The word play of 1dn and the definition of the crossing 12ac caused minor talking points in an otherwise gentle romp which I hope everyone can enjoy. On holiday last week (and thanks to William for so ably standing in) where, as usual, I took a few 15x15s to while away the time until my return to the pleasures of TfTT. I only mention this as my LOI on each was 16dn (with Astatine being a particularly chewy one). Has anyone else noted the difficulty of 16dns or is this just me?
Definitions underlined, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition, deletions crossed out.
| Across | |
| 7 On Chinese vessel man read out unwanted letters (4,4) | |
|    JUNK MAIL – JUNK, homophone of male. | |
| 8 Oaf included in school outing (4) | |
|    LOUT – Schoo(L OUT)ing. | |
| 9 Heavy weight carried by expert without delay (2,4) | |
|    AT ONCE – Weight (TON) inside expert (ACE). | |
| 10 Coats manufactured in Berkshire town (5) | |
|    ASCOT – Anagram (manufactured) of COATS. | |
| 11 Youngster starts to behave, obeying you (3) | |
|    BOY – First letters of Behave, Obeying You. | |
| 12 Urban settlement so damp before start of October (6) | |
|    SOWETO – SO, WET, (O)ctober. The word play was very transparent which makes the rather loose definition OK. | |
| 14 Splutter, swallowing Irish rum perhaps (6) | |
|    SPIRIT – Splutter (SPIT) holding Irish (IR). | |
| 16 Rifleman runs after wading bird (6) | |
|    SNIPER – R for runs after SNIPE. | |
| 18 Caught bad egg misbehaving (6) | |
|    BAGGED – Anagram (misbehaving) of BAD EGG). | |
| 19 Fellow first out of grocery store (3) | |
|
   ELI – |
|
| 20 Strongholds frost damaged (5) | |
|    FORTS – Anagram (damaged) of FROST. | |
| 21 Keep transporting cardboard box (6) | |
|    CARTON – Keep transporting = CART ON. | |
| 23 Wild party in Gravesend (4) | |
|    RAVE – G(RAVE)send. | |
| 24 Knitted sweater for a milk supplier (8) | |
|
   GUERNSEY – dd. As we are more used to Aran sweaters at TfTT I thought I’d list all definitions of Guernsey – one of which will be familiar to our Antipodean friends: – a breed of dairy cattle producing rich creamy milk, originating from the island of Guernsey. – a seaman’s knitted woollen sweater. – (Australian) a sleeveless woollen shirt or jumper worn by a football player. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 Pursue and capture daughter in old German place (4,4) | |
|    HUNT DOWN – Daughter (D) inside old German (HUN) and place (TOWN). The last of which is pretty loose which may have caused problems if used in a harder clue. | |
| 2 Hide empty sack at home (4) | |
|
   SKIN – S |
|
| 3 Look — old boy put up garden structure (6) | |
|    GAZEBO – Look (GAZE), old boy (OB) upwards. | |
| 4 Law, say, broken repeatedly (6) | |
|    ALWAYS – Anagram (broken) of LAW SAY. | |
| 5 Firing about fifty for not working hard (8) | |
|    SLACKING – SACKING around fifty (L). | |
| 6 Leave S. American capital: there’s nothing to lose (4) | |
|
   QUIT – QUIT |
|
| 13 Former hospital worker and trader with contacts abroad (8) | |
|    EXPORTER – Former (EX), PORTER. | |
| 15 One church close to English port covered with frost (4,4) | |
|    ICED OVER – One (I), church (CE), English port (DOVER). The ‘close to’ simply makes the clue read better and says ICE is next to DOVER. | |
| 17 Write name again and step down (6) | |
|    RESIGN – Write name again = re-sign. | |
| 18 Motorcyclist goes round about, making row (6) | |
|    BICKER – About (C) inside BIKER. | |
| 20 Dull place to live (4) | |
|    FLAT – dd. | |
| 22 Line of soldiers fled, pursued by king (4) | |
|    RANK – RAN, K. | |
Edited at 2015-06-09 10:01 am (UTC)
My LOI was 24a where I was looking for some sort of goat initially.
David
Jenny