Solving time :
Rather a neat little offering this week I thought. There is a strange coincidence here, and maybe I am missing something – it’s not his birthday, maybe the anniversary of a significant achievement but there’s a clue here for the composer and crossword fan Stephen Sondheim (who I believe Tim Moorey knows reasonably well), and there is also a Sondheim allusion in this month’s Maltby crossword in Harper’s magazine in the US. Top that off with that as soon as I finish typing this up, I’m heading off to see a production of the Sondheim show “Company” that several of my friends are in.
Or it could all be one big coincidence!
Away we go….
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | M,EG,1,L |
| 5 | WAS,A BI |
| 9 | CA(the state),PARIS(the captial),ONE,D |
| 10 | MEROPIDAN: MAN containing (PERIOD)* |
| 12 | BURKAS: (UK,BARS)* |
| 13 | ODSOS: S(Stokes, the unit), OS(mouthlike opening) |
| 17 | THEOW: TOW containing HE |
| 19 | ATTORNED: A TED surrounding TORN |
| 20 | SEASIDES: (DISEASES)* |
| 21 | EHING: EH(what),ING(meadow) – this clue is the only one I don’t like in the bunch, since EH is coming from the same headword here as the answer |
| 23 | SINEW: W(weak) after SINE(without) |
| 25 | FIACRE: IF reversed, then ACRE |
| 26 | YAROSLAVL: (ROYALS)* surrounding LAV(throne) |
| 27 | SWEATER GIRL: add an A and S to this and you can make an anagram of WAITRESS,LARGE |
| 28 | TENSON: TENSION without the 1 |
| 29 | TOU |
| Down | |
| 1 | MEMBRANE: RAN in MEMBE |
| 2 | GAR,ROTTING |
| 3 | LA PAZ: LAP(polish) and then AZ for Azed who appears in another place on the same day as the Mephisto. I expect there’s enough overlap that this isn’t too obscure |
| 4 | PRISONER: PR(Prize ring), IS,ONE, |
| 5 | WIDE: W then IDEA with A |
| 6 | SONDHEIM: anagram of the middle letters of aDMONISHEd |
| 7 | BEHOOVED: HOOVE |
| 8 | IDES: HIDES missing the last letter in researcH |
| 11 | PSEUDOCARP: anagram of (PRODUCES,A) then P |
| 14 | OTCHIPWE: (WHITE,COP)* |
| 15 | ROMNEYAS: (SOME,YARN)* – a little odd to have two anagram clues in a row |
| 16 | BEAUFORT: BEAUT(excellent) surrounding FOR, reference the wind scale |
| 18 | WASTELOT: I rather liked this clue – WAS THE LOT without the H – and since it is a Canadian term, it is the city of London, Ontario that is being used here |
| 22 | MISGO: stray… |
| 23 | SIST: sounds like CYST, and Sturgeon is the current First Minister of Scotland |
| 24 | BREN: hidden reversed in warNER Brothers |
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