Solving time: 4:40
A much better puzzle this week, as the schedule suggested, plus a couple of slight quirks (not inaccuracies) that probably give away the compiler’s identity. I didn’t know the Brazilian state of Pará but I think everything else was familiar.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across |
| 1 |
BEAN + POLE – ‘on first position’ seems to give a slightly stilted surface reading, unless there’s an interpretation I can’t see. |
| 5 |
SHALOM; L[ame] + O (= ‘duck’), all in SHAM |
| 9 |
ALTERING; (LATE)* + RING |
| 10 |
AGENTS; GENTS after A[nswer] – the ‘can’ is the toilet, hence ‘gents’. I don’t think the abbreviation ‘answer’ = A is allowed in daily Times puzzles but I could be wrong here. |
| 12 |
SHODDY; SHY around ODD – I had no idea this word could be a noun. |
| 13 |
TEST BEDS; BEDS (= Bedfordshire = ‘County’) after TEST (= ‘game’, as in ‘test match’) |
| 15 |
EXACERBATING; EXACTING around (BEAR)* – I thought there was a mistake here since ‘exacerbate’ requires an object, but then I realised that the definition needed to be read as ‘getting [something] worse’. |
| 18 |
FINGER BUFFET (cryptic definition) |
| 23 |
UPROOTED; (DUE TO PRO)* |
| 24 |
DEJA VU; (A + V[erse]) in (JUDE)* |
| 26 |
TANNIN[g] – very good clue, with ‘striking stuff’ needing to be split up (the definition is ‘stuff in some wines’). |
| 27 |
PLANK + TON |
| 28 |
RHEUMY; “ROOMY” – a well-used homophone. |
| 29 |
ROLLED UP (2 defs) |
| Down |
| 1 |
BRAISE; B (= ‘second-class’) + RAISE (= ‘upgrade’) |
| 2 |
[fr]ACTION |
| 3 |
PARADOX; DO (= ‘party’) + X (= ‘vote’), all after PARA
|
| 4 |
LYNX; “LINKS” |
| 6 |
HIGH TEA (cryptic definition) |
| 7 |
LINGERIE; LINGER + I + [absolut]E |
| 8 |
MISUSAGE; (US IMAGES)* – excellent surface reading. |
| 11 |
REDRAFT; RED (= ’embarrassed’) + R.A.F. (= ‘military’) + [wi]T – ‘military’ for RAF is a bit dubious, but I suppose you could read ’embarrassed military’ as a charade for ‘red RAF’ which for some reason feels better. |
| 14 |
SCABIES; (I + ABSCES[s])* |
| 16 |
AFLUTTER; A + F (= ‘following’) + L (= ‘Latin’) + UTTER |
| 17 |
INFRINGE; IN (= ‘fashionable’) + FRINGE (= ‘hairstyle’) – as in 11, I think this works best if you read the wordplay as a complete charade for ‘in fringe’ rather than ‘hairstyle’ for ‘fringe’ on its own which I don’t think works. |
| 19 |
EGOTISM; (I GE[t] MOST)*; &lit |
| 20 |
ETERNAL; [v]ET + [v]ERNAL – ‘spring’ is an adjective in the cryptic reading (as in ‘spring flowers’). I didn’t see the wordplay here when solving. |
| 21 |
PAT + TED – so many possibilities here, especially since the second boy could have been ‘Ed’ or ‘Ted’ (or ‘Ned’ and possibly others before the crossing ‘T’ was available) so this was hard and my last entry. |
| 22 |
TURNIP; TURN (= ‘roll’) + I + P[atna] |
| 25 |
ALTO[gether] – as in ‘in the altogether’. |
When you have nothing else to wear
But cloth of gold and satins rare,
For cloth of gold you cease to care —
Up goes the price of shoddy.
(from ‘The Gondoliers’)
If ‘mamelon’ or ‘ravelin’ ever show up in a puzzle, I’m ready.
‘slapped’ struck me as rather too far in meaning from ‘patted’.