| Straightforward with some nice touches. My favourite is 24ac with its spotless surface. 20dn is a cracker too. 7 minutes for me.
Across |
|
| 8 | Information being published concerning property contract (7) |
| RELEASE – RE + LEASE | |
| 9 | Saw notice ahead of time (5) |
| ADAGE – AD + AGE. ‘Saw’ meaning proverb or maxim is used vastly more in crosswords than in the real world. | |
| 10 | Start to sample white wine in jar (5) |
| SHOCK – S + HOCK | |
| 11 | German city reds getting excited in small room? (7) |
| DRESDEN – anagram (‘getting excited’) of REDS inside DEN | |
| 12 | Got off school in exploit (9) |
| DETRAINED – TRAIN inside DEED. A word used more by railway employees than passengers | |
| 14 | Some feel magic in this wood (3) |
| ELM – hidden word: feEL Magic. Whenever you see ‘some’, look for a hidden word. | |
| 16 | Endless anger in cheap newspaper (3) |
| RAG – RAG[e] | |
| 18 | Excellent facility for bride-to-be’s stuff? No! (3-6) |
| TOP-DRAWER – a bride-to-be’s trousseau is stored in the bottom drawer. | |
| 21 | Mum rants terribly, producing oft-repeated phrases (7) |
| MANTRAS – MA plus anagram (‘terribly’) of RANTS | |
| 22 | Wee child, one locked in big building (5) |
| BAIRN – I inside BARN. Scots and Northern English dialect word, most likely reflecting Danish influence. When Danish TV was all the rage with The Killing and whatnot, lots of Geordies were surprised by how much Danish they could understand. | |
| 23 | Enchantment for a period of time? (5) |
| SPELL – double definition | |
| 24 | Green leader beginning to make waves (7) |
| EMERALD – this is clever. It’s an anagram (‘waves’) of LEADER + M for make | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Salvation Army taken in by more rough-and-ready evangelist? (8) |
| CRUSADER – SA inside CRUDER | |
| 2 | Energetic, like a team with ten players dismissed? (3-3) |
| ALL-OUT – double definition, the second a cricket reference. | |
| 3 | Sailor is a knave (4) |
| JACK – double definition | |
| 4 | Ambassador and a university lecturer face to face (4-2) |
| HEAD-ON – HE (His/Her Excellency, ambassador) + A DON | |
| 5 | Times collection for a whole year? (8) |
| CALENDAR – cryptic definition I guess | |
| 6 | Doughty-sounding old Labour leader (6) |
| HARDIE – Sounds like HARDY. Keir Hardie was the first leader of the British Labour Party | |
| 7 | Thin film director (4) |
| LEAN – double definition, the second is David Lean as in Lawrence of Arabia | |
| 13 | Pursuing every possibility, despite expectations (5,3) |
| AFTER ALL – self-explanatory | |
| 15 | Created about awful rain — it’s wet in the kitchen! (8) |
| MARINADE – anagram (‘awful’) of RAIN with MADE outside | |
| 17 | Male bird wrecking garden (6) |
| GANDER – anagram (‘wrecking’) of GARDEN | |
| 19 | Bill as user of letterbox? (6) |
| POSTER – double definition | |
| 20 | Place in Germany — you and I arrive on St David’s Day (6) |
| WEIMAR – WE + I MAR (i.e 1st March). Nice | |
| 21 | Muddle in dining-room (4) |
| MESS – double definition | |
| 22 | Busy type coming to river for drink (4) |
| BEER – BEE outside R for river | |
PORTCULLIS grid — so no easy starters.
On the 11:15 from Dresden to Weimar, very pleasant.
FOI 9ac ADAGE
LOI 23ac SPELL
COD 12ac DETRAINED
WOD 7dn David LEAN. Some older folks had never heard of him!?
I simply don’t believe it! Meldrew
Just got Weimar, Adage and Detrained and didn’t understand bride and drawer connection.
Great QC apart from Hardie IMO.
Thanks all!
GaryA