Solving Time: 63:39
A good test. I didn’t feel like I got on the setter’s wavelength particularly well, but then I very rarely do with Tim’s puzzles.
Three sportsmen in this one – Brian Lara, Rod Laver & Lionel Messi, plus a president, a prime minister and a Viking, but most of them should be fairly accessible for most people, with the exception, perhaps, of Messi.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
Across | |
---|---|
1 | BRAN + DISH |
5 | D(U)RESS |
10 | SMEL(LARA)T |
11 | R(ACE)R |
12 | INDRA – rev hidden |
13 | BARBARIAN = BAR x2 + (IN A)* |
14 | GA(THE RED)IN |
17 | CANE – rev hidden |
19 | C + HEW |
20 | FANNY + ADAMS – Duff & Fanny are both American slang terms for bottom, John Quincy Adams was the 6th POTUS, and Fanny Adams is a colloquial term for nothing. |
23 | MESSIEURS = EUR in (MESSI + S) |
25 | TITLE = TIT |
27 | A TRIA |
28 | THE RIVALS = (LAVER’S HIT)* |
29 | TURKEY – dd |
30 | HOME’S + PUN – Sir Alec Douglas-Home was the PM |
Down | |
1 | BUS KING |
2 | AHEAD = A (Advanced) + READ (study) with H for R |
3 | DOLMADES = (SELDOM MADE)* with the ME removed (Middle Eastern leaves). ‘Full of beans’ is the anagrind which makes this an &lit. |
4 | S(CR)UB |
6 | UPROAR = UAR (United Arab Republic, a former union between Egypt and Syria) about PRO |
7 | ENCHILADA = L in (HACIENDA)* |
8 | STRANG |
9 | STAR SIGN = S (RATINGS)* |
15 | TREASURER = T (Tycoon’s capital) + REAR (behind) all about SURE (firm) – semi &lit |
16 | EVALUATE = EVA + (A LUTE)* |
18 | PART-TIME = EMIT (pour out) + GIN (trap) all rev |
19 | COMPACT – dd – ‘comes initially’ is C, and the C in CD is Compact, plus a compact can be a bargain (similar to a pact) |
21 | STEPS ON |
22 | M1 RAGE |
24 | STENO = (NOTES)* – semi-&lit |
26 | TRAM + P |
I do not know where you are based but in my part of the world, Fanny Adams (usually accompanied by Sweet) gives SFA which has the same meaning but a more basic construction.