “t” from T(ired); |
24 | MONACT – (combatant – bat)*; bat from COM(bat)ANT; |
26 | INDONESIA – IND(ONE-S)IA; |
28 | DETRAIN – DET(R)AIN; |
30 | GREIN – GR-E-I-N: Greece=GR; Spain=E; Norway=N; independence=I; |
31 | TAMARAO – TAMAR-A-O; |
32 | EIRE – E(MP)IRE; |
33 | SCADS – herring=shads then change h=hot to c=cold; |
34 | COMEDOGENIC – COME-DOG-CINE reversed; |
Down | |
2 | REPO – hidden reversed (pr)OPER(ty); |
3 | IDIST – I(DI’S)T; |
4 | GATHERS – G-ATHERS presumably where ATHERS is I’m guessing short for (Mike) Atherton – poor clue; |
5 | TREADS – T-READS; (bird) mates (copulates) is definition; |
6 | SAMBAS – S(h)AM-BAS(h); a dance my knees no longer alow me to do; |
7 | PENISTONE – PENIS-TONE; |
8 | REGATTA – (watergate – w – e)*; w and e from (w)ATERGAT(e); |
9 | KRAIT – TI-ARK reversed; |
10 | ADELANTADOS – A-DEL-ANT(ADO)S; are=A; state=DEL; workers=ANTS; |
11 | DEVIL-DODGER – Mephisto=the Devil; |
15 | ORDINANCE – ORD(I)NANCE; independent=I; |
19 | IN,UTERO – (routine)*; |
21 | ANELACE – ANE-LA(n)CE; one (old)=ANE; |
23 | EDITED – ED-IT-ED; two further references to buffoonish politician ED Balls; garbled=EDITED?; |
24 | MONACO – MO(CAN reversed)O; John=toilet=CAN; low=MOO; |
25 | XERIC – X-ERIC; kiss=X; fine=ERIC; |
27 | SKRAN – NARKS reversed; |
29 | CADI – I-DA-C(onfound) reversed; |
I think we have had the NARC/NARK controversy before, but I thought in 27 the sneaks had to be NARKS not NARCS, giving SKRAN.
A recently broadcast “Top Gear” episode was filmed in Penistone (for obvious reasons) – I wouldn’t have heard of the place otherwise!
As far as I can tell from Google searches for “Ed” and “Balls” on this blog, he has been used in 3 Sunday Times puzzles so far, all this year – one ST Crossword, and two Mephistos, which happen to be the last two reviewed by Jimbo.
garbled=EDITED? – see “edit” in Chambers “to garble or cook up”
Edited at 2014-03-24 08:47 am (UTC)