Solving time 12:27, so another fairly gentle one (unlike this week’s, which was a half-hour monster which I submitted with an error). Anyway, I have to be elsewhere shortly, so without further ado here’s what I made of it.
| Across | |
| 1 | Daily newspaper’s takings (6) |
| THEFTS – THE FT’S | |
| 5 | Amount of medicine doctor’s initially expecting to keep the old well (8) |
| MEGADOSE – MO’S (doctor’s) + E(xpecting) around EGAD (an old word for “well”). Last one in, as I was thinking “amount of medicine” = DOSE was part of the wordplay. | |
| 9 | Nickname of Zurich banker embroiled in scam (8) |
| COGNOMEN – GNOME (Zurich banker) inside CON (scam). | |
| 10 | Food in the afternoon in most of France once, say? (6) |
| GATEAU – TEA inside GAU(l) (most of France once), semi-&lit. | |
| 11 | Regret trouble on the Internet coming back (6) |
| BEWAIL – AIL (trouble) next to WEB (the Internet) reversed. | |
| 12 | Salad we locals ordered (8) |
| COLESLAW – (we locals)*. | |
| 14 | Theatre employee finds a celebrity reeling in shock (5,7) |
| STAGE MANAGER – A NAME (a celebrity) reversed inside STAGGER (shock). | |
| 17 | Reportedly risk dental problem with European dish (5,7) |
| STEAK TARTARE – STEAK (sounds like “stake”, risk) + TARTAR (dental problem) + E(uropean). | |
| 20 | Play safe with hammer (5,3) |
| PETER PAN – PETER (safe) + PAN (hammer). | |
| 22 | Stop getting on, restricted by strike (4,2) |
| HOLD IT – OLD (getting on) inside HIT (strike). | |
| 23 | In circulation, not a single book by great historian (6) |
| GIBBON – NO (not a single) + B(ook) + BIG (great), all reversed. Edward Gibbon (1737-94), most famous for his 6-volume Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. | |
| 25 | Altogether fair and square at the start (8) |
| OUTRIGHT – RIGHT (fair) after OUT (square, i.e. unfashionable). | |
| 26 | I agree to visit outskirts of Belgian resort (8) |
| BRIGHTON – RIGHTO (I agree) inside B(elgia)N. | |
| 27 | Bubbly husband always can get in Chambery on vacation (6) |
| CHEERY – H(usband) + E’ER (always) inside C(hamber)Y. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Bent, like many an addict? (6) |
| HOOKED – double definition. | |
| 3 | Trendy girl’s about to be absorbed by most popular piece of music (7,4) |
| FINGAL’S CAVE – IN (trendy) + GAL’S (girl’s) + C (about), inside FAVE (most popular). An overture by Mendelssohn. Coincidentally I’m listening to some of his music as I’m typing, but not that particular piece. | |
| 4 | Musical’s reviewed at front of theatre programme (9) |
| SIMULCAST – (musicals)* + T(heatre). | |
| 5 | Not all current No.1s are covered by, say, boy band (7) |
| MANACLE – first letters of Not All Current, inside MALE (e.g. boy). | |
| 6 | Writer making repeated attempts to get on line (5) |
| GOGOL – GO, GO (repeated attempts) + L(ine). Nikolai Gogol (1809-52), Russian author. | |
| 7 | Endless fuss over small point (3) |
| DOT – TO-D(o) (endless fuss), reversed. | |
| 8 | What could make rocky areas wet? (8) |
| SEAWATER – (areas wet)*, &lit. | |
| 13 | Growth of flowers round tearoom overlooking lakes, a feature of Cumbria (7,4) |
| SCAFELL PIKE – SPIKE (growth of flowers) around CAFE (tearoom) + LL (lakes). | |
| 15 | Not interested in a course, along with other things one introduced (9) |
| APATHETIC – A PATH (course) + ETC (along with other things) around I (one). | |
| 16 | Showing greater determination, pilot goes without rest (8) |
| STEELIER – STEER (pilot) around LIE (rest). | |
| 18 | Attacked South African capital and leaderless settlement (3,4) |
| RAN DOWN – RAND (SA money) + (t)OWN (leaderless settlement). | |
| 19 | Dearer to rent, we’re told (6) |
| HIGHER – sounds like “hire”. | |
| 21 | Maker of wine to drink up (5) |
| PINOT – TO + NIP (drink), reversed. | |
| 24 | University degree: good thing (3) |
| BAG – BA (Univerity degree + G(ood). Definition as in hobby, like solving crosswords. | |
Thanks as always for the helpful blg – live in US so cannot make the party
Wouldn’t it have to be ‘dote on’ to be synonymous with ‘fuss over’?
I’m not sure what the word ‘say’ is doing in 10ac. I think the clue would be better with out it.
Thought STAGE MANAGER was a fantastic clue.
Edited at 2015-08-29 04:53 pm (UTC)
Of course! Dote on would be better. Thanks
The homophone indicator only applies to STEAK/STAKE, the rest of the clue is a charade TARTAR + E.
24 dn last in after GIBBON who’s only half-remembered – couldn’t see BAG as THING. It’s not my bag, is that the sense?
And one wrong, 3dn unknown but with all the crossers FINGAL’S WAKE wrote itself in, without checking the clue which I thought had “work” not “musical piece”, and getting confused with FINNEGAN’s WAKE. Must be more careful.
Rob ~20 min so easyish.