Lots of easy stuff but some trickier clues in the SE and NW held me up. Since I need to go out, this will be a minimalistic blog, as well as an old-fashioned one, with no recourse to Google, so expect a few errors and displays of gratuitous ignorance. * A tip of the hat to the commenter on the forum for the title.
Across
1 BI[ST]RO
4 O+P[ENED*]UP = shoot as in inject
10 DROPS IN – dd, one tongue in cheek; my last in
11 SKIPPER – slightly non-PC dd
12 [g]RATE
13 TOOK CHARGE – literal is ‘ was appointed CO’, wordplay is ‘to approve (= OK) military attack’
15 ANCHORMAN
16 OFF[I]E[r]
18 TO+RUS[h]
19 MO[T]OR+CADE not entourage
21 PARTICULAR – ARTICULA[te] in PR, literal respect
23 D+RIB drab’s mate
26 SEAGULL* – my COD for a wonderful sea picture
27 COR[O]NET
28 IN T[HE] END
29 SCR[EW]Y – partners as in bridge (east-west) in scry as in descry, I imagine
Down
1 BAD+ER – Douglas of Kenneth More fame
2 SPORT+S CAR
3 hidden
5 PU[SH]KIN[g]
6 NEIGH+BOURS*
7 DO[P]ER – a semi &lit, I think
8 PERSEVERE
9 [c]ON FORM; I put ‘in form’
14 CON+STI*+TUTE[e]
15 ANTIPAS+TI (‘it’ reversed) – Herod Antipas features in the Bible along with various cousins
17 FRAGRANCE – anagram of F[ace] + car and anger
19 MAUDLIN – ‘Come into the garden Maud’ (Tennyson?) + nil reversed
20 THAT+CH
22 ROAST
24 BU[TT]Y
25 CROC – a snappy way to finish; crock means lame in various dialects lame = feeble and useless, as in grandpa’s an old crock
For the record, SCRY is indeed from “descry” and means “foretell the future using a crystal ball or other reflective object or surface” (NOAD). (No jokes about why gypsies have glass babies … please!)
Main hold ups were at 25dn/29ac. Once got, I assumed 25dn was a ref to the expression “crock of shit”, often abbreviated to “crock”. But I see it’s also an obscure verb meaning “to injure”; as well as a useless old git like me!
Edited at 2013-04-01 04:36 am (UTC)
Same as Jack, and I guess probably a few others, in that while I recognised most of these answers as coming up recently, I didn’t realise that the whole puzzle was an entire copy! Words such as TORUS, DRIB and OFFIE all rang bells.
Yeah, somehow I too feel a little cheated, but not at all sure why!
I also wondered about “family concern”, “corner shop” and “girl with rope” and had in mind to complain about sloppy cluing.
Edited at 2013-04-01 05:58 am (UTC)
Feel cheated in odd way but don’t suppose they will refund my subscription.
‘To communicate with Mars, converse with spirits,
To report the behaviour of the sea monster,
Describe the horoscope, haruspicate or scry,
Observe disease in signatures, evoke
Biography from the wrinkles of the palm
And tragedy from fingers; release omens
By sortilege, or tea leaves, riddle the inevitable
With playing cards, fiddle with pentagrams
Or barbituric acids, or dissect
The recurrent image into pre-conscious terrors –
To explore the womb, or tomb, or dreams; all these are usual
Pastimes and drugs, and features of the press:
And always will be, some of them especially
When there is distress of nations and perplexity
Whether on the shores of Asia, or in the Edgware Road.’
Edited at 2013-04-01 08:56 am (UTC)
THATCH tickled my fancy most,so I’ll make it my CoD.
I’m now off to buy a BMW pram for my grandchildren, a copy of the enticing Speedicut papers, bag me an asteroid and celebrate Murray being no. 2 in the world listings.
X vowed never to repeat the ruse. Most of the small number of people who submitted an answer (it was a prize puzzle) didn’t even mention the problem and so (I was one) had simply not even been aware. Others spent hours trying to work it out and complained quite bitterly.
Reading the comments and looking at the clues some of the definitions look a bit loose.
Andy B.
I don’t feel at all cheated – ‘umbled would be more like it. So thanks for that, setter (teeth firmly gritted).
Barry J
Hats off to the setter who skillfully composed an entirely different set of clues to the ones from nine days ago.
Darryl F
I’m awarding myself the newly-created April Muppet Prize.
Nice puzzle as well – I’ve absolutely no objection to any of the clues.
I can remember clues from years ago, but not usually the words.
Regards,
Acorn