Solving time 18:44. A game of two halves, the top going in fairly quickly but then I ground to a halt for a few minutes and struggled to the finish. Nothing too difficult here though – I just lost the plot for a while.
Across | |
1 | SOMALI – OS (Ordinary Seaman = sailor) reversed + MALI (land in Africa). |
4 | SONATINA – SON (boy) + TINA (girl) around A. |
10 | ARCHITECT – (I chatter)* around C(hapter). |
11 | EXPEL – EX (former) + PEEL (Tory leader) “half-heartedly”, i.e. removing one of the middle letters. |
12 | CROQUE-MONSIEUR – (menu or course I)* around Q(uestion). |
14 | CABLE – C(onservative) + ABLE (clever). |
16 | UNDERWEAR – UN,DER (European articles) + WEAR (don). |
18 | CALLAGHAN – CALL (term) + A + GHAN(a) (country cut short). James Callaghan was the Prime Minister from 1976-79. |
20 | PUT-ON – triple definition, the first two as two words rather than hyphenated. |
21 | WHIPLASH INJURY – (why punish liar, J)*, the J coming from J(udge). Great anagram which I fruitlessly wasted too much time on at the start before I had any letters. |
25 | RAZOR – RA (Royal Artillery = fighting force) + OR (Other Ranks = men), around Z (unknown). |
26 | ISLINGTON – I (single) + SLING (drink) + NOT reversed. A London district. |
27 | MURALIST – (altruism)* |
28 | LET RIP – L(at)E + TRIP (visit). |
Down | |
1 | SPATCHCOCK – SPAT (quarrel) + COCK (mate) around H(ot) and C(old). |
2 | MACAO – MACA(w) (flier losing tail) + O(ld). |
3 | LEISURE – LURE (temptation) around (D)e(l)i(u)s. |
5 | ORTON – ORION (many stars), with the I swapped for a T. Joe Orton, English playwright. |
6 | ATELIER – IE (that is) inside (later)*. |
7 | IMPRUDENT – RUDE (offensive) + NT (books) next to I (current) + MP (politician). Makes a change from the usual “R inside IMPUDENT” wordplay for this. |
8 | ALLY – WALLY (Charlie) without the W. Wally and Charlie are both words for a fool. However, you’d say someone’s a proper Charlie and a complete wally. |
9 | VERMOUTH – REV (minister) reversed + MOUTH (opening). |
13 | BRANDY SNAP – BRAND (trademark) + PANSY reversed (climbing plant). |
15 | BALTHAZAR – BALT (Latvian, say) + HAZAR(d) (danger reduced). A wine bottle size equivalent to 16 normal bottles. |
17 | DUNGHILL – DUN (horse) + HILL (fell) around G (end of loG). |
19 | APPAREL – RE (about) inside APPAL (shock). |
20 | PENANCE – PENCE (coppers) around (m)AN (bloke losing head). |
22 | ADIOS – I (one) inside ADO (trouble) + S(ucceeded). |
23 | UTTER – (m)UTTER (speak inaudibly, minus the M). |
24 | FROM – FORM (shape), with the middle letters reversed. Tricky little one which caught a lot of people out, judging from comments on the Forum. |
Your example don/wear does just about work in that the end result is the same. I was probably being a bit picky but if I’m in doubt about something I like to find out what other people think.
With -H-N at the end of 18ac, I assumed the country was going be CHINA, thought of CALLACHIN, and moved swiftly on without considering alternatives. (Doh!)
Nice puzzle.