First day of the premiership season, so I’m sat in a Sky “Event Centre” being paid to watch the football. Nice job if you can get it, but I’d rather be watching the Twenty20 finals! Mind you, as I type Hampshire have just lost their 3rd wicket 🙁
I actually started typing this up at 6 this morning, but ran out of time – just got a few minutes now before 3pm to get it posted. Sorry it’s a bit brief. Solving time was around 16 minutes I think.
Across |
1 |
COCAINE – C.O. (officer) + “cane”. |
5 |
FASTS – FEASTS (big meals) without the E. |
9 |
ENROL – hidden reversed in “medieval or newer”. |
10 |
PHOTOCALL – P(aparazzo) + HOT (trendy) + (local)* |
11 |
TRAGEDY – TRY (hear) around AGED (ancient). |
12 |
EMPTIED – E(uropean) + MP (politician) + TIED (bound). |
13 |
WHERE IT’S AT – (Whit, Easter)* |
15 |
SNAP – double definition. |
18 |
RELY – REALLY (certainly) with A and L (a pound) removed. |
20 |
TIMES ROMAN – I’M + MORSE (detective) reversed, all inside TAN (function). |
23 |
COMBINE – COMB (groom) + FINE (very thin) minus the F for female. |
24 |
DONNISH – alternate letters of jOiNiNg inside DISH (course). |
25 |
ADAPTABLE – A + PAD (flat) reversed + TABLE (piece of furniture). |
26 |
ALL-IN – LL (learners) inside A1 (class) + N(oon). |
27 |
STAND – ST (saint, good man) + AND (with). |
28 |
GARMENT – (assistin)G + A + [ M(aiden) inside RENT (torn) ]. |
Down |
1 |
CARCASE – RAC (drivers) reversed + CASE (action). |
2 |
COLLEGES – (O-Level/GCSE)* after removing E(nglish), V(erse). |
3 |
IMPLY – I’M (this setter’s) + PLY (work). |
4 |
EXONERATE – EX-ONE (person no longer) + RATE (charge). |
5 |
FLOPPY – FLY (flit) around [ P (quietly) after OP(eration) ]. |
6 |
SHAVIAN – SH (not to speak) + AVIAN (of the Seagull?). Candida and Heartbreak House are both plays by George Bernard Shaw. |
7 |
SALAD – D(aughter) + ALAS (unfortunately), all reversed. |
8 |
BESTOWER – “BEST OWER”. |
14 |
TOILET BAG – I (one) + LET (allowed), inside TOBAG(o) (Caribbean island briefly). |
16 |
PINCHING – N(ew) + CH (companion) + IN (home) all inside PIG (Tamworth, a breed of them). |
17 |
IRONWARE – (in a row)* + R.E. (engineers). |
19 |
LAMBADA – LAMA (priest) around BAD (wicked). |
21 |
MAILLOT – MAIL LOT. |
22 |
LIFTED – FT (paper) inside (deli)*. |
23 |
CRASS – ASS (fool) after CR(edit). |
24 |
DREAR – DREAMER (fantasist) with ME removed. |
To anon: no problem. Besides, crosswords without agony would be no fun at all!
Complaining about the obscurity of Shaw does seem a bit much, but it might not seem so to a younger generation. Does anyone read him these days? More importantly, does anyone put on his plays?
BESTOWER made me laugh, I got MAILLOT from the wordplay, and SHAVIAN was my LOI. Thankfully I thought of SNAP without even considering “chip”.
Never mind that, though: I love filling gaps in my knowledge from these puzzles, but how do you get “sh” from “not to speak”? Have I missed something obvious?
Edited at 2013-08-18 05:22 am (UTC)
Edited at 2013-08-18 01:36 pm (UTC)
I don’t think it’s close at all: sour grapes no doubt…
Two missing (Fast & Shavian) and one error at 5dn where I think (no longer have the newspaper to hand) I put Droopy. Certainly I had a starting D which meant I was toying with Diets at 5ac. Thanks for putting me right there Andy.
Thought Cocaine, Maillot and particularly Bestower were the pick of the clues. The number (= something that numbs) meaning of Cocaine was new to me and I was slow to solve that one.
The maillot took me longer to find than it should have done, given the avidity with which I follow the Maillot Jaune in the tour de France every year..
But it’s a perfectly sound – indeed brilliant – clue: “to not speak” is exactly the same as “to sh” or “to shush”