Another one with no time written down, as I had to snatch the odd 5 minutes here and there to look at it last Saturday. One word was new to me (1D) and there was a lot of intricate wordplay which made this both tricky and enjoyable to solve. I had a question mark next to 8D.
| Across |
| 1 |
HIDE – double definition. |
| 3 |
AFICIONADO – ON in CIA, all in A FIDO. At least if you didn’t know how to spell it before, you do now! |
| 9 |
LUCIFER – double definition (lucifer is old Brit slang for a match). |
| 11 |
CATHODE – as in “Ode to Cath”, which Heathcliff might have written in Wuthering Heights! He never really struck me as the poetic type though… |
| 12 |
SCARLETT O’HARA – SCAR + LET + HO rev. in TARA (the name of the plantation where they live in Gone with the Wind). Nicely worked in. |
| 14 |
OX-EYE – OX (neat) + EYE (view). |
| 15 |
OUT-AND-OUT – double def, one slightly cryptic. |
| 17 |
ULAN BATOR – L (= pound = money) inside (ran about)*. Capital of Mongolia. |
| 19 |
DROIT – DRO(p) + IT. |
| 21 |
CARDINAL POINT – CARDINAL (red) + POINT (matter). Any one of the four main compass points. |
| 24 |
NAIVETE – IAN rev. + VET + E(nglish) |
| 25 |
LATERAL – LATER + A + L(ine). |
| 26 |
WONDERLAND – N(ame) in (older)*, all inside WAND, &lit. Another very good clue. |
| 27 |
SNOW – (businesse)S + NOW. Tongue-in-cheek &lit here, as this country is well-known for grinding to a halt at the least flurry. Nice one setter! |
| Down |
| 1 |
HOLUS-BOLUS – (slob)* between two U’s, all inside HOLS. Archaic sham Latin, according to Chambers. I only saw it from the wordplay once all checking letters were in, and still wasn’t 100% convinced! |
| 2 |
DICTATE – TAT inside DICE. I liked “Items spotted”, and the definition sneakily hidden in an innocuous word at the end. |
| 4 |
FIRST POST – (sport)* inside FIST. With no military background at all, I had no idea there was a first post before the last one. |
| 5 |
CACAO – O + ACAC(ia), all reversed. |
| 6 |
OUT DAMNED SPOT – actually, Lady M’s trying to get rid of an imaginary blood stain from her hand while sleepwalking. I think the dog theory sounds more feasible. |
| 7 |
AVOCADO – A + V(ery) + CAD inside two O’s. |
| 8 |
OVER – “done” is one definition. Not sure how the rest of it works. |
| 10 |
FOLIES BERGERE – (girls before + exposure)*. Another well worked &lit. Took me a while to see the anagram fodder. |
| 13 |
STATUTE LAW – TUT + AT inside WALES, all reversed. |
| 16 |
TARPAULIN – RAT reversed + PAUL + IN (wearing). |
| 18 |
AUCTION – U in ACTION |
| 20 |
OMICRON – OM (mantra) + C(harm) inside IRON. |
| 22 |
IDEAL – 1 + DEAL |
| 23 |
GNAW – first letters of Green Noodles And Wasabi. |
I think the double definition for ‘over’ is ‘more’ and ‘done’, and the rest is just filler.
While solving, I thought ‘cathode’ was too far-fetched to be right, and erased it, only to have to put it back in later. I never understood the clues for ‘first post’ and ‘cacao’, but they were obviously the only thing that would fit.
My COD was definitely ‘aficionado’, which was also my last in. I needed the cryptic for the spelling.
OMICRON was my last in, and I read it as OM + C inside IR with ON indicated by showing. But I say this as an O level science failure, so I think we’d better hand over to Jimbo for adjudication.
Enjoyed this puzzle a lot, finishing in 1’48”, helped by cheating on the Scottish play clue, where I should have got the element I was missing, ‘damned’, from ‘infernal’, really. Also cheated on the plant, where again I had the ‘ox’ but couldn’t get the ‘eye’. The ‘e’ helped me clinch ‘dictate’, my COD, for its cunning use of the oft-used signpost word.
I never saw the anagram for 10d, so thanks for a week-delayed doh! moment.
I thought HOLUS-BOLUS was just a little bit silly.
Enjoyed this very much, unlike today’s where I have struggled to finish (just now)! There are several, I think, where keriothe could be stuck.
Well, don’t give up. The old trick of putting it aside and coming back usually works.