A witty and engaging one from Joker today, if a little harder than average in places. There’s some top hidden word action and I absolutely love 3dn . 6.5 minutes
| Across |
| 1 |
Get totally absorbed in Lavengro’s story (7) |
|
ENGROSS – hidden word |
| 7 |
Singing contest featuring girl with wooden sound (7) |
|
KARAOKE – KARA is a girl and OKE sounds like OAKY |
| 9 |
Drums time — annoying child has a new one (7) |
|
TIMPANI – T (time) + IMP (annoying child) + A + N + I |
| 10 |
Picture reason for dropping coffee? (3,4) |
|
MUG SHOT – Mug’s hot. Très drôle |
| 11 |
Old plane not keeping constant speed (4) |
|
RATE – Old plane is a CRATE, minus C for constant |
| 12 |
Bananas, celery and gin? A sweet-tasting liquid (9) |
|
GLYCERINE – anagram (‘bananas’) of CELERY + GIN |
| 14 |
One knowing nothing of what Signora Mussolini is concealing (9) |
|
IGNORAMUS – hidden word. Superb clue. |
| 16 |
Establish the extent of moans being expressed (4) |
|
SIZE – sounds like ‘sighs’ |
| 17 |
Time batting gains missing wicket (7) |
|
INNINGS – Gains are WINNINGS, minus W for wicket |
| 20 |
Where to keep things as alternative in acting area (7) |
|
STORAGE – STAGE is acting area, insert OR meaning alternative |
| 21 |
After a quake sure get significant movement (7) |
|
GESTURE -anagram (‘after a quake’) of GET SURE. Significant movement because a gesture signifies something. Nice accurate clueing. |
| 22 |
Some seafood to throw over back of trawler mostly (7) |
|
LOBSTER – LOB (throw) + STER[N] which is the back of a trawler (or any other boat). Not sure what the ‘over’ is doing, unless ‘lob’ is defined as ‘throw over’ |
| 1 |
Training teen working providing hospitality (12) |
|
ENTERTAINING – anagram (‘working’) of TRAINING TEEN |
| 2 |
Initiative unfortunately outing MP (8) |
|
GUMPTION – anagram (‘unfortunately’) of OUTING MP. ‘Gumption’ is a wonderful and very under-used word. |
| 3 |
Yes, yes, yes! (4) |
|
OKAY – OK (yes) + AY (yes), meaning yes. This is so neat I can’t believe it’s not a chestnut, but I have never seen it before. |
| 4 |
Devil appearing in heaven is revealing (6) |
|
SKIMPY – IMP (devil) inside SKY (heaven) |
| 5 |
Advancement Roger shortly found in Fleet Street (8) |
|
PROGRESS – ROG[ER] inside PRESS |
| 6 |
Fluttering insect — mum shows no sign of hesitation (4) |
|
MOTH – Mum is MOTHER, take off the ER of hesitation |
| 8 |
Right after prune entrée upset businessman (12) |
|
ENTREPRENEUR – anagram (‘upset’) of PRUNE ENTREE + R |
| 12 |
Queen introduced to geum as a garden plant (8) |
|
GERANIUM – GEUM with RANI (Hindu queen) inside. |
| 13 |
I shout about grit — not good — that in shoe, perhaps (8) |
|
IRRITANT – I RANT outside [G]RIT. Grit in one’s shoe being an irritant |
| 15 |
Seafood — not as much being brought up under a lot of mud (6) |
|
MUSSEL – LESS backwards undeneath MU[D] |
| 18 |
Drama in Japan about southern food (4) |
|
NOSH – NOH outside S. NOH (or NO) is traditional Japanese theatre, and I only know that because I do crosswords |
| 19 |
Battlefield object making blast, primarily (4) |
|
BOMB – acronym |
DNF. Far too hard for me – couldn’t do half of it. I don’t think I have ever failed so badly.
Just spent best part of 2 (enjoyable) hours on the big crossword.
DNF but got 3/4 of the answers. I hope this extra curricular work pays off at some point.
Enjoyed this one. Held up for a while by LOBSTER and STORAGE. Liked MUG SHOT.