Solving time 16:16, figuring-out-all-the-wordplay time much longer! This was a really good puzzle, not too tricky but a few answers went in without full understanding. The setter hit a purple patch in the Downs, with 7 and 12 standing out for me.
Across |
1 |
DOOLALLY – DALLY (dwadle) around LOO (smallest room) reversed. Apparently a corruption of Deolali, an Indian town. The expression my parents used to use was “doolally tap”. |
5 |
SALAAM – MA (mother) + ALAS (unfortunately), all reversed. |
10 |
PUNCTUATION MARK – (amount in cut)* inside PARK (put in place). |
11 |
SUPERSONIC – U PERSON (posh type) inside SIC (so). |
13 |
PHEW – P(astries) + HEW (chop). |
15 |
TROCHEE – OCHE (darts mark) inside TRE(e) (wood, not quite). |
17 |
HISTORY – HIS (man’s) + TORY (right). |
18 |
GRIEVED – EVE (girl) inside GRID (crossword). |
19 |
DIARIST – AID (help) reversed + (w)RIST (joint, without the W for wife). Anne Frank, famous for her Diary of a Young Girl. |
21 |
SPAN – SPAIN without the I. |
22 |
HORSEWOMAN – (who’s on mare)* |
25 |
RUSSIAN ROULETTE – cryptic definition. |
27 |
CANINE – (in)C(isors) + A + NINE (square). |
28 |
INTERNET – In + TERN (flier) + ET (and in French). |
Down |
1 |
DEPOSIT – IS reversed inside DEPOT (warehouse). |
2 |
OWN – SOWN (broadcast), minus the first letter. |
3 |
AFTERSHAVE – AFTERS (pudding) + HAVE (eat). |
4 |
LLANO – ON (switch) + ALL (everything), all reversed. It seems to me that putting the reversal indicator “over” in the middle like that means it only applies to one or the other, not both. [ Edit: of course, as Jack points out, with “switch” as the reversal indicator and “over” defining ON, it all works perfectly. ]
|
6 |
ARNO – A + R(iver) + NO. Italian river which flows through Florence. |
7 |
ANACHRONISM – (a Cornishman)*. Cornishman Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) invented the world’s first railway locomotive in 1804. Great clue. |
8 |
MAKE WAY – A KEW (garden centre) inside MAY (spring). |
9 |
FINISHED – (if end is nigh)*. Very well-disguised anagram fodder, &lit. |
12 |
PRODIGAL SON – PRO (supporting) + DIG (love) + ALSO (and) + (redemptio)N. See Luke 15:11-32. Another great &lit clue. |
14 |
OSCAR WILDE – O(n)E (gutless individual) around SCAR (stigma) + WILD (passionate). |
16 |
END POINT – (noted nip)* |
18 |
GASTRIC – TRIC(e) (moment, minus the last letter) with GAS (wind) above it. |
20 |
TANGENT – GENT (chap) with TAN (shade) above it. |
23 |
SPOON – SOON (just around the corner) around P(ensioners). Old name for a three wood in golf. |
24 |
FINN – hidden in “elf in Norway”. Espoo is Finland’s second largest city. |
26 |
TON – “down then?” implies NOT up. Great clue for a tiddler. |
An excellent, if not particularly hard Saturday puzzle that I completed in 32 minutes. I failed to parse 12dn and 26dn, so thanks for explaining them, and I never got round to looking up Trevithick at 7dn. My first thought for ET at 28 was Latin!
Edited at 2013-03-16 08:09 am (UTC)
Loved anachronism.
Geoffrey
The puzzle demonstrates that degree of difficulty is not the sole criterion. Many of these clues are beautifully crafted so that you setter as well.
Interestingly almost exactly 200 years later in 1950 the second “industrial revolution” started as computers moved out of the scientific-military worlds and into commerce and industry. We are still part of that revolution of course and it will be a while before one can gain the same perspective of this one as is now possible for the first one