Solving time: 11:45
Not very good from me – got stuck on 2dn, which was excusable as I didn’t know the architect, and 1ac which I really should have got much faster. I’ll blame it on lack of sleep thanks to an overdose of Olympics. What a brilliant day yesterday, especially the men’s coxless four – amazing race. I wonder if Our Brave Paula will get an Olympic medal this time? Shouldn’t think so, but I think I’ll stay up now and watch it anyway… zzzz….
* = anagram.
| Across |
| 1 |
SMA(R + TALE)CK – it was remiss of me to assume here that the definition had to be ‘report’. |
| 6 |
KEEP; rev. of PEEK |
| 10 |
NARCISSUS; (GRACIOUSNESS – EGO)* – a well-constructed composite anagram. |
| 13 |
RAN OUT OF STEAM; (OAF STOUTER MAN)* |
| 14 |
BRIE + FEST |
| 15 |
AGE(N.T.)S – the organisation is the National Trust. |
| 17 |
U + PRATE |
| 19 |
POSITIVE (double def) |
| 21 |
DEUS EX MACHINA; (MAN I HAD EXCUSE)* – this really held me up, I didn’t know the phrase and tried to construct it but it took me ages to see that the last word wasn’t ‘machine’. |
| 24 |
DRIP + ST + ONE – this is apparently a projection over a doorway to keep the rain off. |
| 25 |
A + NIT + A – I like the surface reading of this! |
| 26 |
A + R + GO |
| 27 |
LIBERTINES; (SIT IN + REBEL)* – another good anagram. |
| Down |
| 1 |
SEAT (double def) |
| 2 |
AL(B)ERT + I – not sure what ‘No.’ is doing in this clue; I suppose ‘No. 1’ = ‘I’ is ok, but I was fooled into putting an ‘N’ in before the final ‘I’. The architect seems to be Leon Battista Alberti. |
| 3 |
TIMON OF ATHENS; (THE FOOTMAN’S IN)* |
| 4 |
L + ANGUISH |
| 5 |
CUR + I + O |
| 7 |
EP + STEIN – the sculptor Jacob Epstein. |
| 8 |
POST(MAST)ER |
| 11 |
IN + SIGN + I + F + I + CANT – long charade, in which ‘notice’ = SIGN was a stumbling block for me. |
| 13 |
ABSURD IDEA; (AIDE)* – wordplay in the answer, but I don’t like this one; the answer isn’t really a dictionary phrase and ‘stupid idea’ works just as well. |
| 16 |
CON + CRETE |
| 18 |
ROUSING; (OUR)* + SING |
| 20 |
I + TAL[k] + IAN – this is trickier because the definition could be ‘gentleman of Verona?’, but actually it’s just ‘of Verona?’ with ‘gentleman’ giving IAN. |
| 22 |
MAORI; MAO + rev. of IR – I didn’t question ‘native’ for ‘Maori’ when solving but it now occurs to me that everyone is a native of somewhere! |
| 23 |
PA’S + S |
I quite like 13d. You’re right that it could be other things, but I like seeing setters go for these self-referential clues, even if they don’t always work perfectly.
Just been looking at today’s puzzle where some of the clue numbering is all over the place and there seems to be a ‘bonus’ clue in the printable version with no place on the grid (doesn’t appear in the interactive one, where the clue numbering is also different, but still not right). There’s also one clue that is either totally beyond me or just doesn’t make sense. Anyone else having problems?
I tended to agree with your comment about sing = period of chanting but sing = period of singing is specified in the COD so I now think it’s ok.
No joy for Paula but no shame either. What the management were doing with the Kate Reed time trial I’ll never know. Back to crosswords in a mo with the Mephisto report.
Edited at 2008-08-17 06:50 pm (UTC)
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KkaOhl
A bit of an odd one this with SMART ALECK at 1a – no-one spells ALEC with a K at the end – and an ABSURD IDEA at 13d – the answer for 1a for starters.
There are 2 omissions from the blog:
9a There is no clue for this on the online printed version. My offering as a substitute is given in the title of this comment and the answer is ALBUM
12a Terrible oaf (stouter man) wilted (3,3,2,5)
RAN OUT OF STEAM. Anagram of OAF STOUTER MAN.