Solving time: 5:28
Generally not too difficult and well-clued, with a couple of good long anagrams at 1ac and 27ac. One or two clues let the puzzle down with superfluous words spoiling the cryptic reading, and I’m in doubt over an abbreviation at 6dn (‘electrics’ for E). Both 13ac and 13dn (CHAPPAL and CRAMP-RING) were new words to me.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across |
| 1 |
SYMPATHETICALLY; (A TYPIST HE CALMLY)* |
| 9 |
GLUE EAR; GLUE (= ‘Join’) + EAR (= ‘listener’) – a medical condition; ‘on this’ are superfluous words. |
| 10 |
RAFFLES; R.A.F. (= ‘force’) + rev. of SELF (= ‘me’) |
| 11 |
ACHE (hidden) – rather inelegant, with ‘way’ being superfluous. |
| 12 |
AFTERTASTE (cryptic definition) – I thought this was excellent (‘Consumer sensation following trial’). |
| 13 |
CHAPPAL; CHAP + PAL – a Hindi word for a type of sandal. |
| 15 |
TARRIED; A R.R. (= ‘Rolls Royce’) in (TIDE)* |
| 17 |
APPEALS; AP’S (= ‘Associated Press’s’) around (PLEA)* |
| 19 |
BRAVERY; BRAVE (= ‘warrior’) + RY (= railway = ‘line’) – not great; ‘brave’ in the wordplay is used in the same sense as in the answer word, and ‘on front’ doesn’t really fit,unless the idea is that a brave is a ‘warrior on [a] front’ in the sense of ‘Western front’. |
| 20 |
PATIO SLABS; (SAAB SPOILT)* |
| 22 |
CRAB; R.A. (= ‘Royal Artillery’) in C.B. (= ‘Citizens’ Band’) – I went through everything from FM to Short Wave here, and ended up having to come back once I’d solved 23dn, giving me the ‘B’. The definition is ‘one is a fiddler’, referring to the fiddler crab. |
| 25 |
IRON PAN; IRON (= ‘Smooth’) + rev. of NAP (= ‘cloth surface’) – ‘a hard layer in sand or gravel’. |
| 26 |
S(ALIEN)T |
| 27 |
GASTROENTERITIS; (STREET RIOTING’S A)* – an impressive anagram. |
| Down |
| 1 |
SIGMA; A, + M.S. (= ‘manuscript’) around G.I. (= ‘soldier’), all reversed – the only way I can make this work is if ‘on’ means ‘around’, in the sense of a coat being ‘on’ someone. |
| 2 |
MOUTH HARP; MOUTH (= ‘opening’) + H,A,R,P (initials) |
| 3 |
AGED; A + G + [r]ED simple but neat with a good surface. |
| 4 |
H + ARMFUL |
| 5 |
TORRENT; TOR (= ‘Pile of rocks’) + RENT (= ‘let’) – the definition ‘water flow’ has to be read as a noun phrase. |
| 6 |
CAFETERIA; C.I.A. (= ‘agency’) around (AFTER around E[lectrics]) – I don’t think ‘electrics’ = E is correct – any defenders? |
| 7 |
LULLS; L (= ‘Fifty’) + [g]ULLS |
| 8 |
YESTERDAY (cryptic definition) – this one made me smile (‘This time tomorrow?’). |
| 13 |
CRAMP-RING; CRAMP (= ‘Muscle spasm’) + RING (= ‘call’) – these cured epilepsy and other ailments, apparently. |
| 14 |
PEA-SOUPER; (POSE A)* + (PURE)* |
| 16 |
IN EARNEST; (SINNER ATE)* |
| 18 |
SILENCE – referring to the phrase ‘suffer in silence’, although there doesn’t seem to be much of a cryptic element to this. |
| 19 |
BABY-SIT; B.A. + (IT’S BY)* |
| 21 |
TROTS; rev. of (ST[reet] + OR + T) – ‘junction’ gives ‘T’, as in ‘T-junction’, but ‘stops at’ doesn’t make much sense. |
| 23 |
BUTTS; T.T. (= ‘race‘) in BUS |
| 24 |
SLUR (2 defs) – ‘blur’ is a nasty trap here. |
I don’t recall coming across CHAPPAL before, and I’m not sure that I’ve come across MOUTH HARP either, as I’d assumed that it was going to be the same as a jew’s harp, but found on looking it up that it’s actually a mouth organ. I’ve come across IRON PAN and CRAMP-RING before, but would have been hard pressed to define them accurately. PATIO SLABS sounded half familiar, probably from some Garden Centre.
I queried the E for “electrics” in 6D as well, so I’ll be interested to see if anyone can defend it.
I am kind of slow on the Sunday puzzles, due to utter incredulity that the answers are as unfortunate as they turn out to be. Today’s, if I am not mistaken, has a very bad one, and that cost me 15 minutes until I concluded it couldn’t be anything else.
‘Patio slabs’ and ‘hard pan’, indeed!