Solving time: 4:19
Nothing too difficult here but some very good clues – one of the best puzzles for a while, I thought, the error at 21ac excepted.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MARGINALIA; (GAIL + MARIAN)* – normally the use of arbitrary names in anagrams seems a bit of a cop-out but I thought this clue was excellent, especially given the definition (‘bits on the side’) which fits the anagram very well. |
| 7 | ROAM; “ROME” |
| 9 | GREEN TEA; “TEENAGER” |
| 10 | E + LAPSE – another very smooth clue. |
| 11 | S(T)OLID |
| 13 | SKIP JACK |
| 14 | PINCHPENNIES; (IN CHEAPNESS IN PRICE – AS RICE)*, &lit – superb clue. |
| 17 | READ(MISSION)S |
| 20 | GOATSKIN; (TASK)* in GO IN |
| 21 | DIGS + IN – there’s a mistake in the clue here (in the online version at least): it should have read ‘starts to…’ not ‘start to…’. |
| 22 | COP OUT |
| 23 | DAMOCLES; (DELOS + C)* around A.M. – as in the Sword of Damocles. |
| 25 | MEWS (2 defs) – ‘heard’ here could be part of the first definition (‘Cries from cat heard’) or a homonym indicator, since the ‘stables’ definition can also be spelt ‘meuse’. |
| 26 | ROCK + BOTTOM |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | AIR + STRIP |
| 3 | GEE (2 defs) |
| 4 | NO TED – a ‘ted’, short for ‘Teddy boy’, is a tough youth, so once he’d gone there would be ‘no ted’. |
| 5 | LIAISON; O in (LISA IN)* |
| 6 | AMENITIES; AMEN + I + (SITE)* |
| 7 | READ(JUST)ING |
| 8 | ALSACE; ALS[o] + ACE – I couldn’t see the wordplay here when solving. |
| 12 | LACE + RATIONS – ‘lace’ seemed likely for ‘Add alcohol to’ but I then saw ‘tears’ and was distracted by the likes of ‘lachrymosal’. |
| 15 | PRANKSTER; K in (PARTNER’S)* |
| 16 | ANTIHERO; A + (ON THE AIR)* – a well-disguised anagram. This was my last solve. |
| 18 | MONODIC (hidden) – not a word I knew; a ‘monody’ is an (often mournful) song for one voice. |
| 19 | NO MORE; MO (= ‘second’) + R[un], all in (ONE)* – talking of second runs, England might have beaten the West Indies this week if they’d turned a few of their many ones into twos; the Windies’ fielding was largely shambolic and the risk of a couple of run-outs would surely have been well worth it. |
| 21 | DEMO + B |
| 24 | CUT[e] |
Am I just living in the 20th century?