Solving time: 39:25
I wasn’t keen on this one as it seemed to require an awful lot of specialised knowledge. There were lots of unknowns to me – the birds PRION and TOURACO, the plant ERIGERON, the fact that Welling was part of Bexley, and the phrase RAREE-SHOW.
It wasn’t that difficult though, for all that, and had I known all those words then I probably would have raced through it in record time. I rather liked 12a and 4d, the latter of which gets my COD. And 27a was quite good too, although would have worked slightly better as a down clue.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
Across | |
---|---|
1 | VITALS = |
5 | OFF + STAGE |
9 | R(INGL |
10 | UTAH = |
11 |
|
12 | THIRD PARTY = PARTY (band) after (HIT)* + RD (road) – ‘Cover’ is the definition in an insurance sense. |
14 | PRI(S)ON – PRION as a bird was one of several unknowns for me today |
16 | TOPCOATS = TOP (best) + (ASCOT)* |
18 | ERIGERON = (GREEN OR I |
20 | COWARD = COD about RAW rev |
22 | PERNICKETY = PE (gym) + RICKETY (likely to collapse) about |
24 | RA |
26 | CHAR – Initials of C |
27 | APP (Perhaps Candy Crush, Candy Crush being the popular Facebook app of the moment) + RENT (payment) all put on ICE (delayed) – I’m not sure how well this works as an across clue – down would have been better. |
29 | S + WELLING – I’m from the southeast originally, but I couldn’t have told you that Welling was situated in the southern part of the London Borough of Bexley. I guessed it from the checkers, but this seems quite a specialist knowledge required. |
30 | MODE + ST (two ways) |
Down | |
2 | I + VIED |
3 | ALGIERS = AL + “JEERS” |
4 | SWEETENER = (ENTERS)* about WEE – ‘pill to replace sugar’ is the definition |
5 | ODD – dd |
6 | F(I)RED |
7 | T(OUR)ACO – Another bird I didn’t know |
8 | GIANT STAR = (STARTING)* about A |
13 | INTENSE = “IN TENTS” |
15 | RAREE-SHOW = (WAR HEROES)* – Another expression unkown to me |
17 | PACHYDERM = (CAMP + Y + HERD)* |
19 | GENERAL – I think this is a quadruple definition – that’s just showing off! |
21 | WORSTED = W + (SORTED)* |
23 | COATI = CAT (catamaran, vessel) + I about |
25 | INCUS = IN + S about CU – the proper name for the bone of the inner ear commonly known as the anvil |
28 | PUG – dd – short for ‘pugilist’ |
Southern pPart of Bexley”, seriously? And then at the end an obscurity clued by an anagram where if you don’t know the word you can more or less put the vowels in any order and get a word that looks as likely as the correct answer. I confess I looked up ERIGERON before submitting.Edited at 2013-09-08 12:04 pm (UTC)
Re 19D, we had a quintuple definition back in December. Bring on the six!
COD to TOURACO, the surface of which reminded me of a childhood friend whose family ate their pet rabbit.
Edited at 2013-09-08 02:04 pm (UTC)
PS – count me with jackkt regarding cutting edge popular culture.
Edited at 2013-09-08 02:38 pm (UTC)