Solving time 29:00. This was a pretty challenging puzzle with some excellent clues, but also a few obscure words. I managed to finish it just inside the half-hour which is normally my cut-off point before digging out the solving aids (although I don’t think I’ve had to use them for the Times at all yet this year). There was some discussion last week about the clue for 17D, which is absolutely brilliant when the penny drops.
| Across |
| 1 |
KANGAROO JUSTICE – ST (good chap) inside JUICE (power), next to KANGAROO (bounder). Chambers says “the kind of justice dispensed by a kangaroo court”. |
| 9 |
LETHARGIC – (A girl the)* + C(lubs). |
| 10 |
BACUP – CA inside PUB, all reversed. Probably caused problems for non-UK residents. |
| 11 |
JUDITH – JUD(o) + (hit)*. Nice deceptive use of the phrase “hit and miss”, but probably needed a ? at the end. |
| 12 |
ABALONES – AS (like) surrounding BALONE(y). |
| 13 |
YUM YUM – Y(o)U M(a)Y U(nderperfor)M, i.e. the first three words of the clue without their middles. Heroine of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. |
| 15 |
ST JAMES’S – J(udge) inside ST(reet), A MESS. One of London’s Royal Parks, the oldest of them according to Wikipedia. |
| 18 |
FORT KNOX – “fought knocks”. I’m pretty sure Jimbo will be sharpening his blue pencil over that one! |
| 19 |
GUSTAV – G(rand + US + TA + V(ery). Is that a Swedish name? The only Gustav I’ve ever known is German. |
| 21 |
BEJABERS – JAB inside BEERS. Irish for “My!” as in “Oh gosh”. This has come up in a Saturday crossword before, I remember blogging it. |
| 23 |
STAGER – STAG + E.R. |
| 26 |
ORATE – I don’t recall having any concerns about this last week, but I can’t explain it all now. Looks like O (appeal) + RATE (class), but I can’t justify the O. |
| 27 |
VESTRYMAN – (myster(y))* inside V(erse) + AN. |
| 28 |
DEAD AS A DOOR-NAIL – cryptic definition. |
| Down |
| 1 |
KILLJOY – ILL + J(ack) + O(ld), inside K(indl)Y. |
| 2 |
NOTED – T(r)E(e) inside NOD. Good clue, very inventive. |
| 3 |
A FAST BUCK – sort of a cryptic double definition. |
| 4 |
ORGY – move the first letter of GORY down a bit. |
| 5 |
JACOBITE – CO inside JA + BITE. Definition is “One in rising”, ref. the Jacobite rebellion in 1745. |
| 6 |
SIBYL – IS reversed + BY (past) + L(ine). |
| 7 |
IN CONCERT – double definition. |
| 8 |
EXPOSES – EX + P.O. (petty officer) + E,S (quarters). |
| 14 |
MARIJUANA – (Run Jamai(c)a)* |
| 16 |
ADULTERER – E(nergy) inside ADULT + ERR, &lit. |
| 17 |
MONROVIA – MOO (what cattle go) + VIA (through) around NR (near). Capital of Liberia. This one puzzled me for a while, but I laughed out loud when I saw how it worked. |
| 18 |
FIBROID – (I forbid)* |
| 20 |
VERONAL – hidden in “driVER ON A Landau”. Another name for barbitone. |
| 22 |
BREDA – RED inside B.A. I’d heard of the town from somewhere luckily. I think their football team has played in the UEFA Cup. |
| 24 |
GAMMA – GRAMMAR with both Rs removed. |
| 25 |
OSLO – last letters of “Who speculates will also”. |
Re 18ac, I had no problem with this one – I am starting to wonder if the compilers are deliberately exploring the musty depths of the homophone library, in response to past comments here 🙂
Never mind overseas solvers, I hadn’t heard of BACUP. I got it from the wordplay, verified by checking letters. I grimaced at FORT KNOX but it’s not as bad as some we’ve had to cope with. GUSTAV is very Skandinavian, linxit, several Kings of Sweden have been called GUSTAV. I also had 26A as O=Oh+RATE (a little bit weak I agree). I think you’ve accidentally missed out 25D (OSLO = last letters of “who speculates will also”.
Can’t remember why I’ve heard of Bacup but I have.
26ac: anecdote time, this one courtesy of the Great Winston.
I haven’t read all of Churchill’s biography, but I have read the part about his early years, and this story sticks from when he was sent to public school. He was given a piece of paper about Latin and asked to learn it. He memorised it, but didn’t understand it in the slightest, and was foolish enough to ask for clarification, which led to this:
————–
“O table – you would use that in addressing a table, in invoking a table.” And then seeing he was not carrying me with him, “You would use it in speaking to a table.”
“But I never do,” I blurted out in honest amazement.
“If you are impertinent, you will be punished, and punished, let me tell you, very severely,” was his conclusive rejoinder.
————-
“O Rate” is the vocative case. You would use it in speaking to a rate. If you were ever to do so.
Some canny Scots are now trying to usurp the title with Ebenezer Place, but I have a hunch they were trying, so it doesn’t really count.
I liked the wordplay for Bejabers, Fort Knox, Yum Yum and Adulterer. Otherwise, I thought the proper noun count at 9 was a bit high, indicating that the compiler kept painting himself into a corner and then escaping with an obscure place or name. Sorry, if your name is Judith and you come from Bacup or your name is Gustav and you come from Monrovia. I had heard of Bacup but I did not write it in for a long time because I was convinced it was in Derbyshire (I was thinking of Belper).
People with a dislike of dodgy homophones should steer clear of the Guardian. How’s this for a recent Araucaria: “This Hamlet might be said to show scorn (7)”.
Brilliant.
I did a good bit on Friday night while watching golf on TV, and finished up on Saturday morning. Fortunately, I had heard of ‘veronal’ and was not fooled by ‘bejabers’ this time.
Now about ‘Bacup’. Population: 12,763, not famous for much of anything. Residents of the UK: do you know every, most, or few towns that fit this description and are not in your immediate area?
That said, I would not have been at all confident about in which county Bacup was to be found. I’ve heard of the name but could tell you nothing else.