As per usual some excellent clues, and no weak links. I started quite quickly – 1a went straight in, quickly followed by the two long down ones, but the long across ones took much longer.
There were a couple of new words for me – PEKOE & NISAN, but both could be worked out from the wordplay & checkers. It’s always tough to pick a COD from Dean’s puzzles as there are so many contenders – 12a in particular was excellent, but I think the treatment of Mr Hemingway just edges it for me.
NOTE – Due to the inordinate amount of spam that this post has attracted, I have now had to lock it to disable any further comments. It is being investigated by LJ, so hopefully the problem can be fixed and I can unlock it again at some point in the future.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DE(ME)AN – A very self-referential start from Dean |
| 4 | EFFENDIS = E (Spain) + (SNIFFED)* |
| 10 | OLD BAILEY = (BOY LED)* about AIL |
| 11 | N + IS + AN – The first month of the Hebrew calendar – November is just N in the phonetic alphabet |
| 12 | STARES INTO SPACE = ST (way) + (PATRONISES)* + ACE (one) |
| 14 | PEKOE = KO (kick-off, start of game) inside PEE (go, in the toilet sense) – Not a word I knew so I needed all the checkers. |
| 15 | GAUCHERIE = ERIE (lake) after GAUCH |
| 16 | SMALL-TOWN = MALL (arcade) inside STOW (store) + N |
| 18 | MUMM |
| 20 | UNSPORTSMANLIKE = (PERSON UNTIL MASK)* |
| 22 | INNER = INN (watering hole) + |
| 23 | WENT (left) + WORTH (good) – I’m not convinced about ‘good’ for WORTH, can anyone come up with a sentence where they can be substituted? It was easy enough though, it was one of my first ones in. |
| 24 | GALOSHES = LAG rev + (SHOES)* – an excellent &lit |
| 25 | MY STIC |
| Down | |
| 1 |
|
| 2 | MUDLARK = (LAD)* in MURK |
| 3 | A FAREWELL TO ARMS – My second one in, quickly followed by 6d |
| 5 | F + RY |
| 6 | ERNES, THE MING WAY – A marvellous title for a possible cookbook by Ming Campbell – I bypassed all that and got it directly from 3d |
| 7 | DESPAIR = D + PA in RISE rev |
| 8 | SINCE (from) + RELY (bank) |
| 9 | FLYING BOAT – or ‘BUYING FLOAT’ for the Rev Spooner |
| 13 | TOURNAMENT = OUR NAME (handle we use) in TNT (explosive) |
| 14 | POSTURING = SOP rev + TURING |
| 17 | ARSENAL = LANES + RA all rev |
| 19 | MAIGRET = MET (police) about AI (top) + G |
| 21 | ETHIC = EC (City) about THI |
| 23 |
|
I thought of worth as moral excellence which I equate with good.
Edited at 2013-06-02 09:50 am (UTC)
a man of worth is a good man.. not a precise substitution but near enough, perhaps
Otherwise, like others, Nisan and Effendis were shakily based on half dredged up memory and only-possibility wordplay. Plus I spent ages wanting Arcades to be either a stall or a small shop.
Of course, ‘lines’ could also be ‘l’, ‘ll’ or a container indicator.
“Ernes the Ming Way” was a masterpiece.
The clue for ERNEST HEMINGWAY is super, but I didn’t even read it when solving because I got 3dn immediately which meant I didn’t have to. Bit of a shame.
Edited at 2013-06-02 09:02 pm (UTC)
Thanks as ever to Dave for a sparkling blog and to all for your comments.
Looks like this thread has suffered some spammage, so thanks too to Linxit for cleaning it up.
Please do not delete any further spam from this thread as I am in touch with LJ support and they need examples to investigate. I’ll clean it up later when LJ are finished with it. Thanks.
jackkt
jackkt
Thank you. I have reported this problem to our development staff for investigation — please leave these spam comments in place so that they can be reviewed. If the author would like to set the entry’s commenting setting to ‘locked’ (so that these comments that have already been left remain in place and visible for review but no further comments can be left), they can certainly do so at any time. Thank you.