Solving time: 15:10
After a quick start in the top left and the two long anagrams I struggled with this one, especially in the bottom left and on the two central down answers, both of which had just 3 out of 7 letters checked.
Explanations for PLENARY at 14dn (and possibly PRELATES at 17dn) would be welcome. As a footnote, Chambers defines ‘plenary inspiration’ as “inspiration which excludes any mixture of error”. Any explanations as to what on earth that means would also be welcome.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
Across | |
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5 | TRIP + OD (= rev. of ‘do’) |
10 | [g]ROUNDS – a misprint in the online version (‘toestate’) made this clue harder than it should have been; I initially guessed it was supposed to say ‘to state’. |
12 | EX + HALE – ‘hale’ as in ‘You are hale Father William, a hearty old man‘. |
15 | DECLARATIONS; (A SOCIAL TREND)* |
18 | AERODYNAMICS; (MAY CONSIDER A)* |
23 | DEL(I)VER + [happ]Y |
24 | FINALE; IN in (LEAF)* |
26 | OUT CRY – ‘following’ is superfluous here which is somewhat unfair. I was looking for a word starting ‘IT-‘, ‘SA-‘ or ‘F-‘. |
27 | SACK RACE; SACK (= ‘the push’) + rev. of CAR + [th]E |
28 | MUSTER (double definition) – luckily I managed to dredge up this collective noun for peacocks, otherwise the bottom left corner would have been even more tortuous. |
29 | FOUNDERS (double definition) |
Down | |
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1 | DR + A + PER – nice misleading definition (‘man of the cloth’). |
3 | NATALIE; rev. of TAN, + A LIE |
4 | TWIG (double definition) |
6 | ROOTLE + T |
7 | PENT + AGON[y] |
8 | DIS + P[rince] + ERSE – ‘from’ used to mean ‘placed afterwards’ is unjustifiable, as far as I can see, but it’s used fairly often in the Sunday Times. |
11 | MACRAMÉ; RAM in (CAME)* – ornamental knotted threadword, apparently. A guess for me, but the wordplay couldn’t really lead to anything else once the crossing letters were in place. |
14 | PLENARY (double definition?) – another guess. This word does mean ‘complete’ but I can’t explain ‘book of epistles’ – maybe an obscure religious reference? |
16 | WARDROOM (= ‘mess’); (DOOR)* in WARM – a very stilted cryptic reading (‘X Y in’ meaning ‘put Y in X’), ‘being’ is superfluous and I can’t see how ‘open’ can be interpreted as an anagram indicator. |
17 | P + RELATES – I’m not sure I have the correct interpretation here: ‘leaf’ = P (via ‘page’) is too indirect, and I don’t like ‘chronicles’ = ‘relates’ either. When solving I thought ‘leaf over’ was LERP reversed, although it turns out that lerp is a secretion on a leaf rather than the leaf itself. |
19 | DIVER + GE (= rev. of ‘E.G.’) – but I don’t like ‘taking off’ (along with ‘flying’ etc) as a reversal indicator in a down clue. |
20 | CHIC + KEN (= ‘Scots know’) |
21 | FACADE (double definition) – after a bit of Googling I managed to discover that Façade is a ballet by Frederick Ashton, based on William Walton’s musical setting of poems by Edith Sitwell. |
22 | TENETS; TEN + (SET)* – not the best definition (‘Conviction?’). |
17: I can’t see any version, and don’t like either part any more than you do.
Why is “dis” a place down under? I think I’ve seen this before in the Times, and as a Canadian, I find it baffling.
Just the 5 “easies” here:
1a Set off for assignation outside college (8)
D ETON ATE
9a A final song from him? (8)
A LAST AIR
13a Spectators follow dog and drive too close (8)
TAIL GATE
2d Attempt to retain the wood? It’s worthless (6)
TR ASH Y
25d Drop round for the pudding (4)
SAG O