Solving time 51:34, but although tricky in places I don’t think it was all *that* hard! I decided to solve it on the train on the way home on Monday, but unfortunately ended up next to a 3-year-old girl who insisted on singing nursery rhymes at the top of her voice for the whole journey. I wouldn’t have minded, but I didn’t even know most of them. “Polly Put the Kettle On” was the only one I recognised. There were others about “hunting a bear, we’re not scared” and “a spotted frog sitting on a log”…where did they come from? Anyway, I found it hard to concentrate but got there in the end.
Across |
1 |
LONG JUMP – LONG (can’t wait) + JUMP (start). |
9 |
INACTION – IN (fashionable) + ACTION (suit, i.e. law). |
10 |
VERB – VER(y) + B(ook). |
11 |
BILLINGSGATE – S(ociety) inside BILLING (advertising) + GATE (money received from those attending). Famous London fish market. |
13 |
CEREAL – sounds like “serial”. |
14 |
UNIONIST – (suit on)* around N.I. (Northern Ireland, i.e. his territory). |
15 |
BABYISH – BY (close to) + I inside BASH (party). |
16 |
APLENTY – (net)* inside (play)*. |
20 |
ZERO IN ON – ZERO (duck) + IN ON (wise to). |
22 |
CUBOID – sounds like “queue” (line) + “buoyed” (kept afloat). |
23 |
BACKWOODSMAN – BACK (player) + WOODS (bowls) + [N(otts) + A + M(aiden) reversed]. The definition is “Rarely seen Lord” – from Chambers: “a peer who seldom attends the House of Lords”. Didn’t know that, got it from checking letters. |
25 |
DOCK – quadruple definition: Plant / put in / box in court / (and) cut. . |
26 |
MELTDOWN – LT DOW (Lt. Jones‘s colleague, ho ho) inside MEN. |
27 |
EXPORTER – EX (old) + PORTER (beer). |
Down |
2 |
ORESTEIA – alternate letters of “manifesto’s reproof” reversed. |
3 |
GOBBLEDYGOOK – GOBBLED (did bolt) + GO (pass) + OK (well), around (dormitor)Y. |
4 |
UKULELES – U(npac)K U(nusua)L E(lectrica)L E(lement)S. |
5 |
PITIFUL – PITFUL (amount of coal) around I. |
6 |
BANGUI – hidden in “urBAN GUIdebook”. Capital of the Central African Republic. |
7 |
VIVA – V + I + V = XI (Roman arithmetic) + A. Short for viva voce, an oral exam. |
8 |
ANCESTRY – (ten, scary)* |
12 |
GENDER BENDER – GB (Britain) with ENDER (closer) next to each letter. |
15 |
BUZZ BOMB – BUZZ (prepare to answer, e.g. on a TV quiz show) + MOB reversed + B (second rate). |
17 |
PICK-ME-UP – PICK (finest) + MP (parliamentarian) around EU (Brussels, i.e. European Union). |
18 |
TRICYCLE – Y(outh) C(lub) L(eft) inside TRICE (flash). |
19 |
ANODYNE – (m)A(ny) + (Y, on end)*, the Y from Y(ears). |
21 |
NEOCON – C.O. (conscientious objector = pacifist) inside N(ew) EON (age). That’s got to win the prize for the most misleading surface ever, surely! |
24 |
COLT – COLD, but ending with the last letter of “desert” rather than the first. |
Thanks to our sterling Saturday blogger for sorting out CUBOID for me. Be grateful for small mercies, Andy – at least the toddler wasn’t singing ‘I love you’ from Barney the Dinosaur.
(I assume 3-year-olds will be excluded from the Championship 🙂
I wonder if the bear song your travelling companion was singing came from We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. It’s a rather wonderful little book, although I can imagine that wouldn’t have been much comfort in the circumstances.
I had a bit of trouble finding this post. Could someone please add the crossword number, 24,957, to the blog title. Although other solvers may have moved on, I am still working through a huge backlog of puzzles.
Andy
Doing these from book 19 , years after the rest of you, during Covid 19 pandemic isolation.