No time recorded for this one as I just picked at it during odd moments while I was working from home on Monday. Pretty tough puzzle though, so doubt if I’d have come much under 20 minutes if I’d sat down to solve it properly. There were a couple of obscure words and a few examples of very convoluted wordplay in this one, but nothing unfair. Good puzzle in fact.
NB, I’ll be away from a computer for the rest of the day so won’t be able to respond to any questions or comments until late tonight.
Across |
1 |
SPAM – MAPS (plans) reversed to become inbox-filling rubbish. |
4 |
POWER POINT – OW (it hurt) inside PER (a), + POINT (stage). |
9 |
LAWN TENNIS – LAW (ruling) in front of SIN (crime) reversed, which is next to N TEN (London N10 presumably being the Muswell Hill area). |
10 |
QUAY – sounds like KEY (vital). |
11 |
ELISHA – put a B in front of his name and he becomes a Belisha Beacon, one of those orange globe lights at the sides of zebra crossings. |
12 |
CROCKETT – ROCKET (carpeting, as in a telling-off) inside CT (court). Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. |
14 |
UGLI – sounds like UGLY (threatening). A cross between a grapefruit, a tangerine and an orange. They’re not pretty. |
15 |
EPIGLOTTIS – SITE reversed (westbound station) around PILOT (airman), with G(ood) inside. Definition “stop for a breather”, which seems ok to me although it drew some criticism on the Club forum. |
17 |
ETON COLLAR – (later on)* around COL (a mountain pass). |
20 |
IBEX – I BE (e.g. Cornish dialect for I am) + X (times). |
21 |
ISABELLA – hidden reversed in “farfalle basil”. Dingy yellowish grey or drab. This has come up before, supposedly named after a Spanish princess who didn’t change her clothes for three years. |
23 |
SALARY – SAY (for one) around [A(rea) inside L,R (both sides)]. That’s the second “Russian doll” clue of the day. |
24 |
LYON – FLY (take a plane), minus the 1st letter + ON (over). |
25 |
NOTE TO SELF – (of steel)* after NO + T(ime). |
26 |
MAIN COURSE – cryptic definition, where a galley might be a ship or a ship’s kitchen. |
27 |
CASE – C, E (last letters of MCC and committee) around AS (playing, e.g. “starring Dame Judi Dench as M” (see 2dn)). Tricky one that, could’ve been worse if we’d only had ?A?E though! |
Down |
2 |
PEARLY GATES – (gay prelates)* |
3 |
MINUS SIGN – M (top spy) + (issuing N)*. |
4 |
PEERAGE – E.G. (say), ARE reversed after P.E. (games). |
5 |
WIND-CHILL FACTOR – (fill in catchword)*. Great clue which my eyes were drawn to as soon as I’d printed off the puzzle. Took a while to unravel so I would have been wiser to wait for a few crossing letters. |
6 |
ROSE OIL – OR (yellow) reversed (“revolting” can mean “up”) + SOIL (earth) around (vil)E. |
7 |
IN USE – middle letters of SINUSES (cavities in head). |
8 |
TRYST – TEST (trial) with RY (line) replacing the E for European. |
13 |
TOILET ROLLS – ELIOT (poet) reversed + TROLLS (mischief-makers). Brilliant definition, “can revolvers”. |
16 |
TRIPLE SEC – RIPPLES (repercussions), minus the middle letter, inside TEC (detective, PI). |
18 |
ORLANDO – ORAN (an Algerian port on the Med) around L(arge), + DO (see the sights of). |
19 |
ROSETTE – SET (fixed) inside ROTE (repetition). |
21 |
ISLAM – IS + LAM (hit hard). |
22 |
AIOLI – AIL (suffer) + I(ndigestion), around O (duck). |
Now off to find out what today has to offer for cryptic entertainment.
I never heard of ISABELLA as a colour before; apparently it can refer specifically to horses.
11ac probably merits a reference to the inter-war Transport Minister, Leslie Hore-Belisha, whose name was given to the lamps that identify zebra crossings in the UK to this day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belisha_beacon.
I remember when the Disney film came out in the 50’s the following joke did the rounds:
Q: How many ears has Davy Crockett got?
A: Three. His left ear, his right ear and his wild front-ear.
I didn’t notice it at the time but following yesterday’s discussion (Times 25740) I wonder what the contributors would make of 3dn where in the on-line version the two parts of the clue are separated by – – (although somewhat more closely spaced than LJ permits). One a dash, the other a MINUS SIGN as part of the definition maybe? If so, yesterday’s clue doesn’t seem so original now. Certainly neither is intended as a hyphen in this case. Perhaps it’s simply a misprint.
Edited at 2014-03-22 09:23 am (UTC)
And we thought it was hilariously original. Ah well.
I was another victim of 27a. About 23 minutes for the rest then I ended up tossing a mental coin over CASE/CASH. I thought there might be a sly dig at the priorities of the modern cricketer in there so plumped for CASH.
It’s not the first time I’ve been done in by “finally” or similar referring to two words rather the the usual one.
Particularly enjoyed ETON COLLAR, MINUS SIGN and WIND-CHILL FACTOR. Felt quite exhilarated when I got these.
Edited at 2014-03-22 12:05 pm (UTC)
Davy Crockett was a hero for youngster in the 1950s because of the Disney film and the song; that probably explains why 12 went in immediately from the definition.
If you search Google for another wartime kiss image you will find a picture of a young woman in a three-quarter length fur coat with padded shoulders. Those coats were very popular during the War, and I imagine hers, like thousands of others, ended up being lovingly recycled into raccoon-skin hats for her children.
http://www.chaseside.org.uk/sheet_music/50s/davycrockett.html
Edited at 2014-03-22 03:09 pm (UTC)
I rather wish no one had brought up Davy Crockett here: my one memory of that show, and that song, is the time I spent in the hospital with pneumonia, sharing a ward with a 3-year-old girl who screamed without pause for her mother, and a 3-year-old boy who provided counterpoint by singing, at the top of his lungs, “DaVEEEE, Davy Crockett,” the only part of the song that he knew. Doctors were amazed at my rapid recovery. If I get an ear worm, some of you have a lot to answer for.